A day...#14

Journal 3/4/15

Sometimes I dread Wednesday's because of young women's, it stresses me out. Sherri was in charge but asked me to take over for tonight, a service scavenger hunt. I thought about it all day, which wasn't exactly what I was expecting when I prayed for service opportunities.

I looked cute today, or at least I liked my outfit which makes me feel cute :) my spring dress wintered up with a wool sweater and boots. 

I'm being bombarded by fellow educators' emails for Monday's rally at the state Capitol. I will be going obviously, even though I have to wear red to show my support...maybe this is a ploy for Utes to try and convert me...

Now that I'm writing daily "blogs" I find that work sounds exactly the same and I have to try and pull interesting information out of the blah. I met with students and helped plan their futures. I met with a mom who's student is autistic and it was his first day, it went better than she could have imagined.  Met with the department chairs to talk about each department's concerns and plans. I ate breakfast about 11:30am and lunch at 4:30pm.

I text all of the girls and offer rides. I pick up 3 or 4 girls and have my other leaders pick up the others. I forgot to pick up Deja (a nonmember I usually pick up on Wednesdays). I have forgotten before and felt horrible, but her dad dropped her off for the first time tonight. I still felt horrible, but happy she came.  I remember when I hoped for 3 girls, tonight was a slow night and there were 10! :) 

I split the YM/YW into groups of 4. I wrote all of their names down and then pulled two boys and two girls for each group (I'm trying to get them to work together). I was impressed that it worked and with very little push back.  They had a list of 5 service items and they went into the ward and had to film and accomplish one per household. I Facebooked most of the ward to make them aware of our activity because no one answers the door in our neighborhood (and I'm not exaggerating). 

When all of the groups returned we read Doctrine and Covenants 4 in their groups and discussed service. Then I had two people from each group rotate and watch the other videos before eating donuts and chocolate milk. Success!  (But glad it's over, a little).

2 episodes of "The Flash".  I finished "The One" - so cheesey, but happily ever after. I typed this during The Flash, which is why it might be a lightly jumpy...

Ether 3

1 Nèphi 11

A Day.. #13..

Journal 3/3/15

When I write the date I always see some random pattern that makes it seem like a cool day, even though it's just numbers. Today is 3/3 and 15 is a multiple of 3 so that is cool, right?!

I loved watching the snow out my office window. It seems like I am the only adult in the building who thinks snow is great.  It was fascinating to see it engulf everything so quickly and it's beautiful. I was distracted during our team meeting today. Normally my job is to keep everyone on task and focus our discussion into action plans. Instead I was often just staring outside while the rest of the team blabbed on and on about the histories of the student instead of how to move forward. Scott finally stepped up and quoted my line, "so what is your actions plan with _____"? Then he'd look at me and we'd laugh to ourselves. I took my job back and the meeting finally came to an end...20 minutes late. 

I can't help but find more efficient ways to accomplish things, no matter what it is. Today I downloaded GTI class loads and made a spreadsheet for the information.  Now we can use it alphabetically, GPA high to low or visa versa, or by grade level. I download all kinds of info during the day and it is ready for anyone anytime. My team takes it for granted.  I don't know how they think it comes about, but they don't ask and I don't tell. Organizing information or creating forms is relaxing to me. I enjoy it as a break from dealing with life situations I can't control or fix. Plus I like to make it look enjoyable to read, cute fonts and pictures.

The snow was melted, for the most part, by the time I left school. It was a beautiful sunny day with a hint of snow in the fields. I was hoping for dark skies and more blizzards. 

I got home and read from my phone - Kindle app- "fractured". I'm getting better and jumping from one story to the other (the listening story and the reading story). Both are super fluffy girly books, but I usually prefer fluff during the school year and depth during the summer. I read until Ali gets home. She's a chatty one, but she only talks to me if I'm reading or watching something. If we are just sitting she has nothing to say, but the moment I pick up my book she starts to talk...this is a proven fact, many experiments have tested this theory. I watched the newest Gotham because I don't mind talking through it.

6:30pm was the Relief Society birthday party at the church. It was amazingly beeautiful! The room was decorated so well, from the tables to the lighting to the music, amazing. I felt like I was at a restaurant, a fancy restaurant! Bees was the theme. They had beehives as center pieces, blocks with a quote about spreading the love of Christ and working together, burlap place settings, and adorable patterned table runners. Dinner was chicken cordon bleu, brussel sprouts, and moussaka as dessert. The best moussaka covered in honey! (Minus 2 points and worth it)!

I sat with Natalie, 2 Beckys, Molly, and Sandra. Conversation covered many topics from funny to seriously funny! (What happens at RS, stays at RS). Then as they cleaned up, I do feel slightly guilty for not helping, I caught up with Tori and Jody. Sandra was ready to leave, so I said my goodbyes and we hurried home for a show before bed. To our dismay, Ali's trek meeting was still in progress. We parked at our neighbor's until our driveway was empty.  They weren't there too much longer, just long enough for me to get ready for bed and enter my challenge points for the day.

Sandra and I watched 2 quick episodes of "The Flash" while doing squats between commercials (not during commercials, because we don't watch commercials). We did 60 tonight!

Ether 2

1 Nèphi 10

I need to pray for opportunities to serve others.

A Day in the Year of My 40th

Journal 3/2/15

Great in 8 challenge #2 - wish me luck.

A normal day at the office. Melanie called in sick, again, and Heatherlee took her place on the field trip. Good thing it was a pretty mellow day! 

We are starting the Hope Squad at our school, a suicide prevention program with students as our ambassadors. They are trained to be friends in the school, to provide a listening ear and a guide to the counseling center. They are NOT trained to keep secrets or "save" anyone, everything will go through trusted adults.

I spend most of my days talking to students who can't figure out how to register for classes every year! They've done it three years in a row now, but it is a mystery every year?! I am very patient with them and pretend it's normal they can't do it.

It snowed and sleeted today, which mellows the kids, but as I type this I remember that Tanya brought 2 girls to clean up after their fight in the hallway.  A lot of hair pulling involved and not a lot of attitude that usually comes with fighting girls.

We planned for Friday's professional development, which may or may not include a sections on white privilege, school to prison, the hope squad, and chrome books. I'll keep you posted.  Lunch today was lasagna leftovers, yum! I also took my negative points to try the South African treats cold, heaven!

I took a troubled YW to her school meeting, dance company meeting. I hate when the girls are so sad in their home life. I want to fix things or save them, but I can't. It's heart breaking.  And it's not just one of them either :( Ali came with me because I prefer to not be alone in the car with the YW.

Just before I went running at Vasa, the doorbell rang. It was about 8:00pm. A guy was walking away when I answered the door. He was out selling housecleaning. He asked where my accent was from, I get that a lot weirdly enough. He seemed a little shady and I was nervous the rest of the evening that he and his friends would break in or something. I went to the gym and ran to my book, "The One" book 3. When I arrived home, I assumed someone would be in my house. A white car was parked on the street in front of our house. I had 9-1- typed in my phone as I cautiously entered my home.  No one was around and I felt no evil feelings, so I blended my fruit and drank it while entering my points for the day! I watched some "Gotham" and "Hawaii 5-0". Quite gory shows I think I'm becoming desensitized to the scary/gory murder shows!!?

Ether 1 

1 Nèphi 9

A Day in the Year of my 40th

Journal 3/1/15

I can't believe it is March 2015 already! 

Today was stake conference. I got up early and went over to our building to sit in my seat on the right side, 5th row. I sat and prepared YW things and organized my week for 45 minutes, my roommates arrived right before it started. I liked the lights dimmed (so we can see it broadcast), it was relaxing.

They passed out a worksheet with the stake goals on one side and a list of topics, an open space for spiritual promptings, and actions. I thought it was a cool idea and I tried to fill it in as we went.  Temple attendance, genealogy work, and kindness were some of my action words. The speakers were amazing, of course, one especially so talked about Social Media. She did a magnificent job discussing authenticity. Answering the questions "how am I using social media in my life?" "What do my 'likes' 'shares' or 'posts' say about me?" "How am I representing myself? Am I being authentic?" Social Media can be a powerful tool in spreading joy, inspiring, and uplifting others...to sweep the Earth with truth and righteousness!! (I could go on all day, it was fantastic!)

Another part of conference was the introduction of the Stake Virtue Council. It is a council made up of members of the stake for the purpose of combatting pornography and other addictions within the stake. Virtue is derived from a Latin word meaning POWER and STRENGTH. Each member of the council just gave a quick thought and testimony of what they've learned and felt through the council, in their experiences as a council and their studies. I loved the short, but powerful thoughts. Some ideas were "get smart on the topic of virtue" and "get real with your family councils" - open up discussions within your family. Pretending it's not already affecting your kids is no longer acceptable, ask questions open the communication. Virtue is goodness and a source of power.

I met with Brother Heaps for my PPI afterwards. We talked a lot about the YW and the budget. I hate dealing with money in specifics. They want every penny accounted for and I just don't think I'm capable of that kind of detail, I'm more of an idea person...I have an idea of about how much. Ugh. My trial.

I read my book, "Fractured", while Sandra had primary presidency meeting then Ali had YCL camp meeting. I did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen. Sandra made lasagna with zucchini instead of noodles and Italian sausage instead of beef...delicious!! She is a talented chef and I don't know why I'm always surprised :) 

We have neighbors from South Africa. One day they talked about a dish they miss from home, and it's a very complicated dish. Sandra secretly took on the challenge to make this dish today. It's like a donut braided and dipped in a lemon/ginger/cinnamon syrup. I taste tested it; melt in your mouth delicious. We took them over tonight. They were surprised by a Sunday visit and even more surprised by the treat from South Africa. She teared up a bit. They were surprised that the donuts were still warm because apparently they eat them chilled so it's crispier (Americans are always doing things wrong, warm donuts!?! Crazy!). Yet another amazing Sandra dish, just like home...once they've chilled.

Great in 8 starts tomorrow, so we spent the evening watching The Arrow and finishing up the worksheet and invitations for the 9 teams! I've really enjoyed the competition and the freedom I feel, though I've changed some poor habits and feel great about them. Most "diets" make me obsess about food and eating or not eating or "you can't eat this or that" then that is all I think about. I didn't feel that way through this one, except about the water...it gives me nightmares after I drink so much water! I'll have to be careful this go around :)