Travel The World

It's Tuesday again! So here is today's topic and my list of 10. Check out this website for more people who blogged on the same topic! www.yanowhatimean.com/tuesday

10 Countries I'd Like To Visit:
(yes! in order too!)

1. Australia
2. Italy
3. France/Switzerland/Germany - one of those to see the Alps!
4. Canada
5. Jamaica
6. A country in Africa to take a Safari
7. Mexico
8. Japan
9. Brazil
10. Kenya - I would love to do mission work there!

Spotlight On Snickers

Today is wordless Wednesday. So here are a few of my favorite pictures of my cat, Snickers.

Tuesday Yet Again?

Today's 10 for Tuesday prompt is "10 nicest things that people have done for you". It took me a while to think about this prompt, and come up with only 10, because there have been so many nice things that people have done for me. But here is my list of 10 nicest things people have done for me, and in no particular order, because they were all so different yet special acts of kindness that touched my heart in one way or another.

1. My 3 roommates this past year for pushing my limits and breaking me out of my comfort zone so I could experience things that I normally wouldn't think about or experience, I will never forget them for it.

2. My parents allowing me to get my kitten, Snickers, even when they both didn't like cats.

3. Grandma Dear for allowing me and The Quads to stay at her house in California for a week. And everything she did for me and my friends during that whole week.

4. My dad paying for me to go to college so that I won't be in debt when I graduate from college.

5. Mrs. Brown, my high school principal, tutoring me in math my Junior year, and helping me pass my math class.

6. Kathy, for talking me into joining the Navigators, and always including me in Navigators events throughout the whole year. If it weren't for her, I would not have joined my bible study and experienced such a powerful re-commitment to Jesus.

7. Kristin, my new roommate, for making me and everybody else dinner every Friday night before The MILL throughout the whole year. And for always wanting to get together or just talk with me just to see how I was doing, nobody else has ever cared as much as her.

8. Mr. Weissman, one of my high school English teachers, for helping me with my college essay. If it weren't for his help, I might not even be in college right now.

9. Tiffany, always being there for me, listening to me, and helping me through any problem or crisis I had throughout the past year. She was the one who was there for me when I didn't trust anybody else to talk to. She has become my best friend, and I love her for that!

10. My parents giving me the best childhood I could ever have, and encouraging me in everything I ever did growing up, even still up until this day.


Well, that is my list of 10. I'm sure if I thought about it more, it would change slightly, because there have been so many generous things done for me throughout my whole life. So thank you to all of you who have done so many nice things for me!

Also, thank you to my mom, because she made me this beautiful pretty new layout for my blog, which I absolutely love! Now I can start posting blogs again! Hehe :-)

Basically Nonsense

Just a reminder. To the ONE person I know who reads this. This blog needs a new pretty layout before it can have new and pretty blogs on it. :-)

Boycott

I have SO much to write about!
BUT...this blog is now being boycotted until it has a new layout :-D

Childhood Movies

I have decided that I am not going to try and keep up my blog daily. I found it hard to find things to write about ALL the time. So I will try and write a few times a week just on the highlights of my week. I think that will be less stressful for me than to try and keep up with it everyday.

But anyway, today is ten for Tuesday. The topic today is top 10 favorite movies from your childhood. I thought this would be a fun one for me. :-) So here is my list, in no particular order.

10 Favorite Childhood Movies:

1. The Little Mermaid

2. The Indian In The Cupboard

3. The Land Before Time

4. Fern Gully

5. Fly Away Home

6. Beauty And The Beast

7. Monkey Trouble

8. Mrs. Doubtfire

9. Free Willy

10. The Babysitters Club

Check out other blogs for today's topic for ten for Tuesday! www.yanowhatimean.com/tuesday/

A Nice Summer Day

I am enjoying summer so much! Even though I have been crazy busy working, there are days like today that I just enjoy. Today was my first day off in weeks, and I got to spend it with my mom. Being able to sleep in was so nice, and then just spending a few hours in Target looking at everything possible is always one of my favorite things to do with my mom.

The reason I love summer so much is because you don't have the pressure of school to deal with or think about. Yes, I know you have to get up early and go to some type of work. But at the end of the day, that is it. For me anyway, and my job. The only thing I have to worry about is when I have to go to work next. And when I am in school, my mind is constantly going and reminding myself of what projects, papers, and tests I have at what time. It is like I am under pressure ALL the time in school, just knowing what I have to get done for upcoming dates. During summer, I don't get that at all, and I absolutely LOVE it!

Also, during summer I get to read WHATEVER I want! No reading text books, and dumb novels that professors think will be will be fun to add to the syllabus for no apparent reason other than to give us more work. No, during the summer I can read the books I want to read. And I am enjoying it so much! At night, instead of watching TV (like I did to relax while in school) I read before I go to bed. I read when I wake up in the morning, in fact, I hardly ever watch TV during the summer! Unless it's Big Brother 8 of course. :-)

I guess I shouldn't complain so much about babysitting so much. Because even though it is hard most days, I would prefer to do that then write an essay or read from a text book. But, then again, that is just how I feel today. Tomorrow could be different.

First Wordless Wednesday!

Today is my first wordless Wednesday. So here are just a few of my favorite photo's from our recent vacation in California. The place I love the most, with the people I love the most. :-) Enjoy!

This last photo is Joey Fatone. The celebrity I met on the last day we were in California. I have written about this in many blogs in the past couple weeks.

My idea for wordless Wednesday was inspired through http://www.wordlesswednesday.com/

Ten For Tuesday!

Ten for Tuesday. Today's top ten are 10 of your favorite things. Idea inspired by www.yanowhatimean.com/tuesday/

10 of my favorite things. In no particular order :-)

1. Sleeping
2. My family
3. Watching TV series on DVD
4. Spending time with good friends
5. The beach in Hawaii
6. Myspace/Facebook
7. Going to movies
8. Tokyo Joes
9. Reading a good book
10. Starbucks iced chai tea latte

Yippee!

Yay for friends! The very first day of school I met a girl named Tiffany. It wasn't even the first day of school, but a pre-first day of school for one of our classes. A class that would get us acquainted with some students that would have similar classes throughout the year. I remember walking in the first day (a little late) and Tiffany was the only one sitting alone at a table, so I asked if I could sit next to her and she just smiled and shook her head. I remember it like it was yesterday because I remembered thinking what a great smile she had! So we sat down and immediately started talking about EVERYTHING! We became partners in everything we did in that class, and later realized we had a few other classes together. She became such a great friend first semester that we decided to take all of the same classes together second semester. Throughout the year our friendship just kept growing, and now I consider her my best friend! We get along so great, and have much of the same personality and lifestyle. We have so much in common and we tell each other everything. I have had best friends before, but it wasn't until I met Tiffany that I opened myself up completely and trusted her 100%. I'm so thankful that God put us together!

Since summer started though we have not gotten to talk a whole lot. She lives in Colorado Springs, and I moved back to Aurora for the summer. And since we both work A LOT, I knew we wouldn't get to talk as much as we did throughout the school year. It has been sad and I have missed her so much.

At random she IMed me last night on my computer. I was so excited to hear from her! We talked for at least an hour and a half online, and made plans to see each other for the next couple weeks! She is FINALLY coming to Aurora this weekend to spend the night with me and see my house and town and everything. And I am so excited to show her where I live! And then the following weekend I am going to Colorado Springs to spend the night with her! I am so excited for the next 2 weekends because I miss Tiffany sooo much! And we have SO much to catch up on! It's like I am a kid again counting down the days until my birthday, or Christmas. I can hardly wait, I am so excited! All I have to do is make it through this busy week, and then I get to see the bestest friend in the whole world! (for Tiffany's amusement lol). YAY!!!

A Child's Imagination

I had an overnight babysitting job last night. So to pass the time and keep the kids off each other backs, I decided we were going to have a movie night. Turns out that it was a great idea! We went and got ice cream, came back and put our PJ's on, made hot chocolate and popcorn and just watched a movie until bed time. It was relaxing for me not to have to work too hard. I even went to blockbuster ahead of time and rented two movies that I thought they might like to watch. Turned out that those movies were big hits too! The first one we watched was "Indian In The Cupboard", which was one of my favorites growing up. And the second one was "Because Of Winn-Dixie". Both were very good movies!

Indian In The Cupboard was one of my favorite movies growing up. Sure, the graphics aren't all that great, but what can you do? It was a good family movie for kids because it was entertaining to watch, but then left the kids feeling like they have an imagination too. It always made me want to go play afterwards like I had a real Indian living inside of a cupboard. I even made a fake cupboard out of a shoe box. And after watching it last night, I got to relive that memory again with these kids, as they wanted to pretend and play the same things I once did. Because Of Winn-Dixie was another great movie! I had never seen it before this morning, but after I saw it I couldn't help but wonder why they didn't make more movies like this. Kids enjoy it, adults enjoy it, and it was just a great movie that teaches kids some things that go on in the real world.

As I was watching these movies, I couldn't help but go back to my original thinking of how much this world has changed. Sure, they still make great kids movies, but it has changed. Now of days movies and TV leave little for the imagination. And it is a lot more harder for parents to find movies that they know will be good for their children to watch. Instead of movies that may be questionable, or may have questionable material in them for kids. Even Disney/Pixar movies, they are great for kids, but they also have some adult content in them that kids do not understand. Which is great, and fun for the whole family. But sometimes hard to explain to kids why they added that into the movie. At least it is that way with the little boy I babysit. I hope they don't stop making those movies though, because some of them are my favorite movies. But of course it will change, I just wonder what the movies will look like in another 10 years.

I loved the movies I watched yesterday and today, and I wish more families watched these movies instead. These are the types of movies you want kids watching anyway, movies that will give them inspiration to go have an imagination of their own, instead of sitting there filling their head with junk. I just hope they continue to make movies like these, so my kids will have something inspiring to watch!

That is all for today. I have been writing about kids so much lately because that is what consumes me all the time. I have hardly had time for a regular life the past couple weeks, therefore, causing me to always write about kids. But that's ok, because I like kids, and it's interesting to watch and see how their childhood is similar and different from the childhood I had.

Light At The End Of The Tunnel

I am blogging in the one hour I have left before I go off to spend the night with the two little kids I am spending over half my summer with. I watched them all day yesterday (as you know if you read my blog yesterday). And now spending the night tonight and into tomorrow, and then all day again Monday! When will I get a break?!?! I had to wake up at the crack of dawn again today to go babysit a little 2 year old girl for 7 hours. She was a lot easier to watch, but still, I need a break. I rented a few movies, bought a few bags of popcorn, and plan on making tonight a "movie night" with the kids. Hopefully it will work and they are excited about that, because I don't know how far my patience will go tonight, to be honest. Wish me luck!

On the other hand though, I have a few things in my (somewhat) near future to look forward to. I decided since last week, this weekend, and all next weekend is booked busy for me, I decided to take all of next weekend off. All day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. If anybody needs a babysitter, they are going to have to find one somewhere else, because I deserve at least 3 days off after the past couple weeks! Another thing is on July 29th I am going to the Colorado Rockies (baseball) game with my bestest friends ever! My 3 best friends from high school, The Quads. We get to go to the game, meet the players, and since it is "Christian Day" we get to hear the music and events that go along with that. I'm excited to do something fun like that with them! Also, the weekend right before I go back to school, The Quads (me and the same friends from high school) are going to Vail for the weekend to celebrate Katie and Courtney's birthday! Last year we went downtown Denver for a night and stayed in a hotel down there, and this year we are planning to go to Vail for the weekend together! Definitely something I am looking forward to before I head back to school in August. I think it should become a yearly event, having a fun night/weekend together, just the 4 of us. We always have a fun time and it's kind of like saying goodbye for the long while in between summer and Thanksgiving/Christmas. So anyway, those are some things I am looking forward to! When I think about the fun things, it makes babysitting 24-7 not seem so bad.

That is all for today, I still have to shower and pack up some stuff before heading out for the evening! Pray that I get some sleep tonight!

Complaining, Rambing, Venting...

So this blog is going to be a little complaining. I'm sure it's not what my parents want to hear (or read) since they hear it all the time from me. But since this is my blog, I get to write about whatever I want :-). And tonight, I want to complain!

I was really excited when I decided to babysit all summer long, instead of getting a "real job". But little did I know the work that was in store for me, I might have thought twice about getting a job. The money is nice, and I do love kids, but sometimes I just want to scream (and even have once I've left and I'm in my car on the way out of there!). I finally have a sense of what it's like to be a mom. And I'm not really sure I am up for the challenge. Of course it will be different with more experience, more wisdom, and them actually being your own kids, but I know there are going to be those times when you just want to leave and go scream somewhere!

The kids that I babysit once or twice a week all day are ages 7 and 5. They don't really get along (except for maybe 30 minutes of the day), and don't really listen to the babysitter (me) either! They feel like they need to cry or wine about everything, even if it's just asking for something to drink. And then if for some reason you HAVE to say no to these kids, they cry about it. By the end of the day if I was going to hear one more wine or cry I was going to go crazy. Usually when it gets to this point I suggest an activity that both of them would like, and won't argue while doing it. Although eventually everything turns into a fight or argument between them. Which is why I now fully understand what it was like for my parents raising Jake and I, I'm sure Jake and I were exactly like these two. And for that, I am so sorry mom and dad! But like I always say, you guys are the one's who decided to have kids :-p

But anyway, it was a very LONG day with these two kids. I would like to say I have a break from them for a while, but I will be with them all night tomorrow night (overnight), which means Sunday morning also, and then all day again on Monday. Wish me luck, and if anybody has any good tips or activities for me to do with these kids, PLEASE let me know!

In the meantime, I am super tired (as always, what else is new?), so I am going to bed. Earliest I have gone to bed in a long time. But for some reason it seems like midnight to me. Oh well, I will write tomorrow about my experiences with a 2 year old all day!

Brighten My Day

Have you ever been in a certain mood, listened to a certain song, and it changed your mood around completely? That works either way, you can be in a good mood and then a song suddenly changes you to a sad and lonely mood. Or you could be in an already bad mood, and a song can just completely change that around.

I don't listen to music all that much. And I am not all caught up with all the correct artists and albums like my family is. But I do enjoy music when I listen to it, usually when I'm in my car alone. I just love those times when you are just relaxing and listening to the words and tune of a song and it just changes your mood completely. I've had this experience a few times in the past week or so. When I've just been down or in a certain mood, and not even a full minute of the song can turn me around. I love how music can do that for me. I'm sure it's different things for different people. But I'm sure that everybody can relate to this. And I am pretty sure that everybody has experienced this feeling while listening to a certain song at some point.

That's all I wanted to say. I'm thankful for music, and I am thankful for those moments that music can change and switch my whole day around. Now I am going to go watch Grey's Anatomy (a new show I am getting addicted to) and then going to bed, because I have an early morning and a very long weekend ahead of me.

Pointless

There isn't much to blog about today. And right now I am super tired, which I don't even know why because I got to sleep in this morning. But anyway, I've been trying to think for the past half hour what I could write about, and nothing is coming to my head. Therefore, there is no point to me even writing this blog. Except to say that I blogged today, counting towards my challenge of trying to blog everyday. Ha. I'm proud of myself :-)

I will write something worth while tomorrow, earlier in the day, so that I won't get too tired before I need to write.

For Mom And Dad

This blog is for my mom and dad.

My mom wrote a blog yesterday, talking about how she was observing a little boy and his dad while in line. She talked about how kids quickly grow up, change, and go through different phases of life. Talked about how sometimes kids grow up and get into a phase where they don't want anything to do with their parents anymore, and no longer talk to them. Here is the link to read the full blog, written on July 2nd. http://www.sunshine-on-my-shoulders.blogspot.com/

After reading the blog, I began to think about my life growing up. About the different phases I went through. And even though I never got to the point where I wanted nothing to do with my parents, I fully understand that many teenagers do get to that point. Thinking back on my relationship with my parents, it breaks my heart to know that some kids want nothing to do with their parents. It hurts because my parents are such a big part of my life.

I'm glad my mom posted this blog. To let not only parents, but kids as well, to know that life is going to change, and kids will grow up and go through different experiences, some resulting in bad relationships with parents. I believe my parents did a great job raising me and my brother. They allowed us to go through our phases (still do) but somehow guided us and helped us through our hard times.

I wanted to thank my parents for all of this. Thank you for allowing me to bloom into the person I have become today, but also for being my support when I felt like I was going to crash. Thank you for walking through each and every one of those childhood phases with me, along side of me. That's all I wanted to say. Even though I am not the best writer, or blogger, and don't always have the perfect words, I hope you understand. Thank you. Thank you for being the best parents you could be. And I hope one day I can be just as great to my kids. And I will show them how special each and every moment together is, including the times in the long lines. Because I will always look back at those times with fond memories, and know how special they were to all of us. Thank you mom and dad. I love you both more than any words can say.

Slutty Dolls And Cartoon Network

Everything has changed. From when I was a kid growing up, to how things are today, nothing is the same. This world has changed so much, and I'm not even sure it's changed for the better.

Of course, they are always finding new cures for things, and new treatments to help people who get sick. But that is not what I am talking about.

Since when did this world and society rely so much on technology? I won't get into all of the technological differences, because I blogged about that a few days ago, but if it weren't for the ipod, I don't know what kids would do these days. And how are kids suppose to afford ipods and such anyway? It's the "in" thing right now, so of course everybody has to have one, but what kind of teenager has $300 extra dollars to spend?

Another thing that really bothers me is the sex in the media! You can't even let kids watch regular TV anymore without them being exposed to sex and skin in various ways. It is ridiculous. And it doesn't help that "barbie" doesn't even sell regular barbie dolls anymore, but slutty 3/4 naked beach barbies. When I was growing up, there was no such thing as bratz, and naked barbie dolls. They have corrupted our world! So being exposed to all the "sex" at such a young age, of course, those kids are going to be more likely to "experiment" in their teenage years. That's not the way it was when I was growing up, and certainly not the way it was when my parents were growing up.

Things change though. And it also comes back to parenting. But there are only so many things a parent can do to "protect" their child. It just sometimes makes me sad knowing what kind of world kids are being born into now these days. When it seems like the only thing that matters is how your body looks, rather than inner beauty. Where you brag to your friends about how far you got with a guy/girl last night instead of just having a good time with your friends. Where you can't even turn on a cartoon channel to watch cartoons without the media trying to sell sex!

Anyway, I don't even know if any of this makes sense. I meant for it to, but all of my thoughts just kind of came out at once. And I am too tired right now to go back and make sense of it. Luckily though, I have the next 3 days off to relax and sleep in! Looking forward to it :)

Day Of Relaxation

Today was a very nice break from my busy babysitting schedule. I did not have anything I had to do all day long. I got to sleep in and finally catch up on my sleep, just to lose sleep again this week. I went to lunch with my mom and dad at this little bakery/cafe, which was really good. Then I came home and worked/finished my blanket that I was making. My blanket turned out really nice, and I am really proud of it!

All together it was a nice day, but I am definitely dreading starting to "work" again early tomorrow morning. It seems like the weekend went by way too fast, and now I have to be up super early again tomorrow morning. Luckily though, I have Tuesday and Wednesday off this week, which will be a nice break from some of these hyper kids.

I'm looking forward to the 4th of July. Not really sure why though, it's not like we have any set plans yet. But I always like that holiday, and since my dad will have that day off, it will just be a nice mid week break. Being with family and friends just having a good time. I would like to see fireworks somehow though. Which is hard, because fireworks are only allowed in certain areas of Colorado.

One thing that I am really happy about, is being baptized again this summer. I talked to our pastor at the wedding I went to on Saturday. I told him that I would like to sit down and talk with him sometime about it, but it is something that I would really like to do for myself. I've thought a lot about it, and I know it is what I want to do. I would really like to plan it somehow so that 3 of the girls from my bible study this past year could be there to see it. I will see though, I just know now that it is possible that I will be baptized again this summer. And I am really happy and excited about that.

I'm going to stop writing for tonight. I am getting sleepy, and have to be out the door early again tomorrow morning.