IslandBookWorm's Xanga

Saturday, September 11, 2004

Sat, 11 Sep 2004 18:35:54 GMT

I have a new blog: rainbow--colors.blogspot.com. I don't know that I am going to abandon this one completely, I just wanted anyone to be able to post comments to my blog, hence the switch to blogger... never mind the fact that the comment links haven't been working quite right... guess I'm going to have to pull out the book from my html class and relearn what I've forgotten...

Tuesday, August 10, 2004

Tue, 10 Aug 2004 20:19:12 GMT

Me to a "T"

I just counted up the t-shirts that I own and you'll never guess how many I have... 44! Yeah, yeah, you can stop rubbing your eyes now because that's not a typing error... I really, truly, for whatever reason, own at least forty-four t-shirts! I mean, I've always considered myself a t-shirt and jeans kinda person, but how absurd is that? I could wear a different t-shirt every day, with absolutely no repeats, for a month and a half. And, that's not even counting the thirteen polos and button-up short-sleeve shirts or the dozen tank tops that I own. Now we're up to a total of sixty-nine short-sleeve/sleeveless shirts. I could almost last the whole summer without having to wash any shirts.

And my dad thinks that women collect shoes...

Wednesday, August 04, 2004

Wed, 04 Aug 2004 02:11:46 GMT

Oh my gosh!

The rest of yesterday (after I posted to my blog) was crazy. After the window guys left, I ended up taking an hour and a half nap, which is a really rare occurance for me, as I don't generally like sleeping during the day... feeling foggy headed in the middle of the afternoon is not one of my favorite feelings! Anyway, the following story is probably best told in person, but I'll try to capture some of the nuttiness of it in written word:

After my nap, I was upstairs working on something when I suddenly heard my mom yell, "SHUT IT OFF! SHUT! IT! OFF!". Turns out that she was trying to fix the handle of the downstairs bathroom sink and she thought that my sister had already shut off the main water line... but they hadn't. Major OOPS! So... water was shooting out of the sink like crazy, soaking my mom and the bathroom and pouring out into the hallway. I could hear the water, so I grabbed a towel and ran down the stairs to try to help. As I came around the corner into the hallway, I saw a wave of about an inch of water pouring from the bathroom into the hallway flowing towards the office. And, the water was shooting straight out of the faucet, full force. Even though it was a mess, it was so funny to see!!! I was able to direct some of the flow into the sink to drain until my sister shut the water off... she had to fly from the all-the-way-upstairs of my parent's bedroom to the all-the-way-downstairs of the basement to do it, so you can imagine the craziness of people running everywhere to try to stop the flood of water. As soon as the water stopped shooting out of the faucet, I ran for the laundry room and filled my arms with dirty laundry which I proceeded to dump in the hallway in order to stop the flow of water before it could reach the office... it was just inches away from the office doorway at this point and I figured it was faster to go for the dirty clothes than it was to get to run all the way upstairs to get towels from the upstairs bathroom. Anything to soak up water! My sister ran upstairs and got the towels (which I had just washed the day before! so much for being on top of things and doing laundry!) which we used to soak up the water that was covering the entire bathroom floor and about 75% of the hallway floor. (So, yes, I had to wash all those towels again... thank goodness for washers and dryers!)

You think this story is done yet? Nope, uh uh, not quite...

While my mom was fixing the faucet (which she did beautifully), I dried up the bathroom floor and then found that everything in the cabinet under the sink was wet, which meant that the toilet paper stored under there was ruined. (Luckily there were only a few rolls of TP -- three according to my mom's recollection). Anyway, I dried out the cabinet and all of it's contents, then dried off the hallway floor and then had the joy of picking up all the wet, dirty clothes and towels that then had to be washed. Aiyee! It was quite an adventure, to say the least!

More Adventures

I'm getting tired of typing, so I'll just have to tell you about the rest of yesterday's excitement another time... "The Adventure of the Basment Flood" and "The Adventure of the Keys that seemed Lost Forever".

Monday, August 02, 2004

Mon, 02 Aug 2004 15:59:06 GMT

Heartland

I spent a long weekend at Heartland Baha'i School. I assisted with the 0-2 class, as well as with the sorting, packaging and delivery of the morning and afternoon snacks to all of the children's classes. It was a lot of fun! I got to know a bunch of people a lot better... kids and adults. There weren't as many people there as have gone in the past, so I was "forced" to talk to people that I've never really sat down and conversed with before. It was great. I hung with the "old guys" the first few days, which was a lot of fun, as we laughed like crazy over stories. I learned a bit more about the history of the Baha'i Faith in the suburbs in the '70s, which was really cool. I have to remember to ask my dad to tell me more about Baha'is who've lived in this area.

One thing that I think I'd do differently at future Heartlands, though, is to have more meals with the whole group. The cafeteria food at the university where Heartland has been held for the past few summers is horrible, so we either ate food that we brought along or went out for meals. By Sunday, we actually had our act together enough to have our lunch prepared ahead of time, so we brought it into the cafeteria and dined with the masses which was really nice. I'm kind of a loner when it comes to eating... I'm not big on having people watch me eat, but it was nice to be part of the whole, to talk with people and to have more time to spend with everyone.

My Windows to the World

Today is Day 1 of 2 of "The Great Window Installation", so the family room (which is where the computers are) is a bit crowded at the moment. We had to move everything at least three feet away from the windows so that the workers could easily take the old windows out and put the new ones in, so a lot of stuff is being stored in here since we're not replacing the sliding glass door. I took "before" pictures of most of the windows and plan to take "after" ones when they're all done. The ones that are in so far look AWESOME! My bedroom has a really different feel now. No more green paint!

Friday, July 09, 2004

Fri, 09 Jul 2004 13:57:16 GMT

I know it's been a while since I last posted, but I'm tight on time today, so I thought I'd just list a few random facts about me...

¤ I can juggle.

¤ I've met about half a dozen past Olympic gymnasts.

¤ I can crack an egg in one hand.

¤ All I have left is to take a state exam and I'll be a licensed real estate broker.

¤ I love to bake. (An' I'm purty darn gud at it, too!)

¤ If I were ever to get a tattoo, I'd get a traditional looking Samoan one on my upper arm.

Friday, July 02, 2004

Fri, 02 Jul 2004 04:05:34 GMT

ANKLE UPDATE
For those of you who are not tired of reading about my ankle yet... I went to a physical therapist for it today and found out that I had a grade two sprain. (Whatever that means...) I did some exercises for it, had anodyne therapy done on it and I'm now home icing it. Feels pretty good!

PORTILLO'S CHOCOLATE CAKE
I must admit that I feel badly for anyone who is reading this who has never had the pleasure of dining on Portillo's Chocolate Cake. Oh my goodness! I am not a big chocolate cake person, but this stuff is awesome! If you've never had it, you have to let me know and I'll figure out a way to get you some. Yummy! Oh, so I'm mentioning the cake because we had some tonight. We bought one and went to the school where my dad was teaching tonight to surprise him. No special occassion... we just like to have our cake and eat it, too. (I know, I know... that was awful. hehehe)

Wednesday, June 30, 2004

Wed, 30 Jun 2004 01:03:49 GMT

What do you do to escape reality?

I like to read. A lot! Writing can sometimes "take me away", too, but reading is definitely my main escape. I find it so relaxing to grab something to munch on, to find a comfy spot to sit and then I just kick back and read. I can do it for hours! (or even days... ) That's why going to the library to study doesn't always work for me. Many a time I've gone with good intentions and then ended up looking for and reading books having nothing to do with my classwork.

Spending time with loved ones! This is probably one of the best ones, though it doesn't always distract me as much as a book might. But, the effect on the spirit is AWESOME!!! Even just a phone conversation with certain people can completely change my day around.

Television/movies can work, too, but I'm not big on watching a lot of TV, so it has to be something worth watching... something that makes me laugh, makes me think, teaches me a good lesson about life...

And, last but most certainly not least, prayer probably has the most lasting effect... peace, tranquility, contentment, answers to my questions, direction, connection with the Holy Spirit. (I do have to get myself in the right frame of mind for prayer to really work. Detachment is big! )

Sunday, June 27, 2004

Sun, 27 Jun 2004 19:53:08 GMT

An Ironic Note

I'm standing here at my desk, working my way through the cluttered stacks of paperwork that have been piling up for the last few weeks and I find a sheet that I picked up a few weeks ago... This one sheet of paper is split down the middle with one side covering, "Fit Ankles: Keeping Your Ankles Injury-Free" and the other side being, "Fit Knees: Keeping Your Knees Injury-Free". Ironic? Yes, I think so, too. Perhaps I should take this as a sign that I should actually make use of the information I collect, instead of just collecting it.

Cleanliness is a virtue!

Sunday, June 27, 2004

Sun, 27 Jun 2004 03:07:37 GMT

A Quick Update
Thank you to everyone who sent caring thoughts my way. My ankle is doing much better. I was able to walk around quite a bit today, though I must admit that I walked very slowly and was EXTREMELY careful about where I made each step. Only problem is, now that my ankle is doing better, I'm feeling my right knee a lot more and it does not feel good, I'm tellin' you! Aiyeeee! Might just break down and go to a physical therapist this week to see if they can give me some exercises to strengthen my poor, weak joints!

Weekend Plans
What have you been up to this weekend? This morning we ran some errands and then this afternoon we went to a cousin's graduation party for a bit and then to a young friend's softball game. Tomorrow I plan to clean my room and tidy the house because we have some friends coming over in the evening. Yay! So far it's been a lovely weekend.

Friday, June 25, 2004

Fri, 25 Jun 2004 18:27:50 GMT

SPRAINED ANKLE

A big hollar goes out to theonion who knows exactly what I'm goin' through here. I sprained my left ankle really bad yesterday, so I'm kinda laid up today... lots of walking is not a good idea at the moment.

Brief summary of catastrophe: I was walking up to the college library to pick something up for my mom (so that she didn't have to make the walk on her crutches -- ironic, eh?) and then I turned around to ask her a question before she drove away from dropping me off there and I stepped in a big hole with my left foot which caused my whole body weight to drop to my right knee (onto the sidewalk, of course) and so I found myself going from walking along to fallen down in about half a second. Ouch.

NO REST FOR THE WEARY

So, my left ankle is wrapped up, my right knee is bandaged, I'm incredibly tired from not sleeping well lately and I have a bit of a sinus headache, but this does not stop me from having to prepare for a meeting that's taking place tonight. A meeting that I really should have started preparing for earlier this week... a meeting that I should be preparing for at this very moment instead of writing this entry in my blog... Ah well, such is the way of things in the life of a procrastinator.