Homework at Home

I did my best, but I'm learning I'm not very good at doing homework at home. Therefore, I haven't gotten much done. I'm tired and it's 12:10ish. I'm going to bed soon to try to be at the library at 7:30 when it opens because I'll get kicked out at 5:00 tomorrow night. Pray for me so I can focus and knock out a few assignments so I can go home and enjoy time with my family. I would like that, they would like that, it would be nice all around.

This is what the kitchen table looked like for awhile, there was more there than what it looks like. My  computer, more papers, and my chips didn't make the shot.

Part of my not accomplishing much today was the fact that Judd (also know as the best friend to Steve and I) is in town for a few days. I haven't seen him since he moved in January. I couldn't pass up the chance to see him :) We went and "played" if you will. Last night we went to Quincy for Pop's Pizza (best pizza in in town!) and today we went to pick up the deer Judd had processed, got some lunch at Dairy Queen, and of course went and took some pictures. It was fun, but a bad idea considering the amount of things I need to do. It was well worth it.

 Dividing up the deer meat.

 A train that stopped us on our way home.

 Steve and Judd discussing something or other. 

So, I made a decision that might not have been the best for my educational sanity, but it was the right decision for the day.

Announcement

Emily and I (and Katie when we tell her) are creating a blog.

http://sunny-side-up-blog-3.blogspot.com/

It will have posts soon!

The library and I

I just wanted to let you all know that my life right now consists of the following things:

1. First off, I miss my friends and family because I don't see them. I live with Emily and have seen her a total of 3 times this week, and never for more than an hour.

2. I've consumed more coffee than ever before, well maybe not ever... I have worked at 2 different coffee shops, but I hope you're picturing me, paper's, a computer, and a couple empty coffee cups.

3. I've helped in the killing of 3.6 sequoia trees with all of the research I have printed off in the past week. I have come to believe that research done by grad students and the cost of the paper that they print are 25% of the reason that state universities are in debt and 40% of the reason for the demand and production of printer paper.

4. I'm actually excited about some of my homework. That has only happened 3 times before in the history of my life. So, I figure excitement for 1 out of 4 major assignments is pretty good.  For one project, (the one I actually really like) I'm researching the difference between motivation and empowerment for students and how that affects their learning habits.  Good stuff.

5. I'm wasting time right now because my brain hurts from reading.

6. Steve took me to Chick's on my lunch break yesterday. It was magic because I love Chick's potato soup and loaded waffle fries. I like him too.

7. I just drank a cinnamon chai tea instead of coffee. It was delicious. Try it.

8. I am beginning to really despise the library. The lady that works at Malpass Mocha (the coffee shop stand if you will) recognizes me and we have decent conversations.

9. I found a really cute apartment in Colchester to move into for next year and I'm excited!!!

10.I'm running out of things....

The moral of the story is that I don't have much of a life, the library and I are in a serious relationship, and I need more coffee because my chai is gone.

I hope to see you all one day soon....

This is the coffee shop area in the library. Its so nice to have it here :)

Bonding time

The other night, Em, Steve, and I were all sitting around the kitchen table just chatting. I had bought a new heater for my room so Steve was trying it out. He took off the "plug in protector" (I'm not sure of its technical term) for the prongs and threw it on the table.

As we sat there messing around, this is what developed soon after.

Emily was making a kissy-face at Steven. So Steven, being the mature one of the bunch, decided to shove that piece of two- pronged plastic up Emily's nose.

 As one would assume, she didn't enjoy that.

 Her screaming and laughing was very entertaining. 

 Steven was proud of himself, Emily was sad. 

 Emily then gave him the "evil look"

And she smacked the smile off of his face. See his disappointment and hurt?

This is frightening because I think that they are getting a little too close....

But, I was thoroughly entertained for a few minutes. 

I miss Ag

Today, I sat and read Corn & Soybean Digest while at work (yes, best job ever for a grad student because if I have no appointments I can read and do homework).  Reading articles about advocating for Ag and and discussing new Ag topics really made me miss undergrad. Undergrad was easier, yes, but I miss my ag classes.  My courses right now aren't doing much for me. So, stupid me, I let myself wander to the Texas Tech grad website. This school was my first choice for grad school to study Ag Communications, but I didn't even apply. Again, stupid me. A few things held made me choose Western, such as family is close, I had an assistantship nailed down, and I thought I could still incorporate other Ag classes into my course load. Wrong. I barely have time to do the homework I have assigned (yes, I am wasting time on Blogger typing away my thoughts, but its more of a needed release than anything right now)

There was an interesting article about becoming socially active on the internet to advocate for Ag such as using twitter, facebook, or blogs to explain the standpoint of farmers and the industry. This is something to consider looking into or to at least find different media to read about the industry.  I found a neat blog called Advocates for Ag. (click the link to see) From the few that I read it was pretty interesting discussing different  issues and showing the positive side of Agriculture. 

So, right now I'm just venting  a little and gathering my thoughts, and listening to Stoney LaRue which pleases my ears.  Back to studying and research...

Research is not my thing

I'm sitting in a coffee shop, researching information for my upcoming lit review assignments. I strongly dislike it (hate is a strong word but is probably more of the right term).  I think I'm going to drop out of grad school and become a photographer. Haha...

Well, I got distracted (imagine that) and these are a few of my favorite pics that I have taken..

 Steven on North Shore in Hawaii

 Kapolei in Oahu

 Steven and Niah and Kamara from this spring

 Steven and Skip 

 Balloon Festival in Macomb

So yeah, I hope you enjoy them. They aren't the best, but I like them! 

Road Trip for Simon and Amy's reception

So, one of my best friends from college, Simon, got married 2 weeks ago in Indiana. He married an amazing girl named Amy from Indiana. I've only been around her a few times because she does live so far away, but from what I've seen, she's quite perfect for Si. They had a wedding there, so there was a second reception back home for us in Illinois.  It was in Fairbury (close-ish to Bloomington), and Steven and I drove close to 3 hours to get there from Colchester. The road trip was completely worth it though.

Simon came up to say hi to me by dancing in his usual way and asking me if I missed him yelling at me all the time. It was quite humorous. I lived with Simon our junior year at Western with another friend we called Moo. Si and I went to ICC together, had a bunch of classes together, and we also were teammates on the Carcass evaluation team there. So we had a lot of traveling time together under our belts whether it was driving to practice at U of I every week or driving or flying to Texas or Kansas for another competition that we were bound to lose, we were together a lot. You learn a lot about people in an ICC van. :) 

This is part of the Carcass Eval team

Si, me, Andrew, Amanda, and Moo is missing

So, when Si and I lived together, he liked to randomly dance a lot, and he constantly yelled "Mom!" (which was my horrible carcass evaluation team nickname) or he liked to call me Leprechaun a lot because of my red-headed ways.  He's always entertaining and is a great friend.

Si and me at Hairbangers Ball junior year

I haven't seen Simon since before graduation this spring, partially because I was in Hawai'i, other reasons are distance, time, school, work, etc.  We also both don't really care to talk on the phone much, so we're bad at calling. Another friend of ours who came was Rachel and her fiance Jeremy. Rachel is still at Western finishing up her Ag. Ed. degree, but I don't get to see her much either because she commutes and we're both crazy busy. Grad school gets jealous if I try to have a social life.

Grad school is a homewrecker... just to let you know.

It was beyond great seeing my friends again. Rachel and I just sat around catching up on life's latest adventures. I got to talk to Simon a few times, catching up a little, but he had other family and friends to talk to too.  When I went to tell him bye, I got about 5 hugs, we kept telling each other how we missed seeing each other, this made me sad. On the ride home, I kept thinking how I missed my people, and that I'm horrible at keeping in touch. With this weekend, I realized that I need to work on keeping up with my friends because I suck at it. I get caught up in the everyday crap.

Anyways, the moral of the story is keep in contact with good friends.

Me, Si, and Rachel at the reception.

It was a long drive, well ride, because Steven was awesome and drove the entire time, but it was entirely worth it.  :)

Halloween!

So we had a costume party this past Saturday for Halloween. It was fun, other than having an irritating beginning with the sewing machine.

Here are some of the costumes from the night.

                                                             Our Crayon Box people

                                                    Steven and I were posing for prom pictures

                                   this is Sonny and Mallory as the Blue Man Group... it was terrifying

                                               This is Henry, he had the best costume ever!
                                                    He was Bender (or Binder) from Futurama

                                                              Steve was the tired crayon

This is Cole, Henry's brother. I'm not sure what his official title was, 

but I do know that he was wearing a kilt...

All in all, we had a good time. 

And just to let you know, I severly over-cooked my ravioli while finishing this post.

the end.

I failed sewing 101 with Satin's sewing machine

Halloween, the one legitimate time of year when I can dress up as a crayon. It should have been easy.

This was my plan of attack:
1. buy fabric, thread, elastic, black paint, and ribbon.
2. borrow mom's sewing machine.
3. on the day of halloween (b/c that was the first day that I wasn't busy) turn on sewing machine
4. thread the sewing machine
5. sew three straight lines of:
     a. elastic at the top of the dress
     b. sew elastic at the waste of the dress
     c. sew up the back of the dress
6. Paint the word "Crayola" on the front and also paint squiggly lines to make it cohesive to the look of the oh so beloved crayola crayons

Easy enough right?
Well, I bought the fabric, and borrowed the sewing machine....

 It took me over an hour to get the bobbin to thread....

Then I fought the machine for over 3 hours to get the tension right....

                                                              I almost threw mom's sewing machine, but I knew she wouldn't like that.

So, here's what went down. I unplugged satin's sewing machine and just painted the outfits for the crayon box. The boys' shirts were easy, paint, dry, go. Sam and I ended up just tying the fabric around us, tying the loose edges together with polka dot ribbon.... it worked out in the end.



 These are the outfits drying.

The results will be posted soon.

p.s. I'm never sewing again with satin's sewing machine. I will pay hundreds of dollars for pre-made crappy costumes in the future instead.