Beautiful Story

Last night, I read When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead.  This book was fantastic.  It's a children's story, and I picked it up because it won the Newberry, and I'm pretty much never disappointed in Newberry winners.  This book was no exception.  It was so engaging that I couldn't put it down, and it was so moving that I cried.  It's very rare for me to read a book that leaves me with the same feeling this one did.  It was utterly beautiful.  I finished it in four hours.

It's a story about a twelve year old girl named Miranda, who starts getting mysterious notes that predict her future, and tell her that the sender has come to save her friend as well as himself.  It's so great because it's a mix of the real hardship of hitting adolescence and having friendships grow, change and separate, and a little bit of the fantasy element of time travel.  I really enjoyed it and I wanted to write something down about it.

Other books that have moved me like this one:  A Density of Souls, The Secret Garden, Paper Towns.

School!

My mind is blown by the fact that there are only 2 more weeks left in my first semester at Rider. In 2 more weeks, I will be 1/3 of the way to my teacher certification. This is crazy and amazing!

I'm working on a lesson plan for one of my favorite children's books, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. I just think it's one of the cutest things because poor Alexander starts off rough and then lets everything get him down. Sooo cute. If you haven't, you definitely need to read this book.

Other work left is a 3-5 page reflection on teaching literacy and a 5-10 page observation paper, both in progress. All are due by next Tuesday - YIKES.

I guess the good news on that front is that I have the house to myself this weekend - my parents will be in Florida for a Confirmation, so it will be quiet in the house when I need to work.

Freewriting

So I have this problem where I think better in the middle of the night.  I convince myself every day that I will do my school work during the day and it will be fine and everything will be wonderful, but I simply don't get motivated to do it during the day.  I half-heartedly pick up all the stuff I need and then I am simply too uninterested to do anything about it.  Then, when I should be seriously thinking about sleeping, I find myself incredibly motivated to work on my school projects.  This doesn't happen all the time, but often enough that it's frustrating.

I'm hungry.  It's 2 AM and my tummy is grumbling at me, which is a little annoying.

I had to get my glasses fixed this week because I went to put them on one morning before leaving for work, and the one arm fell off.  Thankfully, it just needed a new screw, but how freaking annoying, right?

I think I need to go to bed now.  Good night!

Failure and Annoyance

So, I've pretty much failed at blogging every day this month, huh? Oh well.

Interesting news - it turns out that the supposed credit card fraud was actually Apple attempting to auto bill me for my Mobile Me account, which I discovered today because I got an e-mail from them to remind me about it. I find it incredibly humorous that almost a week after they tried to bill me is when they choose to send me the e-mail reminder. Seriously, they're so terrible at billing through their website for everything that's not iTunes. I will definitely go back to PC for my next computer. (They're also cheaper). When I got this computer, I was so frustrated with PCs because my computer had been through what felt like a billion power cords, and all of them were so damn heavy at the time. My mom's lappy is lighter than mine and has a bigger screen. So my next computer investment will definitely be a PC.

Anyway, I'm hoping I get called to work tomorrow... I need some money!

And now it's cold again

Early start tomorrow because I'm proctoring the ACT. It's decent money and probably some good experience for my resume.

I'm still lacking in the summer job front, and I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do about that. I didn't hear back from camp and I didn't hear back from Huntington. So really, I have no idea what to do. Perhaps it might be a good idea to go back to (ugh) customer service. At least I know I could get hired pretty easily and I wouldn't have to scrape by to make it through the summer.

I guess I'll have to see what happens.

My cousin Erin turned 19 today and we went out to dinner to celebrate! During this time, Erin decided she was going to start to keep a quote book of funny Kristen-isms, which started because I ordered Tuna and had no idea I needed to specify how I wanted it cooked, so I said "um, normal?" And then later, I told Sean that I would stab him with a straw, and when he asked how, I said "very carefully." I think most of them are funnier in context, and with my facial expressions, but nonetheless, they made her laugh.

Bit of stress

Very tired today. I don't know why because I slept so late. I think it's probably the stress from finding out that someone used my credit card today that wasn't me. Yea, that totally happened.

So, awesome. Fortunately, my credit card company caught it quickly, so I don't get stuck with it. Though it's definitely nerve wracking.

At any rate... that was my excitement for the day. Back to the schoolwork, I suppose.

(Also, I giggled today when I was flipping through the radio and came across Foreigner's Double Vision... oh ATHF jokes...)

Too hot to sleep

What a slow week I'm having. Blogging every day is HARD!

I'm reading Scarlett Fever by Maureen Johnson right now. So far it's awesome, and I think even better than Suite Scarlett (the first book). I needed to take a mental break from nothing but school work and read something fun. I'm glad I did.

Also, it's too hot for April.

Hooray!

So today marks the day when I've reached my "blog goal" for 2010 - this is my 16th blog of the year. I've now officially posted more blogs here than I ever had previously in all the years I've owned this blog. Not that this is a major achievement, but it's a goal I had that I met, so I'm excited.

Class was good today, even though the room was super hot. I'm so glad it's been nice this week because last week was such a bummer with all the cold and the rain. We went from light jacket weather, to winter coat and umbrella weather to no jacket weather all within the span of three weeks. What a weird year for weather, right?

I'm pretty excited because so far I've accomplished two pieces of the amigurumi elephant that I'm crocheting for my cousin. I thought it would be much harder than it is, but then again, I do have the nasty habit of overthinking things (also, I haven't gotten to the sewing it together part yet).

Okay, well, that's all for today. :)

Little bit.

My sleep schedule is so screwed up this week. I don't know how I got started on this path, but I've been up so late these past few nights and it's killing me.

I almost forgot to blog today... I'm terrible at blogging every day, apparently.

I found a cute crochet pattern for a stuffed elephant. I'm making one for my new cousin, since my mom, my aunt and her sister have the whole blanket thing wrapped up pretty tight. I thought about doing a hat, but I'd really like to give my cousin something that will grow with her.

So yea, that's what I'm doing.

Happy Easter/Sunday!

Today was a very nice, quiet Easter. It was a smaller family turnout than usual, but that's mostly because of my new cousin arriving yesterday. We went to the hospital to meet her, and she is precious!

So yea, that was my day. How was your Easter/Sunday?

Other than that, I've got nothing exciting going on today. I feel like this week of blogging is going to be boring as heck since there's no work this week.

A post that's (mostly) about yarn and crafting

Okay, so I've been unsuccessful at BEDA (Blog Every Day in April), but I'm going to try to do a Blog Every Day except the first two (I'm still considering it April 3 even though it's after midnight because I haven't gone to bed yet).

We had a family blessing today! My newest cousin, Kelleigh Anna was born this afternoon. I haven't met her yet, but the pictures are absolutely beautiful. I'll probably meet her tomorrow.

I've taught myself how to crochet this week (it's pretty easy), and so I've become obsessed with making crochet flowers. I'm thinking of making them into headbands and selling them on etsy. It's a good way to use up leftover yarn, and they're really cute. Plus the pattern I found says to feel free to sell them as long as you thank her for the pattern (which is here). They're easy to make plus it's a great way to use up leftover yarn from completed projects.

Anyway, I've got some reading to do for class. See you tomorrow!