blog subtitle

Since I gave earlier credit to Stevie for my blog's title, I need to properly acknowledge the Sisters Wilson {i.e. the front women of Heart} for a lyric from their hit 'Love Alive' that I am borrowing as the subtitle for this magical little blog.

nothing ever changes ...

Note: I'm trying something with my blog. It's actually been in effect for several entries now, but I'm going to explain in case you hadn't quite picked up on it ... not everyone has the exquisitely eclectic taste in music that I possess.  ; ] When possible, I am going to title each of my blog entries with a lyric from a song as it applies or is stuck in my head. You can bet your bottom dollar that it will probably typically be a tune by Stevie Nicks or the Wilson sisters, but you just never know. I'll also be sure to cue you in as to what song I'm actually quoting. So, without further ado ...

~ ~ ~

{Stevie Nicks, 'Nothing Ever Changes'}

So Stevie was kind of right on this one ... well, I'm actually taking this line out of context, but whatever. Some things never change, but a lot of things do. In my case, the winds of change are, for the most part, whipping up a storm, but hopefully a few things will remain constant. Today marks my very last full day in Pikeville, Kentucky. If all goes as planned, tomorrow I will be laying myself down to sleep in Hilliard, Ohio. A little more than a month later, I will begin my career as a doctoral student at The Ohio State University. So, we shall see. Please say a prayer for me as this next exciting phase of my life comes my way.

As I was saying, today is my last day in the 606. And it's going to be quite the busy day at that. I have so much to sort through and get into boxes. I've been offered more help than I could possibly need, but I just don't know how that would work since I have no idea as to what I'm doing myself. I think that this is something that I need to do on my own -- to go through my belongings, organize them, get rid of what I don't need, and get everything packed away neatly and safely for the trip to the 614.

I woke up half an hour before my alarm was to go off this morning. I tried to go back to sleep; I willed myself back to sleep. But, alas, it did not happen. So I got myself up and out of bed and got ready to attack the day. I was showered and dressed by 8:15 am. So far today, I have eaten breakfast, made a trip to Wal*Mart for some last-minute, but much-needed items, and cleaned out all of the junk that has found its way to my automobile. Pretty productive, I must say, but not productive enough. At the conclusion of this blog authoring, I am going to crank up the iTunes and get to work. So much to do, so much to do!

Yesterday involved a number of my most difficult farewells. It's really not so bad when you have telephone, texting, email, and Facebook, but when you have a lovable and adorable puppy dog who has not yet learned to communicate on the telephone, it makes for a very heart-wrenching farewell. I'm tearing up just thinking about it. Festus and I haven't exactly been the best of pals these past few days and it has NOT been because I haven't been trying. There are days when he loves Mom and Mom only and everybody else can sit by and watch as he runs to her for a back scratch or a brushing with that loving little look in his eye and grin on his face. Dad and I are good for Pupperonis and doggie cookies and not much else. Sally gets preferential treatment when she visits {even if she may not realize it} and Shuff the Brother-in-Law even gets tolerated. I was actually kind of thankful for Festus' ignoring me because I thought that maybe he had figured out that I was getting ready to leave and he was trying to make it easier -- he's used to my comings and goings by now. Until yesterday. Dad, Festus, and I took a trip to the county transfer station to get rid of some old unusable furniture and some general garbage. Festus has recently learned to climb into the front seat of Mom and Dad's truck for short trips and has become rather fond of it. {He will only do it, however, once the driver has climbed into the driver's seat and he can crawl through that person's legs, under the steering column, and climb primly into the middle seat.} After that trip, Dad and I dropped Festus back off at their house and then made a quick trip to town to pick up some parts for some pre-moving trip truck maintenance. When we got back, I packed up the rest of my things from their house and loaded my car. I was actually hoping that maybe I could sneak away without Festus knowing, but I think that would have broken my heart even worse. As usual, he popped his head around the corner of Mom and Dad's home and then trotted over to my car to see what was going on. That did it. As soon as I started to say, 'Be a good boy, Festus ...,' the tears started welling and promptly spilled down onto my cheeks. He knew that I was upset and wasn't quite as difficult to pet as he can be sometimes. After listening to me as long as he would tolerate it, he trotted away and I figured that was his way of saying, 'You should go now.' I got into my car and didn't shut the door immediately because I was looking for my cell phone, plugging in my iPod, etc. All of a sudden, Festus was at my side and crawling through my legs to get into my car. After being stuck under my steering wheel for a few moments, he managed to work his way free and get turned around so that I could see him. I started cracking up, but cried even harder. I started bawling and he looked at me like I was crazy. There was no getting him out of that car. I wasn't quite sure what to do; we were pretty much at a stand-off. So I gently honked my horn to get Dad's attention from inside the house and Festus returned to his normal, skittish self and got his cute little doggie self out of my floorboard and back to the safety of the outdoors. I love that dog and I am going to miss him so.

I went to visit Papaw. While that was sad because I won't be seeing him for a while, it wasn't nearly as heart-shattering because I can always call him up and have a fun talk with him. I love talking to my Papaw. He's an old soul, but he says some of the funniest things ever with such a dry and abrupt tone that you cannot help but crack up. Sally and I can barely stand it when we visit him together. He told me to be careful and to 'keep them doors locked!' a number of times and then I took off for Pikeville.

I got home last night and found out that three of my best friends were coming to visit me with my precious little godson in tow. They came bearing gifts from all of the gang -- it was a paper party neatly packed into about three Wal*Mart bags.  : ] I won't have to buy paper anything for quite some time now ... We had a wonderful dinner at Applebee's and then I came back home to stare at my apartment and arrange a few things.

So now it's today and I've got a LOT of stuff to do. But it shall get done, my friends -- it shall get done. I do my best work under pressure ... and if this ain't the pressure cooker, then I don't know what is! Again, I ask you for your prayers as I pack everything up and get everything together, as we travel to Ohio tomorrow and unpack and arrange, as Mom and Dad make their way back to Virginia, as I find out if every service that I have asked to be set up is actually set up or not, and as I start in Ohio with a clean slate taking all of my experiences and memories with me and moving on to my next big adventure. It's going to be exciting, but even though some things may never change, a lot of them will. I'm excited to see what happens and I will update as soon as I can!

¡Hasta pronto!

I'm every woman! {hear me roar, gentlemen, hear me roar!}

For openers, a little Chaka Khan action.

I just have to admit it ... I impress the hell out of myself sometimes.

My dear, sweet 10-year-old {Claire the Cavalier} is getting on in age. I'm not sure what 10 human years might equate to in automobile years, but it's probably quite a few. As she is aging, she's beginning to have a few minor health problems. A little putter here, a little stutter there, and hot flashes when her a/c runs out of refrigerant. She's overall in very excellent condition for a car that's been on the road since June 2000. She's had a few hormone replacement therapy sessions in the past {administering refrigerant}, but I've never had to do it myself. She's been needing a little TLC lately and I've been putting it off as long as possible. But as I'm heading to Columbus for a short trip on Thursday, and the temperatures have hit inferno-like levels these past few days, I just couldn't let it go on any longer. So I made a quick stop at CarQuest today to pick up some refrigerant and headed to a local garage so that they could put it in my car for me. Psssshhttt ... Local garages do not administer pressurized refrigerant to personal vehicles. WTH? They leave such tasks to innocent citizens who can pump their own gas and can merely check their oil levels? But, being the independent woman that I am, I did not let the daunting task intimidate me. I picked up the hose that I needed from Wal*Mart, marched myself outside this evening, and got to it. I read the instructions several times with sweat running down my face and my hands trembling like crazy. I put on my trusty dusty gardening gloves {that had yet to be used}. I said a prayer and went to work.

I am so flipping proud of myself! I've watched my Dad do this a number of times, but have never had the occasion to do it myself. But this evening I flexed my feminine know-how muscles and took care of it all by my little ol' self. Damsel in distress ... I think not!

I shall build her a cake!

So it occurred to me that I never shared the results of the fruits of my labor in making Sally's graduation cake for her party this past May. The following is a pictorial narrative:

After popping the cake batter into the oven, I played around with a little vanilla frosting and some red, blue, and green food coloring to achieve the perfect shade of UVa-Wise gray.

Then it was time to get the cake out of the oven! Deliciousness in a 12 x 18" pan!

The tedious frosting process began ...

... and Festus came inside to do a little of his infamous supervision.

The frosting in a can that I used was so awesome that I had to pose with it!

And when Festus saw that I was doing everything just right, he got bored and decided to take a little pup-nap.

Like I said before, frosting in a can is AMAZING! {a little UVa-Wise red and gray}

Here's the finished product:

I think that Little Sister approved!

yo -- I'll tell you what I want ... what I really, really want

moving update ... selling book binge!

In the process of all of the sorting and stacking and piling and donating and packing and tossing thus far, I have managed to acquire a rather lofty-sized mountain o' books that I will no read, want, or need. A lot of the books have been accumulated through college and grad school courses and I probably won't ever read 'em again. I was feeling the charitable vibe and was planning to donate them to local libraries, but then I thought, 'Ella -- you could probably gain a little bit of your money back ... look for online book-buy-back web sites!' And so I did. And what I came across was one of the most magnificent search engines known to woman called Book Scouter. You enter the ISBN number of the book{s} that you want to sell and it searches through the numerous buy-back web sites and generates a list for you of the bids that you would get from said sites. I spent a good part of last night and this afternoon typing in ISBN numbers and now a lot of my books are packed up and ready to move to Textbooks 'R Us, Book Jingle, Book Byte, textbooks.com, College Books Direct, and Powell's. I know that I probably spent way more to buy them, but I'm going to get back almost $200. Not too shabby for a few hours' work. Nor do I have to pay to ship them, thankyouverymuch. Each web site provided a handy dandy print-n-ship label upon checkout. My funds will go into PayPal, but you can also have them send you a check. I think, however, that PayPal will be a lot quicker. And, just so you know, the books that are not in those 7 boxes will be heading to the libraries of Pikeville College, the city of Pikeville, and UVa-Wise. So there.

Tomorrow's agenda includes delivering most of my packages to the post office and the UPS Store, going up on campus and submitting final grades and clean-and-clearing my office, and then coming back home to do some more work here. Feeling a little bit more positive this evening, but I still have an incredible amount of work to do! But, I promised a much more positive blog entry this evening, so here you go.

G'night to all!

sometimes even I am allowed to fall ...

Monday morning, here we are. It's not been the best morning in the world, but it will get better. I've got a lot to do and am still feeling overwhelmed, but at the same time I have a sense of peace about things. I know that everything is going to get done, I'm just being lazy and obstinate and do not really want to do it.

Have you ever just sat down in the middle of a mess and looked around and wanted to break down? That's kind of where I am at. The thing is, it's really probably not all that bad. I have a TON of things to do to be sure, but, for some reason, I don't want to do it. It's not because I don't want to move to Columbus; I think that I'd really just like to be able to snap my fingers and be automatically transported there, with all of my belongings ending up in the most natural and organized of places in my new apartment.

So, anyway, that's where I'm at this morning. It's 12:21 and I'm still in my pajamas ... I have gotten a few things accomplished, but not nearly as much as I feel that I would if I were dressed in up-and-at-em clothes. Tsk tsk.

I know that the past couple of entries have been whiny and boring, I promise that I'll do my best to make my next entry at least medially entertaining and upbeat!

Ciao for now!