This is what MY President has done for me!!

On August 13th 1997, almost exactly 11 years ago, I signed up for the Army reserves so that I could receive money for college. I am not ashamed of this fact, though there are those in the military who give people like me the evil eye because to them, such a thing is dishonorable. Anyway, because of reasons that I do not desire to go into at this moment, I was not able to receive my GI bill money. I will go so far as to say that it is not all the fault of my superiors and the Army Beuroacracy; I should have better informed myself.

Fast forward to today... I've spent the past 3 years spending Steve's hard earned money on an education that should have been paid for by the military. I had not been planning on returning to school for a very long time for a few different reasons. One, Steve doesn't want to spend any more money on my schooling at the moment, Two, Steve needs to finish his education because it is our plan for him to be the breadwinner in our family, and Three, (which is the most important), we are working on trying to have some kids.

Well, Steve informed me this evening that President Bush, MY President, has signed the 'Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008'. This act will allow me to be able to go back to school without worrying how it's going to be paid for, and all because I was serving in the military after 9/11. This is soooooo exciting. If President Bush did anything for me while he was President of My country the past 8 years, it was the opportunity to finish my education (within the next 15 years of course).

:D Thanks President Bush!!

Kick My Butt!!!

Dude, so I got up at 5:30 this morning so I could attend the Masters Swimming Class at 6 at the gym. I tell you what... I am dang tired, and I didn't even do half of what the other swimmers did. The instructor (Christie) says I'm a pretty good swimmer for never having any lessons, so that makes me feel pretty good.

There were 4 other swimmers there this morning and they are FAST at a casual pace. It takes almost all of my effort just to keep up on the first lap. They were doing 4 laps while I was doing 2. But it's ok... if I keep at it, I should be able to hang with them eventually.

Christie taught me a training technique this morning too. I'm really excited to be able to get some actual swim training for the first time in my life.

Religious Blogs

Lately my friend Rachel and I have been thinking about starting blogs where we post about spiritual matters and share our testimonies. This is in answer to the counsel that was given to use the media to spread the gospel.

Another reason I've been feeling very strongly about this is that I've seen a few blogs that are posted by people who are members of the church with not so strong testimonies.

I know that I have a strong and powerful testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel. I've felt many promptings that this is something I need to do. So, be looking out for a new blog that I will be putting together soon.

Rachel has already started hers,
Visit her blog:

Why I Choose Mormonism

Get Fired Up!!

Last year, Sister Bond and Sister Steimle showed this video to me. It's way awesome! I think it is amazing that I live in one of the 3 cities that is implementing this program. I love seeing the billboards around town. It really inspires me. Seeing this video again makes me want to do more to spread the gospel to those that I know. I will post this on my sidebar so that it's in a permanant position.

Physical Exersion

I'm am not a HUGE fan of exercise, but I do like it. I have a hard time keeping a regular exercise routine Most of the time it's because I get bored and I'm not seeing the results that I want, so I quite for a while. Plus it's hard to stay motivated when you have no one to work out with. A few months back I decided I was ready to recommit myself to some kind of regular workout routine, so I joined Curves. Curves is ok, but using the recovery boards in between every machine has caused my Plantar Fasciitis (a condition I developed in Basic Training & AIT in 1998) to flare up. I don't usually run regularly because this will also cause it to flare up. Hiking, one of my favorite things to do with my husband, is another activity that causes issues with this.

About 5 weeks back, I decided to try Ultimate Frisbee as a fun exercise activity. My UF career didn't last long. The first night I turned my ankles about 9 times altogether. The next day my left ankle was swollen and the Plantar Fasciitis in my right foot was horrible. Since then, my ankle is still swollen and I've been having some strange issues with it. I went to see my chiropractor about it, but I'm thinking that I need to go see a sports medicine specialist.

I still want to work out. My most favorite thing to do is swim, but the only places that have pools cost more than I want to pay. Last week, Lisa Dorny gave me a coupon to Double Diamond Athletic Club. I had been considering going back to Gold's for about a week, but wasn't really all that excited about it because I didn't really enjoy the atmosphere from the first time I had a membership. I walked in to Double Diamond with the 14 day pass Lisa gave me, and walked out with a 18-month gym membership (waiving my $99 sign up fee in exchange for the 14 day pass). Since then, I've been swimming.

It's been great to be back in a pool again. Swimming is something I thoroughly enjoy. It's one of those things in my life that I've been naturally good at since I was a small child and I feel at home in the water. This morning when I took a break in between laps, the lady in the lane next to me said I was a good swimmer and invited me to the Masters swimming course at the gym on Mondays. Should be way cool!

Tupperware Party

I'm having a Tupperware Party for my birthday. It's at 5pm tomorrow (sat 19 july). Anyone is invited to attend. I only sent an invite to those I had an email for, so if you didn't get the Evite... consider this your invitation.

Private Caller

Recently, a few of my friends have been telling me that my number is popping up on their Caller ID as a Private Call. It's been really frustrating, because as far as I've been aware, I never asked nor programed my phone for any such thing. I detest Private Call calls myself, it drives me nuts!

I called Cingular today to find out what was going on. Come to find out, it was a setting in my phone. It should be taken care of now... I hope!

Birthday Party

So, I had been thinking the past few months about doing something really special for my birthday! But things have been so busy the past few weeks that I've completely forgoten to plan anything at all. Anybody interested in doing something maybe friday night after 7pm or Saturday during the day! Hmmm... anyone want to go hang out at Wild Island or Hang Out at the River Saturday afternoon??? I get done with the Downtown Market at 1pm.

If your wondering... my birthday is Sunday and I will be 28.

Post and make some other suggestions if you like!!

Early Morning Trip To Walmart

This morning I needed to pick up some groceries around 8 so that I could be on time for some things I was planning to do. I was really surprised to see that there was hardly no one in the parking and no one in the store. I was able to get my shopping done in less than 25 min (would have been sooner, but I was on the phone with my dad, so I kept wandering around isles I had already been down twice). Got right in line and had no wait whatsoever. I think that I'm going to make 8am on Mondays my shopping day... it was so hasslefree.

I was a little surprised to see that I picked up the Tillamook butter instead of the cheaper walmart butter... because I was on the phone, I didn't realize I had grabbed the wrong brand.

My Dirty Little Secret

Well, for those of you who know me REALLY well, it's not really a secret. But, some people are genuinely surprised when they find out that I am a very messy person. It's so bad that my mom even calls me PigPen... yep, that's right. I tend to leave a trail where ever I go. Lately I've had the influence of a good friend wear off on me. She's got me organizing, cleaning, and getting rid of things I don't really need. It's been so great. For months I've been wanting to do a cleaning schedule to assign certain days of the week where I clean a room. I finally sat down the other day and wrote out my House Cleaning Manifesto. It's way cool. It covers everything from how many hours a week I work on the yard, which days I clean which rooms, and even sets time aside for organizing different things in the house that need to be "gone through". I implemented my little manifesto schedule at the beginning of the week, and it's worked fabulously so far. My house is in pretty good order, my yard has no serious weeds taking over any more, and I still have had time to do lots of other things. It's nice to not have to take 5 hours to clean my house!

So, now my manifesto is truley a manifesto now that I've declared it publicly on my blog... awesome.

How Many Favorite Books Are You Allowed To Have?

This morning I finished reading The Secret Garden. I came across the copy I have a year ago when someone was giving away some things at church. I figured that since I loved the movie so much, I would love the book. Well, it is now one of my most favorites. It's a remarkable book, full of simple truths.

So, how many favorite books are you allowed to have? Who knows... for me, it's hard to choose just one as a MOST favorite. I'm that way with Best Friends too. I thought you might like to see the list of my most favorite books. They are in no paticular order other than the order of which they came into my mind. I highly recommend all of these books. If you want to read a book but can't find it because you don't know the author, I will gladly tell you who wrote it.

Pride & Prejudice
The Never-Ending Story
The Secret Garden
Enders Game
Enchantment
The Giver
Howls Moving Castle
Mosaic
Added Upon
Peter Pan


FAVORITE SERIES
Harry Potter
Books of Pellinor
Twilight
Women of Genisis

Pinky Sworn To Secrecy

So, last week I started setting up a booth for my storybooking consultant business at two different farmers markets. One here in Reno and one down in Carson City.

In Carson, I am set up right next to this awesome Sister by the name of Alysa. She sells lots of incredible home made baked goods that everyone stops and gwakes at before buying because they are so enticing. I'm feel pretty lucky to be set up righ tnext to someone who is busy pretty much the whole time.

I've only tried a few of her treats, but so far my favorite are her homemade Oreo Cookies! Today she was telling people that this was her last summer doing a booth at the market, and so my mind went into concern mode trying to figure out how I was going to get these fabulous oreo cookies that I had gotten attached to only a week ago. I was able to ask Alysa more about her treats and dared to ask if I could get the Oreo recipe from her. At first she was reluctant... but she started writing it down. She made me swear that I would never tell anyone. So, I pinky swore that I would never ever give or tell anyone the secret.

The funniest thing about all this is that I was just talking to my friend Julie last night about how we both feel it's so silly and there is no point to keeping a recipe secret. If it's that great it should be shared!! Right?!

Well... I now have a secret cookie recipe, that I will be taking to my grave! But they're soooooooo good.

Birthday Month

So... my birthday is in 19 days. Usually I'm really excited about birthdays.... and I am still excited about this one, but...

I am actually starting to feel old. It's sort of weird. Oh, sure, I agree with you, 28 is not really old at all. But I feel like I am getting to that point where things just seem different. I can't really explain it very well. I was talking with a friend of mine about this yesterday.

Oh well... getting old isn't bad, right?

Whose up for a party?