Hello, dear readers. I am sorry I have left you so long without knowing the goings-on of my life. I hope that you can find it in your hearts to forgive me...

Life is good. Lots of coming and going. I feel as though much of my time is spent either A) working, B) in Arlington, or C) driving between Abilene and Arlington. That stretch of I-20 and I have become quite familiar with each other as of late. :)

I had to charge at work today. Not my favorite task, but one I am slowly becoming more comfortable with. It helps to have great coworkers who are supportive and willing to lend some knowledge and experience in areas where I am still lacking a bit.

I am still loving being engaged. :) As a matter of fact, I don't anticipate this being something I will ever feel any less excited about. I get more and more excited every day. Charles is pretty much amazing, and I smile every time I think about the fact that I get to spend my life with him. The people I work with tell me I start glowing every time his name is mentioned. I don't argue with them. I know it's true. I miss him. But I get to see him tomorrow, and this makes me happy.

I also miss my puppy. She stayed in Arlington with my parents when I came back to Abilene on Tuesday. I kind of think they might like her a little bit. She likes them too, so it works out pretty well. But I think she likes me too, and I hear she misses me. I am excited to see her tomorrow too.

I am tired. I think maybe I will go to bed soon. But I will leave you with a story:

When I got home on Tuesday night, I was exhausted. By the time I finally got home and settled and wound down for the night, it was probably around 11 or so. I was excited to sleep. Just before I drifted off to sleep, a very loud chirping noise jerked me back to life. A cricket had taken up residence in my bedroom. Not acceptable. I got out of bed and attempted to locate the thing. By following the chirps, I determined that it was hiding somewhere in the bookshelf by my bedroom door. I could not find it. But the noise I made while looking for it seemed to scare it into silence, so I gave up and went back to bed. About 5 minutes later, again, just as I was about to fall asleep, the chirping began again. Again, I made a fruitless attempt to locate the culprit. Again, it shut up and I went back to bed. This continued for quite some time. Probably an hour or more. Eventually, I stopped getting up to try to find the cricket, and resorted to tossing my pillow in its general direction to scare it into silence. The last time I remember looking at the clock, it was around 1:55. I'm not sure if it finally stopped chirping for good, or if I fell asleep to its screeching lullaby. Fast forward to Wednesday night. I went to bed fairly early, having not fully recovered from the previous night's activity. Again, about 5 minutes after I turned out the lights, the familiar chirping began. This night I was not having it. I was determined that this creature would not be responsible for 2 sleepless nights in a row. I got up, turned on the lights, and began my hunt. I finally located the stupid thing on one of the shelves in my bookcase behind some books. (And when I say "located," I mean it jumped up practically into my face and just about scared the life out of me.) The chase was on. I grabbed a nearby piece of paper and attempted to catch the little guy. Let me tell you, crickets are quite speedy, and are blessed with some impressive jumping skills. After a brief chase around the room, I was finally able to catch him with my paper trap. As soon as I had him, I immediately squished him without a second thought. No more cricket keeping me awake at night! I went back to bed feeling triumphant at first, but then surprisingly guilty. I actually felt bad for killing the nuisance that had kept me awake almost all of the preceding night. Charles told me I shouldn't feel bad because it probably didn't feel bad for keeping me awake. I understand his logic, but I still can't help but feel a pang of guilt whenever I think about it. But don't worry... I'm not losing any sleep over it. And I mean that quite literally... :)