I love my job?! Nope

...I know that's wrong to say but this job is literally sucking the life out of me. Just being honest. I've only worked there a month and my coworkers are some of the best people to work with, mainly because we're the only ones who know what the others are going through. I love working with kids but these kids might push me to jump off the roof..take a look:

Yep, those are bite marks that are THREE days old, so they've healed a bit over the past 48 hours or so since the incident happened. Not gonna lie, it hurts like a son of bitch, which I've also been called by the way. (Side note: the middle aged lady that was the cashier at Walmart thought that I was a victim of domestic abuse and insisted that I take the number for the Domestic Abuse Hotline when she saw my arm). These aren't the only bruises I've accumulated over the past month, my legs are covered with bruises of varying sizes from kicks and punches and pinches. I ended up with a black eye after a kid punched me in the face. Oh, and don't forget the spitting!

I don't get paid enough...don't mean to sound ungrateful because I am to have a full time job (with benefits!), just venting :)

10 Weeks and 1,101 Miles

That's how long until Dan's time at Officer Candidate School will last and how long the car ride will be in order to see his commissioning at the end of March. That is a lot of time and a lot of miles! Now Dan and I are not the kind of couple that has to spend every waking minute together (in fact, we haven't ever spent more than 3 days in a row together) but it is still hard when the only form of communication for the first three weeks is through letters (old school!) and then only phone calls on the weekends after that. Saying goodbye was really hard, but so far not being able to text him to tell him little things throughout the day has almost been harder. Waiting for the first letter to come in the mail is kind of exciting though!

One Year

...yep the boy and I have been together for one whole year! That's weird to type mainly because this past year has flown by! We've been dating for a year and we legitimately only have two good decent pictures together, mainly because he doesn't like to take pictures with me (haha) or when he does, we can't stay serious long enough to get a good one and give up after the first try...

This is more typical:

And now that I've embarrassed myself with the previous picture, it's back to burrowing under the covers on this cold and snowy day and watching a marathon of Gangland...

Rolo Cookies

These look so yummy and easy to make...putting rolos on my grocery list for my next shopping trip!

Here's the recipe:

1 pkg. Rolo's
1 box Devils Food Cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 c. oil

Mix cake mix, oil, and eggs. Take a small ball of dough and form a ball around the rolo. (Only use enough dough to cover the rolo so it can spread through the cookie.)

Place on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 7-8 minutes. Yields about 3 dozen.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired.

These sound easy enough that I don't think even I could mess these up...

Adorable...and Cheap

...which means I want it! This ring is so cute and simple and can go with anything! I found it on pinterest which led me to etsy (for only $10!). I'm contemplating buying it for myself as a Valentine's Day present ;)

 

Here's where you can find it for yourself!

A Resolution...That Has Nothing To Do With Losing Weight

Now that I don't have to worry about getting homework done or cramming for a test, I've found that I have a lot more free time than I once did. So one of my new year's resolutions is to read a book a week (within reason, of course). I grabbed a bunch of books on the free shelf at the public library over the course of the summer but didn't have time to get through them all once school started. This is the book I'm currently reading:

THE STORY OF FOUR WOMEN . . .Years ago, they were girls, not women–the last generation of American females to be called 'girls'–who traveled down the Mississippi River . . . on a makeshift raft while they were on summer vacation . . . There were twelve of them on that trip; now there are these four, brought together by tragedy. One of their classmates . . . has died in an automobile wreck (was it really an accident?), and her husband has asked the old friends to re-create the river journey and scatter her ashes at the mouth of the Mississippi. . . . It's a reunion of classmates with all of the in-between revealed in intimate detail, as only a skilled and classy storyteller can do it."

—The Boston Globe

So far it is a really good book but I'm only half way through it so I'll have to wait until the end to come to my full conclusion.

Anybody have any other books they liked and would suggest I check out? 

I Shall Call Him Squishy, And He Shall Be Mine

So my apartment doesn't allow cats or dogs (if they did, my parents would have shipped their cat Ralph here a long time ago), so the only "pet" I can own is a fish. I've had many betta fishes before, as well as the sucker fishes that eat the algae off the tank walls (he didn't last very long, however, and getting him unstuck from the tank after he died wasn't pleasant). I'm back to having a betta, mainly because they are so easy to take care of and pretty to look at. :)

He is almost albino, with a slight tint of red and bit of blue on the fins. I haven't thought of a name for him yet so if you have any suggestions, let me know!

Officially Official

My diploma finally came in the mail today! I officially became an alum from Iowa State University. It felt official as I checked online that I passed all my classes (not that there was any doubt...), became even more official when I walked across the stage, but now that I have the paper in my hand, I can truly say that I am a college graduate!

Because I was in a pre-professional option (OT) they put all of us in the liberal arts category, even though it was more science than I ever want to remember...dumb!

Jess came to watch me walk...best friend ever!

The parentals and I after the ceremony

With Cy...the best mascot in college sports :)

Celebratory drinks..at Thumbs!

After a few beverages...

...and after a few too many!

My time at ISU was some of the craziest and most fun, but also full of challenges and stressful situations...I wouldn't change it for the world though!

Homewreckers vs. Lovemakers

I was going to name this post Music Monday...corny title...no? I couldn't really think of anything better at first but then the snippet above just came to me, I know, I know, I'm so creative!  I was cleaning around the apartment today and these two songs came up on shuffle and I had to replay them both a couple of times over. The inspiration for these songs are completely opposite but I love them both the same! :)

Hell on Heels- Pistol Annies...love this song and their voices blend so well together, plus who doesn't love some Miranda Lambert?!?

I'll Be Your Lover Too- Van Morrison...considering this as my wedding song..at my imaginary wedding, of course!

It Hasn't Hit Me Yet...

So I was driving around Ames today and the volume of traffic was much heavier than in the past two weeks. Which can only mean one thing...school is about to start back and the students are rolling back into town. While I've officially graduated, I don't think that it has hit me yet that I won't be sitting in a desk come Monday morning listening to a prof read me a syllabus that I can clearly read myself. It will also be strange to not be ordering any textbooks, and instead I'm filling out my benefits package for my new, FULL-TIME job. Strange days, I tell you...

60 In January?!?

So here I sit typing this in shorts and a t-shirt with the windows open. Sounds like an occasion that would happen during the spring instead of the middle of January! I can't believe that it is 60 degrees on the 5th day of January, normally around this time we have already had a blizzard and people are hunkering down for a long winter. Instead I see people running outside (something I should be doing!) or playing frisbee with their kids after school. This global warming is no joke! Hoping the weather can hold out for the whole winter! :)

New Pup...That I'm Totally Going to Steal!

So my house has always been a haven for animals that are abandoned or left over from previous owners, or simply dropped out at our house because their owners can't take of them or no longer have any desire to do so. We used to have lots of beagles that we bred and sold but Dad put the brakes on that once all these random animals seemed to show up at our house! Now he calls our house: "the Haag home for geriatric animals"...pretty clever huh? He seems to think so...

Back when the bro and I were kids we had a beagle named Sadie, but that didn't seem to be enough so the parentals let us each adopt a cat from the county shelter and we got to name them, Rambler and Chevy. What can I say, we were into cars I guess. I can't seem to find a picture of them off hand but they're both still alive and kicking!

Oh and for a summer, the neighbors housed three of their ponies in our pasture (they've also had chickens and pigs too, we're a regular petting zoo out on Campfire Rd.!) and all had many good, terrifying attempts at breaking the wild boy pony...my brother even went to the ER to get stitches from a bite to the shoulder!

The next animal that popped up at our house was Tess. We think she is part black lab and part greyhound but can't know for sure because somebody dropped her off on our road and told her to stay. And she is such a good dog that she did...for three whole days. Finally my dad picked her up and took her home and she hasn't left since. Tess is such a sweet dog and probably wouldn't anything except for the coyotes if they get too close. She loves getting treats from the UPS man and he knows to pack extra if he's coming to our house. :)

Casey was the next dog that came to live at our house. He was a chocolate lab that was originally my cousin's dog but he no longer took care of him and sent him off to my aunt. She lived in town and Casey love to run and play outside all the time and being out in the country suited him better, so out to the Haag ranch he went. He used to sleep in my parents bed and was quite the bed hog, loved to go for rides in the car with my dad, and begging for scraps from my brother!

 For awhile after Sadie and Casey died, mom and dad thought they were done adopting random animals and were going to slowly ween themselves off of new pets until they didn't have any. That is, until our neighbors moved away and left their 85,000 cats behind. Lucky for us we only ended up with one cat, but boy is he one of a kind. He meows constantly until he gets food, so my dad named him Ralph after a friend who talks non-stop. This cat also thinks he is a dog, chasing after balls and responding to Tess's name instead of his own. He also thinks Tess's bed is his own and sleeps with her every night. When he came to our house he was very skinny, but now he's close to a solid 20 pounds! He also isn't the sharpest tool in the shed...

The most recent addition to the family is Blaze/Hank. Dad says he looks more like a Hank so he is on a mission to change is name. Anyway... Blaze/Hank came from the brother's girlfriend's family. They recently got another dog, and living in town, couldn't handle having three large house dogs...or something. So now we have another lab back in the house and have completed the lab trifecta by having one in every color. Blaze/Hank is a yellow lab who is about 3.5 years old with lots of energy and loves to play fetch and sit in your lap even though he is an 80 pound dog!

I'm thinking this will pet will last my parents for a while since Blaze/Hank is so young compared to the other animals, but who knows? My parents can't seem to turn down a helpless animal :)

How Will I Ever Choose?

Monday nights for the next couple months will full of coin tossing and debate...why you ask? Because three of my favorite shows returned from hiatus and they are on at the same time!

Pretty Little Liars is on ABC Family at 7 (I know, I know...the show seems like its more geared for teens but the show is seriously addicting!)

The Bachelor is on at 7 on ABC as well. I actually had not really paid any attention to the Bachelor/Bachelorette until last season but when I starting watching last summer I was hooked!

How I Met Your Mother is on a CBS at 7 as well. I have been watching this show since about season 3 and watched the first two on Hulu to get caught up...one of my all time favorite shows!

I missed ALL of them last night because I had to work, but most Mondays I won't be working nights and I am planning on watching The Bachelor live and the other two on the internet the next day (mainly because watching videos on ABC sucks!)