FOR THE FAMILY REUNION!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's almost June which means that pretty soon all of my siblings, their spouses and their children will be here. I can't wait to see everybody.
As an "adult" I've learned that summer vacation is really less exciting than it was as a kid. It means more work, and less everything else basically. Less social life (at least for me, being here, unless you count texting, facebook and IM as a social life). After a month or so away from school I find myself ready to get back in the swing of things. I'm ready for a lot of things:
-for the bugs of Nauvoo to leave me alone. seriously. as I type this post I am killing bugs that are trying to eat me alive.
-for summer to be over, even though it means classes starting up again.
-for school to start.
-to have a structured schedule
-to move into my new condo.
-to shop for all of the things I need for my condo (kitchen aisle, here i come!)
-to live around the corner from my freshman roommates instead of being scattered
across arizona, utah, illinois and london.
-to not be the only person my age here that didn't grow up here, therefore being the one person who doesn't know the people that everybody else talks about at work all
the time. At least at school most people didn't grow up with each other and you aren't the only one who doesn't know exactly what they're talking about.
-to live close to a good mall again.
-to live in a place with lots of people and exciting things happening.
-to go to a student ward. I liked being in Primary last week, but kids are loud during Sacrament Meeting. Like, really loud. It surprised the crap out of me my first week back here.
5.31.2009
5.25.2009
Edited Movies
I've decided that edited movies are a beautiful thing. The AZ has a ton of edited movies that people rent from us. The other night when Julie and I were closing we decided we were going to watch a movie so we walked back to the shelves to pick a movie. It was such a hard decision to decide what movie to start with, especially since we both wanted to see a ton of the movies. We decided we'd start in the comedy section and work our way around the racks. I'm so excited to have such easy access to so many edited movies. Julie and I should have a great summer with this collection of movies. The first movie we watched was The Benchwarmers. The edited version was about 10 minutes shorter than the unedited one, and neither of us saw it unedited, so neither of us knew what we were missing, and it was a hilarious movie! I think I'm going to be able to cross a bunch of movies off of my "movies to watch" list that I have started.
5.24.2009
Sign Language is SO cool!
This morning I got a phone call asking if I could sub for the Primary Chorister. She gave me a few songs that we needed to sing through and then said to do whatever we needed to for the rest of the time. They have this been wand that is the "reverence wand", so I picked a kid being reverent and they got to pick the song we sang, and then after their song was over they got to pass it on to someone else. I think my favorites were:
1. when a little boy in senior primary (okay, they all looked little to me, but that's what happens when you haven't been to primary in FOREVER) whispered to me and asked if he could hand the reverence wand to an "old person" and I said that he could hand it to whoever he wanted, as long as they were being reverent. The teacher he picked then asked if we could sing Popcorn Popping, and insisted on the actions. It was hilarious!
2. a girl picked How Firm a Foundation. I looked at the primary (it was really small) and told them that I wanted them to show me that they knew it, because I didn't think they could possibly know the 1st and 3rd verses to How Firm a Foundation. Turns out that was just the challenge they needed, and every person in the room sang that song, so proud to prove me wrong.
3. there is a sister in the ward who has Downs Syndrome. Her mom taught her sign language at home, so Janet can speak and sign. She helps in primary (I'm not sure what her calling is since she was there for both junior and senior primary) and she had taught the kids how to sign all three verses of I am a Child of God. My favorite part of primary today was when someone asked if we could sing I Am a Child of God, and the primary president asked Janet if she could come up and lead the signing while I led the singing. Watching all the kids (well, most of them. we did have a visitor and a new teacher) sign and sing I Am a Child of God was AMAZING! I told Janet that I wanted her to help me learn how to sign that song and explained to her that I was learning sign language and loved it.
Basically, while I freaked out before church because I had never been to primary in this ward and I didn't know what they were used to, primary was pretty good. The Primary President asked me if I would be willing to help out again when they needed it and I told her that I thought I could handle that.
There are some super cute kids in the ward here! It was fun today to recognize some of the kids at church as the kids that came to The Adventure Zone yesterday.
Tomorrow is my first day being the Manager on Duty at the AZ (aka, my first shift without Julie there). I'm pretty excited about it-I've got Shannon and Jake working with me, so it should be a pretty smooth morning! I'm not sure what the day will be like though, it is a holiday and the first day of our summer hours, so it could be dead or crazy there. Wish me luck!
1. when a little boy in senior primary (okay, they all looked little to me, but that's what happens when you haven't been to primary in FOREVER) whispered to me and asked if he could hand the reverence wand to an "old person" and I said that he could hand it to whoever he wanted, as long as they were being reverent. The teacher he picked then asked if we could sing Popcorn Popping, and insisted on the actions. It was hilarious!
2. a girl picked How Firm a Foundation. I looked at the primary (it was really small) and told them that I wanted them to show me that they knew it, because I didn't think they could possibly know the 1st and 3rd verses to How Firm a Foundation. Turns out that was just the challenge they needed, and every person in the room sang that song, so proud to prove me wrong.
3. there is a sister in the ward who has Downs Syndrome. Her mom taught her sign language at home, so Janet can speak and sign. She helps in primary (I'm not sure what her calling is since she was there for both junior and senior primary) and she had taught the kids how to sign all three verses of I am a Child of God. My favorite part of primary today was when someone asked if we could sing I Am a Child of God, and the primary president asked Janet if she could come up and lead the signing while I led the singing. Watching all the kids (well, most of them. we did have a visitor and a new teacher) sign and sing I Am a Child of God was AMAZING! I told Janet that I wanted her to help me learn how to sign that song and explained to her that I was learning sign language and loved it.
Basically, while I freaked out before church because I had never been to primary in this ward and I didn't know what they were used to, primary was pretty good. The Primary President asked me if I would be willing to help out again when they needed it and I told her that I thought I could handle that.
There are some super cute kids in the ward here! It was fun today to recognize some of the kids at church as the kids that came to The Adventure Zone yesterday.
Tomorrow is my first day being the Manager on Duty at the AZ (aka, my first shift without Julie there). I'm pretty excited about it-I've got Shannon and Jake working with me, so it should be a pretty smooth morning! I'm not sure what the day will be like though, it is a holiday and the first day of our summer hours, so it could be dead or crazy there. Wish me luck!
5.17.2009
I am the Donut Lady
I don't know if you are familiar with Brian Regan's sketch about The Donut Lady. If you aren't, maybe you should search for it on Youtube. Basically, you walk into a donut shop, say you want a dozen donuts, start picking your donut and each time you pick a donut you ask the donut lady how many donuts you have left. At work we have arcade games that give you tickets, then you go to the redemption counter and you can get "cool" prizes with your tickets. The kids that come in make me feel like I am the donut lady. I tell them they have 20 tickets, they pick something that costs 10 tickets and then ask how many tickets they have left. I think we need to institute a rule that says you have to be able to do the subtraction yourself, I am not your calculator. Unfortunately, that is not going to happen, so yesterday I was THE DONUT LADY! At least in my head I got to think the whole Brian Regan sketch our in my head, hahahahaha.
Also, if you are looking for some good church music to listen to I highly suggest the piano solos of Paul Cardall. You can find his music on iTunes, youtube or on his website. I am a big fan now, especially after I raed his life story about his heart problems and his current need for a heart transplant. He's got a great story, and his music is fabulous! In the last week I have bought a cd of his (The Hymns Collection) off of iTunes and purchased the piano book that went along with it, and now that the book is here I have been waiting for our company to leave so I can sit at the piano and figure out some of the songs.
Back to work... this week I have:
-learned how to make pizza (at least a few types)
-helped clean a grease trap
-mopped the nasty undersides of the foam tiles that line the toddler area of the jungle zone
-defrosted a freezer (with Julie)
-worked for 3 parties
-learned how to use the register
-cleaned the ovens (with Julie)
-cleaned both bathrooms (with Julie)
-helped get rid of a bird that was living in the building
-learned how to turn all the arcade games on
-worked the redemption counter
-done a lot of dishes
-rung (is that spelled right?) out a billion rags used for cleaning {my wrist hurts from doing this so much, but that's alright}
-answered the phone and been able to correctly answer peoples questions
-vacuumed under the jungle zone
-learned how to open the kitchen (that means prepping it for the day, not physically opening the door to the kitchen...)
-learned how to close the place down
-done a lot of other stuff.
Julie and I have been really busy all week (well, since she got home on Monday night we've been way busy). It's been hilarious to get to know her a little, and to get to know Shannon, one of our co-workers. Oh my goodness, those two girls are hilarious.
Also, if you are looking for some good church music to listen to I highly suggest the piano solos of Paul Cardall. You can find his music on iTunes, youtube or on his website. I am a big fan now, especially after I raed his life story about his heart problems and his current need for a heart transplant. He's got a great story, and his music is fabulous! In the last week I have bought a cd of his (The Hymns Collection) off of iTunes and purchased the piano book that went along with it, and now that the book is here I have been waiting for our company to leave so I can sit at the piano and figure out some of the songs.
Back to work... this week I have:
-learned how to make pizza (at least a few types)
-helped clean a grease trap
-mopped the nasty undersides of the foam tiles that line the toddler area of the jungle zone
-defrosted a freezer (with Julie)
-worked for 3 parties
-learned how to use the register
-cleaned the ovens (with Julie)
-cleaned both bathrooms (with Julie)
-helped get rid of a bird that was living in the building
-learned how to turn all the arcade games on
-worked the redemption counter
-done a lot of dishes
-rung (is that spelled right?) out a billion rags used for cleaning {my wrist hurts from doing this so much, but that's alright}
-answered the phone and been able to correctly answer peoples questions
-vacuumed under the jungle zone
-learned how to open the kitchen (that means prepping it for the day, not physically opening the door to the kitchen...)
-learned how to close the place down
-done a lot of other stuff.
Julie and I have been really busy all week (well, since she got home on Monday night we've been way busy). It's been hilarious to get to know her a little, and to get to know Shannon, one of our co-workers. Oh my goodness, those two girls are hilarious.
5.09.2009
You Are So Beautiful To Me...
I LOVE The Little Rascals. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I love it so much that when I bought new oboe reeds I named them after characters from the movie. I think it's one of those classic films that I need to purchase. It's on my long list of movies I need to watch. This list is over 130 movies long, probably 1/2 of which I have never seen and the other 1/2 are movies that I just love and need to see again. I'm hoping to have Netflix next year (depending on financial aid, and if my roommates want to go in on it together, etc.) so I can get through this list, but I decided to start over the summer.
It being Saturday night, and only 9:00 pm I knew it was too early for me to go to bed. Luckily nobody else was at the TV, so I went through the dvds for a few minutes and finally found The Little Rascals. I knew I had to watch it.
WOOHOO!
"It wasn't sand, it was kitty litter" probably one of my favorite lines.
It being Saturday night, and only 9:00 pm I knew it was too early for me to go to bed. Luckily nobody else was at the TV, so I went through the dvds for a few minutes and finally found The Little Rascals. I knew I had to watch it.
WOOHOO!
"It wasn't sand, it was kitty litter" probably one of my favorite lines.
5.06.2009
The Last 24 Hours
In the last 24 hours, Mom and I have watched Anne of Green Gables. All 7 hours of it. Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea. I forgot how much I like these movies, how much I disliked the Pringle girls, and how much I wanted Anne and Gilbert to get married from the beginning.
I'm deciding to keep track of the movies I watch this summer. So far:
1. Twilight (it was FHE the day after I got home)
2. Hatching Pete (a Disney Channel Original, that I REALLY liked)
3. Anne of Green Gables
I'm doing pretty well considering how long I've been home.
Monday I started working. Deep cleaning The Adventure Zone is intense! I don't work set hours right now, but I've gotten a ton of cleaning done so far this week. I can't wait til next week when Julie (my cousin) gets home and we get to tackle cleaning the kitchen together, among many other things.
Aside from work and watching Anne, I haven't done too much this week. I made a killer Pandora station, it is fabulous. I thought about going running once, but then that didn't happen.
Yeah. That's this week so far.
I'm deciding to keep track of the movies I watch this summer. So far:
1. Twilight (it was FHE the day after I got home)
2. Hatching Pete (a Disney Channel Original, that I REALLY liked)
3. Anne of Green Gables
I'm doing pretty well considering how long I've been home.
Monday I started working. Deep cleaning The Adventure Zone is intense! I don't work set hours right now, but I've gotten a ton of cleaning done so far this week. I can't wait til next week when Julie (my cousin) gets home and we get to tackle cleaning the kitchen together, among many other things.
Aside from work and watching Anne, I haven't done too much this week. I made a killer Pandora station, it is fabulous. I thought about going running once, but then that didn't happen.
Yeah. That's this week so far.
5.02.2009
And now, ladies and gentlemen...
My Washington drivers license was going to expire on my birthday this year, and since I'll be turning 21 I get to go renew my license and get a new one... one that is turned the other way. However, I have no idea when I'll be in Washington next... so, this week I became a legal resident of Illinois. My license here is good for 3 months after my birthday, which means when I come back for Christmas I get to go get my next new drivers license. Did you know that in Illinois there is no law that says that children cannot ride in the front seat? I did not know this, so I missed that question on my written test. I also registered to vote.
This week I also have... been all over Quincy (wherever that is) with Mom as we ran around looking for fabric for pajamas for the family reunion. I think we are steered towards plaids right now (no longer looking for pioneer/handcart themed fabric). We went to this store called Hobby Lobby. It's one of my new favorite places. I picked up some scrapbooking supplies, and I've spent today (and last night) figuring out how I want to scrapbook my first two years of college. BYU has classes that teach you how to cook, how to do water aerobics, how to basketweave... but they do not have a scrapbooking class. It makes me kind of sad. Oh well, once I get back to Utah I'm sure I'll find a bunch of really big craft stores, and even some that are specific to scrapbooking. I haven't scrapbooked in a long time, and even back then I wouldn't really say I scrapbooked. I was pretty good at using glue sticks and getting pictures on a piece of paper, and maybe some sort of caption. I've moved away from 8 1/2 x 11 and now have a 12x12 scrapbook. All of the scrapbooks and extra sheet protectors were 50% off at Hobby Lobby, so I felt justified in making the switch now.
What else have I been up to? Well. I've introduced mom to Paula Deen from Food Network. I've been trying to find times when Bobby Flay is on (she doesn't know who he is either) but so far I've only watched Bobby at night, when mom is asleep. I pretty much am obsessed with The Food Network. It is such a good thing that I haven't had access to this channel while I've been at school. Between Food Network and The Disney Channel I can always find something at least remotely interesting to watch on tv.
Mom and I went to Grandma & Grandpa's to play games last night. Grandma and I were a team and we beat Grandpa & Mom at Hand and Foot... really bad. So bad that we didn't even figure out the final score. We were only ahead by 5 points going into the last round, but we went out, and Grandpa had a bunch of points still in his Foot, which we didn't let him get into. If you haven't played the game this might not make sense, but if you have... you know what I mean. And if we have the same grandparents and you have not played Hand and Foot I want to know how you've gotten away with this.
On Facebook this week a lot of the guys (and some girls) from my ward have been posting notes of their memories of the year, and commenting about how much they miss being in Provo with all of their friends. I know I wrote a post on here about how much I was going to miss my RA friends and Megan, but is it wrong that I don't miss my roommates one bit, and that I like being able to control when/if/how I want to communicate with everybody else? Sure, I've put on Facebook that going to mutual with mom made me miss my girls, but really I would prefer 58 freshman girls over a ward full of youth anyday. I forgot what Deacons and Beehives are like. Holy cow. That's what 2 years of college and a summer in a Singles Ward do to you. I guess my point in this paragraph is to remember that right after my freshman year I felt the same way that these kids all feel now, so I guess it's normal.
I found mom's Dustbuster today. Oh. My. Gosh. I LOVE it! I want one. I quickly put one of the attachments on it and cleaned out the cracks (I don't know what to really call the space between the tiles) between the tiles on the kitchen floor. Oh man! And then I cleaned some of the corners in the kitchen, under cupboards and stuff. Oh man. Doing 8 months worth of Cleaning Checks has really taught me how to keep my eye out for things that need to be cleaned. I've also cleaned part of the dishwasher, because it was gross, and I know that the rubber gasket in the fridge/freezer needs to be cleaned too. I emailed Megan to ask her if I am ruined for life. Looks like I am. I guess I should just enjoy living in clean places.
I start work on Monday. And guess what I get to do all of next week? CLEAN!!! I get to deep clean as much of the Adventure Zone as I can. I am so excited. It will be funny to see how much area I can actually cover in a day. Everything needs to be cleaned so thoroughly so it might take me a long time to clean a small-ish area. The good thing is I'm doing all of this cleaning now, not 2 years ago. Two years ago my version of clean was putting everything in my closet. Now my idea of clean... is using a dustbuster (or at school a Mighty Mite) to edge my room after everything is put away in it's own spot. This Adventure Zone is going to be looking good after Aunt Kathy gets back from her little week long trip.
This week I also have... been all over Quincy (wherever that is) with Mom as we ran around looking for fabric for pajamas for the family reunion. I think we are steered towards plaids right now (no longer looking for pioneer/handcart themed fabric). We went to this store called Hobby Lobby. It's one of my new favorite places. I picked up some scrapbooking supplies, and I've spent today (and last night) figuring out how I want to scrapbook my first two years of college. BYU has classes that teach you how to cook, how to do water aerobics, how to basketweave... but they do not have a scrapbooking class. It makes me kind of sad. Oh well, once I get back to Utah I'm sure I'll find a bunch of really big craft stores, and even some that are specific to scrapbooking. I haven't scrapbooked in a long time, and even back then I wouldn't really say I scrapbooked. I was pretty good at using glue sticks and getting pictures on a piece of paper, and maybe some sort of caption. I've moved away from 8 1/2 x 11 and now have a 12x12 scrapbook. All of the scrapbooks and extra sheet protectors were 50% off at Hobby Lobby, so I felt justified in making the switch now.
What else have I been up to? Well. I've introduced mom to Paula Deen from Food Network. I've been trying to find times when Bobby Flay is on (she doesn't know who he is either) but so far I've only watched Bobby at night, when mom is asleep. I pretty much am obsessed with The Food Network. It is such a good thing that I haven't had access to this channel while I've been at school. Between Food Network and The Disney Channel I can always find something at least remotely interesting to watch on tv.
Mom and I went to Grandma & Grandpa's to play games last night. Grandma and I were a team and we beat Grandpa & Mom at Hand and Foot... really bad. So bad that we didn't even figure out the final score. We were only ahead by 5 points going into the last round, but we went out, and Grandpa had a bunch of points still in his Foot, which we didn't let him get into. If you haven't played the game this might not make sense, but if you have... you know what I mean. And if we have the same grandparents and you have not played Hand and Foot I want to know how you've gotten away with this.
On Facebook this week a lot of the guys (and some girls) from my ward have been posting notes of their memories of the year, and commenting about how much they miss being in Provo with all of their friends. I know I wrote a post on here about how much I was going to miss my RA friends and Megan, but is it wrong that I don't miss my roommates one bit, and that I like being able to control when/if/how I want to communicate with everybody else? Sure, I've put on Facebook that going to mutual with mom made me miss my girls, but really I would prefer 58 freshman girls over a ward full of youth anyday. I forgot what Deacons and Beehives are like. Holy cow. That's what 2 years of college and a summer in a Singles Ward do to you. I guess my point in this paragraph is to remember that right after my freshman year I felt the same way that these kids all feel now, so I guess it's normal.
I found mom's Dustbuster today. Oh. My. Gosh. I LOVE it! I want one. I quickly put one of the attachments on it and cleaned out the cracks (I don't know what to really call the space between the tiles) between the tiles on the kitchen floor. Oh man! And then I cleaned some of the corners in the kitchen, under cupboards and stuff. Oh man. Doing 8 months worth of Cleaning Checks has really taught me how to keep my eye out for things that need to be cleaned. I've also cleaned part of the dishwasher, because it was gross, and I know that the rubber gasket in the fridge/freezer needs to be cleaned too. I emailed Megan to ask her if I am ruined for life. Looks like I am. I guess I should just enjoy living in clean places.
I start work on Monday. And guess what I get to do all of next week? CLEAN!!! I get to deep clean as much of the Adventure Zone as I can. I am so excited. It will be funny to see how much area I can actually cover in a day. Everything needs to be cleaned so thoroughly so it might take me a long time to clean a small-ish area. The good thing is I'm doing all of this cleaning now, not 2 years ago. Two years ago my version of clean was putting everything in my closet. Now my idea of clean... is using a dustbuster (or at school a Mighty Mite) to edge my room after everything is put away in it's own spot. This Adventure Zone is going to be looking good after Aunt Kathy gets back from her little week long trip.
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