In the Southern Baptist/Gospel Style (no offense meant to anyone)...

Ah have seen the li-ght and ah am a be-liever! Ah knooow the road I must take to reach my go-als! That road may be thorny-a and hard to climb-a but ah know ah will reach that end and find my pur-pose in this lahfe! Ah knoow the truth and the truth is among us!

Well that's enough of my silliness. Tee Hee. I couldn't resist. Though it probably sounds much better in my head than when you're reading it.

In any case, due to the inspiration of my sister and other friends, I am going to strive to live healthier. Kathy, a friend of mine, has been inspired to start something she calls "Choose Healthy Living". It starts on June 1 and is a way, for those of us who have decided to participate, to set and meet our goals to live healthier and not just in regards to exercise and diet. Wish me luck! :)

Enough of that...

After my last post which was full of melancolic angst, I want to make a list of things I love.

1. Playing in a cold rain then going inside to dry off and have having hot chocolate.
2. A good book that makes you sigh when it's finished.
3. My mom's chicken-cheese casserole. Even the leftovers are great!
4. The smell of fresh baked bread.
5. Crawling into my own bed after a long work weekend and snuggling in with my pillows.
6. Hugs by someone bigger than me (who does real hugs not weird A-frame hugs).
7. Talking to my siblings as they grow up and experience life.
8. Buying random presents for people when I KNOW they'll like it.
9. Catching up with old and new friends when I haven't had a chance to speak with them in a while.
10. The feeling of accomplishment when I finish my homework and/or my regular work.
11. Playing Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata or Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor perfectly.
12. Waking up to the smell of pancakes and bacon.
13. Not having to set an alarm clock.
14. Cooking...especially for other people who don't mind me experimenting on them. :)

Obviously these are not huge things nor is this list a complete compilation, but sometimes making lists of the things in life that are good is the best way I know how to fight ennui or the blues. :)

Introspection

There are hundreds of ways people use to cheer someone up at a lost opportunity or a change of life circumstances.

"When one door closes, another opens."
"When a door closes, open a window."
"An ending is only a new beginning."

You get the point. Recently, since graduation is coming up, I've been giving a significant amount of thought to what the next step in my life should be. I've been researching, pondering, praying and researching some more. I have grown to hate saying such as those above. You see, for the most part, I like my life. I have a routine that works for me, friends and family I love and enjoy being with, and a job I find satisfaction in and, that while not great paying, does pay the bills and lets me do those things I really love. Not everyone can make those claims. So why is it I feel I have to shake up my life and do something different? I almost wrote "feel the need", but I don't really. Mostly what I feel is dread. I really dislike changes. They are difficult and not usually very user-friendly. While they can sometimes be for the better or end up good, the transition period can be, at best, a pain.

I like how someone finished that saying, "When one door closes, another opens". She said, "...but it can be hell in the hallways." Too true.

Apple pie and strange facts

So I just finished compiling a bunch of stats for one of my classes and putting them into some graphs and tables (LOVE MS office 2007!-usually) and decided to take a break and enjoy some apple pie and look up strange statistics. Here are some of the best (in my humble opinion) and my associated comments:

1. Tablecloths were originally meant to be served as towels with which dinner guests could wipe their hands and faces after eating. (I knew they were good for something...except the lace ones. Those are just useless.)

2. The Nobel Peace Prize medal depicts three naked men with their hands on each other's shoulders. (Not sure how I feel about this.)

3. In the year 2000, Pope John Paul II was named an "Honorary Harlem Globetrotter". (Think he played in his robes?)

4. Men are 6 times more likely to be struck by lightning than women. (Hahaha!)

5. Donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes. (So stay away from donkeys!)


Here are few interesting laws...

1. In Virginia, the Code of 1930 has a statute which prohibits corrupt practices or bribery by any person OTHER THAN political candidates.

2. In the state of Colorado, a pet cat, if loose, must have a tail-light.

3. In Washington State, you can't carry a concealed weapon that is over 6 feet in length.

And my all time favorite that clearly demonstrates the danger in dating...at least if you're a spider:

"A study of spiders shows female wolf spiders will eat strange-looking males that try to mate with them, but spare and even hook up with familiar-looking males...The female, which is slightly larger, can choose a) to mate, b) to run away or c) to eat her suitor. Apparently, running away is not a very frequently used option..... "

HeeHee. Oh, to be a female wolf spider. Take care of two birds with one stone when it comes to strange men...a meal and you don't have to worry about him bothering you again!

Books, books, books

I just got back from the Chandler Public Library's Semi-annual booksale. Everything half off AND some 5 for a $1. This means that I got 30 book for about $12. YAY! This makes me very happy especially since I missed my usual book stock-up event: the VNSA annual booksale In 2008 I got to it and purchased almost 150 books (lasted me a good part of the year) for just over $100. Buying books AND saving money...what could be better? (Besides buying shoes AND saving money...which, incidentally, I did today too!) I love the library. It is in my top 3 favorite places to be. Not counting the libraries that have decided to serve coffee inside the building because that means you can only smell the coffee, not the stacks and old books. If they made a perfume that smelled like books, I'd wear it. But then I am a bit of a dork...and I'm starting to ramble and make very little sense. Thus, I shall hie myself off to bed and sleep for a few hours before work. Catch ya later, alligator!

Short and Sweet

Saw the appartment Rachel and Dave are going to be living in until they can find a house once they moved back to AZ--nice place.

Got everything on my "To Do" list done on my days off, not counting the school stuff. Have a new "To Do" list now.

Saw "X-Men: Origins" a little while back...awesome. I don't care what anyone else says, if a helicopter explodes it's a great movie (see also Live free or Die hard). :)

Still slogging through those articles...takin' longer than I thought, though most aren't quite as bad as I was expecting...still not terribly interesting though. Rather be reading a book...or watching Eureka (great show!).

Taking a break right now from school and work stuff to enjoy some rootbeer and NCIS. I love the internet.

Only 3 weeks and 3 days of school left!!!!

Bye!

Filler...

So I was all gung-ho to do a nice blog with a bunch of pictures I took when I realized that I don't have my micro-card reader for my computer AND I've the wrong laptop so I don't have the camera software to download the pics directly, so here is a filler and a little bit of catch up...

1. I have five weeks and one day until I am officially finished with school and will have my Bachelor's degree. I won't however actually have the diploma in my hot, sweaty, little hands until mid to late June.

2. Because I only have five weeks and one day left of school and am a procrastinator I have 2o-odd articles (most 10-15 pages in length) to read in the next two weeks. You'd think that wouldn't be too bad, right? You'd be wrong.

3. We had Stake conference last week. I didn't go...but I'm told it was pretty good.

4. We had Ward conference the week before that. I did go...it wasn't good.

5. I volunteer with a local domestic violence shelter and they are having one of their major annual fund-raisers. This means, since I help in the office, I have 300+ calls to make to verify addresses in the next month. Yay for me!

6. I've decided that I am going to start saving up for three major purchases: a serger, a nice/good standing mixer (with pasta attachments!), and I can't remember the third, but I will eventually. I hope. (Any recommendations for specific products would be appreciated!)

7. While I believe a girl can never have too many shoes, books or earrings, she can have too many clothes. Thus I have decided if I want more clothes, I must make them myself. We'll see how that goes.

8. I built some bookshelves (pics at a later date). They didn't turn out so well. I think I need more practice. :^S

9. I have recently cataloged and organized my books. I hadn't realized just how many I had until I had to TYPE ALL OF THEM INTO AN EXCEL SPREADSHEET. It's ridiculous. I think the most amusing part though is that I can picture most of them or remember parts of almost all of them. In my defense, I have read them all. Mostly.

10. I have two major projects to work on in the next few months: recovering my chaise lounge that has been sitting outside collecting dust (literally) but hopefully not bugs and re-finishing my big old desk/shelf thingy (I got it used-free-and it's covered in stickers)

11. I thought I lost my favorite ring this past week. It's got my most favorite stone in it (mystic fire topaz). I didn't loose it. I found it in my suitcase in with my q-tips...where I put it so I wouldn't loose it. :)

12. I have less than a year until my car is completely paid off. WHOO-HOO!!

So that's mostly it. I can't think of anything else at the moment, but then it's about 11:30pm (not really late, but it feels later) so I have given myself permission not to think much any more.

Later!