CHICAGO!!!

To celebrate the end of finals, and to give myself a much needed break from my family, I am going to Chicago next Thursday. I catch a bus leaving from St. Louis at 4:35 pm, and will get to Chicago around 9:30 that night. Katrina is going to pick me up, and we will head back to her dorm to settle in for the night. Friday, she has to work so I will be spending time with her friends, and making plans with my own. Friday evening we will be heaidng out on the town to party! The will also be some much needed bonding time, as well as shopping. I don't get to see Katrina much, and in January she leaves to go to Washington D.C for an internship at the Capital Building. I am so excited for her! This is a great opportunity for her to see what it's like working with Foreign Relations.  Because she will be come, I won't get to see her again until the end of April when the internship is over and she comes home after Easter. I am so excited for next week and can't wait to spend some time in the Windy City with my best friend!

Drama at the Hut

At Waterloo Pizza hut, we are all kind of like a big family. Dan's our dad, Colleen is mom, and Ryan is the cool gay uncle. I say this because Dan stays out of our business for the most part. He doesn't show us much apprectiation, and doesn't seen to care too much about us. Colleen gets annoyed with everyone, but still will show you that she cares about you. Ryan was trained by some of the people that work on our team still, so it is hard for him to remember he is in charge of us some days, but he still shows his authority. Colleen and Ryan are constantly fighting though. Ryan is our assistant manager, Colleen is assistant manager also, but she is still training. Eventually she will be taking over our store. She already is in charge of the schedule. I went from working a steady 25 hours to 20 hours a week. I asked her about it and she didn't have much to say, just added a 4 hour shift. It's dumb because the new girl that was hired two weeks ago is getting thirty hours a week. I definitely think that I will be looking for another job soon because I will not put up with the new lady coming in and changing everything.

My Birthday!!!

Along with Thanksgiving, I got to celebrate my birthday! My best friend, Katrina, was in town from Chicago for the holiday, and we got to spend a lot of time together. After shopping on friday, I went home to relax, and then went to Denny's with Katrina, my friend Alex, and my friend Jeff. We had an awesome time laughing, and I got to catch up with everyone. We then all went to our seperate homes with plans for me to go to Katrina's after shopping Saturday morning.
Saturday evening I went to Katrina's and we made cookies with her sister and friend Christina. Later on Christina's sister, Jessica, joined us. We all played Apples-to-Apples. That was probably the most fun game I have ever played. We were all extremely loud and obnoxious all evening. Alex came over to play with us and the game got more intense as we neared midnight. I was yelling at Katrina to come over and take her turn while Jessica was yelling that I had a minute left until my birthday. Just as the clock struck twelve, Katrina turned around, presenting me with a half eaten cake left over from Thanksgiving. It had a number two candle as well as ten regular candles. It was probably the most amazing birthday I have had yet. When I finally left, I noticed that Jessica had written all over the frost on my windows telling me "Happy Birthday" and that she loved me. Awesome way to end the night!
Sunday morning, I woke up and got to open presents. I got a fuzzy bathrobe, some pajamas, and a t-shirt. Then we went to chruch, and back home to eat lunch. Mom and I went shopping and to deliever some things her cousins had ordered from my brother's school fundraiser. Then we went shopping for my coat!! That night, my friend Alex came over, and we watched Beauty and the Beast. After he left, I went to meet my friend Shelly to go to Denny's for dinner, then we went back to her house to play checkers. I know, checkers sounds lame, but he turned it into a drinking game. Instead of the checkers pieces, we used shot glasses. If your piece got jumped, you had to do that shot. If you lost the game, which I did, you had to down all of the rest of the other person's shots. My birthday weekend rocked!

Black Friday

After Thanksgiving supper with the Zimmers, I went home and took about an hour nap. At eleven at night, I woke up and got ready to go face the insanity at Wal-Mart. I went outside to start my car, and the door was frozen shut. I got it to open, and then it was frozen open! I moved my car into the drive-way on the back side of the house, and left my dad a note to find in the morning. My aunt came and picked me up, and we went to Wal-Mart. After wandering around and fighting through crowds, we went and picked up a ticket for and 19 inch television my Aunt's friend wanted. I got to sit in line and wait for it until five in the morning. My aunt wandered around trying to find random stuff on sale.
After we got the T.V. my aunt and I then headed to South County to go to K-Mart to pick up the peacoats for my mother and I. We also had to get a recliner for my Grandpa. I went home and realized the coat was just slightly to snug on me. That night, my aunt and I had to go pick up the chair, and I returned my coat and got a pair of tennis shoes instead.
That was the first, and probably last time I will ever go shopping on Black Friday. It was the dumbest thing I think I have ever done.

Thanksgiving

This year Thanksgiving was very much like it has been every year. Waking up fairly early(before 9) my entire family struggles to use one bathroom to get ready to leave for Grandma Wilhelm's for dinner. Always way more than what we need. My aunt Michelle and uncle Craig are foster parents now. Through a Christian organization they get kids that are in unsafe homes and take care of them until they can return home or find a new place to live. They are currently gaurdians of a two year old named Jerrica and her four year old sister, Aubrey. Jerrica and Aubrey have been in and out of foster care their entire lives. They were a welcome addition to our family, even if it is just for a short while. All of the family sat around the table playing Uno until Mom, my brothers, and I had to leave. Then we went to my Grandma and Grandpa Zimmer's for supper. Like always, Grandpa tried to force feed me apple and pumpkin pie until I was ready to burst. I will never leave that house hungry. Different from previous years, Aunt Kim didn't ask me about my love life or school life. Also, my sister was not there this year. It was strange not getting to spend the day with her. It made me realize how thankful I am to have had her in my life. It also told me just how much I want her back home.