Free Day!

After being at our soon to be new home for 5 days straight it is finally Monday! Monday means Mom and Dad have work, Tia has school, but Tori still has two days free. Hooray! My plans for today are as follows:

1. Blogging
2. Finish making X-Mas cards
3. Sew pillow cases for myself and Tia
4. Clean the house up
5. Prep for dinner
6. Go to Walmart for the millionth time this week because my dad needs cough syrup
7. Finish re-reading Twilight
*8. Watch Phantom of the Opera and Aladdin with Tia

Is it sad that this is a fun day for me? That this is how I am choosing to spend my day? I don't care. I take joy in the small things in life. Like last night; watching cartoons with Tia until we were both tired and then still sitting up together laughing and ogling Johnny Depp in the new People. Yes, I bought it just for the pictures of Johnny Depp. It is well worth the five bucks I spent on it. But, anyway, that was a good night. It is what I miss most while I'm at school.

One thing I will not miss while at school is working on the new house. I'm sick of painting walls. I'm sick of cleaning up after the gross people who lived there before. I'm so glad this is the last time we're moving! My parents have always rented, and we've moved around town a lot. Like every 2-3 years. Now that they're buying a house it's the end of it. My room is still not completely painted, so you'll have to wait a while longer for pictures. I picked bright colors! My room is orange and blue. I needed to contrast the dull boring colors my parents picked for the rest of the house. Tia's room is my favorite, though. We splatter painted her room! It looks awesome.

I am going to turn on CMT and work on the Christmas cards. Oh, they've been playing Christmas music on my favorite radio station all weekend, and now it's on CMT too! That actually makes me happy. I love X-Mas music. One of my favorites that they played on the radio this weekend was 'Leroy the Redneck Reindeer'. It just makes me laugh every time I hear it!

* Number 8 is my favorite and what I'm looking forward to the most. I've been wanting to watch POTO for a while now. And watching it with Tia is even better. It took me more than a year to get her to watch it for the first time! And we have both had the Arabian Nights song stuck in our heads since last night so we want to watch Aladdin. I love watching movies with Tia. <3

Yum

Wow I've been busy! Shopping, cooking, crying because I messed up while cooking, crying because I accidentally turned my white clothes pink (Anyone know how to fix that?!), being angry at my parents because they cleaned and painted over at the new house on Thanksgiving. I went to Walmart with my mom and aunt at 5 this morning. CRAZY! Then we went back again later to buy paint for the house, not so crazy. It's like after 8AM it turned into a regular shopping day there. I need to go back to Walmart for a 3rd time in a little while so I can buy even more paint for my room. I can't wait until it's all painted so I can show you the pictures! Speaking of the house, when I was there last night I noticed that it has got this really weird vibe to it. It definitely needs a cleansing to get rid of the energy from the previous tenants. I know there are a lot of different ways to do that, so I am looking for suggestions on what your favorite method is.

As promised, I have pictures. This is just the desserts. We had the same old dinner that most people have. Turkey, stuffing, etc.


Chocolate Pecan Pie. YUM! I took this pic before I cut into it. It tastes like a fudgy brownie filled with pecans. I made the crust myself, and it looked nice, but it got destoryed during transport from my house to my grandparent's house.


Homemade whipped cream. :)


Some of my cousin's carrot cake that I took home.


This is the cheesecake I messed up on. It still tastes delicious.


Oreo Torte. Probably the most delicious thing I've ever eaten. This is the one I left at home for us.


This is the one I brought for my family to eat.


The cats just got to lay around all day. They looked so cute I just had to get some pictures.

Thanksgiving Week Schedule

Hello from New Hampshire! I skipped out on the knowledge bowl, awards ceremony and whatever other fun stuff they had planned for us today up at NECI. I'm home now and I have a busy schedule. My parents gave me money and I need to go grocery shopping today to get food for Thanksgiving. Tomorrow I am going to be doing some pre-Thanksgiving cooking. (The rolls and desserts.) Then Thursday is actually Thanksgiving and I'll be helping my mom cook while watching movies and playing games with my sister and my friend who's coming over. I like the running around. I love the fact that I'm going to be with the people I care about. There's just something about this time of the year that makes me want to be home, cooking, eating, and hanging out.

My computer does not connect to the internet when I'm at home. My only comment about that is "WTH?!" I don't get it... Whatever, I am using my mom's laptop. I don't think I'll be on much at all with everything I'm going to be doing anyway. So I'm just going to say early Happy Thanksgiving! Plan on my next post being the day after Thanksgiving with pictures of what we end up eating. Plan on that being later in the day because I finally get to go shopping with my mom on Black Friday! I've been begging her to let me go with her for years.

Randomness

I'm in a random mood. I've been suck in Montpelier all weekend and I've watched every good movie and TV show Hulu has to offer. I ironed my brigade for that Assessment Week thing tomorrow. (Which I still don't see the point behind.) My room is as clean as I feel like making it. I'm not in the mood to read. So I'm sitting here listening to music and stumbling. Don't know what stumbling is? It's the most addicting thing I think I have ever started doing. Go here and click on the subjects you're interested in. Click the stumble button and it will bring you to a website related to one of the interests you clicked on. You'll go to a different website every time you click on the stumble button. Try it out. You'll be addicted soon. If you follow me on Twitter you can see some of my favorite finds while stumbling.

Another awesome thing I've heard about recently is failblog. Absolutely hilarious! If you want a laugh, go there.

Last random thing I want to share with you is this song. 3 Wooden Crosses has been a favorite song of mine for a while. It never fails to make me think and feel that there is a higher purpose for why things happen. Have you ever gotten that tingly feeling when you hear something (anything, not just songs) and you know it's teaching you something and helping you grow as a person? This song gives me that feeling.

My New Class Schedule

I figured I'd share my schedule with you all! This is what it will be like until February 28th.

Monday
Spanish 8-9:30
Taste & Flavor: Beverages 12:30-3

Tuesday
Introduction to Human Resource Management 8:30-10:15
Written Expressions 10:30 - 12:30
Fundamentals of Marketing 1:30-3

Wednesday
Spanish 8-9:30
Interpersonal Communciations 9:45 - 11:45
Service Operations Management 12:45-3:15

Thursday
Introduction to Human Resource Management 8:30-10:15
Written Expressions 10:30 - 12:30
Restaurant & Guest Mangement (Practicum - Group A) 4:00-10:00

Friday
Restaurant & Guest Management Class 10:00-12:00
Restaurant & Guest Mangement (Practicum - Group B) 4:00-10:00

I don't know if I am in group A or B for the Restaurant and Guest Management class, but I've emailed the teacher requesting the Thursday group so I can drive home on Fridays. I had Denis as a teacher in my first mod, and he's pretty cool, so I think he'll let me be in that group.

Last night I was feeling really scared and worried. My excitement is slowly coming back. I guess I'll see how I feel once these new classes start! I am really looking forward to my Thanksgiving break. It will be so healing to just be cooking for my friends and family again.

Sorry For The Mess, My Brain Exploded

So here's how it went! I think I rocked the ServSafe Exam. It was waaay easier than I expected. What scared me the most was what pathogens caused which diseases and there weren't many questions about that. My math exam was also easy. The movie for my computer class came out... okay. It's really not that great, but whatever. The interview? No, just no. It's not that it went badly. I passed. I was nervous, but that wasn't the issue either. You know how you're scared for something so you prep like mad? I did that. Have you ever forgotten everything you wanted to say as soon as you were asked even after all that prepping? I did that too. I answered the questions directly, but didn't elaborate or say anything I had planned to say. And he threw me some curve balls that I hadn't planned for or ever even thought about. Don't ask me what they were because I can't remember. All I know is that after the interview I felt completely crushed. Like every professional choice I've made up to this point has been wrong. I don't really get why. I'm just so scared. What if I did choose wrong? What if I'm not cut out to be a manager? I want to be back in high school where things were easy and a lot less scary. I just went to class because I had to. But I liked it. I've always been so good in a classroom setting. Hands-on has never been my thing. What a stupid choice for me to make, going to a hands-on school. I'm not cut out to live in the real world and do real things. I wish there were someone here to talk to about it. Ranting like this helps but it doesn't make me feel better. I want someone who knows me to look at me and tell me how stupid I'm being, how can I think that. And I want to believe them. Even if my cousin were here to tell me that I wouldn't believe her. I'm not a leader. Why am I trying to be one? I'm too sensitive. Too insecure. Too shy. My brain doesn't work that way. Even my teachers knew it. I remember when my English teacher told me how surprised he was when I chose to go to NECI. He said I'd be a good scholar. I know I would be, I told him, but this is stable. I could study for the rest of my life and be the happiest person in the world, but you just can't live that way. Yes, I love food. I love feeding people. The interviewer said he saw passion when I mentioned my plans for a restaurant that feeds families. Yes, I want to do that. At least I think I do. I'm questioning everything now, and it's scaring the crap out of me. I don't like it.

Why couldn't I be normal? Why couldn't I go to a regular university, party, go to class, and not care what my plans were for the rest of my life? Or why couldn't I have been blessed with some amazing talent that's wicked profitable? Why can't this be easy?

I'll look at this later and wonder what the hell is wrong with me. These are my emotions at their rawest. The totally uncensored, insecure, Me. I don't think I like me. I'm kind of pathetic. Does everyone feel this way? Do they all hide it? HOW?

I wasn't sure if I wanted to publish this post. Debating back and forth. It makes me look stupid. I shouldn't care, it's my blog. You like having readers, though, don't you? Yes. And you had 8 comments on that last post. Oh well. They don't have to read and comment on this if they don't want to.

So, fuck it. It's published. Hello, cyber world! This is me! I'm really sorry if you actually read all this. I am in a weird mood. And I ate a lot of melted Ben & Jerry's Cheesecake Brownie Ice Cream. Hi new people who commented on my last post! Sorry for the mess. My brain likes to explode sometimes.

Updates!

I figured I'd keep you all in the loop about what's going on with me at school! Today was my last day of my baking class. We had a written exam at 6:30 this morning. Fun, right?! No, not really. I may be a morning person, but I'm still human. No one wants to take a test that soon after they wake up. I'm sure I did fine on it, though.

Tomorrow I have to take my ServSafe Exam. Now there is a test I'm scared of failing! Mostly because if you fail you have to pay the $36 again so you can retake it. When I pass it I will be ServSafe Certified, though! So I won't have any excuse for why I can't remember what bacteria causes which disease, damn. I am worried about failing it, but I'm sure I'll do fine since it's multiple choice. I have a 25% chance of guessing the correct answer if I have to guess.

On Friday I have a mock job interview for my Professional Development class which is scaring the crap out of me. I can BS my way through written exams if need be, but when it comes to talking and doing I am not so great... And there really isn't a way to 'study' for it. I've never had a job interview, but I know the unprepared feeling is the worst part about it. I'm just sitting here wondering and worrying "Which questions will they ask me? What if I get tongue tied and forget everything?" AHH!

I guess technically this is like my finals week. I also have a final project for my computer class and an exam in my math class on Friday. Then on Monday we have an 'Assessment Day'. I really don't understand it. From what I hear two people from each block go to each class for three hours and there is some kind of competition between the teams. It sounds like a waste of time to me, because I hear we aren't actually getting graded on it! I'd like to just start my Thanksgiving Vacation early, why can't they make it optional? This school is so horrible at telling us what it going on!

Enough ranting, I am going to study and (most likely) unnecessarily stress myself out. Some good news, though: I think my cough is gone.

"Don't Let The Bedbugs Bite!"

I am going to be cleaning my dorm room up this afternoon. Mostly because it's horribly dirty and needs to be cleaned, but also sort of in preparation for the Night of Hecate which I am deciding to participate in last minute. Using a flashlight. Yeah, we aren't allowed candles in dorms. We have uber-sensitive smoke detectors and I can guarantee that if I set it off they would fine me.

Part of my cleaning this afternoon will be looking for bedbugs. The dorm building next door had them, now someone on the floor above me has them. I'm really creeped out and if I find them in my room I am probably going to scream. I can tell you I won't be sleeping in my bed, either! Someone I know back home is an exterminator and he lent me a 16X magnifying glass to look for them, and even gave me a picture of the little nasty things. Which grossed me out even more. When "Don't let the bedbugs bite!" becomes a real warning I start to worry. I didn't think bedbugs were real when I was a kid. I thought they were something my grandma made up to joke with us. Like her pink skippawampus that lived in the woods behind the house.

Oh, and did I ever mention how much I absolutely LOVE lists? To-do lists save my butt. I would forget so many things lately if I didn't write them down on my brightly colored sticky notes.

SO, today I am thankful for to-do lists.

Happy Surprises

When I cam home last night I had two awesome surprises waiting for me! The first was a box of goodies from Jaz at Octoberfarm!


It came all wrapped up! It made me feel like I was opening a birthday or Christmas present.


There was even a card and chocolates!


Ta-da!


She even included an extra jar of her homemade pepper jelly- which I can't wait to try! I'm going to have it out for Thanksgiving.


A honey bear. :)


The jar of preserves.


More candy! Which was tempted to eat for breakfast...


Instead I had some of the yummy jam on an english muffin.


After a few bites I decided to try it with peanut butter... it made the best PB&J I've ever had!


The ingredient list for the jam.


I ate my breakfast while reading my new book that I won from Mrs. B's 31 Days of Halloween! Once I get good at crocheting (I'm seriously stuck right now! I need to see if my aunt Taunya can help me...) I am going to start making some of these wicked cute things. My goal: to be able to make these by this time next year. Then I can make a bunch and have a giveaway with them!

I have won so many great things this year. I want to have a giveaway of my own! I am brainstorming now to try and come up with something I can giveaway. Hmm, I wonder how well fudge would travel? I don't really know what else I'd be able to make and mail to someone. I can't really make anything cool that isn't food. xD

I am so thankful for my amazing blog buddies. Thank you Joyce! Thank you Mrs. B! And thank you to everyone who reads my blog!

Send Noah a Christmas Card!!

Christmas will come early for a five year old Michigan boy this year. Noah Biorkman is battling cancer and is not expected to live much longer. Noah's family is celebrating Christmas now and Noah loves Christmas cards. Noah's mom is asking for Christmas cards for her son.

Please take the time to send a card or letter to:

Noah Biorkman
1141 Fountain View Circle
South Lyon, MI 48178

OR

you can make Noah a Christmas card online at Studio Day Spring and that they'll cover shipping costs and send all the cards to him if you use the code: NOAH

The link is http://www.studiodayspring.com

Note: There are two addresses floating around on the internet. The other one is:

Noah Biorkman
c/o Scott Biorkman
3480 Petoskey Way
Milford, MI 48380

I think the card would get to Noah either way, one of them is just newer than the other.