A First

Let it be known, that on this, the 30th day of December, 2011, I mowed my first lawn. 

 Not really sure how I got away without mowing a lawn for 27 years*, but it sure did make me feel proud when I did it (and only with limited help from my brother over the phone). Thanks Ke-lay! 

*Probably the same way I've gotten away without ever giving the dog a bath. 

Let's Kinect!

My friend Mary got a Kinect for Christmas.  

I would like to share some fun photos with you now from my first Kinect experience:

 We look just like Japanese Power Rangers, do we not?
Definitely the best song on Just Dance 3.

This pic is my favorite because it shows how "good" I am at following dance instructions. Everyone else is facing the screen and I'm still turning around. Haha!

I can't wait to do this again on New Year's Eve!

Overly Efficient

Since living in my current home, I have acquired the nicknames "Miss Efficiency" and "Electricity Nazi." Mostly, the power company's "Time of Use Plan" is to blame for this.  In AZ, you can save money by using the bulk of your electricity during certain times of the day.  Of course, they want you to use your electrical appliances at times when it is least convenient for you as the customer.  I am usually the one who is reminding everyone else of these times and getting a little bit agitated when they don't adhere to them.

Recently, two important events happened that basically changed my whole life:

First, the fire department dropped by a few months ago to check if we had a gas leak that was setting off the carbon monoxide monitor.  They asked us if we had a gas dryer, to which I responded, "No."

Second, I was talking to my best friend, who just moved into a new home and had to buy a new dryer because the house only had hook ups for gas dryers.

Both of these events kept stirring in my mind.

Then, I finally realized that my dryer is a gas dryer!!!

Why is this such a big deal?

Because for the past THREE YEARS I have not been drying my clothes from 1-8pm in the summer and 5-9am and 5-9pm in the winter and it hasn't saved me a single penny! I followed that crazy schedule with my laundry for no good reason.  I still can't believe it.


P.S. When I told my mom this story, she was not at all surprised.  I guess that when I was in first grade, I yelled at her for leaving the water running while she was brushing her teeth.

Magnetic Picture Board

We found this cool picture hanging thingy in a closet in our house a few years back.

My mom really liked it, so I wanted to make her one. 

 I finally figured out how (with some help, of course).

What you'll need:

-9" x 30 " board, sanded and painted

-four 5x7" metal shingles (found in roofing section at Lowe's/Home Depot), 

with a teeny hole drilled in the corner of each one (thanks Pops!)

-16 furniture nails (also called decorative nails, but the men folk 

at the hardware store will give you blank stares if you use the term "decorative")

-choose a phrase of your choice and have your awesome friend cut out the vinyl on her Cricut for you

Put it all together and you'll get:

One of these (and a happy mommy)!

Lt. Holmes

This is Steven:

AKA Lieutenant Holmes:

Last night he left the U.S. to serve our country in Afghanistan,

and it's all his fault that my emotions have been on a roller coaster ride all day. 

This morning, I started crying as we were saying the Pledge of Allegiance at school.

 I think I only made it to "I pledge" before I had to stop talking.

Then, one of my students noticed the menorah I put up for Hanukkah and said,

"Miss Jones is Jewish?!!"

That made me laugh.

Only a few minutes later, they had a special visitor appear on the announcements.

It was a father who came home last week from Afghanistan for a short while.

He presented an American flag that flew on Sept. 11, 2011 in Afghanistan and was dedicated to our school.

Crying again.

The rest of the day went really well.

After school, I stopped at Walgreen's and they asked me if I wanted to buy a candy bar for the troops in Afghanistan .  I said, "Yes I do!" without shedding a single tear.

I picked out a great one for you Steven.

I can't wait for you to be reunited with your wonderful wife and
soon-to-be-born little girl!
Thank you for serving our country!

Flourish

Today, my class turned in their math papers and one of them caught my eye.  Here it is:

A normal name and a flourish name, huh?  This may seem very random and kind of strange.  Unless, you were reading Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary with us today.   In this book, Ramona is only 4 and doesn't know how to write her name.  She wants her name to have lots of i's to dot and t's to cross.  So, she writes the letters she likes, but always "with a flourish."

Black Like Me

I just had a dream that I was driving by myself on a trip and I was having a hard time concentrating.  I was in the right lane and when I got to a curve, my car went over the line and I started driving at a slant on the side of a hill. Thankfully, I was able to get back on the road somehow (although crashing in a dream wouldn't have hurt me too badly).  Instead of getting pulled over, this cop lady at the bottom of the hill had me (and my mysterious son that appeared out of nowhere) get into her vehicle with another lady who had broken some traffic law.  The cop took us to a building, where we had to sit and wait for some sort of traffic school session.  As I was sitting, I looked down at my legs and was disgusted.  They had large bumps all over them and plus they were hairy in some parts.  I really wanted to shave them, but I was afraid that might not work out so well with the weird bumps all over.  The other interesting thing was that in my dream I was half black, and as I looked at my legs I was thinking, my legs look a bit darker than usual.  They were super dark.  I could go for that shade of skin, but only if it was minus the hair and bumpiness.

Sharing Time

Today I am going to catch up on what's been going on in my life.  Mostly for my dad, who threatens to stop reading my blog if I don't update it often enough.

First, I have a story to share:  

One day, I was standing outside after school, yelling at all the children to "Walk!" That's a skill that I acquired in Teacher School.*  A ten-year-old exits the building, walks over to me, and asks, "Is it raining?"  Umm, did you really have to ask me that.  My response: "Is it?"  He looks up and decides that it's not.

Next, I have a definition to share: 

 (Thank you dictionary.com)

lit·er·al·ly

   [lit-er-uh-lee]  Show IPA

adverb

1.

in the literal  or strict sense: What does the wordmean literally?

2.

in a literal  manner; word for word: to translate literally.

3.

actually; without exaggeration or inaccuracy: The city wasliterally destroyed.

4.

in effect; in substance; very nearly; virtually.

People have literally been using this word way too much.  They literally don't know what it means.  "Literally" is the new "ironic."  They hear it and think it sounds great and want to literally use it themselves and then their children literally start using it and the meaning begins to get lost.  

I literally don't know who to blame for this problem, but I get upset at them every time I hear it used incorrectly.  Nothing will ever top the day that a girl giving a talk in church said, "I literally cried my eyes out." And here's another: " I literally have people coming out of the woodwork asking for the recipe." Wow. That's amazing.

I would also like to share a secret:

No, it's not a secret about my love life.  Sorry.  It's the secret to having the best grilled cheese sandwich ever. Are you ready? The secret is: use sourdough bread.  When you combine cheese, sourdough, a little butter, and a hot griddle, your mouth will be in heaven.  And then you'll have to eat it every night for two weeks like I did.  It's that good.  

Finally, I will share some pictures:

 I made that snowflake!

Aren't you impressed? (because you should be)

It is the first snowflake I made under the tutelage of my new roommate.

(and the first picture I took with my new, fancy camera) 

Our whole ceiling is decorated with these amazing snowflakes, 

all made by my new roommate from Texas. She's amazing. 

*To learn about Teacher School, you'll have to read the book 32 Third Graders and One Class Bunny. I highly recommend it. If you are a teacher, that is. Or if you just want to, but you won't appreciate it as much I'm guessing. 

I'm dreaming of...

...not a white Christmas, if that was what you were thinking.  Although, that would be really pretty and quite an unexpected surprise.

No.  Really, I just wanted to announce that I'm dreaming again.  I haven't been having many dreams lately and it's probably because I haven't been getting enough hours of sleep in.

But everything changed last night.  Or this morning, rather, as I was sleeping in and not taking a shower before work.

My dream started about my new roommate who moved in today.  I really do have a new roommate.  That was not just a dream.  She was probably freaked out when I told her today that I'm already dreaming about her.

Anyway, the new roomie is from Texas and so is one of my coworkers.  In my dream, my coworker sent me a text message because he had some important information that I needed to know about this new girl before she moved in.  I tried to read it, but I received 80 more text messages right after that and I had to sift through all of those before I could see what his said.  Plus, I was hanging out with some girls in my ward in a very unkempt apartment and it was hard to not completely ignore them and look at my phone at the same time.  So, I never got to read the message I was trying to find.

My dream shifted and I was in a hotel/resort place.  I had reserved this really nice luxury suite and a whole bunch of people who I apparently knew were there with me for a party/soiree/gathering of some sort.  Then all of the sudden, a bunch of evil mobsterish people come busting in there.  I couldn't figure out why they were there and then all of sudden, the lady who was their leader informed us that she was after one of the guests I had invited (she's definitely off the invite list next time).  The last thing I remember is that the scary mob lady took a knife out and punctured the skin on my hand as a warning to me.  She drew blood and everything.  Then I woke up.