C.S. Lewis

Love this:

"No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives into temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have always lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it; and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation really means-the only complete realist."

Egg on my Face

I think I'm turning into a Danny Tanner cleaning clone. Lately, I've been spending hours deep cleaning and grinning in delight as my new steamer cuts through stubborn stains. Unfortunately, I sometimes get carried away. The other day as I was scrubbing, I quickly bent down to grab something and somehow slammed my forehead on the side of the dresser which led to blood spewing out of my head and an immense headache. The first thing I did was make sure I didn't get any blood on my newly cleaned floor, then I iced it, finished cleaning and thought I was good. However,that night at a party, several people commented on my Harry Potter like gash, and how I should have gotten stitches because the gash would soon be a permanent scar. I stared at them in horror until one of my favorite friends gave me hope with an old family secret to prevent scarring. He told me to take the skin off an egg put it on the gash, and then put the egg white on it. Some of you may be shaking your head in superstition, but I didn't have a lot of options, and I'm a believer in random remedies. And so, I soon began my egg skin, and egg white remedy. This is as good as it gets:

I'm not going to lie, I got a lot of funny stares and laughs at the egg on my face, but I remained strong and now that scar is looking good. Which leads me to believe that sometimes egg on your face isn't so bad.

Four Places at Once

TA DA!!!! The seemingly impossible is made possible at Four Corners. Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and Colorado all meet together in one spot where you can twister it up and be in four places at once.

Cross off number 23!!!!

Prison Food

There are some things in life that are just too good to pass up, and that is why when my roommate and I were driving by the prison and saw a sign that said, “Serving Time Café-Open to the Public” we immediately decided to plan lunch there with our other roommate. Thoughtfully, we decided not to disclose the location to her and gleefully blindfolded her and drove to the front of the prison.

We pulled up facing the prison declared we were here and took off her blindfold.

She took one look at the prison and exclaimed, Um. . .Oh. . . we’re at the prison, ah. . . hmmm. . . “ Yes, all the secrecy was worth the look on her face. Then laughingly, we turned the car to the building next to the prison where the cafe was located. She seemed to have a few reservations, but we assured her that we had read only the best of prisoners can work there. A friend also told us they go through the culinary arts program at the prison as well. We walked through the door and were welcomed with a white board displaying delicious specials and a sign on the wall that said, “Please do not leave tips, we cannot take them.” I smiled loving the place already. The servers/prisoners greeted us with warm smiles and yummy food. Seriously, yummy. Guards, staff from correctional services, and people wanting yummy food littered the room, all happily munching. We liked it so much we went back for breakfast another day and loved it then. What can be better than fluffy pancakes for $2.00 and this sign on the white board?


I've always believed that the best food comes from random, little places, and I don't know a place more random than the prison.

Crash!!

Last Monday was my first day off track, I usually spend that day sleeping in. However, instead I found myself driving back on the freeway from a doctor's appointment in Provo. As I was coming around the mountain, I noticed the flashing lights of a patrol car off to the side of the road, and some tire debris in the road. I suppose this is what caused traffic to slow, because the huge truck in front of me slowed, and so like a good driver, I slowed, and the driver behind me, well . . . . I suppose he did not slow. Because bam like a rocket with a thundering boom, my whole car was propelled into the other lane? Which was miraculous considering that I should have been pummeled into the huge truck in front of me. I guess my head hit the back of the seat something fierce and my clippy shattered into a million (ten) different pieces. Once my head snapped back up, I prayed something fierce and swung my car off the side of the freeway. It all seemed like a fuzzy dream. I'm not sure how I wasn't hit by a million (ten) different cars. Off to the side of the road, I said a prayer of gratitude and then with all the natural instinct of an insurance agent's daughter, I grabbed my accident report guide, information, and shakily stepped out of the car. A new policeman pulled onto the scene and had me come sit in his car. It was there in his car with the paramedics and firetruck racing onto the scene that I had my next three thoughts. My first thought was "Oh no, how am I ever going to get my paper done for class tonight?' Which was followed by, "Hmmm . . . I wonder if my professor will give me another day, since I've been in an accident?" Which was followed by, "What in the world am I doing thinking about a paper, when I was almost killed?" Yep, I was honestly thinking about a paper, as the paramedics were knocking on the window. This was a small indicator to me that my priorities may be slightly off. And so while my car is pretty banged up, and I'm still waiting to hear its diagnosis, I'm okay, and I'm determined to take what I learned from this crash to get my life back in balance, so in moments of craziness I am thinking about what is most important.

Blackberry Kisses

"As she approached the corner of the barn where the sugar maple stands, she plucked a few blackberries from a stray bush and popped them into her mouth. She looked all around her-back at the house, across the fields, and up into the canopy of branches overhead. She took several quick steps up to the trunk of the maple, threw her arms around it, and kissed that tree soundly."
Walk Two Moons
"Oh I just loved that part." one of my girls gushed. "Me too!" another one giggled. And so when deciding on which kind of treat to bring in to share with them at the end of our book group, I knew I had to bring in blackberries. What I didn't know was how much they truly loved this book. As I laid out the blackberries, the girls began to gush,"Oh, Miss R, Oh, can we kiss a tree with the blackberries." I started to laugh. However, they continued to gush about how they would always remember this, and how every time they came back to visit they would look at the tree and try to find their blackberry stain. Of course, that got me right there, because I am a sucker for memories. And so while the rest of the class was down eating ice cream at a party, my small girl's group took big bites of blackberries, rubbed them on our lips and kissed a tree outside of our classroom soundly. We came back in giggling, and then the girls begged to finish our discussion. We went back to our favorite moments from the book, and of course, as I started to read mine, I began to cry. I do it every time I read this book,(it is one of my favorites) but as I looked around the group, I noticed their eyes were all glistening as well. The next little girl began, "Please excuse me if I cry," which immediately set me off into tears again, and then she began her part, her voice shaky, her eyes wet. We strained to hear her soft, shaky,beautiful words. When she finished, I looked around at these girls who begged to stay longer in our group each week to read together, who asked for their reading group to be moved up so we could discuss earlier, and who giggled, swooned, cried, questioned, and learned throughout this book. I started to tear up again, because it is moments like this that every teacher lives for. Moments when you see this light click on, where they have found a love of reading and learning. And just like that blackberry stain that lingers on the tree, I hope that they will always remember this moment, this book, this experience. Like they say in the book, Huzza, Huzza!

The Last to Know

I found out the other day, that I'm engaged, again. It happens every year, except as always, I'm the last to know. This year, just as class was getting ready to start a teacher came in my room all smiley. I looked up and smiled at her, she skipped over, "Hey, what's new with you?" I assumed she wanted to know about my leg, because that is the important topic, so I smiled, "Well, my leg is doing so good. Look at how well it can bend." She kept smiling, "Uh huh, anything else?" "Um. . . I just found out I graduate this summer." She just smiled, so I smiled, then her smile got larger. "Is there anything else going on?" She then began to giggle. I stopped smiling. "Um. . . .nope." I tried to smile again, but suddenly I felt very uncomfortable. "Well" she began, "I heard you've been kissing Math Boy ( a friend who comes in to help me with my crazy math antics) in the hall, and that you two are in engaged." Suddenly, the little rumor makers in my room are very busy. I roll my eyes and sigh dramatically. "Nope, not true at all." I look out on the sea of students who swear they've seen UFO's, killers, and bloody claws in their chicken nuggets, and I'm shocked someone actually believed them. I assume this is the end of the rumor when the next day, a former student who is now in college, comes in to visit. He walks in and smiles, I smile. His smile gets larger, and I immediately stop. He beams, "So, I hear you're engaged." Once again, I roll my eyes and sigh dramatically. "Nope, not true at all." I respond. He shakes his head, "But everyone is talking about it." I roll my eyes and sigh dramatically, "Just because everyone is talking about it, doesn't make it true."(Spoken like a true teacher) A few nights later, I am slipping into the middle school for a former student's big acting debut, when all of these 8th graders come rushing at me. "Oh, my goodness it's so good to see you" they shout. We rejoice in our reunion, until they are smiling even larger than usual. I back away, they cheer, "We hear you're engaged!" People start turning their heads, I roll my eyes twice, and sigh extra loud as I repeat," Nope, not at all." I've decided it's tough being engaged, especially when you are the last to know.