I Did a Scary Thing

I assisted at work! Well, kind of. Let me explain. Dave and I are working at my father-in-laws oral surgery practice this summer. His brother Matt is also a doctor there so it's been really fun. Everyone that works there is super nice and I probably don't have to mention how fun it is to work with Dave, but that's awesome too. When else will I ever get to work with my husband? I tried to convince him to be a middle school teacher with me but he said no for some reason.

Anyway, I was really grateful for the opportunity this summer to work there, but also really nervous. I HATE GROSS BODILY THINGS. I didn't want to admit that to Dave's family because I thought they would think I was a wimp and I was grateful for the job so I accepted but Dave will tell you I was so worried about this summer going into it.

I have discovered, though, that I can handle blood and...mouth smells....and...gums better than I thought I could. I spend most of my time scrubbing the instruments, cleaning the rooms after surgery and exams and putting the tools and things away after they get sterilized and other jobs like that. So I have seen more than my fair share of bloody stuff and the other day, while digging through a trash bag trying to find the four baby teeth that I was not supposed to throw away (we give baby teeth back to the patients with a letter from the tooth fairy) I realized that though this should freak me out, it wasn't. I even have started to learn how to do things like draw drugs for patients and monitor heart rates and IVs during surgery. It's been really fun and I've learned a lot.

However, I still had one hurdle left to jump. I get really freaked out when I look in someone's mouth during surgery. I can handle blood but the idea of open wounds scares the heck out of me. I've been getting better though. On Friday, I was working in the Cedar City office and one of the assistants comes and asks me if I want to try assisting on the next surgery. I looked at her like she was crazy. The assistants do a LOT. They are really skilled and know exactly what took the doctor is going to need and have it ready for him. Dave knows how to do it but I never even considered learning because it takes a lot of knowledge and I just...hate needles and scalpels!

But I figured, what the heck, if I never tried I'll never know if I can even do this, and I like trying something just to say I did it. Sherrie, the assistant that suggested it, asked Dave's dad if he was ok with it and apparently he said "oh, she won't do it, she hates bloody stuff" but when I said I could handle it he agreed to it. Sherrie and Wendy, another Cedar assistant were in the room gloved up and everything and they coached me through the entire thing. I did have to sit down once though, which was embarrassing and unfortunate but once the room stopped spinning I got back up and kept going. I definitely didn't do that great of a job and without the other assistants there it would have been a disaster but I can say that I did it! I really never thought I would be able to something like that. I felt so empowered! Sherrie texted Dave the above picture (he was working in St. George, where we usually work--I was just filling in that day) and he couldn't believe it. When I got back to St. George everyone thought it was staged because they know I'm a wussy teacher and not a brave surgical assistant by nature!

Roller Derby Is Not In My Future

First of all....I am the WORST at blogging! I am resolved to be better, though, and if anyone is out there, I hope you will please forgive me and keep reading. And if no one is out there, then this is just my journal. Cool. Either way is fine.


I have a lot to write about, but instead of doing one massive catch-up post which will be overwhelming a boring, I decided to just start with this week and then move backwards. So for today, I will share this little gem: The Time that Claire Crashed on Her Rollerblades. But Actually Not Her Rollerblades, Someone's She Found in the Garage of Her In-Laws.


Once upon a time, Dave and I were in the mood to do something fun one hot St. George summer evening and so we decided to go and play tennis. But then we realized that Dave's brother had the rackets and they weren't home. And we didn't have a car this week (another story. I will talk about my adventures on foot later) so our options were dwindling. In the process of searching for the rackets (is this even the proper spelling of that word? Racquet? I find no definitive answer on the interwebs) I found these sweet rollerblades in a cupboard and I wanted to use them instantly. They were a little big on me, so I am guessing that once upon a time they were some brother-in-laws when they were like in middle school or something. Or who knows. But I used to love rollerblading when I was a kid so it seemed like a grand, retro sort of idea.


There were only blades in my size so I forced Dave to don a Razor Scooter and we headed for the park. As I soared down the driveway and through the cul-de-sac, a terrible feeling befell me: I most definitely did not remember how to control myself or my speed on rollerblades. And, unlike when I was a kid I was not wearing pads. Dave started yelling "bend your knees, bend your knees!" as soon as he could realize from my flailing arms and ever-gaining speed that I was in a state of utter distress. I was headed straight for a parked Chevy Tahoe. Tan. There was nowhere to go but down, and down I went, quite hard. I don't actually know if I hit the car or not. We may never know.


Luckily, I actually came out pretty unscathed considering. Just some scrapes on my hand and a bruised hip. I think that fact that half of the ward saw the whole thing happen out of their front windows is the most painful part of all. 

See that black dot on my left hand? Battle wound. I'll never skate again....

Staying Afloat...

....Is basically what I'm about right now! Just keep swimming, just keep swimming....Four finals down, one to go, and then I will be done with classes forever! Well, kind of....I have a seminar class once a week that goes with my internship in the fall but I'm just going to ignore that for the sake of my sanity and self-esteem. Then, it is off to St. Geezy for the summer (Dave doesn't call it that. I do. I think it might be like Boston and Beantown and how no one from there actually calls it that--according to my friend Lauren who is from there. I should ask this friend about that). I am going to be working in the office with Dave now....I might see blood and vomit and things....I will try not to talk too much about that on this blog but suffice it to say I have had more than a few sweaty palms episodes over my fears about that.

Anyway, I wanted to share a really cute blog I just found. Now, there are a lot of blogs out there about provident living and stuff for the LDS set, which are awesome. But, I will say that a lot of them are aimed more at large families and more established people who have a whole garage to fill with food storage and like 8 mouths to feed. Someday, I hope that I will be blessed enough to have 8 mouths to feed but right now I only have two (albeit rather hungry) mouths in our house and very little spare storage and so the coupon blogs and food storage blogs that are like "can 1,000 bottles of peaches!" don't really apply to me.

However, this cutest new blog is the answer to my frugal living for two people problems! All of my young marrieds out there should go check it out. They had a lot of cute cheap projects and just really good inspiration and motivation about living on a student's and young family's budget. And they are so nice, I emailed them to tell them that I really enjoyed their blog and that they should keep writing (they have only been up and running for like two months) and they actually wrote back which I really appreciated. They even invited me to do a guest post sometime...ha! Maybe if I get my act together I will. But right now my version of frugality has been "just don't buy new clothes" and that's not really that creative or insightful. 

I just appreciate seeing that other people in my same situation are trying to be frugal and recognize its importance but also acknowledge that sometimes it can be rather frustrating and hard. I mean, I love being married SO much and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world, but sometimes it just seems like we have an incomprehensible amount of time before we will be totally done with the starving student lifestyle! So sometimes a little inspiration or an idea for how to get something frivolous on the cheap or a reminder that it is worth it to be a saver and not a spender is much appreciated over here. At least by me....I really think Dave could live off of like 20 bucks a month and not think a thing of it. Like, he spends his birthday money on new socks and even debates about whether or not that is a necessity. HA! I love him for it though....it keeps my wanton stares at the H&M website in check :)

Things I Did This Weekend

Dave's mission reunion

Turned in draft of my capstone paper

Went for  a run in the marvelous sun

Manned the XTerra through the drive-through at Taco Bell while Dave went to the registers inside so that we could get double free breakfast burritos. And no I did not eat one of those things, both were for him. Oh to have the metabolism of a 24-year-old Asian boy.

Watched General Conference. Felt refreshed, renewed, and recommitted to truth.

Made coffee cake.

Walked to Provo Library. Found out they had released my reserved book onto the circulation shelves to be snatched by someone else. Boo. But found other books to get instead.

Read said books until the next session of Conference started.

Finished sewing project....didn't turn out so great....Dave asked if it has been long enough to start making jokes about it or if he needed to still be sensitive but I said he could go for it. Offensive yet funny joke ensued.

Talked to my mom on the phone while Dave was at Priesthood. Found new show called Clean Freaks. Promised myself to never take organization that far.

Ate Little Caesars that Dave brought home. Promptly fell asleep at 10pm.

Had weird dream about a little girl named Katniss that I didn't want to be friends with?

Watched more wonderful conference.

Made some freezer meals.

Had sisters over for Homemade Cafe Rio.

Lost to them at charades.

Did not do homework.

Everybody Loves an Air Show

At least, everybody in Southern Utah that is. This past weekend we went down to visit Dave's family because his sister and brother and their families were going to be in town for Spring Break, so we wanted to see them even just for the two short days. While we were there the Blue Angels were going to be rolling through town, so Dave's parents thought that would be a fun activity for everyone to go to. It was really fun to see the awesome planes and the displays and stuff (just watching their tricks made me want to barf), but I think my favorite part may have been the people-watching. Southern Utah's finest all came out for this event, let me tell ya. The place was packed to the gills. We also ran into our friends Sam and Ronnie which didn't surprise me because Ronnie is a plane expert :)

The Blue Angels, strutting their stuff. We actually got up and walked out to our cars for their performance because we were afraid that it would take so long to get out of there with everyone else. As it turned out, that worked out great because we got front-row seats out in the parking lot.

Not the most flattering picture but you can see the masses of humanity in the background. And part of a plane. Oh and it was St. Patty's Day so we were wearing green! 

I also had my first experience with corned beef and cabbage which was funny because Dave's family has it every St. Patrick's Day and I never have. Who is the one who did Irish Dance for like 6 years and claims to be Irish? Moi. I guess my irrational fear of foreign meats kept me from trying it but it was pretty good!

Good News!

So I am for sure interning at AFJH next year! I will be signing a contract next month. It is scary to think about having an adult job with consequences and real responsibilities and all that but also really exciting to think about proving to myself that I can be a real teacher. And I feel kind of cool having a salary and stuff, also; I didn't know if I would ever have that experience. So this blog may turn into the teacher chronicles starting August 22nd....sorry for those of you who hated middle school the first time around and will not enjoy reliving it through this blog.

Love That Honey Nut Taste

 

I had a little accident on my way to school today. Not a car accident, but an accident that happened in my car. I was doing the usual of trying to do like eight things at once and in my not-so-smartest move I decided to eat my beloved Honey Nut Cheerios in the car while I was driving. Now, I know it is stupid to eat and drive period, never mind to eat spill-able cereal but oh well I have done it like every day for the past four years so what's once more?

Well I pulled out from our street onto 500 North a little too fast and all of a sudden my just-poured bowl of Honey Nuts shot off the cup holder where they were balanced and were in between my seat and the console. And the spoon too. But momentum is pretty cool because they mostly all shot down in the Crack of Mordor, never to return again, pretty quick there. So I am pretty excited to go get in the car in like an hour and smell rotten milk and soggy Cherrios! I soaked up what I could with the Wendy's napkin in the glove compartment but I was late to class and alas, now breakfastless. I think if they dry up I could vacuum them out of the crack of doom? The good news is that there was also a Starburst and a toothpick that I spied while I was trying to pry the spoon back out so at least those will get taken care of.

Since the bloggy-blog has been a little negative lately (sorry about that!) I will say that the positive of this little snafu is that Dave proved once again that I can pretty much do anything stupid and he won't get mad. He even offered to clean them up for me later. And at least it was just Cheerios, and not like cheesy eggs or something. And at least it was not a real car accident or something. There is a silver lining to every mistake, I guess :)

This is So Boring

I had a funny experience today in one of my classes. This class is a Postmodern literature class. This class is a little out there and I won't go into the professor but let's just say she is definitely the "deep" type, and no matter what the book we are reading is about (usually war, death, rape, racism, or mental illness) she will find a way to make it as abstract as possible. Like if you write papers with words like "presence," "binaries," and "fragmentation" than it will be like the dream the Ralphie on "A Christmas Story" has when he writes his composition about the Red Ryder (not the one where the teacher is a witch, the A++++++ one). So we all try to make our papers as cerebral and full of Postmoderny terminology as possible.

So anyway, we were reading our papers out loud to each other in small groups which I have to say might be the most boring thing in the whole world. My eyes were glazed totally over and I was weighing the pros and cons of asking the girl across from me for a chug of her Diet Coke when I notice that the guy that is reading his paper aloud is smiling to himself, and then he keeps kind of giggling, and then all of a sudden he laughs out loud while he is reading his paper and he goes "I'm really sorry--but this is just SO boring!" Haha about his own paper! Maybe if you aren't an English person than that sounds stupid to you. But then my whole group started laughing and for just a moment we had this awesome brotherhood of understanding about the deep crap that we keep making up to appease our teacher week after week. So he finished his paper about finding wholeness in the fragmentation of the Talmud and we moved on. But for just a moment I was glad that I was not alone in this most obtuse of classes. I think knowing that makes it so I can last until April 20th.

My most hated chore

There are three things you can count on in life: death, taxes, and packing lunches. The nightly chore of getting my food ready for the next day might be my most dreaded thing each night...I don't really know why I hate it so much except it just comes every day! And I have been doing it for, oh, like ten years now and I think it will only get worse when I have kids. This doesn't really make sense because things like laundry and bathroom cleaning seem much more tedious, but I can't explain it....I just hate this job the worst. It's like reinventing the wheel every day and nothing ever sounds good and in order to bring my breakfast, lunch, and snacks (I am like a small child and will die without an afternoon snack and I often eat breakfast on campus too) I have to bring enough food to feed a small army:

Yes that little baggy is my "treat." Purple Skittles and a few dark chocolate Cadburry eggs...that is one element of my food stash that never gets left at home :)

I don't really know why I am whining about this except perhaps someday when my kids don't think I love them, they can read this and look at the lunch I packed them and know of the deep sacrifices I have made for their well-being. 

Oh, and I have learned that if I pack myself more food than I pack Dave (which has happened...I'm not proud) he will find out even if I try to disguise it. So giving him a few stale carrots and giving myself pretzels and peanut butter won't fly. Just a word to the wise if any of you wives try that. 

St. George Memories....

So, exciting news. Dave and I decided on Monday that we are going to be spending all summer in St. George!!! I am SO excited. Since we are going to AK too that means that it is going to be a great summer. Dave will be working for his dad, but I may just be working on my tan...actually I need to find a job but we are leaving a few times during the summer for trips and things and so I don't really know how that will work out. We shall see. If anyone needs someone with not many skills but a lot of heart for like 4 months down in St. George I am your girl. I'll let you know how that works out for me.


So, now that we will be spending plenty of time in St. Geezy this post doesn't make much sense, but last week I was really sad because we were supposed to go to St. George the week after President's Day, but we didn't end up going for a few reasons. Mostly, school, gas money, and since Julie was sick and wasn't going to run the half marathon anymore we figured it didn't really make much sense to go down, even though we wanted to. So I was looking through my camera and found these pics from New Year's, and thought I would post them to satiate my longing for the sun during this dreary Provo winter (does anyone else hate February as much as I do? It is the worst month of the year by far. No contest).


When we were down for New Year's this past December we went out to Snow Canyon to do some caving and little bouldering with Matt and Julie and their kids. Now, caves and small dark spaces make me nervous enough as it is, but with four kids all under the age of 7? I was a little panicked.

 But I was vastly outnumbered by cool, calm, and collected people so we took all of the kids down into this cave. When we got down there we found out that I had a friend in Jake, though (he's 6) because he kept saying "It's time to panic, everybody PANIC!" It was so funny. And Matt was like, "nobody panics in this family Jake" and in my head I was like "actually yes I know for a fact that at least one of us might" but I didn't say it.

Once I got over my claustrophobia issues it was pretty cool down there, though! And kind of cold, as you can tell by my stupid pink nose. I had never been somewhere that dark before.

Then we went over the the sand dunes and did a little bit of bouldering. It was plenty hard for me, since I have never rock climbed outside of a gym, but I think they just made it easy so that I could do it!

These pictures would look cooler if you couldn't see Dave standing on the ground next to me and gauge how (not) far off the ground I was. I made it onto the top of that rock, though!

I can't wait for more fun this summer! The prospects of another Provo summer were a little dismal--not that summer here isn't fun, but that is what I have done for the last two years so we needed a little change. What will grown-up life be like when you can't bounce back and forth from your parents' houses during school breaks?

Scotchies

Do you have a go-to treat? Something quick and simple that you can make in like 5 minutes when you just need a little...something....to get you through the evening? My fallback indulgence has definitely been Scotcheroos lately. I love them! My grandma made them all the time when I was little and they just make me happy. And they take roughly five minutes and like four ingredients....they're the best! But you know you make them too often when Dave will just call "Scotchies?" from the other room because he recognizes the smell of the peanut butter and corn syrup on the stove! Oops...maybe I need to cut down a little...I only make them in 1/3 batches as a time. And sometimes I put them in a bread pan when my little Pyrex is dirty, so sue me:

They're not fancy, but they get the job done let me tell you.

For those of you who were not blessed to grow up with this simple-yet-delightful treat, here is the recipe (this is for a full 9x13 pan, I usually do a third of this for my little tiny dish):

1 cup Peanut Butter

1 Cup Sugar

1 Cup Karo Syrup (I always get the fat free or whatever...it makes Corn Syrup feel less guilty)

3 Cups of Rice Krispies (of Crispy Rice if you are like us and buy Malt o Meal)

1 Cup or so each of chocolate and butterscotch chips

Cook the peanut butter, sugar, and Karo syrup over the stove on low until the sugar crystals have dissolved. The only hard part of this recipe is making sure it doesn't burn! Try to make sure it doesn't bubble at all. But even if it does, it's pretty hard to screw these up.

Take of the heat and then add the Rice Krispies.

Spread into a greased pan and sprinkle the chocolate and butter scotch chips over it. Leave them for like 5 minutes and then come back and the heat from the krispy mixture will make them get melty. Spread over the top with a spatula.

10 reasons that Mondays off are the best!

I LOVEEEEEEEE having a Monday off!!! It is seriously the best to not get the Sunday Saddies like I always get around 8pm on Sunday night. Now they're just the Monday Saddies. Even if we don't do anything that exciting, here are 10 simple reasons that having a day off during the week is the best:

1. Waking up without an alarm. Or, if you're weird like me, waking up with an alarm a respectable hour and then laying in bed for like another hour. I never get to do that on any other day....so I definitely love doing it when I can.

2. Taking as long as you want at the gym. And then as long as you want to get ready. Usually I give myself like 30 minutes to shower and get ready...not really long enough to look that cute.

3. Unlimited foam-rolling time. Have I talked about my foam roller yet? Dave got it for me for Christmas and it is one of my favorite possessions. Here is what it looks like:

You basically just lay on it and roll your muscles over it and your body weight rolls out knots and junk in your quads and other tight muscles. It is AWESOME! But I never have much time to use it on a normal morning after I run.

4. Eating meals at home. This is dorky but I hate always having "cold lunch" at school. So I love having whatever I want at home with the help of the microwave, fridge, or toaster. Today it was Captain Crunch.

5. Unlimited access to my Valentine's Day candy. Mike and Ikes and Hot Tamales are better at a constant volume.

6. Obviously hanging out with Davey.

7. Daytime TV....can you say Giuliana and Bill marathons???

8. Knowing that when you have to go back to life tomorrow, it is only 4 days until the next weekend.

9. Using Outback giftcards at some random time like 4:30pm

10. Having an extra day to catch up on all of the stuff you put off on Saturday and Sunday...

I adore days off!!!

It's Not What You Get

So I am taking a Women's Literature class this semester, and I am really enjoying it. I like hearing all of the varied opinions that come up in our class--I have a hard time when people say things about BYU students being closed-minded lemmings because I totally disagree. There are lots of very liberal and interesting girls in my class, not just the stereotypes that people try to pin on BYU. I love this quote from Aristotle that says:

"The mark of an educated mind is to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it"

I definitely think that I can hear things that maybe go against what I believe without it like destroying my testimony or worldview or whatever. But something happened on Friday that kind of bothered me. There is a girl in that class that loves to talk about how much she hates Relief Society and how all the girls in her ward just care about getting married, and how we should use the church to enact social change. I thought the social change thing was interesting--maybe something that sounds potentially problematic to me, but I was willing to hear her out. But then she said "I hate Relief Society. I sit in the back with my ipad and it entertains me and I feel like it is a waste of time for us while the men are in priesthood."

Well DUH it is going to be a waste of time for you with an attitude like that! For one thing, newsflash, we learn the same things as the men. Ask your home teacher what they talked about last week--yep, the teachings of George Albert Smith, just like we did. And for another thing, if you feel like RS is not as enriching as you would like it to be, what are you doing to change that? Sit in the back? Mmmhmm, way to blame the organization of Relief Society for your lack of involvement. Did you read the lesson the week before and come prepared to contribute meaningful insights? (If she did, kudos to her...I always forget, admittedly). What about thinking about how you could make this meeting better for the other sisters in your ward? Hmm? I bet your ipad will be there after the third hour.

So I commented. Did she care? Probably not. But I just don't like people blaming the church for issues that they are doing nothing to improve. Other girls have complained that RS is lame because all their ward does for activities is fix hair (which I kind of highly doubt). Well then volunteer to organize an activity that is more meaningful to you! I am sure that your activities leader would be overjoyed for the help. 

And then someone mentioned that youtube has a whole Relief Society channel with interviews and question and answer sessions with Sister Beck! How cool is that? And so the teacher pulled it up and we watched this video and I felt a teensy bit vindicated because it was exactly what I was trying to say (and the girl next to me was even like "hey, that's what you were saying! I think my pride just cancelled out my good intentions with the previous comments though).

What about you all? What have your experiences with Relief Society been? You can disagree with me, and I promise I won't write a whole blog post about you :)

Valentine's Day III

Well it's Valentine's Day so I figured I'd let all 23 of you followers out there that I do indeed love that wife of mine. It's our third Valentine's Day together so I thought I'd celebrate through three different types of poetry. I know it's amazingly cheesy, but please bear with me.

HAIKU

She’s from Alaska

Married this Japanese boy

Now Alaskanese

ODE

What a wonderful day is this Valentine’s Day

While the birds chirp and sun shines above

Though I’m chilled to the bone in a wintery way

I’m warmed when I celebrate love

What a joy I receive when she looks right at me

My mind becomes all just a blur

Her face and her smile are all that I see

It's how I know that I love only her

LIMERICK

There once was a folk dancing hottie

Who did everything graceful embody

For her heart I pled

And soon we were wed

(Sorry if these poems seem gaudy)

Reader Poll

Is it worth it to have the ads on here?

Since I have earned so much.....

I honestly forgot I ever did that; it was just an experiment. Seeing as they are annoying and also pretty fruitless I will be removing them.

Commonly Confused Words...

....are something that is required for 7th and 8th graders to learn about, and therefore, the topic of my lesson this morning at AFJH. And as it turns out, they were pretty good at picking up the difference between "Its" and "It's" and "Hear" and "Here." In looking over the practice sentences that I had them write, here were some of my favorites:

--You're being possessed by me (correct use of "you're" but creepy...)
--My dad gave dessert to my mom for Valentine's day." (Sweet--good man, dad)
--And, instead of writing 10 practice sentences like they were supposed to, one student just wrote this "Your mom is awesome." (At least he used the right "your." And my mom says thanks.)

I have decided that 7th graders are awesome. They are young enough to still think that you are cool, and even if they are sassy a little at least they do what you ask them to. They still haven't figured out that terrible truth that every teacher is waiting in terrified fear for her students to discover: if they don't want to listen to you, you really do not have it in your physical power to make them do anything. If you know anyone under the age of 18 who is enrolled in the public school system, please do not tell them this information.

Like, the fact that I am married helps me big time. I think they think that I am like 40. One of my friends (who is 23 like me) told me that her students thought that she was 35. Ha! I would be offended except for that fact that the older that you seem, the more they listen to you.

Anyone have any good plans for Valentine's Day? We are going to wait to go to dinner until Thursday to pass up the rush tonight. And today wasn't the best anyway since I am still getting over this dang cold. I feel kind of dumb that my last post was about running since I have skipped that for the past two days under the auspice of "taking care of myself." Oh well, I'm just tapering before the race, right?

Big Losers and Real Biggest Losers

So, a few weeks ago I got an email from my sister-in-law Julie asking if I wanted to run a half-marathon with her on Feburary 25th. This was on like January 30th, mind you. Seeing as she has four children under the age of seven and just had a baby in August and she was doing it, I felt like I couldn't really say no. I really have no excuse. So I started getting a little more serious about my running schedule and whatnot and now I am SUPER excited to be running my second half marathon in two weeks! At first I was a little bummed because it was the weekend after President's Day, when we had been planning to come down, but we realized that President's Day is actually a Richfield weekend so it would stink for Dave to drive me to St. George, drive back up to Richfield with his brother Matt, and then drive back to St. George and then back to Provo in like a two-day span. So even though we won't have a long weekend to spend in St. Geezy, this works out for everyone :) But mostly me, since Dave was sweet enough to change his original plans so I could run this race.

We are totally going to just do this for fun. At the time she told me about the race, I had been running about 7-8 mile runs comfortably on a weekly basis. But still, a month isn't very much time to get from 7 to 13 miles.  And since Julie is just getting back into the swing of running (although the woman did run a full marathon with only two months of training so I have no doubt she will school me), we have both just agreed that we want to do it for fun and not for time or anything.

 But the funny part of this whole thing is that Julie got a free entry to this race by her entry in the "Big Loser" competition at the Washington Rec Center. And she does NOT need to lose any weight at all! She just signed up for it because it gave her a really good deal on a family pass to the rec center. But the image of her showing up to the mandatory meetings and everyone just staring at this skinny girl just cracks me up! And the fact that the rec center had to call it "Big Loser" and not the Biggest Loser. hahahaha it just sounds kind of mean to me for some reason!

Speaking of The Biggest Loser, look who we saw at the BYU/Stanford volleyball game last Saturday! Well, since the picture is atrocious I will tell you....Moses from the Biggest Loser!!! And Kaylee was there too but I didn't post her picture. We were sitting right by them but I was too scared to ask for a picture. I told Dave that it was because I thought that they deserved some peace in their hectic lives (but we both knew I was too scared.) So I stole furtive glances and took stealth pics. I am nothing if not a compassionate fan. 

Happy Month of Love

Happy February, ya'll! The month of love, and I decided to decorate a little last weekend (slightly early? yes) I have Pinterest to thank for my little Valentine's display: I think the whole thing cost me like $4? Printable, felt for the garland, and foam ball and streamers for the little rosette ball. I had extra felt hearts so I made another garland and strung it on the shelf over our bed, but it keeps falling down and strangling us in the night. So that one was kind of a fail.

Wednesday thoughts:

 I play Words with Friends a lot now. I am actually really bad at it, which is depressing since words and reading and stuff are kind of supposed to be my thing. Oops. I play my grandma, Dave, and Tess. I can never come close to beating my grandma but at least Tess and Dave give me a shot. I have yet to win a game, though. It is kind of depressing.

I have a professor who used to be a nun. She swears and has a New Zealand accent. Sadly, hers is my most boring class. It doesn't really make sense, does it? 

And finally, I have discovered the amazing joys of Pandora again. I would recommend any of their pre-made channels! I am loving their "Love Songs" channel, and also their "Soft Rock" one. Both are the perfect level of volume and broad-appeal to play at work. Because lots of times my bosses will ask me to put on some music when it gets quiet in the afternoon, but I feel really awkward when I put on my Grooveshark channels and Taio Cruz or someone like that pops up. I feel like it's kind of like letting people read my journal. Except, I guess that is kind of what a blog is. But I don't read that aloud at work, see?

New Duds...

...is what my grandparents call new clothes. So I am applying this to the new design on our blog! I wasted wayyyyy too much time making that photo collage up there last night. It was actually really, really easy! I would highly recommend using Picasa! Anyway, I felt like just having the wedding pic up there was getting kind of old since we are now beyond the one-year mark and not the little newlyweds we once were (I think in Mormon years you have less time to be a newlywed. Correct me if I am wrong).


My practicum is going well so far and I have only had one technological disaster ruin my lesson. None of the kids can say "Mizukawa" so they just call me Mrs. Miz. My favorite moment so far was this cute little kid who asked me if he could switch the topic of his research paper from Sir Isaac Newton to Satoshi Tajiri, the creator of Pokemon. I asked him if he liked Pokemon and he just looked up at me (I like having students that have to still look up at me) with this little "duh" look and was like "I have over 300 Pokemon cards." Haha I didn't think that they even really made those anymore! And I didn't think kids still loved them. But I would rather have him research him than look up Chanel handbags which is what some of the girls in the class were using their computer lab time to do, despite my telling them to get back on task. Sheesh. Middle school.


I am currently till in a carb coma from last night's impromptu visit to Pizza Pie Cafe. It was "receipt day" where they give you a yellow receipt, and whatever you buy you can come back and get for free in February. After eating there I was trying to figure out why I love that place so much. It has gotten more expensive since they opened, and the pasta and salad bar are horrible, so you are basically paying $8.25 to eat pizza that is sitting under a heat lamp and all kind of tastes the same. It is always like jam-packed in there and there was a line out the door the whole time that we were there. I feel like an old person having the realization that I would rather save the money and the hassle and just go buy a take-out pizza for half the price that we could both eat there, but I think PPC might be losing its glory for me. That didn't stop me from downing like 6 pieces of pizza last night (they were smallish?) and it sure as heck won't stop me from going back next month for my free buffet.


Someone comment and tell me about your worst buffet experience. Ever found a clump of hair or a thumb in something?

Cap'n Oopsie

Today is Martin Luther King day. The awesome day that we get off just two weeks after Christmas break. To celebrate, Dave and I are going to have lunch at Tuncanos, since we have a gift certificate that is about to expire. Last night Dave told me that it was a "one meal day." (yep, that's definitely not healthy) I'm not supposed to eat breakfast because then you can't cram in as much endless meat. He said he knew it would be hard for me but I could do it.

Except, he's still asleep and there is a fresh box of Captain Crunch around these parts. And a new gallon of milk. And my metabolism of a small child that wakes up in the night hungry. So what Dave doesn't know won't hurt him. And I will still eat plenty of Brazilian meat later, after my two bowls on crunchy cereal and peanut-butter milk digest (isn't Captain Crunch just the BEST???).

A Few Thoughts on Blogging and Life in General for the New Year

I have been thinking about blogging and the internet and what constitutes reality lately. I think that the internet is great. Really, it has so many uses and in many ways we kind of couldn't live life without it...I use it for school, at work, and for keeping in touch with family and friends. I am thankful for technology and I really enjoy blogging for the purposes of keeping in touch, journaling, and just plain entertainment (if I am being truly honest...)

But it isn't real life, and I think that can get us in trouble. Girls, especially, because the internet makes it incredibly easy for us to compare ourselves with one another which we do plenty well enough in real life, at least I do. I noticed that I was getting into a few nasty habits with blogs and Facebook and everything that is not quite real, and after a horrendous meltdown on the last day of finals (an external factor that may have had something to do with ameliorating the situation) I realized that it needed to stop, and fast.

You see, I had a few blogs that I would read from time to time that were admittedly just for the plain fact that they were living these dream lives and at first I would just roll my eyes at how over the top they seemed, but as time went on I started getting a little jealous of them. Some of them are so perky and flashy and over the top that I kind of started getting down on myself about the fact that our life isn't like that. And it was messed up, and unfair to me and especially to Dave, because suddenly he has a wife that is mad at him because he hasn't done the list of "normal" things for her that she has accumulated in her head from the blogging world. Why didn't we get to go on a honeymoon to Mexico? Why don't I get flowers every Wednesday? We never get to go out on expensive dates but ____________ does it all the time and they are students too so there must be something wrong with us!!!!

So, over Christmas and after a very bratty temper tantrum on our "fake" anniversary before our trip (which was so cool and why am I not grateful for the awesome things I DO have?) I decided to take a step back from the internet for a little bit. I needed a reality check, and a little dose of gratitude. And I thought a lot about not comparing my life to other peoples', and I also decided that I am done reading blogs of people that I don't even really know, because that is just a waste of time and totally dumb. If you are not a person that I am friends with or related to, or a practical blog that is teaching me something, I won't be reading you. Because so many of these young, married, perfect life people just make me mad and spoiled and make my expectations wayyyyy too dumb and high. And I thought about this talk from Elder Bednar (from his devotional in 2008, "Things as They Really Are"):

"Today...a person can concoct a counterfeit identity that does not correlate in any way to things as they really are. However closely the assumed new identity approximates the individual, such behavior is the essence of things as they really are not."

No one has a perfect life all the time! And anyone who pretends it is either is delusional or has another thing comin'. But to those of you who I love, and are my friends, I LOVE reading about you and your families and the fun stuff that you do! So I am definitely not talking to you at all. Because real-life friends are the best kind that inspire you and make you happy to hear about.

Those are my ramblings for the night. Time to quit the fake cyber world and go spend time with my real-life husband.

Go Modern Cavemen!!!

So for the past few weeks I have been anxiously awaiting the news of where I will be student teaching in the fall. The way my teaching program works, we are assigned to a school for our practicum semester, which is the semester before we are set to student teach (that is where I am now). Because it is January and schools don't find out their funding and enrollment and everything until later in the year, it is really hard to know for sure where I will be until a little later. However, the placement that they give us for practicum is where we will (*fingers crossed*) be placed in the fall.

I found out yesterday that I will be at American Fork Junior High for my practicum, and hopefully be interning there in the fall if things go according to plan (aka the school doesn't realize that they need fewer teachers than they are planning on now...)! I am super excited for four reasons:

1) internship=half salary and benefits. I know half of a first-year teacher's salary is not much--ha!--but it is better than working for free, which is what student teaching basically is!

2) I will be working with a girl who is currently interning this semester, which will be a really good experience. I can see how she handles things and get her perspective on her first year of teaching.

3) American Fork is not that far away. The school is just a long drive up State Street, which is a bajillion times better than driving up 1-15 in the morning. Or up Provo Canyon in the snow.

4) I totally wanted Junior High!

So, like I said, fall isn't set in stone. But I am REALLY hoping that this is where I get to stay. And the best part of all is AMJH's mascot: The Modern Caveman. Awesome. Picture of mascot will be forthcoming.

Update on M'goals

So I am waiting to talk about Spain and Christmas and New Year's and everything until we get the pictures uploaded, and since I delegated that to Dave (in my head) I hold myself blameless. BUT I can talk about myself some more! So since everyone is so interested, I am sure, let's talk about how I am doing so far with my resolutions (this is really more for myself....feel free to skip this post if you so desire):

Running: the marathon schedule is going great so far! And I am also doing a lot better this semester than last with running in the morning and not putting it off until later in the day. This is good, because I have more time in the evening, but bad for two reasons: (1) I get really, really hungry. All day long. This isn't really bad, since I enjoy satisfying said hunger, but I probably shouldn't eat like three breakfasts. (2) I have lately taken to the terrible habit of getting really, really sleepy around 8pm or so, falling asleep from two or three hours on the couch, and then having Dave wake me up and I then finish my homework until like one or two in the morning. It's no way to live. But I think my body is reacting negatively to waking up at 6 every morning. Student teaching this fall should be a rude awakening.

 One very awesome thing about running on the treadmill every morning is watching this gem of a show                   on my phone....

 

It's amazing. It's everything you could want in a BBC period drama. Which is a lot. Airs Sunday nights on PBS at 8:00, or on Netflix at your leisure.

Cooking Vegetarian Things:  So far....ok. I realized that my vegetarian meal for last week actually had bacon in it. Whoops. And of course instead of omitting it we still ate it anyway. But tonight I am making curry with chickpeas instead of chicken, but I had tuna for lunch. So actually I have eaten meat every day since that challenge started. But I don't think that the challenge was to eat vegetarian, but just cook vegetarian. So I am counting that as a win.

Grocery Budget:  Going good so far! The first week we spent a little more because we had been gone for so long that we really had to re-stock a lot of food. But last week I did great! We even went to Costco and just walked around and didn't spend a dime. We originally went there for samples, but it was a really lame Sample Saturday and I left with a bad taste in my mouth. Not from the food. Just from the, as we call them, "side swipers." They ignore the line that has formed and come in and grab samples from the side. Usually more than one. Maybe they are grabbing one for their guardian angels or something, but usually from what I can see they are taking more than one per person, and then there are none left for me. They make me really mad and usually I want to hip-check them.

 I was much better off going to Macey's holiday open house and scoring samples there. Few people know about this event but I love it and have been a fan since roughly 2008:

Food mixing doesn't bother me....

Fresh Starts

Ok so I have been so bad about blogging lately! I feel so bad because I really like keeping up with it and it is the only journal I am keeping right now. I am a little overwhelmed with everything that I have to catch up on, but I just found this blogger app on my new phone, so that will make things much easier!

I thought that I would start out with a simple post talking about my resolutions for 2012. I actually really love making New Year's resolutions, even though I know some people think that they are a waste because often we burn out. I think that's a sad mindset though, because what is the point of life if we never try to get better? So at least I'm going to try! And there is nothing better than the anticipation of a clean slate and hoping for the fun that could come next!

Here is what I hope to accomplish in 2012:

•Read the Book of Mormon twice through. If I read five pages a day, I can do that easily.

•Have FHE every week.

•Run a marathon! I'm gonna do it! In kind of scared, but week one of my program hasn't been so bad yet...

•Cook something meatless once a week. I love me some animal flesh but I know I should have some recipes that are still filling but don't rely on it completely. And hopefully that will help with the next goal!

•Stick more strictly to my grocery budget. This shouldn't be too hard but I need to be more careful!

•Read scriptures with Dave every day.

•Finish school! This should happen on its own but I'm adding it to the list so I know for sure that one of my goals will get accomplished :)

I am sure that things will be modified as the year goes on. I have some other fun things that I would like to do this year, like craft more and start playing the piano again, but those might have to wait until I am done with school, so I am being realistic. What are some of your fun goals for 2012?