Thanksgiving Pictures

Ok, so I missed yesterday completely... but it's not like I was home to put up pictures anyway. My sister, Kati, who just graduated from high school plays basketball for Northwest College in Wyoming. They came down to Snow College this weekend to play some pre-season games and I went down to her game yesterday, so I was gone :) Anyway, here are some pictures:

These are Kloessel after they've been formed into balls... we didn't get pictures of them while they were being made, but I do think I have one from last year... I'll have to research it in my computer and see if I can find it :)
Next are Kloessel in the pot cooking and then we have some of the pies we enjoyed!




This is a picture of our dinner plates. The purple stuff on the back of the plate is the blaukraut, then there is turkey, the Kloessel are on the left side of the plate, and the roll is in the very front. Topped with turkey gravy... this meal does not get much better! :)

The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn't

I first apologize for not having pictures right away... I will put some up tomorrow, I promise :)

Tradition in my family for Thanksgiving dinner is as follows (as strange as it may sound, it is what I grew up with and LOVE... plus it's german!): We have turkey, sometimes either rolls or stuffing (maybe we had both one year, I don't remember), blaukraut (cooked purple cabbage), Kloessel (Americans would know this as perhaps a potato dumpling), and this year we also had yams. Each year, it is my job to help make the Kloessel and each year it seems to become a harder task.
This year, I got so frustrated I sat down and almost gave up completely... a few tears later and I was back at it. So here's what has to happen to have this delectible dish: you put cooked (and cooled), pealed potatoes through a meat grinder, then add egg, salt, and flour and mix it all up. Because of the consistancy of the potato, the best way to 'mix' it is to use your hands... like you're making a pizza dough or something. Flour is continually added to the dough until you can form a ball of dough and it is not sticky (the drier the potaoes are, the better). After muliple balls are formed, you put them in a pot of boiling water, then when they float to the top they are done.
For whatever reason this year, the potatoes were very wet and were being stubborn and sticky. Having had this job for quite a few years now, I know it was not my fault that the dough wasn't working how it was supposed to. I got very frustrated, and as I said earlier, sat down and almost gave up. I had been praying that the dough would do what it was supposed to, but maybe I just didn't have enough faith that it would... maybe I needed to learn a lesson and this was the only way to teach me. Either way, I cried a few tears and we figured out a way to get the dough balls 'non sticky' and after they were cooked they tasted wonderful!
The reason I say the 'thanksgiving that almost wasn't' is because had we not figured out a way to do it, I don't know what we would have done for dinner. The Kloessel is the main dish. Dinner was lovely (and super yummy!) and then we sat around talking for a while. Dessert this year was a variety of treats: pumpkin bars, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and apple crisp. Movies and games commenced after dessert and we all had a great time! I'm so thankful this year that even though things didn't go exactly as planned, we had a great time and were able to laugh about things.
Tomorrow I'll post pictures and tell more stories from today! G'nite all :)

Get Your Craft On

The major activity we did while I was in Logan was to make these domino ornaments. I am not very 'crafty' at all, so this was ... challenging ... for me. It took a very long time, but they were really fun to make. These pictures are a little fuzzy... sorry. But it gives you the idea :)
Box of regular dominos












Stamp them and color them pretty.












Add ribbon... and voila! Pretty Christmas ornaments :)

Do I HAVE to come back??

What a fantastic weekend!!! I was not at all ready to come home last night, but I made myself be responsible ;)
I am uploading pictures as I'm typing so I will be able to post them here too. I had SO MUCH FUN!!! It was great to get away from 'life' and visit friends and family I don't see very often. Such a happy weekend!

First things first: After I got to Logan on Friday I picked up my niece, Avery, and we went to a movie. We saw Madagascar 2 and we 'ran into' my other friends there... they were in the line for Twilight (practically freezing... lucky for them I had coats in my truck I could borrow to them).

Yummy!!! Popcorn!!

Here's the girls... Linda, Laura, Leisha, and Rhonda.

Malcolm was very into watching the movie that was playing... I think it was 'Woody Buzz' (Toy Story)

Kira also enjoyed watching the movie!

One of the kids' favorite activities... when they weren't watching movies... was to stand with their heads on the ground and walk. It was very funny to watch! The twins ended up with carpet burns on their foreheads. Malcolm only walked forward, but Kira walked forward and backward.

They loved their hats and cups!

Emalee really likes cameras... and phones if they have pictures on them.

Malcolm and Mommy

Kira and me.

Friends Forever!

I have a picture of Linda (Emalee's mom), but I don't think she'd appreciate me putting it up here :)
Sunday afternoon I left Linda's (where we were all staying... thank you, thank you again!!) I drove to Ogden to visit with my sister and her family. That was very fun to see them again too. I got to hold Chloe and put her to sleep.

Mommy and daughter

Well...

I feel like I need to post something, but I'm not entirely sure what. Maybe it stems from "boredom" (but don't tell I said that), or it could just be that there is a lot going on in my head and this is an attempt to sort it out.
I've been sick for two weeks. According to what I've read on the internet, it's a cold turned bronchitis. Nothing that rest and fluids can't cure... if I can stand the cough for 3 to 4 weeks. I keep feeling better and have more energy, but occasionally I cough so hard I get light headed, and my nose sounds stuffy. I did notice that yesterday, being cold, I wasn't doing too well and had to make sure I had cough drops with me all day.
But even through that, I was able to have rather enjoyable "after work" hours :) I met a friend at Roxberry - a new fruit smoothie place, then I met a different friend at Cafe Rio for some dinner (a little backwards, I know, but why not have dessert first, right?!). After that I ran home to put some laundry in the machine so I'd have clean clothes for today :) , then went to my institute class. A favorite activity of mine to do after institute is to go to the chapel and practice on the organ (I am the organist in my ward). The same friend who I went to dinner with came with me to practice and we had fun singing while I was playing! She has a wonderful soprano voice and even with my scratchy alto... I got goosebumps a couple of times while we sang.
After lunch recess today I embark on my next adventure. I am leaving for Logan to spend the weekend with my friend whom I have not seen since March of 2003! That's 5 years and 8 months... very long time. It will be so good to see her again and to meet her kids (2 1/2 yr old twins). I also will get to see my step niece and step nephew tonight and take them out to a movie, and that also will be fun!! On my way home on Sunday, I will stop by my sister's house in Ogden and spend some time with her and my new niece (who is three weeks old today). It will be good to get away for the weekend and spend some time with friends and family I don't get to see too often. I'm sure I'll have lots of pictures to post after I come home!!! I'm SSSOOOO excited :) :) :) :) :)

How Retarded...

So, I'm at home now and my computer is actually staying connected to the internet... maybe I shouldn't say that so loud, I don't want to jinx myself. Anyway. I think the problem with the gadget link mentioned earlier is the fault of the computer I use at school - I have all the links I should have right now. Now I will have something new to investigate tomorrow while I'm at work... that should keep me busy :)

Upsetting

Anyone have any ideas?...
I tried to change my background today but I can't because my 'add gadgets' link is missing from my layout page. I am so frustrated. I don't know where it went or how to get it back. :(
It's not the end of the world if I can't get it back, I just won't be able to 'spice up' my page at all... ever.
*GRRRRRRR

Body Worlds

On Saturday, spur of the moment, I went up to Salt Lake with my brother and sister (well, one of each of them) to walk through the Body Worlds exhibit. I didn't quite know what to expect when I got there, I'd seen a few pictures on ads and such, but really, the whole idea evaded me.
It was actually quite interesting. I would probably go again if it ever came back, or if I were in an area that had an exhibit, I would go see it. It brought a more clear reality of how my body is put together and how it works.
The animals they had were a little harder for me to look at, but I still found them very intriguing. I almost would pay to go back while it's still here and catch the things I missed, or didn't pay enough attention to before. The lines tho... that's the only bad thing about the exhibit. But very educational and very interesting!

Dinner Boredom

I went with my friend, Stacey, to dinner tonight. We were getting done eating and she started stacking the empty plates and such together to make less mess for the table cleaner upper :) I thought it would be funny to make something 'out of' the plates and whatnot. So this is what we came up with. He is our lucky Chinese Cricket... but he does not have a name yet. We'll have to work on that one I guess.

Black? Apple

Simply for nothing better to do right now, I went to the faculty room to get some water and saw this apple sitting on one of the tables. There are many apples sitting in the faculty room on the tables, but they are small and bright red - this one is large and very dark dark purple (it looks black). I don't know where it came from, but the thought that instantly went through my head when I saw it was: where's Snow White? haha. I know the apple in Snow White is not a black apple, but that's what went through my mind. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for strange looking characters walking around the school today... an old witch/evil queen; maybe Mrs. Meers; or perhaps a strangely dressed chubby fellow called Nathaniel.

Shut my mouth... I guess...

I don't know why things happen when they do, but last night I was told something that literally sent an avalanche of questions, thoughts, and emotions pummeling my brain. I don't profess to be perfect, I know I am farthest from it, but maybe I'm not as in check with myself as I thought I was. Every once in a while, someone will tell me something about myself and it takes me back and this pummeling avalanche happens... it sucks every time it happens and sometimes takes a long time to get over. I hope this is not one of those times that takes a long time to get over.
I have noticed that sometimes when I joke with people about things, it is not seen as a joke, so I try extra hard to make sure people know when I'm joking. Sometimes the way I say things is not how I had intended them to come out of my mouth, so I try to think about it in my head first, to make sure it will come out how I intend it to be said. Last night a friend told me that she felt she couldn't do anything right by me. I asked her what she meant and after a moment she said I was always criticizing things she did and said. I was so taken back by this that the only thing I could even think to say was 'then I'll quit talking'. She said 'no, don't stop talking' and I replied "if everything that comes out of my mouth sounds like criticizing then I need to quit talking because I don't purposely mean to do it and I don't even realize if I am doing it."
I started trying to think of when I had been critical of her. I am still trying to figure it out, but perhaps this is one of those times when something I did or said did not come across as I had wanted, but instead came across as me being unhappy with something she did or said and she received it as me being critical of her.
I had a hard time falling asleep last night because of all the thoughts going through my head... am I so selfish that I don't realize when I'm being mean to people? Am I really that mean to people? What do I need to change? How am I going to change? How long has this been going on? Why has nobody told me about this sooner? I think I'm going crazy. Why won't these thoughts (and many many more) stop so I can go to sleep? Along with these thoughts enter in the emotions: sad, confused, frustrated, helpless, feeling loss, wanting to cry, upset, concerned, flabbergasted, etc.
I had to turn on some music to 'side-track' my mind into calming down so I could sleep. Of course, the fact that I still couldn't breathe through my nose and I was still coughing didn't help either. I did finally make it to sleep and except when I coughed, I slept all night and my alarm at 6:10 this morning came too early. I don't know how I feel about it all today. I guess it still bothers me enough that I feel I need to write about it in my blog...
I just don't know what to do. I'm the kind of person that if you ask me to do something, I'm going to do it and if something happens and I'm told I don't have to do it anymore, I get upset and questions flood my mind: did they think I wouldn't do it? did they think I wouldn't do a good job? was I too slow in getting it done? why don't they want me to do it anymore? so on and so forth. I don't like being a disappointment to people and if I'm asked to do something, I WILL do it. If I am told to not do it anymore, my brain automatically flips to degrading self-talk. I understand that people sometimes change their mind in an effort to help keep my life more sane and to feel for themselves that they are not 'using' me too much, I appreciate that - but understand where I'm coming from.
There's much more I'm sure I could write about in an effort to rationalize or justify myself and my thoughts, but it's all sounding repetitious to me right now; and since I am at work, then that's what I need to do now ... work. I hope that if that friend from last night reads this, then know I am not mad or upset at you for saying what you did. I hope this entry maybe casts a little light on why I reacted to the situation the way I did. I am sorry for appearing as though I am unhappy with everything you do - I'm not. I hope I get up the nerve to talk to you about this face to face. I do appreciate you and your friendship!

Random Happiness

The other day... last Friday... I came in from recess and these balloons were tied on my chair in the office. They were a very nice surprise and made me smile. I asked why they were there and who brought them and was told that one of the moms brought them and they were from lunch time when popcorn was being sold.
I laughed and thought it was great that they were brought in. Later in the day, one of the teachers came in with her granddaughter and I was able to give one of the balloons to her. She was so happy to get it. It made me smile again.
The gift that kept on giving... :)

Weekend Fun

This weekend I got sick :( Not sure exactly what I have or when it will go away, but it didn't stop me from enjoying myself at a couple of rugby games on Saturday! At the Real Stadium there was a double header - first up, U.S. Select XV team and New Zealand Heartland. New Zealand won that game 19-14. The second game was U.S. National team against Uruguay. U.S. National team won that game 43-9. Rugby is quite an intense game, once you understand even a little bit what's happening. I had originally heard that rugby was a mix of football and soccer; reading in the program, it was explained rugby is a mix of football and basketball; during the game it was compared to being a mix of football, basketball, soccer, and hockey. Anyway you want to look at it... rugby is a tough sport, but very exciting and always changing. Here's a couple of pictures I took with my phone:

This was from the first game. US team is red and New Zealand is black.

Here's the US National team

And these guys are the 'Rubgy Rookies' - kids who are learning to play rugby, but instead of tackling they two-hand touch.

Lunch Fun

Kids make me laugh and smile ALL the time. There are three incidents that happened at lunch recess. The first one was a first grade girl comes running up to me, and out of breath says that there was a 'Pimmble' on the playground. I had to ask her again what she said and then she added it left through the fence. I figured out she was trying to say 'Pit Bull' and thanked her for letting me know. There were earlier reports of a boxer looking dog on the playground, but since there was no dog everything was good.

The second was seeing random bubbles floating in the air. It took me a few minutes to find where they were coming from, but just seeing the bubbles made me smile and think of happy spring time activities. Today was a good day to have bubbles!







The third was when some sixth graders came up to me and wanted to show me what they'd made in the snow. I walked out to the field and was simply amazed at what they'd done... they sculpted, out of one of the snowballs, a pig's face. They added a snout, made the mouth and ears, and dug holes for the eyes. How creative is that?!

Good Times

This is the snowball that I mentioned was almost as tall as me. It's not so tall anymore, thanks to the sun (and as of lunch recess yesterday is actually not a snowball anymore either). But I took a walk out yesterday morning to see it and discovered a hole in the side not facing the playground. I thought it was pretty funny. The hole is only big enough for a kindergartner or first grader to fit in... but I liked the idea.
Maybe in my backyard this year my roommate and I will make a huge snowball and dig a hole in it... or maybe we'll get with the neighborhood kids and make a huge igloo in the middle of our cul-de-sac. Who knows!

Gotta Love Kids

For most of the day today (actually, all day except for a brief hour and 10 minutes...) I have had a headache. The school nurse said it was probably a tension headache. I have been trying to get rid of it all day.
I still have the headache, but at recess for the afternoon kindergarten today I had the best laugh of the day! I should have gotten a picture on my phone, but didn't think about it fast enough. One of the girls called my name and as I turned around to answer her, I couldn't help but laugh. Her boots were untied and she was walking toward me, hunched over and almost falling over because she was holding onto both sets of boot strings so that she didn't step on them in the snow. The look on her face was priceless and seeing her trying to walk to me without falling over... it was too much. I hurried and walked out to her and squatted down to tie her boot strings.
I thanked her for making me laugh today and as the kids were lining up to come in from recess she called my name and I looked at her. She was walking toward me hunched over with her hands on her knees, imitating how she was walking when she'd been holding her boot strings. I laughed again and she laughed too.
I love my job :)

Snow snow snow

I love the snow. I really do! But having to stand outside in it when the wind is blowing and the cold goes straight through your clothes and the kids keep asking, "Miss O, when is the bell going to ring? I'm freezing!" and "Miss O, my hands are ssssoooooo cold." (looking like they're about to cry) and "Miss O, why can't you call this an inside day?" it tends to drive away very quickly the fondness I have for the season.
By lunch recess we had a good amount of wet, sticky snow on the ground and the kids started making gigantic snow balls; one of them was almost as tall as me! But that only brought on a new set of statements: "Don't climb on the snow balls! If you fall off that thing you're gonna get hurt." "When has throwing snow balls EVER been allowed at school? (they respond never) Never? So why is it suddenly allowed today? QUIT throwing snow. I know it's fun, I like to have snow ball fights myself, but not at school with so many other kids around - somebody is bound to get hurt." I don't like repeating myself so many times in the course of an hour - I get very frustrated.
By 2 o'clock we had sun, clouds, snow, sun, wind, snow, clouds, etc.. Today looks to be a much better day, and the Principal announced this morning to not throw snow and to not climb on top of the big snow balls :)

Say What??....

So I'm sitting at home last night with my roommate, Ashley, and we were just talking and having a grand old time. It was only about 10:20 or so but it felt like SO much later. During the course of our conversation, Ashley stood up, looked at me, and said "You wanna fight, sicko?" I looked at her very confused and said "What did you say?" She laughed and asked what I thought she'd said. I told her 'you wanna fight, sicko?' and she almost fell on the floor laughing. She composed herself and said "I asked if you wanted a fudgesicle." I joined her in laughing, and for the next half hour, we referenced the comment lots and kept laughing! I am still laughing about it today. When I get home from work I may very well ask her if she wants to 'fight sicko'... and see what she says :)

Yay!

I was able to go to Ogden yesterday and visit my sister, Mindy, and Chloe. Chloe slept the whole time my family and I were there (and it was not the quietest visit ever...), but we each got to hold her for a few minutes. I'll have to post more pictures as I get them, but here's me holding her. She is so small, but such a sweet spirit! And she has an orange bow in her hair due to being born on Halloween :)

Halloween

These are pictures from the elementary's Halloween dance party on Oct 24.


























These pictures are from Halloween. The office staff (including custodians) dressed up as hippies this year. I got many compliments on my long blonde hair! :)