Easter pictures...a week after

New Hair

No more Josh Groban!

Kegs and Eggs

I cringe at the title, but it must be done. St. Patrick's Day has come and gone, but tonight I remembered I hadn't shared how mine began. As I tried to pull myself out of a sleepy haze, I decided on black pants and a black and white shirt. Few people see me during the day, so I didn't care much how I looked; because of the state I found myself in, wearing green was the last thing on my mind; who really can get away with pinching a 27 year old female? Anyway, because I had class the next day, I stopped at Costco to fill up my car with liquid gold. While I was filling up, the gas shack person yelled over to me "ARE YOU GOING TO WORK OR ACROSS THE STREET". Um. By this point I still hadn't registered that her question had anything to do with the holiday I had forgotten. I said "nope, unfortunately just going to work". She says, “Bill (guy in delivery truck) invited me to go across the street to Arnie's for 'Kegs and Eggs'". So many of her words were foreign to me, but I think I pretended well. (Apparently Kegs and Eggs starts at 6:00am with beer and eggs in celebration of St. Patrick's Day. (I challenge you to think of a more disgusting combo). The shack girl explained, "ya, I went to that the year I turned 21...I was passed out before noon!" As the weather gets warmer here, I try to think of fun things Nate and I can do; if I can get bar stories at Costco, who needs Arnie's anyway?

Springtime for Hitler

Our week in review:

-I started my newest class (Career and Vocational Counseling) in a learning center that is a whopping 20 minutes closer to my house. It's odd to me that it really shaves that much time off my drives, but it really does and I'm happy about it. I'm not quite sold on the class though. Last Tuesday night, I arrived on time and I didn't get lost so I considered it a good omen. I also sat by a women who immediately was willing to chat with me about the upcoming course. It wasn't until class actually started that I saw that my chatty friend is also a bit flighty. Halfway through class, she turned to me and asked me if I had and/or had seen her phone. Phone theft is a good way to make friends, but I really hadn't this time, so I quietly told her no. Class continued (the instructor is most likely brilliant, but she is unwilling to email her students a copy of her powerpoint presentation; her explanation for her quick manner of lecturing: "this is in the reading". No kidding; why are you forcing me to read all of it? At the end of class, the instructor, noting some of the dirty looks as a result of the quick lecture, asked if anyone had any questions. My friend raised her hand and said "Okay, I had my phone right HERE; I went up to the front of the room to turn my paper in, and now it's gone". So, perhaps phone theft isn't a great way to meet friends, but neither is accusing an entire classroom full of Master's students? A resourceful classmate offered to call her phone, to see if we could find it. Moments later, the girl's bag started to buzz. "OH OKAY, HERE IT IS". The case is solv-ed.

-This week Toledo enjoyed more than 2 days of sunshine, which allowed a significant amount of snow to melt. I was almost convinced spring would arrive soon. Nate and I celebrated the arrival of the warm weather by talking a walk in the local park. Our celebration should have been held on Friday, because today we have been without sun. It was still nice to get out, get some sorely needed exercise, and put the scarf Ruth gave me to good use; we were frozen when our hour was up.

-Nate and I dedicated this morning to what was labeled "Spring Cleaning". I didn't go through a single drawer, or make a single pile for the DI/Goodwill, but we did manage to clean the bathroom, kitchen, bedroom (complete with vacuuming)*, so we'll call it whatever we want.

*these activities are sometimes rare, please be impressed

-This week I was (once again) deeply impressed for the need for me to continue my education. Some could say, "that just means your job sucks"*, but I say it's an opportunity for me to appreciate the sacrifice Nate makes to work hard at school, along with my own sacrifice to attend school. This will mean that I can leave said job at an undetermined time somewhere in the future. Some people like to get through a job by looking forward to vacation time, I like to look forward to something a little more permanent.

*true

-I kept thinking this would be the week for more babies for the Harrison fam-and while for health reasons I hope the girls don't come yet, I am getting really anxious for a Liz II and Liz III. Those were the names you agreed on, right Jim?

Ms. Groban, school, and disease

I have been more than absent from posting in the last few weeks, so I'll try to update and/or give excuses to why there have been no words from Liz.

-3 weeks ago I went to my hair stylist and bravely said, "I want my hair cut short and colored blond". She awarded my bravery with: "Well, we only have you down for a haircut, and we close at five, so...." What the ellipses don't tell you is that it's apparently impossible to color short hair in 2 hours (Annie can prove this wrong) so I settled on a haircut and a promise that a glaze would make my hair look amazing. I like shorter hair, but it's not short enough, and when I wear

it curly, it looks a lil like:



And while I enjoy the new fame this hairstyle has awarded me, I'm not done with you, Nagem*.

-I have finished my first class at the University of Phoenix in Michigan. I'm happy to say that I earned a good grade, know more about addiction, and can now say I have made it through a powerpoint presentation with repeated words, spelling errors, and a slide used on a different presentation without too much embarrassment. Although this was never a worry with Hollie and Stacie, I have learned I shouldn't assume everyone can spell/use words correctly. I feel it is important to point out I was not in charge of this powerpoint, but was clever enough to work in the twice-used slide without anyone noticing (I think).

-After several weeks of research, typing, and inner turmoil, Nate finished his some 25 page "brief". I join Nate in questioning the logic of calling the assignment brief, but he worked really hard, went a bit crazy, and is glad it is finished. To celebrate his and his fellow classmates’ accomplishment, we all went to an Indian restaurant that could drive Royal India out of its place next to a gamer shop in a Sandy strip mall. The food was good, the company was entertaining, and some present proved that living around 30 + years on the earth doesn't mean one can't be considered obnoxious...sorry fellow diners...it wasn't me.

-The past week, I have fallen to a cold that has probably been chasing me for the last couple of months. My boss isn't really in to letting people stay home when ill, so the healthy ones get to enjoy guessing who will fall prey next. This week it was me and another co-worker. I still went to work, hoping to be able to leave early if the other girl showed up. She didn't. Two days into my cold, my boss came over to me and gave me two Airbourne tablets as if that would take away what I was suffering from. For those who are unfamiliar, Airbourne is great, but they are also only preventative...so when offered the tablets, I was both insulted and amused. By Friday, 3 days into the cold, I planned to show up to work, but leave early no matter what; I needed a nap, and it was my turn. Early in the day, it was set up that I could leave at 2pm. 3 and 1/2 hours early...lucky! As I was leaving, my boss was getting ready to go to Costco to get "MORE OF THOSE LYSOL WIPES TO CLEAN IT UP IN HERE". He also asked the other girl who is sick if she thought we could leave the windows open over the weekend (it's currently a Level II snowstorm) to "air out all the disease". I can appreciate one not wanting to get sick, but leprosy isn't currently a problem (right?), and a cold doesn't = disease. Let me stay home and you'll save on Lysol, I promise.


*Name has been changed

Saturday is a special day

A few weeks ago, during one of our bi-weekly visits to Costco, Nate and I picked up a flier for "Healthy Heart Day!" We signed up for a free blood pressure and cholesterol test for this Saturday at 11:00am. I think we were actually on time for something, but unfortunately I don't know how much it mattered (I will still reference this event if I'm ever accused of being chronically late). We sat down with the two nurses and while they were taking my blood sample, a very heavy older man strolled by with his shopping cart "What are you guys doing?" he says; Nurse: "Free cholesterol screening" Old man: (rolling his eyes and turning quickly away) "Humph". He acted as if he didn't move fast enough one of the nurses would check that cholesterol whether he liked it or not. I started giggling, so I put my head down. My nurse, complete with a knife-stabbing-a-heart-named-Chuck tattoo on her arm, asked me if I was okay. All throughout this time, Nate, being his chatty self, was attempting to get some/any feedback on his test results...Nate: "so what is a good ratio for LDL?" Nurses: (I can't say I remember any response). Nate tried a few times with no luck, so I decided to be an expert and review the results. Once we were done, we walked over to ask the pharmacist if he could recommend anything to assist Nate and his triglycerides..."um, you could buy some supplements here, but they won't really do anything, so you should just get a prescription". Unsure whether that was an endorsement for doctors, prescriptions, or Costco products, we took a stroll through the supplement aisle. So it was lunchtime, we were at Costco, and Nate's triglycerides are high...Nate says..."Hotdogs for lunch?"

I heart Detriot

I am excited to report that I am officially a student once again! And while my commute is about 6-7 times longer than my last jaunts to school, it still feels worth it. My first day was a couple of Mondays ago; I was excited because in order to make it to the Detroit campus on time, I need to leave work by 4:30pm. The hour of freedom is quickly eaten up by driving with not so courteous Michiganites and the ridiculous truckers that are constantly passing through. The first week, I did not yet have my new cd player installed, so I spent this time talking to...myself. Not the entire time of course, just when: 1-I got off on the wrong exit and guessed which on-ramp would be the best choice, 2-when I drove past the University of Phoenix building 4+ times without realizing it, and then 3-again when I finally spotted the enormous lettering I should have noticed through the black sky and rain. I made my way up to the student resource center, looking for a monitor to tell me what classroom I should head to. They don't have monitors, and I was ill-prepared with information, so I asked the woman at the desk which classroom addictions and dependency was in. Her reply: "do you have the class number?" Liz: "no, I don't." Woman: "do you have the instructor's name?" Liz: "no, I actually don't have that either." Woman: (more as a statement than question) "so you don't know nuthin." Liz: "right". Anyway, I soon figured out I was in fact in the wrong building. Something about my plight and sudden cussing made this woman want to be my friend, so she nicely explained how to get to the correct building... I got to my class about 15-20 minutes late and discovered that for the next six weeks, I will not only learn about addiction, I will experience life as a minority in the classroom. For the next few hours, we went over scenarios of clients who all had almost impressive combinations of plights, e.g., bipolar, formerly used cocaine, now on methadone and still drinks, just found out partner died of aids, has been arrested for fighting with police officers, may or may not have an std they haven't checked out yet...I was too embarrassed to participate in the role playing, so I sat back, ate my peanut butter and honey, and thought about my long drive home.