Clean Floor!

I HAVE to post on February 29th, of course! It only happens once every four years. Not that I particularly like February 29th, as it lengthens an already very long month. January and February are by far the longest months of the year, I've concluded.

I swept and mopped my floors last night. I won't tell you when the last time was, but I will tell you it wasn't recent. It's such a daunting task; having to move all the furniture and not to mention that the linoleum in our house covers quite a large surface. I have to mop the kitchen,

the laundry area,

and the main living room area.

It's so much! But I must admit, it's so nice to have a clean floor again.

Sunday, Sunday ...

It's Sunday again, and the second time in two days that I'm blogging! Sometimes I think my life is so boring, but maybe I need to just take some time each day to sit down and reflect. In general I think there has been a lack of reflection in my life lately, so I've made an inner commitment to do more of it. I talked to my best friend on the phone last night for an hour and a half and I realized that close, personal friendships are very lacking in my life right now. For a long time I had Joe, but then he left and I haven't really filled the void. Not that I particularly want to, but it has kind-of turned me into a very boring person. Sometimes I just feel like there's no one to really relate to and share all my inner feelings with. Well, more like the only people I want to share those things with are, for the most part, miles and miles away. I am grateful for my brother and sister-in-law who are nearby, whom I feel very close to and feel like I can share most things with. Still, there's something about having a best girl friend that just can't be beat. Someone you can talk to all the time and go places and have girls' nights with ... I love my roommates and everything, but they just can't be that for me. I miss my best friend Kylene!!!

That said, I love Sunday, but I'll be glad when I have my own place. Personally, I find very little use for a television, other than watching the occasional movie. But when it comes to Sunday, I hate that the TV is on ALL AFTERNOON. I realize that for some people, TV is relaxing and an emotional stress reliever, but for me, my stress level increases 10-fold when no matter where I go in the house I can hear the stupid TV, and especially on Sunday when I want to be doing Sunday things but I'm forced to go into my room and turn on quiet music so I won't hear the TV. Okay, so I'm done venting ... We had really good talks this Sunday in sacrament meeting. Two of my very good friends in the branch are getting married soon: one in April and one in May. They are both very recent converts and they both gave very excellent, well-thought-out talks. I really appreciate when people take the time to think through their talks and try to tell us what's in their hearts and heads instead of just regurgitating the conference talk they've been assigned to pull their topic from. I also appreciate hearing personal experiences more than just scripture after scripture after scripture. Somehow it seems to mean a lot more when I see how a particular topic relates to someone else. Then I start relating it to my own life and the Spirit speaks to me. This is a skill that I have not mastered yet. I used to be quite good at giving talks, I think, but I shy away from bearing my testimony and I haven't given a talk in a while. I think part of the issue goes back to what I said earlier; that I haven't spent much time in reflection lately. So, I think I need to go and reflect now ...

Finally got my hair cut

I have not had a haircut for 8 months, and finally I went today and got it cut because it was driving me nuts! Turns out that one of the reasons why it has been looking so bad is that the top layer of my hair grows faster than the bottom layers. I was very nervous to get it cut considering some of the butch jobs I've had in the past 2 years, but when I got in and sat down and expressed my concerns, the lady started speaking my language and I knew I had found a kindred hair spirit! One of my biggest frustrations is the fact that I've had good layers and I've had horrible layers, and I never seem to know what I'm going to get! Apparently, there are different ways to do layers, but a lot of people just cut layers all the same way, no matter what kind of hair you have. It seems to me that I've been getting the wrong kind of layers for a while. And I think the stylists kept cutting those layers just because that's the way they were. I'm so happy with the way it has turned out! I can tell from the way that it's drying that it's going to be a GOOD haircut.

In other news, teaching is going well. It's definitely a challenge. The biggest challenge is getting all the kids to be quiet so I can get done what I need to do during class. It's fun to torture the kids with consequences though. I don't arbitrarily assign consequences of course, but when they deserve it, they get it!! Yesterday they were being really loud in homeroom at the end of the day while waiting for bus call, so when they announced the buses I made the kids wait for a minute and then walk slowly behind me out to the buses. The were chomping at the bit to get out of school ha ha ha. It was funny. Sometimes the kids can be really sweet, but a lot of the time we just call them our little monsters.

Yesterday was my roommate's birthday, and so as a birthday present to her I got up a little early and made breakfast for her. I was going to do the whole pancake, eggs and sausage thing, but then I thought maybe it would be nice to do something different so I decided to make crepes instead! My last year that I was in Utah my roomates made crepes for me on my birthday. It was the first time I'd had crepes and I just fell in love with them. Actually, they have something similar in Ukraine. Russian pancakes are pretty much identical to crepes, although they put very different things in them. In Ukraine and Russia you put meat and mushrooms, cheese, cabbage and anything you want inside a crepe. They even make ones with bananas and chocolate syrup. I used to love getting crepes over there ... mmmmmm ... I once thought of opening a similar restaurant which had the same basic concept--well, not a restaurant, but more like a little stand. I still think it would be fun, but there seems to not be nearly enough time in this life to do everything we want. Or maybe I'm just really bad at organizing my time ...

Teaching!

I'm teaching! I haven't been hired as a full-time teacher, but I have a long-term subbing position for a teacher who has gone out on maternity leave. Because she has to be on bed rest for the last month of her pregnancy, it's going to end up being about a 2 1/2 month assignment! It's a lot of fun. I love getting paid a little more, and knowing that I have a job to go to every day. I'm enjoying the teachers on my team and I enjoy most of the children, most of the time. There are a few that are going to drive me bananas, but I'm working to get them under control. The other thing I love about this assignment is that I get to teach science! It's earth science, which I didn't think would be so exciting, but I'm actually really enjoying it.

In other news ... well, is there other news? Joe is doing well in California. He is enjoying being a missionary. He has his own struggles, but he is managing. I still write to him every week, and I typically get a response, although there is not too much detail in there. Oh well, that just means that he is being a focused missionary ;-)

I'll just say one more thing. I'm disgusted at the way this election year is shaping up. I was so impressed with Romney; not only his values, which I share, but his track record as well. I'm disgusted with McCain and Huckabee who have torpedoed Romney and his bid for the presidency. So, McCain will never have my vote. If it comes down to McCain and Obama, I'll vote for Obama. If it's McCain and Hillary, I'm abstaining! Nuf said!