As Good as it gets for now

Until I can coordinate myself to bring the camera AND the cord at the SAME TIME, I will have to settle for putting these horrible cell phone pictures up. Okay, they're not that bad, but we didn't take any at Craters of the Moon, and I just really wanted to show my dad how cool we really are :)
My loot. It was so exciting to have THREE pairs of shoes in the bag. I can't even remember if that has ever happened.My sister helping to put this son of a gun puzzle together. Haha...I never actually say "son of a gun." Just felt like throwing that in there.
Me with the finished product. It was so sad to have to pull it all apart to put it away.

And there you go. I just posted pictures of me doing a puzzle--does that make me boring?

Do You Ever?

Do you ever feel like you are losing your mind?

Do you have things in your hand but somehow they don't make it to their supposed destination?

Do you ever get an adequate amount of sleep but feel exhausted all day? Do you wish that you could feel perky after only 6 hours of sleep? (I can't)

Do you ever wonder if you will ever put up your holiday decorations, or will they just sit on your dining room table looking like a mess?

Do you ever wonder if you will EVER be motivated to do your homework, go to work, make dinner, etc.?

Do you ever wonder if your apartment will cease someday to feel like an igloo, even with the heat on half the day?

Do you ever wonder if you spray Tilex on it a million times, the mildew will stop growing in the bathroom (gross, I know)?


It's been one of those days. I think I officially have the wintertime, cabin fever blues...and winter hasn't even started yet.

Thanksgiving

Hopefully I'll remember to bring my camera to school one day so I can upload some pictures...but until then, the post alone will have to be sufficient :)

Todd and I left on Wednesday for Rexburg, and we really enjoyed our Thanksgiving break. I did everything I could to relax including eating a lot of raspberry pie, staying up late, sleeping in, shopping, and ignoring my homework :) Todd's mom did a great job of cooking...I can't really say I look forward to the day when I am "in charge" of Thanksgiving. Hopefully someday this will be something fun for me, but right now, it's simply not!

I, too, hit the stores on Black Friday in Idaho Falls. I was actually pretty disappointed this year. The shopping is better if you want a camera or plasma TV or something like that, we don't need any of that! I did get some holiday decorations, and Target had The Holiday and Walk The Line on sale for 4 or 5 bucks. I found some cute sweaters at Target as well. I went into Kohl's, and wanted to get this shirt, but the line was 25 minutes long (NO WAY!), and I really couldn't didn't want to stand in that line. I actually ending up going back to Kohl's the next day to get the shirt. I tried it on, and didn't like it as much, but I found some nice shirts for Todd, so it wasn't a complete waste of miles. I also have been wanting some good shoes for when I start student teaching, so I bought two pairs of comfy, cute teaching shoes, and a pair of boots (I have been DYING to get some boots for years!). Those will be my Christmas present from Todd, and I'm excited to wear them!

We also had some time to see my sister and her husband in Rexburg as well, and it was really fun to see her again and be around "my" family as well. It had been a really long time since we did a puzzle together, so Jess and I slaved over a 1000-piece puzzle for three days! I used to be so good at those, but I'm a bit rusty. It was fun to do that, and watch movies, and just hang out and eat.

On the way home, Todd and I stopped by Craters of the Moon. I don't want to describe that trip too much because I have some awesome pictures from the cave we hiked into. Todd said that my dad would be proud of my outdoorsy-ness...I was too! I'll make sure and post those too. If anyone ever gets the chance to go, its lots of fun. It seems like more of a Steph and Sam-type activity (old lava, craters, hiking, caves, etc), but Todd and I really had fun, and we pretty much had the whole park to ourselves since it is getting cold. It was fun to take a route other than the freeway (BORING!), and we had a good time looking at the population signs of some of the towns (76, 220, etc).

So that was our Thanksgiving! I am depressed to be back in school, but such is life. It's getting a lot colder now, and it snowed just a tiny bit this morning, but it was enough to make the roads slick, and cause some crashes. I am SO not ready for this winter weather! Which leads me to our other exciting addition to our house...we bought a LoveSac! We have been wanting one of those since our BYU days, and we got it for 50% off during a Thanksgiving sale. The funny thing is is that it practically takes up our entire living room! It makes me want to laugh everytime I walk in there, because it is just this huge sac taking up all of our floor space, we just don't have the room for it in our apartment! We figured that we would most likely be moving to a larger apartment this summer, and so we only have to put up with tripping over it for another 6 months. Our excitement to have it outweighs the inconvenience of space, and so if you guys are very around, feel free to come and relax in it!

Seven things

Having been tagged, here it goes, as long as the library computer doesn't suddenly shut down on me. Seven things you may or may not know about me:

1. So I don't know if anyone remembers this (Steph was on her mission), but I had this bad accident involving my big toe in Provo before start of my senior year at BYU. We went over to Tai-ling's brother's apartment, and there was this big huge picture frame with a huge metal chain attached to it (to hang it up? I dont' know) sitting on the floor behind the door. Tai-ling made it though the door, but as soon as I stepped past it, it fell over onto my foot. Immense pain followed, and I was pretty sure my toe had fallen off. I looked down, just bleeding a little bit. Fast forward a few hours, and my toe begins gushing. Gross I know, I left bloody footprints on the stairs of my apartment as I ran up to get help. Anyway, I got it to stop bleeding and wrapped it up all night, but the pain worsened through the night. I went to the BYU medical center the next day, where I got x-rayed, holes drilled in my toenail, and bled out. Very fun. To make a long story short, my toenail and toe were never quite the same, and I really can't wear closed toe high heels anymore. Sad day. Someday, I will go to a podiatrist and get it fixed for good, but I can still walk, right?

2. I am addicted to shopping. Not in a bad way, I think. Todd talks about this habit of mine often, but I simply tell him that my shopping for clothes is like his shopping for books. Besides, I don't hit Nordstrom on a regular basis, I am definitely a bargain shopper. I can usually find really good deals at Aeropostale and Old Navy sales ($2 t-shirts? $4 sweaters?), and this definitely costs less than a brand new book at Borders! I never buy anything full price. The way I figure it is that I'm vain enough to like the current trends, but I am still on a college student budget. If I shop for stuff on sale, I can stick with the trends without killing the budget, right? Black Friday, bring it on!

3. Okay, I cry a lot! I used to pride myself on my stellar tough-ness. I wasn't one of "those girls" that cried during chick-flicks or when her hormones levels are up or whatever. Uh uh, no way, not anymore. I don't know what happened, but when I started dating Todd, I started crying over EVERYTHING! I hope this isn't saying anything bad about him, because its not like he did things to make me cry. It's just now I can't watch anything about death on TV, any sad news stories about kids, any sad movies without crying. I'll read articles and cry, I'll tear up during sad testimonies in sacrament meeting, I'll think about something that happened at work...and then afterwards, I'll think "WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?" I dont' know, maybe being married has finally tapped into that sensitive subconscious I always had!

4. I'm really into politics this year. Generally, I don't care. There is a ton of stuff I don't understand about the political system, and I typically just think politicians are full of lies. Not that that has really changed recently or anything, but now that I have some time to watch the debates, I have tried to tune in. I really want to have a good reason for voting for whoever I vote for President, and so I'm trying hard to really pay attention to issues. I don't have the most refined political views, but I also don't feel like I have to be this awesome intellectual to feel strongly about certain issues. I am definitely a conservative, and I definitely lean towards Republican values. I am pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, totally against a Universal Health Care plan. I don't want to live in a Socialist America, and so I probably wont' vote for Hillary or Obama. However, I liked Biden's response about performance-based pay for teachers at the debate the other night, and I really couldn't stand anytime Edwards opened his mouth. I don't like the fact that Giuliana is pro-choice, but I don't think he would be a terrible President either. I have been reading up on Romney, and while he is ahead in my book right now, I would like to learn more about Thompson and Huckabee. I don't know, somehow the fire's been lit, and politics are in my system!

5. I have a hard time keeping secrets. Sometimes I'm not aware that things are secrets, and I tell them by accident. Which is why I didn't say exactly where we were moving, because I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be secret for a little while longer, and I wanted to triple-check with Todd to make sure I didn't tell. He doesn't like me to tell things until we are 100% sure, and me, I don't mind telling things if I am 40% sure. So anyway, don't tell me things that are supposed to be a secret. I tell Todd what his presents are before he opens them, I may pass along things to ONE other person, I don't know, it's just that "natural man" instinct to gossip I guess. I dont' really feel like it's gossip though, because usually it's just a surprise, and I get so excited that I can't wait to tell! Which is probably why, when we have kids, you all won't have to worry about THAT being a secret for a while! And by the way, we are doing pest control another summer (because we love torture, but we love money more). We are 95% sure we will be in Indianapolis, Indiana!

6. I still bite my nails, but I'm doing a ton better. I have a good husband who gets after me when I do it (he can't STAND it), and so I'm slowly being conditioned to give up the habit. I mostly do it when I'm nervous or bored. I do better when I paint them, and so I try to keep them painted at all times. However, that sometimes just leads me to chip away at the paint with my teeth, so I end up looking like my teeth are bleeding (the polish is usually red). Oh well. I'm doing the best I can! I remember one year for my birthday (I think it was my 10th), my grandma bought me polish that tasted really bad, it was supposed to help. It did taste really bad, but it didn't stop me! Sad, huh, that and the fact that I'm now 23, and I've been biting my nails THAT long!

7. I'm running out of things to say. I'll say that I made a major accomplisment the other day. It was successfully making coconut chicken. The one downfall is that I did set off the smoke detectors by burning the coconut, but it was just the coconut that had stuck to the pan, and not the coconut on the chicken. This was such a big accomplishment because one, I'm a terrible cook, and two, I made it from scratch, and I didn't even have an exact recipe for it. And the great thing was was that it was actually G-O-O-D, and Todd requested that we have it again because he liked it so much. It's always nice to hear that :)

So there ya go. I'll tag Sach, Steph, Emily, and Kaylene :)

Yay!

I got my confirmation today...my official placement for student teaching is at Christine Donnell School of the Arts, a K-8 magnet school with an emphasis on the arts. I am SOO excited!

I just have to tell you all quickly that I thought your comments on my last post were totally random...and that is why I love you all :)

Oh, and a confession...I can't tell you exactly where yet because we're only about 95% sure...but it is east of the Mississippi, if that gets you any closer :)

Almost #2...

Destination number 6 for the Thomasons is.......think random, because that's how we roll :)




Curious? Where do you think we are moving (for the summer)?

Almost...

I ALMOST got the school that I'll be interviewing first for my teaching internship, the Donnell School for Performing Arts in the Meridian district...which would be AWESOME because I like to think I'm artsy and its a magnet school....

but then, it was TAKEN AWAY! The coordinator assigned too many student teachers to that school...so I emailed her a plea to let me interview there...which might get ignored, but I thought I would try, right?

Oh, and this is how it works next semester, by the way. It's called our internship, and it's the first half of our professional year. We go there for a full day, two days a week, and do who knows what, and take our methods classes the rest of the week. We get assigned a school to interview at. If we don't get placed there, we interview somewhere else, and keep doing this until we are finally placed. So, hopefully I'll know my placement in the next couple of weeks, and I am SO excited...I really like the schools here!

Interested?

I saw this idea on someone else's blog and I totally want to steal it! What she did was she had people who wanted to participate email her with a wedding picture of theirs, and a short message on what they would change about their wedding day...just as a way to have people participate in her blog. Then she posted them so everyone could read and compare. Let me know if you guys are interested in all, and if you want to, go ahead and email them to me! Here's mine as an example:

Okay, so I really wouldn't change much about my wedding day. Everyone, especially my mom and her friends, worked REALLY hard and made it a day where I didn't have to worry about anything. However, I did have this HUGE hoop slip that I wore under my dress. Maybe I'm weird, but I really wanted my dress to be touching the ground, not up off of it like there was a flood or something. For the most part I was fine, but my hoop slip kept creeping up (if you wore one, you know how that was!), and it would hike up my dress as well. So, in a bunch of my pictures, my dress is way up there (see above), and I think it looks weird! I wish I had remembered to pull it down so it looked more full and princess-like! Also, when we got into the sealing room, I sat down, and my hoop totally spiked up! It was embarassing trying to bat it down, so we could get married already!

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I wouldn't have changed the little men hanging from the temple steeples :)

So, there you go! Can't wait to see if you guys want to participate!



Oh, side note--possiblility I'll be in UT this weekend. Let me know if anyone is available to hang out on Saturday!

Sweet Teeth

So Christine just admitted one of her current obsessions, so I have to counter with one of my all-the-time obsessions. I like shopping, but Todd and I are especially taken with.....after holiday candy sales! To illustrate our complete OCD tendencies, here is our current example:

Last night, I went to Shopko to take advantage of the Halloween candy sales. I love those candy corn pumpkins (if you think it's gross, that's fine, I also like Peeps), and so I grabbed two bags of those. In addition, I also bought a bag of M&M's, a bag of snack-size Whoppers, and another bag of something chocolate that I can't currently remember the name of. Total: $5. Not bad, eh?

Well, we wouldn't stop there. After volunteering today, I stopped by Shopko again (in a different location), called Todd up on the phone, and we preceded to discuss which candy they had available that we wanted. All in all, I came away with a huge bag of Airheads (we both had a middle school moment), a huge bag of Skittles and Starbursts, and bags of peanut m&m's, peanut butter m&m's, KitKat's, Snicker's, and last but not least, a large bag of bite-size Twix. Total cost: $20.

Can you see now why we both went in to get cavities filled this week?

THAT is how I enjoy my Halloween....the day after :)