Five things I really HATE...

I promise I will write a more positive post to counteract this sometime in the immediate future, but I'm not in a very chipper mood so I want to write about the five things I hate most in the world right now.

5. My upstairs neighbors. Even the kids. Maybe especially the kids.
4. The smell of smoke...especially if it is from something illegal that I choose NOT to smell and it is flowing through the vents of our apartment building!!!
3. People who snap at you for no good reason.
2. Christmas shopping.
1. Feeling lonely. Especially if it is on top of feeling sick.

Basically, I hate today.
But the sun'll come out tomorrow...right? :)

Yay for 3rd Grade!

I got to visit my student teaching placement for the first time today. I'm SOOOOOO ridiculously excited! Here's why:

1) I have only 17 students.

2) The principal is anti-textbook.

3) My coordinating teacher is allowing me near-total freedom in what I try.

4) It's a small school--as a teacher, I will have more input and a better chance of becoming part of a small community.

5) They focus on math and language arts, so I get to find creative ways to integrate other subjects into them and thus become the "fun" teacher.

6) I love intermediate grades (2-4), period.

7) My coordinating teacher calls her students "dude."

Dude!

I love what I do. :)

33 Things

Because I am procrastinating my last two weeks' worth of projects, papers, lessons, and more, I thought I would blog for fun. I don't have many, if any, real secrets in my life, and even if you don't know everything about me, not much will surprise you. I'm nevertheless going to try to find 33 things about me that you may or may not know about me:

1. I used to really love television, and part of me still does--which is one of the reasons I'm grateful we don't have cable, or I'd waste even more time than I already do. I'm not ashamed to admit that I love "Psych" and "Monk." I'm a little ashamed to admit that I love "The Office."

2. I'm not technologically savvy. While I love blogging upon occasion and facebooking, checking email, etc., and I LOVE Microsoft Office 2010, I would have no idea what to do if my computer didn't do what I wanted it to do, except to cry. I've learned a lot in my last seven or so years of college, enough to put me at an advantage in the workplace, but that's about it.

3. I love teaching. It's not just something I do, it's a part of who I am, and I enjoy every minute of my schooling and my job, even if I have no idea what I'm doing half the time. I'm finally seeing myself in that position, as a professional equal to other teachers I work with.

4. My favorite cocoa is Stephen's, which we faithfully ship out here once a year in mass quantities. I love the Orange Creme and the Mint Chocolate Truffle the best.

5. I'm terrified about finding a teaching job around here...I don't know how to get the job, just how to do it!

6. I hated the color pink growing up. My parents painted my bedroom a bright pepto-bismol pink and I covered almost all of it up with New Era posters and comic strips. I also hated flowers. Anything girly at all pretty much I hated. Now I'm pretty darn girly. I want to have a flower business on the side and I had pink as one of my wedding colors. Go figure. :)

7. I want to learn lots of languages in my lifetime, but especially Japanese, Spanish, and French.

8. I never liked video games growing up, but I played sports and outdoor games a lot. I now LOVE the Wii that Paul bought me because it's something I can do, injury and all, to relive my childhood.

9. I'm a pretty good speller. I didn't know how valuable a commodity this was, especially in education, until last year when we had a spelling bee in my literacy class. Wow.

10. I really do love to write, and wish I had more time to do it for fun. I have dreams of being published someday. (Another side business, on top of the flowers...yeah, I'm gonna be a busy woman!)

11. I want at least 5 kids. So does Paul, so that's lucky. :) But I'm terrified of the kind of mom I'll be...I only recently came to the conclusion that I would be happy if I got a surprise pregnancy right now. But I'm NOT, and I'm okay with that for now. :)

12. I love puppets.

13. I love karaoke!!! A lot a lot. I love that I have a karaoke machine so that I can host karaoke parties to my heart's content.

14. I'm not an awful singer, but I don't have a pretty voice. I've got a great sense of pitch, but I'm more of a choir girl than a soloist. :)

15. Before I ever dated my husband, I tried setting him up constantly with a good friend of mine who was in love with him.

16. Actually, long before that, I was supposed to go on a date with Paul as part of a ward activity--but because I was the activity chair and our activity involved a scavenger hunt, I had to be at the church so I passed him off to the friend mentioned above, which started the whole crazy thing off. Guess the Lord works in mysterious ways! If you had told me then that I was passing off my husband to another woman, I'd have never believed you!

17. The three countries I want to visit most in this world are Japan, France, and the Philippines. Other countries are cool, too. :)

18. I really, really want to go on a cruise before I die. Something about paying a flat rate for all-you-can-eat buffets and entertainment, plus getting to see the OCEAN!

19. I can't wait to serve a mission with Paul.

20. I need light like I need air. Being in rooms that are half-dark or dimly lit gives me headaches and makes me kinda crabby.

21. I was taught how to play chess this semester by some first and second graders, and now it's one of my favorite games to play! I get really excited when I beat the computer. Paul & I bought a small hand-carved set at the Feast this year that will be traveling with us on all our adventures together. :)

22. I love to read, and while I've always been a realistic fiction kinda girl, I've lately been really into historical fiction, science fiction, and fantasy. I feel my horizons broadening even as we speak!

23. I love Oldies music the best, followed by instrumental and then some Asian pop. There will always be a special place in my heart for John Denver.

24. I love planning events, especially if I don't have to be a big part of it. I could be an event planner professionally. I love themed birthday parties and I get really into the planning stages of almost everything.

25. I am learning how to play the guitar (slowly but surely), and I have enough chords down to play 5 folk songs, 3 J-pop songs, 1 John Denver hit, and about 25 Christmas songs. :)

26. If I were a car part, I'd be the steering wheel. If I were the button on a keyboard, I'd be the "control." If I were a button on a remote control, I'd be "power." Get the point? :)

27. I have an intense fear of failure, which keeps me from doing lots of things I would love to do. I'm working on that. I don't know that I ever learned how to fail gracefully. It's something I try to help my students learn early so that they have a better life.

28. I haven't thrown up since I was 9 years old.

29. I don't particularly like roller coasters, but I'd be willing to give them a second chance.

30. There are LOTS of things I want to learn how to do in life--I just love to learn and I really love the creative process. The four things I want to explore more in the immediate future are ModPodge, stained glass, glass etching, and woodburning. Someday I want to learn how to do cakes, photography, quilting, and paper making, too. People I know are going to get sick of all the handmade presents, but oh well. :)

31. I really like my in-laws. They're as crazy as my own family, and they have been nothing but kind to me. I could've had it SO much worse, and I'm grateful that they have let me into their small, tight-knit world.

32. If I had to describe myself as an animal, I'd want to say a horse because they're beautiful, strong, majestic, wild...but I'd probably, if forced to be honest, say something like a platypus...kinda odd and funny-looking and average but still interesting enough to want around.

33. I'm addicted to chocolate milk. Dean's. It literally flows through my veins.

Okay, that's all, folks. For now, anyway. I spent long enough trying to think of those, I've gotta go rest my brain now. :)

Gobble Gobble Taco Day!

Yes, you read that right. It is a Darland family tradition to have tacos on Thanksgiving, and this year will be no exception! We're stoked. And I'm still making pumpkin pie, so I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. So there. :)

I actually really love this tradition of ours. I don't know if I love it enough to carry it on when we have kids--is depriving them of memories of turkey and stuffing un-American? We'll decide on that later. For now, though, since Paul's allergic to turkey, Charissa's a vegetarian, Mom hates to cook (even though she's great at it), and I'm not too huge on cranberry sauce or yams with marshmallows, we're all pretty happy with a huge and filling taco bar. Plus, it makes a great conversation topic. :)

In other news, we saw "New Moon" this past weekend and loved it...can't wait for "Eclipse" to come out in June! I'm not a Twilight junkie or anything, I've only read the books once through and I didn't see either movie on opening night--in fact, I didn't see Twilight until it was out on DVD. But I like the series well enough, and I like that Paul likes it well enough, too. So we're excited that the third "installation" is coming out in a mere seven months! I also learned today that they change the director for every movie to give each its own distinctive feel, and now that I've seen the trailer for "Eclipse" I'm pretty stoked about the direction it's going to take. I am always amazed, mesmerized, even, how two people can look at the same thing so differently, or start with the same material and create two completely different visions and products. People are fascinating if nothing else.

FHE--Similes and Home Desserts

I like to pass on fun activities, especially family-related ones, to pretty much anyone who will listen.

Paul & I have recently started planning FHEs again (his work schedule and my school schedule just didn't coincide enough to have real activities, so we read a chapter out of a church book on Monday mornings before rushing me off to my classes...now that he has Mondays off, we are doing it "right" again!). Last night we had a simple little activity that we found out of a book I love, FHE for Newlyweds, and I thought I'd share.

There are 10 categories (cars, food, shoes, animal, color, season, cartoon character, sport, place, and movie star are what are in the book, but I think you could easily adapt the categories to fit the interests or age levels of your family). You basically make up a simile for your spouse in each category, stating the reason behind it--for example, in the car category, you might write, "You're like an SUV because you're adventurous and you love the great outdoors". It was a challenge, but a fun one, and we got a few giggles. And now I can scrapbook the little notes. :)

I won't bore you with everything we wrote, but here are my three favorites Paul wrote about me:

"You are like a pizza, well-rounded with a little bit of everything, and, of course, my favorite."

"You are like ballet shoes, pretty and seemingly delicate but strong enough to support whatever is needed."

"You are like Chicago because I smile whenever I see you."

And here are my three favorite things I wrote about him:

"You are like a puppy because you're friendly, loyal, cuddly, and fuzzy--a best friend to the end."

"You are like your military boots because you always look so polished."

"You are like the winter because you make me want to curl up and stay in bed all day."

For dessert, we made these little house-shaped pastries--basically, you use a thinly-rolled pie crust and cut it into shapes (we used a house), then sprinkle on some chocolate and peanut butter chips and cover with another of the shapes. Bake it in a 375 degree oven on a parchment-covered cookie sheet for about 12 minutes, or just 'til the edges start to brown. Simple(ish) and tasty! And I've got a ton of chocolate and peanut butter chips left over for next time.

It was a good night. Especially since his new shift started today so we'll see even less of each other most days, it's nice to know that I have him all to myself on Sunday and Monday.

Student Teaching

I finally found out my placement for student teaching! I'll be teaching third graders in a small rural community some forty-five minutes away. I'm excited! And terrified. For those of you not familiar with how education works, even though I've had classroom experience teaching and observing each semester here at Purdue, student teaching is a time in which you gradually get control of the entire classroom all day, every day--you essentially become the teacher for a few weeks or months, and then you gradually hand the reins back to your mentor teacher as the year draws to an end. This means that I get to navigate the students through their first-ever ISTEP testing experience, as well as try to help all the students learn enough to meet the Annual Yearly Progress for the Title I school. I get to do the whole parent-teacher conferences thing, and I get to plan lessons day in and day out for a fourteen-week roller coaster ride. Pressure! But I'm still elated. I want to teach third or fourth grade, and I feel blessed to learn from a teacher who has taught at a few different levels. So I say--bring it on!

We Heart Primary

Paul and I have one of the best callings ever: Primary teachers! We teach the 7-8 and 8-9 year-olds in our ward, and we have a blast. They are SO inquisitive at this age, and they are finally starting to "get it" in terms of the gospel--partially because biologically their brains are developing the ability to reason and empathize, partially because they all come from warm, loving families who teach them the gospel at home every moment they can, and partially because they have been baptized and have the gift of the Holy Ghost with them.

Regardless of the reasons, it is SO fun to see them grow in their testimonies, listen to the CRAZY-deep questions they come up with, and do our best to answer them as we teach them about the gospel. It is even more fun to help them recognize the Spirit as it influences them in their lives! Just last week one of our kids was talking about how there's an apostle that speaks so powerfully to him that he just can't hardly talk afterwards, it's like there's nothing you can do or say to deny the truth of what he says. I said, "Do you know what that is?! That's the SPIRIT!" And even though this is a very precocious child, a new connection was made and he understands now a little bit better that the Spirit speaks to us all in many different ways. Moments like that happen nearly every week, and between that and trying to answer their incredibly vast range of questions, Paul and I feel like sometimes we get to learn SOOOO much more than our kids ever do.

It's also been a blessing for us as a couple, because Paul and I do not get to see much of each other these days. It is HEAVEN to spend all day Sunday with him and with our kids. :) And a good trial-run for when we ever have our own...

Well, in just under two weeks we are having our Primary Program, and Paul and I have desperately tried to learn some of the new songs--"My Eternal Family" and "The Family Is of God." Any of you with children or callings in Primary know how adorable these songs are. It is even more adorable to hear an entire choir of 3-6 year-olds screaming out the chorus because that's all they really know! But, it turns out, they are better than us. We have been spending our FHMs (Family Home Mornings! :) ) and a little time in the evenings lately trying to nail down the words to these two songs--I don't know why it is so difficult for us to master them, but it is what it is. We're trying. We can't let a few 8-year-olds show us up. ;)

Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Paul's 25th Birthday

This has been a rigorous and rough semester for me, and for Paul, as well, and happy moments have been too few and far between lately. But the highlight of the semester so far was DEFINITELY Paul's 25th birthday on October 18th. I had been planning it pretty much since the summer, and all that planning sure paid off!

Since I chose to go with a LEGO theme, for birthday week Paul had to search the house each morning for a giant LEGO (made with a kleenex box and milk jug lids spray painted red, thank you very much!); in the LEGO was a candy bar and small toy, along with a short message tied to the candy...he had a lot of fun finding the toys, and we both are STILL eating all the candy!

Since his birthday was on a Sunday, we went up to Chicago Saturday to kidnap his sister and visit the LEGOLand Discovery Center in Shaumburg. It was a lot of fun, even if we were a little old to be there! We got to play with LEGOs, go on a dragon ride, walk through a LEGO jungle, visit the "hall of fame" with famous LEGO-made artwork reproductions and famous figures, and visit the mini factory (did you know only 18 out of every MILLION LEGOs is discarded from a factory? Talk about quality!). We also got to see a miniature Chicago--very detailed and realistic looking, except for a Batman figure on top of the Sear's tower!

If you have any sort of LEGOland or its discovery centers nearby, GO!  It's worth it!

Then we went back to his folks' place and Paul visited, opened presents (like the Enterprise cufflinks and LEGO mp3 player from Emilie shown below!), and ate some Filipino food before heading home.

(P.S. There are a million and one different LEGO-themed gifts and prizes to buy if you go to the LEGO store HERE.)

That night, we started our "Happy Birthday, Moon" on birthday eve tradition--Paul found the birthday top hat, beneath which was about 10 pounds of LEGOs for him to play with! (And for us to use in the party the next day!)

On Sunday, we threw a party after church with some of our wonderful friends. I learned how to make vegetable pancit, and we fried up some lumpia (two of my favorite Filipino foods), and after everyone was well-fed we played some games. We had "Guess How Many Legos are in the Jar?" and had a super-difficult LEGO quiz.  Some bold primary and green colored birthday decorations helped round out the table.Then we had LEGO team building relays.  This was everyone's favorite part!  I made three stacks of identical "challenges," which included objects they had to build and the inches high it had to be (for example, in the picture below, the word "Paul" at least 3 inches tall...we also had planes, giraffes, tables and chairs, etc., at varying heights).  I backed each set of challenges in a different color, with a ruler to match, for each of the 3 teams, then shuffled them.  So, everyone's building the same things, but not necessarily at the same time.  One person from each team started off, and when they finished they had to take a picture of their creations with the rulers and then tag the next person to go build.

Then I split up the rest of the challenges into three different rooms.  We had LEGO tower races (build the tallest free-standing tower you can in 2 minutes), LEGO chopsticks (transfer LEGOs from one bowl to the other in 1 minute), and a LEGO toss into bathroom-sized cups, with points at the bottom for you to add up. At each "station" was a paper to record your name and stats, like the height of your tower or how many chopsticks or the points you got.  It made finding the "winner" of each category super easy, and let them know what they had to beat, while still giving them time to have fun wandering around a bit and socializing in more intimate settings.  :)  We had a "closing ceremonies" and I awarded the winners for each game and the quiz and guessing game earlier with prizes--like the LEGO salt/pepper shaker, or LEGO post-it notes, or keychain, or magnetic frame (I made that one myself), etc.

Then we had cake--and with 25 relighting candles spread out over the entire table, it took the entire party to put out the flames!  (Excuse the crazy melty appearance, I'm not a cake decorator by any means and I'm afraid of fondant!)

For this cake, I basically baked two 9x13" cakes and cut them into different sized rectangles (half the cake was the 2x3 LEGO).  I used mini muffins/cupcakes for the knobby parts.  Add some brightly colored icing, a green plastic tablecloth to put everything on, and voila!  Instant, easy (though time-consuming), affordable cake!

We ate, chatted, and played some more, with Paul opening gifts and having an all around grand time. The favors were some LEGO-like building block candy and some paper with crayons. People seemed to have a lot of fun reverting back to their childhood, as did we--it was nice to go back to the good old days of creative play. I had a blast putting the whole thing together, and now I'm looking through my birthday binder to try to figure out how to top it next year!

I don't know why I love birthdays so much...we celebrated them now and again at home, but growing up we didn't really make a huge deal out of 'em. But whatever the reason, I love them now, and I wish that we didn't always feel like the "fun" parties are just for little kids--as the LEGO party proved, you're only as young as you feel, and we all have a little child tucked deep inside of us.

If you want to see more pictures from the party, visit my facebook album!

Blessings, anyone?

Today I am grateful that I have some really amazing professors and TAs. I'm in school for 8 hours straight on Wednesdays, but because I have instructors that are engaging and who have wonderful experiences and insights, and who are all around interesting people with pleasant dispositions, those 8 hours fly by...at least compared to the alternative. I am grateful to be studying at a great university where I am learning so much from such fantastic people...honestly, the social life at BYU was a wonderful daydream, but the academic life usually wasn't engaging or challenging enough for me. Or perhaps it's just that with a few more years under my belt, I've changed and have a better approach now...either way, I am truly blessed to have the particular stresses and demands that being a full-time student at Purdue has given me.

Week of Firsts...

Paul & I had a busy week last week--and really in the last month. Last week was both of our first weeks at our new jobs, and it was the first week of school for me, as well. And I had two papers assigned on my first day! So much for "syllabus week." I got to talk to the head placement director about my student teaching placement for January and he was actually incredibly nice to me, which apparently is a first from the way my friends have talked about him. Paul & I also bought our first car. (Pictures to follow...)

I know that I am very blessed, and that there are wonderful things ahead of us, but to be honest, I am more than a little overwhelmed right now and wishing that I were someone better than me. I feel exhausted all the time, and I never get to see my husband during the week (he works late afternoons and evenings and I work/take classes EARLY mornings). We also haven't had enough time to go grocery shopping for real, so we stop by and pick up a few things that only end up making me hungrier and cost more money in the long run. So I'm tired, hungry, cranky from not seeing my husband, stressed about a $300 licensing test next week that I HAVE to pass, and overwhelmed ALREADY with school assignments and planning for student teaching...and no real end in sight. And it's only the second week. And that's only the stuff I'm choosing to tell you. *Sigh.*

Because of this, I am trying to count my blessings more (as hard as it is sometimes). So one new thing every day...today, I am grateful because on Sunday, Paul & I are going to be sustained in a totally rad new calling, in which we get to work together! So even though I may not see him for 5 days out of the week, our weekends are totally linked and I'll get to see him pretty much all the time. I think I'm going to like Sundays way better now. Also, I am grateful because my sister bought us unlimited texting, so Paul & I can send a few random messages throughout the day without actually having to coordinate our time. So at least that's something. I so totally could not have been one of those women who let her husband leave for months or years at a time, even for so noble a cause as to serve a mission. I am a very independent person, but I have become incredibly dependent on Paul for so many things, especially emotionally. I'm lucky that we get to spend as much time together as we do, and that even when we can't, there are other ways to stay close.