Summertime Ramblings

I was thinking today that I probably should update this more. But, apparently I'm too lazy. And there's really not a whole lot that I've been doing. I did finally see "North and South" (twice--thanks Guthries!). I highly recommend it to my fellow romantic saps. :)

Tomorrow afternoon we're headed off to Philmont (we being my parents, sister, and I--we're the only ones left at home). My dad is going for scouting stuff and the rest of us are going to...um...support. Yeah. And have decent meals all week because I apparently don't know how to feed myself... It should be fun, but I don't know quite what to expect. I'll let you know how it goes. (Oh, just as a fun side-note, who thinks I've already started packing? Anyone? OK, 100 points to all of you who know me well enough to know that I probably won't start that until after lunch tomorrow. Haha.)

Welp, I guess I'll stop rambling now. Hopefully I can get some good pictures from the trip. Don't worry, I'll show you all. :) See you next week!

I Guess I Am 21, But...

In the process of cleaning my room, I found a little velvet-ish bag full of "precious stones" (a.k.a. pretty rocks) that I got sometime in elementary school at the Arizona Science Center. They actually do look pretty cool, so my mom and I have been looking for something to display them in. This is what we found at Target today (complete with pretty rocks):


It looks pretty cool, right? Now, some of you might have noticed something...particular about the shape and size. Yes, it's a shooter. (Or shot glass or whatever you want to call it.) That is what brings us to the story of the day. (Tadaaaa! I know you've all been missing my stories.)

Mom and I were passing through the dishes at Target, looking at all the pretty stuff (with me stopping about every 5 feet and saying "Mom, look. This is pretty. I like it. That is all." I'm good at that.) Mom says, "Oh, look, this is cool! It would probably work for your rocks."

I say, "Mom, that's a shooter."

"That doesn't matter. You don't have to get it, I just thought it looked cool."

I think it's kind-of funny, and it does look cool, so I stick it in the cart. The following conversation took place between me and the Target cashier approximately 3 minutes later.

Cashier: Hi! Did you find everything OK?
Me: Yeah, I think so.
Cashier: Ooh, nice shooter.
Me: [mortified and trying to defend myself because I don't want her to think I'm going to use it for alcohol, even though it doesn't really matter] Oh, yeah. We're thinking up interesting ways to use things in my house. [Really?! I think to myself. That's supposed to be better?! Now it just sounds 50 times worse! Sheesh.]Cashier: What?
Me: [I try to think of a way to change it, but just end up repeating the same stupid answer] You know. [silently dying...]
Cashier: Oh, no, you can do whatever you want. Your total is...

Oh boy. I do have a way with words, don't I?

Hoyah

That is the sound I have been making for the past 2 days as we've done some serious cleaning/throwing crap away. I guess we've been making up for our laziness earlier in the week. I am so sick of deciding whether or not to keep this cherished childhood toy/dress/whatever. Bye-bye childhood memories, you're going to the garbage.

So far we've filled up 8 (yes, 8, or maybe 10) trash bags, filled the blue recycle bin at least once, maybe twice, and filled up 2 trash bags for D.I. And that's just what was in the 2 closets and under my bed! How have I kept so much stuff in my room for so long?! I think part of it was the hope that I could still play with it or something. (Don't mock me.) Then the other part was me thinking "You know, I'm going to have children some day. Maybe they'd like to play with this." Over the past 2 days, I've come to realize something: even if this stuff is still good when I finally have kids and they get old enough to play with it, they're probably not going to want it. Let's be honest, they're going to want their own shiny, new stuff. I don't blame them--I did. So, into the trash lots of it has gone.

I got some pictures of a couple of dumping victims yesterday. The first is Pepper.

I slept with this thing curled up under my arm for...a long time. Hence the general smooshed, lopsided appearance.

Yes, Pepper is a dog. (And looked like it when I first got him...)

A second victim of my purge was Ellie.

It's not that I don't like her anymore (don't worry, I still have PLENTY of elephants hanging around my room). She was just...old. It was her time to go. There was a giant hole behind one of her legs, both tusks were coming unstitched, and she had no tail. (Although, the lack of tail was old news. It was detached years ago in a tusk-and-tail tug-of-war between two of my siblings and lost before it could be sewn back on. Or at least that's the story I've been telling--I'm not entirely sure that it's true.)

See how sad I am?

At one point, I think Ellie and I were about the same size. Now, as you can see, that has changed just a bit. But she was an awesome elephant. Good bye, Ellie! I would rather throw you away whole than keep you and see you disintegrate in the washing machine (which I'm pretty sure is what would happen if I stuck her in there).

So, yeah, I'm tired. I would post before and after pictures, but I forgot to take before ones, so I'm not sure the afters would be any good. Sorry. Maybe I'll remember before we move on to the desk and dressers...Sheesh, I'm getting tired just thinking about it...definitely time for an ice cream sandwich.

Update

Yes, I am still alive. I've been meaning to post for a while, but somehow just haven't gotten around to it. Hm.

Welp, this week we played a rousing game of musical beds. And guess what? I graduated to a full-sized bed!

(It's a good thing Zach's not here...'cause this used to be his. Minus the frilly sheets, of course.)

I've been sleeping on a twin bed for a while now. (I think it's been somewhere around...oh, 13 years.) Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. After all, the mattress has been half of a Sleep Number bed for a few years now. It's not so much that it's uncomfortable, just...small. And very low to the ground (the frame is the bottom half of the bunk bed that my mother apparently slept on with her sister when she was little). Now I can actually reach my bed without bending over! Haha! I'm trying really hard not to get into the habit of sleeping smack dab in the middle, but it's difficult not to. Especially when it's just me. I have so much room!

This is a picture of my nephew's awesome hair.

Can you see the little piece sticking straight up? (The kid's got at least 2 cowlicks in the back--there's no chance of his hair lying flat for a while.)

I am currently in the process of deep cleaning my room. I mean cleaning out every closet, shelf, and drawer. Holy cow, I have so much crap in my room! I think my room is the only one that still has the majority of things we played with in childhood in it. For example, this is what was contained under my bed when we moved it out:

Yeah, my room is just special.

This could take all summer.

But at least it's summer! Yay!

Happy Summer to all!

Just Doing My Civic Duty

I went to jury duty today. For the first time ever.

I got called in within the first hour or so and was in the same courtroom for pretty much the rest of the day (excepting a few breaks and lunch). It was an...interesting experience. I heard some great stories from my fellow jurors, got to know downtown Phoenix a tiny bit better, and had a delicious bean burro from Carolina's for lunch (and part of dinner...what can I say, I'm slightly obsessed). Oh, and I walked to the light rail station all by myself and didn't even get mugged! Although there was a guy who definitely gave me a longer look than necessary and then tried to engage me in conversation. Sadly for him, all he got in response was a wary look and a very brief answer as I tightened my hold on my gigantic purse (hey, I needed snacks for the day...). Sorry buddy, I have too much experience with the crazy people to trust you.

And for those who are wondering, no I did not get picked to be on the official jury. Phew. That one is going to be pretty nasty...

Book Prediction FAIL!

So, my mom and I went down to Thatcher last week to see my cousins graduate. (Good job Bryan and Nykell!) We decided to check out a book on CD from the library to listen to on the way. It was actually surprisingly good. (We kind of just grabbed one off the shelf at random--had never heard of it or the author before. That always makes me nervous.)

Want to know the best part?

As the book progressed, it got to the point where the predictable ending would come...and we still had 2 or 3 disks left. It was very exciting. "How is this going to end?" we asked. "Where is this going?" This doesn't happen very often in the realm of fantasy fiction (or maybe I'm reading the wrong books...), so we were getting pretty pumped up. Finally, we were on the last disk. (Luckily we had a lot of errands to run and were in the car for a while.) We're listening...listening...and then...

"Oh. Really?"

Apparently, we read way more into the book than was actually there. I guess we watch a bit too much NCIS or something, because we were suspecting everyone of having ulterior motives. We thought, "Well, this can't possibly happen because these people always do this and these people always do that." [I'm holding off on details in case any of you actually want to read this book] And then, lo and behold, we were totally wrong. Haha! We laughed so hard.

I guess making things more complicated than they need to be is just a special talent we girls possess. :)

Med Chem Math

I know you are all probably sick of hearing about med chem, but this will be the last post on the subject. Hopefully. Probably. We'll see.

Ahem:
310 flash cards
174 pages of notes
42 hours in class
4 problem sets
4 old/practice tests
Several book problems (I forgot to count them)
50 billion hours of studying (I didn't count these either--this is just an estimate)
+4 tests (including a TWENTY-FIVE page final)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 A!!!!

Yes, I got an A in med chem! Hooray! Is it sick that I wanted to count all of this up? (Or at least the flash cards and pages of notes.) Probably. But I did it anyways. I think this is the only class I've taken that I thought from the beginning "I'm going to put in some effort here." I know I've worked in my other classes, but it seemed like I was doing it on a test-by-test, oh-crap-I-probably-need-to-do-this-now basis. Not exactly setting myself up for success there. For this class, I actually tried. Huh--what a concept.

You know, I just looked at my "unofficial" transcript. ***Warning--I'm about to brag a bit more, sorry.*** I only got 1 B and 2 B+'s in my 4 years in college. (And only 2 A-'s.) The rest were A's or A+'s.

How on earth did that happen?

Well, for one, I did do some work, even though most of the time I feel so lazy. (Maybe I should have done that tally for all of my classes...) But really, I know a large part of it is because I have been extremely blessed. I know I've posted about this before, but it's still true. Prayer is an amazing thing. I don't even know how many times I pray before a test, but it always gives me peace. I have received so much help and I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for that.

So, I'm officially graduated! Summa cum laude, too. Oh, and with all of my easy classes this semester, I got my cumulative GPA back up to 4.0! (Haha--I haven't even really looked at my GPA until recently. I kind of forgot about it for a while.) So, yay for me and everyone else who has ever gone to school! Keep learning my friends!