Birth Control

Saturday night my sister Bethany and I babysat our two young cousins. Summer is 4 and Emily is 1 1/2. They both had been at our house for awhile so we kinda knew what to expect. Emily is the most compliant baby I've ever taken care of. She listens the first time you tell her, doesn't whine or cry, and could play with a string for hours. Summer, on the other hand, is a little tornado. Love her to death, but oh my goodness. They stayed the night with us Saturday night and to start the evening off, she started crying/whining that she wanted her mommy....for a good 20-30 minutes. ugh. Then it's time for bed. Summer has to sleep with me, otherwise she won't go to bed. We go to bed around 10-10:30 and it's not until 11:30-12 that she finally drifts off to sleep. In that, oh, 1-2 hrs time, she manages to frustrate me to the n-th degree. After her trying to sneek out of bed, stalling with bathroom and drink breaks, switching with Beth to see if she'd sleep, poking me, biting me, jumping on the bed, pulling my covers off, talking incessantly, and me yelling at her, I finally win and she quits trying and goes to sleep. All the while Emmy just snuggles up in bed with Beth and goes to sleep. Never ever have I been tested by a 4 year old like that, but let me tell you what,....I don't want kids right now, that's for sure. She was good enough birth control for me.


disclaimer: Summer is really a lot of fun, just high energy and ornry. I just didn't enjoy bedtime.

Oh so clumsy

Holy crap! I've never been so clumsy in my life as I have these past few weeks. A week and a half ago, I knocked the wind out of myself while working at McConn. Ya, I turned around and went to quickly go to the back of McConn, holding a big plastic tub and accidently ran into half of the wall in my attempt to squeeze by and knocked the wind out of myself. I had a good laugh from that one. Then the very same night, in my excitement in talking about Thanksgiving with Dave, my manager, I pulled one of the drawers too hard and the entire thing fell out onto my big toe. I definitely limped all the next day and it's all purple. Great job Jen....2 in one night! I also noticed a massive bruise on my upper thigh and I have NO CLUE how it got there; I just know it hurts. My fourth, and I hope final, injury occured last night. I was tired and I guess miscalculated where the coffee table was as I entered the family room and I slammed my knee into the corner. Ya, it still hurts. Fantastic. I'm a winner.

Those Moments You Live For

Monday I turned in the last of my big projects/papers/tests that I'll have for awhile and it was wonderful. That evening I joined friends at McConn as they played an intense game of Uno, sipped coffee and creamy frappes and exchanged back massages. I remember sitting there watching their game and then just taking a moment to look around and soak it all in. This will all end in another 5 months for me, never to be returned to again. That's a sad thought, but for the moment, I just enjoyed being there. Christmas music was playing in the background and the Christmas lights from McConn and the fire created a warm glow. I sat there cuddled up in the chair next to the fire in my comfy sweater not wanting to go anywhere or even move. Ahh...good days! :)

Deck the espresso machine!

In the midst of a hectic Thursday full of lab, class, workout and about 3 meetings, I managed to fit in some time to help decorate McConn for the holiday. Actually I didn't manage, I MADE time for it. I don't think you understand my love for Christmas. It goes beyond just enjoying it to getting giddy over it. Micah and Josh were sitting there as we were decorating around them. I walked over to place a Santa hat on Josh (I was already wearing one, of course) and Micah informed me that I was glowing I was so excited. It's true; I could feel the smile on my face from one ear to the other. I just can't help it! I just LOVE Christmas! I know so many people get tired of the commercialism of Christmas, but the things I love the most are the family time, the Christmas Eve service at church by candlelight, and caroling with my family at the nursing home. The last one is often a reality check for me which is often what Christmas is for me.....I often realize just how incredibly blessed I am, and that my friends is why I love this time of year. I've been not only blessed with an amazing family and so many material possessions but I've been blessed with an amazing Savior.

So close

I'm so close to the end, I can feel it! This is my last semester of classes...I can't believe it's actually coming to an end. I'm so pumped to be done with classes (well, almost, I must take an earth science class during may term but i don't even count it cause it'll be a joke). On the other hand, though, I'm kinda scared cause that means I start student teaching and then....I graduate and go out on my own,...well, kinda....I think I'm gonna live at home for a year but then what? Ahh! And to compound matters, I'm a girl so it's kinda scary to think about going out on my own and single. I refuse to live by myself so what will I do after a year of living at home? Oh, too much to think about. I think I'll go back to working on my speech.

The gauntlet

Fridays should never be so terrible as the one today. I had three tests today, all before chapel so that means I had one at 7:50, 8:55, and 10:00....sick and wrong. I was actually supposed to have 4 but my professor for one class let me move it. The first two I really couldn't move and the third wasn't hard but still there was the fact that I still had to take some time to study for it. The first one was so-so...the second was bad and the third went well. To make things all better, though, I took a 2 hour nap....praise God!!!

Words

Today I was dressed up due to some meetings I had to attend. One of my guy friends came up to me and told me I looked gorgeous. I just sat there shocked. I honestly don't think that word has ever been spoken to me by a guy other than maybe my uncles or some family member. It made me feel so good and brightened my day. There wasn't any other underlying meaning or him trying to hit on me, he's just a very encouraging guy and daily he says something to me that really encourages me.
I think as Christians we've gotten into a rut where we don't encourage one another anymore. I think we often assume it has to be something big like a gift or card, but that's not the case. God calls us to encourage, not buy things. Say something to someone! Why do we hesitate so much to say those things that we're thinking? Is it because we're afraid they'll think we like them? Oh screw it....who cares? You know how I know my friend wasn't hitting on me? Because he's consistent and I see him encourage everyone. Be an encourager!!

There's no place like home

Went home this weekend....to a new house!!! So exciting even though I had to sleep on the couch cause my bed's not up. Oh well, I was home and that's all that mattered. Mom, Beth, and I went shopping on Saturday and it was so much fun and so relaxing..well, as relaxing as shopping can be. We went into just about every store we passed that had Christmas stuff up :) We visited a cooking store, looked at Christmas decorations, made good use of mom's discount at some stores and of course, tapped into some Starbucks and coffee cake. And ya know, it just wouldn't have been as good if I wouldn't have been with them.

A visit to the realm of unconsciousness

This morning I awoke and proceeded to get in the shower, just like any other day. I was a little light-headed but just thought it was from getting up and still being tired. I got in the shower and got really light-headed and felt as though I was gonna loose my cookies. The next thing I remember is waking up on the bottom of the shower and trying to figure out where I was and what was going on. I was trying to wake up and get up but was so incoherent. I finally got up and out of the shower and still felt as though I was gonna throw up. I finally realized what had happened......I'd just passed out in the shower. Yikes. I couldn't stand up without feeling like I was gonna throw up or pass out so I sat there, knowing Kara, my dear housemate, would be coming down to get into the bathroom. Sure enough, a minute later she knocks on the door and I open it and tell her I've just passed out in the shower. I go back to bed and a little later on she takes me to the health center. My blood sugar was fine, but Kara had also given me some oj (she's smart like that). My blood pressure was 95/61....little low and my temp was below normal too so they suggested I not go to classes for the day and that I come back tomorrow to see the nurse practitioner. So now I have a bump on my forehead inbetween my eyes so I kinda look like I have a third eye and a bruise on my chin from where I fell. So weird....I have no clue what's wrong with me but I do know that passing out is really really weird...and not fun.