Addition to the Family

My electronics family had a new addition this week. A laser printer!!!His name is Brother. This is what he looks like. Isn't he cute? Yeah... I got him yesterday. He was only $70. I had to call my sister to talk me out of getting the newer model with wireless capabilities so I could print from the comfort of my bed, but it was an $80 dollar feature in price comparison. Hopefully he'll make friends with the iPod and computers and DVD players that are also part of the family... :-)

My Peeps Product Present Easter 2011

Unlike other people in the world, I'm a lover of the peeps. Don't ask me why, but I think their sugary preserved goodness is so good. I mean, can you really go wrong with peep brulees? I didn't think so... Anyway, my friend Dina gets me new peeps products to try when she comes across them. She has gotten me mousse flavored moose for Christmas which I really like, and last year I got a chocolate covered peeps which wasn't that great. This year, the mystery product is Peep Flavored Pops. It promises some wonderfully awful sensations for my taste buds. I'll be sure to report on how it goes.

Government Mandated Jet-Lag

I hate the time change!!! I never experienced the time change until I moved to California. I have never gotten used to the semi-annual time change. It's a lot like jet-lag, and I seriously dislike jet-lag. I don't understand why the government mandates we go through jet-lag twice a year. What does it really do for the world anyway? Kids are exhausted at school, teachers are out of it... It's just annoying!!! I wish it would stop.

How did it know?

Yesterday I was in the electronics section at Wal-Mart looking for a print cartridge for the printer when I was distracted by the hockey game showing on the wall of TVs. I've been thinking about an upgrade to HD, so I let myself stay distracted. They are all just so shiny and the resolution is so nice. I stood there for a while marveling at human ingenuity and our ability to make amazing things even more amazing. I mean, come on, hockey is amazing, and TV is super cool when you really think about how it works, but hockey on an awesomely cool TV with clear crisp images. Sigh... It's just breathtaking in scope. I came home excited to watch the rest of the game even if it's just on the old clunky TV we have but that wasn't in the cards. For some reason, I can't get my TV to show images from the antenna anymore. I can hear everything just fine, but there is no pictures. I can watch DVDs though, so I'm baffled by what's going on. I think it knew I was considering replacing it and is throwing a tantrum. And if it thinks it's going to earn points this way, it has another thing coming...


UPDATE at 8:30PM 3/13/2011
I reset the digital converter box thing and we have picture again. I know... very exciting... you will all sleep better now...

It was a good idea in theory...

I love 3 Musketeers. The fluffy chocolaty goodness makes me happy. I also love marshmallows of all kinds, shapes and varieties (well except those coconut ones - blech!) So you can imagine my joy at finding these little babies in the Easter candy options at Wal-Mart. It had so much promise and I was excited to partake of the imagined yummy goodness.

I ripped open the bag on my way to the car sure that it would taste divine only to be thoroughly disappointed. It was just off... too sweet, not fluffy enough... oh well...

My New LDSMingle Profile

I updated my profile today. Honestly, I think it's the best one I've written yet. Here it is:

I have been serving in the Young Women (YW) presidency of my ward for close to a year now. It has been almost 20 years since I was in YW myself and I'm starting to suspect that Heavenly Father gave me this calling so I could get a refresher since I have been unsuccessful in finding an eternal companion. That's what YW lessons seem to talk about every single week. Though I enjoy discussing eternal marriage and women's roles in the gospel, it's getting depressing having a weekly reminder of that my childhood dreams of marriage and family have yet to be realized. I have a strong testimony of the eternal nature of family, and have always had a desire to create a home centered on gospel principles.

Of course I haven't been sitting around bemoaning my singlehood every minute of every hour of every day for years waiting for the guy who will realize how incredibly super cool (and entertaining) eternity will be with me to arrive on the scene. I have a degree in Civil Engineering and worked in engineering for a few years, but quickly became disenchanted with it. I explored a number of occupations before settling on teaching. I taught overseas for several years in Russia and Taiwan and to the shock of my engineering family members even wrote English as a Foreign Language textbooks. I might be the first engineer turned English grammar guru in the world, which is kind of exciting. I currently teach 5th grade and love it. And if I didn't love it, I would find something new that I did love to spend my days doing.

I enjoy doing a lot of things. I am accomplished in all of the general domestic tasks like cooking, sewing and cleaning but I'm not crafty so I do not own a hot-glue gun. I like watching movies and reading books and critiquing both of them. I clear my head by writing in my journal and on my blog. I take great joy in finding the perfect word that will communicate my thoughts with exactness, especially if the best word is a personized hybrid word like "ungoodlyness". But, I also love a good sporting event, especially if it's hockey. Regardless of what the activity is, if I can spend it with good people having a quality conversation, I'm happy. I always enjoy a good gospel discussion and like serving in the church. I also attend the temple regularly.

Though I am celebrated for having transitioned from engineer to "normal" person successfully, I do have relapses into geekness. I also have a quick and sarcastic wit that sometimes gets me in trouble. Believe me, I know how to say I'm sorry and ask for forgiveness, and am grateful to have friends who forgive me for the stupid things I say. I'm looking for someone to journey and laugh through life with that will patiently help me become better and who will listen when I talk and talk so I can listen.

What do you think?

Hopefully the Worst Is Over

I have been crying for months!! I was crying before the inevitable day of doom when Jeremy said good-bye for good. It's getting increasingly difficult for me to let go of my pseudo-relationships because, as I have been reminded day in and day out since Dec 21, not having a best guy friend to bum around with is really, really lonely. What I find most interesting about the whole thing is that we weren't even dating!!! I mean, if we weren't dating, why did it feel exactly like what I imagine a break-up to feel like? After all, according to all the guys who have not officially dated me I've never officially been on a date. We just participated in activities that resembled dates, which can only be distinguished from a real date by the label given the evening by the participants. Are you confused? Yeah... so am I. Basically, I've technically never had a boyfriend so I've technically never experienced a break-up. It's all quite stupid to me, but I guess the bottom line is that I should refuse future invitation to participate in date like activities unless the other party specifically agrees that it will be a date. Then, if nothing else, I'll be able to say that I've been on a date. And that will be a good step in the right direction.

Ellie from Up

I have decided that I'm like Ellie from Up. Sure, she's only in the first 15 minutes of the movie, but they did such a good job creating her that I feel like I'm like her. The similarities start with the impressive goofy looking stage complete with messy hair called childhood and continue from there. Ellie saw the good in others and strove to make others feel accepted and comfortable. She was intrigued by adventure and had big dreams for life even as a child. But since adventure rarely simply comes knocking, she turned whatever she was doing into an adventure. She must have been charismatic to get Carl on-board with her schemes and plans. Though not all of her dreams became a reality she did the best to replace them with new dreams. In the end, she had put together a life of happiness and her own kind of adventure. I guess I can hope for nothing more, and certainly want nothing less. I'm just still hoping to find someone who will join my club...

Book Review: My Fake Boyfriend is Better Than Yours

I took advantage of the read-a-thon to read. Yes, I realize that I passed up on a significant amount of "get things done while the kids are busy" time by making that choice, but honestly, I desperately needed to participate in an activity with my students where I didn't need to manage and maintain anything so I could like them again. (5th grade gets drama ridden with friend factions and it wears on my sanity sometimes...) So I picked up My Fake Boyfriend is Better Than Yours and started reading.

As promised, it was filled with tween angst as Tori and her best friend Sienna engaged in a one-upping war with made-up boyfriends. Sadly, Tori's ability to lie so easily about her imaginary life really hit close to home. I have participated in the same behavior, however, everyone knew it was all completely out of my head. I also related to the part where Tori used her knowledge of the Internet to track down the real boy who had her fake boyfriend's name through social networking sites. Yeah... I've done that too. So, in many ways, I felt like I was reading an imaginary autobiography of my life, but it would have covered the years 25-30 instead of two weeks when I was twelve.

With only 178 pages, decent sized type and healthy margins, it was a fast read. The twists and turns were predictable, but the writing style flowed pretty well. Some of my favorite lines were:

"I got a big glob of vampy black [nail polish] on the right shoulder of my shirt in an unfortunate hand-waving/nail-blowing incident."

"It's completely unfair to just hate a person and not tell them."

"This was beginning to feel a little too High School Musical."

"News of my gorgeous famous fake boyfriend spread like mono at a game of Spin the Bottle."

Random Thoughts on Seuss...

I have collected all of my Dr. Seuss stuffed animals that I've bought through Kohl's Cares to take in to school tomorrow for Dr. Seuss's birthday. We're having a read-a-thon for the last 2 hours or so of school. It should be fun enough, but sometimes kids aren't into just straight reading, it's like Jim Crafton's sugar saturated kool-aid and needs to be diluted to be drinkable. Therefore I shall take in my roommates Dr. Seuss video which has Sneetches on Beaches and The Lorax (I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees) and some other favorites to mix in with the reading so they don't go into some kind of coma.

Anyway, all the Seuss-ing it makes nostalgic for the good old days and can't help but get me thinking about all my favorite Dr. Seuss books. He has a book for every occasion, and a moral to every book. Oh The Places You'll Go inspired me to make some unconventional choices in my life. I first heard it read at my friend Sara's high school graduation. We graduated in 1992, the same school year Dr. Seuss passed away. And when I got to one of those places (Tiawan), another book, Green Eggs and Ham, with it's fantastic preposition usage totally saved my life. Have I Ever Told You How Lucky You Are? reminds me to keep things in perspective - I'm glad I'm not an i dotter, or a t crosser in a factory! Then there's Wacky Wednesday, the predecessor to Where's Waldo, and much more enjoyable because the pictures change - but Waldo's shirt does look like the hat of a certain cat... From Horton to Bartholomew and McElligot's Pool to Mulberry Street, Dr. Seuss has some great characters and some readable lines. And Oh, the Thinks You Can Think when you're reading a Seuss book, or just thinking about the impact an author has had on your life. But maybe that's just me...