At the End of the Day

Thoughts on Teaching

2011-04-18T21:28:00.000-05:00

1. Kids pretty much always come in smiling.

2. Every classroom is different.

3. Every school is different.

4. Teachers make mistakes too.

5. When the teacher makes a mistake, one student will always point it out.

6. There really is something about full moons and rainy days that makes kids crazy.

7. Daily 5 can work really well if it's done in an organized manner.

8. I love doing a community circle because it gives students a chance to share something each day and allows the teacher and students to get to know one another.

9. Kids love routine and if you do something out of order they WILL let you know.

10. Classroom jobs can be a life saver or a beating.

11. Kids know more than we think they know.

12. A lot of students, especially boys, really love social studies.

13. I love to talk to kids about writing and improving their writing.

14. Some kids work super fast while others work super SLOW.

15. Repetition!

16. Kids will never grow tired of Magic School Bus, and sometimes it's just needed.

17. Lunch monitors are heaven sent. Unfortunately not every district has them.

18. The weekends rejuvenate you for the next week, but they are never long enough.

19. Even though you love kids, it doesn't mean you should be a teacher.

20. Substitute teachers have a difficult job and it's hard to figure out what the lesson plans mean sometimes.

21. Students will test a substitute! If you give an inch, they take a mile.

22. If one kid goes to the bathroom, everyone will want to go too.

23. Organization is definitely something that some kids DON'T have.

24. One student can change the mood for the whole day.

25. There should be a bathroom in every classroom in my opinion.

I'm a Rangers Fan

2011-04-04T20:29:00.014-05:00

I'm so excited for the baseball season has started!

Go Rangers!

My birthday 20052007 with my cousin, Melissa Teddi's first Rangers game - a double header! (May 2009) Rangers v. Padres (June 2009) July 2009 - Rangers v. Mariners July 2009 for Mindy's birthday. April 2010 Opening Day 2011 Can't wait for more games this season!

Coffee and Beignets

2011-03-07T21:23:00.004-06:00

For my mom's birthday this year I gave her a new Cafe Du Monde mug because her other one broke recently. I also gave her a couple boxes of beignet mix and a can of French Roast coffee.

Tonight we made beignets from the mix and they were super easy to make. They were pretty good but I'd like to have the real thing too! I think I ate too many!

Cinnamon Rolls

2011-02-05T12:56:00.007-06:00

It's been a long week with all the ice and snow everywhere and a delicious family breakfast was needed for this Saturday morning. I also really needed something to do to keep me occupied. Even though it was late in the morning, I really had my mind set on cinnamon rolls which usually take a while. I eventually found a recipe that was quick with no rise time and went to work. It took about an hour to prepare and bake my very first homemade cinnamon rolls. I even made a cream cheese frosting to go on top. They were delicious, but very sweet! We definitely were in a sweet food coma after indulging.

Graduation!

2010-12-15T10:13:00.003-06:00

It's a strange feeling of graduating from college. I've been in school for the last 17 years of my life and now I'm done. For now, I'm not continuing with another degree but you never know what the future holds. I'll be doing some substitute teaching for the remainder of the school year (unless a job opportunity arises) and I should be able to get a job for the 2011-2012 school year since I have my contract from doing ETI in Garland ISD.

No one ever tells us how much paper work is involved in graduating from college and getting a job. They also never told us how much money it would cost to get a teaching certificate, finger printing, taking tests, etc. I can't wait until I actually have a paying job!

December 18, 2010 at 5 pm, I will graduate from University of North Texas :D

Nelson Cruuuuuz!!!

2010-09-11T22:13:00.003-05:00

Friday night, Teddi and I ventured off to our last Rangers' game of the season against the New York Yankees. We ended up running late to the game due to traffic and serious trouble parking. We didn't get into the ballpark until nearly an hour into the game after looking for parking for more than half an hour. On our way searching for a parking spot I mentioned that maybe the game would run long since we got there late. In that case, I wouldn't feel so sad for missing part of the game. Little did we know, 5 hours later we would still be there awaiting the end of the game thanks to Nelson Cruz tying the game in the bottom of the 8th inning. And guess what! We got on TV!!! There we are, the little blobs. Too bad we didn't get the ball.

Two chigago dogs, 2 Diet Cokes, 11 pitchers, 5 hours and 12 minues and a walk-off homerun by Nelson Cruz in the bottom of the 13th inning later, the Rangers beat the Yankees. In fact, it was the longest game in Rangers' history and we tied an MLB record for the most pitchers used by one team in a game...and set a team record for most pitchers used in a game. (I think the Yankees used 9 pitchers...so you can imagine all the pitching changes we witnessed)

It was an amazing game and we had the best time even though it was past midnight and we were dead tired!

Next on the list...buy a Nelson Cruz shirt :)

Nickel

2010-08-22T12:46:00.004-05:00

I don't wear earrings often because I am allergic to nickel, which most earrings contain. It's pretty much the only thing known that I am allergic to. My ears get itchy and hurt after less than an hour of wearing most earrings so I typically choose to go without them. A while back I was told to put neosporin on the stem of the earring, then place in my ear and they would no longer bother me. This morning I decided to try it out and it works! I've never worn these earrings before so I don't know how I would normally react to this pair. I'll have to try it out on a pair that I know give me irritation. I am pleased with the results.

Parenting

2010-08-10T10:08:00.005-05:00

I'm not a parent, nor do children respond to me like I am a parent. It's a tough situation to be in when trying to get kids to obey and be respectful. I'm at that interesting age where I am an adult, yet often I am not respected as one by children because I am younger and more of a "friend". It bothers me...a lot.

I've cared for lots of different kids over the years and I have to treat each set of kids differently because of how they are raised by their own parents. While something may work with one group of kids, it may backfire on me with another group. It's hard to adjust and very frustrating when kids don't respond in the way you want them to because they are not used to that form of direction. I try to mimmick they way parents raise their kids but sometimes it's not the way I would normally do things or kids just don't respond the same way because I'm not their mom.

When I have my own kids, whenever that may be, my hope is that I will raise them to be respectful of everyone they encounter regardless of their age.

For now I will continue to watch parents to take the bits and pieces of parenting styles I agree with and store them up until I have my own kids.

Away

2010-07-30T15:56:00.007-05:00

I've been away. I haven't really been interested in blogging lately.

On a side note; I passed both of my teacher certification tests!
Also, I will be student teaching with a 1st grade and 2nd grade class in Allen ISD this fall.

On another side note; my new favorite song is playing on the radio right now. I was thinking about it but I couldn't remember the name of it or who plays it. I turned on the radio for the off chance it would be playing and it is!!!

Matt Maher: Hold Us Together

It don't have a job, don't pay your bills

Won't buy you a home in Beverly Hills

Won't fix your life in five easy steps

Ain't the law of the land or the government

But it's all you need

And love will hold us together

Make us a shelter to weather the storm

And I'll be my brother's keeper

So the whole world will know that we're not alone

It's waiting for you knocking at your door
In the moment of truth when your heart hits the floor

And you're on your knees

And love will hold us together
Make us a shelter to weather the storm
And I'll be my brother's keeper
So the whole world will know that we're not alone

This is the first day of the rest of your life
This is the first day of the rest of your life
'Cause even in the dark, you can still see the light
It's gonna be alright, it's gonna be alright

This is the first day of the rest of your life
This is the first day of the rest of your life
'Cause even in the dark, you can still see the light
it's gonna be alright, it's gonna be alright

Love will hold us together
Make us a shelter to weather the storm
And I'll be my brother's keeper
So the whole world will know that we're not alone.

In Transition

2010-05-12T21:32:00.002-05:00

...again

My life is full of change and transitions and I'm yet at another point of change. Isn't that just how life is though? Today marked my successful completion of PDS 1 (Professional Development School, first phase). What a whirlwind of a semester it was! In my whole life, I don't think I've ever done SO much in such a short amount of time!

At the end of the month I will be moving back to Garland, and August will be the beginning of my full time student teaching journey. Basically, I'll be working but not getting paid. I'm sure it will be an experience to say the least.

Moving back to Garland will be bittersweet. I've grown used to my own space in Denton and I'll miss it, but I'm not going to miss paying the bills. Since I've been gone I've missed my family and the random music fests and energy, but I'm sure I'll miss the peace and quiet that I love in Denton.

I'll adjust my life to a new norm and get back into the flow of things again soon enough. For now I'll relax and enjoy my last few weeks in Denton in solitude.

My Semester

2010-05-06T13:51:00.007-05:00

In case anyone has been wondering why I've been so stressed and busy this semester...

Only one more assignment to go!!! plus a field trip and a final...but still.

Experiments

2010-03-28T19:23:00.007-05:00

My inquiring mind wondered if it was possible to make a real chocolate chip cookie out of the cookie dough balls in Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream. A fellow experimenter took on the challenge and began the process by picking out the cookie dough balls from the ice cream. She then rinsed off each ball and molded them together into a cookie shape. We didn't stop there. We wanted to find out if it mattered if there was still ice cream on the dough. We took out more dough balls and pushed them together. It didn't quite look like the first because they were more frozen and didn't blend the same way. We cooked at 350 degrees for about 13 minutes. Voila!

They turned out to be really good cookies!

(left: rinsed dough) (right: unrinsed dough)

Spring Break

2010-03-18T10:37:00.006-05:00

Dallas Zoo

Painting Adventures

The Harbor

Hot Cereal Novice

2010-03-12T11:38:00.004-06:00

In an attempt to eat more healthy, I decided to buy a box of oatmeal/hot cereal...whatever you want to call it. My decision was to try Oat Bran Hot Cereal because it had microwave and stovetop directions. It seemed simple enough.

This morning I followed the microwave directions thinking I could cook it for 1-2 minutes, stir it, then cook it again without paying much attention to it. Little did I know after the second time in the microwave that it would overflow out of the bowl. Novice.

I cleaned out the microwave and trashed what remained. The stovetop was my next option.

Mission complete. Added brown sugar and a banana; breakfast was served. Yum.

BREAKING NEWS

2010-03-12T10:48:00.000-06:00

Marvelous Mocha is even better!

Midnight Chocolate Milk

2010-03-11T19:33:00.005-06:00

Even though it's not midnight,

I tried something new tonight.

It's amazing.

I'll try Marvelous Mocha tomorrow.

There is even a verse on the bottle

"He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey." Deuteronomy 26:9

Epic

2010-02-11T13:41:00.002-06:00

We call him Epic
(built by us and a couple of other guys in the apartment complex)

Dead

2010-02-09T16:09:00.004-06:00

I don't like the word dead. It just doesn't sit right with me, but it keeps coming up all day. This morning on my drive to Allen, I saw a dead dog on the side of the road covered by a blanket. A student in my class talked about how her dog was dead and I mentioned mine was too. On the way home, I witnessed a dog get hit by a school bus. I saw it alive, and then it was dead. That image is stuck in my head.

It all happened so fast.

A gray and white wolf-like dog began to cross the narrow two-lane road. My mind was racing as I was remembering the time I hit the cat. I hoped the dog would make it across. The cars ahead of me screeched to a halt, and I hoped the bus nearing the dog on the opposite side of the road would stop too. It didn't stop. The dog went down. I slammed on my breaks when I finally looked away from the dog and back onto the car in front of me. I stopped inches away. The car behind me was inches away. I looked through the rear-view mirror at the woman on the passenger side who was flailing her arms and freaking out. I kept moving as the next car blocked the road on both sides. The driver, a man, got out and grabbed the dog by it's still spinning tail to move it to the side of the road. The dog was obviously dead as blood was dripping from it's mouth. It's a sight I will probably never forget.

5 am

2010-02-09T06:06:00.001-06:00

Getting up at 5 am is hard. Making myself go to bed at 10 is even harder.

I can't wait until I live closer to Allen so I don't have to get up so early.

2010

2010-02-07T21:32:00.003-06:00

I haven't updated by blog yet in 2010 and it's already February. The reason for this would be the great deal of stress I have been under since the semester began. The semester will continue to be this way I'm sure.

Goals for 2010:

Lose 5-10 lbs. by the summer (i.e. fit into my clothes that are getting too tight)
Exercise (see above ^^^)
Keep my sanity.
Learn a lot about becoming a teacher and become more comfortable with the fact that it's creeping up on me very quickly.
Eat more healthy food.
Eat less junk food.
Look for the positive in every situation and be more positive.
Get more sleep.

Happy February

Family

2009-12-27T20:47:00.004-06:00

'Twas the Day Before Christmas

2009-12-24T16:41:00.004-06:00

Snow Snow, come and stay
Please be here for Christmas Day

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
Just like the one I never knew

figured I'd change up a few songs to fit my thoughts

I've been baking cookies most of the day and listening to Christmas music. It's nice to have a day at home.

Merry Christmas Eve

Proposals

2009-12-21T23:29:00.002-06:00

One evening several months ago I was with a friend at Target. We went to get one special thing. I think it was a bar of chocolate to have s'mores. The young lady in front of us was with a middle aged woman and they were excited and giddy buying a wedding magazine. She began talking about how she had just gotten proposed to and was showing off her ring to the cashier lady. She mentioned that the man of her dreams had proposed only an hour earlier.

My question is: Why was she at Target buying a magazine instead of spending time with her new finance?

It just doesn't make sense.

Oh, Bananas!

2009-12-18T11:18:00.011-06:00

If anyone knows me, they know I love to make (and eat) banana bread. If they know me even better, they know that I happen to make the best banana bread in the world. It's true. The recipe says so. Since I don't have much money to buy people gifts, or even buy cards, I decided I would make mini loaves of banana bread to give away to people. I didn't really have any particular people in mind...just whoever I happened upon who looked like they needed banana bread. Don't worry. I gave it to people I know.

After making three batches (each batch makes 3 mini loaves, so 9 loaves), I bagged them up in cute Christmas bags and began giving them away. My roommate was a recipient of one of these loaves. She thought it was a cute idea, so she asked if I could help her make some to give away to people at her work. Last night we went to town. We made six more batches (18 mini loaves). Let me tell you, it was a task.

So what do I do this morning? Make more banana bread. I had to. I couldn't go without making it an even ten loaves (total of 30 mini loaves). I can smell the banana bread now...mmmm.

Even after all the exhausting work of making so much bread, I still want to make more. I just want to give it to everyone I know!

Maybe I should start a business...

Then I'll have to start charging :)

Charged

2009-12-17T21:12:00.003-06:00

I went to Kroger to get some soup to have for dinner tonight with a grilled cheese sandwich. I grabbed 5 cans of Campbell's soup (in a wide variety) so I could have some for the future. After scanning my items at the self check out, I swiped my gift card to pay for the soup.

I thought I had enough left on the card.
Maybe I should have checked sooner.

The screen read that I still had 16 cents left to pay.
I had 2 cents in my wallet.

I had to charge my debit card for 16 cents.

I think that's a world record.

Love it!

2009-12-14T21:54:00.006-06:00

The other day I went to Santa's Village. I haven't been there in many years but it has always been a favorite childhood memory. We always went when I was a kid. We got back late and it was time for lil' T to go to bed. We had a conversation that went something like this:

lil' T: I want to stay here and snuggle up with you.

Me: Well, your daddy wants you to go upstairs to bed.

lil' T: Are you staying here tonight?

Me: No, I have to go to my own house tonight.

Trev gets sad.

Me: Why are you so sad?

lil' T: Because I love you.

Isn't that just the sweetest thing?

Legs

2009-12-12T23:23:00.004-06:00

Back in October, Teddi and I decided we wouldn't shave our legs until January 1st. It was a decision we made when we were very tired and little loopy. I don't recommend those decisions.

We would check up on each other each week to make sure we were staying on task. They got to be pretty disgusting. The one week we didn't check up on each other, I had secretly shaved my ankles and she had secretly shaved one of her legs. We decided to move the date up to December 1st. A few weeks later I was relieved to find out she had shaved both her legs. I shaved mine the next day. It took forever! I think I went about 2 months without shaving.

There are no pictures and nor will there ever be.

I won't be doing this again...unless I am physically unable to. Then, I'll just have someone else do it for me. Sometimes I forget that I'm actually allowed to shave my legs now. I tend to forget. Two months is quite a long time.

As Teddi would say:

Viva la doing things because we want to and not because society says we should!

HP TouchSmart

2009-12-09T18:16:00.004-06:00

I am entering MckMama's contest to win an HP TouchSmart! This thing looks way cool and I really want one! Also, might I direct you over to her blog.

Friends

2009-12-09T07:09:00.003-06:00

Make new friends but keep the old,
One is silver and the other gold.

A circle's round, it has no end.
That's how long I want to be your friend.

The Secret Garden

2009-12-07T21:23:00.002-06:00

I've always loved the story of The Secret Garden and have watched the movie version many times. I realized this weekend that I don't actually ever remember reading the book and all my memories have come from the movie. While back home over the weekend, I pulled the book off my shelf and began to read it. I think I might take up reading over the holidays. I've never been much of a reader. I might as well try something new. Afterall, how can I instill the love of reading into young minds if I don't even do it myself?

Late Start

2009-12-04T09:35:00.003-06:00

I haven't gotten to sleep in much lately but I have discovered something that happens when the rare occasion occurs. Take last night for example. I knew I didn't have to get up early this morning, yet I was falling asleep at 9 pm. I tend to go to bed at a more normal time when I don't have to do anything in the morning. Somehow when I know I have to get up early the next morning I end up staying up too late. I should fix this.

Just two more weeks left in the semester and three projects left to finish. A couple final exams and then I'm done. I'm a little bit tired of hearing about people worrying about the extra credit they need and how teachers should give them extra time for assignments when they know they were due all semester. I'm tired of sitting in class and people snickering when a student makes a comment because they are interested in the class. Some people need to just get their act together.

December Surprise

2009-12-02T10:11:00.004-06:00

I was shocked to see when I walked out the door this morning that it was snowing. A lot of snow. It's so beautiful and interesting to see the fall colored trees covered in snow.

The only bad part about snow in Texas is that it melts so quickly and you get a bunch of wet sloppy slush everywhere. I hope this isn't the last snow we see. They say it's supposed to happen again on Friday.

Wingers

2009-11-30T21:48:00.003-06:00

I love buffalo wings, buffalo sauce...buffalo whatever. It's just a known fact. I tried some new chips tonight. The results were much better than the last new thing I tried.

Babywearing

2009-11-27T22:23:00.002-06:00

I first heard this term, babywearing, from MckMama's blog a while back. She's been babywearing since the beginning of time (or at least since her first son was born four years ago). Even her two-year-old daughter has begun to carry her own baby dolls in a child-sized sling.

I was at the mall today before seeing a movie with a friend when I saw a man with his two young daughters walking about. I was surprised to see that he was "wearing" his baby in a sling. It's just not something you see every day. I thought it was very sweet. What surprised me the most as he walked by, another man said "Oh, do those things work well? I've been thinking about getting one of those."

I just thought it was cute and was worth sharing.

That reminds me. There is this couple in Denton who wear their baby in a sling while riding a bike around town. I've seen both the man and woman carrying their baby in a sling on several occasions. Over the last year I've seen the baby grow which has been fun to watch. I haven't seen them lately. I wonder if they're still toting the child around in a sling or if they've moved on to a child seat.

I just might become a babywearer myself when I have my own children.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-11-25T08:53:00.002-06:00

Not Me! MONDAY

2009-11-23T20:10:00.007-06:00

I've decided to do my own Not Me! Monday post because some silly things happened this weekend.

It was not me who laughed so hard that I peed my pants. This is definitely not something I am known for doing.

It was not me who got my hair cut this weekend and then later found a lock of my hair that fell in the cuff of my pants. I most certainly did not put it in a plastic bag and place it in my purse.

It was not me who freaked out when I realized that I had a black undershirt on when I was wearing brown shoes and a brown belt today. I do not leave the house without making sure all of my clothes are in proper order.

Lastly, it was not me who started to put on my shoe before putting on a sock this morning. I am not so tired that I would forget to do a simple thing like that even when the sock is in my hand.

Burns

2009-11-10T11:30:00.005-06:00

I can't seem to keep from getting burns these days. A couple months ago I was boiling pasta and splashed hot water and burned my stomach. Today as I was taking banana bread out of the oven I burned my wrist. This is the 3rd time in the last four days that I have made banana bread. Luckily this is the only time I've burned myself.

Right after

Later in the day

Cute, huh?

Fall 2009

2009-11-03T09:50:00.002-06:00

Can I just tell you that I'm stressed? I'm ready for this semester to be over. This semester has been full of group projects. I'm not a fan of group projects, especially when one of them is for an online class. I finish one thing and another thing is lurking over my head.

I was ready to be done with this semester months ago.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Stellan

2009-10-29T08:06:00.003-05:00

It's Stellan's 1st birthday today and he's spending it how he entered the world...in the hospital. His SVT returned 2 days ago and now he is back in the PICU. Please be in prayer for him and his family.

What Faith Can Do

2009-10-11T12:51:00.001-05:00

Kutless - What Faith Can Do
From the album It Is Well

Everybody falls sometimes
Gotta find the strength to rise
From the ashes and make a new beginning
Anyone can feel the ache
You think it’s more than you can take
But you are stronger, stronger than you know
Don’t you give up now
The sun will soon be shining
You gotta face the clouds
To find the silver lining

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
And I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do

It doesn’t matter what you’ve heard
Impossible is not a word
It’s just a reason for someone not to try
Everybody’s scared to death
When they decide to take that step
Out on the water
It’ll be alright
Life is so much more
Than what your eyes are seeing
You will find your way
If you keep believing

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
And I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do

Overcome the odds
You do have a chance
(That’s what faith can do)
When the world says you can’t
It’ll tell you that you can!

I’ve seen dreams that move the mountains
Hope that doesn’t ever end
Even when the sky is falling
And I’ve seen miracles just happen
Silent prayers get answered
Broken hearts become brand new
That’s what faith can do
That's what faith can do!
Even if you fall sometimes
You will have the strength to rise

Something new

2009-09-29T18:28:00.007-05:00

I haven't been having too much luck with food today. This morning after I had my Environmental Science lab I came home until I had class later in the day. It was only 9:30 but it was too early for lunch so I decided to have a snack. A peach sounds good. Let me tell you...something was wrong with that peach. It wasn't good. I think it was old. I threw it away. Then I decided to have some wheat crackers with cream cheese. Half way into eating my snack I realize that something tastes a little off. The cream cheese was expired. I ended up having a pickle. Do pickles go bad? I don't know. So now it's dinner time and I decided I would try something new. The video tells all.

Thoughts on grocery shopping

2009-08-03T23:20:00.009-05:00

Never go when you are hungry. You will most definitely buy things you had no intention of getting when you first walked in.

Make sure it's not going to rain. It makes it a little miserable to get to the car.

Go to the bathroom before you start shopping.

I always write "turkey" on my list but for some reason tonight I wrote "lunch meat" instead.

I try to keep a tally of how much I am spending as I am shopping. I seem to always get just the right amount that I wanted to spend.

I hate that milk expires before I want to go to the grocery store again. I think since I've lived here, I've finished 2 half gallons of milk. Does that say that I don't think enough milk?

I try to always make one trip from my car up to my apartment no matter how many bags I have. Here is a picture of my most recent trip that was a real hassle to make one trip up. But I did it. Mind you, I had my school bag, purse, AND a Sonic drink in my hands while carrying these too.

Gordon-Jannetto Wedding

2009-08-02T14:52:00.008-05:00

The wedding last night was fun and Audra was beautiful in her dress. It was funny having nearly all of Unveiled on stage during the wedding. Dinner was good, cake was good, and dancing was good. Here I am with the Bride and Groom.

Here is my brother Matthew, my mom and I at the wedding before dinner. You can see a little bit of Phil's grooms cake behind me. It was a drum, of course.

Here is my dance partner, Grace, and I. She and I really boogied down. Ha!

Here is a video of a cute little boy dancing at the wedding. He was going for a long time!

A few of my favorite things...

2009-08-02T12:41:00.003-05:00

Saturday morning I woke up to a three year old handing me a picture she had colored with a list on the back. I was told it was a list of my favorite things as she proceeded to read the list. She began spouting out the names of her family members...with her mom being on the top of the list. What a cute thing to wake up to.

Twenty-one-derful...or is it?

2009-07-22T10:19:00.004-05:00

Turning 21 is an interesting thing and I've actually been dreading it for the last few weeks. One of my least favorite things to hear is "You're legal now!" or "Now you can buy alcohol!" Honestly, that doesn't matter to me. I'm not really the type of girl who is going to go out and drink and party. I decided I was skipping my 21st birthday. It's more of a "I'm no longer 20 and not yet 22." I didn't want that pressure of people thinking I'm going to go get drunk on my birthday just because I can now.

On my birthday I went to class, met up with my mom at Starbucks, went to dinner and bought pants at Old Navy for $2.13. That's a pretty darn good birthday present if you ask me. Then at the end of the day I watched the rest of the Rangers game in which they won. Sounds good to me. Some might think it's strange that I wasn't all about going out to party. In fact, I was going to hang out with some friends but things didn't work out and I was a little glad for it. I didn't really want to drink. I just wanted to stay home and relax. I'll go out this weekend, have a few drinks and probably won't be much of a drinker after that.

I can't wait until I'm 22 only for the fact that I will be past this dreaded 21 age and I can move on with my life. I won't be expected to drink because I have just turned 21. We'll see how this year plays out. Maybe I'll just turn into a lush and go crazy. I doubt it.

Summertime Nails

2009-07-13T23:25:00.003-05:00

All throughout the year I wish my finger nails would not grow so slow, but then the summer hits. I feel as if I am cutting my nails each week because they just grow and grow and grow. I've never been a fan of long nails because I just don't think they look very good on my hands, but I do think it's fun to have them for a short time. I will say I envy those who have long, beautiful, strong nails. Definitely not me. I used to obsessively cut my nails to the extent that I would even do it while driving. I'm not that bad anymore. I will say, though, that often while cutting my nails I think about when I played the violin because we had to keep our nails short all the time. Ah, good memories.

Just thinking about that because I trimmed my finger nails earlier today and just finished cutting my toe nails.

Pants

2009-07-12T23:00:00.005-05:00

UPDATED: Quickly after I wrote this post I discovered that comfort is more important than cuteness when I sleep. The red shorts turned into white shorts with green frogs on them. They are just so much more comfortable. Now I'm up and starting new classes today. JOY.

Original post:

I was sitting here tonight in my over sized shirt that I got from Carter BloodCare the last time I tried to give blood. Then I came to a realization...I needed pants before I went to sleep. I don't like to not wear pants when I sleep. Strange, I know. I also try my best to match my clothes when I sleep. The shirt has red on it; therefore, I put on red shorts to sleep in.

I also prefer to sleep without a bra on. I can deal if it's a sports bra, though. One time I feel asleep with a regular bra on. I woke up to find it across the room and my shirt only around my neck. I really don't even know what happened that night. Sometimes I do weird things in my sleep...like talk, remove clothing, and throw retainers across the room.

Hope nothing crazy happens tonight when I sleep. I'll find out soon enough.

Un-Human

2009-06-29T20:39:00.004-05:00

I tried to give blood again today on the Carter BloodCare bus on campus. Notice the word tried. That's becoming a common word around here these days. My iron levels were great this time at 13.0. Everything else was in line until it came to the part where they took my blood. First they poked my right arm because that's the arm I usually give from. No luck. She tried for about 10-15 minutes moving the needle around to try to find the vein to draw blood. Nothing. She tried the left arm. Same thing, but this time even another lady came over and tried too. No luck. So there I was with 2 bandaged arms and 1 pricked finger. I'm getting further in life now...but I'd rather have actually given blood. She told me I was probably the most difficult she's ever had drawing blood. She even asked me if I was human...where I replied, "Apparently I'm not".

Looking Dumb

2009-06-18T15:20:00.004-05:00

There are certain things that we do all the time that are just second nature, but when they go wrong we feel like a complete idiot.

That happened to be today while at the gas station. Normally it's a cinch to put in my card, put in the PIN and pump away. Little did I know the screen was going to fail on me.

"Please insert your card"

Okay...now what? A couple seconds pass that seemed like an eternity...

"Please enter your PIN"

Okay...
Nothing...

Maybe I should just put the pump in and select my fuel type with out it telling me to?

Nothing happens...
Cancel transaction.
Repeat...

As I cancel the transaction for the 3rd time, it asks "Do you want a reciept?"

No, I didn't do anything.

I finally gave up in shame and went to another pump worrying that people are looking at me thinking that I don't know how to pump my own gas. Maybe they think I'm from New Jersey or something.

When I got home I looked online at my bank account.
It charged me $1 and then credited me $1.

Those gas stations are a pain.

What I'm doing these days...

2009-06-16T16:31:00.007-05:00

I'm working in my home office...

On important items of business...

Oh the life of a pre-service teacher.

Got pricked...again.

2009-06-14T17:17:00.005-05:00

I went to donate blood and all I got was a pricked finger...again!

Because of my past history you would think I would prepare myself by eating foods high in iron before going through this again. I would have done that had I known about the blood drive more than a day in advance. Either way, I went to do it again and I failed. I filled out the paper work and went to get my little physical done and my iron checked. I told the guy that nearly every time I end up with a 12.4 reading (you have to have a 12.5 or higher to give blood). He pricked my finger and went on with taking my temperature, checking my pulse and checking my blood pressure. As he began to put the blood pressure cuff on my arm, he took it away and laughed. He showed me the reading; my iron count was 12.4, yet again. He did, however give me a pamphlet for the lowly people like me to bump up my iron levels.

I walked off in disappointment and felt rejected by Carter BloodCare. It's almost an embarrassing thing when you don't pass a portion of the physical. I know because I've done it several times and I've spoken with others who have had the same problem as me.

The first time I ever gave blood was in 2005. I was sitting in class and they made an announcement for the last call for students to come down and donate blood. I thought it would be something interesting to do and it would get me out of class. It was so much fun! I don't know why I thought it was so wonderful but I felt so good before, during, and after donating. The nurses thought I had gone crazy because of how happy I was.

Ever since then I have tried to donate. I think I've only successfully donated one or two more times since then, but have tried numerous other times. I began taking iron supplement pills but even that didn't really raise my iron levels. I eventually forgot to take them again after I wasn't taking my other medications anymore.

So here I am, with a semi-sore prick on the end of my finger and none of my precious blood drawn from my body. I guess I'll try again another day.

My addiction

2009-06-02T20:26:00.003-05:00

It really is a sad thing that my life (and so many others) is totally revolved around the Internet. It's amazing how people actually used to live without the Internet and all the technology we have these days. Even I did it as a child...and some children have started their addiction to technology early.

Our wireless Internet has not been working for quite some time in our apartment but we've been able to log onto an unsecured network so we didn't bother with it so much. This weekend the unsecured network stopped working too and the guys didn't come out until yesterday to fix everything. I spent Sunday night with no Internet and I could have just died. I was so bored and had nothing to do! I ended up talking on the phone to a dear friend instead.

My normal morning before I take on the day with the kids is sitting on the computer reading blogs. In fact, I do that at night too. Monday morning, the Internet still wasn't working so after shipping out some textbooks to someone who bought them from me and selling the rest to Voertman's for pennies, I went to Starbucks to get on the Internet. What I failed to realize is that you had to have an AT&T account or buy a gift card in order to get the Internet service. I ended up getting the $5 gift card which I wish I would have done before I bought my $4 caramel frappuccino. Yes, this is how desperate I was! So I registered it and all that fun stuff and sat in Starbucks enjoying my now $9 frappuccino next to a man with stinky arm pits and making small talk. It was nice to get out of the house for once. I just didn't like the fact that I had to pay to do it!

So then, last night I was once again without Internet but the night was filled with watching the Bachelorette and hanging with a friend...so I survived. I found out that the guy had come and said the Internet should work but it still wasn't working! I gave up.

This morning I had a brilliant idea to plug directly into the Internet. Imagine that! So, I read blogs and checked emails and all that fun stuff. I carried on with the rest of my day.

In the middle of the day I realized that if I reconfigured the wireless it just might work again. So here I am, the genius...using wireless Internet and watching the Yankees murder the Rangers.

My life is complete again.
(and I said Internet 10 times in this post)

Lesson Learned

2009-05-30T18:35:00.006-05:00

After watching a couple of kids at a retreat today, my lips were craving chapstick. My mind didn't work well enough (likely from the heat) to realize that my chapstick had been sitting the car in 90 degree weather all day long. I went to relieve my lips of their dryness and thought to myself, "Oh, how I like warm chapstick because it's so smooth going on." Little did I know that it could melt more than I could imagine This was the result:

I just had to laugh at myself.

I love when it's so hot outside that it looks like water is laying on the road ahead. Ah, mirage!

I'm awake

2009-05-21T10:57:00.002-05:00

This morning I woke up, ate a bowl of cereal and then went back to sleep for an hour. Things have been different since classes got out. I get to sleep in, but it bores me. I'm used to the getting up and getting ready really fast so I can rush to class. There isn't much I can do in the mornings because I have to watch a 4 month old girl at noon and then pick up the twin (soon to be) 8 year old boys from school.

Last night I watched American Idol. It was the only the 2nd time I watched it this season, so I really didn't care who won. I like it that way. Both guys are great and if it's meant to be they will each have a recording contract. I thought the entertainment was mediocre but it kept me busy for a little while before I went to bed.

I did something amazing last night. I went to bed at 11. This has been a rare occurence for me considering I'm usually up late chatting with a friend. She went to bed since she had an early flight this morning to go up north, so I had no other choice but to make a wise decision and sleep.

My last post regarding Lady GaGa is somewhat retracted only in the fact that I realized I do like one of her songs. I still think she is odd beyond all means but I do like the song Just Dance, which Ellen Degeneres often plays on her show. I still do not like her performance quality including her music videos, but I do admit that the song is catchy.

Goo Goo Gaga?

2009-05-12T16:00:00.006-05:00

I was watching the Ellen DeGeneres show just now and saw the strangest performance. I often wonder how these people get discovered and who actually listens to them.

See Lady Gaga (video linked) for yourself. What are your thoughts?

I am currently watching Oprah and laughing at funny Dr. Oz moments. They are doing a tribute to Dr. Oz who is leaving his permanent spot on the show to begin his own show in September. I hope this isn't one of those shows that you can only catch on cable!

On another note, I'm almost done with the semester! I have one more response paper to turn in tomorrow and an essay final to write on Thursday morning at 8 am. Not too thrilled about that one.

License Plates

2009-05-11T23:40:00.006-05:00

Arkansas
California
Colorado
Kentucky
Michigan
New Mexico
New York
Ohio
Oklahoma
South Dakota
Texas
Utah

These are all the license plates I saw this week while driving various places. I have seen too many Oklahoma license plates to count, though. It's kind of fun driving around and seeing where all these people come from. I have now made myself very aware of the cars around me...and their plates. I don't normally see so many plates from other states but something about this week was drawing them in. All I need now is a good friend and a road trip to continue my license plate hunting!

All I've got to say is...

2009-05-10T18:06:00.007-05:00

Leg wrestling is fun.

Go here to see an example of what I'm talking about.
I'm sure these people were getting a lot done at work that day...

But, be careful not to hurt your neck! :D

Happy Mothers' Day! Love you, Mom!

Endings

2009-05-07T23:25:00.005-05:00

The end of the semester is approaching and honestly I think this has been the busiest semester I have had so far. I probably say this every semester, but this one comes pretty close. Unlike many classes I've had in the past, I have enjoyed most of them. Why? Because I actually feel like I have learned something worth learning. Yet again, I have procrastinated but that is the proper thing to do. The things I have left to do are take 2 online final exams, do a response for a video, prepare for an essay final, write an essay final and study for an in class final. This time next week I will be free, and I'm thrilled. I'll then have 3 weeks before summer classes start...joy! After 3 weeks I will not have a job because I am unable to take care of the kids I normally watch full time because of school. Part of me doesn't want to work because I know I'll be busy taking classes this summer, but on the other hand, I don't know how I would pay for rent and things otherwise.

On another note, I desperately need to go grocery shopping. I've really been putting it off for quite sometime...but somehow I manage to still fill my belly. I'm out of milk and eggs but I'm still living.

This weekend is going to be filled with final assignments, studying, and online finals. Thrilling!

Because my cousin and I are really cool...

Ferronniere

2009-04-27T20:48:00.006-05:00

In high school I was in a Digital Graphics class and we had an assignment to take a painting and impose our face onto it. My teacher thought I did really good job on the project but others didn't see the difference in the picture and didn't see my face on it. If you look closely, you can see my features on the face...my eyes, nose, mouth, cheeks, and chin.

Here is the original picture:

Here is the edited picture:

My Car

2009-04-24T13:00:00.003-05:00

Lately I have been noticing little annoying things about my car. The car is 13 years old and has roughly 90,000 miles on it. When I got the car in 2005, there were 45,000 miles on it. That means in the last 4 years I have doubled it's mileage. I guess that means I drive a lot, huh? Either way, let's view what is wrong with my car.

1) The antennae is gone resulting in no reception for radio. This happened back in July or August when my dad found it laying in our front yard. Maybe somebody pulled it off...we will never know. I know nothing about cars so I have been waiting for my dad to order the part to fix it. I've become used to not having the radio on, but it is frustrating that when I do want music I have to plug in my ipod. I can no longer listen to the morning show on KLTY, which I used to always do.

2) The thing leaks oil like crazy. Probably once a month, or every couple months, my oil light comes on and I have to put a couple quarts of oil in. This is just annoying.

3) A few months ago I was told by someone behind me in traffic that my brake light was going out. A month later a friend told me that my brake light was out. Yesterday I finally bought a brake light to replace it. After torturing the twins' neighbor to help me last night, we discovered it wasn't the bulb that was messed up. The fuse was blown. He replaced it with the fuse from my cruise control so I at least wouldn't get pulled over for the light being out.

4) I can no longer use my cruise control until I get a new fuse. Because I drive long distances so often (usually between Denton and Garland or from Denton to Fort Worth) I tend to use it a lot so I don't have to focus on maintaining my speed. This also helps me to not speed because I don't need to put my lead foot on the pedal. As I was driving to Frisco today up 380, I was becoming frustrated because I kept having to re-adjust my speed and that most likely caused frustration to the cars behind me. I'm a good driver, but if it's not set on cruise, then I tend to speed.

5) A little logo got knocked off the back of my car the other day. This isn't a big deal and it was a long time coming, but it bothers me so I'm going to need to put it back on. When Tucker was sitting on the back of my car the other day, he slid off and off it went. Oh well.

6) I only have one cup holder in my car. I don't really need 10 cup holders like many of the new cars are doing, but 2 or 3 wouldn't hurt. Personally, I think they should put a cup holder for every seat in the car. This is bothersome when I purchase drinks from Sonic for myself and others and have no where to put the other drinks. The boys boosters in the back have cup holders on them...but I can't rely on them staying there. I've done that before and I nearly had orange slush all over my back seat.

7) The past 2 years, I noticed that when it finally came time to be hot I learned that my A/C had gone out. This resulted in going weeks or months without A/C in the blazing sun. I don't mind the heat...except for when I'm in my car. So far I think my A/C is still working. Hopefully this doesn't become an issue.

8) A bird pooped on the top of my car several months ago. I didn't pay attention to it until it was too late. Once it rained...or I cleaned it off (I can't remember which happened first) I noticed the paint had become ruined. Now the top of my car has a pretty little mark on it. It's almost looks like a disease.

9) The steering wheel paint (or whatever it is), because it's so old, has been rubbing off slowly over the years. I don't pay attention to it much when it's cool outside because nothing happens. But, when it's a hot day, it begins to come off onto my hands resulting in pretty black speckles all over me. Yea...not cute.

10) There are several miscellaneous things broken in the car. The "ash tray" or coin holder, as I use it, is broken. It no longer opens smoothly. The middle console lid is broken. Rather than it just lifting up to open, the whole top comes out. I think a piece of the door in the back seat comes completely off..if pulled on. I learned that several months ago. The air vent on the passenger side is broken. It can't be adjusted..up, down, left or right. It's just there. It's been fixed once before..and then broke soon after.

I didn't think I would actually come up with that many things wrong with my car. At least it still runs and gets me the places I need to go. I'm sure when I can afford it, I will get a nice pretty, flawless (I use that term loosely) car.

I would have a picture of my car but I can't find it, so here is a random favorite...

Richardson East Girls, June 2006

Lovin' it

2009-04-22T16:14:00.004-05:00

All I've got to say is I love this weather! It's 90 degrees right now. Ahh, pure bliss. The only problem is I have no one to enjoy it with! I'm thrilled that I can feel confident to pack up my winter clothes. I no longer fear the random cold days. It's funny when I am in this transition of weather because I have my capris and shorts trickling out but I still have my long sleeved shirts hanging up. I think this weekend calls for a closet clean out!

Yay for warm weather!!!

Here is a photo of my cousin, Melissa, and I relaxing in my backyard from 2004. Oh how wonderful were the days I didn't have to go to school in the summer...and when our grass was actually green! Also, notice my awesome softball tan lines!

This is for you, Rachel

2009-04-19T15:11:00.012-05:00

Okay, I'm not really doing this just because Rachel made me aware that there are stalkers reading my blog. I actually thought about this earlier this week that there are likely people who read my blog and I never knew it. I'm more likely to update my blog if I know people were reading it. I would like it very much if you could somehow make me aware of the fact that you read my blog. I'll admit that I have been a stalker a time or two, but then eventually I leave a comment just so they know I read their blog.

So all you blog stalkers out there...make yourself known.

Here are pictures from last weekend, again. This was so cute to me. I was trying to get him to come over to me and he reached his arms out for me to grab him.

I love these boys! :D

The Joys of My Life

2009-04-18T12:03:00.002-05:00

It seems that every Friday night I end up coming home and sit around doing nothing. Once again, that was the case. I ended up doing a little bit of homework (extra credit) and became bored out of my mind.

Today I am doing the same thing...homework and extra credit. You would think I would do all of this stuff during the week so I can have a free weekend, but alas, I've done it again. I've left everything to the weekend so I can have a boring Saturday. I'm hoping to finish in the next hour or so. I would like to actually do something today! I'm glad that the rain is out of the forecast because I do not enjoy rain.

Yesterday it was awful driving in the rain. I did my observations in Frisco and then headed to Plano for my doctor appointment. She told me she was going to give me another 6 months to get better. If I'm not better by then, I will have to go on some type of medication. I wanted to go on medication, but then she said that I would have to be on it forever. I don't want to be on it forever. I just recently went off my "happy pills" because I didn't want to be dependent on them for the rest of my life. I've been doing well. Actually, I've been doing amazing. I think this is the first time in a while that I haven't been just down in the dumps on a frequent basis.

I'm adjusting to life in Denton. Well, I've been adjusted but it really feels like home now. It's strange being back in Garland even though I come back nearly every weekend. (I miss my little buddies too much for that!...okay, my family too I guess :D ) I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to be doing this summer though. I won't have a job, but I still have to pay rent and I'll be in Denton taking classes. What a joy! At least that will help me accelerate my degree. So next step...find a job.

But for now...back to my homework.

Full of it

2009-04-16T20:20:00.003-05:00

Snot that is...
So sorry if that's TMI. I'm so ready for my awesome cough, congestion and "full nose" to go away! Tomorrow will mark 1 week, and that is enough for me!

I have another appointment with the urologist tomorrow. I haven't been since my therapy ended a month ago. I haven't exactly been faithful to my fluid intake, schedule and exercises but I really have seen a little improvement. I still have issues if I drink too much at once, but it's not as often. I'm wondering what the next step is. If she doesn't put me on some sort of medication I will feel that this was all for no reason.

Busy schedule tomorrow. Take care of baby in Denton, observe in Frisco, doctor in Plano, pick up boys in Denton and then likely back to Garland for the weekend because there isn't anything for me to do in Denton. Anyone want to give me gas money?

Here are a couple cute pictures from the weekend.

Have a nice night!

Wonders

2009-04-14T18:23:00.004-05:00

I wonder why I've haven't been 100% since Thursday
I wonder why I keep hearing about sick babies.
I wonder why this bladder issue still hasn't been fixed.
I wonder why people can be so oblivious to things
I wonder why my back has been hurting this week.
I wonder why I can't get my butt to get to exercise.
I wonder why I'm so bored all the time.

Keep praying for this little guy

Also, keep this family in mind as they mourn the loss of their baby girl just over a year ago

Unfortunate Things

2009-04-12T00:50:00.002-05:00

I woke up at 5:45 am Friday morning.
This caused be to be exhausted at 6 pm Friday evening.
I took a nap, which I enjoyed.
Later, I was out late at my brother's show
Then we ate at Denny's
I don't really like Denny's, but we always go
I didn't go to bed until about 1 am

I didn't wake up until 1 pm on Saturday.
I did my homework on time today
But, I forgot to turn it in until 25 minutes after it was due
(That was about 25 minutes ago)
This is why I hate turning things in online.
I watched a really horrible movie a little while ago.
It wasn't worth my dollar I paid for the rental.
Now it's nearly 1 am and I'm not tired
I will wake up tomorrow and be exhausted.
(err...in 7 hours)

Oh yea, and I've been cramping all day.
I'm sure that's information you really wanted to know.
But that's life.

Happy Easter!

Quick Meal for One

2009-04-02T18:17:00.003-05:00

I decided to show how I have learned to make quick meals for myself, without leftovers. I could make a larger meal and have leftovers, but generally they sit...and sit...and sit (like the spaghetti in the fridge now). They eventually get wasted. Plus, the larger meals sometimes take longer and I'm tired at the end of the day. This meal took me about 15 minutes to create. Nothing extravagant, but it fills my belly. Simple and tasty. Here is my meal and drink for around 370 calories.

1 Fillet of Tilapia : 100 calories
1 Mini Corn on the Cob w/ butter: 100 Calories
2 tbsp Light Creamy Caesar Dressing: 80 Calories
Lettuce and Cucumbers: 10 Calories
Glass of milk: 80 calories

Staying Home

2009-03-28T22:09:00.002-05:00

This weekend I decided to stay in Denton to work on school projects and assignments. This week has been stressful as I have several projects due next week. I soon realized today why I never stay in Denton on the weekends...it's boring! While I haven't formed any relationships here, I tend to stay in my apartment all day long making no contact with the outside world. If I hadn't had so much work to do, I likely would have gone back into Garland, as I usually do. I can't remember the last time I was here on a weekend. After next week I will feel a lot of stress taken off of me, I hope. It's nice to relax sometimes...but not alone. Just a few thoughts for a Saturday night.

Pray for Stellan

2009-03-27T19:09:00.004-05:00

I read several blogs and one of them is Angie Smith, wife of Todd Smith (from Selah). Their 4th daughter, Audrey Caroline, was very sick in the womb and lived 2 1/2 hours after birth. Her date of birth and death was April 7, 2008. Please keep them in your prayers in the next week or so as they are approaching the 1 year mark.

Through her blog I came across another woman who's baby was also very sick in the womb and was presumed to not live. He had several heart conditions. When he was born, back in October, he was born healthy as if nothing was ever wrong with him. He was a miracle. Now, at nearly 5 months old he is back in the hospital with his heart behaving as it did in the womb. Visit their blog, My Charming Kids to read updates and his full story.

Different Place

2009-03-26T23:14:00.002-05:00

Warning: This post contains lots of rambling and unorganized thoughts. Brace yourself.

It's obvious that I'm not friends with those who are similar in age to me. I'm okay with that, although sometimes it's lonely around here in Denton with no friends. I get along fine with people my age; I just haven't found any close friendships around here. I've been thinking a lot lately about where I am in my life.

I'm going to school and working on a degree towards elementary education. I feel that I should be in a different stage in my life. Many always say that I need to enjoy my life right now. It's supposably the best years of my life and I'll never have it again. I don't agree with that. Although I'm only 20, sometimes I feel that I'm much older. I should be past these college days; married with children. I'm not saying that I should be married at 20...I'm saying that I feel like I'm an older (don't know how much older) person trapped in a 20 year old's body. I've helped care for many children in my lifetime and I have the feeling that I've had my own children for so long. The vast differences of each child has given me a great aspect of what being a mother might be like because often times I am doing things that a mother might do. I've cared for some from birth, some from a toddler age, and many in elementary.

Every time I care for a child, the motherly nature of me kicks in and that's when I feel like I need to be a mother. Yes, I have plenty of time to acheive this goal of mine, but what if it never happens? What if nobody wants to marry me? What if I am incapable of having children? What would I do? My dream would be crushed.

Even though I don't have children under my care 24/7, I've had a taste of having children. Many may feel the stress of having multiple children, such as giving baths, feeding them and managing house hold duties. These things don't phase me. I think I can handle that. I won't ever really know until I'm in the situation, but I really think it wouldn't be that bad. Yes, kids can drive you mad sometimes...but every day and even every hour is a whole new one.

I read several blogs of mothers. Some are new mothers, some have several children; all have great advice. I take all their advice to heart and often I give advice to new mothers. Is that odd? I envy their lives. Hopefully by the time I am a mother, everything will be so natural because I've been doing this for so long.

I want to be a teacher, but I want to be a mother even more, though, I must wait...and wait.

FREE Blog Design!

2009-03-25T23:23:00.001-05:00

Enter to win a free blog design! She has really cute spring layouts to choose from!

Dreams

2009-01-31T09:17:00.002-06:00

I had a dream last night...well, more early this morning that I went to a movie. It was more of a cartoonish movie. That's not the point. After the movie I accidentally left my purse in the theater. I went back shortly to go get it and find a man looking through it with his wife next to him. They were a middle aged african american couple..not important, but just so you get a visual. They looked familiar. I think the woman looked like Michelle Obama. Anyways, I quickly grab the purse back from him and ask him if he took anything. Of course he said 'no'. I had full faith that he didn't, but I wanted to be sure. I open up my wallet and see that things are in a jumble. The first thing I look for is my debit card...it's gone! I ask him to give it back and he claims he didn't do it. He eventually caves in. Then I begin to woner what else he took. My precious $6? My starbucks gift card? My movie gift card? The money was missing. I ask him to give it back. Rather than give it back he writes me a check for $18. I don't know why. I look at the names on the check, but do not recognize them. After I figure out what all was missing and he gives it back I ask his wife why she didn't stop him. She seemed to have magically written me a note and gives it to me. She apologized and said that he had been having problems with this in the past but didn't think he would do it again. Didn't seem to answer my question, but whatever.

After that I had a scare of wondering where one of my textbooks were. I don't know why I had my textbook there in the first place, but nonetheless, I needed it back. Eventually I found it and I was on my way. This next part may have been a different day because there were different people. In fact, I was watching the movie with one person, and the whole rest of the story was with other people. Anyways, me and a friend (unrecognizable) began to cross the street. We notice there is a car that isn't letting up and she nearly runs us over. We get low on the floor and I really feel the terror...I think I was beginning to wake up. I don't like dreams where I can really feel the emotion behind it. It was scarry.

On a different note, I went back to the urologist yesterday to find out that I need to have physical therapy for my bladder problem. She seemed to think it was a very serious situation and I needed to get this taken care of immediately. She actually said that if I don't get it fixed then I'm going to be wetting myself by the time I'm 40. I don't want that to happen. So, anyways, it's physical therapy for me and then possibly a medication. Last time I didn't respond to a medication my regular physician gave me, so that's why she wants to do the therapy first. I will likely be starting that this week. Once a week for four weeks. Fuuuuun.

Now, I really need to get back to my homework so I can go to the dinosaur exhibit at the Heard Museum with my little buddies later!

LEELAND!

2009-01-25T22:45:00.006-06:00

Saw Leeland tonight at First Baptist Denton. They were very cool. I'm impressed with how talented they all are, and the fact that Leeland is only my age; and he's been doing this for a while.

A couple random facts about me beacuse they came to mind.

I prefer Crest toothpaste over Colgate
I love buffalo wings with a deep passion

That's all I got

No Fun

2009-01-24T16:08:00.003-06:00

I had my urodynamics yesterday morning. It sucked having to not use the restroom for 2 hours after I woke up, but I wanted to make sure I went in with a full bladder. Then I had to pee in an awkward position on this awkward chair into this funnel and thing that recorded my patterns. After that I got catheters, electrodes and tubes. Not looking forward to having a regular sized catheter. This one was for 3 month olds and it still didn't feel good! Then they filled my bladder with water asking me how I feel until I got to the point where I really just couldn't stand it anymore. Then I got to let all that out (which was quite difficult for some reason...maybe because I had catheters in me and I had to go around them!) Yea, okay, so I really had to strain. Finally got to get dresseed, took a pill and left. I had breakfast with Kianna and then realized I left my Linguistics book at the hospital. I had to go back and get it, then drive back to Denton. I ended up being 30 min late to class...geez. The next half of the day it was painful to go. I hope I never have to do this again, although there are likely worse things in life. I have an appointment next Friday with the urologist and hopefully will have some answers then.

Remembering a greater time in life when going to the bathroom didn't take away from my day:

Potty Time

2009-01-15T12:52:00.003-06:00

Many of you may have noticed that I frequently get up to use the restroom. As far as I can remember, that has been normal for me but I always knew that going 12-16 times a day was not normal. I've talked to my doctor about it several times and he put me on a trial medication for a common problem. If that didn't help, he recommended I go to a urologist. It didn't work. Finally, about 6 months later I made an appointment. Obviously I'm used to it, so I wasn't too speedy about it.

I found a lady and made an appointment. She was listed at Presby Plano and Presby Dallas. You would think that when I made the appointment (and called the number listed under the Dallas location) that they would verify where she was. This Tuesday I drove from Denton to the Dallas office and arrived 30 min before my scheduled appt, called them to verify what building they were in and came to find out she only saw patients in Plano! Thanks for telling me! Anyways I couldn't reschedule my appt because I had other things to do that day and I didn't want to drive out another day. Luckily she still saw me. I get there about 10:45, which is 15 min after my scheduled appointment, had an awful time parking and then actually finding her office (because I forgot the suite number). I filled out paper work and finally saw her half an hour later. It was very rushed; most likely because I was late. I felt so bad about it. It's so unlike me. They did a sono of my bladder (normal) and one of those fun "down there" exams. After all was said and done, she said "I don't know why you are so weird but you are way too young to be this yucky. I'm not doing anything until I know what is up with your bladder" It kinda made me giggle. She is having me do Urodynamics. You can look it up. I'll do that next Friday (the 23rd) and have a follow up appointment the following Friday. Hopefully I finally find out what the heck is wrong with me and that it's nothing too serious.

Oh yea, and I get the joy of doing Kegel exercises! Ha! Did you know that these were common bladder irritants (besides the normal ones we know like coffee, tea, caffeine)?

Cold remedies
Chocolate
Citrus
Cranberry Juice or pills
C Vitamin
Crystal Light
Candy
Chili/tomato-based products
Chinese food
Cigarette smoking
Corn syrup

New Years

2009-01-02T14:12:00.003-06:00

I didn't do anything on New Years Eve except babysit and listen to little children giggle and watch them peek their head over the balcony. Eventually they fell asleep.

New Years day I went back to Garland to be with my grandma and family. She passed later that evening. It's really all surreal because it happened so fast; less than a month.

Please keep my family in your prayers; especially my mom, her brother and twin sisters.

Looking ahead

2008-12-31T19:28:00.006-06:00

From Jessica Turner's blog
Every year, Ali Edwards encourages her readers to select a word to be their mantra for the year. Here is what she has to say: Can you identify a single word that sums up what you want for yourself in 2009?
It can be something tangible or intangible. It could be a thought or a feeling or an emotion. It can be singular or plural. The key is to find something that has personal meaning for you. This is not your mother's word or your spouse's word or your child's word - this is YOUR word.
One little word can have big meaning in your life if you allow yourself to be open to the possibilities. And here's one thing that is totally interesting: sometimes a word will pop into your brain and it will not make any sense to you right now. Give it some time. Let it percolate a bit. I have often found that our hearts speak to us in very unique ways. Maybe this is a word you need to hear but just aren't ready for it yet. Again, be open to the possibilities.

Immediately I knew what word I would choose. Healing. It's been a long year and a lot has happened in my life. I don't know if you have ever struggled through something with very little people knowing. It is hard because you feel like you have no one to talk to. There are many things I would like healed this year.

I need my relationship with God healed and restored. I have been off the path for some time now and putting on a facade.
I would like my emotional struggle to be healed.
I want healing in my relationships with others.
Lastly, I need healing with my personal struggle.

I'm never one to have new year's resolutions. I guess in a way this would be resolutions for the new year because I want to work on these things. The most important thing is to work on my relationship with God because everything else will become easier to overcome once that relationship is restored.

Refer to Lynn for a cute New Years twist on a familiar poem.

Please continue to pray for my grandma. She was moved to hospice care on Christmas Eve. This has been a rough time for my family, especially my mom. This has all happened so fast and still doesn't seem all real.

One Year

2008-12-28T12:55:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday Joseph!!

Alright, and happy birthday to his Daddy, Big Trevor, too.

Year in Pictures

2008-12-23T13:35:00.033-06:00

January - the month started off with spending lots of time with my boy Joseph and the family. He was born December 28 and I can't believe he is almost one year old! Later on that month I went to the ladies retreat with RE. Kim, Lori, Lacey and I had facials before we played some games with the rest of the ladies. We could barely smile because our faces were so stiff!

February - The kids in my 2nd grade classroom that I observed put on their little play in front of the class. This was my favorite picture because everyone was so enthusiastic. I introduced Trevor to my favorite place to play as a child, Breckenridge Park. Even though it's not the same as it used to be, it was still fun and he really loved it!

March - This is one of my favorite pictures of me and my brothers taken in March. I believe it after an Unveiled show, seeing as how I am wearing one of their shirts. At the beginning of the month I flew to PA (all by myself for the first time) and visited my friend Marti. This was the first time we met in person. It was fun to get a glimpse into what she's really like. Ha! And, I gave her a University of North Texas shirt, because well, I wanted to.

April - Rebecca and I went to a Rough Riders game with her company. Nothing beats free baseball, and I think they won! Kianna, Trevor, Little T, Joseph and I went to their first Rangers game. Hopefully there will be many more of these in the future. Trevor just loved it...especially the cotton candy.

May - After church and lunch one afternoon we decided to crash the party at a park in Plano. Actually, we didn't know it was going on until we got there, but we joined in anyways. I ran into a friend of mine there, which was totally random. This month Matthew graduated high school and was preparing to leave for Guatemala. He held a benefit concert featuring Unveiled and a little bit of other great music.

June - another Unveiled concert at Theater 7. This one was fun! Here is me and Beca enjoying the show. Sorry, Beca, you probably don't like this picture either. We also kicked off Wednesdays in the park with a little carnival fun at my church, where "the other mommy" (AKA Beca) ate Trevor's cotton candy.

July - Fourth of July we went out to one of my uncles friends house and shot off a lot of fireworks. I mean A LOT! I almost got burned by the sparkler as Lige was flinging his around in circles. It was also my birthday month!! We celebrated my birthday, sadly without Matthew. He was still in Guatemala. Beca brought over a piñata and we had some fun with the decorations from it. After Matthew got back, we celebrated my grandad's 80th birthday and had cakes for me and my cousin Gary too.

August - This was my last outing with the Cheslers before I moved to Denton. In the middle of the month I moved to Denton to my new apartment. Here is a picture of the living room. We have a few more decorations up now than we did then.

September - I went back home just for the Chili Cook off at RE. Sam, Kianna and the boys came and Trevor loved looking at the fire truck, but not getting on it! This was the month that I started doing movies with Tucker and Tyler at their house.

October - Of course this was the month of Halloween. The first picture is with Elisha after the first Inferno showing that I saw. I was participating in House of Judgement at the church in Denton. On Halloween, we didn't have a show so I went to see the Inferno again at Zion Church, where I first started doing HOJ. I was dressed up as Raggedy Anne and Tiffany was a Starbucks drink. I had to have a sip while at Cafe Brazil.

November - The Cheslers came over for an early Thanksgiving dinner at my apartment. Kianna and I cooked all afternoon while Trevor lounged on the couch with the boys. That sweet potato pie and apple pie was to die for! On Thanksgiving day, my cousin Libby and I had fun taking a few pictures. It's kind of a tradition. Earlier in the month I celebrated Lige's birthday via Skype. See my post in November for the little video about it.

December - I had a Christmas party at my house last weekend with a few close friends. See previous post. Goofy was our barista and made some yummy expressos for us. This month, my nails were the longest they have been in a long time, or ever. Believe me, this is impressive for me. I eventually cut them because they were bothering me. Last week I saw Selah sing at the church in Denton. It was wonderful.

I will post pictures from Christmas once it rolls around.

Jungle Gym

2008-12-21T22:09:00.008-06:00

I had a little Christmas get together at my apartment with some close friends of mine this weekend. It was fun, and I really appreciate Heather for helping me throw the whole thing together. I just wish people ate more because I have a ton of leftovers! Jayce, the almost 5 year old son of Richard and Christina, who I used to work with, decided he wanted to use me as a jungle gym. You know that maneuver that kids do where you hold their hands and they climb up your body and flip? Yea, I think we did that a million times. His 3 year old sister Maggie decided to join in on the fun. Bonnie's (former co-workers) 2 year old Lincoln I believe helped with my work out too. Kids are funny. Christina warned me this would happen. I should've listened to her. I woke up this morning with my back and calves hurting like crazy...and a little stiffness of the neck, arms and toes. Oh it was great. Thanks kids. We enjoyed expressos courtesy of Goofy, our make-shift barista. She was wonderful. Here are a few shots from the party.

Hopefully my body will recover soon and I won't gain too much weight from eating all the leftovers. :D

Full of it

2008-12-18T22:17:00.004-06:00

You ever get half way through eating your food and feel full...but then keep eating until your stomach hurts. Yea, I did that. I was too lazy to cook tonight and SO tired of chicken (I really need to go to the store) so I went to Double Dave's and got a Philly cheese steak Stromboli. It was really good, but I totally could have eaten the other half for lunch tomorrow. Oh well.

I kinda felt like I did in this picture. Food coma. This was taken Sunday night after the Selah concert. I was a bit worn out.

Last night I was up until 3 am. I couldn't sleep. During that time I was working on my beautiful Christmas header. I am proud of it. I think it's pretty good, especially for my first one. Anyone know how to make it go across the whole screen? I think that would look better. I made a longer one, but it still just shrunk it down to that length. Lately I have been staying up til all hours of the night and then sleeping til 11 or 12. One day this week I even slept til 1 pm. It was the best thing ever, except for the fact I couldn't sleep that night and I didn't get anything done during the day. Oh the joys of Winter break.

Selah and more

2008-12-15T23:00:00.000-06:00

I can't decide which is more exciting; seeing Selah at the Christmas Celebration at my church in Denton on Sunday night or finding out a single mom of 5 that I know received gifts for her family after being nominated by her sister for Christmas Wish on KLTY.

I can't speak much about my friend, but it was such good news to hear that she had received this. She really deserves it. A group called Mission Reality has been doing the 12 Days of Christmas. You can refer to their website for more information. On the 4th of their mission, they granted four KLTY Christmas Wishes. If you look at their website, she was in Day 4, part 2 of the videos. Her portion is close to the end. I really love what they are doing.

Sunday was the Christmas Celebration at First Baptist Church of Denton, where I have been attending the last few months. It started off with Orchestral music, followed by the church chorus, then the children's chorus (which the boys I watch sang in).

Tyler (left) is really into it, while Tucker (right) is not really enjoying himself

After all that Selah came out and sang. They sang a few songs with the chorus and also brought the Pastor and worship leader on stage to sing.

Amy, Keith (worship leader), Todd, and Dr. Jeff (Pastor) singing a song in Kituba. Todd lived in Congo (Zaire) Africa for 8 years with his family growing up, so he likes to incorporate these songs into their music.

They are just wonderful in concert and I had a great time. After the show, Goofy and I waited around for the group to come out so we could meet them, get autographs and take pictures. I was excited that I got to meet Todd Smith. I have been reading his wife's blog called Bring the Rain over the last 6 months or so. You can read more about their story about their daughter Audrey Caroline who is now in Heaven. Since I have been reading her blog, I have felt like I know them. It's always kinda funny to meet someone that you know all about and they don't have a clue who you are. Everyone in the group was very nice and it was fun talking to them for a few minutes.

Take 1:

This first picture was not so good. Check out my face. Ironically, I was in the middle of saying "Make sure you take a good picture" *click* The next one is much better.

Todd Smith, Me, Amy Perry and Allan Hall

I will try and post a few videos later. They take way too long.

P.S. We just received some bad news about my grandma (mom's mom). Please keep her and our family in your prayers.

Morning and Night

2008-12-12T11:41:00.009-06:00

I was getting ready this morning and realized there are things I always do when I get ready in the morning or when I'm getting ready for bed. Thought I would share some random facts.

In the morning:

I always get in on the side of the shower opposite the shower head.
I never get in the shower until the water is running at a perfect temperature.
If I am running late, I have to wash my hair and will skip the body.
I shave my armpits every day.
I can get ready (shower, dry hair, clothes and makeup) in 20 minutes if I needed to. (I've had lots of practice when I was in athletics in high school)
I have to use a light moisturizer on my face after I take a shower. If I'm out, I'll use a little dab of lotion.
I don't put my shirt on until I am done doing everything else.
I have to brush my teeth before taking a shower and it's the first thing I do when I get up in the morning.
I alternate my shampoo regularly. Currently I have 2 types of shampoo.
My hair is naturally straight, but sometimes I straighten it to make it lay better.

This is what my room currently looks like. The curtains are actually usually pulled to the side but I couldn't make it look good enough for the picture so I closed them. Oh, and I made my bed just for you. There are a few pictures and shelf over to the left that will eventually be hanging over my bed. I just haven't gotten around to doing that yet. The curtain in the 2nd picture looks kinda odd, oh well.

Yea, and that's my bathroom. So pretty right? Ha. Anyways I didn't have a pic of my shower curtain but you can sorta see it in the reflection in the mirror.

In the evening:

I usually don't put my pajamas on until I'm about to start getting ready for bed.
I have to brush my teeth and wash my face (if I was wearing makeup) before going to bed or it doesn't feel right. Rarely do I go to bed without doing that. Moisturize again.
I wear my retainers every night have have been since I got my braces off (September 2005) and I can't usually go to sleep without them.
I will stay up extra late just because I am too lazy to get ready for bed. My brother, Matthew, is the same way.
I sleep on whatever side of the bed I have my phone plugged in. Right now, that is the left side of the bed. I used to have a twin size bed until I moved into my apartment so it didn't matter. I like to sleep closest to the door but I don't have a table on that side for my phone.
I usually put chap stick on before going to sleep, generally after I brush my teeth and wash my face.
I can't sleep with a pillow that is too firm. I usually only sleep on the corner or the very bottom of it.
It usually takes me a long time to fall asleep. If I am thinking about something that I forgot to do, I will usually get up and do it or I will think about it all night.
The ceiling fan has to be on when I go to bed and my door must be shut.
I rarely drink anything before I go to bed because it increases the chances of me getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Most nights I get up between 2-4 am. I usually have to go again when I wake up in the morning. On average, I go between 12-16 times a day, on a regular day. I need to get that looked at.

Top Ten

2008-12-10T09:28:00.005-06:00

I woke up this morning to find that it was 25 degrees outside. I was not thrilled. I made a cup of apple cider (which I burned my mouth on) and went off to my 8 am exam. This happens to be the class that I walk 10 minutes to. By the time I got to the building I was beet red from the cold and had a runny nose. As I was walking, I thought to do a post about why I don't like cold weather, rather than what most people do about why they like cold weather.

Top 10 Reasons Why I Hate Cold Weather
(in no particular order)
1. No matter how many layers I put on, I'm still uncomfortable.
2. My lips get chapped and my skins dries out.
3. My nose begins to get runny.
4. I get in my car and shake because I'm so cold and can't warm up fast enough.
5. My legs are like popsicles.
6. The sun shining doesn't help.
7. I have to wear a heavy coat and things on my head.
8. Socks are not optional.
9. My windshield freezes.
10. It's not hot.

I could come up with more.

Also thought I should note why I like Texas weather. It's never cold for very long!
Here are the highs for the next 10 days:

Wed-10 (42), Thurs-11 (57), Fri-12 (61), Sat-13 (64), Sun-14 (74),
Mon-15 (72), Tues-16 (59), Wed-17 (61), Thurs-18 (63), Fri-19 (66)

Although it's fore casted to rain 4 days next week, at least it will be a bearable temperature.

No Texting on the Rink

2008-12-07T22:18:00.006-06:00

That should be a sign listed at the ice skating rink. It's my aunts' 23 birthday tomorrow so they decided they would have some fun going to the ice skating rink to celebrate on Saturday. I haven't been ice skating in years so I thought I would have a hard time adjusting again. I actually did quite well and got right on. It was so packed there and kids were going every direction. Maybe they should have a limit of how many can be on at once? Anyways, my mom kept calling me while I was on the rink and I never heard (or felt) the phone going off. Finally she texted me asking if I had found my wall flower. I responded yes and proceeded to put my phone in my pocket. The next think I knew, I was flat on my belly on the ice. Victor says my feet went straight up in the air. I sure would have liked seeing that. So lesson learned: Focus ONLY on skating while on ice. I only fell one other time after that :D

Before ice skating, my mother and I had some fun baking pies for the Holly Jolly Christmas Party at my church. Last Sunday they stated that they needed many pies and not that many had signed up. So, we doubled our fun. We signed up to bring 4 pies. My mom made 2 pumpkin pies and I made a sour cream apple pie and a sweet potato pie. They were quite delicious if I do say so myself. After making the pies, my mom made cakes for my aunts birthday (for today) and cupcakes with the rest of the batter for her Sunday night 3-5 year old class. Oh and to have a little more fun she made a banana bread. Never, I repeat, never do you want to be around my mom when baking. She gets cRaZy! Anyways, here are a few pictures for your enjoyment.

Pumpkin Pie (x2) and Sour Cream Apple and Sweet Potato Pies (before topping)

Sour Cream Apple Pie. We added a little cinnamon sugar to the top later for color.

Sweet Potato Pie. The topping was supposed to be marshmallow meringue topping. Well, it didn't quite puff up (forgot the small detail not to use a plastic bowl) Anyways, we couldn't make it again because we only had 1 egg and it was already time to leave. So, we spread the topping on and decorated the edges with whipped cream. Sprinkled a little cinnamon sugar for color and called it a pie. Presentation is key, you know.

The infamous Sour Cream Banana Bread

One of the trays of cupcakes (we didn't decorate them until today)

More highlights from the weekend:

Pancakes with Santa at the Sachse Fire Station on Saturday. Went with the Chesler family to take the boys to see Santa and have breakfast. Yay for no tears!
We have some pretty talented children at church that can sing.
Dinner at Holly Jolly was good :D
I sliced my thumb open cutting onions. I don't think I need stitches. Who knows?
A gnat has been following me around.

Now, for finals. I'll be done Wednesday. Yippee!

Humpty Dumpty

2008-11-16T17:53:00.017-06:00

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall

All the King's horses and all the King's men

Couldn't put Humpty together again.

This nursery rhyme was mentioned in church this morning in a very interesting way. At the end of the poem, Dr. Jeff said "But the KING can!" He said a lot of other really good things today in his sermon called "Be Meek, not Weak", in his series about the beatitudes, but this really made me think. It's so true! I said the poem over and over in my head. I found it to be appropriate, that when we fall, no matter how hard friends or even Godly men and women try, they can't put me together again. Only God can. This has been something I've been struggling with a lot over the last few years. I tend to try and rely on people to fix my problems instead of turning to God. A few years ago I noticed that when I turned to God, I felt better and I could resist temptation much easier. I was baptized 3 years ago and with that I made the promise to rely on God, but I didn't follow through with my promise. Although I know if I just do that again, things will get better, yet I don't. I still am so stubborn that I want to try and fix things myself.

Part of the problem is that I feel like I'm going to fail because I don't know how to turn to God anymore. Prayer and daily devotion has never been in my routine and I really wish it was. Most of the time I feel like a hypocrite because when others are having struggles I tell them to turn to God, yet I don't. I wanted to write this post because most of my entries make me seem like I am always turning to God with my problems. But that's simply not the case. It's so rare, that when it does happen, I write about it so I can continue to put on a facade. I continue to fail in that aspect of my life. There are so many things I struggle with that very few people know about and I wish I could just be open about it. I don't want to be putting on a mask anymore. I want it to be real. I want to actually rely on God for everything.

At the end of the sermon we sang one of my favorite songs. We don't normally sing hymns there, so when we do I really like it.

You are my strength when I am weak//You are the treasure that I seek/You are my all in all//Seeking You as a precious jewel/Lord to give up I'd be a fool//You are my all in all//Jesus Lamb of God - worthy is Your name//Jesus, Lamb of God - worthy is Your name//Taking my sin, my cross, my shame/Rising again, I bless Your name/You are my all in all//When I fall down, You pick me up/When I am dry You fill my cup/You are my all in all.

That line "Lord to give up, I'd be a fool" caught my eye today as I was singing. I would be a fool to give up. I want to do it all the time and I've beaten a good friend to the pulp telling her that I just want to give up. I need to stop.

Lastly, this has been my favorite song lately. Natalie Grant/The Real Me.

A little video

2008-11-15T20:05:00.002-06:00

For some reason I am so amused by this video. The video will explain itself so I don't really need to tell you about it. Anyways, I had to make a video using photos for one of my classes (Computers in the Classroom). Lori told me to do this story, so I did.

Enjoy!

Wasp Attack! ...and other crazy adventures

2008-10-26T22:50:00.010-05:00

As many of you already know I have been participating in the House of Judgment here at a local church in Denton. I was recruited to be a waitress the first night of performances. After I serve water I typically go in a back storage room. On top of the piano I noticed there were some bibles. Every now and again I like to pick up a bible and read the first verse I turn to. This was the passage I read:

Ezekiel 7:5-9 5
"This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Disaster! An unheard-of disaster is coming. 6 The end has come! The end has come! It has roused itself against you. It has come! 7 Doom has come upon you—you who dwell in the land. The time has come, the day is near; there is panic, not joy, upon the mountains. 8 I am about to pour out my wrath on you and spend my anger against you; I will judge you according to your conduct and repay you for all your detestable practices. 9 I will not look on you with pity or spare you; I will repay you in accordance with your conduct and the detestable practices among you. Then you will know that it is I the LORD who strikes the blow."

I didn't think much of the verse; only that it was a little interesting that it was so negative. At that moment I hear a buzzing. A wasp! "Buzz" Uh oh, another one! Low and behold at least 5 wasps are swarming around me. Remember, this is during a scene so I'm basically stuck in this room freaking out. After the scene, I go tell my new dear friend Angela about the fiasco and she promptly calls Trevor to remedy the situation. He comes in with his wasp killer and starts going at it. After he finished I began to count. 13! [updated 10.29.08. Counted almost 30 earlier when I performed tonight] seriously, where did they all come from? There may have been more, but killed and tucked away under all the Christmas decorations.

Not until after he left did I realize the impact of the verse I had just read. Was God trying to send me a message? Had I done something wrong and He is bringing His wrath upon me? It couldn't have been better timing.

This little booger I got a close up on was a fighter. About 20 minutes after the first come around of wasps I see this guy laying on the floor fighting for his life. I felt bad for the guy but at the same time enjoyed it. I tried to get a video of him flailing around but by the time I got my camera he had died. You can see all the poison sprayed on him multiple times. The next picture is the window sill but about 7 of these beasts. Geez!

Now to the next part "...and other crazy adventures"

On Friday night after seeing Unveiled at The Door, I went to see the Inferno at Zion Church (where I have previously participated in HOJ) They did a stage play this year rather than a walk through due to lack of a larger facility. I believe this is one of the better performances put on by Zion. Generally I'm in on the show but seeing it as an outsider it really puts on a new perspective. The show was great and scary as Hell (seeing that it's set in Hell) I strongly recommend you see it. I'll probably see it again on Halloween. Afterwards, several of us went to our regular IHOP and were out quite late. (a great start to my long and tiring weekend) Here are a few shots:

It was good haning out with some friends I haven't seen in a while. Brought back some great memories. I hope we don't wait so long before getting together again.

Much much more happened this weekend, but that would cause this post to be longer than it already is. Basically, I've been tired all weekend and am still tired.

Ants, Death, and Africa

2008-10-19T22:36:00.002-05:00

You may be a little confused about the title of this post but it kind of just sums up my weekend I suppose. We have this little problem in our apartment. Everything is great except for our little pets we have. I might as well start naming them. We had ants when we moved in and they came and sprayed for them and we haven't seen them in a little while. Last week they came back in our bathroom and when they swarmed in our microwave, we decided we better get sprayed again. It's quite annoying. Hopefully after this spray they won't be back.

Next topic. Actually, death came up twice this weekend. My mom's step-sister's husband had a massive heart attack this weekend and passed away. Please pray for all his friends and family. The next topic of death was what we talked about in class this morning. We talked about how we needed to die to ourselves and be dead to sin in order to be alive in Christ. Also, we talked about how our heart and mind need to connect in order to resist temptation. This topic really hit hard because I've had a lot of temptation lately and I've really had to keep my heart and mind as one. My favorite passage is in Romans 7:

14We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24What a wretched [woman] I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Whenever I am having an inner struggle I think about this passage because I can relate to it so much. I always know that I want to do is wrong and I know what the right thing to do is. My mind is telling me that it's what I want to do but my heart (and God) is telling me I don't need to do it because it's wrong and it's just going to hurt me more. That's where I need to make my heart and mind connect, because if I let it, the heart will always win. Please pray for me to rely on God and look to Him when I am facing temptation.

Lastly, I was blessed this morning to find out that the Children of the World International Children's Choir were going to be worshiping with us this morning.

They put on a great performance. "The Choir is made up of children who have been orphaned, abandoned and robbed of their childhoods because of poverty, civil unrest and preventable diseases" Most of these kids are from sub-Saharan Africa and have been affected by HIV/AIDS some way or another. It's different when you see these children in front of you rather than just on TV. This tour goes around to spread awareness of all the children in need. After the show all the kids went around and gave hugs to the congregation. It added an even more special touch. When I am not barely living on the money I have now I would love to support a child. I am sad that I can't afford it right now. If any of you can afford it I strongly encourage you to participate and sponsor a child.

It's been a good weekend and my heart and mind have really opened up.

Another day, another adventure

2008-10-03T22:12:00.003-05:00

I've been paying particularly close attention to what I do during the day today. Seeing as how I've been filming myself for a video project in LTEC, it was necessary. As I went around today I filmed myself doing the things I do in my every day life. It was a bit challenging at school and such because, well...I'm in class. It was kind of neat capturing a day on film though.

I was sitting at the park today watching the boys play on the playground with all the other kids. All the moms sat and chit chatted. The things kids find, get upset about and fight over are funny. I heard across the playground "I don't want to be your friend anymore" with water works and all. All of this because her friend put her "germs" on her plastic bag. A little boy found a balloon. A little girl found sunglasses. Her sister found a bracelet. A three year old declared "I'm going to be a mommy soon". Let's hope soon is in like 20+ years. LOL.

About half an hour into everyone playing, a guy started leading all the kids (about 10-12 kids) into a game of touch football. Boys against girls. That was quite entertaining to watch. One little girl after catching the ball once decided she was going to be a cheerleader. Her mom laughed on the bench. Each mom wished they had their video camera to catch these moments on film. I feel that it is very important to catch every moment of your child's life (or your own) on film or in photos so you don't forget the great times you shared.

There is a point to this post...well, maybe not.

Anyways, I've been enjoying watching the boys. I love to be outside with them. The last couple weeks it has been pretty good weather so we've gone down to their friends house. All the neighborhood kids gather at that one house and play. I've decided when I buy my own house I'll have to do a little research on the neighborhood. Must have children close to my children's age. Must have parents close to my age. Must be fun. Must have driveways in front of a lot of houses (I've found that more people are outside and it's better to hang out) and must live in the corner cul-de-sac. I think it is important for kids to have that they can play with. Also, it's important for the neighborhood to know eachother. Afterall, you all do live by eachother. Tips to moms (from a non-mom): Let your kids play outside no matter how dirty they are going to get and even if you are going out to dinner soon. They can always take a shower. :D

Denton is good, but that's a whole other entry. I'll try to update more often since I'm not in Garland anymore. If not for anyone else, atleast my mom. :D

Happy 5th of July

2008-07-05T01:23:00.019-05:00

I hope everyone has a relaxing 5th of July after all the madness and fireworks from the 4th. I hope everyone had a fun time celebrating our nation's independence. I know I did. During the afternoon we went to the lake and went tubing and swimming. I haven't done that in in who knows how many years. After that we headed back to the cousins house to get cleaned up just to go out and sweat again. :) We went to some land a friend of my uncle owns and had a cookout and fireworks. Here are a few scenes...

Mind you, these fireworks were bing shot off a mere 50 yards away, if even that. It was a bit scary, but fun! Apparently the guy who brought all the fireworks owns a fireworks stand, so we had the big guns.

That would be me holding my sparkler as my brother flings his around in circles and the sparks fly at me and my mom tries to take a picture. Oh what a great picture that makes, right? As this is going on, I have fireworks going off to the left of me, in front of me, and in all the yards surrounding us. It was definitely mass caos at this moment, plus the additional spark burn on my precious legs. Ouch!

Apparently only 4 boxes of this set of fireworks has been sold in Texas. This is one of them. It's definitely a pricey one. I think they said it was $270. The video does not even come close to the full effect of this thing.

The Grande Finale. :)

Take some time for yourself today and relax!

Walk in the Park

2008-07-01T16:14:00.003-05:00

I forget sometimes how much I enjoy being outside; even if it's nearly 100 degrees. When I played softball in the summers I never minded the heat. My face would get beat red, but I never really was as uncomfortable as I looked. Speaking of softball, I would really like to play again. Anybody know of anyone that has a team or just want to throw and hit the ball around sometime?

I went for a walk at Breckenridge park today with a friend. We walked along the trails, looked at ducks and the water falls and talked for a good long while. Our last stop was to sit down on the rocks by the creek. I think we sat/layed there for a good half hour or longer before we decided we were hungry and needed some lunch.

It is just so relaxing to be outside. I wish I would get myself out there more often, not to mention I could use a good tan. Summer has always been my favorite time of the year, not only because I get a break from school and it's my birthday time, but I actually really like to be in the sun. I also like to sweat. I know that sounds odd, but it's true. Anyways, it was a relaxing and good morning and I hope to do it again sometime soon.

The roommate thing is still on an "I don't know" basis. I am in the middle of talking some people and trying to find a place. When the right place comes up I suppose I'll know it. A lot of the places we looked at might have openings, which a little disappointing that it's not for sure. I've been feeling a little bit better about it all though and I've been in better spirits, which is good for me. I had a fun weekend and should let myself have fun more often because I get in a better mood.

Back in the hole

2008-06-19T14:21:00.002-05:00

It's funny how God works sometimes. I guess He has different plans for me than I expected. I'm a little nervous about what I'm going to do when it comes time for me to actually move. I still don't have a place to live and nobody to live with. I did, but then when it came time to sign a lease, things didn't work out the way I would have hoped. I went to the dentist last week and was talking to the dental hygenist about my situation. She told me that God will take care of everything, and that I just have to trust in Him. I know that in my heart, but it's so hard to believe sometimes.

I really need to learn to put my trust in God and let Him take care of my life; not only in this situation but in others as well. I used to be able to do that really well, but when things don't go my way, I tend to try and take over. It never works and I get left in the dark again. The way I deal with things is not healthy and I have dug myself right back into the hole that I used to be in. I just feel stressed mostly and I don't want to deal with it. Hopefully I get some better news in the next couple weeks.

About that time...

2008-04-27T22:26:00.002-05:00

It seems that around this time of the year my mood typically decreases. My energy is at its bare minimum and I feel that I just can't go on. This time two years ago I was feeling very similar to the way I am feeling right now. Times are a little different, but I am still going through similar things. Once again I enter into the stage of my life that I dread the most....change.

My plans for the fall may have possibly changed. I had my mind so set on moving out to Denton to go to school. Because I have always been tight on money I have been second guessing myself whether or not I should move out there. I am still going to attend UNT, but my living situation might change. The rising gas prices makes me not want to commute, but the fact that I will have to pay for an apartment rent makes me not want to move. This stresses me out beyond all measure...as if I needed any more added stress. All I'm trying to do is get through the rest of the semester...I don't want to think about the future.

The future scares me. I said this a few years ago and I made it through, but this is even bigger change. I know once I get in the groove of things I will be okay but I am constantly worrying about other things.

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." -- Matthew 6:34

This verse came to mind because as I am sitting here procrastinating studying for my test, I am worrying about other things. This is where I get myself into a pickle. I worry about the future rather than taking care of things I need to do right now. I just feel that I need a lot of guidance. My relationship with God is not what it used to be and I need to get myself back in gear.

I really don't know what else to say. Please just pray for wisdom and guidance so I can make the best decision for next semester.

Fresh Start

2008-01-22T17:05:00.000-06:00

Okay, it's been quite some time since I've updated, but since the baby has come I've just been so busy. Oh wait...never mind. I don't have a baby. That's just everyone else around me. I guess I can't use that as an excuse for not updating.

A lot has happened since the last time I updated. I finished the semester with 3 B's and 2 A's. I was a little upset about it even though I didn't have a C. My GPA was a little lower since I had gotten less As. I got an A in my winter class and now I'm into my spring semester.

I broke up with Justin 3 weeks ago, so I've been dealing with the stresses of that. I really need some encouragement. I get a lot of mixed reviews but I know I did the right thing, but I feel horrible about it. I'll take some prayers though.

I got my acceptance letter this weekend from UNT. I didn't have any doubts that I would get in, but it's just a great feeling to know you are finally getting on to the next step. Now I'm all freaked out about the whole change thing again, just like I was a couple years ago. I think the only major thing is just coming up with finances. I want to live out there, but it's going to cost more to do it. I've considered going 2 days a week and commuting, but I just simply want the "college experience" as everyone calls it. I do want change and I want to get to know new people. If I simply just go to school there, like I do Richland, I won't get to know people and it will probably just be boring. I'm just bored now. My whole life is just school and work. I don't go out, I don't hang out with anybody. I went out to Billy Bob's with my cousin Friday night and I realized that I need some more interesting things in my life, besides just being a bum. Even though I didn't dance a lot, and when I did I totally sucked, I still had fun. I remember my Senior year of high school we would always hang out and do stuff. But everything is different now. All those people are off doing their own thing and I'm still here. Sitting. Doing nothing.

Anyways, other than dealing with all my stresses, things are going well. I think this will be a good semester. I'm going on the ladies retreat this weekend with church so that should be fun. It's always fun to get to know new people.

Pearly Whites

2007-12-05T23:28:00.000-06:00

...or not.

A while back, in elementary school, I decided I didn't want to brush my teeth anymore. Then my senses came back to me in middle school and I did it again. But my obsession with teeth didn't start until recently...within the last year or so.

Being the good dental person that I am, I brushed and flossed every morning and every night. Sometimes flossing during the middle of the day. I went to the dentist today thinking I would come out with a clean slate again. Well, come to find out, I suppose I don't floss well enough and I have 5 tiny spots where a cavity has started to form. Therefore I was outraged. I lashed out at the dentist and screamed "How dare you say I have a cavity!!" Actually, no I didn't...but I wanted to.

My teeth have always been an important thing to me. I know they aren't the whitest, but I try my best to keep them nice looking. I will admit I didn't start flossing on a regular basis until I got those neat "REACH" stick things...I don't know how to describe them. But either way, they help tremendously. Infact...I'm probably the only person who actually wore their retainer after having braces for a full year and a half without their mother choking them to death first. I didn't want my teeth to get crooked...although that one little tooth on the bottom managed to get out of line when I started only wearing them at night.

I've come to a realization and I have actually thought about this for a while. I've noticed that one of the first things I look at when I see somebody is their teeth. Now I know everyone is going to try not to smile around me. But seriously, I think it's important. Someone's teeth shows how they take care of themselves in a way. If I wasn't going to be an elementary teacher I would probably look into dentistry. Maybe I could be a dental hygenist for children...or an orthadontist.

At the dentist office this morning I was watching this video of how the 'invisalign' was made. It was a very interesting process and I was glued into the TV. Maybe it was just that it was the only other thing I could do besides just sit there. But really, if you ever see that video which I know most of you never will...It really is quite interesting.

Other than my crazy rambling about teeth, I'm just trying to get through these last couple weeks. Finals are next week and then I'm done!! Well, for the semester atleast. But then my Winter class online starts the next day. I guess I'll never get a break.

What a Time

2007-11-10T21:27:00.000-06:00

What a time to be sick. I have had a fever for the last 3 days (that I know of) and haven't been feeling well ever since Tuesday. I've missed 2 days of work this week, which I never like to do. If you know me, I always go to work and school even if I'm not feeling well. It's very rare that I'll stay home. Friday I missed going to my elementary school and work. I thought I was feeling better and my fever was down, so I went to see "Little Shop of Horrors" last night but afterwards I still felt horrible.

Today I was supposed to go to UNT for information and everything, but I was still running an over 100 degree fever. So of course, I didn't go to that. I stayed in bed today until 6:30 pm. My nose, throat, eyes, etc are killing me. I think my temperature went down from 100.5 to 99.8. Thats the best it's been in a while.

I'm supposed to go to two baby showers tomorrow. Who knows if that's even going to happen. If some miracle happens, then I'll be able to go, but if things go how they have been lately, then I'll be stuck at home again tomorrow.

I have too much to do this weekend to be laying down sick the whole time. I have homework and previous plans and it seems everything is going to be cancelled. Atleast I'm not throwing up like I was a month ago.

I'm home by myself...of course. Nobody is here to take care of me. It's pretty lonely. I'm going to start reading "Mein Kampf" by Adolf Hitler. For extra credit in history we are supposed to read this and respond. I don't know if I can finish it and write everything in time, but I still think it is an interesting book to read. I'll update what I think of it as soon as I've read it.

Marriage and Fuel

2007-10-31T23:13:00.000-05:00

Justin and I celebrated our one year anniversary yesterday and everyone's favorite thing to ask is "are you two getting married?" I'm not even thinking about getting married right now. I mean, I play with the thought of being married but I am so not ready. I know I'm not going to get married until after I graduate college. I feel that my education is the most important thing right now.

It's a strange feeling when you see people your age...people you went to high school with...getting engaged and getting married. I don't understand why all these people feel that they are ready to get married. Maybe they are. Maybe they think they are ready to get married. Maybe they felt like they were pressured into it.

I'm at an age I guess when people aren't sure if the child I am holding is mine or not. I have been asked multiple times if a child is mine. In fact, a child that I wasn't even holding that was across the room was presumed to be mine. People just ask me random questions about children and I'm like "I don't know, he's not mine." I can't wait for the day I have my own children, but again, NOT READY.

Anyways...just some thoughts.

Lowlight of my day
I ran out of gas in the parking lot on my way to the Gap
I couldn't figure out the really complicated gas can we bought at the gas station

Highlights of my day
I got to sleep in until 10 am
A woman at the Gap told me that my hair was beautiful
Goofy went to the Gap with me and had an adventure with my gas tank
A random guy helped us when we looked confused with the gas can

Okay, just FYI, this wasn't any normal gas can. It wasn't just like tilt and poor. I'm not totally dumb. The guy was a little confused at first too.

Overall, despite running out of gas, it was a good day.

Beyond my understanding

2007-10-19T19:32:00.000-05:00

I've come to realize the people who I am closest to are significantly older than me. I have never felt that I can relate to anybody my own age and I feel that may be the reason why I've had difficulty being happy with the "friends" I've had throughout the course of my life. I've noticed the people around me who are my age tend to be...immature. Now, I know I can be immature at times, but for the most part I am told I am more mature than those of my own age. I've recently become good friends with someone who is 10 years older than me, along with the others who are 3-5 years older. I'm even good friends with those who are years younger than me (who I believe are quite mature for their age myself), but not those my own age.

I don't have many close friends, or many that I can talk to about serious matters and that suprises people...or so I'm told. It's not like I'm shy or reserved (like I used to be). I think I just select friends carefully these days to avoid getting hurt, or avoid being abandoned. I guess that could be the same thing.

I relate more to adults. I have better conversation with them. A lot of time I wish I were older so it wouldn't so so strange that I hang out with the young moms at my church. It's not just because the have babies! My time will come when I can be "one of them." I guess I ought to enjoy what I'm doing right now. People say these are the best days of your lives (college that is) but I'm not feeling it. I think the best days of my life will be when I have children of my own and I can watch them grow up.

I have to wait though. I must go through the proper stages of life, I suppose. I know I'm not ready for marriage or parenting, but I've just been longing my whole life for it and I can't wait.

Okay, this is the point you form an opinion about how crazy you think I am for wanting all of this right now and tell me I need to enjoy my life now. Ready. Go ahead!

A lot of things different

2007-10-06T17:07:00.000-05:00

Over the course of the last 2 weeks I have had many emotions. I cried numerous times, I felt like I was going to die, I went through a breakup 3 times in a week, I did a lot of realization, I threw up 7 times, I've been unsure of myself, and now back into the relationship. Why you might ask? Because when you care about someone it's hard to let them go, especially when you are unsure of your own motives for the breakup. Also, when the whole week following the breakup, you still hang out with this person and, after talking things out, things were wonderful (which should have been talked about in the first place). So I'm giving it another go. It will be a year on October 30th...so it's been a long time.

My brother went through this same thing with his girlfriend. Fighting a lot and then breaking up for a week and then getting back together. I'm not sure if this is the healthiest thing, but it seemed to do something. I guess it makes you appreciate each other more.

I try not to be influenced by what other people say but I seem to always fall into that. I've been so confused and unsure of what I really want because I have some people telling me one thing and others telling me another. I feel manipulated and influenced in negative ways. I think things are going to be getting back to normal (or as normal as they can be) and I will be happy again. I wasn't happy for a few months and I thought if I got rid of what I thought caused me all the stress then everything would be perfect; but it wasn't. I do a lot of things and am always busy. I work, go to school, have a boyfriend, go to church and workout all the while trying to keep myself sane. I pick up random tasks along the way such as babysitting and things like that but I never give myself time for ME.

I think I desperately need "me time"; at least once a week or a little bit every where I can just focus on what I need to do, and not trying to make others happy all the time. I don't have to agree to every babysitting job, especially when I know I have things to do. I guess I try to fill up my time so I don't have to do the important stuff; like school work.

Pray that I can manage my time better and also rely more on God for when things are going bad or I am stressed out.

At the End of the Day

Thoughts on Teaching

I'm a Rangers Fan

Coffee and Beignets

Cinnamon Rolls

Graduation!

Nelson Cruuuuuz!!!

Nickel

Parenting

Away

In Transition

My Semester

Experiments

Spring Break

Hot Cereal Novice

**BREAKING NEWS**

Midnight Chocolate Milk

Epic

Dead

5 am

2010

Family

'Twas the Day Before Christmas

Proposals

Oh, Bananas!

Charged

Love it!

Legs

HP TouchSmart

Friends

The Secret Garden

Late Start

December Surprise

Wingers

Babywearing

Wordless Wednesday

Not Me! MONDAY

Burns

Fall 2009

Happy Birthday, Sweet Stellan

What Faith Can Do

Something new

Thoughts on grocery shopping

Gordon-Jannetto Wedding

A few of my favorite things...

Twenty-one-derful...or is it?

Summertime Nails

Pants

Un-Human

Looking Dumb

What I'm doing these days...

Got pricked...again.

My addiction

Lesson Learned

I'm awake

Goo Goo Gaga?

License Plates

All I've got to say is...

Endings

Ferronniere

My Car

Lovin' it

This is for you, Rachel

The Joys of My Life

Full of it

Wonders

Unfortunate Things

Quick Meal for One

Staying Home

Pray for Stellan

Different Place

FREE Blog Design!

Dreams

LEELAND!

No Fun

Potty Time

New Years

Looking ahead

One Year

Year in Pictures

BREAKING NEWS