Here we go again....

Oh. My. Word. I am so frustrated right now.

So, I'm leaving school at 11 and I called Julie to see if I can come say hi to Adam. She says sure, so I head to my car. Well, I get there and my key won't turn in the lock. Ok...it's frozen, I'll just figure out how to unfreeze it. I called Heather after trying for about 10 minutes, because I needed to talk to someone a little more calm than me. She recommended that I call the car place (groan), so I did. Here's the advice he gave me for fixing a frozen lock...pour hot water on it (I'm at school, no hot water here), use a blowdryer (again, I'm at school!), pour silicon in it (I would if I could get to the windshield de-icer that is IN MY LOCKED CAR!!!), or use a lighter to heat the key and stick it in the lock. So I headed in search of a person with a lighter. Julie called again to say that she had to run out for a minute, and to double check what time I'd be coming. I told her my situation and she said she'd call back in a while to see if I got it fixed.

By this time I'm freezing, and really upset. I went into the school to buy a cappicuino, thinking it was as close to hot water as I'm going to get. Then I realized it would be kind of stupid to pour something potentially sticky into my car locks. Duh. So I stuck my key in the burning hot drink, let it warm up, and then tried it in the lock. No luck. But the drink did warm me up. When I had got up to my car, I noticed a blazer sitting beside me and the driver still in it. He got out and I asked him if he had any de-icer or a lighter. He had a lighter so we tried it three times. I was ready to give up. He started to walk away, but came back and gave me his lighter so I could keep trying.

Julie called again. She offered to come out and help me out, and buy some lock de-icer on the way. Both my parents were at work, and so of course I took her up on the offer. I went inside the school to stay warm. My feet were so cold, I couldn't feel them. Well, after trying at 5 stores to buy de-icer (hello? we live in Michigan!!!), Julie came. We tried the de-icer, but nothing worked. So I ended up going home with her. This was one of the two highlights of the day. I had a good afternoon with her and the kids.

At 3:30, my dad got out of work and came to get me from Julie's. He said he didn't think my lock was frozen, because the de-icer would have fixed it. But we went back downtown anyway. Of course, the lock didn't work. The second highlight of the day was that when I got out of my dad's car, I found $16 laying on the ground outside my door (there were no other cars near where we had parked). The driver's side lock hasn't worked since I bought the car, so I never bothered to try it. We tried multiple times. Then we tried kicking my back seat down from inside the trunk. This would have worked, except for that when the exchange students were here this summer, something happened and my seat hasn't gone down since then. By the way, lying in a trunk is a really creepy feeling!!! I couldn't kick it down, and my dad tried and he couldn't. So then he tried kicking the door lock area, maybe something would jiggle loose. No luck. Nothing we could do, so my car is still sitting in the parking garage at school.

Tomorrow, I'm going to have to call a locksmith and take the bus to meet him at the garage. Hopefully this will work. Dad said that it might be a problem with the electric stuff in my car, and that we should just try to sell it. I should probably relinquish my attachment to "the green ghost", but I really like this car because it's got everything I wanted, and it's going to be hard to find something "worthy" to replace it. Plus, I just put $872.40 into fixing it!!!!!!!!

Please pray!

Please keep the Guatemala team in your prayers. I'm babysitting the Janssen kids, and I stayed here all night because the roads were too bad around Lansing that the team had to stay there overnight. They should be on the road now, please pray for safe travel.
Also, the Haiti team is supposed to leave today, I don't know if they were able to do to the weather, but continue to pray for them. Thanks!

******12:04pm. I talked with Michelle earlier (I'm home now, so are they) and the Haiti team was able to leave. There was some problems with their flight, but they got to Chicago. Pray they make the connection in Miami!

Meme and give-away!

I have seen this meme on multiple sites, and because I don't really have more to blog about today, I thought I'd do it! :)

I am to list 6 Non-important things/habits/quirks about me!
These are the rules:
(1) Link to the person that tagged you.
(2) Post the rules on your blog.
(3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
(4) Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
(5) Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
Here's my six things:
* Sometimes I forget that I'm wearing contacts and I don't take them out until I get into bed and realize that I can read my alarm clock!
* I love to write, but I don't like being told to write about a certain thing. I'd much rather write about what I want to
* I love fruits, but I'm not a fan of vegetables (ask Jennifer, her daughter eats mine for me!), but I like to eat healthy and low fat as much as possible (however, I have a strong sweet tooth!)
* I love to run, but I only do it if I have a partner to motivate me
* I rarely get mad, and I don't hold grudges. If I do get mad, I usually forget what I was mad about after 5 minutes!
* I sing on the praise team at my church. I'm singing all the time and if I can't be singing right then, I can guarantee I have a song running through my head.

I'm not going to tag anyone, but if want something to blog about and feel like sharing random information about yourself, go for it! :)

Also, the girls over at Two Sisters Blog are having a fun giveaway for Valentine's Day. Go check it out!!!

Martyr Monday

Today is the first day of Martyr Monday's. I bought a new book after Christmas called Extreme Devotion, it's a "production" of a non profit and interdenominational organization called The Voice of the Martyrs. Each day has a story about a martyr, along with a Bible verse, and a short explanation or something to think about. I've really been touched by the stories, and I thought I would share them with you each Monday.

EXTREME WILLINGNESS

Philippines: A Young Girl

"My dress," the young girl murmered, her words slurred through swollen lips. "Please give me my dress. I want to hold it."

The Christians surrounding the girl's bed were sad. Because of her extensive internal injuries, doctors could do nothing for her. Weeks ago, the believers had bought her a white dress to celebrate her new life and pure heart in Christ Jesus.

Her father had not been pleased with his daughter's decision to follow Christ. One night, in a drunken rage, he attacked his daughter, beating and kicking her. He left her lying in the muddy street to die.

When she did not show up for church, her Christian friends went looking for her. They found the girl unconscious, lying in a heap, her formerly snow white dress now covered in blood and mud. She was brought to a doctor, but her injuries were severe.

Now she was asking for her dress.

"The dress is ruined," her friends told her. They tried to talk her out of it, thinking that seeing the ruined dress would break down the girl's spirit.

With the simple faith of a ten-year-old, she whispered, "Please, I want to show the dress to Jesus. He was willing to bleed for me. I just want Jesus to know that I was willing to bleed for Him."

Shortly afterwards, the young girl died.

For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose. Philippians 2:13

God is not interested in our ability. We may be talented. Resourceful. Wealthy. Professional, popular, and punctual. Offering our various abilities in God's service, however, is nothing like offering our availability. Our availibilities are about ourselves - we can see ourselves doing this or that for God. In contrast, our availability is about God alone - we can only imagine how God will use us in his service. Being available to God means being willing to obey no matter what the cost. God wants our willingness to serce him regardless of our specific abilities. How do we become so willing? That, too, is God's gift. He gives us the "want to" - the will or desire to be available to him.

(White, Tom, comp. "Extreme Willingness." Extreme Devotion. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2001. 33.)

New Favorite Store

Yesterday, I went shopping with my mom. Really, I only needed to go to Walmart (I ran out of all my hairstuff at once!) and Walgreens (Carmex for 0.99!!!!), but I figured I might as well go with her. We decided that since we were out that way, we'd go to Horrock's. We had gotten their flyer in the Sunday paper and they had fruit on for really good prices, so I said that we should go buy some fruit. Anyway, this store has everything! It's a greenhouse in the front, then in the back is the store area, and on the side is a bunch of gardening stuff. Anyway, we bought a bunch of fruit...mangoes, oranges, pears, lemons, limes! I had a new recipe that I wanted to try out for supper, so I picked out a few things for that too. They had aisles with Asian, Dutch, Italian, French etc. food. Spices. Meat. Drinks (peach nectar!). Vegetables. Milk. Eggs. Candy (peach licorice!). Whatever cooking ingredient you would want, they had! A chef's dream store! So anyway, I really really like that store, and the prices are really good!

Well, then when we got home, I went to make supper. I was going to make a recipe that I had seen in the Kraft Food and Family, Beef Noodle Bowl. Anyway, I realized that we hadn't bought broccoli and I had bought peppers. Plus we didn't have sesame dressing, so I just made my own version. Here's what I did.

Boil linguine noodles.
Cut up:
Beef Sirloin Steak
Carrots
Green Peppers
Red Peppers
Baby Corns
Toss those into a frying pan with olive oil in it and cook until meat is cooked thru and veggies are crispy. Add in dressing (I used Asian Red Sweet Chili Sauce and Teriyaki). Let it marinate for a few minutes. Stir in noodles and heat all together. Cut a lime in half and squeeze the juice of one half over the noodle bowl. This "secret ingredient" added a kick to the flavor and it was delicious!
Oh no! I'm so disappointed! I just went to add on the pictures and the one I took of the Beef Noodle Bowl is gone!!! :( I wish I had it to show you, because it looked so good. If you want to see kind of what it looked like, click on the link above...



I bought a bunch of "leafy greens" and added tomatoes and Italian dressing for a salad.










Chocolate pudding and a European cookie for dessert

Thank you Julie!

Julie gave me this award. Thanks Julie!!!









I'd like to pass it on to some people who I think are loveable and have loveable blogs!
Jennifer
Cheryl
Tori

I don't like self portraits...

...but upon request, here is a picture of my new hair cut (see yesterday's post) :)

Getting shorter...

I got my hair cut again yesterday. About 2 more inches off this time. If I keep up at this rate, I'll be looking like Zack pretty soon! ;)

A New You/Me

Even though I don't appreciate my mom's words :) I'm still going to take them to heart so that I can be healthier. As I mentioned in that post, you all are welcome to join me on this quest to a healthier lifestyle. I'm not going to do anything huge, no big health club or anything, but I have started a little side bar to track my progress, right now I'm calling it "A New You/Me", but I'm open to any suggestions! I might post something here sometimes, but not every day as that starts to get old, and who wants to hear about how far I ran? :)

So anyway, I think I did pretty good today. I don't remember eating any candy...I still have to get rid of all that candy I have though. My main downfall was that I had icecream for dessert. However, that was probably the most unhealthy thing I ate today! I called my mom on the way home from coaching SO today to see if she had bought any icecream, because I knew it is on sale for $2/half gallon at our local grocery store. And I figured if she hadn't, I'd stop and pick up some low-fat icecream. Well, she had. So I went home and ate supper. For dessert, she pulled out 2 kinds of icecream. Mine and my dad's, and hers. She bought one of my favorites, Moose Tracks, and for her Butter Pecan. But her's was half the fat and a third the calories of normal stuff! I asked why she didn't buy the light stuff for me too, and she said she thought I'd get mad if she did! Uh, hello? Aren't you contradicting yourself a bit? So I think I'll go tomorrow and get some light icecream. :)

I have done well with exercising these past couple days too. I've been using my dance game every day. Today for half an hour. Then because my mom cleared off the exercise equipment yesterday, I decided to run for awhile. So I spent 20 minutes on the treadmill (walk 5, run 10, walk 5). But because it's in the basement, it hurt my lungs too much, so I'm going to have to find a way to fix that. I have found that I really do like to run, it's just a matter of actually doing it. One thing that I've found helps me is to have some music,it's so much easier to run when there's a good beat, but sometimes I find myself trying to dance while running!!! Here's a sample of some of the (random) songs on my playlist....
Do You Want To Move With Me?
Chihuahua
Obsession
Dragostea Din Tei
Como Loco Por Ti
Love

Time for a name change?

Here's something fun I found from Mari's site. I thought I'd give it a try and see what kind of names I could come up with if I ever want to change my name! :)


1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car)
Rudy Sunfire

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)
Cookie Dough Sugar

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)
Mmay

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal)
Blue Tiger

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, hospital where you were born)
Jane Lincoln

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)
May Me

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)
The Green Sokata

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)
Jesse Ray

9.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names )
Frances Geraldine Franklin

10. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter)
Hastings Houston

11. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower)
Summer Daisy

12. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)
Pineapple Jeansie

13. HIPPIE NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree)
Toast Tulip

14. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”)
The Singing Sunshine Tour

I'm not going to tag anyone, but if you've got some time and want to have a few laughs, go ahead and try this one out...

I have deleted the list of "Linky Love" links that I had previously posted. I had not checked them out, and I was informed that some of the sites were inappropriate. I apologize for not checking first. I guess this serves as a good reminder to all of us to double check things before you post them!

Early morning adventure

With the way today started, I have decided that it can only get better!
Heather met me at my house this morning so we can carpool to school because we have classes at the same time. The road conditions were not favorable, but they weren't as bad as yesterday either. So we're driving along and all of a sudden, we hit a patch of ice as I was stopping for a red light. I immediately corrected the wheel so that we wouldn't hit anyone and I was able to keep the car going straight. Suddenly I couldn't steer the car anymore and all the lights on my dashboard came on. I was going to get in the turn lane so that I could pull off into a church parking lot, but when the steering wheel locked up, this was impossible. I managed to get back into the left hand lane without blocking the other lanes. The light turned green and I tried to go, but I couldn't! I tried to restart the car, but the key would not move from the running position. I didn't know what to do, so I did the only logical thing. I cried :( (Can you tell that I don't do well with these type of situations?)Heather, being of sound mind, immediately called my mom and told her that we were sitting at an intersection and we couldn't move anywhere. My mom said she'd call for a tow truck and she'd be there as fast as she could. By now it was freezing in the car because the heat stopped. Nothing worked except my lights and four way blinkers. I was very upset because the last thing I need is something else to go wrong with my car. 15 minutes later, my mom pulled up. Those were 15 very tense minutes we kept on thinking that cars were going to hit us because they got up so close behind us before switching lanes. So when mom arrived she kept on asking what we wanted to do. Well, what was there to do? My car won't move anywhere!!!! The car place didn't open until 7:30, so I had to wait and call them. While I was on the phone with them, mom called 911 so that the police could come and direct traffic, seeing as our position was somewhat dangerous! As I was talking to the car guy and telling him what was going on, our "angel" appeared. From out of nowhere she pulled up behind us in a SUV with police lights on it. I guess she talked to my mom and found out our problem. She came up to my door and informed me that we had to move the car, because we were blocking traffic and it was dangerous. So I put the car in neutral so we could try to push it, and I tried to turn the wheel. (I was still on the phone with the car guy but I'd given the phone to Heather to finish the conversation while I talked to this lady.) So I tried to turn the key and viola! my car started!!! This nice lady stopped traffic for us, so I could move the car to a side road. The car guy told Heather to have me drive it around the block, then turn it off and see if it would start again. I did, and it worked. Apparently what happened was: when I corrected the wheel on the patch of ice, it hit a patch of cement, which caused it to stall out. Then, because my tires were turned, they ignition would not let the key turn. (Note to everyone: apparently this is normal, so if you ever have this problem, just straighten your wheels and you should be all set!) So after calling the car guy back, and telling him that we were fine and the car worked, we continued on to school. We both ended up missing our first class because we would have had to walk in halfway thru and who wants to do that?

Snow day!!!!!!

7:21. My alarm goes off. I hit the snooze button. 7:30. It goes off again, this time I get it. Sounds kind of quiet around here. So I got ready and went downstairs for breakfast. My mom was still home, she should have been at work by then. I turned on the TV. Obviously, GRCC was not cancelled. They never cancel. I cut a slice of coffee cake, then my mom suggested that I check the online site to double check and see if school is cancelled. Go upstairs, log on, click on faculty absences, scroll down. Yay!!! My teacher's name was on the list! I only have one class on Tuesdays, so I didn't have to venture out in this yucky weather. Go back downstairs, eat a leisurely breakfast. Then I realized if I did my homework in the morning, I wouldn't have to do it after work. Brilliant. So I did my homework. Then I installed Dance Praise on my computer. I highly recommend this game. It's like Dance Dance Revolution, except that it's on your computer, but it is all Christian songs. So rather than dancing to "Hips Don't Lie", I can dance to songs by Hawk Nelson, Audio Adrenaline, Newsboys, or David Crowder Band! Amazing! It's fun, and it's great exercise. Anyway, enough of my advertisment for the game. So I installed it, but the dance pad wouldn't work. Nice. I emailed the company to see if they had any suggestions. Watched Rachel Ray. Who'd have thunk....today, her show was about weight loss. :) They tried 3 products in their human lab. Only one of them worked, what I found interesting was that this one was a motivational picture, seeing yourself after you've lost the weight. Apparently that motivated the person to go out and lose the weight. But nothing else worked...just diet and exercise. :) Then I had to go to work. I got out an hour early, which was very nice! I checked my email and found out that when they made Vista, they forgot to include certain drivers that allow you to play certain games. So the company sent me a link where I could download the drivers, plus it gave me two new songs!! Sweet!!! Well, I got it all hooked up. Balanced my bank account, checked email, blah blah blah. Then I finally did some exercise! I had forgotten how much I love this game! I was out of breath after doing a few songs. My enthusiam was short-lived however, when in the middle of a song, I realized that I have a quiz tomorrow that I'm allowed to bring in a note sheet for, and I hadn't even thought about it until then!!! Ahhhhh!!!! Quick take a shower and de-sweat myself. Then, start on that stinkin' paper. I finished, in time, I thought, to watch American Idol, but no, it was only on for an hour tonight, so I missed it. Oh well, maybe I'll go to bed early. Anyway, I think I got a lot done today...homework-wise that is....ahhh, the life of a college student!!! :)

The breaking point

So today, I wore a black sweater with a long pink striped tank top underneath. My mom asked me if I thought it looked good. Yeah, I said, this is pretty much what's in style right now. So I go to the fridge and bend down to get some chocolate frosting to put on graham crackers. Suddenly... Are you getting love handles? NO!!! What? Hold up...wait a minute! I bend down to get something and you ask me if I getting fat around the hips? Woah!!! Thanks a lot! Of course my excuse was I belted my pants too tight (and my tank top was a little tighter than how I usually wear them, which of course shows off more...) So I take my two graham crackers and retreat to my room to drown myself in misery (kidding!) I take a look in the mirror. What is that? That extra weight wasn't there last I noticed! AHHHHHH!!

So I decided that

this has to go. Now let me explain. After Halloween, I ended up with some left over candy from church. Then after Christmas, I bought some of that assorted candy when it was 50% off. Plus there's some chocolate bars from Romania.... The pile has just grown. But the problem is, now, the shoebox of junk food is under my desk. Where I spend most of my waking hours on my computer. At my desk.

Well, I have realized lately that I have hit my point of weighing the most that I ever have. I know weight doesn't really matter, because muscle weighs more than fat, and I will say that I have very muscular legs. (And this is not a post about being fat, or overweight!) I have allowed myself to get out of shape since track season. Obviously, this wasn't a conscious thing. Hmmm...let's see how little exercise I can do, and how much weight I can gain... Not at all, things just happened. During the time period from late February to the end of May, I was running every day, lifting weights, and throwing discus and shotput. And, I loved every minute of it. However, I don't have the time. Which creates my dilemma of being out of shape and apparently having love handles!!! (Screaming in terror of the thought and sight!) Which means that I have to do something about it.<

So here is my proposal. I would dare say that the majority of my fellow bloggers have made it a "New Years Resolution" (who keeps those anyway?) to either lose some extra weight or just get into better shape. My best motivator is currently in Spain, meaning that I have lost my exercise buddy. So my first proposal is this: If you live in A-town and would like someone to work out with, please let me know. I know that a gym membership is expensive, but the roads are free. And they're open 24/7 to run on. I don't really have weights to use (though carrying a 50lb backpack is quite the workout!), but we can get creative. So if anyone is like me, and needs to have a partner in order to get (and stay) motivated, please let me know! Second: I find that if I am accountable to someone (or multiple someones) I have a better chance of success. So anyone who would care to join me in this endeavor is welcome to. I will try to post once a week or so about my progress, how I'm doing as far as healthy eating, and keeping up an exercise routine. I hope that others will join me, and maybe we can all motivate eachother. Hmmm...we should come up with a name for ourselves....

But okay, now that I've rambled on enough, I think I'm going to hit the sack. They say that the best thing you can do for your body is to get enough sleep. And I've been up since 5:45 this morning, then school, homework, church meeting, more homework, blogging, more homework, more blogging :), I think it's time for this chick to go to bed!

The Key to My Heart

I was watching American Idol earlier this week, and there was a feature about a boy that really struck my attention. I think AI's goal was more to poke fun at this guy, but I thought his intentions were pretty neat. I did some "research" online to find out more about the story, so here it is. His name's Bruce Dickson, and he's a 19 year old guy and he's never kissed a girl (hmmm maybe it stuck me, because I'm the same...except I'm a girl :) ) Anyway, when he was about 13 years old, his dad gave him a necklace. Bruce has the key and his dad has the heart, and the key fits perfectly into the heart. The point is that Bruce will save himself for that one special girl and when he gets married, his dad will give the heart to him, so he will hold the key to his wife's heart. It kind of makes me wonder if he's ever had a girlfriend and how she felt about his convictions...but that's just me and my random mind. I thought the whole story was really neat, and some of the stuff I found online says that Bruce was raised in a Christian home and has really great morals. Not really something you hear about every day on TV. Here's the clip I found online....



This whole thing also makes me wonder if any of you waited until your wedding day for your first kiss? Or did you wish you would have?
To me, that seems a bit extravagent, I don't know if I want to wait that long! Although, I have waited 19 years, so we'll see ;)

Feel the love!

Mary, from Mary's writing nook, is having a giveaway to celebrate her 200th post. Go check it out and get in the running!





Get in the mood for Valentine's day!!!















Melody, at Pennies in My Pocket, is also doing a really cool giveaway. You can pick out your favorite saying to be hung on your wall, and if you're lucky, she'll pick your name for a $50 gift certificate to http://www.quotethewalls.com/ And, if you don't win, you still get free shipping, and the prices are great! My favorite quote, so far, is "Don't dream your life...Live your dreams"

Amazing Song!

It's a good day...

...the sun is shining, what more could you want? Okay, maybe the sun doesn't make everything good, but it sure helps. Today was a great day though. School was good, met some new people, made some new connections, all in all productive I suppose. But....I got my car back today!!! Yay! It runs like a charm now! I'm so so so so so happy to have it back! The guy at the garage said it's a miracle it's been running for the past 9 months to 1 year! That was a bit scary to hear... he said that the computer was totally corroded and the wires connecting things could be removed just by touching them...not good! Which makes me wonder...I've had my car looked at and oil changes done in the past year, shouldn't someone have noticed something was wrong? Oh well, Someone was looking out for me, and my car survived and so did I! But I'm so thankful to have it back! Youth group was so fun tonight too! We played "honey if you love me will you please please smile?" Always a blast!!! We had a good discussion, though a bit distracted by the throwing of candy hearts :), then afterward Anna decided to throw a candy heart down my shirt, which led to a nice little chase around her car and such. Jennifer, I hope you got her back for me! :) Ahh yes, friends make every day good!

Free to a good home!

I don't really know how, but somehow I got signed up for a free year subscription to TV Guide. Now this is great and all, except that...I only have broadcast TV, so it's really pointless for me to be getting this magazine. If anyone is interested in receiving it, I can change my address on the subscription or just bring you the magazine. Let me know... :)

I admit it...I'm wierd

I've been tagged by both Jennifer and Tori to do this meme.

The rules are as follows: Simply link to the person who tagged you. SHARE SEVEN WEIRD things about yourself. Tag SEVEN bloggers to do the same AND include a link to their blog. Let each person know that they have been tagged and finally post the rules on your blog.

So here we go...
7. I sing a lot. But when I'm just by myself in my car or room or something, I sing really loud. And I don't care what it sounds like. But either I'm singing or humming or singing a song in my head. Oh, and another thing wierd about me singing, I don't like my family to hear me sing. Anyone else is okay, but for some reason I never sing outloud around my family.

6. I usually have more fun hanging out with my guy friends than my girl friends. They're much more fun to hang out with. And there's none of the girly gossip, cat-fights, or back stabbing. Boys are just more fun.

5. Sorry to steal this from you Jennifer, but it's the same for me. I can't make decisions. Just ask anyone I've gone out to dinner with. I'm always the last to order because I can't make up my mind. So usually I have them order for me or just copy what they're getting!!!

4. I laugh. A lot. This isn't so wierd, except for that I often have days where I'm in a laughy mood and I just start laughing for no reason. Then I can't stop. Or when I have to read outloud and everyone's watching me. I start laughing. This is why at cell group, Zack usually offers to read! Or I think of something that happened a long time ago, and laugh about that. Or someone says something that just strikes me as funny, so I laugh.

3. I'm not scared of the dark, but I don't like to go outside in the dark by myself. And I hate getting into my car when it's dark. I can't even listen to scary stories about people in the dark.

2. I don't like pictures of me.

1. I come from a small family, but I want to have a large family

Ok...that got harder as I went on. It's hard to think of wierd things about yourself!!!
I tag anyone who hasn't been tagged yet :)

My "revamped" room!

Last week one of my friends made a comment (out of love I'm sure!) about my room. And I agreed, it was about time to do something about it! It looked like at 12 year old's room. With good reason though, as I was 11 or 12 when we moved in here. There were hippie flowers and butterfly decals all over the walls. Porcelain dolls staring at me watching every move I made and overall it was kind of immature looking. Not to mention, it was in need of a serious cleaning. So because I had the week off from school, I decided to tackle this mess. My only regret is that I didn't take "before" pictures, so you can't see the disaster it was! However, I'm sure if you use your imagination you can picture how bad it was...piles of stuff everywhere. Along the walls, in the corners, just piles. Most of which I threw away! It feels good to have a clean room now, we'll see how long it can last!!!




Bad picture...I guess I used to like wearing my brother's clothes? Anyway, this is just to show the butterflies, flowers, and dolls (the doll and crib were long gone before this week!)









About to enter my room










As soon as you walk in, this is what you see, to the left








Going around the room in a circle, next is my bed. Usually it's folded down to a bed, but I put it up to a couch today








Window...closet...boring...








Dormer window "box"
It looks a little crowded, but it's not so bad












Here's a closer look in the "box"











My window seat and window












Photo wall...keyboard...










The last wall of my room







This is one of my favorite parts of my room. With only 6 exceptions, everything here is from Romania. The others are also from other countries or states though.







My other favorite part, and current project. My goal is to cover this wall in pictures!

Quick update...more later

Just a quick update on my car...sorry if you're getting sick of hearing about it. But good news!!! They got the parts in to fix my car, and they were working on it yesterday. They should be able to finish on Monday and then I'll have my baby back! :)

I'll post pictures of my room later! :)

What's cooking?

Here's what's for dinner tonight....


Mmmm...I love seasonings and spices!








Getting ready to saute the toppings









Homemade fries










Burgers
Wait for it.....












My plate







My dad's plate (pre-fries)





I was watching Rachael Ray on Wednesday when I saw I recipe I knew I just had to make! She called it Denver Mile High Burgers. I changed up the recipe a bit, so my dad decided the name should be "Melissa's Mile High Burgers". I also made italian seasoned fries. Here's how you can make your own...
"Melissa's Mile High Burgers"
1-1/2 lbs. Ground Turkey
8 strips of Turkey Bacon
Some pieces of lunch meat ham
Steak Seasoning
Salt
Pepper
Oregano
Hot Sauce
1 green Bell pepper
1 red Bell pepper (I didn't have one, but it looks prettier!)
1 onion
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (or vegetable oil, whatever you prefer)
Shredded Mozzerella cheese
Buns

Cut up the ham into tiny little pieces, or put it in a food processor. Then mix together with the ground turkey. This is so that the turkey takes moisture from the ham and doesn't get so dry. Add in steak seasoning, oregano, salt, and pepper. I never measure this, so use your best judgement. Add in some onion if desired. Garlic is good too. Then squirt in some hot sauce. Mix together. Form into patties. Make the outside thicker than the middle, so that when they heat up, they are evenly formed. Cook however you cook burgers, we usually use our George Foreman
Coat a frying pan with oil. Then saute the peppers and onions. Add in salt and pepper to taste. I also added in some chili powder. Get it nice and brown.
Fry up the bacon. (I do mine in the microwave)
Assemble the burger: Place burger on bun. Top with 2 pieces of bacon. Cover with peppers and onions. The put on the mozzerella cheese. Enjoy!!!

"Italian Seasoned Fries"
Potatoes
Italian Salad Dressing
Oregano, Sage, and Basil

Wash potatoes thoroughly. Cut potatoes into wedges. Put in a bowl. Pour Italian dressing over wedges. Cover and shake. Allow to marinate for at least 3 hours. Grease a cookie sheet. Place wedges in a single layer on sheet. Mix spices together and sprinkle over the wedges. Put in 350 oven for 45 minutes. Time may be different depending on how thick you cut the potatoes. When they come out of the oven, sprinkle with Parmasean Cheese.