Driven to the Point of Exhaustion

So in the past week and a half I have been places.

Lots of places in fact some of these places I have been to several times within that time period

In the Past Week and a Half I have been to: The Temple (YAY), Work at two High Schools, one where I  am an alum and the other an hour away in NOTL., Welland (For Dinner, For Work, For Family), FHE, and Institute.  On the Bulk of these nights after everything is said and done and at least a handful of times I come home after 10pm and that’s after a 1/2 hour drive out to where I live.   Last night I woke up for work @ 6am and didn’t get home after FHE until Midnight.  Extremely LONG day.

I’m grateful that I can drive and go to all these places but there have been a couple of things I have really wanted to do that I was unable to do.

SLEEP – yes I get enough but it never felt like enough.  We just had a YSA Temple conference which was great but over the two day conference (Friday & Saturday) I received about 5 hours of sleep in total.  However, with this much sleep I was able to do a baptismal session, play laser tag, dance, attend workshops and hang out with friends.

Do A Fall Photo shoot – Although this might not sound like something that I really desperately want to do, IT DEFINATELY IS. My Friend H is studying for her Photography Certificate and has done some photo sessions and I volunteered myself to be a model because I thought it would be fun to do it with someone who was a good friend and with the Fall Season UPON us.  There is a lovely scene to go with the Ridiculously Good Looking Gal that I am.

Study My Scriptures and other Church materials better and Rely on the Lord More Often – With the Loss of My Newest Set of Scriptures (lousy excuse) and the lack of time I spend in the car and working, etc. I haven’t had time to Study and read my scriptures as I would like.  The fortunate thing is that I’m praying more fervently and relying on the spirit more to direct me to the direction I should go. 

Read – Okay I have had the chance to Read while I’m at work because the LT that is normally there doesn’t give me very much to do, and I’m trying to manage my time better at work and not be on the Computer 100% of the time just doing stuff that I could be doing at home (wasting time with email, Facebook, blogging, surfing the net, performing duties that have to do with my calling, and shopping the net, yes I have been known to shop online while I’m at work) because I’m trying to focus on the Library side of things rather than the (Kicking kids off the computer thing, with the software installed on the LT computer) because I want to have further training and expose myself to as much library-ness  instead of boredom on the computer thing. So I can tell future employers that I spend the bulk of the time checking in and out, shelving, helping students, helping students research, assisting teachers finding materials, etc.  Which is the right thing to do.  So if they don’t give me anything to do or, don’t give me enough to do while I’m there for 3 days, I bring a book and read it, essentially I’m improving my reading skills so that when someone is looking for a recommendation (I read lots of Teen Lit) or needing research assistance, to picking out the facts amid the fiction in the research, I think it is definitely beneficial.

Anyway, with all that said and done. I was a SLOTH today, slept in, played on the computer, read the zillion emails, did stuff for my calling, etc.   It has been a very relaxing day and I’m glad it’s not quite over yet, I still have at least 5 hours left of my day.  WOOHOO!

I may even post again later.  SWEET!

Books Lately

So I've been on this quest to read all the books I have bought within the last year and a half. Yes I have added to this list recently because I've bought a couple books but I've managed to read and get my number down so it's almost under 30.

But I wanted to share with you My Book Reviews of a couple of the titles because they were much awesomeness.

And Part of the Reason I wanted to blog was because I love to read books and I am in the Library Field so I thought Hey I could write a blog about what I read. Even though there are probably about a zillion other book blogs out there. I wanted it to just be about my lovely life and the books I read which is probably what every other book blog is about as well.

So ONTO The Books!

I've had this book on my reading list for a very, very long time and did not have the chance to read it until very recently. I've got to say that no wonder this book is an acclaimed book, The story takes place in the first two decades of the 20th Century. It was written at the beginning of the last century and published during WWII and it tells such a wonderful beautiful story. When I first began reading it the size of it daunted me a bit and the story didn't move right away but in its simplicity a wonderful story takes place. It's a coming of age in Brooklyn New York, a young girl goes through her daily life and speaks in such a wonderful voice Francie Nolan grows up living the little dream she has to grow up. Her grandmother instilled on her mother the value of education and she instilled it on Francie. You see the world through her eyes and through the good points and the bad points it is simply grand to see the industrial revolution happen through her eyes. I loved every moment of it even during the most alarming moments without giving any plot details right away, this is definately in the TEEN section at Chapters and Probably Borders & Barnes and Noble in the states. The content is definately shocking and alarming to say the least. Even with the sad moments the characters revolving Francie have their own story her aunts, her mother and father, her brother, and they are simply wonderful.

Rate it: Read it! ☼☼☼☼/☼☼☼☼☼ 4/5 Suns

So Initially when I read this book the first time, I had to return it to the library after I Inter-Library Loaned it (Borrowed it from another Library in Ontario, not my own) Because a page into it there is some ADULT content which suprised the heck out of me. It didn't go into to much detail but after reading A Handmaid's Tale. I was afraid it was going to turn into a really not fun book to read. However, with the Movie coming out and looking really good I decided to bunker down and buy it. So I Literally laid down on my couch for hours and I was hooked, the story is a little sci-fi and a little romance. I absolutely love Henry and Claire together. I loved that Henry Flashed Forward and Backward to signifigant points of his life as he figured out why he Shifted through time as he did. It went through the good and the bad days and the moments in time when Claire was on her own waiting for Henry to return from whatever point in time he had travelled to. I really have to say that although the language was colourful sometimes the story was awesome, I loved that Henry was able to exist when he was already in that time. I even thought that through their hardships their relationship was able to be as strong as it could and as honest as it could. It was such a good book, although there is some adult content and strong language(It is in the ADULT section afterall) I really enjoyed it.

Rate It: Read It unless you find that you shouldn't because of the strong adult content!

☼☼☼☼/☼☼☼☼☼ 4/5 Suns

Full of It: Joy 100%

So I love it when at the beginning of the weekend you have the feeling like it’s going to be a fantastic weekend, and then you attend yet another YSA (young single adult) conference, one you’ve only missed once in the past 9 almost 10 years. 

Then you get maybe four hours of sleep, drive back to the conference to be back in time for the workshops, lunch (which I didn’t have an sense that I was hungry) and as we were around the lunch table the subject of Go Karting Came Up.  So a good group of friends of mine all jumped into a friends car to go to this indoor go karting race track, to find out it was closed.  After a few rounds of Who Can Do This the Longest (I will explain this at  another date) we soon realized that it was “CLOSED TEMPORARILY”  we didn’t want to head back without doing anything fun so we quickly decided to find out if there was a Laser Tag place nearby which seriously was so much fun.  Although the 20, 8 year old kids persistently ganged up on us it was fun running around in Sunday dress shooting lasers at my friends.

Another awesome part of the weekend was being in the Temple.  I can’t even begin to express that I haven’t fully appreciated being in the temple until very recently, I realized that it is probably one of the best places to be at peace.  I had been attending the temple and serving by proxy and not focusing on how the temple can benefit me.  I get to sit among a great people doing the same service and I feel like all the worry and the weight has been lifted off my shoulders.  I then get to think about how far I can go.  I think about the things I need to accomplish spiritually. How much potential I have.  I love it, I can’t wait for the day that I can attend the temple and receive further knowledge and light.  It will definitely be a wonderful day.

I love that I get to spend time with so many amazing people doing things that are of similar interest and that even though we all may be extremely different we get to go and just have Good Clean Fun, without the smells of alcohol and drugs, and the smell of a place that I have no place in with a clear and clean conscience. 

I really appreciate that I have made some amazing choices to be steady and sure and immovable but moving towards a goal where I will have the opportunity to become the woman my family wants me to become, my friends want me to become, I want to become, and my Heavenly Father wants me to become.

I’m so grateful that at the moment that I have my old scriptures, I was really sad to loose the scriptures I’ve had for almost my entire time as a Young Single Adult.  I am also so excited for the new scriptures that I will have.  But since I got my YSA scriptures stolen I had to rely on scriptures that I used to the point where the spine is no longer attached to the bindings of the book.  But I was excited to find that even without the lovely book tabs I was able to find the scriptures that the workshop instructors wanted us to find, I can’t even begin to express that I didn’t even know that I knew the scriptures so well.  I was so excited.

So now that it is way past the time I wanted to stay up, I think I will post this blog for now.  I absolutely loved this weekend.

Death To Turkey and Other Things

So After a Fabulous Weekend we decided to kill the already frozen turkey and eat every morsel. It was a pretty uneventful sunday of two awesome talks by some good friends, of replacing my temple recommend and trying to figure out why we now have elders in our branch, they drive me crazy, to trying to walk through the congested hallways which for our branch doesn't always end up that way since there are only about 40 of us YSA everyone decided to stand right in the middle of the hallway which left no room for me to get through.

I came home to a wonderful house full of good smelling food and no crazy brothers + girlfriend A were home yet, I was disappointed and starving and was too excited to stay at church because of my love of turkey because I couldn't eat the delightful food yet because they hadn't arrived.

Upon their arrival not much later we finished all the necessary food prep and sat down to eat our heart and stomachs out and trust me at 4am my stomach was still working to digest all the food I ate.

After we ate we played Things and even with one brother who was under the weather we pulled out some great fun. I'm so glad and grateful that I get to spend time with at least one part of my family (my elder brother is still in CowTown and my mother and grandmother were in KingTown)

So today I am bound for another turkey dinner and don't know how my stomach will take it but I'm glad that I'm able to provide transport to a gal who might not get a turkey dinner otherwise. She's super sweet She Deserves it!

On Sugar Overload Lately

SO I’ve got to tell you how much I love sugar.  I don’t know why I’ve been craving it insanely crazy this week, I have eaten a huge amount of chocolate, doughnuts, cinnamon bread, brownies, gummy candy, etc. 

As much as I just would love to be able to eat everything under the sun, it’s a huge weight that I don’t need.  Plus after awhile of eating some sugar I sit there and it doesn’t taste like anything appealing anymore. 

So, I really have no idea what I’m going to do.  I love baking and I don’t want to stop baking and I love eating chocolate like you wouldn’t believe. 

I know I gave up sprite for a good 5 months or so.  I’ve only had the occasional sprite/pop/soda ever since, so that  might be part of it.  I’m over compensating for the sugar in the sprite.

SO I really have to find some natural sugar (apples, bananas, grapes, etc.) and eat enough of them to reduce my sugar highs and lows.  Because that’s what it really is.

The other thing that gets me is that I will eat sugar over the course of the day and be fine.  Then there are those rare occasions where I definitely late night sweet binge, and then sometimes, I have really bad nights of sleep because I ate so much.

Anyway, I’m really hoping to curb all this craziness before Hallowe’en or Else I’m going to have even bigger problems with sugar because there are even  more opportunities to eat it even more.

So that’s it for now. I will probably do my best to get through my turkey dinner and stuff without an exorbitant amount of extra food.

Sit Down and Wait for The Walrus

Much of my time lately has been spent in the vehicle known as Sammy Dean. 

My Dear Sammy Dean and I have had a good and bad couple of weeks.

I went to a YSA dance in “Big City” with three other girls from my branch, I drove, and realized that I was “STARVING” so after Institute the one girl and I went to get some good food.  Upon our return I parked out front of the Chapel and headed inside to dance the night away.

Throughout the night I found out two of the girls I brought were not coming with me (not to happy about that) and that we would have to drive back to pick up a friends car (45 min to 1 hour) away from my house, before I got home. 

At the end of the night, I was so thrilled to get an email from I guy who I want to get to know better (score!)  and headed out towards my car.

Upon walking up to it I found my rear passenger car door smashed in and my entire purse which included my scriptures, my cell phone, my camera, my wallet, my iPod, GONE!

So afterwards, I had to cancel my debit & credit cards and deal with the fact that I now had to fix a window $200+ to fix, buy a new cell phone (daddy wouldn’t not want me to go without one) and buy a new iPod and camera. 

So since then I’ve slowly been replacing cards and electronics but I’m left with the sense of “What else do I have to do?”

I have the feeling that I’ve got to watch and make sure that I have everything with me all the time.

I’m really praying and hoping that I’ll get my scriptures and my SD card back with almost a years worth of photos on it.  Who wants random photos from a LDS wedding? (I found a website that showed photos from cameras and asked people if that camera was theirs, got to find that website again)

Anyway, This weekend marks the Canadian Thanksgiving which is always good, one turkey dinner until the second last weekend in October when I get my second turkey dinner.  I can’t wait.   Yum Yum.

I’m also hoping to head to a craft sale with a friend of mine.  She is taking photography classes and I asked her if she wanted me to be a model and do a session.  So that I could possibly give them out as Christmas gifts and the like.

So that’s the update for now.  Hopefully I’ll give more time and effort to my blog in the coming days, weeks, months, and years.

I owe it all to Wilford Wooddruff!  Thank You!