New Year Resolutions

You're probably thinking "New year resolutions now? It's a month late!" But when talking to Eva a couple of weeks ago I expressed my opinion that resolutions are usually made based on the performance and outcomes of the previous year. Suppose this new year does not present the same challenges or desires that you had before? I choose to give my resolution making some time, feel the new year out a little, and truly commit to a few goals I know I can, eventually, reach. I have professional goals and personal goals, long term goals and short term goals...sometimes it feels like a lot to keep up with but luckily there is at least one year to get that much closer to a new and improved you (and me).

Also, while I'm thinking, if a "resolution" (I actually prefer to call them goals) seems daunting who says you can't change it? Break it down and this year work on one aspect and next year on another, I believe goals can be adjusted if they weren't realistic in the first place (no need to set yourself up for failure). *Remember a goal should be: realistic, measurable, and observable.

So, having taken some time to soak in the new year I have deduced two personal goals for the year that I am really excited about!

FIRST: I'm going to take a chill pill. I have grown into someone who is easily irritated and always keeping others in check rather than myself. I am going to step back, stop trying to control everything and everyone in my world and make a concious decision to refrain from anger. I'm going to learn to see and love everyone as our Father in Heaven sees and loves them. I've been at it for one week and I feel 10 times better already! I'm actually turning back into someone people like to be around :)

SECOND: I am going to learn how to shop with coupons. I am totally against buying more than necessary and it's just me and my roommate so I usually figure I won't use enough of the item to warrant the coupon. HOWEVER, there is an entire science in coupon clipping, organizing, and utilizing I'm bound and determined to make work for me. Not to mention a food storage to create. Right now my favorite website is http://www.hip2save.com/ complete with coupons, video tutorials, and how to forums. Wish me luck. I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed/excited by this one but I think if I start small eventually I'll get it down.

Create

I absolutely loved this talk and it still speaks to my soul. Hit the link below and see some highlights of Pres. Uchtdorf's talk from the Relief Society broadcast last year. There are plenty more "Mormon Messages" on LDS.org-check them out!
Create

Ted Geisel

Can you say genius?! I'll admit that growing up and well into early adulthood I was never a huge fan of Dr. Seuss. Yes, I liked Green Eggs and Ham (even though it slightly grossed me out) and I learned to "read" from Hop on Pop, but people would just gush over Dr. Seuss and I never understood why. I suspect that it had something to do with his illustrations; I thought they were unrealistic and not very colorful and his characters were too abstract (I think more like a child now than I did when I was a kid). I actually felt bad for not loving or feeling drawn to Dr. Seuss. His books would be on sale and my mom or sisters would tell me "OOH! Dr. Seuss is on sale you have to get these!" "Every teacher needs him." "How can you not buy them?!" I wanted to like him, I wanted to love him, but I just didn't get it. Yes, his rhymes were quirky, yes his stories were fun, but I didn't want them...not even one. ;)

UNTIL....as a graduation present my Grams bought me Your Favorite Seuss. It's a large anthology of 13 of Dr. Seuss' most loved creations ranging from his first book And to Think That I saw It on Mulberry Street to his last Oh, the Places You'll Go! Each story is prefaced by a brief essay from various people familar with Seuss. Such people as: his wife Audrey, a kindergarten teacher, a children's librarian, a historian, the creator of Berenstain Bears and others. I attribute my new understanding of Seuss to these essays and to Seuss himself.

While enrolled in Children's Literature at BYU-Idaho I learned that The Lorax (a story that always reminds me of my older sister) is considered controversial, mainly in the eastern and western regions of the country, becuase of it's lesson on ecological awareness. Just think, if you lived in Oregon or Washington and your father was a lumber jack but an environmentalist raised enough hoopla to end his job...then where would you be? This is barely the beginning, except for his early readers series, the majority of Seuss books have a political background. It is for this reason that I find the man Theodore "Seuss" Geisel a genius! He could talk politics to children and parents in an unoffensive way. Better yet he did it without brainwashing, he did it with pseudowords, illustrations, and rhymes!! An entire book with a political view that rhymes! It blows my mind. The Cat in the Hat is a revolt against authority, The Sneetches a teacher of tolerance, Yertle the Turtle a teacher of sympathy and a lesson against anti-semitism, The Butter Battle Book teaches against the nuclear arms race....and the list goes on. Some of his lessons were more obvious than others and yet they still fell under our anti-teaching radars. I can't believe I didn't see it sooner. I'm a stickler for buying children's books with a message or moral and Seuss books without one are rare.

Yes, I am converted.

I finally understand the method behind the madness. His ImAgInaTioN was endless and I even like his illustrations! If you don't, then look again...and again...and again.

Home (n): the place in which one's domestic affections are centered.

Once again Madison brings me back to the blogging world. It all started with a texting conversation which nearly ended with a friendly "hey, I'm pretty sure you're due for an update." This is true, but let me preface by stating I spent all but two weeks of my holiday season on the road between home and Idaho/Utah for graduation.

**Let me take this moment to thank my family (Mom, Dad, Kellee, Trae, and Randi...Nick and Steven, I know you would have been there if you could) for making the trek to support me in graduating; it meant the world to me!**

I've accepted something about myself recently. I am a "homebody". When I go home (for holidays and breaks) I like to be home. Nothing sounds better to me than holing up in my house and being with my family and that's all I do (I am not ashamed). If you ever think "I wonder what Bailey's up to while she's home for the break?" I'm with my family. I don't carry my phone with me (it's quite refreshing you should try it some time), I check facebook approximately once every two weeks (if that), I read, quilt, craft...etc. rather than surf the web or watch TV, and I talk to my mom all of the time (she's my besty). So, really it's not that I don't want to blog, but simply....home is where my heart longs to be. The funny thing is that my physical home-my house if you will-changed so often in my younger years that it's a miracle I can attach myself to anything at all. Gratefully, I have a family, an eternal family, around which my heart revolves (second only to my Father in Heaven, of course).

I just need a few weeks to settle in with my family and brush the craze of life off my shoulders. It doesn't take long for me to miss school and friends as long as I can get my fill of family while I'm home.

I know this is short (relatively speaking) and semi-scatter brained but it's late and early morning brings children whose energy level rivals only that of the sun. So it's "TTFN-ta-ta-for-now"! I'll write again soon to give a more extensive update on graduation, moving to Utah, and my first week and a half as a professional Special Education teacher!

End of the beginning...or Beginning of the end?

As student teaching quickly comes to an end I find myself torn between the excitement of graduating college, being a professional, going home to see my family and moving from friends, having an unsettled future, and taking on more adult obligations. Perhaps it is simply that as I take this turn on the path of life others I love and enjoy being with will soon be out of comfortable reach? Why can't I just take everyone I care about and enjoy with me everywhere I go?

I can still remember how I felt and what I was wearing my first day at SVU. Now I'm about to graduate and I've come so far. Ever since I was in the 5th grade I've known what I wanted to be when I grew up. I have always wanted to be a special education teacher and a passion for these children and their families burns deeper in me every passing year. I truly am blessed-so many people don't have a passion or don't know what they want to do with their lives but I've always known and it has been confirmed to me through classes, discussions, children, and experiences in my life. Working in special education is why I am here, at this time, in this dispensation. Becoming a parent and building the kingdom of God on this earth is a mission set forth for every child of God but each child has specific talents, gifts, trials, and purpose. This I know-teaching, children, education, nurturing, compassion-is mine.

It's a beautiful thing to have a purpose and passion in life. The gospel provides such direction. Knowing what I am meant to do simplifies things but deciding where and when to do it is something that takes more; more prayer, more soul searching, more faith. Winston Churchill once said:

"To every man there comes....that special special moment when he is figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a special thing unique to him and fitted to his talent. What a tragedy if that moment finds him unprepared or unqualified for the work which would be his finest hour."

For me that moment was in the fifth grade and has driven my entire existence. How grateful I am for the Lord's hand in my life. How grateful I am for the confirmations I have received through the Holy Ghost. How eternally grateful I am for the comfort and healing power of the atoning sacrifice of my Savior, even Jesus Christ. As I step out into the real world to embark on an "awfully big adventure" I know that I am not alone.

5 Ways to Make Toast

It is typical for me every semester to go through phases of food I eat most frequently.

Two summers ago it was chicken, bean, and cheese quesadillas (thank you Carrie Fox). The fall before that all I ate was cereal. This past winter I lived off of Rold Gold Honey Wheat Braided Twist pretzels (they are still a constant in my cupboard) and this summer it was rice with tuna. My sophomore year I ate toast and an apple for breakfast every morning and this craving seems to be coming back around. The problem? When I was a sophomore, and almost every other year I've been in college, one of my roommates would bring a toaster. This semester?-not so much!

It has forced me to get creative with my toasting techniques. It's not uncommon for someone to overhear Madison and I exchange toasting tips. Earlier this week I discovered a new way to make toast in our apartment and my first thought was "Wait until Madison hears this!" I immediately laughed at myself partly because it's sad that I get excited about toast and partly because I had found yet another way to make toast. I'm genius! I started to look back on the semester and figure out how many different ways we have made yummy, cRuNchY, crumbly toast.
To make toast in apartment #9206 you may:

1. Put it in the oven. I tried to make toast in the oven once. We don't have any cookie sheets so I stuck my bread right on the oven rack. It worked except when trying to pull it out of the oven the bread slipped through the crack and landed right on the burner. NOT good!

2. Heat up a skillet on the stove. Don't walk away because this techinque works fast. (this is my least favorite way because the toast almost always burns which doesn't only taste bad but leaves you and the apartment smelling like burnt bread).

3. Plug in the George. A month ago I bought a little George Foreman grill at D.I. for $5. One day I got tired of my toast bruning so I stuck my toast in the bun warmer on top of the grill. Voila! (this technique works but it takes FOrEvER because you have to wait for the grill to heat up, you can only fit one slice in at a time, and you can only toast one side at time).

4. Go Panini style. It only took me one time using the bun warmer to figure out that if I put the bread in the Foreman it would toast both sides at the same time, I could fit two slices in at once, and it doesn't get burnt! (this is by far my favorite way to make my toast--but it still takes a minute or two to heat up the grill).

5. Prop it up. One morning while making oatmeal I pulled my bread out of the fridge, plugged in the George Foreman, and decided to warm up my bread before I toast it. I propped my toast up against my pot of boiling oatmeal and within seconds I had toast!! I flipped it over and did the same to the other side! (if you aren't careful you can burn your toast this way too but if you're going to stand there stirring oatmeal anway...why not?!)

Welcome Back!

Way to go Phillies! My team is headed to the World Series for the sEcONd year in a row! 2009 World Champions?-you bet!