Well scratch the part about not posting. My roommate somehow managed to slice her arm on our bed post while i was gone; it looks nasty, sad. I am waiting for Pandora to upload....So it's spitting/sprinkling windy and my face had nice little splashes on it and my hair got quite wet. I'm super sleepy and this weather isn't helping much. Oh well. Half a class and one class canceled! Ballet Journal about to be written and Christmas music on, now if only I could wake up.

To get in the spirit of things...

Nuttin' For Christmas by S. Tepper and R. Bennett 1955

I broke my bat on Johnny's head;
Somebody snitched on me.
I hid a frog in sister's bed;
Somebody snitched on me.
I spilled some ink on Mommy's rug;
I made Tommy eat a bug;
Bought some gum with a penny slug;
Somebody snitched on me.

Oh, I'm gettin' nuttin' for Christmas
Mommy and Daddy are mad.
I'm getting nuttin' for Christmas
'Cause I ain't been nuttin' but bad.

I put a tack on teacher's chair
Somebody snitched on me.
I tied a knot in Susie's hair
Somebody snitched on me.
I did a dance on Mommy's plants
Climbed a tree and tore my pants
Filled the sugar bowl with ants
Somebody snitched on me.

So, I'm gettin' nuttin' for Christmas
Mommy and Daddy are mad.
I'm gettin' nuttin' for Christmas
'Cause I ain't been nuttin' but bad.

I won't be seeing Santa Claus;
Somebody snitched on me.
He won't come visit me because
Somebody snitched on me.
Next year I'll be going straight;
Next year I'll be good, just wait
I'd start now, but it's too late;
Somebody snitched on me.

So you better be good whatever you do
'Cause if you're bad, I'm warning you,
You'll get nuttin' for Christmas.

Weekend!

Well I am back at Belhaven for two weeks. Feeling slightly intimidated with all that will happen in these two weeks but there will also be a lot of fun events here within these two weeks. Dance evaluations on Monday and Tuesday which is always interesting, hopefully I'll remember all the combinations, I'll just do my best. In the meantime the rest of break was awesome and it was hard to leave. After all, there's no place like home! Last night we had a fire and watched some more movies. The weekend was completed with the 8ish hour drive back to MS. Which, I might add, we saw deer, cows, corn (I think), a safari car driven by a man with a beard (the two didn't quite fit), rainbow, gorgeous sunset, and a lady doing her make-up in the car. We also received numerous travel mercies as there must've been at least four accidents on the way back here. Well, I have lots to do tonight but have been distracted by seeing everyone once again. The blessing of a small school is that I get to catch up with everyone instead of unpack :) oh and I got an amazing dinner with my friend Annie! Since I may not post in a while, here's a few pics from Saturday...note the black eye I gave myself with my hair. Oh and we did do a little black Friday shopping and did get some good deals. One of the salesman was funny, I'll have to tell you about that conversation after Christmas. And please, no questions....its Christmas time!

Happy Thanksgiving! First of all I am so blessed and thankful for so many things...salvation, family, job, school, friends, breath, life, food, shelter, and the list goes on. I have also had such a wonderful day. Started with Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and Santa. Then we made our yummy mashed potatoes from French's recipe...the first recipe we tried was wrong but then we figured it out and it turned out great! Went over to our neighbors and Thanksgiving dinner and played Uno. Ok our neighbors are so great...we have known them for 19-21 years and each new year is exciting. Our first round of uno we played the version where if you don't have a card you draw until you get one, the game lasted a good 30 minutes to an hour I think. Then we played where you can play cards with the same number at any time, even if it isn't your turn. Boy did we have fun with that. Daddy was playing in such a way that we all fell apart laughing. I'm so thankful and happy to say I laughed until I cried! Some good conversation to catch up and a picture to finish off the afternoon. Ran to Bi-lo which I'm happy to say was closed and had to find dad some tea at CVS. To the cashier who helped me, I'm glad I was able to get my dad tea and am sorry you had to work on this day, I hope that the other customers and myself somehow brought some sunshine to your day. The night is coming to a close with leftover mashed potatoes and apple pie by dad and em! MMmmmm, doesn't get much better than that. Oh and did I mention we are about to watch While You Were Sleeping?

13 hours later.....
Speech went well. Late night talks with momma, great breakfast {mom was giving me tips on how to cook ;)}, watching the Bear be as spoiled as ever and back at home. Let me just say there's no place like home. Dad will be home today, mmm apple pies are on the way! Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade tomorrow!

Trying to finish up some last minute school work before Thanksgiving Break -Woohoo- I was reading some good thoughts from Alfred Lord Tennyson's In Memoriam A. H. H....

"Forgive these wild and wandering cries,
Confusions of a wasted youth;
Forgive them where they fail in truth,
And in thy wisdom make me wise."

"That nothing walks with aimless feet;
That not one life shall be destroyed,
Or cast as rubbish to the void,
When God hath made the pile complete;"

"I falter where I firmly trod,
And falling with my weight of cares
Upon the great world's altar-stairs
That slope through darkness up to God,

I stretch lame hands of faith, and grope,
And gather dust and chaff, and call
To what I feel is Lord of all,
And faintly trust the larger hope."

Almost break!!

I am now officially nervous about giving my last speech. It's persuasive and our professor emailed us, maybe because he really wants us to do well, but it kind of intimidated me because he says this one is worth extra and if we do really well and improve, we get extra credit. I don't know if mine is persuasive enough, but we'll see what happens.

can't beat a Disney movie from the 90's, can you guess which one..."A party? Ooh, I could teach you the latest dance step. It starts with, like, a "whoa." And then you get really crazy with the hips, sir. It's fun!"/"It's a perfect ending. No it's a perfect beginning."


so we had a sleepover last night! Woohoo! Our neighbors put together their beds so it was like a ginormous bed, needless to say we found our new movie room! Before that I watched Pride and Prejudice and it just makes me laugh. I love how in that movie and in Anastasia the boys get so tongue twisted, are girls really that intimidating? I guess that's a good thing :). Anyway Our sleepover was complete with Disney movie, Popcorn and chocolate, and concluded with "Say Yes to the Dress," we are such girls :) Good times!

Love these pieces! And I like how they are using technology in dance now a days!

So this week I had to read the Death of Ivan Ilyich by the reknowned Leo Tolstoy. It is actually quite sad and depressing but there are some truisms (if you're like my Bible teacher, a truism is something that you can take away as true) or instances people often find themselves in/feelings they experience. This kind of ended up being a challenge for me that I thought I'd share: live your life to the fullest, you only have one to live, John 10:10. It's also just good writing, some great imagery.

"The doctor summed up just as brilliantly, looking over his spectacles triumphantly and even gaily at the accused. From the doctor's summing up Ivan Ilyich concluded that things were bad, but that for the doctor, and perhaps for everybody else, it was a matter of indifference, though for him it was bad. And this conclusion struck him painfully, arousing in him a great feeling of pity for himself and of bitterness towards the doctor's indifference to a matter of such importance."

"He comes in fresh, hearty, plump, and cheerful, whit that look on his face that seems to say: 'There now, you're in a panic about something, but we'll arrange it all for you directly!' The doctor knows this expression is out of place here, but he has put on a frock-coat in the morning to pay a round of calls." careful to genuinely care

"And the longer it lasted the more deadly it became. 'It is as if I had been going downhill while I imagined I was going up. And that is really what it was. I was going up in public opinion, but to the same extent life was ebbing away from me. And now it is all done and there is only death.' " learn from mistakes and regrets, time flies

"In them he saw himself-all that for which he had lived-and saw clearly that it was not real at all, but a terrible and huge deception which had hidden both life and death." Don't lie to yourself.

"What had happened to him was like the sensation one sometimes experiences in a railway carriage when one thinks one is going backwards while one is really going forwards and suddenly becomes aware of the real direction." I like the imagery on that one :)

"...knowing that He whose understanding mattered would understand." will stand before God one day

" 'So that's what it is!' he suddenly exclaimed aloud. 'What joy!' To him all this happened in a single instant, and the meaning of that instand did not change."

Excerpts taken from The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy

What happens when...

What happens when two girls go to Wal-mart with lists? Well if you are me and my friend who can't make decisions and occasionally get distracted you end up making a little trip turn into two hours. Actually we probably only shopped for an hour and we did have to shop for three people. We figured with Rush hour traffic, a few back tracks, a cashier who was nice and friendly, and our combined efforts that took up a majority of the time oh and the stop by the shoes and $5 movies, I mean its worth a shot, we really only shopped for maybe a half hour? What can I say, it was memorable I think that was one of the longest Wal-mart runs I've had but it was worth it. We finished up the night with taco surprise, brownies and Jonah, which I had never seen and let me just say that is an awesome movie! Good night!

The Good Word of the Lord...

This is what the Lord says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not tho harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, " declares the Lord, 'and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the lord, "and I will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile."
-Jeremiah 29:10-14

things you forget

So I was thinking about the foods you forget you love like cheetohs and oreos. MMmmm oreos and milk-delicious! After a rough night at work...Kim had story time and we ate mini m & m's and oreos, it was great and i love kid's books. "'You look like a real prince, but you are a bum.' They didn't get married after all."-The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch

I also learned today that holding the plank position for a short period of time, repeatedly, really works your arm muscles. Maybe I'll get buff, nah I don't think it'll happen. Hehe enjoy your week it's almost Turkey Day!

So today it's sunny and 75, just gorgeous and kind of cracks me up because it's November but that's the South for ya I suppose. So I was waiting for a class to let out and it's always fun to people watch....i caught part of a conversation in passing and it just made me smile-baseball players were walking by and the one was saying something about how the guy on spider man, it's not Peter Parker. not quite sure how that came up or what they were talking about but he was very into it and i have to say it was awesome. I was taking a test and one of the questions was "Do boys or girls laugh more when they are reacting to fear?" and all I could think about was "I laugh in the face of danger ha haha ha!" needless to say I put boys, i hope that's right, thanks Disney! I also find it kind of funny that there is actually i thing called fatigue of inteligencia and basically your brain is tired from thinking and that love is the only learned emotion. Oh, fyi, we also learned that there is a difference between being brave and stupid just in case you were wondering.

Doing some last minute studying trying to figure out what i need to know about games, sports, and universal games when i came across a section that was called Families in Transition. This makes me sad.

Have you ever felt like you could solve all the problems of the world, but you know you can't and you are just clinging to the fact that God can, will, and has your best interest at heart? Lately I have just been hurting for my friends and the difficult times they are going through.

In other news, fun stories from my child development class....

The SG SG group which no one ever knew what it stood for, it was topic secret ya know. Well what it really stood for was the sixth grade silly group and when Miss Quinn got a letter from her student who became an FBI agent he signed it as a member of the SG SG group :)

"If you have one good friend, you won't need a psychologist."

"I don't know why you would want a snake for a pet, they don't show you love and they don't make any cool noises like a bird."-Miss Quinn

"A little girl's dad had been arrested or something like that and the next day the kids handled it so well that no one said anything or ever gave her a hard time. I was just so proud of them and then she learned from a mom that two of her students had gathered all the other kids up that morning and said if you say anything about her dad, I'll beat you up! And i was glad because they wanted to defend her and there was still some chivalry in the world....those two boys went into law enforcement."

When trying to figure out a sociogram, it may be askew. Like the time when the little boy who was asked who he would go get ice cream with answered Johnny because he doesn't eat much.

To the adopted child-"You grew in my heart, not under it"

A mom took her Chinese daughter to a circus with little Chinese kids performing and when the little girl saw them she said, "Why do these kids have on my face?"

Hope you enjoyed the stories Miss Quinn has been sharing with us in Child Development. Life is an adventure. Enjoy it, live it!