Wish Me Luck!

Today was Martin Luther King day, so we had no school! To me this translates as another day to study for and stress over my two most difficult exams. Tomorrow morning I have my Business Law final, I can't wait for it to be over. It's a "spill your guts" essay type exam, and we're allowed to use notes. I spent all day yesterday writing pages of hopefully-useful notes. In the afternoon I have my French midterm. This is the one I am most worried about. I know what to expect, but I never do well on French tests no matter how much I study. Wish me luck!

I didn't spend all day yesterday writing notes; I had to give myself a break sometimes! On one of those breaks I made some delicious almond cookie dough. So today after lunch I pulled out a frozen log of cookie dough and baked yummy cookies. No matter how many times I make and eat them, it always amazes me how good they taste fresh out of the oven. I think this batch was my best yet.

Yoga is working out great for me! Some of the stretches are harder for me, but that's because I am really not all that flexible. Doing them every day, though, will hopefully change that!

All in all it has been a good day. My cousin came over after work and we made her "Tastes Like Happy" chicken. I would love to share the recipe with you, but of course she won't let me. I've never understood why people don't like to share recipes... I have to go along with it though. I also felt like trying out a pizza dough recipe I found, but make it into garlic bread. It wasn't quite garlicky enough, but it was still good! I will find the recipe and upload a picture later, right now I feel like just going to bed.

There's More Than Books at Borders

Yesterday we took a trip to Keene! Yes, I drove. No, I do not want to talk about that. Anyway, in Keene is my favorite kind of store- a book store! We went to Borders where I got to spend that money I earned babysitting. I'm usually good at saving money; but when I want something and I have the cash for it in hand... it's hard to resist treating myself to a new book. I bought more than a book yesterday, though! I bought a beginner's yoga kit. It comes with everything I need, including an instructional DVD. On top of the box is the book that I did buy, The Mists of Avalon. We saw the movie in my Mythology class, and I want to read the book.



I began listening to my body more when I began Soul Coaching. I learned a lot in that month, but after it was over I got busy and only half listened. It's hard to ignore screaming, though! My body has been yelling at me and making me miserable. It keeps telling me I need to move around and do something. I am refusing to go outside in the cold weather and snow, so I needed to find a more indoor type of activity. I've wanted to learn yoga for a while... so voila! Perfect solution. =)

Where Did The Inspiration Go?

I just got done babysitting for the night. I brought my laptop with me in high hopes that the little boy would be asleep, but I had no such luck. He stayed up the entire time. And he's 1. If I had stayed at home I would have been asleep way earlier! I'm really an early to bed early to rise person... I'm tired. Or I was tired before I took a shower. Who knows how long I'll be up now? xD

I came to the conclusion today that I am like my laptop. I need to be unplugged from at least 4 different things before I can go anywhere, and plugged back in before I can do anything. I haven't been feeling creative in the least. When I'm not at school, working on scholarships, watching movies with my cousin, cleaning the house, cooking, or reading my latest murder mystery, I'm on the computer. I haven't been doing anything that inspires me to be creative. I used to write all the time! Poetry is one of my favorite things. I love reading it and writing it. The former inspires the latter.

I also haven't been a very outdoorsy person lately. When it isn't warm outside there are days when I won't even leave the house except to get into a car or onto the school bus. It makes me sad. I love being outside. Today I was outside putting bread out for the birds. I remembered a time when I would have been sledding, jumping into a snow pile, making a snowman, or just walking around. All in spite of the freezing cold weather. I don't even own a decent pair of snow boots anymore! I haven't tried on my old winter jacket either. I may not even own that, I think my sister has claims on it now. We have a ton of snow that I just won't play in. I want my care-free little girl to come out and inspire me again. There's no little whisper in my ear saying "Go on! Pile on the layers of clothes and just go outside! It'll be fun... you'll love it!" That whisper is gone.

Do I really think if I start reading poetry and playing outside that it will inspire me to be creative again? I don't know. It's worth a shot, though.

More of My Journal Wrecking Pictures

It was hard drinking out of the funnel, because the water went through the bottom. It was fun anyway. xD


This last picture is my favorite. My friend Amy did it. It's the sweetest destructive thing anyone's done to a book. Lol. I got nervous when I heard the ripping. I couldn't look until she was done!

JPITSOL

My French teacher is crazy, brilliant, funny, and awesome all in one. He is Mr. Huntley, and probably one of my favorite teachers. We learn so much in his class, and we're always having fun. We read and write stories, act out dialogues, sing songs, watch videos, and so much more. He has a collection of clothes, hats, and other random items in his classroom that we dress up in. All while learning French.

He is truly my favorite teacher, though, not just because of the fun stuff. He has taught us life lessons. One of them being what he calls JPITSOL. He said this is a Buddhist idea that he shortened into an acronym. It means Joyfully Participate In The Sorrows Of Life. He told us "If there is one thing I can teach you, let this be it." Instead of being angry when things go wrong, find the humor in it. Crack a joke. Have fun. His SmartBoard keeps shutting down randomly while he's teaching. Instead of being mad, he's started a score to see which period in breaks down the most in.

I think this is important! It's definitely something I am going to try and remember forever.

On a side note- Mr. A. loved the cookies, and I am now signed up to take Conflict Resolution 2nd period next semester! The tradition started in 9th grade when he first became our guidance counselor. He always used to complain about students wanting to make changes to their class schedules. My friends and I promised him one day that if he made the changes we'd give him a plate of brownies. It just became a fun tradition after that. =)

Classes

When I got home from school I had just enough time to do my homework before my cousin came in and stole me over to her house so we could watch her new DVD, Guys and Dolls. I loved it! My cousin and I are both fans of musicals. It is a long movie, so I ended up staying for dinner. I left with new scratches from her puppy, and a delicious chicken recipe. I'll share the recipe with you later. It is so simple, but SO good.

My cousin brought me home and I showered, only to get out and remember that I wanted to make chocolate chip cookies tonight. Luckily, we had a mix in the cupboard! I want to make these cookies because it's been a tradition since 9th grade that every time I want to make a change to my class schedule I give Mr. A., my guidance counselor, some sort of food. I thought I had my schedule for next semester figured out a month ago, but I decided just today that I want to add a class. I want to take Conflict Resolution 2nd period. My current 7th period teacher is teaching that class and he was telling us about it today. It is a new class, but it sounds promising.

This Friday and next Tuesday-Thursday I have midterms/ finals in all of my classes. I am going to have a lot of reviewing to do! Because of this I may not be on as much. It also means that the new semester begins soon. I will have new classes to talk about, and a new homework schedule to adjust to.

Wreck! This! Journaaaal!

I've been doing some more journal wrecking. The four letter word page was a lot of fun! Emeline, my friend from France, helped me with it. I think it was really helpful for her to think of words in English. She came up with most of them! I was busy writing them all down as she said them. Even after the page was full we kept coming up with new words the rest of the day.




Maybe it's because I grew up watching silly game shows on TV- I can't help but think that, if you say it right, Wreck This Journal sounds like the name of a TV game show. Each word would have an exclamation point after it, and the host would draw out the last syllable of journal as he was saying it. Just one of those silly thoughts that make me laugh. xD

As you can see, blogger is letting me add pictures again! So I was able to add the pictures of my banana bread and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies on that other post.

Banana Bread and Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Here is the banana bread recipe! The bread came out great. I took a picture, but blogger won't let me add pictures to the post. I will try to add them later. I made 3 mini loaves, so they only took about 35 minutes to bake.

1 ¾ C. flour
2 TSP baking powder
½ TSP salt
¼ TSP baking soda
1/3 C. shortening
2/3 C. sugar
2 eggs
2-3 bananas

Heat oven to 350F

Sift together flour, baking powder, soda, and salt
Mix in shortening
Add sugar gradually until light & fluffy
Add eggs and beat
Add flour mixture alternately with mashed bananas little at a time
Beat until smooth

Bake 1 Hour or until done

I also made Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. I use a crisco recipe which can be found here. I simply substituted the rasins and walnuts for a cup or so of chocolate chips.

Snow Day # 4

We got hit with some bad weather overnight, so today is snow day number four! I'm actually not complaining. I finished any homework I had last night, so I'm free to do other things. Like watching a movie, reading a book, blogging, and baking. I have been wanting to bake something for a few days. One of my friends at school said she wants banana bread. We have bananas, so I guess that's what I'm making. Banana bread is easy to make, and easy to give away to people! The worst thing about baking for me is the temptation to eat everything. I like going to my Aunt Jen's house to bake- she has a huge kitchen and there are always tons of people there to eat the food. I will post the banana bread recipe later, along with pictures.

My sister and I need to pick restaurants we want to eat at when we go to Disney World next month. This is the first real vacation we've ever had, so we're all wicked excited! I want to visit all the different 'countries' they have there, and try new foods. It's going to be a busy week...

More Journal Wrecking =)

There wasn't much going on today. I worked on the FAFSA a bit in the morning, I am so grateful that it isn't confusing or difficult. The online application is so easy to understand and fill out. I've been reading and getting things together to go back to school tomorrow. Here are some more wrecked pages from my journal!



You probably can't read this- it said 'tear this page out, put it in your pocket, put it through the wash, and then put it back in the book'. It wasn't easy unfolding the paper, I ripped it a few times. xD