We are the champions, my friends!

Here are the few pics from the Hunger Hike. Thanks to all who donated--our group won a trophy for 3rd biggest donation from a Purdue Organization! We're pretty stoked about that. Even if there were only six of us. Wait, no, 7...we had a dog. :) All in all, there were nearly a thousand people and we all raised around $60,000 for the food bank, so every little bit really can and does make a difference. Thanks, everyone! For those of you who may have missed out, find a way to help out your own local community...and keep your eyes and ears open for next year, because I am SO going to do this again!

Lafayette Hunger Hike

Hello, one and all! Tomorrow afternoon I'm participating in our city's Hunger Hike, a fundraising event for the local food pantry. Last year our food pantry used up twice as much food as the year before, and we have more than 4,000 homeless children and many more families who rely on events like this to raise money and awareness.

I'm super excited. If anyone wants to help out, sponsor me! Our group (headed up by Ben Hecht, our activities committee chair, so don't be fooled by his name at the top) has a goal of rasing $500, and we're only halfway there...but many of the donations have been around $10 and have really added up fast. Donating is fast, easy, and even a $5.00 donation would go a long way. You can do it anonymously online at http://www.firstgiving.com/purdue_lds . I know most of my friends are likewise in hard times, but this is a great way to sacrifice a small amount to help those that are even less fortunate...

Thanks to all, and wish me luck!

Trolls!

So, for one of my recent el ed projects we had to make a puppet for a puppet show (I know, you envy our homework, we have it so good, yadda yadda yadda...) and I got to make a troll. Since I am me, I did a little research online about trolls so that I could capture the true essence of trollhood, and while I was doing so I came across a few very interesting pictures that I thought I'd share with the class...since I'm sure most of you have not explored the world of trolls in a very long time. :) For more info, wikipedia--that's where these photos all come from.

For curious minds, I chose the 3rd one as my model...I love that idea. And now I really want to go to Seattle to take a picture with the bridge troll! :)

Ode to Zaner-Bloser

Remember that handwriting course I mentioned earlier--the bane of my very existence for the next 5 weeks? Well, the folks at Zaner-Bloser are who I get to blame. So in my post-nightmare delerium this morning I decided to dedicate a song to the monsters of manuscript, the critiques of cursive:

(Sung to the tune of "Camptown Ladies")

Zaner-Bloser stole my mind,

Doo-dah, doo-dah,

I can't draw circles or straight lines,

Oh, the doo-dah day.

My loops and checkstrokes suck!

The slants and shapes take luck.

I'll get carpal tunnel or I'll go blind,

Oh the doo-dah day.

:)

It's Comcastic!

Fear not, dear reader, I did not fall into some black hole or go flying into the Bermuda triangle...I wasn't abducted by any aliens (at least not that I can recall, but who knows with their advanced memory-wiping technology?) and I haven't taken deathly ill. Charissa and I have just been too poor until the last week or so to afford cable and internet in our apartment. The Internet Man came on Friday, so we're bangin' on all cylinders now!

So this post won't be too funny, but I thought I'd drop a quick note and let you all in on what's been going on in my life the last month or so...to start with, I found a Work-Study job at an elementary school in town and I am STOKED! I get to spend 12 hours a week in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade classrooms tutoring elementary kids in reading and math. This week is my first, so I'm a little anxious at the moment...but mostly just thrilled to FINALLY have a job that I'm going to love and that has anything to do with where I've been and where I want to go!

I also started school this semester, the dreaded "Block III" in my education program. I've got this year and next until graduation, and Block III is typically the semester where the rubber meets the road, the semester that breaks lesser students down and makes them go crying home to their mommies. I recently discovered that I'll be in a 2nd grade classroom for my TIP (Theory into Practice) placement, and I couldn't be more ecstatic about that...however, I also recently discovered that Block III was murder BUT feasible because of most students are partnered up in a classroom and can split the insane workload and I, of course, have ended up as one of the students sans partner. So that's a ton of work to look forward to. Add onto that Children's Literature (sure, it sounds harmless, but that's because you've never had Jill P. May as a tour guide through your journey) and a geometry-based math class, and you've got my academic semester in a nutshell. Add onto that the fact that I will be very distracted this semester by real-life events (those of you who know what I mean will understand, and the rest of you can just wait in suspense and make up all sorts of outlandish conjectures about what you think I might be saying until I feel like disclosing that classified information)...well, you get the picture. Busy, busy, busy.

But I am SO blessed to be so busy. It means I have health, strength, financial means, and stamina to accomplish all the things I want to accomplish. I feel very, very blessed.

Columbian Park with Caida Lee

Charissa, Paul, and I got to take my niece Caida to the park for a fun Monday afternoon. Here are a few of the pics:

Indiana Dunes!

So, on Saturday my mom took Charissa, Morgan, Paul, and me to the Indiana Dunes up on the shores of Lake Michigan, as a joint birthday extravaganza for Mom and Charissa. Unbeknownst to us all, they closed the lake because of a possible drowning. So while we weren't able to actually swim in the lake (and therefore many of us ended up with a sunburn like never before), we played in the sand and ate lots of great food and enjoyed our time on the dry parts of the beach anyway. Here are a few pics from the experience:

Telemarketers

I started work recently as a telemarketer, selling identity theft protection for Citibank credit card holders. I struggle with it, as I am not exactly the pushy type (at least not over the phone to strangers about a product I couldn't afford myself), but last week I did make 5 sales. Not too awful, but there's still definitely room for improvement.



But the most amazing thing has been the learning experience of talking to all sorts of people across the country...even though I'm forced to stick to a script, the people on the other line aren't, and I have come across a wide range of individuals. And I'll tell you what I've learned:


(1) Strangers show you the true side of people, the best and the worst. I have met some fun and good-natured people, who listened to my schpiel and were very polite if they turned me down, and some who laughed it off kindly and when I apologized for all the phone calls they've been getting from the company they have understandingly consoled me, "Ma'am, I know how it is, everybody's gotta eat, everybody's gotta work." I've even had a marriage proposal from a pentagenarian. :) But then I've also run into lame people who were mean and rude and awful. Swearing isn't the worst of it, I can handle that. It's the sarcasm, the blaming you for things you have no control over, the refusal to let you say what you HAVE to say in order to get through your script and hang up.

(2) Adults are just hormone-induced, aged children. They still have the same petty cliques and grudges, fights and backstabbing, and if you treat one differently than another they whine and complain about how unfair their lives are. Especially, frankly, telemarketers. I mean, if you're in your middle-aged years and haven't been able to do better than a telemarketing job, well...

(3) I have a great family. Strange as that may seem, considering this is lessons I've learned as a telemarketer, I must admit that I have come across some very miserable (and miserable to be around) people whose families make mine look like the Brady Brunch...and that's no small feat! But all of our problems aside, I know that there's a lot of love and concern and sacrifice, especially from my parents. I'm so glad that most of us expect more from our lives than some of these people have come to hope for.

(4) I am SO in the right major for me, and I get to graduate with a degree. Therefore, I have no real qualms about not being the world's best telemarketer. And I secretly laugh at the people I work with because I am going places while they are not. Not very Christ-like, I know, but it's how it is.

(5) I am a public transportation aficionado. Not having a car has relieved me of any and all fear of buses, even here in Lafayette. Although, not gonna lie, I still want a car. :) More on that thought later...

Chicago, Chicago, That Toddlin' Town, That Toddlin' Town...

So, I'm pretty much in love with Chicago. :) Paul and I got to go there on the 5th-7th of July, to hang with his family and see some of the museums and to get away from the drama and sadness around here for a while. Here are some pics of the occasion! I seriously want to live here someday...

Here's Paul and me on a strip of land between the Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium...with the gorgeous view of the Chicago skyline in the background! We had a nice lunch there on the lawn, with the most annoying seagulls ever known to man scavengering around for our leftovers. :)

We got to see some really neat shows at the Planetarium...I've always loved learning about space and planets and stars and such, so this was a real treat!

Here we are at the Aquarium, me, Paul, and his lil' sister Emilie. I got to see lots of creepy looking fish, like the one pictured below...and a dolphin show, and some beluga whales. Not as cool as the ones in Japanese dramas, but this aquarium still rocked my socks. :)

I thought this was kinda cool, this whole parade of worlds in front of the museums that reminded me of those silly hogs and frogs here in Lafayette. But still cool...

Navy Pier, a place I could spend days at...we got to ride the Ferris Wheel there, which has always been a sort of fantasy of mine, and play Putt-Putt and eat out. So here are the pics from all of that. :)

A very pretty place, you know how I love fountains of any kind. :)

What can I say, I have an electric personality! :)

This is one of the oldest buildings in Chicago, and it made me laugh to see it stuck right in the middle of downtown, with all the skyscrapers and such. It's like someone took an old church out in the middle of a small Greek town and then built a huge city all around it.

I love horses. Too bad we didn't get to ride any on this trip...maybe next time!

Paul, looking for his old high school from the top of the Sears' Tower. You can't be that high off the ground and not feel a little of the romance of the place, especially not after watching "Sleepless in Seattle" a few dozen times before the trip! :)

If you love big buildings and sunny beaches, Chicago's a great place...and what a view, from the 103rd floor!

*Whew!* We were pretty glad to be going home after a whirlwind handful of days walking around everywhere...and best of all, we got to ride the train! I've decided that trains are a great, cheap way to travel. I'm a fan.

Well, that's our trip in a nutshell, kiddos. If you haven't been to Chicago, you need to go. There's so much to see there, and we didn't even begin to scratch the surface...we didnt' even BEGIN to begin. :) And it was an amazingly fun and relaxing distraction from all the goings-on here in the real world. Good times, friends, good times.

The Best of Times, and the Worst of Times

Looks like my sister found Caleb a good home with a couple of really nice LDS teachers. And he opened an eye today. Huzzah for Caleb! Sad day for Cerene. He leaves us tomorrow...but he will always be in our hearts.

for Cerene

From God's Arms, to my arms, to yours

Words and music by Michael McLean

With so many wrong decisions in my past,

I'm not quite sure if I can ever hope to trust my judgement anymore.

But lately I've been thinking, 'cause it's all I've had to do.

And in my heart I feel that I should give this child to you.

(Chorus) And maybe you can tell your baby, when you love him so,

that he's been loved before;

By someone who delivered your son

From God's arms, to my arms, to yours.

If you choose to tell him, and if he wants to know,

How the one who gave him life could bear to let him go;

Just tell him there were sleepless nights;

I prayed and paced the floors

And knew the only peace I'd find

is if this child was yours.

(Chorus) Now I know that you don't have to do this,

But could you kiss him once for me

The first time that he ties his shoes,

or falls and skins his knee?

And could you hold him twice as long

when he makes his mistakes,

And tell him that he's not alone,

sometimes that's all it takes.

I know how much he'll ache.

This may not be the answer for another girl like me;

But I'm not on a soapbox saying how we all should be.

I'm just trusting in my feelings and I'm trusting God above,

And I'm trusting you can give this baby Both his mothers' love. (Chorus)