Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Once again
Ok... I think I posted a blog yesterday but I have some things to say. I think blogging is a good way for me to release my thoughts on someone other than my husband which I'm sure he will appreciate. It seems like I have so much going on every day and I don't really have anyone to talk to about it because well... no one really cares. :) So I will post it online where no one has to rad it and I will feel better.
Anyway, I started my new practicum today. What a different experience. I am at Lincoln Elementary in Hyrum and it is a whole different world from River Heights. I met with the principal this morning and she gave us an overview of the school. She told us that most students have free or reduced lunch, serious family issues, some are homeless or only eat when they come to school. There are many cases of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and many students whose parents are in jail. It is the poorest school in the Valley and one of the poorest in the state. I'm not going to lie, it made me really nervous. However, these students are itching to learn! There is such a sense of excitement in the halls all day long. The teachers are a lot friendlier and I think it has to do with a less... stuck up attitude in the school. I hate to say that because I love River Heights but I always felt like everything was a competition and everyone's love of learning came second to social status. Anyway, it's only been one day but I am looking forward to learning from my teacher and students. It will be an experience.
It also snowed today. Shoot me. I hate it so much. I only have stilettos and flip flops at my apartment so I trudged through the snow on campus tonight and and now sitting in class completely soaked. Oops, you caught me, I'm in my Ed Psych class right now. I will be paying attention as soon as I finish this post. (Now that I've checked my fantasy league stats, email and facebook).
Anyway, hopefully I will get back home for the first time by 10:45 (14.75 hours after I left this morning). Poor John expects a happy little wife when he comes home. I will shoot for awake and hope for happy!
P.S. I emailed one of my professors telling her I was concerned with my grade to find out what I could do to bring it up and she responded with the following "Olivia, I am also concerned about your grade. -Professor Jones". Awesome. Thanks for your help!
Anyway, I started my new practicum today. What a different experience. I am at Lincoln Elementary in Hyrum and it is a whole different world from River Heights. I met with the principal this morning and she gave us an overview of the school. She told us that most students have free or reduced lunch, serious family issues, some are homeless or only eat when they come to school. There are many cases of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and many students whose parents are in jail. It is the poorest school in the Valley and one of the poorest in the state. I'm not going to lie, it made me really nervous. However, these students are itching to learn! There is such a sense of excitement in the halls all day long. The teachers are a lot friendlier and I think it has to do with a less... stuck up attitude in the school. I hate to say that because I love River Heights but I always felt like everything was a competition and everyone's love of learning came second to social status. Anyway, it's only been one day but I am looking forward to learning from my teacher and students. It will be an experience.
It also snowed today. Shoot me. I hate it so much. I only have stilettos and flip flops at my apartment so I trudged through the snow on campus tonight and and now sitting in class completely soaked. Oops, you caught me, I'm in my Ed Psych class right now. I will be paying attention as soon as I finish this post. (Now that I've checked my fantasy league stats, email and facebook).
Anyway, hopefully I will get back home for the first time by 10:45 (14.75 hours after I left this morning). Poor John expects a happy little wife when he comes home. I will shoot for awake and hope for happy!
P.S. I emailed one of my professors telling her I was concerned with my grade to find out what I could do to bring it up and she responded with the following "Olivia, I am also concerned about your grade. -Professor Jones". Awesome. Thanks for your help!
Monday, October 25, 2010
A New Week
I can't believe it is already Monday. I swear the weekend gets shorter each week. This weekend was a little less "planned" than past weekends. John ended up going to play cards with some friends for work so I just hung out at my parents house. I think I spend more time there now than I did before I was married! Anyway, we did make it to the Pumpkin Walk Saturday night for a few minutes before it closed which was fun. Last night was our Fantasy Basketball Draft. So stressful! I ended up getting a pretty good team (definitely stacked) so I'm happy.
This week I start my new practicum. I am going to be honest...I'm really stressed about it. My last block I was in a 2nd grade classroom with an awesome young lady mentor teacher. 2nd grade seemed surprisingly old to me. I guess I am just so used to preschoolers! Anyway...this block I'm in a 5th grade classroom with a male teacher. So intimidating. Pretty sure I will be shorter than a lot of the kids too. Agh. Oh well... I'll survive. I'm starting to get stressed out about finishing school. Right now I feel like I'm not contributing much to our financial situation since I only work one day a week. Though teachers get paid dirt around here, it will be nice to someday have a second income coming in.
Anyway, there is a bright light at the end of this week's tunnel...Halloween! My favorite holiday! Hopefully John and I can find a time to figure out costumes :)
This week I start my new practicum. I am going to be honest...I'm really stressed about it. My last block I was in a 2nd grade classroom with an awesome young lady mentor teacher. 2nd grade seemed surprisingly old to me. I guess I am just so used to preschoolers! Anyway...this block I'm in a 5th grade classroom with a male teacher. So intimidating. Pretty sure I will be shorter than a lot of the kids too. Agh. Oh well... I'll survive. I'm starting to get stressed out about finishing school. Right now I feel like I'm not contributing much to our financial situation since I only work one day a week. Though teachers get paid dirt around here, it will be nice to someday have a second income coming in.
Anyway, there is a bright light at the end of this week's tunnel...Halloween! My favorite holiday! Hopefully John and I can find a time to figure out costumes :)
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
A Week Off
And by a week off I mean a week off of practicum. I still have school and teaching my acting class but NO PRACTICUM this whole week!!! (And the angels did sing) It has been so glorious to sleep in and not have anything til 2:30 every day. Today Izzy and I walked from our apartment to my mom's house. Izzy proved to me that I am very out of shape as she ran and I huffed up Mountain Road. I am officially on a diet and back on the exercise band wagon. I ran on the treadmill last night and it really made me miss the days when I lived at home and could run any time I wanted. I also found that playing games on my iPhone while I run sure helps pass the time.
It is also Pumpkin Walk season again! My favorite! This year they asked the Israelsen Clan to do a tribute to our Grandpa Israelsen. Since it is a cartoon theme we did a farm with "hidden" Looney Toones characters. I made Taz and a couple of sheep that ended up looking slightly like poodles. I was pretty proud of the final product though. I enjoyed spending the entire day with my family setting up and enjoying the crisp fall weather. I love watching my grandma at the Pumpkin Walk. She is definitely in her element. She kept saying "Now this looks great but we're just missing..." She said she would be making a few more characters before she went to bed tonight. :) My mom also put up her Beatles characters that she made a few years back. She found some awesome gourds that looked like John, Paul, George and Ringo's signature hairdos and luckily they dried perfectly so we can use them every year!
My mom and I went grocery shopping tonight. I am beginning to get pretty frustrated about all the crap (pardon my language) John and I eat. It seems we are ALWAYS on the run and I never get the chance to cook him anything healthy. I've found that though I'd rather eat a peach it is much easier to grab some fruit snacks when I run out the door. It is a shame because I think I am a pretty good cook and have a TON of healthy recipes to choose from...it's just finding the time!!! Hopefully next semester will be slightly better since I won't have practicum. Though I will have more credits. We'll see. If anyone has any ideas PLEASE share. I'm glad I have Izzy as an exercise buddy...even if she is in WAY better shape than me :)
It is also Pumpkin Walk season again! My favorite! This year they asked the Israelsen Clan to do a tribute to our Grandpa Israelsen. Since it is a cartoon theme we did a farm with "hidden" Looney Toones characters. I made Taz and a couple of sheep that ended up looking slightly like poodles. I was pretty proud of the final product though. I enjoyed spending the entire day with my family setting up and enjoying the crisp fall weather. I love watching my grandma at the Pumpkin Walk. She is definitely in her element. She kept saying "Now this looks great but we're just missing..." She said she would be making a few more characters before she went to bed tonight. :) My mom also put up her Beatles characters that she made a few years back. She found some awesome gourds that looked like John, Paul, George and Ringo's signature hairdos and luckily they dried perfectly so we can use them every year!
My mom and I went grocery shopping tonight. I am beginning to get pretty frustrated about all the crap (pardon my language) John and I eat. It seems we are ALWAYS on the run and I never get the chance to cook him anything healthy. I've found that though I'd rather eat a peach it is much easier to grab some fruit snacks when I run out the door. It is a shame because I think I am a pretty good cook and have a TON of healthy recipes to choose from...it's just finding the time!!! Hopefully next semester will be slightly better since I won't have practicum. Though I will have more credits. We'll see. If anyone has any ideas PLEASE share. I'm glad I have Izzy as an exercise buddy...even if she is in WAY better shape than me :)
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Thoughts
Last week I attended an ICCJ conference for school. It was basically a day-long workshop where my colleagues and I had the opportunity to discuss our beliefs and stretch ourselves to opening our minds a little more. I am not going to lie... it REALLY stressed me out. I didn't go with the best attitude since it was a 6.5 hour conference about accepting others. I wasn't quite sure how we could talk about acceptance for that long but boy was I wrong!
One of the exercises really got to me. It was called "Forced Choices". Basically they would give us a scenario and 4 different choices. We were required to make one of the 4 options and then sit in a corner of the room depending on our choice. The first question wasn't too bad and I made my decision easily. However they got progressively worse. One of the questions was "Which would you have the hardest time with? Your child marrying someone of a different race? Having them marry outside of your religion? Having them marry someone of the same sex? Or having them marry out of necessity." about 80% of the people at the conference went and sat in the corner for the "same sex" situation and the other 20% sat in the "out of necessity" corner. I was so torn because of my feelings! I knew where I needed to sit but was ashamed that I felt that way so I sided with the majority of my class and sat down. After a few minutes I told our instructor that I wanted to switch sides and I went and sat in the "different religion" corner. I felt bad, not only because I was the only one sitting there, but because I felt that way. The instructor asked if I would share with the rest of the class why I chose to sit there. It was really interesting for me to think about WHY I felt the way I did about having a child marry outside of my religion. It had nothing to do with feeling any kind of superiority over other religions, I just couldn't picture myself being able to accept that very easily. Being brought up in the church is one of the greatest blessings in my life and I plan to share that blessing with my children so we will be able to be together for eternity. Having something interfere with that would be devastating to me. Anyway, after I expressed my feelings there were 5 girls who asked if they could switch and come sit with me which made me feel better. I went home from the conference feeling horrible about myself for believing the way that I do. It took me a few days to be able to realize that my feelings aren't wrong... I just need to think more about WHY I feel the way that I do about things. I think that I am a pretty open minded person when it comes to other people, but sometimes I have a hard time accepting my own feelings.
Another thought on this matter. I got a call on Monday night asking if my new Relief Society could come over and meet with me on Wednesday. I said sure, hung up the phone and started getting really anxious. John and I talked about it and I just told him I didn't think I would have time to do all I needed to do AND clean the house for them to come over. PLUS, I told him, I'd need to make cookies or some kind of treat for them! He laughed and asked why I felt the need to always impress people like that. At the time I was just frustrated and shrugged off his comment. Wednesday evening when I got home from school I found our apartment spotless! He had cleaned, Lysoled, vacuumed and dusted every corner for me. What a sweetheart! I was excited that I would have time to throw together a batch of cookies for the sisters before they came. I mixed up the dough and popped them in the oven. Right as I put them in they showed up and we sat and chatted for 45 minutes or so. When they left I collapsed on the couch. After a few minutes I started smelling smoke and guess what.... charcoal cookies! I felt so embarrassed and silly that I had left them in for almost an hour and I started to cry. This brought me to reflect again on my own feelings. Why was I so freaked out about these ladies coming over? Why did I want them to be impressed and think I was the world's best wife? Though I don't think anyone should have company over with a pigsty of a house, I don't think it was something to stress over.
Anyway, those are my thoughts tonight. This whole personal reflection thing is new for me and definitely causing a lot of grief in my life. But, I do think it will be good for me in the long run. It is important that I understand myself if I expect anyone else to understand me! Props to my husband for the awesome job he did cleaning our apartment! Picture attached (Notice the two Ensign magazines on the coffee table :) )
One of the exercises really got to me. It was called "Forced Choices". Basically they would give us a scenario and 4 different choices. We were required to make one of the 4 options and then sit in a corner of the room depending on our choice. The first question wasn't too bad and I made my decision easily. However they got progressively worse. One of the questions was "Which would you have the hardest time with? Your child marrying someone of a different race? Having them marry outside of your religion? Having them marry someone of the same sex? Or having them marry out of necessity." about 80% of the people at the conference went and sat in the corner for the "same sex" situation and the other 20% sat in the "out of necessity" corner. I was so torn because of my feelings! I knew where I needed to sit but was ashamed that I felt that way so I sided with the majority of my class and sat down. After a few minutes I told our instructor that I wanted to switch sides and I went and sat in the "different religion" corner. I felt bad, not only because I was the only one sitting there, but because I felt that way. The instructor asked if I would share with the rest of the class why I chose to sit there. It was really interesting for me to think about WHY I felt the way I did about having a child marry outside of my religion. It had nothing to do with feeling any kind of superiority over other religions, I just couldn't picture myself being able to accept that very easily. Being brought up in the church is one of the greatest blessings in my life and I plan to share that blessing with my children so we will be able to be together for eternity. Having something interfere with that would be devastating to me. Anyway, after I expressed my feelings there were 5 girls who asked if they could switch and come sit with me which made me feel better. I went home from the conference feeling horrible about myself for believing the way that I do. It took me a few days to be able to realize that my feelings aren't wrong... I just need to think more about WHY I feel the way that I do about things. I think that I am a pretty open minded person when it comes to other people, but sometimes I have a hard time accepting my own feelings.
Another thought on this matter. I got a call on Monday night asking if my new Relief Society could come over and meet with me on Wednesday. I said sure, hung up the phone and started getting really anxious. John and I talked about it and I just told him I didn't think I would have time to do all I needed to do AND clean the house for them to come over. PLUS, I told him, I'd need to make cookies or some kind of treat for them! He laughed and asked why I felt the need to always impress people like that. At the time I was just frustrated and shrugged off his comment. Wednesday evening when I got home from school I found our apartment spotless! He had cleaned, Lysoled, vacuumed and dusted every corner for me. What a sweetheart! I was excited that I would have time to throw together a batch of cookies for the sisters before they came. I mixed up the dough and popped them in the oven. Right as I put them in they showed up and we sat and chatted for 45 minutes or so. When they left I collapsed on the couch. After a few minutes I started smelling smoke and guess what.... charcoal cookies! I felt so embarrassed and silly that I had left them in for almost an hour and I started to cry. This brought me to reflect again on my own feelings. Why was I so freaked out about these ladies coming over? Why did I want them to be impressed and think I was the world's best wife? Though I don't think anyone should have company over with a pigsty of a house, I don't think it was something to stress over.
Anyway, those are my thoughts tonight. This whole personal reflection thing is new for me and definitely causing a lot of grief in my life. But, I do think it will be good for me in the long run. It is important that I understand myself if I expect anyone else to understand me! Props to my husband for the awesome job he did cleaning our apartment! Picture attached (Notice the two Ensign magazines on the coffee table :) )
Monday, October 11, 2010
No more sickness!
I am sad to say that I woke up yesterday feeling horribly sick again. This time it is something completely different having to do with my stomach and not my sinuses. Hopefully it will pass before I go back to practicum tomorrow!
This week should be a good one. My morning class was canceled today so I got to sleep in which was amazing! I have two days of practicum and then NOTHING on Thursday and Friday! (Except homework for my online classes). I am so excited. I just wish John didn't have to work so we could get out of town! Hopefully we can do something exciting on Saturday.
This weekend was a great, but short one. John and I went to a movie with his sister and brother in law Friday night at midnight which kind of set us back sleeping wise and we didn't wake up til around 11 on Saturday. We did make it to the farmer's market which was great! Then we spent the entire rest of the day shopping for a stand to hold our DVD's and cable box. What a treat! :) It was really fun to be shopping with John instead of by myself though. Saturday night we played cards at my grandma's and Sunday we laid on the couch feeling sick and watching Prison Break. I don't know if any of you are into that show but it's pretty good. I was really into it in high school when I had all male friends. It's even more fun to watch it now with my husband :)
Well...that's about it! Oh...I did make some super cute lanterns for Halloween. I found the idea on my favorite website! http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/10/crafty-in-kitchen-mason-jar-lanterns.html
Also...here is a picture of my hair cut. I posted it earlier but will post it again by request. :) Sadly this is the only photo I've taken since then!
This week should be a good one. My morning class was canceled today so I got to sleep in which was amazing! I have two days of practicum and then NOTHING on Thursday and Friday! (Except homework for my online classes). I am so excited. I just wish John didn't have to work so we could get out of town! Hopefully we can do something exciting on Saturday.
This weekend was a great, but short one. John and I went to a movie with his sister and brother in law Friday night at midnight which kind of set us back sleeping wise and we didn't wake up til around 11 on Saturday. We did make it to the farmer's market which was great! Then we spent the entire rest of the day shopping for a stand to hold our DVD's and cable box. What a treat! :) It was really fun to be shopping with John instead of by myself though. Saturday night we played cards at my grandma's and Sunday we laid on the couch feeling sick and watching Prison Break. I don't know if any of you are into that show but it's pretty good. I was really into it in high school when I had all male friends. It's even more fun to watch it now with my husband :)
Well...that's about it! Oh...I did make some super cute lanterns for Halloween. I found the idea on my favorite website! http://www.ourbestbites.com/2009/10/crafty-in-kitchen-mason-jar-lanterns.html
Also...here is a picture of my hair cut. I posted it earlier but will post it again by request. :) Sadly this is the only photo I've taken since then!
Friday, October 8, 2010
Busy busy busy!
Time for another update! Life is so busy! I never thought I could be so busy and still be alive. Every day is about the same for me. I wake up before John, get out of bed (SO much harder to do when my husband gets to sleep) go to practicum, go to class, take John dinner, go to class, do homework, clean, pick John up, take a shower, go to bed...repeat. Luckily I am enjoying my classes. It's fun to finally be learning things that I will actually use in my career!!!
Being married is awesome. I'm glad that I at least get to spend an hour or two with my husband every night before I go to sleep. I can't wait for the day when I am done with school and can at least have time to cook him dinner. Since every day is pretty much the same I don't have much to report on. However, our dog has been taking over our apartment. We were worried at first that she would have a hard time adjusting. Boy were we wrong. If you are sitting or lying on the couch you better not get up or she will move right in and take your spot. And don't think she won't growl at you if you try to move her. Every night this week I have had to pick her up and move her to the end of the bed because she thinks she owns it. She will lie right in the center of the bed so John and I have to share one half so we won't squish her. Last night I actually told John to move because I was getting squished by him and the dog. Guess we know who is in charge in our family!!!
We also got a TV. The day it arrived was probably the best day of John's life (aside from our wedding I hope). Pretty sure he didn't think of anything else for a week! It has been nice for me to be able to turn on the tv while I'm cleaning. I get pretty freaked out at our apartment after dark.
I also cut 16 inches of my beautiful hair off a few weeks ago. Why? I have no idea. I'm considering taking prenatal vitamins... I hear they make hair grow faster?
Wow that's about it! Life is so great and I am so blessed to have such wonderful opportunities to go to school and have an amazing husband. :)
Being married is awesome. I'm glad that I at least get to spend an hour or two with my husband every night before I go to sleep. I can't wait for the day when I am done with school and can at least have time to cook him dinner. Since every day is pretty much the same I don't have much to report on. However, our dog has been taking over our apartment. We were worried at first that she would have a hard time adjusting. Boy were we wrong. If you are sitting or lying on the couch you better not get up or she will move right in and take your spot. And don't think she won't growl at you if you try to move her. Every night this week I have had to pick her up and move her to the end of the bed because she thinks she owns it. She will lie right in the center of the bed so John and I have to share one half so we won't squish her. Last night I actually told John to move because I was getting squished by him and the dog. Guess we know who is in charge in our family!!!
We also got a TV. The day it arrived was probably the best day of John's life (aside from our wedding I hope). Pretty sure he didn't think of anything else for a week! It has been nice for me to be able to turn on the tv while I'm cleaning. I get pretty freaked out at our apartment after dark.
I also cut 16 inches of my beautiful hair off a few weeks ago. Why? I have no idea. I'm considering taking prenatal vitamins... I hear they make hair grow faster?
Wow that's about it! Life is so great and I am so blessed to have such wonderful opportunities to go to school and have an amazing husband. :)
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Conference Weekend
For Conference Weekend John and I had planned to go to Bear Lake with my family. Since my sister ended up having to work, my brother's family went to New Mexico, my other sister went to TX and my mom had surgery, they all ended up not being able to go. So...yesterday after Conference John and I packed up the car and drove over ourselves. It was fun to feel like we were on a little vacation together. I feel like I do the same exact thing every single day and then am too tired to do anything fun when John is finally home on the weekends so it was nice to at least have a change of scenery. We went to Bear Lake Pizza for dinner to celebrate our one month anniversary which was really fun. Nothing better than eating out with my husband! Then we watched movies, listened to Conference on the radio and napped the rest of the weekend away. I've had a sinus infection for the last week and have felt pretty crummy. I am lucky to have a husband who will just lie around with me when I am sick. I sure love him!!!!
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