Blog of the Brandts

Jackson is Mobile!

2011-10-18T11:01:00.004-06:00

Holy Cow! Jackson is figuring out how to get around! He isn't full on crawling yet, but he can scoot around army style like nobody's business. If he sees something he wants (usually something dangerous!) he will stop at nothing to go get it. At least until I put a pillow in his way. I can't believe he is growing up so quickly! Where did my little baby go? His newest milestone he has hit is getting up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth. I think he will be crawling up a storm in the next few weeks. I guess I will need to go get some gates for our stairs.

Also, Jackson loves eating feet! Whenever I teach a piano lesson, I always end up pulling Jackson out from under the piano bench because he is tickling and licking my students' shoes and toes! crazy boy.

Jackson is just waiting for the day when the outlet covers are gone and he can discover the electricity!

Jackson Eats Solid Food!

2011-09-15T11:31:00.003-06:00

So, Jackson is getting really close to being 6 months old and has been really interested whenever Jarred and I eat in front of him. He always reaches for our forks and loves taking "sips" from our water glasses. Because of this, we decided it was time to give him some food! We went to the grocery store and bought a few baby food items. We decided to try the rice cereal first since he is most likely not allergic to that. (Jarred has a lot of food allergies, so we want to be really careful with new foods for Jackson. Which reminds me, I should probably buy some Benadryl).

Anyways, we sat Jackson down into his Bumbo and strapped the bib on him and gave it a go. He loved it! He couldn't get enough of it! When it was all gone he kept sucking on the spoon in hopes that he could get some more. I hope he eats all new foods like this! I really don't want to be cleaning food off of the ceiling anytime soon.

Jarred's Graduation!!!

2011-05-05T14:29:00.003-06:00

Jarred graduated from UVU this past April! He received a Bachelors degree in Communications with an emphasis in Public Relations. I am so proud of him!!! Technically he has one more class to take until he is fully graduated, but he was able to walk. (UVU only has one graduation a year so if you are close to graduating they let you walk early).

This was a long time coming. Since we were married (4 1/2 years ago) we have been telling people that he has about 2 years left. haha! However, we were able to get him graduated without any debt! yay! This made the journey a little longer, but now we don't owe money. I guess it's okay that college took longer because it's not like there are tons of jobs out there.

The actual graduation was pretty good too. Jarred decided to attend the commencement (the entire university) and the convocation (where he walks). I have to say that the commencement was excellent. There was a great speaker, Robert C Gay, who had some interesting stories. He also spoke about a lot of spiritual things that put a nice tone to the whole meeting. One story that I really liked was when he was graduating with a doctorate from Harvard. At the graduation, Mother Theresa spoke. Harvard decided to cut part of her speech from the official record. The part they cut went something like this:

Every child is special. The first person to openly rejoice in Christ's birth was an unborn child: John the Baptist. He leapt in the womb when he was near Mary. Every unborn child is precious and should not be aborted. If you are thinking about having an abortion, don't. You can bring the baby to me and I will take care of it.

Mother Theresa spoke at this Harvard graduation about 30 years or more ago. It's crazy to think that even that long ago Harvard was taking a stance on the side of abortion. They refused to record that part of Mother Theresa's speech. She is one of the most amazing, humble, and loving persons to walk this earth. I'm glad that Robert C Gay remembered it and was able to keep her words alive, even if Harvard wouldn't.

After having Jackson, I can't imagine anyone wanting to abort a baby. He is such an innocent and precious baby boy. I also know a lot of people who are seeking to adopt a baby and it seems so selfish to choose to abort an unborn child rather than to give it up for adoption.

Anyways... I am so excited for Jarred to be graduated. I am so excited for him to be able to just focus on work and family. School is great, but it definitely took up a lot of time away from home life. Not to mention that he was often working full time and going to school full time. Jarred is amazing and I love him so much for his dedication and hard work!

Jackson's Birth Story

2011-04-21T12:24:00.011-06:00

So Jackson's due date, March 23rd, came and went with no sign of any real contractions happening. I was barely having any Braxton Hicks (or Jackson Hicks as Jarred calls them) Contractions. I had been dilated to 1 cm for about amonth. Because of all this, mydoctor decided to schedule me to be induced on Tuesday the 29th.We metup with our families on Sunday like usual and let them know that it looked like we were going to be induced on Tuesday night and then have the baby sometime on Wednesday. We arrived home on Sunday night around 10pm and about an hour later I started having some contractions. They weren't regular yet and I assumed they were just some Braxton Hicks again. By midnight, they started to get regular, about 5 minutes apart. So I decided it was time to tell Jarred that I was having contractions and we could start timing them together. Well, we waited at home for about 2 hours of having contractions at 2-3 minutes apart. Then at about 2 am we headed to the hospital! That car ride was not very fun, luckily there wasn't any traffic!

We get to the hospital and arrived at labor and delivery to have nobody there to check us in! There I was having contractions and having to wait about 10 minutes (felt like forever) to have someone finally show up. Luckily we had preregistered so I only had to sign a couple things instead of filling out an entire sheet. I was put back into a room where theyhooked me up to a whole bunch of stuff to check my heart rate, baby's heart rate, and my blood pressure. They monitored me for 2 hours checking my progression every once in a while. My blood pressure was more elevated than they would have like so they decided to admit me! Amazingly enough though, I was progressing enough that even if I didn't have an elevated blood pressure I would have been admitted anyways.

I had just been having contractions for about 4 hours and I decided that was long enough without any medication. I decided to get something called Fentinol (sp?) This was something I could get once an hour and still be able to get out of bed and move around. It was glorious! I was having really bad back labor pains, so I was loving life with this stuff! I ended up getting this twice and then after that I decided I was ready for the epidural. So around 6:30 am -ish the anesthesiologist came in and was the most wonderful man ever because he made all the pain disappear! Yay! After getting the epidural I slept off and on until about 2pm. My legs felt

like your mouth does after you go to the dentist. Very weird. Occasionally I would need to change positions on the bed and that was so odd not being able to move my body. It took all of my concentration and help from a nurse to turn over! Around 1:30pm I was checked again and I was dilated to 10cm! I didn't even need Pitocin. The doctor came in around 2:30pm and said we needed to start pushing.

I had heard that first time moms have a longer push time and push between 45 min-2hrs or so. I figured I would be the same. 2 extra doses of direct line epidural, horrible back labor pains, and 2 and 1/2 hours later, I still had no baby! The most discouraging part was the entire hour when the nurses and doctor kept saying they could see the head when I would push, but then once I was done pushing, Jackson's head would recede. Another discouraging time was when the doctor said that I had just done an excellent push and showed me that Jackson had moved "This far!" The distance Jackson moved was about a centimeter. Wow, what a big push! (said covered with sarcasm). I couldn't believe that was the best push ever - pathetic. It was about 5pm and I had been watching the clock in disbelief that I had not had him yet. I had a couple of problems that made the pushing last so long. First off, Jackson was sunny side up. The best position for a baby to deliver is with their head down and their face down. Jackson's head was down, but his face was up. This meant that he had to be turned to face downward. Unfortunately, the doctor could only turn him half way. Another problem was also the shape of my pelvis. Apparently it's not designed to let babies slide out easily or something.

At 5pm the doctor encouraged me to push for about 10 more minutes. In my head I was thinking that I couldn't make it through one more set of pushes let alone ten minutes! Yet, amazingly enough I made it beyond 10 minutes. I had another 30 minutes of pushing left in me. at about 5:15pm the nurses transformed the foot portion of the bed into a delivery bed and the doctor put on a whole get up that included a face mask with a shield covering his whole face. He told me that they would try the vacuum to help deliver Jackson. If that didn't work, then they would push Jackson back up and deliver him via C-Section. (They didn't even have the option to use forceps because of Jackson's positioning). I absolutely did not want to end up with a C-Section, especially after all that pushing I had already done. The doctor attached the vacuum and when I pushed he pulled. According to Jarred, it looked like the doctor was trying to start a lawn mower by how hard and how far back he was pulling! After 2 sets of pushes Jackson was finally born!!!

They had to whisk him away to the pediatric nurses because there was meconium when they broke my water. The doctor cut the cord so fast that I didn't even see it. I was also a little disoriented and I couldn't figure out where the placenta was because I thought he hadn't cut the cord since I didn't see it. Even though there was meconium and Jackson went through such a long labor process, he ended up with near perfect APGAR scores! As soon as I saw Jackson and when I heard his first cry, all of the pain and exhaustion from the pushing went away and I was just so grateful that my son was born. Some of that pain came back when the doctor was stitching me up from some tearing though. The epidural decided not to work in some places I guess. Thank goodness for local anesthetics! Once he was all cleaned up and it was decided that he was okay, I was able to hold my beautiful little boy. Jarred and I were so grateful that he was here and that he was healthy. I was also able to do "skin to skin" with him. What a wonderful bonding experience! We had family that was able to come by soon after the delivery and they were able to see him get his first bath and get taken care of in the nursery. While Jackson was in the nursery, I was finally able to get some food!!! My favorite things were the apple juice and the big bowl of fresh strawberries! I had been craving strawberries, but didn't tell anyone because I was a little preoccupied with having a baby. It was the best meal ever!

Jackson is now 4 weeks old. He did have to get light therapy for some jaundice that he had, but he was able to get over it quickly. We had a love/hate relationship with his Bilibed. We knew it was helping him recover from jaundice, but we hated that we couldn't hold him or swaddle him. Not fun.

I was talking to my mom about the whole labor process and she mentioned that at 5pm she felt very impressed by the Holy Ghost that I needed help through prayers. She called all of my siblings and asked them to pray for me. This was at the exact time that I felt like I couldn't push any longer. I had been praying in my head for help and the Lord was able to strengthen me through other prayers! The Lord answers prayers! I hope that I can listen to the spirit for promptings to help Jackson, just like my mom was able to listen to his promptings for me.

We just love our little Jackson! He is such a great blessing to our little family. We can't wait for him to meet all of his cousins that are being born this year. (Every married couple on my side and Jarred's side are pregnant or have already had a baby in 2011! Christmas this year is going to be crazy!)

On a side note, after you have an epidural your legs might not get their feeling back at the same time. That means that if you want to get up to use the bathroom, make sure that both legs have feeling in them before making this attempt, even with a nurses help. If you don't wait for this, you will wind up on the floor. : )

The Stove That Blew Up

2009-09-28T22:57:00.005-06:00

BECKY: Two weeks ago our stove blew up. Well, sort of. There was a big spark and I consider that to be an explosion. I am dedicating this blog to the exceptional appliance this avocado stove and oven was.

This was the first oven that I learned to bake bread in. My first loaf of bread was still gooey inside, but this was not the fault of the oven. This was purely the fault of the baker. I also have made dozens of delicious Symphony Bar Cookies in this oven. I can still remember the big spill in the bottom of the oven from multiple foods that have completely boiled over. I can't help but be grateful that I will not need to scrub that thing till my arm is numb before we move out of apartment. Even though it is about 45 years old, it still cooked evenly! They just don't make things like they used to.

Onto the stove. I used this thing a lot. the knobs were a little stiff, but they always turned on, well all but one. I also experimented with new foods on this stove and most of them were delicious (according to Jarred). We made many a yummy breakfasts on those burners. Pancakes, eggs, sausage, hash browns...those poor hash browns. That's what I was cooking when the stove blew up.

I was just enjoying a lovely, lazy Sunday morning making breakfast. I started with the hash browns and sausage because they took the longest. The hash browns were starting to smell yummy, but then I could smell them starting to burn a little bit. Confused, I turned down the knob to medium-low, yet the burner kept getting hotter. Pretty soon my lovely hash browns were turning black! I was so frustrated so I turned the knob to the lowest setting and hoisted the skillet off the stove to start turning the taters over. As I was about to set the skillet back down onto the burner, there was a huge loud spark that shot out from under the knob. It scared me so much that I even screamed. Jarred was still in bed, but didn't bother to come save me when I screamed because apparently I scream quite often when I cook. After the spark, our house was flooded with the horrible smell of an electrical fire. I don't know if you have ever smelled this before, but it makes you want to throw up. This smell lasted for about 5 days. This is the result of the stove. It isn't a huge burn mark, but you can see the black on the right side of the oven door.

We will be without the use of this delightful appliance for at least another week because apparently they make stoves a little bit bigger these days and the bottom drawer will need to be cut out since buying a drop in style is extremely expensive. So, our little apartment will be getting a little renovation. It will be sad to see this one go because that means we will only have one thing left in our kitchen that matches the color of our dishes exactly: our sink. The avocado fridge went out the day we moved in, now the stove/oven is leaving us, and our land lord is now spreading rumors about replacing the sink to match the rest of the kitchen. Sad day, our kitchen is losing its charm.

Catching Up

2009-09-22T21:52:00.005-06:00

JARRED: To the very few who may semi-often check our blog, may we apologize for our lack of writing. There are a thousand reasons why we have not posted in over a year. But, really only one that perhaps made it impossible. I forgot our login information! I know what you're thinking, it just goes to whatever email address is on the account. Well, I forgot which address it went to. Turns out it went to an address that Becks hasn't used in quite some time. Needless to say, I finally figured out her old password and was able to retrieve the necessary information to log in and author this post.

The last post written was a venting session over a class that I am very happy to report is over! A lot has happened since last July. Becky's little brother, Matthew, left to serve his mission in San Jose. He has faithfully completed one year of his two year stint. We welcomed a new nephew into the family. Weston, son of Joe and Megan, was born in September 2008. He just had his first birthday, and made it known to all that he thoroughly enjoys birthday cake and blue frosting!

Becky continues to make new born babies cry. This is due to the fact that she is the best medical assistant in Provo! She loves being around the kids, especially the babies! Dancing was a big part of Becky's life while growing up. She has been able to take up her life long hobby once again as she started dancing at the studio where she once was a student and eventually a teacher. She also has followed in her mother's footsteps and started her own piano teaching studio. She enjoys teaching her students, and seeing them progress and become better piano players.

My story has yet to change. I am, and seemingly forever will be a student at UVU. Although, there does seem to be a faint flicker of light at the end of the long, long academic tunnel I call school. I'm hoping to finish my study of communication in the next few semesters. Meanwhile, I am still doing my part to make sure the cars are clean and straight at the car dealership I'm employed at. Right now my time consists of work, school, more work, and finally homework. With the little free time I have, and when I'm not writing blogs, I am cheering on my beloved Cougars. Although I am sad for their loss this past Saturday, I hold out hope that they will rebound and reload. Go Cougars!

Well, there you have it. A brief written summery of our life up until now. We'll try to keep posting!

The Wrath of Math

2008-07-10T08:32:00.004-06:00

JARRED: For the past three years I have been plugging away at my college education. Semester after semester I check off requirements that enable me to earn a degree that still seems so far in the distance. Nevertheless, progress is being made.

There is one course, I'm very sad to say, that I have not made as much progress in. Math, like for a lot of people, has always been a daunting subject for me. The anxiety that I experience when I even think about it is tremendous. I remember spending hours on homework in high school trying to figure out the answer to a problem, and never being able to do it quite right. Needless to say, it was very frustrating and frankly didn't make me want to pursue any higher education in the course.

But, the time has long since come to where it is the only general education class I have left. I am actually a good way into my major, but have been avoiding this one particular class like it was the bubonic plague. So, my better half and I decided that this summer was the time to finally get it over with and be done for good.

Due to the horrible rumors and bad reputation that UVU's math department has, I decided to earn my math credit online through a small community college in Kansas. There is a tutoring business here in Orem that will work with you, and make sure you understand the material. So far it has been great because there is only five other students in the course. A lot of them have been avoiding math to the point where it is the only class they need for their bachelors degree.

The class is going pretty good so far. I do not have as much anxiety as I used to have. But, I have learned that math is still the most time consuming subject that I have taken thus far. Math has always been a gigantic mountain right in the middle of my college path. But, thanks to the help and encouragement of my lovely wife, I am finally scaling it and slowly but surely making my way to the top. Thanks Becky! I love you!

"Yes, we have them..."

2008-07-08T20:42:00.005-06:00

JARRED: My younger brother is entering the bonds of matrimony this coming Thursday. His Bride-to-be, with whom we love, was having a bridal shower tonight which Becky attended. Before the shower Becky wanted to do so some last minute shopping for her outfit she will be wearing to the reception. We spent hours on Saturday going from store to store attempting to find a shirt or skirt or dress that would even come close to the colors the Bride picked for the event. Finally, we found a very nice summer dress that pretty near matched one of three colors to choose from.

Tonight was the night we set out to find the "perfect pair of shoes." Luckily for me, Becky really only shops for shoes at one store. She purchases her super high heels, as she calls them, at Forever Young Shoes in University Mall. We go in, looking for what I call "shiny white" high heels, which has a glossy finish. We find the pair she wants, but the store did not have the right size. The hardest part about shopping for shoes is finding the right size in the style you want. The salesgirl was nice enough to call another store to see if they had the style and size we needed. To our surprise South Towne Mall had the pair we needed.

With the wedding in two days, there was not enough time to have them inner-store transfer the shoes down to Orem. So, I told Becky that I would drive up to Sandy and pick them up while she went to the bridal shower. On my way up to Sandy I was thinking to my self, "I sure hope they have the right shoes." They couldn't have the wrong shoes, I mean they called up and confirmed they were there. Well, the confirmation was too much to hope for. I got to the front desk and opened the box they had waiting for me. Low and behold, it was the wrong pair of shoes! I couldn't believe it. I drove 30 miles to find that they had the same shoes the Orem store had! My self-fulfilling prophecy came to pass.

The one lesson I learned from this experience is that double checking the details will save you time, and in my case a whole lot of gas. So, before you set out on such an adventure, make sure that what you expect to be at where ever you are going is really what you are after.

TOE TAG

2008-05-26T10:07:00.003-06:00

I guess i've been tagged by Lois. hopefully i can make it as interesting as she made hers!

How long did you date?

Jarred and I dated for about 9 months, 3 of which we were officially engaged. I think thats rights, i'm terrible with dates. The worst part of it was that for most of our dating relationship we had to do the long distance stuff. I was in Rexburg going to school and he was down here in Provo going to school. That was not fun! But, we don't have to worry about that anymore, thank goodness!

Who eats more?

I think its me. It seems like i'm hungry a lot more than he is, so i eat a lot of little meals, but when he does eat, he eats a ton, but i still think i eat more. maybe not. i don't know. what kind of question is this?

Who is taller?

Definately Jarred. I'm about 5'8" and he is 6'1 or 2" i think. This is great because i love to wear high high heels. (yup i meant to write high twice, the higher the better). I can wear really tall heals and he is still taller than me! i love it!!!

Who is smarter?

Well this is a weird question. do they mean book smarts or street smarts. if it is book smarts, i might be smarter, but jarred is definately more street smart. It just seems like the stuff i don't know very well, like cars, jarred knows a lot about. Then theres stuff i know that jarred doesn't know as much about. We make a good team.

Whose temper is worse?

I think mine is for most things. I always have a hard time keeping my anger in control for some things, especially when its something about jarred. But, jarred isn't perfect either, the things that i'm patient with, he sometimes isn't. We are like opposites, its weird.

Who does the laundry?

We both do it, but its mostly jarred that does most of it. He can't stand to have things left undone, so when we have our dirty laundry sitting around he somehow fiinds time to do it. I try to help with it as much as i can, but i'm usually too much of a procrastinator. But, i definately fold the laundry better than he does, he even admits that.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?

What does that mean? do they mean the right as in direction, or is there a better side to sleep on? I think jarred sleeps on the better side of the bed because its not next to the alarm. But thats probably a good thing because he doesn't even hear the alarm. i have to wake him up every morning after the alarm jolts me awake. I have no clue how he doesn't hear the stupid thing.

Who pays the bills?

Jarred pays most of them, i just pay our health insurance because he has messed it up twice and made us pay double. thats not fun when your budget is so small. he is always so organized and bordoring obsessed with paying the bills. This is good because we never get late fees for any kind of payment. With my kind of absent-mindedness, i would be making us pay late fees all over the place, which reminds me i think our health insurance is due soon! i better pay it after this post.

Who cooks dinner?

I always do. Thankfully we are in a supper club and so i'm not cooking every night. But, i am glad to cook because that means we will usually eat something good. jarred does the dishes after i cook, which is so nice of him to do. He doesn't always like it, so i offered to switch jobs and have him cook, but he never accepts because he knows he's not a very good cook. I'm always glad he doesn't accept the offer because then i don't know what the heck we would be eating!

Who drives when you are together?

Jarred definately does. A few time i have driven, but its most likely jarred and that doesn't bother me because he's a good driver.

Who is more stubborn?

I am. i have a really hard time admitting i am wrong about something and so i will be stubborn just to not admit i was wrong, but usually i will finally admit it.

Who kissed who first?

HUH? we kissed at the same time. its not like i kissed him while he was passed out or something. this is a weird question.

Who is the first to admit when they are wrong?

It totally depends on the situatioin. if we were both in the wrong, i am usually the one to admit it first, but if its just me thats wrong, i take a while to admit it.

Whose parents do you see the most?

I think its about the same, thats what we try to do. Our parents live about 3 blocks away from each other, so its not too hard to give them the same amount of attention. it just is hard on holidays because we don't get to spend the entire time with just one family so we miss things from both families on those days.

Who proposed?

jarred did. i am not the kind of girl that would propose to a guy. and speaking of this, if i would have proposed would i have picked out his wedding band or something and offered him that or would i have just bought my own ring and put it on myself when he said yes? this is too weird to think about.

Who is more sensitive?

i am. jarred is sensitive too, but i am usually much more sensitive. theres usually some kind of waterworks going on with me, but that might be also due to the birth control.

Who has more friends?

i don't know, maybe me because i show that i have more friends than him on facebook.

Who has more siblings?

jarred does, he has 2 brothers and 3 sisters. I have 4 brothers.

Who wears the pants in the family?

we both do. just only on sunday i wear a skirt and he wears slacks. what a silly question, we are in the 21st century, everyone wears pants now, mostly jeans i think.

Do you have a song?

we have had a lot of songs, the first one was Ocean Avenue by Yellow Card because when we were chatting online while we were dating we were both listening to this song, so it was our first song.

now i tag anyone who reads this if they haven't done it yet.

Welcome to the Project

2008-05-03T17:22:00.003-06:00

To earn some extra cash, my husband and I do dealer trades. A dealer trade is when two dealerships trade cars, making up the difference in price with money, or when a dealership just buys a car from another dealership to sell to its customer. Anyways, they need people to be able to pick up those vehicles when a dealer trade comes up. Thats where we come in. Its a great little side job that helps payoff our car payment. Unfortunately, you never really know when these will come up, and a lot of the time we do them at night. So, the idea of driving up to Bountiful and back at 9 o'clock at night isn't a new thing for me anymore. But, i still need something to keep me awake besides my caffeine loaded coke. The past few months, i have tuned into The Nightside Project on ksl radio (102.7 FM), to keep me awake. Let me tell you, this has really worked! They are funny, political, weird, and only slightly annoying at times. Everyone who has listened to the Nightside Project knows the hosts like to get on their soap boxes and go off on things, but I love it when Ethan and Alex don't agree on a subject and they keep trying to convince the other person that they're view is wrong. Another reason I love this radio show is because they embrace the new technology of the younger generation. If you text into the show, and your text is funny/witty/good enough, then they will read it on the air. Same goes for emailing. Jarred loves to text in to them and he's had his read on the air a couple of times. Anyways, i didn't really have much else to write about and this is all i came up with. Let me know what you think about the Nightside Project with Ethan and Alex. If you haven't listened to it, just tune into 102.7 FM at 7pm monday through friday, take a listen and let me know what you think of it!

MY MEME

2008-04-13T15:00:00.002-06:00

I haven't done a meme in a while, so i figured i would go along with the crowd and just follow along.

10 years ago today:

I was 12 years old. I don't know exactly what i was doing 10 years ago exactly this day. i don't remember exactly what i was doing last sunday. All i know is when i was 12 i was finally able to be a beehive in young womens. I was just out of primary and my mom thought i was still 7 years old or something because all of my Church dresses were big and frilly. I was pretty embarrased my first year of young womens because all the girls looked good in their silk skirts and nice blouses and there i was in a huge pink frilly dress.

5 things on my to do list today:

1. stop coughing like a smoker.
2. wrap some wedding gifts.
3. visit the family and the in-laws.
4. go on a walk with my hubby.
5. go to sleep at a reasonable time.

my to do list is pretty simple because today is sunday. if it were another day it would quite different.

snacks i enjoy:

I love cookies! especially my homemade chocolate chip ones. its probably bad that i like my own cookies the most, but whatever.

i also am a sucker for dove chocolate. talk about dilectable.

and i can't forget about ice cream. my favorite is either chocolate chip cookie dough or cookies n' cream. YUMMY!

Things i would do if i were suddenly a billionaire:

First, i would not let it go to my head. Then I would put away money so me and jarred could finish school without any debt. Then i would buy everyone in my family any car they wanted. I would also get a house and buy my siblings and siblings-in-laws houses too if they wanted them. Then i would buy lots of food storage items because thats important too. Then i would save the rest for retirement.

3 of my bad habits:

1. picking at my nails.
2. getting frustrated with my cooking and taking it out on jarred.
3. not cleaning the house each week.

Jobs i've had:

Dance teacher and assistant, janitor, pizza maker, pizza sign shaker (thats right, i danced like a fool on a street corner holding a domino's sign), telemarketer, janitor again, receptionist, dealer trade driver (this one has the perks of being able to drive new cars every once in a while), reading tutor, and medical assistant.

Five things people don't know about me:

1. i have bunions and when i was little i thought everyones feet looked like that. it wasn't until 7th grade that i found out that normal feet didn't look like mine.

2. after Thanksgiving my favorite breakfast is leftover pie.

3. I didn't have a cell phone until i was married.

4. I pretended to have a broken ankle on april fools day to get out of a ballet class.

5. if i could only have one thing of make up i would choose my mary kay mascara.

Now i tag anyone who reads my blog to this same meme. which is about 2 people, if i'm lucky!

She's Back!

2008-04-07T10:54:00.002-06:00

I haven't blogged in a long time and it is time that i repent and blog more frequently than once every 6 months. I have been extremely busy...you know, with the full time job and not going to school and not having kids to take care of. i clearly did not have enough time to blog since i was spending 35 hours a week slaving away at a job. how was i supposed to fit anything else into my day? i must admit though, that i haven't left the blogging world completely. everyday i have checked other peoples blogs, i just didn't have the desire to write anything of my own. But, it is time to start blogging again. Let me catch you up on what you have missed.

I'm now working as a Medical Assistant in a pediatricians office. I love it! some of you may be wondering what the heck a medical assistant is. Well, you know when you go to the doctors office and you think its a nurse taking you back to the room, giving you the shots, and testing your strep swabs? That is actually a medical assistant doing that. Rarely do doctors hire nurses to work in their private offices because they cost too much, so that's why they have medical assistants. i know you all wanted to be educated about this. I'm also slowly, and i mean very slowly, working on my bachelors degree in Integrated studies at UVU (uvsc). Since jarred and i don't want to go into debt with school, we have decided to switch off semesters when we go to school. So this summer I'm going to be taking a couple classes and still going to work full time.

I've also started teaching piano lessons on my day off from my job. We don't have a piano yet, so my mom is kind enough to let me use her house and her supplies to help me get started teaching. we have a recital coming up in May, so hopefully my beginners will be ready. I'm pretty excited about it. I'm sure they will all do great. Its so fun to watch my students improve and learn more about the piano.

Another thing i haven't blogged about is that i have been going to this Relief Society cooking class every month. Anyways, I'm the youngest woman in the little class and the teacher always is so excited when i come. She's this cute grandma lady that just loves everybody. Anyways, i told her that i want to learn how to make bread, but i don't want anything too hard. So she lent me a DVD called Pantry Secrets, or something like that, and i learned how to make bread!!! the recipe i have is actually really easy. I don't even have to make the yeast bubble up in a separate bowl or anything. The DVD also taught me how to make homemade Cinnamon rolls, which i love to make, mostly because they taste yummy. Anyways, i was pretty proud of myself that i could accomplish something like this. keep checking my blog because I'm going to try to post some pictures and more posts more often!

FOOD STORAGE GALLORE

2007-09-22T11:21:00.000-06:00

Has anyone else been feeling like food storage is the topic on the street? Maybe its because enrichment this month was about food storage and getting your 600 lbs of wheat. or it could be the super cool case lot sale that Macey's is having. At this point it seems like wheat is pointless to me because i don't even have a wheat grinder and i don't know how to make homemade bread. HMMM??? why get it? So, instead of wasting my money on wheat i went to the case lot sale (which really is a good bargain, even compared to Costco). I got a lot of essentials like mayonnaise, brownies, cakes, ketchup...the goods. Okay, i really got other stuff too like canned tomatoes, chili, noodles, sugar, flour, etc. My mom and i went and we filled up 4, yes 4 shopping carts of food! we looked so ridiculous, but we didn't really care. (we didn't have all the carts at once, we made 2 trips back to back). My moms jimmy was packed to the brim!!! i really don't know how we got it all in there. anyways, now we have some food storage and won't go starving for a while! i know i don't have anywhere near the 1 year supply we are asked to get, but come on, my externship isn't exactly paying me right now, so we really can't afford to get too much right now. I just have a nice mom who is willing to split the food and cost with me!

My Marriage Meme

2007-08-24T19:43:00.000-06:00

Okay, so i have been very lacking in the area of blogging. i still will read a few new ones every once in a while, but i have decided i need to start blogging again. So, to start off i am going to take up compulsive writers tag to anyone for a marriage meme.

Where did you meet your husband?

Well, i guess i could say we met in elementary school...good ol' westridge. But i didn't actually know him. I still didn't know him in jr high, but i've tried to forget all my memories from dixon. I met him one time in the hallway at Provo High and i remember thinking that he was really cute. The next time i met him was after a couple of years going to school at BYU-Idaho. I was on break for winter semester 2006 and we ended up being in the same singles ward. I remembered him from high school and thought, " i would like to go on a date with him before i have to go back up to school." I met him officially at a ward activity.

What was the first thing you said to your husband?

The ward activity was ending and i saw that he was there so i was determined to talk to him because he was cute and i wanted to go on a date. The first thing i said to him went something like this..."do you want some help taking this stuff to the kitchen?" pretty eloquent. We made some small talk taking some pans to the kitchen and then i didn't talk to him again till a week or so later in church.

Where was your first kiss? First date?

Our first date was going to play tennis. I officially stink at tennis, just ask jarred and he will confirm. Something about the hand-eye coordination just doesn't quite register correctly in my head. He on the other hand is pretty good and used to be on the provo high tennis team. I made a fool of myself, but for some reason he liked me. We even tried to make conversation across the court, i'm sure everyone around us were a little annoyed. Afterwords he took me to jamba juice...this is really what got me hooked on him. We got our jambas and went for a drive just talking. it was a lot of fun.

Our first kiss was in the basement at his parents house after a movie. we were both so nervous, and it wasn't the best kiss in the world, but it is probably one of my favorite kisses because it was my last first kiss.

Did you have a long or short engagement/courtship?

We tried to have our relationship be a long courtship and a short engagement. we did pretty good. We started dating around april/may 2006 and got engaged on my birthday, september 10th then we got married that december on the 29th. So, its sounds like we got our goal, unfortunately we already new we were going to get married in july, so we ended up pretty much having a short 3 month courtship and a long 6 month engagement.

How did the reception go?

I was so happy, our reception went great!!! We got so much help from both our families and ward members! We just had fun visiting with everyone and being nervous about that night! If anything went wrong, we didn't hear about it. I was pretty surprised how unimportant it was to us when we were there...i always imagined that the reception would be a big deal, but it didn't seem to be.

How was the honeymoon?

Well, i have to say it was great! we stayed in provo the first night and then drove down to St. George the next day and stayed there for a few days. Then, we had a second honeymoon not too long ago. We decided to go cheap on our first one, so we went all out on our second one in Hawaii!!! we were with his family, but we still had a great time. someday when i figure out how to post pictures i'll post some from the trip.

An "A" Paper!

2007-05-31T14:22:00.000-06:00

Just Another Stiletto on My Foot

“I don’t like pointy toed shoes,” I thought, “Or as I’ve heard them called, squash-the-bug-in-the-corner shoes. They are absolutely hideous!” That is what went through my mind when I first saw the stiletto, power woman, shoes. “ How could anyone be remotely comfortable in something so….so….bleh?” Those were my thoughts about three years ago, before I began watching TLC’s What Not to Wear. I began to indulge myself a few times a week to watch Stacy and Clinton change the fashion of people, or should I say the lack thereof, forever. At first, I was not a fan of the shoes, then I began to be tolerant of them, finally, I gave in and bought my own pair because I had come to love these shoes! Stacy and Clinton thought they were fabulous, so I, of course, thought they were too. Stacy and Clinton are the masters of fashion, who would I be to go against them? Why would I want to try to conquer the world of fashion on my own when someone can tell me what’s hot and what’s not?

However, I have recently come to find that I have actually been another victim to advertising that comes across our televisions to create mindless slugs who cannot claim to have minds of their own because their original opinions are not original at all. They are merely copycats of those they see on TV. I did not think that this was bad because fashion is not the only thing in my life. But, as I pondered my existence and my so-called opinions, I realized that I rarely, if ever, have my very own opinions. This led me to wonder if anyone even had a mind of his or her own. The great American writer, Mark Twain, would agree with me when he said:

We know it is a matter of association and sympathy, not reasoning and examination; that hardly a man in the world has an opinion upon morals, politics, or religion which he got otherwise than through his associations and sympathies. Broadly speaking, there are none but corn-pone opinions. And broadly speaking, corn-pone stands for self-approval. Self-approval is acquired mainly from the approval of other people. The result is conformity. (221)

As an avid watcher of What Not to Wear, I began to look around and saw that many women were following the rules that were set forth by these highly acclaimed fashion artists. Thus, began my exhibition for “self-approval” or the admiration of the public (221). I was desperate to become consistent with the fashions of the world. I wanted to conform. As I have observed those around me I have concluded that people want to conform to others in their society, which can lead to mindless masses that can be controlled by whatever comes their way.

I am sure that some people would disagree with Twain about his depressed view point of the non-originality of the human race, yet let me further prove Twain’s point by giving an example that everyone can relate to: high school. This point in a person’s life is full of hormones, drama, classes, dating (is that redundant of hormones?), and clicks. When I refer to clicks, I am not talking about the remote to the TV. I am referring to the crowds of people that hang out together, dress similar, talk the same way, and even look like each other. The many different kinds of clicks in high school could lead a person to the deduction that these teens are not conforming, however, they are doing quite the contrary. These clicks are showing in a vivid way that people can conform to a variety of things. Typically, this conformity comes from the television. The “popular” crowds watch MTV or American Idol. The “emos” watch VH1. The “Goths” watch goth TV. The cowboys watch CMT. The nerds watch “Discovery.” The reason that television is used by so many to mimic others is because it is so entertaining. College professor, Neil Postman, has said, “The problem is not that TV presents the masses with entertaining subject matter, but that television presents all subject matter as entertaining” (182). This amusement is coming from the advertisements and programs that display the drivel that people conform to. These crowds are not making their own opinions. They are so lost that they have become mindless followers that cannot think for themselves.

Because the world is filled with people, it is justified to say that the world is thus full of conformers. Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World, described that the Nazis were in compliance to the system that Hitler enticed them with. However, Hitler made sure that the citizens were prepared before he helped the public correspond to his wishes. One way he did cause the people to become a mindless mass was to use the little technology they had to get his ideas to them. The people did not have television, like we do now, to get messages as to how they should act. Instead, Hitler coaxed the masses to become irrational crowds with the use of the loudspeaker. The use of the crowd was extremely important to Hitler because of the repercussions that can come from the large gatherings of people (75-77). As Huxley puts it “A crowd is chaotic, has no purpose of its own and is capable of anything except intelligent action and realistic thinking…they become very excitable, they lose all sense of individual or collective responsibility, they are subject to sudden accesses of rage, enthusiasm and panic” (77). It is as though crowds are what occupy our world today. People are not thinking for themselves, thus leading them to think what others are thinking. However, this can lead to a devastating fate, such as with Shakespeare’s character, Ophelia, in his play Hamlet. Ophelia did not make her own decisions and relied on those around her to make them. This eventually led to her insanity and suicide. Thomas G. Plummer, Brigham Young University professor, discusses Ophelia and her father Polonius, writing:

Ophelia does not know what she should think, and Polonius, reducing her to the stature of a baby, presumes to tell her. Polonius pontificates. He purports to know answers when he has none. He claims to have truth when he himself obscures it. He feigns expertise by virtue of his authority. (171)

This is precisely what is happening as people, such as What Not to Wear addicts, refer to the entertaining television to receive opinions. We are not doing our own abstract thinking, just as the Nazis never did as they were gathered in their crowds. We are relying on those that have the same or less knowledge than ourselves to make our minds up for us. Just as Ophelia relies on Polonius, we are relying on television to make up our own minds about what is popular, accepted, or worthy of our attention. The reason we do this is that we want so desperately to be a part of something. We wish for “self-approval,” yet, this is only obtained through our search for the admiration of the public eye (Twain, 221). Why are we giving up on the chance to have our own opinions and not just the opinions of those who have access to us through technology? We are people that want to conform, which means we may never separate from the world that tells us what to think.

Works Cited

Hartvigsen, M. Kip, ed. Thinking About Thinking. Mason, OH: Thomson Custom, 2001.
Huxley, Aldous. “Propaganda Under a Dictatorship.” Hartvigsen. 75-79.
Plummer, Thomas G. “Diagnosing and Treating the Ophelia Syndrome.” Hartvigsen. 171-179.
Postman, Neil A. “Amusing Ourselves to Death.” Hartvigsen. 181-185.
Twain, Mark. “Corn-pone Opinions.” Hartvigsen. 219-222.

i haven't written in a while...

2007-05-15T19:29:00.000-06:00

i haven't written anything for quite a while. I don't know why. i obviously have plenty of time to write and i also have the internet in my apartment up here in idaho. i have no excuses. i even browse and comment on other peoples blogs. i guess i was just lazy. Or...i just wasn't busy enough to blog.

i know that sounds crazy. i wasn't busy enough to blog? yes, thats right. I have a theory about this. The less things you have to do throughout the day, the smaller percentage of those things get done. The more things you have to do throughout the day, the bigger percentage of those things get done.

i don't know why this is true in my life, but it is. for example...in high school i was extremely busy. i was on two dance teams. One was for the school and the other was a private studio. My responsibilities for the school team were to be to practices, which were sometimes at 6am (usually during the end of the semester when i had a lot of tests to study for), perform in assemblies and sports half-times, choreograph dances, and plan fun activities. Then for the private studio i was required to go to classes 4-5 days a week for an average of 3 hours each day. On top of that i was going to conventions, competitions, and performing in recitals or charity events. if that wasn't enough i was taking honors classes, teaching some dance classes, cleaning the dance studio (well, my dad helped a lot with this) to pay for tuition, playing the piano for church and for fun, going to girls camp or youth conference, and trying to fit a social life in. To say the least, i was a busy girl! yet, i was able to get everything done with only a couple breakdowns throughout the years. somehow i pulled off straight A's almost every term. i really don't know how i did it and how i functioned with such little sleep! (well, my mom did provide cliff's notes for me because she would always see me asleep with my english books on my face while i was in bed). My point is, is that i was so busy, yet i got just about everything done!

now...i am married and going to college and being a janitor. But, jarred is at work for long hours a few days a week. I only am taking 4 classes and my janitorial job only goes from 4am-6:30ish am 5 days a week. so i am left with all sorts of time to waste away. I am still doing fine in my classes, but with all of my free time, you'd think i'd be getting A's on all my tests. I'm not failing at all, but with the hours of free time i have you'd think i would at least spend more than about an hour studing for tests.

Also, with all this free time, i don't fit in the blogging that i used to. Last fall semester i was pretty busy because i was going back and forth between rexburg and provo just about every weekend to plan a wedding and taking 5 classes, plus trying to lose weight so i could look good in a wedding dress. I did a lot more blogging than i have now when i have plenty of time to do it! blogging would add more of the business to my life, which helped me be able to get everything done.

The reason i'm blogging now is because i have a 5 page english paper due on thursday and since blogging makes my day a little busier, its the best thing to do with my time right now so that i will get my paper done for thursday. make sense? not really, but it works for me!

Kids do say the Darndist things!

2007-03-03T16:52:00.000-07:00

I'm a reading tutor at an elementary school. I go around to different classrooms and pull certain kids out that need help with their reading. A lot of these kids are Hispanic who have only been in the country for a year or two. they do surprisingly well. Its been a lot of fun helping them with their reading skills.

One time I got a girl from her 4th grade class. The story we were reading mentioned the Alps. I was explaining to her that they are mountains in Europe kind of like we have the Rocky Mountains here in Utah.

Of course me being from Utah I said moun'ains when I was explaining this.

Then she said:

"My grandma says that people who say moun'ains and not mountains are lazy"

I tried to keep my cool about this and just said something about Utah accents. I'm trying to teach her how to read and here she is critiquing my speech!

Okay, so I have a Utah accent. Her grandmother can just sue me.

Mommy can i please have a newspaper route?

2007-02-15T18:01:00.000-07:00

so, i was reading Lyle's blog (i would make it a link but i don't know how to do it) and i was reminded of the crazy times I've had while delivering newspapers. This is what i think of when someone talks about delivering newspapers:

1. The Journal is a newspaper that nobody, especially college students, cares about. My brother once dumped a whole bag full of The Journal newspapers into a dumpster to win a race in delivering them and NONE OF THE CUSTOMERS CARED!!! i always wondered how he would deliver to 20 doors and beat me when i only had 8 doors to deliver to.

2. speaking of those 8 doors i delivered to, there was an old man that lived at one of the houses and he was always on his porch when i came by. When i would hand him the newspaper he would be kind enough to give me a quarter. well, this happened so much that i came to expect it. One day he wasn't on the porch, so i rang the doorbell and when he answered the door i gave him the newspaper and said, do you have my quarter? yes, I'm a selfish little girl, but who cares, i got my money!

3. Could the Journal even be considered to be a real newspaper?

4. Delivering the Daily Harold is way worse than delivering the Journal. I think i came to this conclusion because i didn't know that delivering newspapers was the worst job in the world when i was young and delivering the Journal.

5. black hands, black walls, and angry mom. we would fold the newspapers in the kitchen and by the time we finished folding them all our hands were as black as.....well, newspaper ink. then since we were kids, we had to touch all around the light switches to turn on and off lights. My mom would be mad because not only did she hate the newspaper routes, but I'm pretty sure she hated that we turned everything that we touched black.

6. Big brothers are mean. this isn't necessarily only related to newspaper routes, but i remember being teased relentlessly by my brothers whenever we had to deliver newspapers. i don't remember anything exactly, but i know it happened. i think I've blocked it from my memory subconsciously.

7. I wonder if a certain family noticed how often i accidentally threw the newspaper onto the roof and not onto the porch. oops! i wasn't ever strong enough to throw the newspapers overhand, especially Sunday editions, from the sidewalk to the porch. So, instead i would lob it underhanded. Now when someone does this, the newspaper makes a huge rainbow like arch on the way to its destination. a lot of the time, the roof above the porch was in the way of the path of the newspaper. I think at some point there were about 5 newspapers on the roof. Now these people are my next door neighbors. hehe.

8. Newspaper routes ruin every holiday! i remember having to deliver papers on thanksgiving and Christmas. what a way to ruin someones two favorite holidays. wake up at 6am to deliver papers. yuck! one year on Christmas when i had to deliver papers, i decided to peek downstairs at some of my presents. I saw an American Girl Doll i had wanted for a long time down there and no one was there to see my excitement. i was mad that the newspaper route made me lose out on the excitement of me finding it for the first time with everyone around. I still acted excited when we all went downstairs to find our gifts, but it just wasn't the same.

well, that's all that i can think of. now instead of naive kids delivering newspapers, it's ladies from down south driving their minivans delivering the newspapers. what has happened to our society?

Sorry, I gotta go, the phone is ringing!

2007-02-03T14:16:00.000-07:00

I have been pretty busy lately ever since I got married. I'm working two jobs, one at Westridge and the other at Brent Brown Chevrolet as the receptionist. Jarred works at Brent Brown too, except he works outside in the cold while I'm inside in the warmth with a space heater under my desk.

There are some pretty interesting people in the car business and there are customers that are just as "special". Anyways, during slow times some of the salesman will occasionally come up and talk to me. Normally I'm okay with this because a lot of the guys here are nice enough. But then there are also the ones everyone else tries to avoid. However, I have a hard time avoiding these types because I have to stay at my desk in case a phone call comes in.

so this means that I'm stuck in a five square foot area while some guy is chomping up and down on his gum as spit flies out while he drones on about how selling cars is all in the mind. First of all, what the heck is that supposed to mean? Second of all, your weird!!!

okay, so I never said that to his face because I'm just too nice to do that. I've tried many ways to tactfully show that I am busy and can't talk, such as vigorously studying my philosophy textbook, but how long can anyone pretend to do that? I've also just not contributed to the conversation by just saying, "uhhuh, yeah, that's funny" but they don't get the clue that I'm not interested in talking with them.

so, I have come up with a new plan that just might work to keep the annoyers from talking to me for too long. On the phone that I use there is a button for how loud the volume is for the ringer. Normally I have it set to "off" because that way it only makes one small ring instead of one that keeps ringing and ringing when there are multiple people calling in at the same time. Anyways, when I push the button to make the ringer volume go up one notch it rings once to display how loud the ring will be.

Well, this will come in very handy when a salesman is blabbing on and on to me about who knows what. All I will have to do is slide my finger up to that button and push it once and the phone will "ring". I have to answer all the phone calls, which means I have to stop talking to whoever I'm talking to and pick up the phone. Then I will just say my little line of introduction to a dial tone and "transfer" them to someone then that will be that. If they are still at my desk after I'm off the phone then I will just do it again.

I think this is a brilliant plan! Hopefully it isn't too cruel. Should I not be such a pansy and just tell the salesman that I don't want to talk to him? What would you do?

what the? i'm married!?

2007-01-12T11:19:00.000-07:00

I still can't believe that I'm a married woman. it is 2 weeks to the day now of being married. that is so weird. there aren't a whole lot of new things, but heres a list of things I've noticed that are different now that I'm married:

1. my hubby is very clean and organized...I'm not always perfectly clean and organized. but I would like to be, so he's a good example.

2. having someone in the same bed as me makes it a little weird to sleep. i'm getting used to it now, but at first it was hard to get a good nights rest because when he would move then i would sort of wake up.

3. i'm living with a boy! i've been rooming with girls for the past 2 and a half years.

4. i am buying coffee creamer to help wake us up in the morning. just kidding, he is lactose intollerent, and he doesn't like soy dream, so he uses coffee creamer on his cereal. it doesn't have an extremely bad taste, but i'm definitely sticking to regular milk from the cow.

5. since he is so organized i see him folding his DIRTY laundry and putting it into the basket. i haven't exactly picked up that habit, but i have picked up his habit of separating the laundry into lights and darks as we put it into the dirty laundry basket. it really does make doing laundry easier.

6. i'm buying more food than normal. and whats with utah prices of food? milk costs $2.30? at least? i so like the rexburg prices better. milk $1.89. that was the good life i guess.

7. no internet in the apartment. i'm weeping inside.

8. old 70's furniture. not that its bad because i'd rather have a couch and chairs than nothing. but they just look funny.

9. i'm decorating my own place. i think i only decorated my own room a couple times growing up, so i'm pretty new at this. i'm trying to do cool stuff, but i haven't watched While You Were Out in a while, so i don't know if what i'm doing is cool or not.

10. last but not least, my new name is mrs. Brandt! thats so cool, but if you call that name while my back is turned i probably won't respond to it. i still need to get used to it.

so, do these things sound like normal things to get used to in a marriage? things will only get more different when we start having kids. but don't hold your breath, there is no honeymoon baby.

HOLY COW!!!!!!

2006-12-28T08:56:00.000-07:00

I AM GETTING MARRIED TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!

I AM GOING ON A HONEYMOON TRIP TOMORROW!!!!!!!!

WAHOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

the only bad thing right now is trying to figure out that darn insurance coverage business! it is a pain in the neck!

Finals just might kill me!

2006-12-14T14:38:00.000-07:00

finals = near death experience.

i think i've even seen the light...the light of the testing center! people just tell me to go towards the light, but instead of the light of heaven i think it is the light from the flames of, well, you know where.

Testing is of the devil. who agrees with me?

okay, so testing in general is not of the devil, but having 6 tests in one week is!!! whats up with that!? i've taken 4 of my 6 tests for this week and i think i've done pretty good on most of them. tomorrow i have 2 big finals.

one of my finals is a clinical final for my medical assisting class. i take it with a partner. One person is the medical assistant and the other is the patient. one little fun thing we get to do is give intramuscular shots...like the typical shot you would get in your deltoid. the only scary thing though, is that we have never given shots on an actual person before! that means that i'm being tested on something i've never actually done before! not only that, but i will be getting a shot from someone who has never given a shot on a person before, but she has given them on cows before. i don't know if thats very comforting though. she's used to being forceful and just sticking the needle into the cow, i sure hope she doesn't treat me like a cow!

the other final i have is on medical terminology. i hope i do well on that test, although i'm spending some of my study time for that test writing this blog. i'm sure i'll do fine, at least i think i will. i'm crossing my fingers.

then on monday i have my last 2 finals of the semester! i can't wait to get them over with because that means i get to go home and see my fiance, celebrate christmas, and then get married! i'm a crazy woman, but pretty soon i'll get to relax and have fun on my honeymoon. i just can't wait to get to that point. until then...i'm going to be the psycho in idaho.

Wedding Plans

2006-11-15T13:48:00.000-07:00

Everyone has heard of the disasters that come with planning a wedding. The dress was left at home, the best man didn't pick up the tuxedos, the bride used sunless tanner and her face was orange, or non of the pictures turned out right. Well, so far with wedding plans for me and jarred, nothing has gone wrong!

We've been going crazy every weekend that i'm in provo to get things done for the wedding and there has been no disasters to speak of! Every picture we've taken has turned out perfectly, my dress fits great (of course i can't gain any weight between now and December 29th), i haven't put on that sunless tanner stuff and i don't plan to, and the decorations are coming along just great. I haven't even been fighting with my mom.

things have gone so smoothly, but i am just waiting for the day when something huge happens, which will probably be the actual wedding day. Since the wedding day is on December 29th, it will probably be a blizzard. Plus, i'll most likely be sick. With this combonation i'll probably get a runny nose and then the snot will freeze as it runs out of my nose. Then, forever more i will be remembered as the frozen snot-nosed bride. of course, this is probably the worst that will happen, but it could still happen. I'm definately going to pack some klenex before i leave for the temple.

Does anyone have some advice for me on the day of the wedding or any kind of advice i would need for planning the wedding? i would love to have other peoples' opinions.

Oops...I didn't vote

2006-11-09T19:36:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's right! I didn't vote on Tuesday. Could my vote have helped republicans to keep their 12 year streak of majority in congress, I don't think so. Sometimes it's hard to want to vote when I know that my vote is so small in the whole scheme of things. Plus, I'm in Idaho right now and I forgot to get an absentee ballot for Utah. oops.

Okay, now don't get me wrong, I do want to vote. I realize that we are extremely blessed in this country to even have the right to vote for who leads our country. But, i also don't want to vote when I don't know the platforms of those in the runnings. That's another reason that I didn't vote. I didn't know anything about anything about the issues. In my apartment up here in Rexburg, I feel so excluded from the outside world. Not only am I in REXBURG IDAHO, but my apartment doesn't have a TV to watch the news from. Okay, okay, I could have looked it up online...but really, who wants to do that. I have better things to do with my time, like reading blogs, talking to Jarred, and reading about hoaxes on snopes.com.

However, I do want to be someone that votes, especially when Jarred and I start having kids (how crazy will that be!? I don't look like a mom!). I want to set a good example. So, my goal for the next elections coming up in 2 years is to study out the platforms and issues and to actually go vote! I think I can do it! maybe...

all of this talking about voting reminds me of the movie You've Got Mail. you know, when meg ryan and that one guy are in the movie theater and she says, "I forgot to vote. I went and got a manicure and I forgot to vote." but, the line before that is that best. the guy says, "you want me to be quiet while a hotdog is singing?" If you don't get these quotes, then go watch the movie. The whole thing is good and filled with great lines.

being the right kind of wife

2006-10-20T14:48:00.000-06:00

I just read an article that Helen Andelin wrote. its about the wife's role in a marriage. there were some parts of this article that made sense to me, but for the most part it made me furious about the way she thought women should be. here are some of my favorite lines from the article, "Fascinating Womanhood":

"To be loved and cherished is woman's highest goal in marriage. This book is written to restore your hope in such a goal-and to suggest principles which you must apply in winning man's genuine love" (I do want to be loved and cherished, i agree with that).

"Not only is love necessary to woman, but if she is to be truly happy in marriage she must be able to have the things that
are dear to her heart. She is a human being with human needs, longings and right" ( i think this is true).

"If man does not love with heart and soul, it is entirely the woman's fault. Man ceases to adore and cherish a woman after marriage, because she ceases to do the things which arouse these feelings" (maybe she ceases to do this because he ceases to be kind to her? i'm not saying that happens with everyone, but i don't think all the blame should be on the woman).

"This book will teach the art of winning a man's complete love and adoration. It isn't necessary for the man to
know or do anything a bout the matter" (what? women are responsible for both hers and his love in the relationship? is the man not responsible for his own feelings?)

"The role of man, we have learned is to lead, protect and provide for woman." (i agree with this, but she takes it to an extreme).

"How Do We Acquire Feminine Dependency?....Eliminating the Man's Work. I refer to any masculine responsibility -such as mowing the lawn., painting, carrying heavy boxes, carpentry, earning a portion of the living, MAKING MAJOR DECISIONS, handling the money problems and WORRIES, making a long distance trip alone., braving the dark., facing the creditors, and repairing the furnace..... Be inefficient in masculine tasks. DELIBERATELY retain some of the lesser masculine duties and do them INEFFICIENTLY to PROVE your dependency. If it is the furnace that needs fixing replace some of the parts backwards or fail to get it running at all. If you paint -miss some parts and if you install a towel rack - FAIL to attach it level. If you must make decisions, be FLUTTERING and INDICISIVE. Don't feel deceitful about doing this. Women are supposed to be INFERIOR in the masculine duties. If you are not it is because you have taken on UNNATURAL capability." emphasis added. (heaven forbid a woman helps in making major decisions. she must act too stupid to do this so that the man can feel smart and superior to her)

"Remember that by nature you are not capable. If you, have any masculine capabilities you have acquired them unnaturally." (i think i'm unnatural since i know how to put oil in the car and am smart enough to be able to figure out how to put a shelf up since i can read the instructions)

"Try to avoid the expressions "Let's do this," or "I think it would be nice if we were to do this," or "Wouldn't it be nice if we could build a bookcase in this end of the living room," or "Don't you think we should enlarge the patio?" If you are really seeking his opinion, this approach is the proper one. But if you are anxious to have your desire granted it is a poor approach for these attitudes cause you to appear on either an EQUAL or a superior position and invite an opposing view." (isn't a marriage between husband and wife about being EQUAL partners).

" If you are selfish, neglectful, of your home and appearance, and will not fix your husband his meals on time and have failed to become fascinating, he will not be inclined to bend himself to fill your just desires." (I don't think a marriage can work when the husband or wife are being selfish or neglectful, but heavan forbid if you house gets a little messy or his meal isn't hot and on the table at exactly 5:30pm!!! if you don't do that while your appearance is perfect then he has no obligation to do anything for you)

Those are my most favorite lines in the article that i read. Don't get me wrong, i'm not a complete feminist crazy lady, but i do believe in there being equality in a marriage. I also believe that men and women have different roles in life too. This article made it seem as though the way for women to be loved is to become stupid and obsolete compared to men.

It also gave me the impression that men are perfect and women are the ones that need to change and submit every part of their lives to their husband. I think that neither men or women are perfect and neither one should be made out to seem as if they are. This article says that things that are dear to a womans heart are important too. yes i agree with that, but what if a woman likes to be able to work thiings out herself? thats one thing that i love to do! i love figuring things out for myself, i feel like i have accomplished something, but according to this article, that makes me unnatural and too masculin.

I feel that if a man wants to feel masculin compared to a woman that has done something with her life, he shouldn't run away from her, but rather he must step up to the plate and match her knowledge and willingness to be somebody in the world. The woman shouldn't have to "dumb herself up," the man should rise to her level.

what are your reactions to these quotes from the article? if you want a copy of the whole thing, just ask for it.

i would have put my remarks in italicize, but i don't know how to do that with blogger. maybe i should ask a man.

(all of the grammer mistakes in the quotes are from mistakes in the article...obviously this woman hadn't relyed on her husband enough for him to correct these mistakes for her)

i hate school

2006-10-03T13:33:00.000-06:00

10 reasons why i hate school

1. i have to be away from jarred
2. i have to live in idaho
3. school gets in the way of my college life
4. it costs way too much money
5. only seeing jarred on the occasional weekend
6. some of the lame nit-picky parts of the dress code are of the devil
7. doing homework that is really just busy work
8. being around self-righteous people
9. not being able to see jarred everyday
10. walking to school when it is windy and freezing outside

Okay, so i do like school, but i just hate that jarred and i have to still be in a long distance relationship. I don't know if anyone else has had to do this before, but it is not fun! maybe i am able to get a little more homework done, but i would rather give up homework time if i could live in the same city as jarred.

on another note, jarred and i are looking for a cheap place to live in january. we will only need to live there for a few months since we will temporarily move up to rexburg for me to finish school. does anyone have any ideas?

Best Birthday Ever!!!

2006-09-11T12:37:00.000-06:00

yesterday was my birthday and i turned 21!!! how weird! but, i am now able to legally drink my favorite beer--Becks Beer. Also, i can go gambling in vegas without being thrown out by security. Thats pretty much the good stuff. But thats not why i had the best birthday ever...

on september 10, 2006, my boyfriend, jarred, proposed to me!!!!!!!!
I AM NOW ENGAGED!!!!!!!

jarred took me up to mount timponogas temple to go on a walk and i was a bit suspicious until he asked me when my dad was available during the day to ask his permission. i was a little bummed because he hadn't even asked my dad yet. after one lap around the temple we went to the car and he opened up the trunk and there was a present in there for me.

so we went to a bench to open it. when i did, it was a binder and it said, "happy birthday Becky Lynn" on the front. when i opened the binder, it was a scrap book of our story. he had taken pictures of important parts of our relationship...like where our first date was, where our first kiss was and other things we've done as a couple. there were also fun pictures of us together and words that narrated the page.

Then on the last page there was a picture of the timponogas temple and a poem and at the end of the poem it said, "Will you marry me?" once i had read that, he got down on one knee and formally asked me. of course i said yes! it was so amazing and i am so excited to be married to the man of my dreams!!!!!

the good/bad of summer ending

2006-08-19T22:42:00.000-06:00

Summer is almost over. It feels like it just started too! But, the sooner summer is over the faster december will come and i am very excited for december to come!!! and i'm not just talking about Christmas presents.

Top Ten Things I Love About Summer

1. sleeping on top of the covers
2. drinking ice cold lemonade
3. viking hot dogs that taste delicious. (a student made business on campus that ends when their class is over).
4. making a run to artic circle with roommates for ice cream because it's too hot to eat anything else.
5. summer rain storms
6. going canoeing and rafting
7. going to school without working
8. wearing skirts and not freezing to death
9. hiking with friends
10. classes with friends named zinc

Bottom ten

1. sweating like a mongoose when you've only been outside for a few minutes
2. going to school in the summer
3. having to wear long pants to class
4. not wearing flip-flops to class because it is against the dress code and then seeing everyone else wearing flip-flops
5. not having a swimming pool in rexburg to cool off in
6. getting sunburned
7. seeing people wear scantily clad clothes that don't exactly flatter their body shape
8. stores selling bakinis with cute fabric and one piece suits with ugly fabric
9. seeing other people that get tan easily and then looking at yourself and wondering why your skin lights up a dark room because of how white it is
10. not being able to cook something yummy in the oven because it just makes the apartment way too hot

so theres my top and bottom ten about summer. mostly i am sad to see summer is over. theres about a million more people on campus now that fall semester has started and i don't really like that. i liked the small campus feeling that summer semester has. i didn't get claustraphobic from all the crowds of students in the summer. Now, i can barely walk down the isles of the grocery store without going crazy. oh well, i guess thats just life.

Pet Peeves

2006-07-17T09:51:00.000-06:00

I am an understanding person, most of the time. I do not mind if someone would like to burp out loud, wear funny clothes, or even pick their nose. But, when someone scrapes their shoes along the sidewalk as they travel from place to place, or refuses to fill up an empty or partially empty ice tray, I go insane!

The searing pain that the scraping shoes bring to my ears is like the scratching of fingernails on a chalkboard. It is extremely irritating! People must be lazy because they cannot simply lift their feet a few millimeters to keep their shoes from scraping the ground. If I could get people to stop this asinine habit, it will not only benefit me, but it will help them as well. Not only will they begin their process of not being annoying anymore, but their shoes will last longer.

My other issue is with people that refuse to fill the ice trays after ice has been used. This is laziness in its purest form! It literally only takes five seconds to walk to the sink and fill the empty tray with water. If this simple task is completed, then next time they or someone else wants to quench their thirst with an ice-cold beverage, they can. I hate when I am craving an ice-cold drink and when I pull out the tray I discover that it is empty! Contempt fills my heart as I drink only semi-cold water.

Like I said before, I am an understanding person, but if a person crosses me with either of these two pet peeves, neither they nor I will be happy.

it's not winter, but that's not going to stop me from writing about skiing

2006-07-13T18:27:00.000-06:00

I haven't posted anything in a while, so here's a paper I wrote for my English class. Hopefully I get a good grade on it.

The Crash

One of the greatest sports around is snow skiing. My dad taught my siblings and I how to ski when we were eight years old. Even today, my dad continues to teach and give me advice about skiing. He has been involved in this sport for years and does not want me to make the same ridiculous mistakes he has made while skiing. I have learned that when it comes to skiing, I must listen to the advice my dad has given me.

One memorable winter season, I had the opportunity to go skiing at Jackson Hole Ski Resort. This time I was not with my dad, but rather with a former boyfriend, Chris. We were having an incredible day together. The snow was not the greatest; rather, it was packed snow, but this meant it was easier to ski extremely fast.

Because I am an adventurous person, I yearn to ski fast. I had long passed Chris down the slope and loved the thrill of the wind cutting against my cheeks as I skied as fast as I could. As I was racing along, the words from my dad came to mind, “If you don’t know a run, don’t ski fast down it.” I did not know the ski runs of Jackson Hole at all, but I desperately wanted to feel the adrenalin rushing through my veins as my speed increased. I felt confident with my skiing and refused to slow down.

As I was making fast carved-turns down a particular run, I came to a hill that sloped down, flattened to a plateau for a few yards, and then descended to a decently steep hill. This type of change in slope made for a perfect jump if a person is traveling fast enough. I came to this part of the run and it caught me off guard as I sailed through the air about a foot off the ground. I was very grateful that I landed it. Then, unbeknownst to me, the run repeated this same change in slope nearly immediately after I had landed my first jump. I was too proud to slow down, nor did I have the time to do so. I launched myself off the jump and the next thing I knew, I was sailing through the air once again. This time I was a couple feet higher off the ground, not to mention, I did not take off quite as well as the first time. I began to tilt to the left as I was soaring through the air. I gripped my poles hard and had the time to think in my head, “This is going to hurt!” Suddenly, I hit the hard packed snow like a ton of bricks. First my left leg, then my shoulder slammed into the ground, and finally my head rebounded against the cement-like snow. I tumbled and somersaulted for a few yards, creating a “yard-sale” crash. My skis, poles, goggles, and hat were strewn across the run as though they were for sale. I finally stopped sliding down the mountain. I was stunned and had a hard time catching my breath.

I lay in the snow for what seemed like hours, but in reality, just a few minutes. My head and left knee ached from all the banging and tumbling. Finally Chris showed up. I did not move for the next several minutes. The ski patrol saw that I had clearly crashed and advised me with the warning, “You better try and move to the side because some idiots ski down this hill pretty fast and they could run into you.” I tried to contain my laughter as I thought, “I’m one of those idiots!” Chris and I gathered my equipment and I moved to the side of the run. I decided after a number of minutes that I was ready to cautiously ski down the mountain. I was feeling good for the first five minutes, when suddenly, my left knee began to feel as though it were being twisted and contorted with every turn. I did not want to stop skiing because I was so close to the bottom of the run. I then began to feel nauseas and the only thing I wanted to do was throw up, luckily, I made it to the lodge with no problems besides limping extremely slow. Sadly, I was done skiing for the day.

I had not listened to my dad’s advice. Because of this, my ski day at Jackson Hole was over, just half way through the day. Also, the rest of the winter 2005 ski season was done and over with for me, even though there were some great ski days left. I had chosen to ignore the wise insight from my dad, which caused me to have a terrible day and ski season.

a story from the past

2006-06-13T00:49:00.000-06:00

My life right now is not too exciting, so I don't have any stories to tell. But, I wanted to blog something, so here is a story from my past.

When I was in kindergarten we used to have story time. Probably the best part of the day, besides the snack. (We usually got a roll and a carton of milk, but I never wanted my milk because it tasted gross since it came from a cardboard carton, so I would try to throw it away without anyone seeing. I wanted people to think that I drank it when I really didn't.)
The teacher would have us all come sit inside a square on the floor and we got to look at the pictures when she read the story to us.

We weren't allowed to talk, but I was feeling daring one day and started to whisper to someone sitting next to me. Well, I got in trouble because I was talking during story time and I had to go sit underneath the teacher's desk with the other bad kids while she read the rest of the story. I could still hear her, but I couldn't look at the cool pictures. I was so ashamed and embarrassed that I had gotten into trouble. It was the first time I had gotten into trouble at school. Luckily, I wasn't too bored underneath the desk because there were a bunch of magnetic letters on the side of the desk that I got to play with. I don't think I ever talked out of turn till fifth and sixth grade, where I made up for all the talking I didn't do before. Good times.

That's all I have right now, maybe I'll have something better to blog about in a bit.

My 7 Sevens

2006-05-31T23:49:00.000-06:00

7 Things I want to do before I die:

1. Live in Italy for at least a year
2. Get married in the temple
3. Go surfing
4. Own 100 pairs of cute high heels (i'm only on 10 right now)
5. Get a descent nights sleep
6. Pass Chem 105
7. Paint a picture

7 Things I cannot do:

1. A standing backflip
2. Not pop my zits
3. Sew a quilt
4. Take a shower every single day (I can take a shower every other day though)
5. See The Beatles live in concert
6. Play the harp
7. eat plain tomatoes

7 Things that attract me to my boyfriend:

1. Tall, dark, and handsome!
2. His kindness to everyone
3. always opens the door for me
4. easy to talk to
5. His sense of humor and his laugh
6. The fact that he honors the priesthood (this sounds corny, but I really like this quality)
7. his kisses!

7 Things I say often:

1. that's so lamesauce!
2. hey, whats goin' on?
3. Sorry, I can't go, I have to study (this is a new phrase that I have said mostly this semester)
4. your mom's face! (said after someone says a "your mom" joke)
5. yeah. (said like the rapper Lil' John)
6. I didn't go to BYU- Provo because I wanted to move out and plus I got a scholarship to BYU-Idaho (I repeat this phrase almost everytime someone up here at BYU-I asks where I'm from because inevidably they will ask why I didn't go to BYU-Provo)
7. shoot!

7 Books I love:

1. The DaVinci Code - even though it is so cliche to say that now.
2. Harry Potter series
3. Where the Red Fern Grows - makes me cry every time.
4. Fantastic Mr. Fox - the first book I ever really loved. I think I read it at least 10 times when I was younger.
5. Tuesdays With Moury
6. Mayo Clinic Book. I have never read it all the way through, but I love looking up diseases in it and finding out about them. I know, I know, its a weird habit.
7. SeinLanguage - one of the most hilarious books I have ever read.

7 Movies I could watch over and over again:

1. Sleepless in Seatle
2. Pride and Prejudice (the 6 hour one and the new one)
3. My dance recital DVDs
4. Tommy Boy
5. While You Were Sleeping
6. Better Off Dead
7. Fried Green Tomatoes

7 People who I would like hear 7 sevens:

1. Blogga tigga
2. Chebwecca
3. Mat6t
4. Smart Alec
5. Debboe
6. Lodown, I think you've been tagged already, but you don't have a list up yet.
7. anyone else who feels like they could make a descent 7 sevens list.

stuff i've noticed

2006-05-23T10:36:00.000-06:00

I'm not a huge observer, but when I do observe the world around me, this is what I see:

1. Middle-aged people run funny. This is something that I've noticed from several adults that try to run. I'm not saying that I look like a model when I run, but some adults just look so awkward when they run. Like they are in agony as they attempt to keep their ams still as they are getting from one place to the next in a hurry. When they were in their youth I'm sure they knew how to run, but its like they are reverting back to when they were really young and running was an awkward event.

2. My chemistry teacher is cartoon character. Those of you that have seen The Simpsons, keep reading. My teacher is exactly like the science nerd from the show. He even has a nasally voice like the cartoon guy. The only thing he's missing is the glasses, but I think I could arrange it to make him wear glasses. I almost expect my teacher to start yelling "Glavin'" like the science nerd. If he would say that, it would be the happiest day of my life!

3. I'm a terrible Sunday School pupil. So, I was called to be a Gospel Doctrine teacher in my ward and I taught my first lesson last Sunday. I was extremely nervous to teach this class because I don't know a whole lot about the Old Testament. The Sunday before that I even fell asleep in the class! I didn't comment and didn't read the lesson before hand the week before either. Well, ever since teaching yesterday, I realized that I am a terrible pupil for church classes. I did see a girl that was "resting her eyes" during my class, and I had to just laugh to myself because I thought, "if I wasn't teaching the lesson, thats what I would be doing."

4. I'm not very observant. I haven't observed anything else. I'll try and observe more stuff that happens in Idaho so I can write better observations some other time.

wednesday's list

2006-05-17T16:36:00.000-06:00

I can't think of anything right now that deserves a top 10, so instead of wednesday's top and bottom ten, I'm just doing a Wednesday List. (aka- random thoughts circulating throughout my head)

1. sheep aren't really cuddly in real life.

2. why did glow in the dark stars get so popular?

3. music from back when is usually better than music from now.

4. I'm not a big fan of lab partners that write really slowly because then I don't get the lab done.

5. I'm pretty sure that laughing hysterically burns a lot of calories.

6. sugar pie honey bunch!

7. you know that I love you.

8. I can't help myself.

9. Reeses Puffs are delicious.

10. and nutritious!

11. milk is expensive, so is cheese.

12. maybe I'll go into the dairy business.

13. shag carpet.

14. why do people think that me and my roommate Becky R. are sisters?

15. Who would name two of their children the same name?! Duh!

16. It's not a good idea to play an intense game of basketball when you're pregnant.

17. 6.022 x 10^23 = mole.

18. "my life gets more fabulous everyday!"

19. said three times a day out loud.

20. easiest, yet most embarrasing assignment ever!

21. its hot, but windy, so it comes out pretty even.

22. country music = delightful music.

23. country = delightful.

24. thats just math.

25. rap music = c + rap music

26. rap = crap

27. thats a true statement.

28. This blog only contains fact.

29. The Colbert Report

30. Truth with a capital C.

A Return to Wednesday Top and Bottom Ten

2006-05-10T20:14:00.000-06:00

A long time ago I had a feature called Wednesday Top and Bottom Ten, but I only did it a few times. So, since I am sick of studying (I'm only 3 days into the semester), I've decided to start this feature once again.

GOING TO SCHOOL AT BYU-IDAHO

Top Ten

1. It's easier than BYU-Provo.

2. I can say things like "up a crick" without people laughing at me.

3. I'm smart enough to get a scholarship here. As opposed to BYU-Provo, which thunks I'm dum or somethin.

4. Super-fun roommates who I can laugh with till I cry.

5. Playing croquet with my friends Dan and Jessica. We want to form a club because it is such a cool sport.

6. Doing what I like, when I like to do it.

7. Meeting new people.

8. Having bonfires in the wilderness. Not some wussy bonfire, a real one. It is Idaho, there's nobody around to object.

9. Being within walking distance of almost everything in town.

10. Playing Ultimate-Frisbee on an intramural team.

Bottom Ten

1. No free food.

2. No free Rent.

3. No car.

4. Having to wear long pants or skirts on campus. Even in the summer time! No shorts or capris allowed on campus.

5. Seeing the really hick cowboys with their nasty wrangler jeans and huge belt buckles. Where do they come off being skinnier than me!

6. Being away from fun friends in Provo.

7. No good dance studios to take classes at. I suppose I could just teach somewhere if I could find the time.

8. No Provo Fro Yo. The best frozen yogurt in town!

9. Not having a TV in my apartment, so no more being a couch potato. Now I HAVE to spend my time studying.

10. No more competitive all nighters playing "Settler's of Catan" with the family. Its such an addicting game. I believe I'm going through withdrawals.

There you have it! the top and bottom ten reasons for going to school at BYU-Idaho. They aren't in any particular order, except for the first three things in the bottom ten.

gone studyin'

2006-05-05T14:32:00.000-06:00

Today is my last day in Provo for quite a while. I'm moving onto bigger and better things. Rexburg, Idaho. Okay, so its not exactly bigger or better, but I am moving. I think that I have been in a sort of denial about moving because I didn't even start packing till a few hours ago. Now I am just procastinating by writing this post. I'm giving up free food and rent (I invested in the living at home deal), to take a killer chemistry class, english, a communications class, general psychology, religion, and a golf class. All this during the summer. I must be crazy because I'm also paying for this torture. Hopefully the golf class is worth the money. I'm hoping to become the female version of Tiger Woods, just not black. I can't change my race, but I would if I could. well, I better get to packing. Maybe after a good game of sudoku.

born free

2006-04-27T18:47:00.000-06:00

Today was the last day of my job at Thai Chili Gardens. I have had the song "Born Free" stuck in my head all day. I only know the part with the words born free so I just keep singing that part over and over again, but I don't mind. As I was reflecting on my time working at the restaurant, I realized that there are definitely some things I will not miss. Such as, the most annoying cook in the world. He is the owner's immature son. I think in his head he actually thought he was black. I couldn't count the amount of times he said "word" or "that's the bomb" each day. (said with an attempt- to- be- a- rapper accent). His annoyingness was overwhelming. I will also not miss the whiny girls I worked with. Now, instead of their bellyaching, I can listen to something good, like fingernails scratching a chalkboard. Last, but not least, I will certainly not miss the annoying customers. The ones that don't appreciate anything you do for them or the ones that leave crappy tips, or the ones that demand your full attention when the restaurant is packed and you're the only server working.

There are however, some things I will miss. The owner's wife (Mon) is hilarious. Well, I usually don't know what she's saying because the only English she knows are the words on the menu, but she has the best laugh. I love it. Then there is another cook that is really nice and she knows a little more English than Mon. I feel bad for her because she has to spend the whole day in the kitchen with the annoying cook. There's also the regulars that come in that I will miss. The ones that order the same thing every time. I don't know why they don't get anything else, but if they like what they get, then that's okay with me. Last of all I will definitely miss the free Thai food. It is such delicious food. I will most likely go through withdrawals when I move back to Rexburg. But I guess that's a risk I'm going to have to make for the sake of my education.

If you ever do go to Thai Chili Gardens you have to try the following:

Spicy Pad Ped with Beef and Jasmin Rice
Chicken Satay
Golanga Coconut Soup and
the egg rolls

take it from me, these things are delicious.

New iBook!!!

2006-04-16T14:23:00.000-06:00

Yes, it is true, I have bought myself a new laptop, an Apple iBook G4 to be exact. Now I no longer need to constantly be on my little brother's computer in his filthy room, I can now just do as I please in the privacy of my own filthy room. I have been trying to figure out how everything works because this is the first time I have ever had a Mac. So I am a little dumb at things, but hopefully my skills will improve. One thing that I needed to try out immediately, besides itunes, was the DVD player. It is such an important componant to this laptop that even though it was late at night I needed to make sure that the DVD player worked well under the conditions of me being in a comfy bed setting while watching movies. I have found that it works, but just to be safe, I will need to test this again and again.
I guess I just wanted the world to know that I am excited to have a new laptop. Yippee!!!

dance fever

2006-04-11T22:21:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I went to my singles ward FHE Oscars. There were four fabulous movies that were played and I played gurtrude in the oscar award winning movie "Love is a Battlefield." Well actually all the movies got some type of award because even though we are in college we still need to all get a prize, like when we were three. Well I guess if I didn't get a prize I would feel really sad. Back to the story. I was also a co-choreographer of the big dance scene, that, in my opinion, every movie should have. Our movie was pretty much just a compilation of a few movies from the 80's. We had a grandpa reading to a sick bulldog (a guy dressed up in the Provo High mascot suit that mysteriously disappeared a few years ago) like in Princess Bride. There was a guy holding a stereo above his head in front of a girl's house for a long time, like in one of the many 80's movies that John Cusack is in. Then there was a break up scene like in Better Off Dead, where the girl finds it in her best interest to date someone who drives a better car. (Another movie with John Cusack) And then there was the greatest part of the whole movie, the dance scene from Ferris Bueller's Day Off. This was the dance scene that I was c0-choreographer of, well actually we just learned the steps from the movie, but who cares.

The weekend before the oscars our group got together and filmed the entire movie. We all dressed up in our 80's clothes that we secretly love and ran around BYU campus filming scenes. We caught a lot of peoples eyes and when I looked into their eyes I could see the jealousy in them because we looked so cool. or was it a look of pity. either way, people were looking at us. After hours of practicing on the stairs outside the Marriot Center we finally were able to film the twist and shout dance. We even had a section of people sliding down the railings, it was amazing.

After the editing was all done, we had a private viewing of the movie for the actors/actresses only. It was then that I realized that I will never be an actress. I simply don't have the "it" factor. It is a rare quality and I have accepted the fact that if I moved to hollywood I would'nt make a dime. It was also then that our entire group realized that our movie made little to no sense at all. We tried to take every 80's movie and weave them together into one beautiful tapestry of 80'sness. Instead we got a pile of... well lets just say it didn't quite turn out like I thought it would. I'm not saying I didn't like it because I did, I just think that its one of those things where if you weren't personally involved, then it doesn't make sense and its not really funny. But it was all worth it to get the "Doggy Flick of the Year" award. I guess they gave us that award because we had a big bulldog in our movie, very creative.

Putting People to Sleep 101

2006-03-21T22:37:00.000-07:00

I have to give a talk in church on Sunday. Most people end up saying that they ended up being happy about giving a talk, but I have a sneaking suspicion that I will only be glad when it’s over. I put some thoughts together and when I practiced saying it aloud, I realized that I am an extremely boring speaker! I don't know how to make anything funny when I’m talking about a house of prayer and a house of fasting. Plus, almost everyone in the ward is a returned missionary and I’m just some dope trying to say something they haven't heard before. Yeah, right. People usually like hearing stories, so I thought, "hey, I'll tell a great personal story." Only one thing wrong with that, I don't think I have a personal story about prayer or fasting. Maybe I could just make one up or I should actually do some real research and find a true story. Either way, I’m going to have to write another talk. I think I should start out by saying, "So, when brother Carter asked me to give a talk I was like, hey man I don't think so, " then I would sit down. hahaha, too bad that doesn't take up my whole 9 minutes that I’m supposed stand up in front of the entire ward for, feeling like, what’s the phrase, oh, yeah, a puss head. Hmm, I’ve never used that phrase before, but I don't think I would like feeling like a puss head.

Its been a while

2006-03-05T20:29:00.000-07:00

I know that I was never very consistent with writing blogs, but it has really been a long time since i have written one. I would want to write about something, but then I felt like I never had anything good to write about. I don't really have anything good now, but I felt impressed to blog.

I am working as a waitress, (well i guess to be politically correct, server) at Thai Chili Gardens in Orem. Its my first time being a server and I have to say that its not that bad. When I went in to turn in my application, the owner asked me, "Have you ever been a server before?" Now all i understood was blah blah blah server blah. (sidenote: I have a really hard time understanding accents) So I said, "what?" and he asked again and this time all i heard was blah blah blah server before?" So, taking a guess I said "I haven't, but I have had plenty of experience working with food at Domino's." I guess this was the right answer because I started work 3 days later.

I was really excited to start working because that meant money which meant i would be able to eat and live under a roof during the next two semesters of school, but i was still a little nervous about the whole not understanding my boss when he attempted to speak english thing. Lo and behold, on Monday I found out that the cook is his wife, Mon, who speaks very little english with an even thicker accent, and his mother-in-law, who we call grandmon, (we don't actually know her real name) doesn't speak any english at all.

That morning I was trained for about an hour by another server and then they tried to help me memorize the menu. After that the lunch rush started and I was pretty much on my own. I was pretty good at taking peoples orders, but when people would ask me a question I was just like a deer in the head lights because I felt like I didn't know anything about anything. Then it was time to take out their food and I didn't know what any of the food was. Then started some of the craziness with the cooks. I would ask what something was and they would say something and I didn't know what they said, so I would guess what food they said and they would say somthing supposedly in english back to me, but I wouldn't understand anything. This would go on for a bit until another server would come into the kitchen and would tell me what the food was in nonaccented english.

A lot of the foods we have to garnish with some shredded carrots or parsley and when I would forget to do this Grandmon, who doesn't speak any english, would grab my arm and say, "eh, eh" and wave her hand at the carrots. I would garnish the food and as I would leave I could hear Grandmon saying something in Thai, which was probably, "That girl is pretty stupid."

This sort of thing happened for about two weeks everyday until I knew about everything on the menu. Also, my ears have been slightly trained to I can understand almost everything the Thai people say in broken english. I guess things are going pretty good for me and I'm having some fun adventures while working as a server, but you'll find out about those later.

Applications Suck!

2006-01-04T12:57:00.000-07:00

I've been looking for a job since I came home in 2005 and I still haven't found one yet and it's 2006. I applied to so many places and was excited that Maurice's called to set up an interview time. I dressed up all nice and everything. I really wanted to work at this clothing store because it's my favorite place to get clothes. So, the girl is interviewing me and I think she was younger than me, which seemed a little wierd. She's asking me some questions about my past jobs, etc. Then she asks "how do you think you will do in a managing positions without previous experience?"

Hold up! Managing position?! I'm thinking to myself, "I thought I was applying for just a regular job?" But of course I can't let this youngin' know that I didn't even know what I was applying for. I mean, who doesn't know what they're applying for? I ended up rambling on about who knows what. Really, I don't even remember, but I know it was despicable!

After the interview she said that if I got the job, they would contact me either Monday or Tuesday. Well its Wednesday, and not a huge surprise that I wasn't contacted.

Luckily, I will be getting a job as a Ballet teacher at my old Dance Studio, and hopefully I will be getting a job at Jamba Juice, but who knows, maybe I will unknowingly be applying for CEO or something else that I won't be aware of until the interview.

I AM WAY TOO BUSY FOR SCHOOL

2005-12-07T12:39:00.000-07:00

My humanities teacher gave everybody in our class the chance to justify why they have a crappy grade in the class and if the reasons are good enough she just my give them a slightly better grade. Well, I am always looking for ways to get a better grade, so I decided to do this optional assignment. I thought I had some really good reasons and I think you'll agree when you read this.

Dear Sister Cochran:

Thinking back on the semester, I believe that I have done all that I could do for the Humanities 101 class, and yet I don't know if I'm getting the grade I deserve. There are many things going on in my life at the moment that I can't exactly control, causing my academic career to take the fall. This paper describes these many things that I can't control in further detail so that I can gain the well deserved pity from the teacher of the aforementioned humanities class.
Firstly, I have to make sure that my eternal salvation is taken care of, which means that I must find a husband while I am here at BYU-Idaho. The only way that I know of to gain this so called husband is to get acquainted with and date many members of the opposite sex, otherwise known as men. Now, I spent much of my free time (a.k.a. homework time) figuring out how I can get asked out on as many dates as possible. I figured out that one place to meet these men is at the gym. I, therefore, was obligated to be at the gym every night or afternoon. Not only was I finding men, but I was also toning my abs and thighs. Therefore, my time spent at the gym was necessary for my eternal salvation, which takes precedence over school work.
Secondly, I have become a professional snowflake maker. I am definitely in demand at this time of year. My career in this field is just starting out and causes my life to become very busy. I spend nearly half of my time just talking with investors and managers of scissor and paper factories. I realize that even though I am working on my eternal salvation, but if I don't get married I need something to fall back on. Hence, I have built my snowflake company from the ground up in hopes that I will be able to earn some extra bucks. I also have spent another large portion of my time coming up with a name for my company, but I finally decided upon, "Snowflakes by Becky." It took me a long time to come up with this name, which also was something that took time away from studying for certain humanities tests.
Finally, I have decided that if the snowflake business flops, I will have yet another thing to fall back on: T.V. critic. To prepare for this, I have decided that I must watch hours upon hours of television each day to get a broad spectrum of what is on television these days. I found that between watching TLC's "What Not To Wear," NBC's "ER," and The WB's "Gilmore Girls" I just simply have no time for my academic career.
As you can see, I lead a very busy life and have done the best I could with my school work and studying for Humanities 101. I hope that now you will have pity on me and allow me to have the grade which we both know that I deserve.
Thank you for your time and have a wonderful day!
Sincerely,
Becky Karlsven

There you have it, the real reasons for my grades. Do you think I am justified to receive an A?

A Little Bit About Me

2005-12-01T08:13:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm finally complying to compulsive writers tag. It actually took me quite a while to finally come up with 5 things that people don't know about me.

1. I am a professional paper snowflake maker. I have yet to received a certificate saying that I am one, but if you ever visit my apartment, you'll see the amazingly beautiful snowflakes that my roommate and I made.

2. I have tried to watch "Revenge of the Sith" 3 times but I just keep falling asleep.

3. I have the ability to fall asleep with my hand outstretched still gripping the remote. (Once I get the remote I don't like to give it up!)

4. Last summer I went to Austria, Germany, and Venice for a short dance performance tour. It was amazing! I even took a ballet class from a gay guy named Ferry.

5. I have a broken back. Last April I went to the doctor to have him check a knee injury. I got my knee and back X-rayed and it turns out that at some point in my life I received a compound fracture to one of my vertebrae. I thought that was weird, especially since I don't remember doing anything to break my back.

I don't know too many people on this whole blogger thing, so I can just tag a couple people, but I'm going to tag, becca just and the amazing spider-man fan.

Hello, My Name is Becky...

2005-11-03T14:15:00.000-07:00

The answers to my last post:
1. B
2. E
3. J
4. A
5. F
6. C
7. G
8. H
9. I
10. D

Now onto my real post. I have come to the conclusion that I am addicted. I have accepted this and I hear there about 12 steps I need to go through to get rid of my addiction. But I'm not sure that I'm quite ready to give up the beautiful game called spider solitair.

It started out as just an innocent little game that I liked to play occasionally. But as time passed I found myself trying to hide my obsession with the game. I would wait till my roommates were gone and then sneak onto their computers to play the game. I didn't have my own computer at this point in my sad, sad life. When my roommates would come home I would quickly exit out of the game and run to my room to pretend that I wasn't doing anything, especially in their room.

When I got my own computer the addiction only became worse. I stayed up late into the night just so could win another game. I would tell myself that I'd only play till I won a game. hahahaa! What a lie! When I would win I just started another game and told myself the same lie. I was lost in a swirling abyss that is spider solitair.

I have lately come to the realization that I do have an addiction. I admit it. Now I just limit myself to 3 hours a day of spider solitair instead of the regular 6. The only problem now is that as I limit my hours of actual playing I now make up for the lost time by thinking about it. Maybe one day when I can afford professional help I will be able to slowly, but surely rid myself of this needed craving; using medication if necessary.

So, You Think You Watch Movies?

2005-10-26T13:00:00.000-06:00

I decided to put together a little game today to let anyone see if they know movies as well as my roommates and I do. In one column I have put quotes from a variety of movies. In another column there is a list of movies that the quotes come from. See how many you know!

1. "Pinecones!"
2. "Everything in this room is eatable. Even I'm eatable, but that's called cannibalism and that's frowned upon in most societies."
3. "But Lloyd, Petey didn't have a head!"
4. "Who is the most beautiful woman in the world, Jacob?"
5. "Prepare to dive!"
6. "The world must be peopled!"
7. "Hi, how are ya?"
8. "Just call me Joe."
9. "We want a shrubbery!"
10. "I like talking about nothing. It's the only thing I know anything about."

A. The Brothers Grimm
B. Ice Age
C. Much Adu About Nothing
D. An Ideal Husband
E. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
F. Down Periscope
G. Sahara
H. You've Got Mail
I. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
J. Dumb and Dumber

I'll put the answers at the bottom of my next post. If you haven't seen any of these movies, I highly recommend them. They are hilarious! Have fun!

"Chewing gum is really gross. Chewing gum I hate the most." -Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

2005-10-25T16:37:00.000-06:00

One of the assignments in my women's health class this semester has been to write down everything you do for one week. So as a responsible person I did the assignment. When I looked back through my schedule this is what I found.
Tuesday:
9:30-10am Wake up, eat breakfast.
10-11:30 "homework," watch T.V.
11:30-2 homework, watch a movie.
2-3 shower, get ready for the day.
3-4 class
4-5 homework, watch T.V.
5-5:30 take a nap
5:30-7:30 homework, watch T.V.
7:30-8:45 Enrichment
8:45-11:15 Go to a movie.
11:15-1am homework, watch T.V.
1-8am sleep.

How pathetic was that day?! Okay, so I was sick that day, but that's no excuse! I think I'm also rebelling subconsciously because my parents never let me do my homework in front of the T.V. So now that I'm on my own what do I do? I only do homework in front of the T.V. Its amazing to me that I'm still able to keep descent grades. Well, I'm about 50% sure that I have good grades.

Not only do I watch way too much T.V., but my roommates and I watch a plethora of movies. Kat, one of my crazy roomies, has 220 DVD's and Videos up here! 220! We've probably watched at least 50 of them. So, since we watch so many movies, we have come to quote them incessantly. We have a "quote" board on our door and we have written all the funny quotes that we love from the many movies we have watched. We love to quote these movies so much that we can literally have full fledged conversations just from quoting movies. People that come over cannot keep up with us. This is possibly why we usually don't have many guests. Here's just one example:

Our home teachers came over and as usually we just casually chatted before they got into the wonderful lesson. Well, they noticed our quote door and inquired about it. We explained that we just write quotes up there that we like. Then the annoyingness that we are ensued. We began quoting movies. It went on for about 10 minutes. At one point I looked at our home teachers and the looks on their faces was a little too similar to those of a deer in the headlights. But once my roommates and I get going on quotes, we can't be stopped. Luckily we were able to calm ourselves and realize that our home teachers were still in the room and they probably had a lesson they wanted to share with us.

As much fun as I have watching and quoting movies, I feel that I should probably do something better with my time, like knit a scarf or actually read a book. But who has time for that anyway?

In conclusion, watching movies is really fun.

Wednesday Top/Bottom

2005-10-19T21:38:00.000-06:00

Dominoe's

Top:
1. Free Food
2. Getting a paycheck.
3. Working with hot coworkers.
4. Free food
5. Oh, did I mention free food?

Bottom:
1. Having a stupid boss.
2. Having an ugly boss.
3. Being forced to wave a stupid pizza sign on the corner.
4. Washing trays.
5. Getting paid minimum wage.
6. Working with annoying people.
7. Getting chastised for not tucking in my shirt when everyone else's shirt is untucked.
8. Admitting to people that I worked at Dominoe's.

As you can see, my top list is much shorter than my bottom list. Also, I would like to note that it took about twice as long to come up with the top list for things about Dominoe's than it did for me to write my bottom list. Coming up with crappy things about working at Dominoe's came very easily to me. Just so you know, I quit my job at Dominoe's, but that's a story for another post.

Wednesday top/bottom ten

2005-10-12T15:30:00.000-06:00

Top Ten:

1. Getting an A on my D&C test.
2. Taking a shower in the morning.
3. Getting emails.
4. Seeing funny pictures on my little brother's friend's blogs.
5. Going country dancing with hot guys.
6. Keith Urban-nuff said.
7. Scoring a goal in an ultimate frisbee game.
8. Finding quarters on the ground.
9. Dryers that actually dry your clothes.
10. Free food.

Bottom Ten:

1. Failing a Humanities Test.
2. Waking up and realizing you haven't showered in a week.
3. Also, realizing you forgot to brush your teeth the night before.
4. No new blogs to read.
5. Ugly guys asking you to dance.
6. Justin Timberlake.
7. Biting into a brownie and realizing that your roommate put nasty dried cherries in them.
8. Using up all your quarters on doing laundry and your clothes still don't get dry.
9. Sleeping on a fake leather couch because your bed is covered in wet clothes laid out to dry.
10. Not finding anything to eat for dinner. (even after checking the fridge and cupboards 10 times.)

Craziness ensues

2005-09-25T23:06:00.000-06:00

The title of this post is definitely the story of my life. So for this semester I'm living in Kensington apartments. Turns out that I'm in the same ward as my ex-boyfriend, Chris. I didn't even know he was going to be in Idaho this semester so I didn't worry about where I was going to live. Yeah, he's in Idaho, and he's in my ward. Then for devotional I always sit with my roommates, but of course we sit with Chris's roommates too because we're all friends. So Chris and his new girlfriend sit there too. Weird!
I didn't think this could get any worse, but apparently it could. Today Chris's roommate Tyler came over to visit with my FHE brother, Phil. He said that he was going to be my home teacher. I was pretty excited about that because Tyler's a cool guy and not too bad looking. Then he told me the great news:

"Chris is my partner."

I was shocked! I didn't really know what to say to the fact that my ex is going to be my home teacher. How crazy is that. Now I have to talk to him and have friendly conversation with him every month. I just told Tyler that I would be okay with it. But in my head I was thinking, "could life be any crappier?" Life didn't just give me a lemon, but it squirted me in the eye with it!

Birthday!!!

2005-09-10T14:03:00.000-06:00

Today is my birthday and I'm twenty years old. I never thought that I would make it this far. Now I'm only one year away from being able to legally drink. Not that I would go out and buy some beer, but just the fact that I would be able to purchase liquor is quite invigorating.

So, I've been watching the U.S. Open on T.V. and I've come to the conclusion that I need to do something with my life before it's too late. There are so many talented youngsters out there that have already accomplished more in twenty years then I will in my entire life time. Take, for example, the Olympic gymnasts. They're only 16 years old and they already have 3 medals! I don't even have one yet! Then there's those darn actors and actresses. They've got their millions before the age of twenty. I only have like 20 bucks! I'm definitely falling behind in this race that they call life.

I've been thinking of some different ways that I could obtain my medals and millions. There's a store up here in Rexburg that sells trophies and what not. I could go buy a medal that looks like a real gold medal and give it to myself. I would feel a little cheap though. So I thought that I would put together a contest and I could win my medal, but being the lazy person I am, I would have to go out and find people to join in on my contest and I would most likely lose anyway. Then I started thinking about how to get a million dollars because my job at stupid Dominoes is just not getting me the money. There's another place up here that I could sell my plasma at, but I could only do that twice a week and I would only get a whole whopping 40 bucks a week. So it would take me way too long and I would probably be dead before I go a million buckaroos. (People don't say buckaroo enough. It's a funny word and needs to be said more often. I think people should say it at least three times a day because it has been so under used these past decades.) The only other way I could think of to get a million dollars was to start robbing banks. Too bad I don't know anything about robbing banks, except for what I know from the movies. Plus, if I did decide to rob a bank I would most likely get caught and end up making a fool of myself on the hit T.V. show Cops.

I have now come to the conclusion that the world is made up of haves and have nots. Apparently, I'm a have not.

Pathetic

2005-09-05T21:33:00.000-06:00

So, I had a roommate last semester who had a boyfriend. Big shocker. One night they were talking to each other and Alex said to Tiffany:

"I think I love you."

Then Tiffany told Alex:

"I don't love you."

Anyways, when Tiffany told me the story I couldn't stop laughing and I'm still laughing right now. It's been about 3 weeks and I'm still laughing!

You stupid teacher

2005-08-17T22:25:00.000-06:00

Okay, so I'm in the middle of this ridiculously long test for my Anatomy/Physiology class. First let me explain about my stupid teacher.

1. He pretty much is just stupid, but I guess I should explain more.
2. He tries to be funny, but everyone just looks at him and are confused at why he is saying such stupid crap.
3. I don't think he really knows anything about this subject. All he does is read out the textbook. I don't even know why I went to class in the first place.
4. He's fat. nuf said.
5. he's ugly.

So I guess those last two weren't really that fair to him, but life's not fair. So anyways, I'm trying to take this test and I feel like a moron because I don't know anything about what the questions are asking. Then I remember that the reason I don't know is because we didn't even discuss a single flipping thing on these two chapters in class. Plus this is supposed to be our final!!! He's such a doofus. Well I guess I should get back to my dumb test because if I don't do well on it I think I'm going to fail the class. That would pretty much suck because this is a class for my major. (health science).

Home wrecker

2005-08-15T21:23:00.000-06:00

So I'm up here in Idaho going to school. Just an innocent little freshmen in the big world of college and BYU-Idaho dating. I figure that I'm doing pretty well. I got a job at good ol' Dominoe's and I figure life is going pretty good. I figure that half the fun of college is dating, so I practice my flirting techniques or shall we say the lack thereof.

I figure I'm pretty good at picking up signals from the opposite sex, so I put my skills to the test. There was a cute guy that worked with me. He was funny and I loved to stare at his rippling biceps in awe. So I decided that he would be my ginny pig. I start out by making small talk and adding my two cents along in conversations with him, desperately trying to appear friendly, but not too friendly and funny, but not too funny. I think that this is working so I decide to step it up a notch. I smile at him and give him the eye and shove his shoulder as I laugh at one of his hilarious comments.

I was thinking to myself, "Man I am good, I'll probably get a date out of this!"

I completely psych myself up for this date that I'm expecting, when later in the week I discover when I'm in conversation with my test subject that he is MARRIED!!! I couldn't believe my ears when I heard the words:

"...My wife..."

come out of his mouth. (note the dot dot dot, because I was in such shock that I don't recall the rest of the conversation). I felt like such a fool and I was filled with disgust that I fell for a married man.

Many of you probably thought to yourself, "Why didn't she just check his left hand for a wedding ring?"

well I did, but you see, as a rule at dominoe's (stupid dominoe's) we are not allowed to wear any jewelry of any kind, including rings. I thought I was good to go, but he had already been claimed.

So pretty much one my first dating or shall we say "home wrecking" experiences at college was a major flop. And now I always check for a ring and if they have one, I don't say two words to them and I definitely steer clear of any touchage of any kind.