10 September 2005, Saturday

Oy. I'm busy. The End.

17 September 2005, Saturday

September has been a busy month so far. I can't believe it is already more than half over. We are a month into school and it seems like I'm a little more than a month behind already. I don't know how that happened, but it did. I'll catch up in a month or so I'm sure. At least we are doing three terms this year instead of four quarters. That gives me a few more weeks before grades are due normally. I'll be good to go by then.

I've also started the annual Gold C coupon book fundraiser. It's a big head ache for about a month, but in the end I have money to spend on programs for the lab, so it's worth it. Of course it would be easier if I was just provided with enough money to begin with, but we make due with what we have.

The melodrama has come and gone. Note to self: do another melodrama some day, they are a lot of fun. I like the relaxed atmosphere of them and how much fun they are. The cast for this one was a lot of fun too. We did ten shows in three days, and they were long days. On Friday the 9th we did two shows at my elementary school, the kids loved it, they cheered especially loud for me. Then we did a show at the theater that night. Saturday we did three matinees with the Pleasant Grove Heritage Festival during the day, and one that night. And on Monday, the 12th, we did two more shows at another elementary school and a final show at the theater that night. We had excellent audiences as well, and that makes a big difference with a melodrama. I'll try to have pictures up soon.

Like I did when I was in Heidi, I made a quilt the week we opened for this show. I decided I really wanted a bedspread big enough to cover my feet and be pulled up to my chin at the same time, and the one I'm hand quilting is going to take a lot longer still. So on Labor Day I went to the fabric store and took advantage of their sales. I was able to make the whole queen sized bed spread for about $70, which is amazing. I pieced the top on Monday, added the borders on Friday, and last Saturday I sandwiched the whole thing and flipped it through. Sunday and Monday I got most of it tied, tied enough that it is on my bed. I'll do the last little bit of tying and sew the whole I flipped it through later. In the mean time, I really like having a blanket that fits my bed finally.

My tomato plants didn't do too bad this year. They didn't die completely, so that's something. One of them grew too big for its cage and when we had a bad rain storm it got bent. I have two tomatoes I've picked already, and as long as the frost holds out just a little bit longer, I'll have four more tomatoes this season. I'll try it again next year and see if I can't get a few more.

I'm almost done applying to graduate school. I took the GRE on August 20th. I did enough above the department's minimum scores that I'm not worried about that. I've requested my transcript be sent from BYU to the University of Utah. I had to wear my BYU shirt that day to counter the bad vibes and help with the feelings of betrayal I was feeling. I have two of my three letters of recommendation out, I'm working on my third. The last two things I have left to do are write a one to two page essay explaining why I want a masters and what I'll do with it, and the actual application to the college of education. I have one more month to do that. It shouldn't be too much of a problem.

And my medical situation has changed a lot too. Thursday, the 15th, I had what is going to be the first of two radio frequency lesioning. We did the right side on the 15th. They are going to do the left side on the 29th. When people ask me how I'm doing I tell them I'm on lortab. And as long as I'm on it, I'm fine, a little loopy and drowsy, but I'm still fine. I've also started physical therapy which is going to loosen the muscles on the top of my chest and tighten them on the top of my back while they loosen the ones at the bottom of my back and tighten my stomach. That should fix my posture and help my neck and shoulders, as well as my lower back. So give me a few more weeks and I should be working real well.

My testimony of Relief Society has increased this weekend. Thursday my first counselor drove me to the doctor and waited there for me since I wasn't supposed to drive there or back. She had to stop twice on the way home so I could throw up outside the car. She got me home and then went to the pharmacist to pick up my lortab, and got me a fun get well balloon. My second counselor brought me dinner Thursday, my secretary brought me dinner on Friday, and my first counselor brought me dinner tonight. They've also called me to make sure I'm okay and not passed out at home. It's amazing what women can do when they all work together. It makes me feel good each month to get the report from my compassionate service leader about everything that the sisters in this ward do for each other. It truly amazes me.

I think that just about catches me up. I dropped some film off at Wal-Mart today, so I'll have pictures of things next week. Hopefully I'll be back to update this in less than two weeks.

29 September 2005, Thursday

Ouch. They did the left side of my neck today. I wasn't as nauseous going home this time, so that was good. But it hurt worse this time. I'm going to have at least one bruise on my neck from this one.

Today was also picture day at school today. So I did that this morning and then went to the doctor. The sub I have for my classes today seems like she is new to substituting. She just seemed a little too excited when I asked her if she was available for today. I hope my kids are good for her. I hope the plans I left aren't too complicated for her. Normally I worry a lot when I can't be at school, but today I think between the valium and lortab I have, I'm not worried about a whole lot.

Last Saturday I was able to attend the General Relief Society meeting at the Conference Center in Salt Lake. I love that meeting. It was always a good meeting before, but since my calling to be the Relief Society president in my ward, it all seems to have a deeper meaning to me. There were eight from my ward that went up together, and it was a great experience for all of us. Sally, my enrichment counselor, and I were talking on Tuesday after our belly dancing class (yes, I am taking belly dancing finally, and I talked my whole presidency into taking it with me , and our bishop thinks it's great), about how we are probably the strangest presidency we have ever seen. But I think we are just the presidency this ward needs. We have so many sisters who are brand new to Relief Society, and if we were older, not as silly at times, making all our own clothes and fresh bread every day, we might scare some of them. I hope that everyone in the ward feels like they belong to Relief Society no matter where they are in life or what they do.

I finally developed my film from April and on. So there are a lot of new pictures up now. I need to get my book reviews caught up next.

New pictures: birthday cupcakes, trip through Nevada, book character day, new quilt, my garden, melodrama, belly dancing

30 September 2005, Friday

6 October 2005, Thursday

Just a quick update on some random things. I had to scrape ice off my car windows for the first time yesterday. That is so much earlier than last year.

My neck is turning green. I have a large faint green bruise on the left side of my neck now. Sally noticed it Tuesday night, but I didn't notice it till yesterday morning when I was getting dressed.

Today is also six years since I entered the MTC to go to Brasil.

9 October 2005, Sunday

My brother has called me three times in the last year. He called my last Thanksgiving from Portugal and left me a message wishing me a happy Thanksgiving. He called me in June from India at about 7am my time to ask if I liked the color yellow. And he called me on Friday from the exotic Illinois to tell me the new Wallace and Grommit movie was opening that day and that I needed to make sure I went. I love the randomness that is my brother. But I did get to the movie last night and laughed a lot.

Friday night my iron died. It had been struggling for a while. I'd gotten the cord stuck around the corners of my ironing board while using it and pulled it too many times and the cord was too loose to power it any more. I've had that iron since I left for college, about nine years now. So it was a sad loss. I bought a new iron late Friday night at Wal-Mart. It took me about half an hour to pick it out. It seems like a good iron, it is just going to take a while to get used to it.

12 October 2005, Wednesday

And now I wait.

Yesterday I mailed the last of my application to the University of Utah. I'm hoping to start a Masters program there in January. Now I just have to sit and wait to hear back from them. They say it usually takes four to six weeks, so that would put it about Thanksgiving time.

I hate waiting.

13 October 2005, Thursday

I have discovered that my favorite restaurant has a web site: Tucanos Brazilian Grill. My mouth is watering just looking at the site. I need to go soon. Maybe I'll celebrate UEA next week by going there.

I have put up my school picture for this year. It scanned a little funny, but it still looks real nice.

20 October 2005, Thursday

Today is the second anniversary of MissGiggles.com being on the internet for all to see. Yay Me!

The leaves have all fallen up on the mountains. But they are right in the middle of changing colors down in the city. I think they are so pretty. I love driving down the streets and seeing all the different colors of all the different trees. And they all go together so well too. It just amazes me every time I go out. And for the most part the weather has been absolutely beautiful too. Today felt more like a cool Summer day rather than Autumn. The nice weather is supposed to last all weekend too. I'm looking forward to it.

I have a whole stack of fabric for so many different sewing projects I'm working on right now. It's so relaxing to sew. Since I do not have to work today or tomorrow, I'm trying to finish some of those projects, and organize all the fabric I have left. This week I've made a fleece baby blanket and six fleece dogs. The blanket looks great, and the dogs are so cute, each one with a different personality, even though they were cut from the same pattern. I've found a great home with a kid for each of them, including the first one. The first time I try out a new pattern or technique, I make one for me in case I goof. So the first one is mine.

23 October 2005, Sunday

I've discovered I really like being able to say "I made this just to see if I could." Because lately I've been saying that a lot, and I've been able to make the things too. It's a lot of fun to discover this about yourself.

31 October 2005, Monday

4 November 2005, Friday

I have Dreamweaver on my home computer now. It looks basically the same, but just different enough that it might take a day or two to get used to the new look. Hopefully I'll be able to get used to the difference soon. This should also mean that I will be updating it more often. But we'll see if that happens.

7 November 2005, Monday

Mount Timpanogos is so pretty. I love looking up at it all year long. But right now it is lightly covered in snow. Not completely covered because you can still see where different layers jut out, so there are dark streaks in the snow. It's really beautiful. And it catches the colors of the sunset in the evening as well.

I bought my tickets to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire this evening. I'm so excited. I have to work early on the 18th, but just an hour of tutoring so I can go home and sleep after that. I think I'll try to do Harry Potter type math games/problems for my kids that morning and bring them a treat too. Just over a week and a half till the new movie. I'm a little nervous because it is a new person doing the music, and each new director does something a little different with the setting, and I really liked the last setting. But the preview gives me goose bumps, so that has to be a good sign. I just wish they would give Ron a hair cut.

Yesterday I had the Cook's over for dinner. I made my chicken soup I made up a few years ago. I decided that canned chicken soup is way too oily and doesn't have enough good stuff in it. So I went to the grocery store, went to the produce section, looked around and picked out a bunch of things I thought would go good in a chicken soup. I throw it all into my crock pot with some chicken pieces and let it simmer while I go to work or church. And when I come home my whole apartment smells delicious and I have warm soup, and enough to eat for left overs for a while as well. So I made that and some bread sticks for them. Jason said he'd have to tell the bishop that I can cook and that he couldn't believe that the bishop had mentioned in sacrament meeting once that I don't know how to. It's been a joke with the bishop and I for the last year that I'm the Relief Society president but don't know how to cook. Chicken soup is one of three or four meals that I can do real well. And that is because it's just cutting up a bunch of stuff and putting it all in a pot.

17 November 2005, Thursday

I GOT IN!!

I've been accepted by the University of Utah Department of Teaching and Learning to begin a Master's degree Spring semester 2006. Jumping up and down excited!! And I get to go see Harry Potter at midnight tonight.

21 November 2005, Monday

My grades for the first term are due in 4.5 hours. I did real well at procrastinating them this time around. I have two more worksheets to grade for fifth grade and then I'll have to get to school an hour early to enter them on the computer before everyone else comes. Ah well, I'll sleep some day. (I say that a lot I'm noticing).

But anyway, I put in the movie October Sky to watch while I was grading. And it got me thinking. There are several teachers that I've had that I know changed my life. My fourth grade math teacher and sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Armendariz, is the kind of teacher I want to be. She inspired my writing, got me hooked on history, and made school and learning so much fun. My seventh grade math teacher, Mrs. Plummer, believed in me and inspired me, she knew what I could do and pushed me. My high school computer teacher, Mrs. Kotarski, and my senior English teacher, Mr. Helm, I consider them friends even now, they influenced my life so much.

Will any of my students look back ten or twenty years from now and remember who I was? Will their lives be different or better because I taught them? Will I ever know if I made a difference? Will I be remembered, and how?

29 November 2005, Tuesday

A few quick notes about my Thanksgiving trip. I'll write better details later this week, I hope. This is going to be a busy week.

My CD player in my car broke 30 minutes into the trip. I was driving on bald, stripped tires by the time I got to Austin. My hub cap flew off just before my suspension broke just outside of Lubbock on the way back and I spent 24 hours in Littlefield, Texas. I hit a cat shortly after crossing into New Mexico. I had 50 mile an hour head winds crossing New Mexico - that really cuts down on the gas mileage. Getting out of the car every two hours in what had to be below zero wind chill to fill the car with gas will wake you up. My windshield cleaner fluid froze and I was very glad my windows didn't get any dirtier driving in the snow through Spanish Fork canyon still afraid my tires are going to fall off and not driving on snow tires either because they were at home in my coat closet. There is VERY bad traffic in Spanish Fork heading north on I-15 in the mornings. I needed to be at school by 8am to tutor yesterday, I got there just before 9am.

I'll write the highlights later.