Textbook Tagging

I work at a library right now. the first two weeks we only did textbook distribution. not only are my arm huge and buff from lifting and moving and opening and scanning roughly NINE THOUSAND BOOKS, but i also got to see a lot of interesting 'expression' on the covers of these books.

some were brand spankin' new, not a single jot or tittle to be found on those covers. some we've literally had since before the school officially split from Madera High in 2006, and they are T-h-r-a-s-h-e-d. most of the scribbles truly are just tagging, "MadToWN PRiDe" "559" "Norte" "13 or die". ya know, typical Madera kids doing typical hoodrat things.
that and a whole lot of foul language, doodles, and slurs that were most likely put there by freshman boys trying to be funny.

and then there were my favorites. the ones that were trying to be serious, which made me laugh:


- "Skinny gurls ain't even that hot" in sharpie. then underneath, the curly writing in blue ink response, "'skinny gurls ain't even that hot'? is that really what the world has come to? classifying females as hot or not? pathetic."
followed by a third contributor, also in sharpie, but messier writing than the first, referring to the blue inked patron, "^probly sum skinny [girl], mad that she ain't even that hot"


- "I'm going to Hell because my Art is murder"

aaallllllrighty, then.
glad things are lookin' up for ya, sport.


- "N.A.T.O. Rocks!!!"

noted.

-  and the secret solution to all celebrity drama:

"if i were Michael Jackson, instead of spending all my money on kids' parks and skin bleach, i woulda just bought like one million pizzas and called it a day. ______ coulda still been alive. too bad, tho."



in case you were wondering, it's little things like this that keep me sane as i spend day after day indoors, with books and an eccentric old jewish lady. (Whose name is Marjorie, and i rather love her if i'm being completely honest. she's refreshingly genuine.)

15 reasons why today was the best

YES, I'M POSTING TWICE IN ONE DAY. SORRY. NOPE, NOT SORRY.




For no particular reason, today was a good day.
and those are the best good days, i think.




1. My senior year of high school i did paintings of the ten virgins, and in my head i named them. I went through the Bible Dictionary finding ten women from the bible, five wise and five foolish, and in my head, those were the names of the virgins i drew. My favorite wise virgin i named Salome, and i think about her a lot. And today, i was reading Matthew's account of the Crucifixion, and he says:

              55 And many women were there beholding afar off, which followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering               unto him:

              56 Among which was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother               of Zebedee’s children.

i wondered if the mother of Zebedee's children (John & Andrew, the apostles) had a name, so i dug around. she does. It's Salome.

2. walking to class with Mal and laughing really loudly the whole way there because we're so funny 

3. Reading 1984 in my World History class and thinking of Mrs.Watterson, one of my favorite people ever.

4. Every day i have an hour break in between 2 of my classes, so i go the cafeteria, get a dollar burger and do homework before my Family Foundations class. everyday there are a group of the cooks who come and sit at a random table and eat lunch together. they are hilarious and witty middle aged round people and i like them. today they sat by me, and i felt really cool. they asked me what i was doing, i tried to explain the concept of Pottermore to them, but it went way over their heads. when my hour was up i thanked them for great conversation and smiled the whole way to class. 

5. i showed up a little early to my family class. this class is my favorite professor, Brother Peterson. when he walked in, the professor from the previous class was still in the room, talking with a student. Brother Peterson smiled and then began to YODEL. yes, yodel. and THEN. the other professor, without breaking eye contact with his student YODELED BACK. my jaw dropped and i glanced around, hoping someone else had witnessed the glory. i caught my professor's eye and we both busted up laughing. then Brother peterson played a yodeling song and he and the other professor lip synced the entire thing, and we all died laughing. best thing. 

6. finishing a rough sudoku puzzle in pen with no mistakes. YES. satisfying.

7. having pen names in my writing class. Luna Lovegood. 

8. The teacher of said writing class doesn't comply with the university rules that 6 absences = failure and ejection from course because he thinks it restricts our agency. so he has no absence policy. so there's only about 10 kids that go. i feel like I've already explained this. ANYWAY. so the ten of us that go every day are pretty close, actually. and i love it. I'm getting all sentimental right now, actually, because i love them! we're friends, and i like that. anyway, today my friends Caleb and Chris R and I just had a ball. we were grading each other's rough drafts, and laughed a lot, that's my favorite. and then we walked to our next class together, and that was great.

9. In the middle of our peer grading, i stopped Chris R and said, "look out the window!" we all crowded around the window (including our teacher, who is an adorable oldish man) and looked down at a little family playing in the colorful leaves. "awwww" and "how cute!" were the general consensus. It made me happy. and even happier that they were black. not in a racist way at all, i just love black people. I miss people of color, there are too many white kids in Idaho, haha. but really, i miss Madera's color and culture sometimes.

10. fall leaves and light sweater weather.

11. a friend not knowing the name of the play, "Sweeney Todd" and explaining it as, "the demon barber who cooks and has long hair? there's a movie and that annoying pirate is the main guy." yes, please. 

12. THE BRAD PITT RULE. it never fails, guys. never fails. 

13. no math class today/ the classical music section of the testing center

14. The BackStreet boys and Weezer on reeeeeepeat.

15. Charlie Brown band-aids.

happies

This song makes me smile because it's absolutely ridiculous.

I am a real worm! I am an actual worm.

This morning after she woke me up, my 18 month old niece Jenna and i laid in bed for almost 30 minutes laughing at each other's teeth and playing peek a boo.
Caleb and i read seven Dr.Seuss books in a row (which is a big deal! have you ever read a Dr.Seuss book? every word? with squirmy a 3 year old?)
And Natalie ate her entire lunch easy peasy. no fuss, no mess, just please and thank you and a sticky peanut butter and jelly face.

Then I watched a whole bunch of Merlin and cried because i'm a sucker for a good love story
And i went to a wedding reception. those make me happy. (yay Tod & Annie!!)
said peace out to 3 friends who are going on missions for our church, also very happy.
Met Bret Mortimer. awesome. haha i felt like a little kid meeting Batman or something.
i ate a lot of good food and my dad let me stop at McDonald's on the way home for a $1 large icy powerade. BEST. THING. EVER.
AND he let me listen to Broadway music all the way home, a rare feat.
and when i got home, i snuggled up between Caleb and Natalie on the trampoline and we watched shooting stars and listened to the night train and we giggled and whispered and sang and Caleb threatened to go inside if i kissed his head one more time, so i smothered his whole face in exaggerated kisses that he pretends to hate. after a few they scurried off to bed and I sang Natalie to sleep in our room.

i really needed a good, happy day.
Today was it.

Compliments are nice

So since the beginning of the semester I've been writing down nice things that people say to me so that i can look back on them when I'm feelin' down. Some of these i think are pretty hilarious, and others are just plain sweet. Today was just an incredibly good day in general for a dozen tiny reasons. I love love love Rexburg, even though i complain non stop about the heat. and i LOVE my classes, even though i cry about the homework loads. and i absolutely LOVE my ward, especially my Family Home Evening group. some of the best people you'll ever meet, honestly. they're just really good people. I love them. I'll miss them when they leave in 3 weeks!
so here are some backhanded compliments and some real nice compliments:




"you know, I've always wondered what angels sound like. Then you sang. And I don't have to guess anymore." - Chris Moen

"So i used to love looking through my grandmother's senior year book from 1948. You look like you stepped right out of it!" - Taylor Davenport

"Your personality would make a great new spunky Disney princess. they could call her, 'ghetto-leisha' and she could be from Fresno, California. You'd be a really good voice for that." - Mark Allen

"It seems like you have really cool parents, i would love to meet them. I like who you are and i wish i could see why you are this way." - Jake Huskinson

"I really like the way you wear that fanny pack. fearless. Like Stacey and Clinton could pop out from behind that bush and try to take it, but after a few minutes of talking to you they'd realize that you're pulling off like, the greatest fashion achievement ever! Because really like, fanny packs look horrible on every other person, but you make it look good! like it's completely natural to have a giant pocket strapped around your waist. " - Ryan Conferro

"Has anyone ever told you that you look like princess Leia?" - Issac Nelson

"I know that you're really my friend because you dance in front of me. and you're a really bad dancer." - Mark Allen

"Hey Elleni's in town, can you skype sometime today??" - Jason Ibrahim
That made me feel good because he respected my opinion and our friendship so much that he wanted me to meet his girlfriend, even if it was only via skype.

"Your face belongs on a Christmas card" - from 'Elf', but still nice. - David Wood

"so, i was looking at your eyes today, and I've come to the conclusion that blue eyes are grossly over appreciated. I mean, have you looked at your eyes lately? They're like perfectly gooey brownies straight from the oven." -Shain Weiderholt

"Forget that guy, he's a loser for not asking you out again. I'd date you over and over." - Chris Moen

"Melissa I kind of want you marry my brother, just so you can be in my family forever. I feel like you could really easily fit into my family." - Rachel Holland

"Oh my gosh I hate you, your hair looks like a Pantene commercial." - Sarah Williams

(after successfully juggling for the first time in my life and doing a happy dance in the kitchen)
"that was probably the cutest reaction to a minuscule accomplishment I have ever seen. you belong in a hallmark movie." - Chris Moen

"you're like the kind of person that i wish my future sons will marry." - Jessica Bartley

Benson

It was time for a break in my Midwest posts. don't worry, the documenting will continue tomorrow. 

So my friend and i had a 'picnic' today. hahaha it's windy, because i mean come on, it's Rexburg. And he had planned to do like a "camping trip" theme? hahaha. So he brought hot dogs and s'mores (which he calls 'some mores'. ha. with a drawl because he's from Tennessee.) to roast. And he planned to just light a bonfire in the middle of Porter Park. obviously, that was not allowed. So he went to Walmart and got stuff to make a home-barbecue that he made at scout camp one time. And he made it, but because it was so windy, his lighter wouldn't stay on fire. So he had to like, hide behind a tree to light it. I died laughing. It didn't work and he was getting a little frustrated and it was pretty cute if you ask me. 

plus, i mean, he wore a tie-dye shirt. so obviously he's pretty great. seriously he's so cool.

So then we went on the side of this like, random abandoned house that's in the middle of the park? not 

sketch, i promise. and then there was enough shelter from the wind but only if the little can was like right

against the house. 

So he roasted the weenies. and he kept dropping them in the dirt because they were slippery and his skewers weren't wanting to cooperate. and it was so adorable.
Benson, if you're reading this...hahaaha.....

I'm sorry that I'm not sorry at all for writing all of this down.

And after lunch was done, he tried to put out the fire thing, and it was just not going out. and then there was smoke like he had just blown up a bus or something. ha. and he kept apologizing and trying to move the can so it wasn't blowing smoke at my face and i kept laughing.

And then we just sat and talked and laughed for a couple hours. which is my favorite. 

His hair is pretty blonde. and by blonde i mean white yellow. His eyes are pretty blue-green. and by blue-green i mean like his shirt literally matched his eyes.

He is ten thousand times smarter than me. and his sister is incredible.

and I like him.

sonoyeah. 

Birthday 2

picture overload. what's new? 

also, you're lucky that i wear a watch or i would've run out of clocks to mark the time. but i forgot to take a picture of the clock at 7:30, which is when the thepianoguys concert started. I woke up, and went to the temple. honestly so good. That visit specifically was a really cool experience and man, i love the temple. the most calm and peaceful place. I LOVE the Rexburg temple. don't get my wrong, i love the Fresno temple, but the temple here is absolutely huge and there are no buildings around it because it's literally at the tip top of a hill. I came home, ate lunch, showered, cleaned the house, made a huge dinner for me and 10 other friends, opened my waving queen Elizabeth figurine and new socks. 

"I see myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks. One can never have enough socks, Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn't get a pair. People will insist on giving me books." - Albus Dumbledore

My thoughts exactly, Al.

Then i finished dinner, stole a table from next door to combine with ours, and we had an awesome dinner! Thank you mom for teaching me to make your lasagna because it is seriously the BEST ever and i always get tons of compliments! we also played the picture game which is my favorite. 

And Mark said that his tiny personal pan of gluten free lasagna was, and i quote,  "so good, i don't think it was actually gluten free." bless his heart. i tried really hard though. haha so i'm glad it wasn't gross.

Then we saw the Pianoguys in concert! It was incredible! They even played a couple songs for us that haven't been released yet because they say that rexburg and st.George are their favorite places to play so they treat us the best. heh heh.

and i almost cried when Jon Schmidt played waterfall. seriously just so good.

After the concert we ran home, changed real quick and headed up to the south field to play ultimate Frisbee. The frisbee was glow in the dark which made it look real cool in pictures except that all the pictures were blurry because i put it on the wrong focus. oh well. 

happy birthday to meeeeeee.

in case you can't see that tiny number in the corner? It was 12:41 when i finally started my homework. haha

Bub & Bean

The other day, Natalie was at school, Allison was in the shower, and Jenna woke up so i went and got her and brought her back to bed with me because i was still sleepy. she laid down next to me, and we just talked. she laughed when i tickled her belly and at some point, caleb joined us. and we were just three happies laughin in bed. me and my toe heads. we stayed in bed playing for probably 45 minutes. those kind of mornings make the hard ones worth it. and they make my respect for stay at home moms soar.

Today, I went across the street to the elementary school to find a four leaf clover for a boy. I brought Natalie & Caleb with me, we made a day out of it. We brought lunch in my picnic basket, and they played on the playground and ran wild while i scoured for clovers. 

I felt like Horton the Elephant. Natalie kept saying, "Clover, by clover by clover with care! Just like Horton!" It was adorable. 

There were some like seventh graders there playing football for the first half hour or so. One of them had his shirt off because it is like 85 out today. Caleb ran and pointed to him shouting, "A NAKED BOY! I SEE A NAKED BOY! THAT'S IMMODEST! A NAKED BOY!" It. was. priceless.

I've always been in love with dandelions, so we played with every one of them we saw. 

FINALLY, I found a four-leafed clover. Luck and I have never really been friends, so i was very surprised. Although  the only other time I've ever found a four-leafed clover was eleven years ago in that same patch at Berenda, so i had a good feeling about it. 

Natalie was BEYOND excited  Caleb thought it was cool, but was more concerned with the goldfish he was eating. and that's okay. He's three. 

They make me incredibly happy. 

And they love to make me laugh. and i love to laugh with them. and i love to make them laugh.

Bubba Gump and Natalie Jean the jumping bean.

Bub and Bean.

My best friends forever.

leaving to Rexburg in 30 days is going to be rough.
I just love them.

The Swing

Two things that Jenna loves: going outside and being held by grandpa Jamie

Two things that my dad loves: being outside and holding baby Jenna

win win. win.