I just had to share.

I receive emails from Cranium about contests and such. Today I got an email about posting on their blog and you could win a prize. Interesting concept. Anywho. The first girl who posted had a very interesting answer for the most romatic couple in history. Check it out. It made me smile.
Maybe if all of us enter, one of us will win!!

make sure you check out the post below to win a prize from me.

Today is the first day of the rest of the semester.

2nd semester started today.
This is my 150th post.
Today is my roommate's birthday.

Happy Birthday Elaine.

What a magical day.
To celebrate these blessed events I am going to have a contest. Yup. That's right. A contest. So to be entered for my contest you need to write a comment. In your comment tell me a story about your worst roommate or your favorite teacher!! I will then choose a winner and they will receive an ultimate prize package. I can't tell you what is in the prize package but it is going to be GOOD! So comment your little hearts out. You have until I wake up on Saturday! It might be early. It might be late.

hint- it would not be wise to tell a story about ME being your worst roommate! Even though I probably was.

I can do the right thing today.

So I just heard that President Hinckley passed away just over an hour ago. Today all our talks in sacrament were about prophets.
What an amazing man he was. I am so grateful for the opportunities I have had to hear him speak. One of my favorite moments was when he came to BYU-Idaho for the dedication of the Hinckley building. Here is a favorite part of his talk.

First, I want to tell you that I love you. I love you kids, you wonderful young people of this Church. I love you. I believe you are the best generation this Church has ever had. No generation which has gone before measures up to the stature to which you measure up. You are better educated. I think you have greater faith I think you have shown that faith and are showing that faith than any other previous generation. I am so thankful for you. I thank you for your strength; for your willingness to do the right thing; for your desire to serve the Lord; for your capacity to help build the kingdom; for the fact that you get on your knees and say your prayers, as I know you do; for the fact that you pray to the Lord to help you, to guide you in the things you do, as I know you do.

God bless you for what you are and who you are.

Now, don't ever do a cheap or a tawdry or a mean or an evil thing, my dear young friends. You don't have to engage in these things. The world is on a slippery slide, it is going downhill and it is going fast. And you are as a beacon on a hill young people of rectitude and virtue and decency and goodness. Remain that way. Do not destroy your effectiveness. Do not become involved in any kind of behavior which would destroy you, injure you, hurt you, debilitate you in any way whatever. You don't have to do those things. You can stand above them. You must stand above them! The world will look to you as the years pass, of that I have no doubt whatever. For if it continues to go in the direction in which it is going, the disparity between the world and this Church will grow and lengthen and we will become more and more of a peculiar people.

Now, be faithful, be true, go forward, be ambitious. Don't short-circuit yourself. Don't stop now. Keep growing. Keep going. Educate your minds and your spirits and never lose sight of the fact that you are a child of God with a divine destiny and capability of doing great and good and wonderful things. Don't sell yourselves short. Don't cheapen yourselves. You know who you are. Each of you knows that you are a child of God and that your Heavenly Father expects something great and noble and good of you.

The Lord bless you, my dear young friends. As I look into your faces, I see the future. Keep the faith. You will marry. You will have children. You will have grandchildren. You will go out and do the work of this world, but maintain your integrity. Be honest. Be good. Be decent. Be prayerful and the God of heaven will smile upon you and bless you, and give happiness in your hearts and a sense of peace in your lives.

I wish for you nothing but the best. You are so choice and so wonderful and the future is so great that you can't afford to betray yourselves in anyway or to do anything less than that which each of you is capable of accomplishing. You don't have to be a genius. You don't have to be a straight-A student. You just have to do your very best with all the capability you have. You have to do your very best. And somehow, if you do that, God will open the way before you and the sun will shine, and your lives will be fruitful and you will accomplish great good in the world in which you take a part. I couldn't wish for you anything better as I look into your faces this day.

May heaven smile upon you. May you be blessed. May you be happy. May you have joy in your lives. May your tears be few and your smiles many as you go forward with your lives is my humble prayer as I stand before you and express unto you my love for you and my confidence in you and my hope for you and my prayer for you. You are the very fiber of this Church and this Church will grow as its young people the young people of this generation magnify their callings and go forward and serve the Lord and live in loyalty toward Him. God bless you.

There is no end in sight for the good you can do. Do you know it? You are just simple kids. You are not geniuses. I know that. But the work of the world isn't done by geniuses. It is done by ordinary people who have learned to work in an extraordinary way people of your kind who can do these things.

I repeat. Don't sell yourselves short. You look in the mirror every morning when you boys get up to scrape off the fuzz, and the girls get up to put on the paint you look into the mirror and say "I can do the right thing today, God being my helper. And I will do it."

Thank you President Hinckley for your words and example that have made me want to be the best that I can be.

Now I know why your mother calls ya' Nutsy.

59. That is the number of times a girl in my ward said "umm" during her 15 minute talk. 59. I thought I was going to go nuts. I wonder if anyone else in my ward noticed or if I really am nuts?

Be a man! Take some Pepto Bismol and come on over here!

The other day my roommate got a
fortune in a cookie that read:

You are a man of righteousness and integrity.

Should I be concerned?

Monday Manners Moment

Please don't smoke. It won't make you more polite. It will actually make you smell, poor and die young. I just thought it was funny and reminded me of home, eh?

29 by 29

In exactly 3 months and 8 days I will be the ripe old age of 29. I've decided that I am going to make a list of 29 things to do before I turn 29. Here they are:

1) finish the baby blanket I am crocheting
2) go to the National Art Gallery
3) attend the temple at least 5 times
4) write 29 letters/thank you notes
5) finish the 2 books I am currently reading
6) eat at Sonic
7) go to bed before 10pm at least once
8) update my teaching files
9) do 100% visiting teaching each month
10) read Preach My Gospel
11) see the movie Juno
12) go on a date
13) read the Relief Society lesson before Relief Society each Sunday
14) go on a road trip (more than 100 miles)
15) learn the names of all my 2nd semester students
16) buy a Virginia is for lovers magnet (for my collection)
17) plant my amaryllis
18) workout at least 3 days a week
19) make dinner for someone
20) wake up once without hitting the snooze button
21) call Christie (my trainer)
22) call Dena (another companion)
23) go to the ribbon store
24) take knitting or crocheting class
25) try a new recipe
26) buy myself flowers
27) take a day off
28) figure out what to do for spring break
29) take level 2 of cake decorating class

If you could read my mind.

Tonight is the season finale for the Amazing Race. I haven't been as into it as seasons of yore. It has had it's usual moments of excitement and it's even more usual moments of me wanting to slap the teams around. That being said- I am rooting for TK and Rachel (even though his hair looks really funny in this picture). Second place can go to the Grandpa and grandson. And I guess third place will have to go to the daddy daughter team...
We shall see.

I feel like I just found out that my favorite love song was written about a sandwich.

Just saw the movie 27 Dresses.
It should be called 27 Insights Into My Soul. (name that movie- with a different number of course)
So good. I cried. I'll admit it.

and the best game you can name...

is the good ol' hockey game.
The Oilers were in DC this Thursday so I just HAD to go show my support. Luckily Elaine, Darin, Adam & Sydney came with me so I didn't have to go alone.
And what a game it was. The Oilers were the first to score... and again. We were still winning when I took this picture- Then it was tied 4-4. After sudden death- it was still 4-4 so we had a shootout.

It kept going and going and going. I thought we were going to be there ALL night. Good thing I brought some tasty Canadian snacks with us. (even though I was told the Smarties were stale... and tasted like mint. Sorry.) But then the worst thing happened... a player from the Capitals scored and the shootout was over. So sad. But such a good game. It was so good that my brother-in-law came all the way from Edmonton to watch it. And maybe to attend some conference or something. But as soon as we sat down, I looked for him and found him. Of course he had seats 8 rows behind the goalie and we had seats 8 rows from the top. Whatever. (click on the picture to see him)

Virginia is for crazies

This is what it looks like outside right now. But there is a winter storm warning in effect. So places are shutting down and people are going crazy. With 20 schools/ districts CLOSED for the day. WHAT? Come on people.

I must admit that I am hoping that we will at least go home early today. If we do- I am making cinnamon buns. I don't support the craziness but I will enjoy what they give me! :)

later that day...
okay so it did snow. And it was pretty bad. for a bit. We didn't get out early but all after school activities were canceled so I got to go home at 3 rather than stay until 6 for our after school program. But didn't have time to make cinnamon rolls. Maybe this weekend.

Monday Manners Moment

This video is a little lengthy (10 minutes) but it has some great ideas about what to do on a date! I hope the love of my life is taking notes. I too think weenie roasts are swell! :)

Dear love of my life...

According to this email that I posted you only have until Thursday to "approach me and ask me out or grab me and kiss the face off me." If that doesn't happen by Thursday I am pretty sure "no one will like me or ask me again for 5 years". So please- call me. We could go to Sonic. I will even drive. But for it to be considered a date you will need to pay for my tots and slushie. I make a cheap date. But unless I already know you we might have to get to know each other before you kiss my face off. I'm not THAT cheap.

December... where have you gone?

I am sure you have all been dying to know what I did during the month of December... You can now sleep at night because here is a little review for your reading pleasure.

The 2nd weekend before Christmas I went to visit my Aunt while she was in Williamsburg. We had a lovely visit. We went to the Williamsburg museum that used to be a mental hospital. Interesting. I of course had to go to Sonic. I LOVE Sonic. I went twice in 2 days. Here is me enjoying a strawberry limeade. I may look like a crazy, creepy weirdo... but I am just in heaven. So yummy. I decided to venture out and try a slushie on my second trip and that was even more divine. It had chunks of fruit in it! The closest Sonic is an hour away. I really want to go back and am tempted everyday. But so far I have resisted. I don't think it is going to last long though. So if you want to go on a little road trip with me- let me know. I will even be nice and post a menu so you can decide now what you are going to get. I recommend the burgers, tots, blasts, limeades, and slushies. The next weekend I flew home. Two of my sisters and their kids were there to welcome me with signs. So cute. I think she was the most excited to see me. On Christmas Eve we had our traditional pizza dinner. Then we drove to Spruce Grove where the chapel out there had a live nativity. The car ride with my sister and her 5 kids was very exciting. See... look how excited her husband was about it all.It was cold. VERY cold. I forgot my toque in Virginia But did manage to find my lobster mittens!!
A few days later was the big chop. Luckily I had enough to cut off for the required donation. And luckily my sister has great hair cutting skills.
A week AFTER Christmas I finally finished a Christmas present for my sister Jill. I think it is pretty darn cute (if I do say so myself!)

WHY?!??!

It never fails... as soon as I clean something, it gets dirty. I do laundry, I spill something on my nice clean clothes. I clean the inside of my car (since it is so stinking warm here) and I get cow's blood everywhere. Yup! Cow's blood. I went grocery shopping this morning before school to pick up the last few groceries for the semester including some ground beef for lasagna. I go to take the bag of beef out and it LEAKED all over the floor and dripped on to my backseat. Gross. I am such a germaphobe anyways and this didn't help. Luckily I had wipes in my car (so I can clean my hands after touching the nasty gas pumps and other various nasty things) and used them to clean the blood. It was amazing how well the wipes worked. I might have to do some major scrubbing later though. I don't want any of my passengers to get ecoli!

Monday Manners Moment

I apologize from the bottom of my heart for not having manners moments for you the past 2 Mondays. Hopefully I had taught you all enough skills to make it through the holidays with out any etiquette malfunctions. Here are some malfunctions I encountered while on my vacation.

1) Loud talkers. If you are talking to one person then please talk to that one person. Please do not talk loud enough for the ENTIRE plane to hear. Her sons name is Luke, she used to live in Seattle, Luke slept on the whole trip with his Dad to Spokane, yadda, yadda, yadda. And when we landed she called her husband and then put it on speaker so Luke could talk to him... and the whole plane could enjoy that conversation too.

2) Slow people. I was running through the Minneapolis airport trying to catch my last flight. I decided I would qickly grab some food so went to a place where the line didn't seem too long. Little did I know that the couple in front of me were out for a nice Saturday evening meal. they obviously didn't have anywhere to go and forgot (or didn't care) where they were. They held up the food line, the money line and even the napkin line. Pay attention to your surroundings people, and get out of the way of those who might be pressed for time. You are in an AIRPORT for crying out loud.

That is all I can recall at the moment. Not too shabby... but I did spend the rest of my non-airport time in Canada and we all know how polite Canadians are! :)

Here is a quote for you to ponder the rest of the week-
Good manners are a way of making things easier for another person.
- Jeanne Thwaites

(I guess that lady did make it easier for me to hear her conversation...)