yikes!

You know those times when something happens and you say to yourself, "My mom really knew what she was talking about"?

I had one of those moments today.

FLASHBACK-to about  seven years ago: my mom warned me to be careful when using a cheese grater because according to her you could slice your hand off with that thing! (okay, so maybe she wasn't quite that dramatic, but she did emphasize the dangerous capacities of a cheese grater.)

PRESENT DAY-like two hours ago: I was cutting cheese for the grilled cheese sandwich i had been looking forward to all day using a cheese grater when my hand slipped and I totally sliced my hand off! (okay, so maybe it's just the knuckle of my right pointer finger)

And it hurt.

I looked down at my finger and saw almost clear to the bone! (okay, so maybe not. there was too much blood to see anything, but I'm sure the bone was visible)

I may have started hyperventilating and and freaking out just a little bit when my roommate Kelsee came to the rescue.

She ran out of her room, got her first aid kit, immediately ripped open the alcohol wipe package and started nursing me back to health. (a.k.a. swabbing my knuckle with the wipe and putting a band-aid on it)

And now i'm just starting the recovery process. I'm a little concerned how this injury may affect my test that I'm supposed to take tomorrow. Obviously I will not be in the right mindset to take the test, and my pointer finger may not be able to run the computer mouse. hmmmm....

We'll have to see how that one goes over.

(exaggeration, anyone?)

takin out the trash

Confession....

I HATE big stinky garbages.

hate hate hate.
More than almost anything in the world.

I hate when they are overflowing and trash is falling on the floor every time someone bumps it the wrong way,

I hate trying to tie the bag shut amid the above mentioned overflowing garbage (Especially on bags that don't have the drawstrings. Those things are so nifty!)

I hate trying to get the bag out of the garbage can when it's so full it'll hardly budge,

I hate tossing the bag over my shoulder to haul it to the dumpster,

But more than anything else, I hate, double hate, quadruple hate, ten bajillion times hate...

Trying to do all these things when the garbage is stinky.

Eww, sick, gag, guhh....

In fact I believe the only pleasant thing that ever came from a garbage can is....you guessed it...

Oscar the Grouch

and he's not actually that pleasant, so I hardly think he counts as a redeeming quality for a trashcan.

(but he sure is cute!)

why fail tomorrow....

Remember that test? The seventeen page review test? I took it. and holy cow that thing was huge!! It was for my interior design class, which may just sound like a "fluff" class, but let me tell you-it's not. To study for the test I went through every page of the review (there were seventeen of them, just in case you forgot) and made a flashcard for each term. I ended up with about a bajillion flashcards.

these are the above mentioned flashcards that i spent four days making

So I made all of these and then turned around and studied studied studied them. As I was busily doing all this studying and stressing about the exam (the first exam in each class is always the scariest. you don't know what to expect really or how specific everything is going to be...it's intimidating.) I remembered a little motto we came up with in  our pre-calculus class back in high school.

"Why fail tomorrow when you can fail today?"

(referring to conveniently being absent the day of the test in order to put off the failure for one more day. which I did quite often, by the way.)

So as I was studying studying studying, I finally decided that I had had enough of it and remembered this little motto. So I decided to give up the studying and stressing and made my way to the testing center. That building gives me a lot of stress. An hour later, I emerged from the building feeling like a new person. All the stress was lifted off my shoulders and I could finally feel like I could breathe again.

But you know what the best part was....?

I didn't fail

Not even close.

Isn't that great?! I sure thought so. The A- made my poor crampy hand and crammed little brain feel much better. Kolton (who came to see me this weekend. hooray!) and I even celebrated with some mint oreos.

I have a big thing with oreos. (and all other things that could be considered "junk food") and I sure like to eat em. Especially when I'm feeling like I have something to reward myself for.

Anyway....that's all I've got to say about that.

oh kelsee...

That's actually the lyrics of a song. But this story has to do with an actual Kelsee, who is my actual roommate. Last night I had just barely gone to bed when I heard some whimpering and giggling coming from outside my door. Of course I had to go check it out! So I jumped out of bed and opened my door to find my darling roommates KyLeigh and Amy standing outside the bathroom door. It didn't take me very long to put two and two together and come to the realization that our other darling roommate, Kelsee, was locked in the bathroom.

After giggling with the other two who were taunting kelsee that she was going to have to sleep in there for the night, I quickly jumped into action, peeled apart a bobby pin and started shoving it into the little hole in the doorknob. I wasn't exactly sure what I was supposed to do with the said bobby pin shoved in the little hole, but I've seen others do it a million times, so I tried it out. After jabbing and jabbing for about thirty seconds, KyLeigh finally said to Kelsee (I thought she was kidding. I really did)

"Hey, how about you pull on the door instead of pushing on it."

I kind of snickered at this. I mean, of course Kelsee knows to pull on the door. We've lived here for what? a month?

Turns out...Kelsee didn't know.

Approximately .5 seconds after KyLeigh gave her this seemingly useless piece of advice, we heard the door unlock and out walked Kelsee. We all stared at her in shock for a minute and then just busted up laughing. I don't think she's gonna hear the end of that one anytime soon.

Oh Kelsee....

holy mackerel

This is gonna be a crazy week. I went home (again) this weekend which was just lovely, by the way. but when Sunday night came around and it was time to come home to p-town, I just couldn't do it. All afternoon I kept watching the clock and dreading coming home so......

I didn't.

And I don't even feel bad about it. (it's not necessarily that i dread coming back...it's just that I love Monteview and I love Provo-the four and a half hour (I timed it and it's exactly that) drive is what kills me!

Anyway.....so Monday morning I had to get up and drive clear down here. Then I ran off to class and barely made it on time. But I still made it. Then I was busy doing a bunch of little things all day (mainly grocery shopping. I was OUT of food!) that weren't really that big of a deal.

However.....today was not so lucky. I went running first thing this morning. got lapped by my roommate who is speedy quick and tough. But I also lapped somebody! so that was exciting. I think she was about.....sixty? and was walking the track. I'll take what i can get. After that super fun workout. (not really. running always makes my legs feel jello-y)  I dashed back to my apartment (on jello legs) and cleaned the yucky bathroom for cleaning checks. Not fun. But after THAT, I ran off to class and discovered I had a test this week.

Did not know that.
I don't know how I got so messed up, but I swear the test was next week. I don't have my head screwed on quite straight lately, I guess. So I ran home after my next class and have been busily studying (i.e. filling out a bajillion flashcards. the study guide is 17 pages long! Seventeen!) and then just finishing up some other random assignments due this week. 

I've barely started scaling the iceberg, so hopefully I can continue steadfastly and finish all I have to do this week. Wish me luck!

p.s. I say iceberg not because most of it's mass is underwater but because I'm hoping I don't lose my footing and slide all the way down the slippery slope. Just so ya know.

BOYS in our ROOM!

(that's a bit of an inside joke)

But seriously-there is a man in my apartment. (he's just maintenance, don't worry) and hopefully he's fixing all of the little woes that come with apartment living. the couch missing a leg, drawers that stick, broken chairs...just the norm.

On a completely new subject.....I had a wonderful weekend. going back home was just exactly the perfect thing to do. Granted, the drive is a little long. but even that I didn't mind too terribly much.

I got to hang out with the fam, with my neighbor, make and eat yummy food (I always want to cook when I go home. I think it's because I don't actually have to go out and buy all the ingredients, and maybe because our kitchen at home is a tad bit bigger than in my apartment. just a tad.) go to a beautiful wedding reception and reunite with some old pals, watch my sister run at her cross country meet, and basically just have a wonderful time.

I will admit, I was a little discouraged upon discovering my dad's newfound love for Boise State football. I told him his loyalties should now all lie with BYU football.

But then I watched the game against Virginia Tech. and now I might be converted. All I can say is it's a good thing BYU and BSU never play each other. For now I can be content not worrying about who I would root for if it really came down to it.

But I gotta hunch I'll always be a BYU fan at heart. (if only because they sure know how to make a classy poster) and for a lot of other reasons too of course.

and the ugly...

(I just couldn't help but finishing that cliche/movie title.)

I woke up to a huge gigantic NASTY cold sore!Yucky! But I've been gobbing medicine on it all day so hopefully it disappears soonly.

I was right-I was just as sore as I predicted I would be today.

So with the combination of a huge, swollen upper lip and hobbling around campus today, I was a sore sight for all eyes.

BUT-there was some good that happened today as well. It was actually waaay more than just good, it might have been almost the best thing to happen to me all semester!

I attended my physical science 110 lab today and the TA informed me that because I already took physical science 100 last year and we will basically be covering the same stuff (same book, same tests, the whole enchilada) that I could drop that class and instead take physical science 111 which is just basically going to labs and doing lab writeups. so now, not only am I ahead of the game....

I'm not even in on the game! (and no, not because I'm a bench sitter) basically-to continue with the "game" analogy-I got moved from the lowly c-team to VARSITY.

I think I deserve a letterman jacket.

the bad news

I get woken up every morning at exactly 7:00 on the dot.

(which isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just a little strange.)

But I have done some investigating and discovered that I believe the reason for this is because my bed is right next to the window which is right next to a very busy street where early morning drivers have no qualms about using their horns.

even at seven in the morning.

oh, utah drivers....

After I woke up at exactly 7:00 on the dot, I decided to drag my roommate Kelsee out of bed to go running with me.

Seriously, with exercising, (and most other things) the buddy system is the way to go.

I didn't want to leave my nice, warm, soft bed to go run around in circles on a dumb track,

she didn't want to leave her nice, warm, soft bed to go run around circles on a dumb track,

but because we had both promised each other that we would go,

we did.

The running wasn't necessarily a bad thing either (once we got up and going)

But feeling like I was going to collapse in a heap on the way home from campus was not real fun.

My poor little legs were just plum worn out!

(and the clompy shoes i was wearing probably didn't help the situation)

(also-just a sidenote, the one teensy little mile that I ran took me sixteen minutes. SIXTEEN!

there's definitely room for improvement in that area of my life)

 I have a bad feeling i'm going to be "feeling the burn" tomorrow morning.

After collapsing on the couch after my long day of school I managed to make myself a grilled cheese sandwich(which happens to be my favorite lunch item at this moment in time)

and I also managed to burn it to a crisp.

It wasn't quite this dramatic, mainly because i was using a griddle instead of a toaster, but still.....it was pretty darn close

But being the tough woman I am (more accurately, the poor college student I am)

I ate it anyway.

and that's all.

(none of that was necessarily "bad news" just kinda funny stuff that resulted in a kinda funny little day.)

p.s.

I forget to mention (and to end on a "good news" note)

Yesterday I finished two physical science assignments thinking they were both due today.

But when I showed up to class,

only ONE was due today

meaning....

I'm actually ahead of the game!

(We'll see how long this lasts)

but for now, I'm feeling pretty dang good.

good news!

the cake was a great success.

 someone even informed me they were on "cloud nine" while eating it.

thanks am!

had a lovely weekend with my neighbor.

he came down and we went to a beautiful wedding in Bountiful

he also came to church with me which was lovely.

we made heather's secret recipe chicken tacos which might have been even better than the cake (and she made up the recipe-so that's even more impressive)

and then he went home.

that part wasn't so great.

i had a lovely labor day weekend doing homework all day.

but some roommates and i finally did manage to pull ourselves away from our studies and we went to "Eclipse" in the dollar theatre.

i had never seen it so i was pleasantly surprised.

also-our tickets were $1.50

that's approximately one tenth of the price of Edwards tickets in Idaho Falls. (approximately)

i only have three days of classes this week on account of my having no classes on Fridays and also having Monday off, of course.

i'm spending my weekend at home in good ole Monteview

and i couldn't be more excited!

and.....

i fell in love with this song.

really.

in love.

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

september

September is becoming a newly aquired taste for me. i used to dread september because of all that it implied. the end of summer,

school starting,

cooler weather.

but since i've gotten older (and wiser!) i have come to appreciate september for all of it's many charms.

whenever i think of september lately, i think of....

big, beautiful, autumn leaves crunching under my feet as i walk to class.

(i always step out of my way to crunch on a big leaf)

cozy autumn-y clothes that you can snuggle up in

(i picture a big blazing fireplace nearby-even though those are in short supply in my little apartment complex)

(these are my two lovely roommates "the heathers")

and lastly, i think of my favorite movie of all time-"You've Got Mail"

if you have never seen this movie: go to your local video store and rent it as soon as possible.

my favorite line in this, my favorite movie of all time is when Joe Fox is emailing Kathleen Kelly right in the beginning of the movie. here's how it goes....

"Don't you love New York [Provo] in the fall? it makes me want to buy school supplies. i would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils

if i knew your name and address."

i don't know why, but this idea of a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils puts

such a charming picture into my head.

yellow no. 2 pencils,

uniform size,

pink eraser,

sharp, pointy lead,

and all tied up with a beautiful ribbon.

can you see why i love september?