Friday, May 30, 2008

Tag!

I liked this game so much as a child that I wanted to play it again.....

Rules First:
I need to answer 6 questions.I then tag 6 people and post their names here, then go to their blog and comment to tell them that they have been tagged and to visit here to find out the rules. I must then let the person who tagged me know when I have posted my answers.


1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
In May 1998 I was kind of at a crossroads in life. I had just earned my A.S. at Ricks College, and I decided to move to Provo, Utah.( I still do not know what posessed me to do that!) So, I was looking for a job in Provo and living with some pretty cool girls. I ended up getting a job where I was harrassed, so I drove home to Pennsylvania, just in time for my brother's wedding in June.

2. 5 Things on my to do list today
1. Sleep - I have just finished a graveyard shift and I am wiped out.
2. It is the 30th of the month, so I need to do my visiting teaching.
3. It is Friday and I have a date tonight: so I should shower and stuff.
4. I have a volunteer luncheon, because I volunteered at Wasatch Elementary.
5. I have a fight to pick with the treadmill - it likes to challenge me and I refuse to be defeated today! The pool is open, so it will be a treat afterwards to jump in!

3. Snacks I enjoy
Strawberries are fabulous - even better if they are dipped in chocolate
Pretzels - oh and they too are fantastic if they are dipped in chocolate
Mango sorbet: I have never tried this in chocolate


4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Pay an honest tithe, support a missionary or two, help build a temple....

Even if I am never a billionaire, I still want to be able to have as many kids in my home as possible. Especially foster kids. I have a huge desire to provide a loving home for as many as possible. I feel that this is more of a mission for me, and I am being prepared for this role now.

I want to have a fun family reunion/vacation. It would be a nice break for all of my brothers and sisters and parents, who normally do not take trips.

Invest the rest.

5. Three bad habits:
Not using a calendar to write appointments down, and overfilling my schedule.

Not saying no when I need to.

Procrastinating - everything - I put way to much off to the last minute.

6. Places I have lived (Chronological, qualifying if I was there for at least 2 months and had a mailing address):
Memphis, Tennessee
Quantico, Virginia
Drums, Pennsylvania
Etters, Pennsylvania
Rexburg, Idaho
Provo, Utah
Etters, Pennsylvania
Ogden, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah

7. 5 Jobs I have had:
Surveyor: I called people to take phone surveys.
Fast food
Janitor
Customer Service
Financial Aid Representative

8. Five things people don't know about me:
1. Me and my Dad published 3 books on cemetaries in Pennsylvania.
2. I tried for months to break a bone when I was 6 years old - and I still have not broken a single bone.
3. My middle name is Jean.
4. I have a birth mark on my right leg that I call my frog bite.

6. Those I would like to tag:
Suzie
Annie
Misty
Angie

I am a pincushion once more

I am a diabetic. For the past year I have been on a drug study. It was a new form of insulin that is inhaled with an inhaler. It was so easy to use and it allowed me to be shot free for a year. Well, the drug study has ended, and the product has been discontinued. This means that I am back to giving myself a shot of insulin everyday. I have to say that I have been very blessed with this study, it has covered my medication for the past year, and will cover all of my medication until the end of this year. I have been so Blessed!!!!!

The roomies



Melinda has been my roommate for the past five years. I consider her more like a sister than a roommate at this point, because she knows everything about me and still likes me. We have had some interesting experiences over the last few years:
Mud wrestling in emigration canyon
Roommates, roommates and more roommates. The good, the fun, the dumb, and of course the crazy ones.
Our day at the city dump.
Camping in the backyard.
Our day at bear lake.
The jobs....
The engagements - oh wait that was you!!!
The moves - how many places have we lived? At least we are out of the hood.
The men......
The dates....
I am so glad to have you as a roommate!

I love having roommates, which is good since I have had so many of them!!!

Sleepwatching

So, I work at a residential treatment center for teenage girls. I work graveyards, so in essence, I watch girls sleep. I could not imagine this for myself - I have wierd sleeping habits which include:
Dreams - I love my dreams. They include being able to be at anyplace anytime I want. Like, I had this dream that I went surfing in this bay, where the waves from the ocean cascaded against sandstone cliffs. I went surfing there - it was so beautiful. Then, I met this wonderful man who also liked to surf, and we repelled up the cliffs together.
I also get a good laugh at my dreams - especially the ones that have anything to do with marriage. Like the one where I found myself walking around temple square in a wedding dress, and I look down, and I am very pregnant. So, I went to the Disney store to give birth. ( I did not say that any of my dreams make sense!!!)

Noises: Okay, as many of you can attest, I make noises in my sleep. I laugh, cry, talk and even sing - like on a daily basis. I love it when I wake myself up because I was laughing in my sleep!

As you can probably see, I am a hit at any slumber party.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Mother's Day - A tribute (a little late)



Mother's Day was pretty cool this year because I was able to spend so much time with my mom. My mom and I have had a pretty rocky past - I was basically won by my Dad in the divorce, so since I was like 11 our relationship has been shaky. I have worked very hard to mend it though - and it has been pretty good for the last few years, which I am very grateful for. Here are some things I love about my mom:
1. This woman can sew. When I was little she made every dress I owned. In fact I love the story about our velvet dresses. Our ward had a give and take box, and she found a plus sized velvet dress. She saw it for its possibilities - so it became two dresses: one for me and one for my older sister. They were beautiful!
2. Her other talent is the ability to get lost in a paper sack. I know that she lives in Pennsylvania - it is easier to get lost. Mom has spent more time lost than anyone I have ever met.
3. Mom is very sentimental - and I love it. She was suggesting graduation gifts recently - at first I said money is fine, but she insisted on something tangible. Tires? I asked hopefully, but she finally decided on a set of Pearls. (Peggy means Pearl.) They are beautiful.
4. You have to give her credit for sticking with my Dad for so long. I mean I love my Dad, but he is hard to live with. He was a marine for 25 years, and has control issues because of it. He is well, frugal, to say the least.
5. She tries to meet all of her kids needs. My family is rather challenging - to say the least. She does try to help us all, so, when one sister needs a babysitter, or another needs a ride to the store - she is there.
Happy Mother's Day!!!!

Student Teaching

I am so excited! I will be doing my student teaching in the fall, and I found out today that I will be at Daybreak Elementary School. Now, I am a little apprehensive since that is like the other end of the salt lake valley for me. I just hope it is better than how it was it my dream last night - when I showed up in my underwear!

100% Real Peggy

So, I am totally having a hard time with being real. I think that our world, and especially here in Utah, we have become a society of fakers. Like if people actually had real problems - it would break the bubble that we live in. I have been thinking about this a lot lately... Like I know that I am fake at times, because I do not feel that a lot of social enviroments are condusive to realness. I have been having a really hard time with this at church - which I think is common. But what happens? No one really wants to share that much information in that enviroment and we all end up playing the fake game.

How do we resolve this? Can we really be that brutally honest? Or maybe not brutally honest - but at least take off the mask and say how we feel, what we are struggling with, etc....?

I guess then that it starts with me.... I have been struggling recently with depression. Actually, I think that I have always struggled with it, but never admitted it. So, I am on an antidepressent and working really hard with a therapist. I just have a lot of baggage to deal with..... which I have seen such amazing progress so far.

My other issue is marriage. I am 30 years old. I just feel like the years are going by so quick. I appreciate being single, except for the longing for family in the back of my mind. I guess when my parents split up, I found solace in the fact that even though my family was dissolve, I could have one in the future. The pain was still there though - but at least I had that hope. I was told the other day that I need to face the fact that I will probably never marry in this life. (ouch!) It just hurts to think of not ever being able to achieve your dream....

I just want to invite you all to be you...... be vulnerable...... be real.

I am giving up....

I am a LDS woman, who used to be a lds young woman. If you know anything about the youth in the church, you know that standards are a huge issue. I set standards for myself at a young age. This standard started at efy. My efy counselor was telling us how she was still a member of the VLC - virgin lip club. Okay, I was kind of sad because I was already past that point. So, I vowed that I would only be able to count the number of guys that I have kissed on one hand. A little wierd, I know. I had no idea then that I would still be single at 30.... Now I have found myself with the dilemna, because I have run out of fingers! So, I am officially renigging that standard. I am a two handed woman - and proud of it!

Sunday, May 18, 2008

The weather is finally warm......... let the adventures begin!!!



I love summer! Have I said this before? So, I am not going to waste it. I want like a roadtrip every weekend! Last year included one, a road trip from Salt Lake City to my hometown in Pennsylvania. Now, this was my 5th cross country trip, so I consider myself a pro. What have I learned from all of these trips?
1. Cell phones make the trip so much easier! I travelled with my roommate, we each drove a car, so I was alone. It helps to have someone to talk to.
2. Stop at the big stops. I always seem to choose the worst places to get gas. Usually it involves a back country road with no gas stations for miles! This time it included like the biggest prison in Indiana.
3. Even when you think gas prices are bad, they can always get worse.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Move over Martha......


I realized today how much I truly love to entertain, which is not easy to do in my tiny apartment. My roommate began to tell me that she was going to have a gentleman friend over for dinner - and it was like I heard nothing else - my interest was peaked. It soon lead to questions like, what dishes do you want to use? Should we use the brown placemats or the white? And, ooohhhh we can use the fancy glasses! I will admit that I was a wee bit out of control! I love it though! I have always loved it - even when I was five, I would try to make romantic candlelight dinners for my parents - which consisted of frank and beans. The candles came from our 72 hour kit - but I had a blast putting it together.

P.S> I did not take a picture tonight, so I chose one from Martha's website that closely resembled my ensemble...... Well, mine had some blue in it.....

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

The Heart of the matter

So, I work with teenagers. I love them. Sometimes the conversations we have are about things that are obvious to me, like why I do not do drugs, stuff like that. Then there are conversations where I just have to say aha! in midsentence.... I was saying that we need to look are people in a 3-D manner - meaning not just surface appearance - but who they really are. So, I have been pondering that ever since. How often do I truly look at people for who they are, not what they look like. Then, when I see their behavior do I really ask myself, why are they acting like that? It just reminded me to look a little deeper..... to truly see someone's heart......

Monday, May 12, 2008

Blooper!

So I have to post my most recent blooper. If you were driving on 2nd Avenue, ohh about 2:30 in the afternoon on Sunday May 11th you would have caught my most recent blooper. I do not even know what happened - I was just walking to my car and the next thing I know, my skirt is around my ankles. It was like one of those frozen in time moments - where you are so mortified that you are paralyzed. (It's like you are stuck thinking what do I do to fix this instead of just pulling up your skirt! ) So, I hope this image all gives you a good laugh!

Thursday, May 8, 2008

The Drasher Curse


I am referring to the pain of glasses - I started wearing them when I was three years old. They did not make frames small enough for my face - so I wore these big brown glasses. Okay - they were seriously hideous! After a while I learned that if I hid them, I would get a few hours off, until they were found again. Thats when I asked my friends to hide them. Until they were thrown into the creek behind my house.
Now, 27 years later, and I have perfect vision, because I wore glasses when I was young. I see the pain has passed on to the next generation - my 5 year old neice, Brianna. She at least has a better selection of frames to choose from now!

Mom's visit



I had a factastic time as a tourguide extraordinaire this last week. My mom came from Pennsylvania, and she has never been to Utah before. So, I was able to show her the sites! We visited the University of Utah. Then we headed to BYU for Women's conference. Temple square took a few days to see everything. It was neat for me to see some of these places again. We went to the Temple together - which we have never done before. It was all very fun!!!!