Happy Halloween!

I'm Bored!

I'm Bored!

Aww....what a cute little puppy!

Shadow was such a good puppy last week that we bought him a new toy and a rawhide bone. He walked around for days with that bone in his mouth, then he would bury it outside, bring it back in and carry it around--well yesterday he finally started to eat his bone and well, doesn't he look cute with all that rawhide smushed on his nose!

I love my puppy!

3, 2, 1......Meltdown!

An unexpected meltdown today--5 days earlier than planned, yes planned.

At the moment this was the cure----------->

and it was uber yummy.

The Worst Case of Heebee Geebees Ever!

So, this girl comes down for her trombone lesson and all was well...I say 'time to pack up'. We all get up and as my girl gets up we all see this giant bug on the seat of her chair. I don't know which one of us screamed louder or ran farther but BLECH! *shudder* It turns out it was a beetle from science class that must have climbed on her clothes and ick it was crawling all over her for 20 minutes! A boy came in and picked it up and took it back to science but still....eek! I was so scared that I was laughing hysterically, the girl was in tears she was so scared and even now when I think about it I still get the heebee geebees!

Hey....it's a donkey made out of hay!

So there's this farm by the house where I grew up and every year they make some kind of animal out of hay. Last year was a pig and this year it's a donkey. John and I actually stopped the car to take a picture--you don't see a donkey made out of hay every day!

The Ceremonial Chair Throwing Ritual, Crying Kindergartners, and Continuous Motion

8:53 am: Ah...what a perfect day for such a lovely ceremony. The Band played so-so today and at dismissal I was then treated to a trumpeteer and saxophonist exchanging the ritualistic curse words that usually preceed the chair throwing ceremony and they performed beautifully--such colorful language made me blush... So they throw a chair at each other and then tackle one another to the ground---oh what a glorious morning. Can you believe that I was stupid enough to try and stop the ceremony? How could I!

10:55 am: Every Friday I have my crier...yep every Friday. Why does he cry you ask? Because I'm so mean and rotten that he can't always go first--so basically he throws a crying tantrum. Well today was only slightly different in the fact that I did absolutely nothing that required people to go first, last etc... nothing and yet---he's a cryin'. Oy vey.

2:26 pm: After me running my last kindergarten class of the day like a non-stop train because they can't handle even a second of transition time one of my four discipline problems starts to meltdown. Ah...4 more minutes left to class--why, why, why!!! Grr. Can I call out on Fridays from 10:30-11:15 and 1:45-2:30?

Seriously, is it a full moon?

The Miracle of Ice Cream and Clean Puppies

So on the extreme verge of a serious meltdown yesterday we took the Cub Scouts to Milltown Ice Cream Depot and I got this seriously huge chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream cone---it was bigger than both my fists put together and I ate the whole thing. It was like I was eating my depression away and gosh it was so good.

We gave Shadow a bath and now he smells all purdy....it's funny how you get used to the smell of a stinky dog after awhile.

It's a nail-biter!

So...after carrying the article for about an hour, going out to lunch with her and coming back into the school I finally got up the courage to give it to her. I wrote her a little card telling her how I didn't want to interfere and that I was just thinking of her so hopefully she won't hate me forever.

everyone... *cross your fingers* and your *toes*...now your *legs and your *nose hair*

Chicken Little, Excuses, and Rotten Odds

So my excuse is that I was really busy this morning, that I just didn't have the time to print out that article and give it to her....the reality is that if I wasn't such a chicken little I would've had it printed out before I left the house and I could've just handed it to her when I saw her this morning. I'm a loser.

So in the grand scheme of things 4 million seems like a lot...I'd love to have 4 million dollars, 4 million lottery tickets, 4 million pieces of chocolate--a size 4 million pair of pants to put on after eating all that chocolate--4 millions a rather large number, but in certain aspects of life the number 4 million totally stinks. Make that number into a ratio of 4 million to 3 well than wow, a complete and utter waste of time and once again high hopes crushed into nothingness. I'm really trying to keep my chin, not to despair--follow the council of the prophets and continue to hope, hope in Christ and hope for the best but I have to say....this totally stinks.

A clean house, some awesome visiting teachers, and a perplexing movie

Oh the joys of a day off from work--thank you Christopher Columbus, you've given me a much needed day off! After 4 loads of laundry and cleaning the spare room, which is really our junk room aka where we throw everything we don't know where to put--needless to say, we've got a lot of junk. Anyway, it's all spiffy clean and ready to take more of our endless junk for months to come---and I'm sure it'll come. My visiting teachers came by today and it was a welcome visit, didn't really talk to much about spiritual things--sometimes I get the feeling that they are (well one of them) is reluctant to speak about God, kind of embarrassed. Well, I can sort of understand that, if you are not comfortable in your own skin, speaking about spiritual things can kind of be like putting a giant spotlight on yourself. Anyway, their good and I'm good--trying to be a nice person and not bite everyone's head off. So I went to see The Duchess and it really perplexed me---is that really how people back in 18th century England behaved? I don't know...I usually walk out of chick flicks going 'whoopie! she got the guy and they lived happily every after' but boy, this was anything but happily ever after. Cookies are done and time for FHE---whoopie for cookies!

Press Forward, Be Valiant, and Over-Blog

So, I woke up with Press Forwards Saints stuck firmly in my head---funny how God works sometimes. It's a great hymn: Press forward Saints, with steadfast faith in Christ. Not always an easy thing to do but nonetheless it's the trying that really matters I suppose. I've come to realize that I'm a good person but not very valiant, although I think I'm getting better at that. There was a time when I would see an injustice and not have the courage to stand up and say 'dude, that is so wrong' but, maybe it comes with age, nowadays I speak my mind--I think more people need to speak their minds when things aren't going quite right. The world has conditioned us to be 'tolerant' and 'open-minded' etc...but those ideals have also stripped us of our courage to speak up for truth and righteousness. I'm not talking about homosexuality or anything like that--I'm talking about forgiveness. There are several people in my life that seriously need to forgive others for their offenses. I've tried to talk to them but I fear that my 'butting in' will damage my relationship with them--it's a fine line. I got the prompting (about 6 months ago) to give an article to my friend called 'The Peril of Wedges"...I'm going to bring it to work with me on Tuesday, I just hope that she doesn't get offended because lets face it, she's highly emotional and loses her temper quite often...so I think I'm right to be nervous but I just know that this article is going to strike a cord with her. So.....that's an attempt of mine to be valiant and courageous---to give her what she needs even though she might not want to hear it. (Yeah, I know 6 months late!) Eek! That's scary! I guess since I have to wait up until 1:30 to take my medication it's made me quite the chatty Kathy tonight. Well, if you can stand the randomness of my thoughts--and that one day they'll be all spiritual and the next I could be talking about John getting thrown up on again by the dog--well you can handle just about anything.

Look, We're gettin' all fancy!

Wahoo...after months of envy....we've finally figured out how to make our blog all fancy schmancy! I know...ya'll are jealous of our coolness but hey...not everyone can be as cool as we are!

My thoughts about General Conference

Well, for us on the east coast, conference just ended. I managed to watch all five sessions. For the most part. I am sure I nodded off a little and I was doing some school work and listening through another bit of it, but for the very most part, I watched all of it.

A couple things impressed me. I noticed during the first Saturday session, including Pres. Uchtdorf, there were four foreign born speakers. Also, Sundays second session had two foreign born speakers. That is six in total. I do not remember this happening before. I think that is cool. I know we are a world wide church. I know we have missions all over the world. It is really cool to see the foreign speakers. And they were not from all the same place. Maybe two from Brazil, one from France, one from Uruguay, Germany of course. Anyway, cool stuff.

Speaking of Uchtdorf, his talk on hope was awesome. I am not one to take notes during conference, however I am thinking I might change my ways after this because I cannot remember exactly what he said about things we hope in lead us to charity and things we hope for lead us to faith. Is that it? I am not sure. I liked his talk none-the-less.

M. Russel Ballard (I think) used a phrase that I am going to ponder for a while. Superficially righteous. That phrase has been ringing in my ears since he said it. I think it has been ringing in my ears because I am very critical of myself, always have been. First, I am trying to come up with a definition of that phrase that I am satisfied with. Second, I want to make sure that phrase does not describe me.

Pres. Monson rules. I truly enjoyed his talks. I cannot remember all of his talk from priesthood session but it was good. I remember liking it. I eagerly anticipate being able to get these talks in print and being able to review them again.

I do not remember feeling this way about a GC for a long time and I am pretty excited about it. Anyway, if any of you have thoughts to add about conference or can help me in my pursuit of understanding, please leave a comment or shoot an e-mail. I know I have some pretty smart friends and family and hope you can offer some of your insight to me.