Little Miss Muffet

Okay, this is too funny not to share.

This morning as I was rushing about trying to leave the house on time, my arms full of my various bags and supplies for student teaching I hustled into my car, and began driving to school.

As I was driving along my forehead felt kinda itchy. I didn’t think anything of it and then looked into my rearview mirror, and to my surprise…

THERE WAS A SPIDER ON MY FOREHEAD!!!!! And he was a big one! (okay well, legs included he was about the size of a dime, but that’s a pretty big thing to have squirming around on your face!)

It didn’t really register at first and then I glanced back up and freaked out! I shook my head and of course my hair whipped into my face and when I looked back into the mirror the spider was gone! All of a sudden I was paniced what he had somehow managed to get a death grip on one of my curls and now had the perfect home! I started to shake my head like a maniac trying to prevent the spider from forming a nice cozy nest in my hair. Luckily, I managed to not crash and stay in my lane.

I called my Mom and told her incoherently what had happened. She couldn’t understand me and when I finally was able to spit it out, she just laughed.

When I pulled into the Fred Meyer parking lot I leaped out of my car turned my head upside down and shook my head furiously! (And of course at the moment I’m shaking my head like a dog after a bath, a bus pulls up a mere ten feet from my car.)

There was no trace of the spider in my hair (I made my mom check several times before we parted ways for our different schools) or in my car and I have no idea where the creepy little guy is – hopefully not still in my car. But that was the adventure of how my morning started.

Just call me litte Miss Muffett…

The Beginning…

It’s around 10:30 as I’m starting to type this post…a long over-due one I might add. In the hustle and bustle of my sometimes crazy life I have neglected this blog. And now, it’s the eve of my the first day of my last quarter of college. The beginning of the end…I feel like it’s the calm before the storm, I’m just chilling out in my yoga pants and sweatshirt, hair in braided pigtails, with my iPod on my Bedtime playlist, preparing for tomorrow and wondering…

This is the time of life where most people are looking forward to what’s to come, and strangely that’s not really where I am at this moment…and not that I’m not excited about the next phase of my life, it’s just I don’t want to lose out on this last chapter of college. My friends all have the entire year, but for me it’s down to one quarter. Instead of looking forward, I want to savor the moments I have left, as a kid. It seems that once these courses are over, my student teaching finished I’ll have officially become an adult. (Not that I’ll stop acting like a goofball completely.)  Once these ten weeks are over I’ll have to look for a real job, work all the time, no classes, no homework.

The next ten weeks are going to be crazy. I’ve got volleyball, work, student teaching, trying to squeeze in time with friends, visiting the little sister on the other side of the state, and possibly trying to get some sleep. :0) Not that I’m stressing or anything already, just contemplating the many facets of my life…

Before I actually started typing this, I had all these grand ideas running through my mind of what I would say in this post since it’s been a while. Surprisingly, once my fingers struck the keys the ideas and complex sentence structures seem to have evaporated.

Thinking back on where I was my senior year of high school, this is not where I thought I would be, at all.

Then I had a big group of friends I could call at any time of day and find something to do, they were minutes away. Then I had the boy I was sure was “the one.”  Then I was about to embark on an adventure of living in the city.  Then I was not completely sure what I wanted to do with my life.  Then I was shy and quiet.  Then I worried about pleasing everyone when I spoke, or made a decision…

Now my friends are smaller in number and farther away, but our hearts our closer than I could have imagined. Now I am single, still waiting for the right man. Now I am living in my old room, with my parents, and surprisingly I love it – most days. :0) Now, I know that I want to work with kids, teaching them the right way to hold a pencil and form the letters of the alphabet, and teaching them how to do a killer back-set on the volleyball court.  Now I have learned to be outgoing and crazy.  Now I know I can say what I want and not worry about pleasing everyone.

This is not what I expected, but it’s more than I could have asked for. I am pretty darn happy with where I find myself. I don’t have all the answers – not even close. And that’s okay.

Housitting Housewife

So my parents are out of town for a few days, leaving me to watch the house and Tucker. Over the past few days that they have been gone I have turned into Susie Housewife.  I like to keep things clean but since the house is currently under my control I have been working on making it sparkly. 

I have cleaned and organized my room and my parent’s room, washed uncountable loads of laundry, vaccuumed, washed a zillion dishes, cooked dinners, and I haven’t once felt like it was a chore.  I don’t know, there’s something about cleaning because I want to and cleaning because I have to.  I even washed my car! Something I haven’t done in at least 6 months!

Anyway, just had to share what’s been happening in my life recently. Back with more soon!

Meet Tucker!

We finally got to bring our new puppy home! Here are some shots of his first day with us!

About to leave the breeder’s…

Tucker and Blue Dog…

Sarah and Tucker playing…

Chewing on his blue Kong…

Chewing on Dad’s foot…

So there he is! He’s been so much fun, but a lot of work too! More to come for sure!

Fairy Tales

For the past few days, I’ve been thinking about fairy tales and the love stories that are so deeply embedded in them.  I have come to the conclusion that I am a girl hooked on fairy-tales.  My whole life I’ve loved them. 

I love  the search for love, the conflict, the rescue or realization, and the eventual happily ever after.  No matter how many romantic comedies, Disney movies, or chick flicks I’ve seen the plot never seems to get old (okay, so that’s not completely true) and it just makes me long for my very own real-life-fairy-tale. As a single girl, sometimes it can be disheartening watching people fall in love but I always come away hopeful…

I am living in a world where these sorts of stories do not seem to exist beyond the glitz and glamour of the movie screen, yet I am forever hopeful that I will find my Prince Charming one day.  I’m not looking for someone to gallantly come to my rescue (or someone I can rescue), I want to find the one man I can call my best friend and my true love - “When Harry Met Sally” anyone? 

Call it being naive, call it the dreams of a silly girl…but if you’re going to dream why not reach high.

I’m sure it won’t happen the way I’ve imagined it, the plot of my fairy tale is bound to be full of twists and turns that I never see coming. Maybe my Knight in Shining Armor will ride in a white pick-up truck instead of on a white horse, maybe he’ll be a pauper instead of a prince, who knows… 

Don’t get my wrong, I’m not looking for some grand, sweeping story.  If you ask me, finding that one person you love and having them love you back is the makings of the best fairy-tale.

During my life, I’ve come across my fair share of frogs in hopes of finding my prince, and after failed relationships and broken hearts I’ve come to realize that I have to trust God and His timing.  I can’t try and make things work my way.  It never works. I have to patiently wait on Him, for His plans are so much more than even I could dream of.

So until the day comes when God brings my prince into the picture, I will continue to trust Him, knowing He is writing my fairy-tale everyday.

June 10 on 10

Okay, so here’s my first actual 10 on 10! And I’m going to start it all off with a picture of my new puppy!

We don’t get to bring him home for three more weeks but he’s so cute! Anyway, here’s what happened in my world today…

10:30 am – Getting ready to leave for the gym, with all the necessary supplies…a good book, good music, keys, water, etc

11:30 am – Back from the gym, about to hop into a nice warm shower

12:30 pm – My dad and I clean off the driveway, it was covered in plant debris from all the wind in this wonderful and delightful June weather we are having

1:30 pm – Costco run with Dad! (Yay Gig Harbor Costco!) – he needed Boca burgers, and Grape Leaves, but they didn’t have any Grape Leaves today, very sad

2:30 pm – This is just a representation of what I was actually doing at this time, Dad and I went out to lunch and had a drink :0)

3:30 and 4:30 pm – Watching my newly purchased “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” on DVD, Love you Dr. Jones!

5:30 pm – My stupid computer and the internet won’t work, for like the zillionth time today

7:30 pm – Not so fluffy “Fluffs!” So I attempted to make some Funfetti cookies with Rainbow Chip Cake Mix, except the cookie recipe is on the Funfetti cake mix box, not the Rainbow Chip box, so I improvised what I thought was the recipe…well turns out I guessed wrong as my “cookies” turned out more like little cupcake-cookie things.  They were christened “Fluffs” by my family, this is the second batch that I attempted to make bigger Fluffs but they didn’t fluff up as much as the first ones…

9:30 pm – Freshly painted toenails on my beat up dancer’s feet…(I don’t know why but I love painting my toenails black!)

10:30 pm – Dreaming of Disneyland! Natalie and I (and Miss KimBlo I hope too!) are attempting to plan a trip down to Cali next winter for a Yay! Katie’s-Done-with-college-and-Natalie-and-Kim-are-Almost-Done-Celebration-Trip, and I couldn’t resist visiting the Disneyland Website!

So that’s my day! I’m exhausted and going to curl up in bed and read! Good night!

 

All About Animals!

Okay, it’s my last day of student teaching for the spring, and I just had to share some more work from my first graders.  For their end-of the-year writing assessment they had to write about an animal they know a lot about (since we’ve been studying animals all spring). And these are some of my favorite ones!

“I like cheetahs.  They kill animals.  Cheetahs kill elephins and water buflo and zebra.  The cheetah went up in the tree.  THe cheetah went to sleep in the tree.  The sun riste in the sky.  The cheetah wote up in the morning.  He saw a animal in the tree.  The cheetah went hunting for food in the wods.  Like a squrl rat bird.  They all dide the cheetah got fat.  Cheetahs are fastating.”

“I think turtles are fantastic! Turtles are reptiles.  They have skales, they have lungs, and they go in the water.  They lay eggs.  Did you know that when turtles lay eggs in the sand, they will never see them again?  They baby turtles will find there way to the sea in know time.  They hide in there shell if there scared.  If an enemy to the turtle like people the turtle will hide in its shell.  Turtles are amazing!”

“Cats are interesting.  Cats are mammals.  They take care of there yung.  Thay feed ther babeis milk.  Thay have very sharp white teeth.  Thay eat fish, rats, and mise.  Thay can eat very hard things.  Thay are difrint culers.  Thay can be red, orange, yellow, black, brown, white, and graye.  Cats are verdabrits.  Thay have a back bone.  Thats all I know.”

 ”I love elephants! Elephants are mammals.  All mammals have hair or fur elephants have hair.  Elephants have long trunks to help them.  They yoos thar trunk to get tall branchies in the tree and to breve wen they go udre woder.  Elephants hvae tusk they yoos thar tusk to fit thar enemes.  Elephants are nete.”

 

Just Keep On Plodding…

Today has been a good day…

It started off with my mom and I going to church together this morning, something we haven’t done in a while.  We walked into the church we regularly attended during high school and found seats in the middle of the worship portion of the service. The message of today’s sermon was about life’s challenges, and continuing to plod along through them and turning the anger, frustration and even humiliation over to God.

That is a lesson that I have been learning throughout this year, the past two years if not longer.  Life has given me quite a few challenges, everything from trouble with friends and my living situation to money and trying to figure out work and homework and having some sort of a social life.  I’ve been plodding along, but so often I forget to turn to God. 

In the midst of challenge and heartache sometimes it just gets easy to forget to have faith. To turn to Him when the water is rising and let him wrap me up in His embrace. I continually think that I can make it on my own, or that I can wait to turn to God until I have a spare moment and then the day is over and I haven’t given Him that spare moment.  

Today, was a powerful reminder of how the challenges are a part of life, everyone’s life.  My challenges seem so small compared to those of others, I have a wonderful home, a loving family, amazing friends (even if they are far away), and a God who died for me. What more could I need?  Yes, I get bogged down with the challenges of life and feeling overwhelmed and it’s at those moments I need to turn to Him and thank Him for all I have, all He has blessed me with.  I have more than I need, I am loved far more than I deserve by the God of the universe…

“Faith never knows where it is being led, but it knows and loves the One who is leading.”

I have more to write (as always) but time is ticking away and I have final projects that I get to spend all day finishing tomorrow – yay for finals week! :0( So I should hit the hay before I collapse in front of my computer.)

Wishing you all a sweet sleep…

I Wish…

Okay, it’s Friday and I’m not doing anything exciting at the moment besides watching a rerun of “Gilmore Girls” and sniffling like crazy (I hate getting sick!). Earlier this week my first graders wrote about chameleons, we read The Mixed-Up Chameleon a great story. And then the kids had to write their own page from the book. Here are three of my favorites (and I kept their spelling the same)…

“I am a chameleon I wish I could be like a scary, engry lion because I can cach zebras and I can et them to. My wish came true!”

“I am a chameleon I wish I could be like a wild, creepy bat because I could hang upside down from trees. Plus I can suck people’s blood! My wish came true!”

“I am a chameleon I wish I could be like a big, froshis rinoae because I can charje at my perey. My wish came true!” 

“I am a chameleon I wish I could be like a fat, lazy cat because then I could eat big and small rats. My wish came true!”

So, that’s all for now! Happy Friday!

Random Bedtime Thoughts…

Oh what a day! :0) Nothing all that exciting happened, a little teaching a little Starbucks-ing (I’ve decided that’s a word). Just feel like I haven’t been on here forever to share my thoughts…so before I curl up with a good book and then drift off to sleep I just wanted to stop in and share…

• I saw the new Indiana Jones this weekend, at the Cinerama, with the lovely Natalie. I loved it! But I’m pretty much in love with Indiana Jones to begin with so there you go. Needless to say it was a great day, I was once again reminded of the beauty of this place I call home as I sat on the ferry soaking up sun, and everytime I hang out with Nat I am just reminded of how blessed I am to have her in my life – Roomies forever! :0)
• School is once again drawing to a close for summer vacation and it’s so weird that this will be my last summer break as a student! Next year I will be done! Graduated from college! Who would have thought that four years could pass so quickly?
• Life strangely brings the past back in ways you didn’t expect…I know that’s really vague and honestly I don’t really even know how to explain it. Just the nostalgia of living in P.O. again, driving past places with so many memories that seem so long ago, seeing familiar faces – and then meeting new people I didn’t know even lived in this place I’ve called home for the past 21 years, making new memories that may overshadow the old.
• Growing up…seems to happen faster than we realize. At least for me, it seems like all I did was blink and I went from just learning to drive and high school and my first job to a young woman about to finish college (well with one quarter left to go!), working multiple jobs (yes student teaching counts), and enjoying as much of life as humanly possible :0)

So there’s some of my completely random thoughts as I get ready to snuggle into my cozy bed. I’ve definitely got more to write but my eyelids are beginning to feel heavy. I’ve got another full day ahead of me, you guessed it teaching and Starbucks-ing! :0) Good night!