On My Mind

I've been so busy lately that I haven't really taken the time to expound much on thoughts I've had and on things I've realized lately. I may expound on some later when I have more time, but for now, here are just some of the things that have crossed my mind.

~It's getting cold outside. Did I really need to point that out?

~However, today was a beautiful day.

~I am blessed to have such close relationships with my family. I've realized from listening to my roommates that parents (from their view) are very difficult to get along with, they "just don't understand," and fights with parents are common. Same with siblings, only they're more on the annoying side than the not-understanding side. I've never had that problem. I love my parents, and there have never been any issues between us (at least, that I know of). I get along great with my brothers, and I've never thought of them as being annoying. A little bit off the walls maybe, but not annoying.

~I completely broke the rule of parallelism in that last item, but figured not too many of you would notice.

~Friends are great to have. Even the ones who see you everyday and say hi, but you never learned their names and they don't know yours.

~I miss my dog.

~Being unexpectedly shocked by a scanner that beeps as it does it is... well, shocking.

~I love Christmas music. I just love Christmas. Not for the gifts and the treats (though those are great - especially the treats), but just the overall feeling that it brings. Why can't we have that feeling all year round?

~People are just human, no matter how good they are. They make mistakes. But so do I.

~Once I start, I can just ramble. Seems like I do that a lot. Is that a bad thing?

~I actually published this post, then realized it didn't have a title. Whoops. So I gave it one. :)

I had some other things I was going to mention, but they were more on the spiritual side and deserve a little more attention than simply being put in a list. Basically, there are lots of things in life that get overlooked, especially the small things. I love finding those small things, even if they're things I've found before but just haven't thought about lately. I am blessed. I know that. And I love life!

The Other Blog

A few years ago I made a second blog. It's just been sitting there being ignored for over two years. I decided to change it into a cooking blog. I'm excited!! I'll post a bunch of recipes on it and different things I've learned while using the recipes.
If you're interested, check it out.
There isn't very much on it right now, just an introduction of what it's about, since I just barely made the change last night. But I'm hoping to make updates to it at least once a week, if not more.
Let me know what you think!
Cooking at College

Because I Smelled it Today

I'm doing homework, so I don't really have time for a true post or to elaborate. There is just one thing I wanted to tell you.

I love the smell of water on hot concrete.

That is all.

Look Both Ways Before Crossing

I love being from a small town. For one, sometimes I feel like I just have more common sense than a lot of the people around me. It makes me giggle inside. :)

So I was on my way to my editing class and I was running a little late because of work. I have to cross the street to get to the Tanner building from the Math Lab where I work. There's only one road there, no intersection, but there is a stop light and a cross-walk so that people don't get run over. I was got to the cross walk and there were a bunch of people on either side of the street waiting to cross, but the light wouldn't signal for them to walk. I looked both ways and crossed the street. Simple enough. It's what I did in Blanding all the time. But I almost busted out laughing because I got the strangest looks from people.

"Did you see that? She walked without the light saying she could!"
"Stupid girl, she's going to get run over."
I could just imagine them saying it. But then there were others who thought differently.
"Hey, that's a good idea."
"No cars. Let's go!"
These are the ones who actually took courage from my bravery and followed me across. The others stood there for about five more minutes before the light changed.

I'm glad I grew up in Blanding. It's a great place. I'm just thankful that I can take charge of my own life and make my own decisions instead of having to be told what to do every step of the way, even when it's out of the norm. But it's also important to remember what you have been taught, take heed to that counsel, and remember your values.

Always look both ways before crossing the street.

Don't Lose Your Way

Ever feel like quitting life?

Don't Lose Your Way

Don't lose your way with each passing day
You've come so far, don't throw it away
Live believing, dreams are for weaving
Wonders are waiting to start
Live your story, Faith hope and glory
Hold to the truth in your heart

If we hold on together
I know our dreams will never die
Dreams see us through to forever
Where clouds roll by, for you and I

Souls in the wind must learn how to bend
Seek out a star, hold on 'til the end
Valley, mountain, there is a fountain
Washes our tears all away
Worlds are swaying, someone is praying
Please let them come home to stay

If we hold on together
I know our dreams will never die
Dreams see us through to forever
Where clouds roll by, for you and I

When we are out there in the dark
We'll dream about the sun
In the dark, we'll feel the light
Warm our hearts … Everyone

If we hold on together
I know our dreams will never die
Dreams see us through to forever
As high as souls can fly
The clouds roll by, for you and I

Words and Music: James Horner and Will Jennings
From the animated film "The Land Before Time"

Good Music

Lately at work I've been doing my job mostly by myself. Our cleaning crew use to have 14 people, and now we're down to 4. Because of this we don't work in pairs very often anymore. This means four hours of isolation at four o' clock in the morning. If it weren't for my music, I would go crazy.

When I was working with Jenny (she transferred to a later shift), I would sometimes sing out loud. She told me that she missed my singing after her transfer. That made me happy. Anyway, I continue to sing out loud at work. It's one of those random things that help to keep me sane at work.

The other day at work, everyone else clocked out at 8:00, but I was staying until 10:00. People had already come into the building for their classes, but the halls remained fairly empty. I was singing along with my ipod while I pushed a mop bucket down the hall. An older lady turned the corner and started smiling. It wasn't a laughing smile, just a happy smile. She had already heard my singing and I figured it wouldn't embarrass me anymore to keep at it. So I sang until I was within talking distance of her. Before I could wish her a good morning she told me, "You just made my day. Thank you so much." And she continued smiling as she walked down the hall. Good music: keeping people happy, and sane.

*This is just a side note on a few of my favorite songs. Lately I've been enjoying Carry On My Wayward Son by Kansas and Leave Out All The Rest by Linkin Park (thanks for that one, Jenny). But my absolute, unchanging favorite song that I will never skip over is If Everyone Cared by Nickelback. That was the song I was singing when I passed the lady in the hall. Nothing can beat good music.

The Double Negative

My Professor for my English Language Usage class shared this story with us. I thought it was funny enough to share with all of you.

A professor for a Language Usage class was teaching his class about double negatives. He explained that in some languages, like Spanish, using more than one negative does not change the meaning; it is still a negative. In English, the double negative can either be used to emphasize the negative, or to create a weak affirmative.

"However, in no language do two positives make a negative."

That's when a student in the back of the room piped up,
"Yeah, right."

Slightly Morbid for Children

This was found on Kids.Woot for 2/25/10
It's referring to a "Pikachu Critter Kite" for children.

Man, if only Ben Franklin had one of these!

Imagine how quickly he could’ve discovered electricity!

No, silly, I don’t think a Jakks Pikachu Critter Kite would have helped ol’ Ben Franklin out. He would’ve been baffled at its design, coloring, and fiberglass/nylon construction materials. No, I’m saying it would’ve been great if Ben Franklin had an actual Pikachu.

Just imagine one of our greatest founding fathers screaming “I CHOOSE YOU!” and hurling his old-timey wooden Pokeball at the British. Yes sir, that little electric rat would’ve fried every last Redcoat he encountered.

Remember that last scene in The Lost World: Jurassic Park? When the boat pulls up to San Diego and there’s nobody on board? Just like a hand holding a controller or something, right? And then they open the boat and the Tyrannosaurus comes rampaging out?

Imagine if Ben Franklin could’ve sent his Pikachu on a boat over to England.

They would fill the cargo hold with captive British soldiers, since I assume electric rats can eat meat. Maybe they’d just fill it with grain, I don’t know. Anyway, that ghost ship would silently pull into port and no one would have a clue until they opened the hold and BLAM! It’d look a lot like that kite up there.

And, y’know, it would’ve helped him discover electricity sooner too.

I Blame the Sleep

I know I have been really bad at this lately, but I'm determined to have at least one post a month. There's so many things that I could write about, I just don't have time. Rather, when I do have time I prefer to spend it catching up on much needed sleep. Waking up at 3:20 every morning for work is getting to be a bit harsh. But I do love my job. My coworkers are great and, even that early in the morning, we still have fun.

My days usually run for about 19 hours, leaving only 5 to sleep. That's my average, but quite frequently I don't even get that much sleep. So I'll nap whenever I can: in between classes, between classes and homework, between homework for different classes, after exercise and a shower. I know that sounds like a lot, but unfortunately those naps are short and few. That's why weekends are so nice. Most Saturdays I don't set any alarm and just sleep, but I'm usually awake by 9 am anyway. Still, that's sleeping in for 5 hours.

I know most of you don't care about my sleeping habits, but I needed something short and sweet to write before my nap ;) Next time I'll write about nicknames, and hopefully it will be better. And hopefully I write more often. We'll see....

Blackberry Bread

I've always really liked cooking and trying out new recipes or trying to invent/modify some of my own (this doesn't always work out too great). I think it's because both of my parents like to cook. I remember being in the kitchen a lot when Mom would cook, usually I would sit on the counter. I don't know if I was in her way, but more often than not I would get to eat some of the batter or dough, or sometimes she would give me a slice of raw potato (I know that sounds weird, but I thought it was good).

I'm discovering different things to make in my crock-pot and, thanks to Dad, I'm also figuring out some really good recipes for rabbit, elk, and venison. Just recently I tried something new, but not by myself, and it turned out to be really good.

Aaron likes to cook, too. And in fact he is a really good cook. Really good. We cook together a lot, or he'll cook and I'll just sit on the sideboard watching him. Either way, it's fun. Friday night we got together with his sister, Heather, and her husband, Jonathan, to play games and bake some bread. Blackberry bread. It was a recipe that none of us had ever tried before. Originally the recipe was for Cherry bread, so we had to change it a little. The recipe called for cherry juice, so we also had to figure out how to make blackberry juice. Like I said, it turned out really well, so I thought I would share the recipe.

Just substitute blackberries for cherries if you want. (I figured this would be easier than typing it all in.)

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cherry-Bread/Detail.aspx

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1079902