What do YOU want?

So, this post is kinda/really selfish, but I don't know what I want for Christmas and I need some help. Trav and my family are all waiting for me to tell them....they're getting very frustrated. But all I can say is, "I don't know?" So, somebody please give me ideas!

I'm ready...

2 days of student teaching + 1 seminar + 1 portfolio to complete (and start, uh oh!) = Graduation

I can't believe it. 3 1/2 years have just flown by.

THIS DOESN'T FEEL REAL.

50 things that made me laugh today.

So, I'm supposed to be working on my student teaching portfolio, but I was checking my e-mail and got this funny one from my cousin. Maybe you readers won't find it funny, but I thought it was hilarious because basically they all are things that go through my head...or are just plain funny. Let me know what you think!

1. I wish Google Maps had an “Avoid Ghetto” routing option.
2. More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can’t wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that’s not only better, but also more directly involves me.
3. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong.
4. Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you’re going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you’re crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.
5. That’s enough, Nickelback.
6. I totally take back all those times I didn’t want to nap when I was younger.
7. Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the "people you may know" feature on facebook people that I really do know, but I deliberatly choose to not be friends with?
8. Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn’t work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards or FAQ’s. We just figured it out. Today’s kids are soft.
9. There is a great need for sarcasm font.
10. Sometimes, I’ll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the f was going on when I first saw it.
11. I think everyone has a movie that they love so much, it actually becomes stressful to watch it with other people. I’ll end up wasting 90 minutes shiftily glancing around to confirm that everyone’s laughing at the right parts, then making sure I laugh just a little bit harder (and a millisecond earlier) to prove that I’m still the only one who really, really gets it.
12. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
13. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.
14. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I’m trying to finish a text.
15. Was learning cursive really necessary?
16. Lol has gone from meaning, “laugh out loud” to “I have nothing else to say”.
17. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
18. Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron test is absolutely petrifying.
19. My brother’s Municipal League baseball team is named the Stepdads. Seeing as none of the guys on the team are actual stepdads, I inquired about the name. He explained, “Cuz we beat you, and you hate us.” Classy, bro. 20. Whenever someone says “I’m not book smart, but I’m street smart”, all I hear is “I’m not real smart, but I’m imaginary smart”.
21.How many times is it appropriate to say “What?” before you just nod and smile because you still didn’t hear what they said?
22. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a dick from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!
23. Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using ‘as in’ examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss’s last name to an attorney and said “Yes that’s G as in…(10 second lapse)..ummm…Goonies”
24. While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it…thanks Mario Kart. 25. MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood. 26. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
27. I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.
28. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.
29. I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t at least kind of tired.
30. Whenever I’m Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning who just got the Red Ryder BB gun that I always wanted. 546 pictures? Don’t mind if I do!
31. Is it just me or do high school girls get sluttier & sluttier every year?
32. Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I’m from, this shouldn’t be a problem….
33. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you’ve made up your mind that you just aren’t doing anything productive for the rest of the day.
34. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don’t want to have to restart my collection.
35. There’s no worse feeling than that millisecond you’re sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.
36. I’m always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.
37. “Do not machine wash or tumble dry” means I will never wash this ever.
38. I hate being the one with the remote in a room full of people watching TV. There’s so much pressure. ‘I love this show, but will they judge me if I keep it on? I bet everyone is wishing we weren’t watching this. It’s only a matter of time before they all get up and leave the room. Will we still be friends after this?’
39. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Dammit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What’d you do after I didn’t answer? Drop the phone and run away?
40. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.
41. When I meet a new girl, I’m terrified of mentioning something she hasn’t already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.
42. I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it’s on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.
43. Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles…
44. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.
45. Sometimes I’ll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.
46. It should probably be called Unplanned Parenthood.
47. I keep some people’s phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
48. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, hitting the G-spot, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I’d bet my ass everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time…
49. I wonder if cops ever get pissed off at the fact that everyone they drive behind obeys the speed limit.
50. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

I'm kind of freaking out right now.

I'm a person who is very into plans.

I like to know exactly what is going on, and what will happen after.

Well, as everyone knows, things don't always go as planned.

In fact, they rarely ever go as planned.

So what happens to me when my plans don't work out?

I turn into a major anxiety stress case.

Here's how my life has been planned so far:

Go to Butler Elementary school

Go to Butler Middle School

Go to Brighton High School & hair school at the same time

Graduate from high school and hair school and move to USU

Graduate from USU, get married and find a job.

I guess I never really thought passed that part.

And now that's where I'm at in my life.

In December I'm going to graduate from USU.

I've got some big decisions to make in my life.

JOB:

Do I want to be a resource teacher or a general ed teacher?

If I want to work in the resource room I could for sure find a job and start right up in January. But, I don't know if that's what I really want to do.

I'm not sure if I could find a general ed teaching job right away.

I could do substituting or tutoring though?

And to be honest, some days I go to teach and wonder if teaching is really what I want to do the rest of my life. It's hard. It's really hard.

MISSION:

Most of you reading this have probably heard that I have been thinking about going on a mission. The plan for me was always that I finish school first, then go. So, I took summer classes and everything so that I could perfectly time when I went on a mission. Now that the decision is so close I can't decide what I want. I'm definatly leaning more towards one way, but well, I just don't know. I know that either way things are going to work out and it wouldn't be a mistake to go or to not go. That's what is making it so much harder of a decision. I've also found that the more people's advice I get in this area, the more confused I get. So I've stopped asking everyone and have ignored the situation entirely.

WHERE DO I LIVE?

All I know right now is that I don't want to be living in Logan. That's not my choice though, so my next question is where do I live when I move back to Salt Lake? I don't want to live in my basement but none of my friends are moving into an apartment.

GRAD SCHOOL:

Anything that I would want to do requires a 3 year teaching experience before I can even get accepted. So this will have to wait for a while.

These may seem like small little things to you dear reader, but to me they are not. And they are things that i'm sort of freaking out about. It also doesn't help that I get on facebook and blogger and read about everyone else's lives and how they are moving on and getting married and getting pregnant and going on missions and none of these things seem to cause anyone else massive stress amounts except me.

Welcome, October!

I love this week.

• Monday night: One Tree Hill. on right now. My favorite tv show ever.
• Tuesday: school's out @ 12:50 at Cedar Ridge Middle School for PTC
• Tuesday night: No PTC for me, because my teacher can't make it either
• Wednesday: No school. PTC for 3 hours.
• Wednesday night: Back to SLC it is for me!!! Hopefully seeing Chrissy
• Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday: No school. No school. No Schoooooooooooooooool.

I love this week.
I pretty much get to do WHATEVER I WANT...and I can't stop smiling.

Vikitoria in town means.....

Iggies, falling out of the booth, cold stone, blowing through the nose, Stintson, red rocket story...BFF'S!

Curious Thursday

The kids in the class I'm in right now are always asking me questions like, "How old are you?", "Where do you live?", "Do you have any pets?",etc. Sometimes I answer them and sometimes I say that we need to work on school things and they can ask me about them later at recess, by which time they seem to forget the question they had asked. Well, Thursday during mini math groups the kids were throwing questions at me left and right. I told them that if they were quiet for the rest of the time they worked I'd let them ask me one APPROPRIATE question before they had to go back to their seats. I threw the word "appropriate" in just to be sure. But let's just say that in life you can never be SURE. So, my trick worked. The kids kept quiet the rest of the time so I held true to my promise and let them ask me one question. They all agreed that the question should be, "Are you married?". I told them that I wasn't. Then sweet little NINE YEAR OLD Jose goes, "No! I have one more question! Do you wear a bra?" I didn't know whether to laugh, ignore him or tell him that his question wasn't appropriate, so I just stared at him-shocked. Once he got back to his seat I told the other teacher and we laughed for like twenty minutes.

Your opinion is welcomed.....

I've always wanted to cut bangs to see what I would look like. Sure, I had the sweet weenie roll bangs when I was a chunky kid of age 12. I'm not talking about those kind of bangs, I'm talking about the bangs like the ladies above. I have a massive forehead, and it might possibly give the illusion that I don't, which is a definite bonus. So feel free, my 2 dedicated readers, to add comments or take the poll to let me know what you think. In fact if you don't, i'll be pretty mad at you. Thanks!

April Fools!

Last Monday I went to the student center at USU to look at the job board, which I do occasionally. I have by far the most difficult schedule to work around which makes me largely unappealing to employers. I'm very aware of this, and so I usually don't expect to find a job that would be applicable to me. Very few times I have found a few, and by the time I call they have usually found somebody else, or it just falls through for one reason or another. Well, last Monday I found a listing for a tutor of a young elementary aged student. I was excited about this because FINALLY there was something that just may work around my schedule. So, I called. Sunday afternoon I had an interview. The mother told me more about this boy; he was going into 5th grade (my specialty, seriously! I love this age and have done most of my practicums at this level). He had some physical impairments which forced him to be in a power wheelchair. He also has some speech problems, but with time you can learn to understand him. Because of the physical impairments he has missed a lot of school, which put him at a second grade reading level and behind in math as well. He spent only about an hour a day in the general education classroom, the rest in resource. The job would pay well, compensate me for my travel, work around my schedule, and would only last throughout the summer. The best part about it is that I would be able to use seriously everything I had just learned in my special education classes....the CBA's the direct instruction the manipulatives....EVERTHING. Well, the mom called me on Sunday night and told me that her and her husband decided to pick me (over a girl who was already a teacher) mainly because of my special education background. I was stoked!! Yesterday I went to the education library and checked out tons of materials to use. Then I went to talk to my old professor to ask him for some advice. I spent a lot of time just coming up with the first day's lesson (which would have been tonight).Well, when I got back I had a message on my phone. My phone didn't even ring, just went straight to voicemail! It was the lady calling to inform me that because I couldn't tutor until after 2:30, they'd changed their mind and hired someone else who would be able to teach in the mornings. Sweet. I guess I'll go return all that stuff I checked out from the library.

3 lies and a truth.

1. Office Depot does sell Hawaiian/beach attire for office parties.

2. Office Depot and the World Market have very similar signs that easily get mixed up by customers.

3. I tried to return a huge pack of cardstock paper to The World Market.

4. I'm really smart and don't ever have stupid moments.

If you picked #3 as the truth, you are the winner. I REALLY did try to return a huge pack of cardstock to The World Market. I REALLY did look around before waiting in line, and noticed the Hawaiian attire that was set up in the front. I REALLY did think to myself, "Well, on the Office TV show they have weird themed parties so maybe other companies around here are wanting to have a theme party." The guy REALLY did have to tell me that Office Depot was next door, and he REALLY did say, "But thanks for coming in!"

I basically ran out of that store without looking back.

Dear Tanya-

Dear Tanya (if that really is your real name),

That's cool that you want to buy stuff from Victoria's Secret and all, but please don't do it with my card again. I mean, come on! I don't even know you. I'd like to say that one day we could be friends, but the fact is, you live in(or like to ship things to) New York and I live in Utah. Not to mention the fact that you are completely dishonest. It would never work out. Maybe one day you'll meet a nice friend who will say,"I'd like to treat you to a shopping spree, entirely on me," but let's face it, I'm not the gal for you. A college student who is earning a salary of oh, close to nothing just cannot afford to do such things. I'm actually in the process of trying to find one of those friends for me! Anyway, good luck with the friend search and please try to work on your honesty issue.

Love,
Lauren (the one that really owns the credit card you just used)

ps. I hope you got some good things for the price of your soul.

Patti is hot.

Not a great picture of us, I know. BUT, I just wanted to let everyone know that my best friend in the entire world is home. He went to Europe for 3 weeks and I missed him really bad. It's so nice to have him back!

i DON'T love 475.

What is this a picture of?

It's a "LOVE GIFT"

What's a love gift?

Well, it's one of the things I am required to do for my summer school-It's an assignment for my language arts class. That's right, they REALLY did name it "love gift", and they're serious about it.

The requirements:

One for each girl in the class (18)

an activity that a teacher can use to involve an entire class

while teaching about language arts

and it has to cost at least a dollar per person.

My idea:

STUPID.

I was really having a hard time coming up with something and finally it hit me what I should do. I thought it was SUCH a good idea, and I got started working on it on Saturday. After cutting out 475 yellow cards, 475 white squares, taping the white squares on, laminating them, & cutting them all out, I realize what an idiot I am. This is taking me FOREVER and I'm still not finished. I still have to hole punch them all, cut 475 pieces of yarn and tie the yarn on. Then, I have to come up with games for this thing and print them all off. Way more than 18 dollars and so not worth the time. Oh well, hopefully I'll use it one day. So, in case you were wondering what I've been doing the past couple of nights-that's it!

Meet my friend Emmerine the mzungu.

I pretty much love her. How did I meet her? Well, she went to Africa with me last Summer. We were meant to be friends from the start. On the airplane, she sat next to me. Then she fell asleep on me. I thought to myself, "Who is this weird girl sleeping on me?" and we've been friends ever since. I'm glad she broke the barrier.

All throughout Africa she listened to me complain, cry, and give my sob stories, as we sat underneath my bed net and ate NICE cookies. She also gave me some of the best advice for the situation I was dealing with at the time.

She is leaving on a mission on Wednesday, and I am so excited for her and this great experience she has ahead of her. She has been looking forward to it for SOOOO long, and I know that she is incredibly prepared for it. In fact, I'd feel confident saying that she's more prepared than most missionaries.

Even in Africa she faithfully read the scriptures, memorized talks and studied preach my gospel.

She is a girl that has it all together, and makes others want to follow her example. She complains rarely, and works constantly. She helped me realize that things will work out and I'll be ok. She made Africa a great experience for me, and I'll miss her. Em: Good luck, I can't wait for the letters. Oh, and don't forget to pack your yam sweatshirt.

BYEEEE MZUNGU!!

I had a good idea.....

Last week I was sitting in my unbelievably boring class when I got a text from my BFF Doug. He informed me that he, Michelle, Hailey and I would be going to Pizza Plus as soon as I was out of my class, on him.

We'd never been to Pizza Plus before, and I decided to make it special.

We ate up our food and were just sitting there having a great time chatting. I looked down at my cup that was once full of lemonade and now just had that really good kind of ice. (You know, the kind you get from sonic that's the best EVER to chew on.)

I said, "Do you think if I tried to throw this into the garbage can from here

it would spill ice everywhere?"

Hailey said, "Yeah. It definately would."

I said, "Well, I want to try it anyway."

So I threw it.

And I forgot about the guy standing behind the garbage can

with the blue tooth head set and his pizza.

The ice hit the man in the head, landed on his plate of pizza, and dumped all over the floor.

Luckily he was nice.

I'm still not really sure why I thought that would be a good idea........

I hate that dang undergraduate committee.

I am missing class right now.
I NEVER MISS CLASS. EVER!

I just wasn't feeling up to it. And, I decided I hate this class. Seriously, I hate everything about it. So I've decided to boycott it, and write a blog entry instead.

I'm in a bad mood so I decided I'm going to write my bummer story of the day. It goes like this:

The day I made the decision to attend Utah State University was the day I decided to do my student teaching in Salt Lake City. Student teaching applications were due March 1. As the deadline closely approached I started submitting my applications and doing everything I had to in order to get it completed in time. I didn't notice until a few days before the deadline that extension student teaching required another application on top of the other 8,000 I had to fill out. So I started filling it out and realized at the bottom it said "Students must have a 3.5 cumulative GPA and an A or A- in all practicum courses in order to be considered for extension student teaching. If you do not meet the requirements you must write and submit an appeal to the undergraduate committee." Well lucky me, I just happened to have:
1. a 3.44 GPA
2. a B+ in my practicum course.

AWESOME. OR NOT.

I wrote an appeal giving MANY reasons why I should be accepted for extension student teaching. I had it in my head that for sure they'd let me. I mean, I was SO CLOSE to meeting the requirements. They couldn't possibly turn me down because I was off by .06 for the GPA requirement.

BUT THEY DID.

I am so bummed! What makes me mad is that the undergraduate committee is a group of people who have no idea who I am. What gives them the right to tell me what to do? Their reasoning was, "You will have more teacher support in Logan". THANKS. THAT WASN'T COMPLETELY OBVIOUS TO ME UNTIL YOU POINTED THAT ONE OUT. Now I'm forced to student teach in Logan. This means I'll have to sign a full year contract and then turn around and try to sell it half way through the year. I also just have to live in Logan, which I am kind of done with. I was so ready to move home and move on with my life. Don't get me wrong, Logan is great. I just wasn't planning on living here in the Fall.

Now maybe someone else should write a complainer story like mine so I don't feel like such a whiner. Or at least leave a comment about something crappy that happened to you?

Bob That Head

Thursday night I got to go to the Rascal Flatts concert with my mom. We joined the fan club so that we could buy tickets early. The only problem with that is that they don't tell you where your seats are until you pick them up. Last year when we did that our seats weren't that great, but we just decided to do it again anyway to make sure that we got tickets. Well, we were lucky this time because we got FLOOR SEATS!!! and the stage went all the way around the floor so they were right up close to us the whole time. It was honeslty the best concert ever. The only downfall was Jessica Simpson. I thought she was terrible. Her country music sucks, she's annoying, and it sounded like she was just screaming the entire time. BUT-Rascal sang their new single and made me even more excited for their album to come out. I can't wait!!

Best of 2009 Poll!

Everyone, please click on the link below and vote for Ty Perry for Best TV News Reporter and Best TV News Hottie on the Best of 2009 Poll! Here is a link: http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/flex-125-best-of-utah-2009-ballot.html. Thanks everyone, and good luck Ty!

"Everybody works for me!"

So, today is my little ish's birthday. She is 17 years old! I can't even believe it. I just wanted to say Happy birthday to her and let her know that I think she's pretty rad.

Sorry about the pictures, these really are the only ones I had of her where she wouldn't kill me for putting them up!

Ps. About the title, if you want to know what it means you'll have to ask her!

April 7!

So, it's been over 2 months since I last wrote something. I haven't had much to say for the last little bit, but today I do.

1. I just got tickets to the Rascal Flatts concert in February, and i'm so FREAKING excited!
2. They are coming out with a new album on April 7!!
3. AND-they have their new single released on this website:
http://www.hyfntrak.com/rascalcountdown2/fromafriend/


So, if you like Rascal Flatts like I do, then you should totally check it out. Let me know what you think!