Who Needs Sleep?

Apparently I do not.  For some reason, my body has decided that three to four hours of sleep a night is sufficient.  I tell you that it is not.  Yes, I tend to go to bed quite late, but once I am in bed I expect to actually go to sleep.  This last week, I have spent many hours awake in my bed.  One should not see that it is 4:30 in the morning as they lie in bed.  Last night I even went to bed utterly exhausted but I couldn't sleep.  I was pretty much delirious, that's how tired I was, you could even ask my roommates, I'm pretty sure that they got a good laugh out of it, but I couldn't sleep.  There was one night that I did get to sleep fairly quickly, I just woke up every hour or so.  I usually sleep like a rock, what is wrong with me?

Ponderings

Sometimes life leaves me questioning things and why or why not some things happen or don't happen.  I like to ponder, but that may or may not always be a good thing.  I'm always looking for answers, but I don't always get them.

I have to say that right now, I am the happiest I have been in a really long time.  I laugh a lot and I smile a lot, I missed that for awhile.  It mostly has to do with attitude changes, but it also has a lot to do with who I've been spending time with lately.  I have really awesome roommates.  My coworkers are really cool.  The friends I have around me are spectacular.  I even have a few people that I feel that I trust a whole lot more than anyone else and that hasn't happened in a long time.  I don't open up to many people so it really surprises me when I do.

Thanksgiving Break!

This last week has been so full of fun, I hope I can remember it all!

Tuesday: After getting off of work and officially being on break, the party started!  I got caught up on the TV show Once Upon a Time while I ate some delicious waffles.  When my roommates got home, we decided to get a group of people together and went bowling.

Wednesday: Aleisha, Sara and I went up to the Living Planet Aquarium to use my free tickets that I got at one of my banquets earlier in the year.  It definitely wasn't the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but it was fun.

We saw little things like frogs

We got to pet the manta rays (they're kinda squishy)

There was a fish as big as me, but I didn't get a picture of it

We also got to see some penguins, glow in the dark scorpions, a giant anaconda, some upside down jellyfish, seahorses, lots of fish, and spiders.

After the aquarium, we went to The Cheesecake Factory--I surprised Aleisha by eating my entire pizza all by myself and then I had a slice of the most delicious cheesecake I've ever had (I ate my first bite and then started giggling and dancing in my chair, it was that good).  We then went shopping.  We checked out Crate and Barrel and decided that as cute as everything was, it was all really, really expensive.  We then went to H&M for Sara.  I wish I would have had my camera ready when she first saw the store, she was really excited!  It was so busy!  There were lines everywhere!  Lines to try things on and a really long line to buy things.  I bought a new shirt and a skirt.  I decided that I really like that store as the clothes fit me really well.  Maybe I'll go again when all the hype dies down.

We ended up shopping in a few other places like Nordstrom Rack and DSW and Pirate O's before we made it home.  We wanted to go ice skating that night but it was the only night the ice skating rink wasn't open, so we went to the Provo Beach Resort and did the ropes course.  We tried to get a group together, but everyone was either gone or busy.  We did get our friend, Steve, to go so that was fun.  Afterwards, we wandered around outside of the Riverwoods and then we went to Steve's house to watch a movie.

Thursday: I woken up by my brothers as Michael flew in that morning and they came over to eat waffles.  We hung out all morning while I made rolls for Thanksgiving dinner.  We ate at Aunt Marilyn's house.  It was the first Thanksgiving in a really long time that there were no children in attendance.  After dinner, the rest of the extended family came over for dessert and to play games.  I went home just before 11:00.  I had the apartment to myself as all of my roommates were with their families.

Friday: A pretty low-key day.  I slept in and then cleaned my bedroom.  I went shopping with Randi in the afternoon to find some shirts.  Randi and I took Michael to the airport and on the way, we stopped at Ikea to just wander around for a bit.  When I got home, two of my roommates had returned.  We just watched TV and I finished reading two books. (I only have 24 inches left in reading my height!)

Saturday: Another sleep in day.  So far I've cleaned my bathroom and just hung out around the house.  I'm thinking I want to watch White Christmas at some point.

So overall, a very busy but fun week!

Breaking the Stereotype

I find joy in surprising people.  Apparently people have a pretty good idea of who I am...quiet, reserved, etc., but they don't know me really all that well :)  I'm not saying that I'm not quiet and reserved because I am when you first get to know me, but there is so much more.  In the last month I've really put myself out there and surprised quite a few people.

 For Halloween, my co-workers and I decided to dress as rockers.  A few were surprised that I even had these clothes and knew how to do my make-up like this.  It was a fun way to dress-up for a day, but it took forever to get all of that eye make-up off!

Last week, we had a ward dinner and variety show so one of the girls in the ward thought to would be cool if we got a group of girls together to do some break dancing.  The ward was very surprised and even more so when I started rapping.  It was awesome!

Adventures With Free Time 4

Today started with quite an adventure...I got to chase down a student, literally.  There was a second grader who ran away from her classroom and when her teacher came looking for her, we volunteered to roam the halls.  We found her and she started running so Adam ran after her and I went around the other way to cut her off.  It was interesting.  After that we went to the grocery store to buy jelly beans and crackers.  Alece and I counted some fake money.  Lunch was pretty boring so I went and hid in a room in the school that not many use on a regular basis so that I could read a book for awhile.  I got to teach my class for about an hour about world hunger and gratitude.  The last hour of the day was uneventful.

I am now officially on vacation!  Maybe we'll get some real adventures in the next few days.

Adventures With Free Time 3

Today was very adventuresome and quite enjoyable overall.  It started off with Alece and I being quite productive in designing a lesson we were going to teach to our classes in the afternoon.  While working on the lesson, my principal came in and asked if I would cover kindergarten for a bit today.  The office staff was a bit worried about me going from 6th grade to kindergarten...I don't see why.  We made Indian headdresses and my class came in to buddy read with the kindergarteners.  I'm not sure who was more surprised to find me in the kindergarten classroom...my co-workers, the parents, the kindergarteners, or my 6th graders.  After chilling with the little ones, I was again working in the faculty room when the secretary came in asking for help in the office, that usually means one thing...they needed me to translate.  We had two new students registering and the parents didn't speak English.  I mustered up my knowledge from high school and did the best I could.  For some reason, the parents were really impressed with my speaking...it wasn't really that impressive.  After lunch, I got to teach my class about world hunger.  Somewhere in the day, I also found out that I am getting a new student on Monday.

Not sure where tomorrow will lead us, but it better be going somewhere or else we will be counting down the minutes before our Thanksgiving break starts.

Conundrum Update

I saw the first poster today.

The Weekend

Even when I'm not really working all that much, I still look forward to the weekend.  Friday night was interesting as I got to hang out with my drugged up roommate.  We watched a bunch of movies, I don't think she remembers or even saw the entirety of most of them.  Mr. T came over for a bit to hang out and then we went for chocolate shakes and eventually the claw machine.  Saturday was a day for sleeping in.  Sometimes I am amazed with my sleeping abilities.  I woke up around 10:30 and then 11:00, I finally got out of bed by 11:30.  Saturday was pretty low key with trips to the grocery store until we started practicing for our variety show performance for our ward that night.  I will have to post photos and the video when I get access to them as it was pretty awesome.  A very small group decided to do some break dancing and had me do some rapping as well.  I'm hoping I broke the typical RS president stereotype.  Today has been nice with only two meetings.  I'm currently baking some rolls for Thanksgiving dinner #2 tonight and just hanging out with my roommates.  I'm pretty sure I accidentally fell asleep this afternoon for about an hour, but it's been good.

Adventures With Free Time 2

Today brought some new adventures...

I got to sub in my own class today.  My student teacher had an observation so I got to go in for ten minutes to babysit my class while she was in the hall with her observer going over her lesson.  She did a pretty good job.  I played a game of Battleship with Alece (it was "research" for when we teach coordinate planes again).  I then got to flip a bunch of tortillas.  The 5th grade team needed help for their faculty luncheon so Alece and I were volunteered to help with the tortilla effort.  The lunch was good...I ate two helpings.  After we cleaned up, we decided we should help out the janitor by going on the roof.  It was Alece's first time.  We found a scooter on the roof, not exactly sure how it got there, but it was.  By that time we had about two hours left in the day so we hung out in the office while I read poetry.  I left a few minutes early so I could babysit my roommate who now has a couple offerings to the tooth fairy.

Adventures With Free Time

I can say that I did more today than yesterday.  I got to start out my day at school by rolling and counting coins for our student store.  While doing that, my principal asked my co-workers and I to drop something off at the post office.  We really enjoy taking "field trips" to take us from the monotony of the faculty room so we jumped at the chance to leave.  On the way back, we picked up a Coke for our co-worker.  From there I went to observe my student teacher teach a reading group lesson.  The secretaries at our school had a training meeting today at the same time our principal had a principals meeting, so I got to babysit the office and answer the phones.  We handed out three bags of ice for bumps and bruises and at least ten band aids in the two hours we were there.  Most of the people who came or walked through the office were surprised to see us in charge, like we don't know what we're doing or something.  After that, I hid in an office while I read aloud to my co-worker a book that our principal asked us to read.  With an hour left in the day, I found a few things to do and people to talk to and then I waited until school was out to go home. So, nothing too crazy but busy enough to keep me mostly entertained.

Student Teacher Time!

I have a student teacher now and she just started her solo time in my classroom so I am not supposed to be in my room for the next two weeks which means I'm hanging out in the faculty room.  The good news is that I have a lot more time to work on any projects and I have two of my co-workers to keep me company.  The bad news is that I really don't have any projects to work on right now.  I finally wrote down a list of things I should be working on, we'll see if I start any of them this week.  Tomorrow I get to answer phones in the office for a couple of hours while the secretaries are at a training meeting.  I guess I should learn how to transfer calls.

I think my family has finally figured out that I am hard to find on Sundays now.  I had four different meetings this last Sunday.  If I'm not in a meeting, I'm working on Relief Society "stuff" or taking a nap due to the early meetings.  So, if you really need to get a hold of me, you can leave me a message on a Sunday or try between the hours of 4 and 6 Monday through Friday and most of the day on Saturday.

As an update to my conundrum...my roommates and a few friends have figured out what the event is but nothing else has happened.  I've already decided to not plan on going again this year.  Also, I haven't seen any posters up advertising the event which is really odd because it's a pretty big thing.

Sunday Again

It's Sunday again, time to start a new week.  Sundays are a pretty good start to a week.

Right now, I'm the only one awake in my apartment and it's quiet, I miss quiet.  Last night, I got in my car and just drove around so I could experience quiet again, it was really nice.  I find that I need my own space and time where I can just be by myself and lately, that just hasn't happened since I have a student teacher and my classroom isn't my own any more.  This just means that I will be running away from home more often until the student teacher is done but that's not for another month.  What's really funny though is that as much as I run away to be by myself, I think best while talking out loud and that tends to work better if I picture talking to someone I know.  Many of you have probably had conversations with me that you didn't even know about...don't worry, I don't put words in your mouth and you don't ever really answer back, that would be weird because you're not really there (I'm not crazy).  You're all really great listeners when I'm by myself, so thank you!

Conundrum

I know that as soon as I tell you what my conundrum is, at least half of you will turn around and tell me, "well, duh!", but it really isn't all that simple.

You see, since I've lived in Provo, I have always wanted to do something that only happens once a year.  It's definitely something that would be a date or at least should be in my eyes.  Every year when it comes along, I long to go, but I never have.  I was really close once, tickets were purchased, the night was planned and then, well, let's just say that it didn't turn out and it definitely didn't end well.

It's that time of year again and tickets are on sale!  The conundrum that I'm having is that as much as I want to go, it goes against my principles in this matter to just go buy some tickets and find someone to go with me.  I guess I have worked this whole idea up in my head for the last x-amount of years that it needs to be something that someone takes me to, not me taking someone else.  In fact, I don't think it's even occurred to me until now that I could just go buy my own tickets and find someone to go with me.  It probably wouldn't be that hard to do, but it would be cheating.

I really want to go and time will be running out fast, but I just don't see it happening this year either.

I know, I know...you're all sitting there screaming at your computers, "What is it?!?! What have you longed to do for so many years?", but I'm sorry, I can't tell you...that would be cheating.