I am very privileged, or maybe blessed is a better word, I don't know. I really am though. I got to go home for Christmas and as crazy as it was, it was oddly restful. As soon as I stepped off the plane it was non-stop rushing. I had to explain to a zillion people that I was not, in fact, at Andrews and that I was in Idaho as an assistant dean. But despite all the rushing, shopping, singing, laughing, family, friends, and lack of sleeping in it was a much needed break, a respite from the life of a dean.
Take that last sentence with a grain of salt because my life as a dean isn't a difficult one at ALL. Let me explain though. It's lonely here. I'm totally surrounded by people that have no clue who I am; some of them don't even know my first name. You know how people say that they are surrounded by people and yet somehow feel utterly alone? That's how I feel when I'm here. Don't get me wrong, we have good times. The first banquet of the year "Winter Wonderland" is coming up and the girls are ecstatic. A couple of girls came banging on my door the other day wearing their banquet dresses. They were dancing around in the halls and were absolutely pumped about getting dressed up and going out. As I look back on the banquets that I attended and planned I have fond memories. I remember being excited. It's a good feeling. Despite all the good feelings I still feel "blah" inside. It's not hard to smile and laugh and scream and have a good time but when everything is said and done and I go back to my room I'm lonely. I miss my friends. I think about them all the time.
The title says "Roses Have Thorns," meaning that even though things seem to be great, there are still undeniable rough patches that hurt. I got a new room. It was supposed to be done in November, before Thanksgiving but the finally finished it during Christmas break. I started moving in the moment I got back. When I moved in I didn't have a door knob on my bathroom and I still have a ton of stuff in my other room because I have NO CLUE where I'm going to put it all! But aside from the fact that it's a tiny space, even if it does have a bathroom...which I LOVE, it's very poorly designed. Aside from the design there are a bunch of little things that are very irritating. I grew up in a house that was in a constant state of construction and I know what quality looks like. My new bathroom is a bathroom but there is still a sticker on the sink, pencil marks on the walls, gouges in the cabinetry, not to mention that I don't think anyone sat on my new toilet to see if it was comfortable because it's not. And I know you aren't supposed to look a gift horse in the mouth but seriously?! These people were sooooo sloppy. But every time I try to say something about it every one says, "But you have a bathroom now." Is that supposed to mean something? Yes, I have a bathroom now but that doesn't mean that I can't have my cake and eat it too. I want people to care about there work. Even though this post hasn't exactly been all rainbows and butterflies I just want you all to know that I really love my job and I love every single student that lives in this dorm. But I just needed to "write" this all down. Hopefully that will help with the unrest.
Things are good here at GSA. I really should blog more, then they wouldn't be so long. We have been back in school for a week already. The banquet is just around the corner. There is an open house this weekend, that should be fun. I love a good open house. Every school is not without their drama however. And in our case it was bottled up from before break and now it's all coming out, like an enormous tidal wave. I've learned what parents must feel like when a child disappoints them. I also think that I did a year's worth of maturing in a week. I still find myself at a loss for words when I have to discipline kids but I'm getting better about articulating the rules when I need to. I hate reprimanding kids because I remember being on the other side of that reprimand and how awkward and irritating it is. But it's something that I'm learning how to do, even though I have a particular distaste for it.
On a happier note, I got to see my best friend in the whole world over Christmas break. She drove all the way from Michigan to Loveland, CO to spend about 24 hours with me. We rang in the new year together. It was the most special New Year's Eve yet. You can watch the video on Facebook. I also get to see all my fabulous friends at Andrews in T-29 days! Hi friends at Andrews, it's me, Ashley. I don't know if you remember me but I'm stopping by in a month so you better put your party clothes on! (I'm REALLY excited.) Ok, I have to do the chapel talk tomorrow so I should probably stop typing and start sleeping so that I can get up at a regular hour and make it on time to that shindig. May the peace of God permeate your souls today. I love you all!
Ashley
Monday, January 9, 2012
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
GSA Chapter 9: It's Been Awhile...
It has been so long since I last blogged that when I clicked on my blog tab where I'm always signed in it asked for my password. I apologize to those faithful few who read my blog. I'm not dead. :)
Last time I wrote it was Halloween, now it's practically Christmas (well not really but it's December so that's close enough). Not a whole lot has happened really, just the usual eb and flow of a normal day/week/month as an assistant dean here at Gem State. My parents came for a visit in early November and it was a very productive visit too. I got outfitted with a snazzy new dress, awesome new skis, new snow pants and even an epic new coat. It was a blast! We stayed up late, we giggled like crazy people, I put 250 miles on my car driving back and forth from Boise, I got to eat at the Old Spaghetti Factory (woohoo!), and just had a super grand time. I really like my parents (and yes, I think they actually read this so I don't mind them knowing). We get along most of the time and I definitely know I'm their spawn because we have the same epic sense of humor. My family is the bomb. Anyway, after they left it was the count down to Thanksgiving. Nothing too exciting happened between those two events. Although I did take three of the kids to Coldstone Creamery one night. One of the girls came in shorts, T-shirt, and flip-flops. She's nuts.
Anyway, Thanksgiving finally came and I flew to Salem, Oregon to visit my amazing aunt, uncle, and cousins. We had a blast! We baked, cooked, ate, ate, ate, oh and we ate. Around 9pm on Thursday night Auntie D and I decided to go to Toys R Us. We figured that since it was so early there really wouldn't be anyone there. We were very wrong. We had to stand in line in the rain to even get into the store because they were only letting 50 people in at a time. We waited about 15 minutes before finally getting into the store. Then we wandered around, battling the crowds at every turn. When we finally had everything we wanted we went to find the end of the line. Turns out the line to check out started in the very back of the store. We ended up zigzagging through the aisles of the store, back and forth and round and round until finally, 1 hr 18 min 8 sec later we were at the cashier. It was crazy! But we got a screaming deal on some things that I think the kids will be totally stoked about. We had a great time. It was a particularly special Thanksgiving because I've never spent this holiday with these guys. Unfortunately, on Monday I got sick. I'd been fighting off the twinges for a month and I finally caved. I got a cold and a sore throat. I thought I was going to die. I have now spent the last week and a half feeling lousy and taking more drugs than I care to mention. After all that, I finally got some antibiotics (thanks dad) and am feeling quite fabulous. I'm not 100% yet but definitely on my way. So now the next thing to look forward to is Christmas. I really like Christmas but for some reason I'm not feeling very Christmas-y. We have a tree in the lobby here in the dorm and I've been listening to Christmas music and such but I just don't have that magical feeling like I usually do this time of year. Maybe I'll find it when I go home. We are having a REAL Christmas tree in our family room this year and I'm a so ridiculously excited about that I can hardly wait to get home and decorate it while listening to Christmas music at an outrageously loud decible and eating (it doesn't matter what I eat as long as its Christmas food).
I'll probably have a huge post about how much I love Christmas coming up in a couple of days (or weeks). Also, this year during Christmas break we are hopefully going skiing in Colorado. I was totally against the idea for a while because CO is a LONG drive but then I discovered that I may see my lovely friend Sarah while I'm down there and now I want to go to COLORADO (hint hint dad). We go skiing every year right after Christmas and so I usually spend New Year's Day in a car. I don't mind though because we go skiing. How awesome is that? I'm going to stop now because I feel like I'm rambling. I'm sorry that I don't have anything profound to say right now about my dean experience but I basically just summed up my life over the last month so there ya go. :)
-Ashley
Last time I wrote it was Halloween, now it's practically Christmas (well not really but it's December so that's close enough). Not a whole lot has happened really, just the usual eb and flow of a normal day/week/month as an assistant dean here at Gem State. My parents came for a visit in early November and it was a very productive visit too. I got outfitted with a snazzy new dress, awesome new skis, new snow pants and even an epic new coat. It was a blast! We stayed up late, we giggled like crazy people, I put 250 miles on my car driving back and forth from Boise, I got to eat at the Old Spaghetti Factory (woohoo!), and just had a super grand time. I really like my parents (and yes, I think they actually read this so I don't mind them knowing). We get along most of the time and I definitely know I'm their spawn because we have the same epic sense of humor. My family is the bomb. Anyway, after they left it was the count down to Thanksgiving. Nothing too exciting happened between those two events. Although I did take three of the kids to Coldstone Creamery one night. One of the girls came in shorts, T-shirt, and flip-flops. She's nuts.
Anyway, Thanksgiving finally came and I flew to Salem, Oregon to visit my amazing aunt, uncle, and cousins. We had a blast! We baked, cooked, ate, ate, ate, oh and we ate. Around 9pm on Thursday night Auntie D and I decided to go to Toys R Us. We figured that since it was so early there really wouldn't be anyone there. We were very wrong. We had to stand in line in the rain to even get into the store because they were only letting 50 people in at a time. We waited about 15 minutes before finally getting into the store. Then we wandered around, battling the crowds at every turn. When we finally had everything we wanted we went to find the end of the line. Turns out the line to check out started in the very back of the store. We ended up zigzagging through the aisles of the store, back and forth and round and round until finally, 1 hr 18 min 8 sec later we were at the cashier. It was crazy! But we got a screaming deal on some things that I think the kids will be totally stoked about. We had a great time. It was a particularly special Thanksgiving because I've never spent this holiday with these guys. Unfortunately, on Monday I got sick. I'd been fighting off the twinges for a month and I finally caved. I got a cold and a sore throat. I thought I was going to die. I have now spent the last week and a half feeling lousy and taking more drugs than I care to mention. After all that, I finally got some antibiotics (thanks dad) and am feeling quite fabulous. I'm not 100% yet but definitely on my way. So now the next thing to look forward to is Christmas. I really like Christmas but for some reason I'm not feeling very Christmas-y. We have a tree in the lobby here in the dorm and I've been listening to Christmas music and such but I just don't have that magical feeling like I usually do this time of year. Maybe I'll find it when I go home. We are having a REAL Christmas tree in our family room this year and I'm a so ridiculously excited about that I can hardly wait to get home and decorate it while listening to Christmas music at an outrageously loud decible and eating (it doesn't matter what I eat as long as its Christmas food).
I'll probably have a huge post about how much I love Christmas coming up in a couple of days (or weeks). Also, this year during Christmas break we are hopefully going skiing in Colorado. I was totally against the idea for a while because CO is a LONG drive but then I discovered that I may see my lovely friend Sarah while I'm down there and now I want to go to COLORADO (hint hint dad). We go skiing every year right after Christmas and so I usually spend New Year's Day in a car. I don't mind though because we go skiing. How awesome is that? I'm going to stop now because I feel like I'm rambling. I'm sorry that I don't have anything profound to say right now about my dean experience but I basically just summed up my life over the last month so there ya go. :)
-Ashley
Monday, October 31, 2011
Musings on Fall
Well, today is Halloween. I would like to take this opportunity to reflect on how much I love fall. No matter what you call it, Fall or Autumn, it is still a pretty epic season. My favorite part of fall is the leaves. I absolutely love when the leves change color. I definitely want to go to Boston in the fall.
I would actually just like to spend the entire season of fall in a place where there is an actual prolonged season of fall. I'm from North Dakota and in terms of seasons it goes something like this: Spring __ Summer ___ Fall _ Winter __________________ ... Well anyway, you get the picture. Usually fall sets in around mid-September. You can smell the change in weather on the wind. It is absolutely magical. I love how the wind does that. Unfortunately, the wind is what ruins fall for me. As I said before, mid-September is when fall sets in over in North Dakota; probably around September 15ish. Well around September 30, just enough time for the leaves to start changing and things to get beautiful along the river a nasty wind sweeps in and blows all the leaves off the trees, which translates to a very ugly fall and a sad me.
There are many other great things about fall. My mom and grandma and many other irreplaceable friends have their birthdays during the fall but among these holidays is another holiday that I don't really celebrate anymore but I love looking at all the fun little kids have; that would be Halloween or "All Hallows Eve" as the Christian world allegedly calls it.
Mostly I like Halloween for three reasons. Adorable children's costumes, pumpkin carving, and candy. Here are some pictures to document my love for these three wonderful things.
I would actually just like to spend the entire season of fall in a place where there is an actual prolonged season of fall. I'm from North Dakota and in terms of seasons it goes something like this: Spring __ Summer ___ Fall _ Winter __________________ ... Well anyway, you get the picture. Usually fall sets in around mid-September. You can smell the change in weather on the wind. It is absolutely magical. I love how the wind does that. Unfortunately, the wind is what ruins fall for me. As I said before, mid-September is when fall sets in over in North Dakota; probably around September 15ish. Well around September 30, just enough time for the leaves to start changing and things to get beautiful along the river a nasty wind sweeps in and blows all the leaves off the trees, which translates to a very ugly fall and a sad me.
There are many other great things about fall. My mom and grandma and many other irreplaceable friends have their birthdays during the fall but among these holidays is another holiday that I don't really celebrate anymore but I love looking at all the fun little kids have; that would be Halloween or "All Hallows Eve" as the Christian world allegedly calls it.
Mostly I like Halloween for three reasons. Adorable children's costumes, pumpkin carving, and candy. Here are some pictures to document my love for these three wonderful things.
Well now that I've overloaded this post with pictures (probably to make up for the increasingly apparent lack of pictures in my other posts), I will move on to talk about how much I love carving pumpkins. (There are no pictures of candy because I don't want to give you an enormous hankering. And yes, I know that some of the carving pictures aren't actually done on pumpkins but what can you do? I really like penguins and owls...and watermelon.)
When I was a kid, every fall around Halloween time my brother and I would go with our parents to Papa's Pumpkin Patch and pick out the perfect pumpkin for each of us to carve. My mom never really got into carving but that's ok, like ice fishing it was something special we did with our dad. Anyway, I don't really have any specific memories of what I carved, just that I did. When I was younger I mostly just picked out what I wanted my dad to carve and then I helped him gut the pumpkin and helped tape the pattern onto the pumpkin but after that I quickly lost interest and left to come back to the most amazing pumpkin a 6 year old could ask for. My dad is a master at carving stuff. That's sorta why I included the watermelons. My dad used to carve all kinds of things. He is awesome. I digress. As I got older I progressed to actually helping poke out the little dotted lines that are the secret to any amateur pumpkin carver's success. And as I continued to age (like cheese...or wine...) I actually did some of the carving. I have so many memories of carving. It was always a blast. On a particularly sad note, I remember one year when some teenage hooligans thought it would be funny to smash our pumpkins in the road. Needless to say, my brother and I were crushed, devastated, reduced to tears. It was very sad. But moving on, I never really got into the whole costume thing. I was a Christmas tree once. I think that was the last time I went trick-or-treating. I was 17 haha. A group of friends and I went to the governor's house and trick or treated. We actually had to wait in line to get to the door. Anyway, the governor (ya Hoven!) told me I made a very cute Christmas tree. :) Wow. This is getting ridiculous. If you have actually made it this far in this post, I am VERY impressed. :) I should probably stop talking and save some for next time. So until next time, Happy Halloween!
-Ashley
Monday, October 24, 2011
GSA Chapter 8: Highlights of the Last Three Weeks
Well, a lot has happened since the last time I wrote but I was feeling lazy and didn't want to type. So I'll bullet point the highlights.
HIGHLIGHTS
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| Pedro the Pumpkin |
- I'm getting a NEW room, complete with a bathroom and snazzy lighting. (Pictures to come when the room is complete.)
- Went on a crazy Dairy Queen adventure a couple of weekends ago with the kids in the dorm on a Saturday night. *more later*
- My fish Ingrid the Survivor is the best fish ever!
- I really love living so close to family.
- I visited the fam in Salem last weekend and we made the cutest cupcakes on the planet!
- My littlest cousin is going as Indiana Jones for halloween...he has a whip and everything...he's legit.
- Chaperoned the kids at a corn maze. Who had the brilliant idea to take a bunch of high school kids with raging hormones to a corn maze?! We probably should have done a hickey inspection as everyone got back on the bus...
- Found the most adorable costume on the planet for a baby (a candy corn!).
- They shrunk the girl's laundry room so there is now a laundry room and a kitchenette! Well, not yet but there will be a kitchenette and baby laundry room sometime in the near future and that is something to get excited about.
- Speaking of getting excited...THE FURNITURE FINALLY CAME!!!!!!!!! Fabulous pictures to come.
- Locked my phone in a school suburban overnight.
- Watched the Blues Brothers...very educational. lol
- Was reminded that kittens are such good therapy for an exhausted soul
- Learned that truckers have an ENORMOUS blind spot...or at least big enough for my car to hide in...mayhem must have been there...I almost died. (not really)
- Discovered a ridiculously comfortable couch!
- Learned that I could feasibly wear pink for a whole month without repeating an outfit. (I may have to actually put that claim to the test)
- Finally posted a new ukulele video
- Carved the coolest pumpkin named Pedro the Puking Pumpkin
- Discovered that feeding ducks may become my favorite pastime when I'm old :D
- Got my school pictures back today.
- I REALLY MISS MY AU FRIENDS!
- I'm really excited about Thanksgiving. :)
I think that's all the highlights. Ok, so more on the mini bus adventure.
So I was on duty and it was a Saturday night. Nothing was planned for the kids and they were all really bored. They kept begging me to take them somewhere and do something so I finally conceded and took all 13 of them to Dairy Queen. We piled into the mini bus and barreled off toward what I thought was DQ but when I went to turn toward the only DQ I knew of the kids told me to turn the other way and assured me that they knew where they were going. So, I followed their directions only to end up in the middle of no where and the kids wondering where DQ was. I finally dug out my phone and used the GPS app to get us there and I now know where DQ is in Caldwell...sort of. The other interesting factor was that I was driving the mini bus, which they affectionately call the "Bumblebee" and let me tell you, it was SCARY. But not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I don't like driving my dad's excursion so this was only about 500 steps up from that. It was a hilarious and terrifying event that I will probably remember for a very long time.
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| Most adorable costume for a baby! |
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| In other news...most adorable cupcakes EVER! |
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| A lovely view of the front desk, door to the dean's office and the double doors on the left are the front doors of the dorm. |
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| The amazing painting on the wall next to that super fancy fire alarm... |
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| Um...this is a picture that didn't get rotated but you can see how pretty the rug is at any angle. |
Monday, October 10, 2011
Six Reasons to Eat Out Alone
My top six reasons for eating alone and why it isn't weird.
6. Small talk. Sometimes it is just nice to be able to sit at a table and enjoy a meal without having to make a comment on the weather in your home town or how your dog, Bowser, is allergic to rice.
5. The wait staff are very attentive. They probably think that you just got dumped or that you don't have the charm necessary to have a boy/girlfriend and are very kind and even doting; making sure you have everything you could possibly need or want. For impatient people, this is ideal.
4. Get your food sooner. You are a party of one. That means you don't have to wait for Uncle George's fettuccine alfredo and Aunt Matilda's lasagna to be ready while your tortellini sits under a heating lamp so it doesn't get cold. You get your food as soon as its ready and since the wait staff are so attentive, you will barely have time to finish your salad before they bring out your entree.
3. Relax. Sometimes it's good to have a little alone time. People watching can be very relaxing. I find it interesting to see how families interact with one another.
2. Self-confidence booster. There's nothing like walking into a restaurant and asking for a table for one. Sure, the hostess might look at you a little funny but if you walk in there with your head up and your shoulders back, like you own the place, people will know that you are there because you decided to go out and treat yourself to dinner.
1. You can order whatever you want. Because you're eating alone, no one is going to judge you for what you order. You want the actual size dessert instead of the mini? Fine. Have it. Your friends aren't there to question your selections. The server doesn't care as long as you eat and are happy and the cooks don't even know who you are. It is a beautiful thing. You can order the mozzarella sticks, the four cheese pasta, and the chocolate cake and no one is going to care that you just ate like a pig. Plus, if you're smart, you'll save some for leftovers so you have a meal for the next day.
Eating alone is NOT something I recommend that you do often, however, it can be cathartic and a nice change of pace from eating alone in front of the TV with your fish. So go out and enjoy yourself. Be single, be proud.
-Ashley
6. Small talk. Sometimes it is just nice to be able to sit at a table and enjoy a meal without having to make a comment on the weather in your home town or how your dog, Bowser, is allergic to rice.
5. The wait staff are very attentive. They probably think that you just got dumped or that you don't have the charm necessary to have a boy/girlfriend and are very kind and even doting; making sure you have everything you could possibly need or want. For impatient people, this is ideal.
4. Get your food sooner. You are a party of one. That means you don't have to wait for Uncle George's fettuccine alfredo and Aunt Matilda's lasagna to be ready while your tortellini sits under a heating lamp so it doesn't get cold. You get your food as soon as its ready and since the wait staff are so attentive, you will barely have time to finish your salad before they bring out your entree.
3. Relax. Sometimes it's good to have a little alone time. People watching can be very relaxing. I find it interesting to see how families interact with one another.
2. Self-confidence booster. There's nothing like walking into a restaurant and asking for a table for one. Sure, the hostess might look at you a little funny but if you walk in there with your head up and your shoulders back, like you own the place, people will know that you are there because you decided to go out and treat yourself to dinner.
1. You can order whatever you want. Because you're eating alone, no one is going to judge you for what you order. You want the actual size dessert instead of the mini? Fine. Have it. Your friends aren't there to question your selections. The server doesn't care as long as you eat and are happy and the cooks don't even know who you are. It is a beautiful thing. You can order the mozzarella sticks, the four cheese pasta, and the chocolate cake and no one is going to care that you just ate like a pig. Plus, if you're smart, you'll save some for leftovers so you have a meal for the next day.
Eating alone is NOT something I recommend that you do often, however, it can be cathartic and a nice change of pace from eating alone in front of the TV with your fish. So go out and enjoy yourself. Be single, be proud.
-Ashley
Thursday, October 6, 2011
My Bucket List
I figure this should probably get written down so I don't forget to do any of them and so I can start crossing them out.
Ashley's Bucket List*
1. Publish a volume of poetry
2. Record an album
3. Travel
3a. England
3b. Korea
3c. Thailand
3d. Italy
3e. More of Africa
4. Go to Paris, France and sword fight with baguettes in front of the Eiffel Tower
5. Change a life
6. Find love
6a. Get married
6b. Have kids
6c. Have the "American dream"
7. Keep in touch with my best friends no matter the distance
8. Find a career I'm passionate about
9. Go skinny dipping
10. Visit every state in the US (I have been to 39 states so I have 11 states left)
11. Do some sort of acting
12. Volunteer at an elephant orphanage in India or Africa
13. Volunteer to work with big cats
14. Go to the Galapagos Islands again
15. Visit every island, country, or ice berg with a penguin population
16. Meet the president of the United States
*This list is subject to change. Additions will definitely be made.
So far this is all I can think of. If they are crossed off they are done.
I'm excited.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
GSA Chapter 7: Jr/Sr Girl's Retreat
After homeleave things continued at their usual academy pace until last weekend when I got the awesome opportunity to go with 25 of the junior and senior girls up to what I think might be the most beautiful spot in Idaho. We went to Cascade, ID and stayed at a place called The Depot. It used to be a train station for the Oregon Shortline Railroad. Built in 1914 for ticketing, waiting, and baggage there was also a second story home for the station manager. The station was moved in 1986 to its current location in Cascade.*
The house was so picturesque. It sits right along the Payette river which was unseasonably warm for this time of year. We enjoyed the fall colors, the swimming provided by the river but mostly we enjoyed doing the simple things. Eating, painting our nails, singing, dancing, watching movies...you know...girl's stuff. The girls spent all day Sabbath painting each other's nails. This school boasts some very talented nail artists. Sad to say, my camera has stopped functioning and so I wasn't able to get very many pictures. Hopefully, I can get them from some of the girls.
This week I've had trouble sleeping. I was up until 3am last night despite the fact that I had to get up at 5:45 this morning. Then, this afternoon I took a nap at 3pm and intended to wake up at 4:15...that didn't happen. I woke up at 7:40pm! I woke up in a panic thinking it was tomorrow and I was late.
Oh, while I'm on the subject of dumb stuff that I somehow manage to do here's a story for you. So I got a blender. It is not a big scary blender but a little blender with equal scare value. It is very cute and was only $16. I decided to make a strawberry smoothie from frozen strawberries and chocolate SILK (best stuff ever!). I must mention at this point that the cord for this blender is very short and because of this I had to precariously prop my power strip on top of a box fan and then wedge the power strip between the fridge and the dresser. So everything is going peachy and the smoothie was almost done. I had the lid off the blender because I was stirring the concoction and pushing it toward the blades at the bottom when all of a sudden the power strip slips off the fan taking the blender and smoothie with it. Now at this point I must say that it is a miracle that most of it landed on the floor and not on the enormous pile of clothes in the middle of my room. It sloshed all the way across the room and even hit my TV which is probably about 10 feet away from the dresser where I was blending. It was a horrible mess that I'm still cleaning up. It got all over my bed spread so I have to wash that tomorrow and hope that the strawberries and chocolate silk come out of my mostly white bed spread. It was awful. It was a mess of truly epic proportions.
This weekend we are doing out door church. I hope its warm because it has been FRIGID here this week! (I must put "frigid" in perspective. It has been in the upper 80's since I got here in August and all of a sudden the rain swooped in and it has been in the upper 50's and lower 60's all week. That's cold for us right now. Come this spring that will be toasty.) I'm excited for the change in weather though. It gets boring when its day after day of the exact same weather: sunny and hot. As I'm typing this I'm watching Ingrid the Invincible (my fish) swim wildly around her bowl. She is named Ingrid the Invincible because I didn't feed my two fish (Ingrid and Sven) for FOUR days; Ingrid survived, Sven did not. My computer is having issues again. The disc drive is broken so I need to take it to Boise tomorrow and get it fixed.
In other news, its the weekend of volleyball tournament and our team, the Lady Jaguars, are heading to Walla Walla tomorrow. I hope they do well. Let's go Lady Jags! Anyway, I should go now because I'm rambling. K, bye.
-Ashley
The house was so picturesque. It sits right along the Payette river which was unseasonably warm for this time of year. We enjoyed the fall colors, the swimming provided by the river but mostly we enjoyed doing the simple things. Eating, painting our nails, singing, dancing, watching movies...you know...girl's stuff. The girls spent all day Sabbath painting each other's nails. This school boasts some very talented nail artists. Sad to say, my camera has stopped functioning and so I wasn't able to get very many pictures. Hopefully, I can get them from some of the girls.
This week I've had trouble sleeping. I was up until 3am last night despite the fact that I had to get up at 5:45 this morning. Then, this afternoon I took a nap at 3pm and intended to wake up at 4:15...that didn't happen. I woke up at 7:40pm! I woke up in a panic thinking it was tomorrow and I was late.
Oh, while I'm on the subject of dumb stuff that I somehow manage to do here's a story for you. So I got a blender. It is not a big scary blender but a little blender with equal scare value. It is very cute and was only $16. I decided to make a strawberry smoothie from frozen strawberries and chocolate SILK (best stuff ever!). I must mention at this point that the cord for this blender is very short and because of this I had to precariously prop my power strip on top of a box fan and then wedge the power strip between the fridge and the dresser. So everything is going peachy and the smoothie was almost done. I had the lid off the blender because I was stirring the concoction and pushing it toward the blades at the bottom when all of a sudden the power strip slips off the fan taking the blender and smoothie with it. Now at this point I must say that it is a miracle that most of it landed on the floor and not on the enormous pile of clothes in the middle of my room. It sloshed all the way across the room and even hit my TV which is probably about 10 feet away from the dresser where I was blending. It was a horrible mess that I'm still cleaning up. It got all over my bed spread so I have to wash that tomorrow and hope that the strawberries and chocolate silk come out of my mostly white bed spread. It was awful. It was a mess of truly epic proportions.
This weekend we are doing out door church. I hope its warm because it has been FRIGID here this week! (I must put "frigid" in perspective. It has been in the upper 80's since I got here in August and all of a sudden the rain swooped in and it has been in the upper 50's and lower 60's all week. That's cold for us right now. Come this spring that will be toasty.) I'm excited for the change in weather though. It gets boring when its day after day of the exact same weather: sunny and hot. As I'm typing this I'm watching Ingrid the Invincible (my fish) swim wildly around her bowl. She is named Ingrid the Invincible because I didn't feed my two fish (Ingrid and Sven) for FOUR days; Ingrid survived, Sven did not. My computer is having issues again. The disc drive is broken so I need to take it to Boise tomorrow and get it fixed.
In other news, its the weekend of volleyball tournament and our team, the Lady Jaguars, are heading to Walla Walla tomorrow. I hope they do well. Let's go Lady Jags! Anyway, I should go now because I'm rambling. K, bye.
-Ashley
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