Top Ten Reasons Why I Refuse To Eat Organic (and, as a responsible future mother, will refuse to feed organic foods to my child)

Several followers of my blog are aware that the Crallspace and his friends have launched an attack on all non-organic foods. Crall claims that goldfish crackers and Happy Meals are the cause of obesity in this country. According to his reasoning, if we all ate organic foods we would be skinnny and never suffer health problems. I strongly disagree. Allow me to explain.

1. Minnesota Public Radio: How do you define Organic food?
Organic farmers have a definition for organic food. Each state and local agency has a definition for organic food. However, since there is no national governing definition for organic food, these definitions vary widely. So what is organic food?

2. "The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will." -Vince Lombardi
Let's face it. Statistically, it is most highly unlikely that you will ever have a gun put to your head at the fast food counter and be forced to "super size it". It is even more unlikely that said gunman will take your supersize fries and Big Mac and shove them into your mouth. The Happy Meal is actually a fairly healthy choice, even compared to some of the salads offered by McDonald's. Not to mention you get a cool toy with it... Ultimately, though, it is you and only you who decides what you eat. That's why the U.S. House of Representaties has banned frivilous fast-food lawsuits.

3. All good things come in small packages
Studies prove that lean teenagers who eat fast food will compensate by eating less during the rest of the day.
Also, even the Mayo Clinic reccommends fitting fast food into a healthy eating plan.

4. It's all in your head
A groundbreaking Consumer Reports study found that organic produce has no nutritional difference and no noticable difference in taste.

5. It's just plain expensive
Organic food costs more than non-organic produce.

6. Good for what?
Organic foods are good, right? But good for who? Good for me? Good for the environment? Or good for the organic farmers' wallets?

7. Bacteria
The human body can handle spoilage bacteria (bacteria that form when fruits and veggies spoil), but we cannot handle the bacteria from, for example, cow manure, that can make its way onto and into organic produce. ABCNEWS tests found bacteria including E. Coli on more organic broccoli, parsley, celery, and spring greens than conventional produce.

8. Pesticides
ABCNEWS tests found NO pesticide residues on conventional or organic produce. Yet the organic food industry is constantly telling us that we should be worrying about pesticide residue.

9. Organic produce is actually WORSE for the environment than conventional produce.
Because so much of their land is destroyed by weeds and insects, organic farmers waste almost twice as much land as conventional farmers.

10. Betty and hundreds of others like her
Check this: Eight years ago, 80,000 children died each day from starvation. They had nothing to eat, so their bodies slowly ate themselves, turned their muscles and vital organs into calories, until they died. Today we've brought that number down to 29,000. But how can I sit in front of my expensive organic meal while I know that in other parts of the world, kids just like me are dying because they don't have a meal at all? Conventional farmers can grow more, healthier food on less land. Conventional food costs less than organic food. With the money that I save, I can prevent death. For less than $1 each day, I have already given Betty the money to eat and to go to school. How selfish would I be to refuse this much?

everything I need to know....

Borrowed from Linny at Spinster War Diaries... changed as necessary...

1. How did you get the name Tidy Bowl?
That's a topic for a whole post of its own...

2. What color pants are you wearing now?
Plaid pajama pants. Bought these on my last trip into China... I think I got them at the mall near my sister's apartment in Hong Kong.

3. What are you listening to right now?
A sitcom called "Yes, Dear" on TV and my hamster chewing on the bars of her cage.

4. What was the last thing you ate?
Uhhh... Well, I know I ate leftover turkey and dressing for dinner... and I think I had a cookie this evening but I don't remember.

5. Do you wish on stars?
I don't wish. I pray.

6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
Pacific Blue or Robin's-Egg Blue

7. How is the weather right now?
33 degrees, partly cloudy

8. Last person you spoke to on the phone?
My pastor's wife

9. Are you messy or tidy?
Depends on my mood. I try to be neat but I have my "areas" that are organized my way.

10. How old are you today?
Let's see... 22 years, 7 months, and 26 days.

11. Favorite drink?
Diet Cherry Coke

12. Favorite sport?
I haven't seriously played sports in a long LONG time (over 5 years), but I used to play competitive tennis. I love watching baseball games.

13. Hair Color?
Very dark brown

14. Do you wear contacts?
Yes, for over six and a half years. I had glasses (frames) for six years before that.

15. Siblings?
Just one sister, six years and three days older than me.

16. Favorite month?
Definitely May

17. Favorite food?
Ooooo... Well, I absolutely love good Mexican food, but you can't beat a brownie sundae. Or anything with strawberries.

18. What was the last movie you saw?
Well, last night I watched "Luther" with my family. The last time I saw a movie in a movie theater was six months or so ago, when Steve and I saw "Saw II".

19. Favorite day of the year?
Never thought about that one. I like Christmas. And Easter.

20. What do you do to vent anger?
Email BunnyServant, talk to S, blog, read my Bible

21. What was your favorite toy as a child?
Don't remember. Amnesia and stuff.

22. What is your New Year's Resolution?
I don't know. I still have 22 hours to decide.

23. Hugs or kisses?
Right now, I'll take whatever action I can get.

24. Chocolate or vanilla?
Cookies and cream!

25. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back?
They will. I'll pester them until they do.

26. Who is most likely to respond?
That is the question... whether 'tis nobler in mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing, end them...

27. Are you a homebody or a partier?
Partier by choice, homebody by circumstance

28. Last time you cried?
Confidential information

29. What's under your bed?
Lots of junk... summer clothes... a boogey man... and a mummy. (I know it's weird. But it was my fear when I was a kid.)

30. The friend you've had the longest?
Bunnyservant! 14 years and counting!

31. What did you do last night?
Played "Trivial Pursuit: 90s Edition" with my family.

32. What are you afraid of?
Being without God.

33. Buttered or salted popcorn?
Ice cream.

34. Favorite movie?
A Beautiful Mind or anything starring Scott Cambell

35. Favorite flower?
I honestly have no idea.

36. Number of keys on your key ring?
Two... both keys for my car. The rest are tucked inside my purse.

37. How many years at your current job?
I'll let you know when I get hired for a full time position.

38. Favorite day of the week?
Sunday SUNDAY Sunday!

39. What did you do for your latest birthday?
I don't remember. Probably a small party with my parents and some close family friends, and dinner with Steve.

40. How many cities have you lived in?
Not enough! Here I am... send me... I wanna move overseas.

Whew! That turned out to be longer than I expected. (what did I expect?)

help!

I've been working on my blog, with remarkable success, but I've reached a frustrating stalemate...

I don't know what to say about myself!

Is that weird or what?

Anyone have any suggestions?

yay! new template!

That's right, for those of you who haven't noticed yet... I have a new template. Okay... well actually I downloaded it off of one of those "free templates" websites. But no less, I am pretty excited about it. I am going to work on my web page for awhile... hopefully I can master the template thing and then I will be off onto bigger and better things. Woohoo!

awww shucks

I called my pastor's house today to see if I could take his oldest daughter out for dinner. She's in seventh grade, and I know that she looks up to me. I know that being a teen was sometimes tough for me, and I want her to know that she can always talk to me about anything that she may feel uncomfortable about talking to her parents about. I thought it was almost set, when her dad got home and vetoed the idea because she's too young. Which, well, yea, I see his point. In fact, if I had a kid, I probably wouldn't let her go out at seventh grade either. But I'm a little disappointed nonetheless. I was looking forward to eating out with her.

I'll talk to her dad this Sunday at church. Truthfully it will probably be awhile. But nonetheless it's fair that he knows a little more about me.

humble blessings and a Merry Christmas

I received a letter from my sponsored child on Christmas Eve. I have sponsored a girl named Betty in Zimbabwe through World Vision for... eight years? (hopefully I will get her photo on here soon). The letter prompted me to go onto World Vision's website, where I discovered that I now have the opportunity to send my letters to Betty via e-mail. How awesome is that?! More power to WV for creating this opportunity! I am so excited, because I know that having e-mail will allow me to get to know Betty so much more.

But definitely, receiving this letter from Betty was such a reminder of the blessings I and my family have been given. Betty is such a beautiful girl, but her family does not have much. Her family depends on the rain to provide enough crops to feed the family for the year. I can't imagine living the way her family lives. Yet they have such joy, and it makes me so happy to know that God has brought them joy in the midst of all their difficulties. It makes Christmas so much sweeter.

Miami and me

I was thinking the other day about how parallel my relationship with Miami is with my relationship with God.

Miami and I have such an awesome bond. We trust each other completely. I will spread yogurt or fruit juice on my finger, and Miami will lick it off. Many of my friends think I'm crazy, since hamster bites can hurt a lot, but I trust Miami wholeheartedly to not bite me. Conversely, Miami trusts me to provide her with food, water, a clean cage, and a little bit of playtime every day. She's a pretty smart ham, and I don't think she wants to starve to death or anything. She trusts that I will take care of her and never let her down.

God and I trust each other that way, too. I trust that God will do a lot of things. I'm 22, and I certainly hope that I will get a job, get married, get a new car, etc. I trust that God is going to provide those things for me. In a more general sense, I trust that God will always provide for me. I may not get a job for a few years, or I may not get the job that I want. In that case, I trust that God will take care of me and always provide for me.

Likewise, after I dedicated my life to Christ, God has entrusted me with much. God trusts that I will live a Godly life in every way. God trusts that I will do what he asks me to do. It sounds simple but it is far from it. God trusts that I will do whatever he asks, and that might mean dropping everything to go where he wants or do what he wants. It might mean waiting - which is often the hardest thing of all. And it should always mean praising and rejoicing!

family

I was thinking about my family today. I'm so thankful for them. I knew someone recently whose family was from Hawaii, and they got to go to family reunions in Hawaii. Very cool. My family reunions are in Nebraska. But I'm not sure if I would change that. My family has never been wealthy, but we are hard workers. We're not fancy people. We're just farmers. But the love is so overflowing in my family, and we have such an amazing heritage. Did you know I have a heritage of Christianity going back at least eight generations? That's so awesome! I don't know how many people can claim that. We're ordinary people who work hard, till the land, love God, and love each other. It can't get any better than that.

the inaugural

This is officially my first new post on my brand-new laptop computer. It was a gift from my parents for graduation, but I've spent the last week installing and downloading software, installing the antivirus, stuff like that. I'm psyched. A gig of RAM. Almost two ghz processor. This baby's loaded. Good stuff.

Jennifer Snyder... a thank-you thrown to the wind...

As I've graduated, I have made the effort to contact all the people, past and present, who have greatly impacted my growth as a student, as an academic, and as a human being, to give them my heartfelt thanks. Despite some challenges (many of my teachers have retired), I have found quite a bit of success. I have contacted Dr. H and Mrs. M, from elementary school, and Dr. F and Dr. PB, from college. There has only been one teacher whom I have been entirely unsuccessful at contacting, which brings me to this post. Some of the information I include might not make sense to all of you - but if the right person reads it, she'll know exactly what it means.

As a senior in high school, I was enrolled in Dr. Jennifer Snyder's college physics class through the Math-Physics Institute at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Dr. Snyder knows how hard my senior year was. I was in a car accident that fall, and missed two and a half months of school. When I returned to school, I faced the challenge of making up two and a half months of school work. Dr. Snyder was amazing. Her class was the most challenging, but possibly the easiest class to make up. She tutored me privately after school for the entire second semester. Together, with a lot of hard work and determination, I finished that class - with an A.

I don't know how much of the physics I remember. If I was to take another physics class, I think it would come back to me easily, but since I haven't studied it in a few years it isn't very fresh in my mind. What I will never forget is the way that Dr. Snyder cared about me enough to take time out of her schedule to help me make up my schoolwork. It may have seemed like a little thing to her, but it was a big thing to me.

Dr. Snyder, you were an amazing professor. If I can become a teacher half as good as you, I know I will have made a difference.

it's the most wonderful time of the year...

I had a doctor's appointment this morning at 11:00. It was just late enough that I had time to go to the library and check out a few books (some fiction and a couple of HTML guides), then drive to the doctor's. (This doctor is on the other side of the KC metro. It takes at least an hour to get there when it's NOT rush hour... and it's scary during rush hour. I have three or four other doctors that are much closer to my home.)

So I got up and went to the doctor, then ate lunch over on the other side of town. I spent pretty much the whole afternoon shopping my way back home... stopping at one store, then moving a few miles closer to home and stopping at another store, moving a few miles closer and stopping... It made for a long afternoon but I got a lot of Christmas shopping done. Tomorrow I need to wrap presents while my parents are at work.

The one store I didn't make it to today was CompUSA. They have McAfee Antivirus 3-User on sale for only $60 (after the mail in rebate). Yes, I'm a huge fan of McAfee. And it has come time to replace the antivirus on my computer as well as my dad's computer and my mom's computer.

parties, presidential addresses, new jobs, new formats, and other stuffage

Today my family had a party/open house to celebrate my graduation. It was awesome... I got to see some friends who I haven't seen in awhile. It was so nice to spend time eating cake, giving hugs, and just being happy. Nice.

Job thoughts: next week I will start sending out resumes. I've already applied on MOREAP, which means half the work is already done. MOREAP is an awesome website, which most of the school districts in Missouri draw their applications from. So all I have to do next week is send out cover letters and resumes to my districts of interest.

To Michael Swartz: You're right, I'm not particularly interested in teaching in inner-city Kansas City or St. Louis, at least in the beginning of my career. My plan, at least for my first year of teaching, is to stay in Missouri (since I will get Missouri certification), and likely close to home. My mom is a second grade teacher, and by staying close to home I can take advantage of the resource that she provides as a mentor. Also, if I stay close to home for a year, I can live with my parents and save money for my master's degree.

President Bush addressed the nation from the Oval Office tonight. I watched the address, and all I can say is, amen, President. I have to include this, courtesy of Michael Swartz.

As I'm sure you've noticed, I have changed the format on this blog. Yes, Michael, it is somewhat a "fresh start" idea. I've also been planning to do this for a long time, but just now have the time and opportunity to begin changing my blog. I'm hoping to change the header and sidebar, maybe add a blogroll or a chatterbox. But since I'm still somewhat of an HTML novice, this is a huge learning experience for me.

I did it!

Graduation was this morning. I was in the Saturday morning ceremony, so my family had to get up early and drive to Warrensburg for the ceremony. (Our school has 4 ceremonies: on Friday night, the graduate school ceremony; on Saturday morning at 10 am, undergraduates from the College of Business Administration and the College of Education and Human Services; on Saturday at 11:15 am, the Department of Nursing graduation and pinning ceremony; and on Saturday at 2 pm, undergraduates from the College of Applied Sciences and Technology and the College of Arts and Sciences. There is also and ROTC commissioning at 4 pm on Saturday.)

Anyway, we got up early, got dressed and drove to da 'berg. We got there 15 minutes before the undergrads were supposed to meet with the department, so I got my robe on and posed for a few pictures. Then I was off, while my parents left to find a seat and meet our friends who had come to the ceremony.

The graduation was nice. Our school has a fantastic music department, and our wind ensemble provided the instrumental music for the processional and recessional. It was really beautiful. There was also a professor with a beautiful baritone who led the students in the school song at the end of the ceremony. Excellent choice.

Our president, Aaron Podelefsky, is new - this is his first graduation - so I didn't know what to expect his speech to be like. He has excellent taste. It was a nice speech, with his own stories included, but not too wordy.

My family later laughed because they had problems with the sound. The President of the Board of Governors, who also spoke briefly, is a very tall gentleman. President Podelefsky, however, is... not. I'm guessing he's in the neighborhood of 5'5". Not a tall fellow!

One of the girls who sat next to me during the ceremony was entirely amusing in her stupidity. She's worthy of an entire post, soon. Suffice it to say, by the end of the ceremony I was wondering how she had managed to graduate...

After the ceremony I tracked down my favorite professor, Dr. F., who also happened to be one of the marshalls for the ceremony. Since my family planned on leaving town and not staying for any of the school-sponsored receptions, I wanted to thank her again for her awesomeness (is that a word) as a teacher. I found her, and she told me - 100% confirmation - that I passed my portfolio! Yay! I've had some confusion on this topic, so this was welcome news!

My family and our friends decided to eat out one last time in Warrensburg at our favorite Burgian restaurant - Mazzio's Pizza. What, are you surprised? It's a college town. Of course it's full of pizza places. We had an excellent meal. Afterwards we drove around and checked out a few sites for one last time in the 'burg, and it's been home sweet home ever since. Home sweet home, where I am relaxing and enjoying having nothing to do, at least for few days!

countdown: tomorrow!!!!!!

Tomorrow is graduation day. I never thought I'd see it come, but now it is here, Praise the Lord. Praises for bringing me into His family three years ago. Praises for the strength He has given me during the past two and a half years, to finish school. Praises for the providence, deliverance, hope, and love that have been showered upon me. Praises!

Thanks to Drea for that compliment about Miami's starring role in my profile pic. Drea, you have a three year old son who is very cute, as well as a husband who is also pretty good looking. :) Since I lack a husband, I stick with my small, four-footed friends as a source of cuteness!

Thanks to Michael Swartz for the early congrats. Michael, I am so thrilled that tomorrow is almost here, and so stunned that it is actually here. Wow.

Four and a half years have passed, and I can't believe that I will be crossing a stage tomorrow to accept my diploma. Ok... it won't actually be my diploma. At my university they roll up copies of the school song and tie them with a ribbon... then your diploma gets mailed to you a few days later. Which is good, I suppose, since I have NO IDEA what the school song is, but all the students and alumni will be asked to sing the song at the end of the ceremony.

WOW!!!

Sing your praise to the Lord
Come on everybody
Stand up and sing one more hallelujah
Sing your praise to the Lord
I could never tell you just how much
Good that it's gonna do you
Just to sing

Anew
The song your heart learned to sing
When He first gave His life to you
Well life goes on and so must the song
You gotta sing again the song born in your soul when
You first gave your heart to Him
Sing His praises once more

Sing your praise to the Lord
Come on everybody
Stand up and sing one more hallelujah
Sing your praise to the Lord
I could never tell you just how much
Good that it's gonna do you
Just to sing

Aloud the song that someone is dying
To hear down in the madding crowd
That you once were before you heard the song
You gotta let them know the truth
Is a light to shine upon the way that maybe they could go
And sing His praises once more

Sing your praise to the Lord
Come on everybody
Stand up and sing one more hallelujah
Sing your praise to the Lord
I could never tell you just how much
Good that it's gonna do you

Just to sing
Your praises to the Lord
And everybody sing
Your praises to the Lord

From the rising of the sun
To the place where it sets
The name of the Lord is to be praised
The Lord is exalted over all the nations
His glory above the heavens
Who is like the Lord our God
The One who sits enthroned on high
He who stoops to look down upon
Down upon this earth and its sky

And that is why you gotta sing
Sing your praise to the Lord
Come on everybody
Stand up and sing one more hallelujah
Sing your praise to the Lord
I could never tell you just how much
Good that it's gonna do you

Just to let the name of the Lord
Be praised both for now and ever more
Praise him oh ye servants

Praise the name of the Lord
Come on everybody
Stand up and sing one more hallelujah
Sing your praise to the Lord
I could never tell you just how much
Good that it's gonna do you

Just to sing
Your praises of the Lord
And everybody sing
Your praises of the Lord

4 days!!!

Every blessing you pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord Blessed be your name

-Tree63
I'm nearing the end of my term at my school, so this week, I'm observing several other teachers in the school for professional development. Today, by totally random circumstances, one class was early, another was late, and I managed to get a 10-minute break. I sat in a bean bag chair in one of the 2nd grade classrooms. This song had been playing on the radio this morning, and it was going through my head as I sat in that bean bag chair.

I closed my eyes and whispered the 23rd Psalm to myself. "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul..."

The only word I can use to describe the way I felt is "serenity". Perfectly serene. I sat in my bean bag chair, with my legs stretched out. Somewhere in the background, I could hear students and teachers passing in the hall. But it felt like those noises were on another planet. Right there, in that moment, it was just me and Jesus. I was in total peace, and for just that moment, all was right with the world.

Four days until graduation. I'm totally ready for it.

Shortcut to the music video for All I Really Want for Christmas

http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/chapman_steven_curtis/artist.jhtml#

Nadia Xiohannah

This morning, I got in my car to go to church and one of my *new* favorite songs was on the radio. But before I can explain why this song is one of my favorites I have to explain the story behind why...

It's June, 2002. (FYI this is before I became a Christian) I traveled to China with my family to visit my sister who, at that time, was living there. We saw lots of neat stuff, like the Great Wall and Emperor Mao's terra cotta soldiers. But at every hotel we stayed at (there were 3 or 4) we saw several families who were in China to adopt. The Chinese government had given them their children (baby girls), but they were waiting on papers from the U.S. embassy so that they could bring their babies home. I've always loved children, and to see these children just broke my heart. They were the sweetest, most innocent little girls, and through no fault of their own they did not have a home.

Ever since I became a Christian, adoption has been on my heart. Somehow I've always known that someday I will return to China for my daughter. The Bible calls me to care for the widows and orphans, and I cannot turn my back on them. Those who know me well know that there are also a number of other reasons why I would choose adoption, but this is the most important: Somewhere out there is my baby girl, and I would be heartless to abandon her.

Anyway, this morning I got in my car and they were playing one of my favorite songs. It's by Steven Curtis Chapman, who is a huge proponent of adoption, and I can barely listen to it without crying. It's called All I Really Want For Christmas.

The real kicker of it is that, in the middle of my pastor's sermon this morning, I was doodling on my notes and started writing out the lyrics to this song. Then all of a sudden I burst into tears. In the middle of my pastor's sermon! It was a show complete with streaked mascara (why did I decide to wear mascara today?) that left me scrambling for a kleenex!

Well, I don't know if you remember me or not
I'm one of the kids they brought in from the home
I was the red-haired boy in an old, green flannel shirt
You may not have seen me, I was standing off alone

I didn't come and talk to you 'cause that's never worked before
And you'll probably never see this letter, anyway
But just in case there's something you can do to help me out
I'll ask you one more time

All I really want for Christmas is someone to tuck me in
A shoulder to cry on if I lose, shoulders to ride on if I win
There's so much I could ask for, but there's just one thing I need
All I really want for Christmas is a family

Well, I guess I should go ahead and tell you now
If it's really true about that list you have
Somehow I always seem to end up in a fight
But I'm really trying hard not to be bad

But maybe if I had a brother or a dad to wrestle with
Maybe they could teach me how to get along
And from everything I've heard it sounds like the greatest gift on earth
Would be a mom

All I really want for Christmas is someone to tuck me in
A shoulder to cry on if I lose, shoulders to ride on if I win
There's so much I could ask for, but there's just one thing I need
All I really want for Christmas is a family

All I really want for Christmas is someone who'll be here
To sing me happy birthday for the next 100 years
And it's okay if they're not perfect or even if they're a little broken
That's all right, 'cause so am I

Well I guess I should go, it's almost time for bed
And maybe next time I write you I'll be at home

Cause all I really want for Christmas is someone to tuck me in
Tell me I'll never be alone, someone who's love will never end
Of all that I could ask for, well, there's just one thing I need
All I really want for Christmas is a family

Tell me, how can I say no? How can I say no to the Lord? How can I say no to a baby girl?

troubled and saddened

It seems that at least one visitor to my blog has entirely misinterpreted my friendship with s, which has led me to create this post. S and I are friends. Friends with a capital "F". Friends. We have never, ever, ever done anything that could be interpreted as physically inappropriate. He is just about the best friend I have ever had, but we are just that. We are friends, and nothing more.

To those who come to my blog with pure intentions...

I will be giving him an ultimatum because S and I are far to emotionally intimate. We have (or at least, he has) all of the comfort and security of a committed relationship, with none of the commitment or responsibility. I refuse to be put in a holding pattern of complacency.

I love Jimmy Stewart movies!

"What is it you want, Mary?... You want the moon? Just say the word and I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down... I'll give you the moon, Mary... Then you could swallow it, and it'd all dissolve... and the moon beam'd shoot out of your fingers and your toes and the ends of your hair."
-Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey in It's A Wonderful Life

Meet my little ball of fluff!

Tonight I decided to make a toy for Miami. I used an idea which I heard about this morning on Petkeeping with Mark Morrone (a great show for pet care advice). I already only give Miami untreated cardboard, and since I'm a bit lazy, that usually amounts to toilet paper and paper towel rolls. It's easier than sorting all the dyed cardboard that enters our house.



Anyway, I took an ordinary toilet paper roll



and I stuffed it with timothy hay



to create a toy for Miami.



I put it in her cage, along with a strip of toilet paper. TP is awesome, because it is cheap and it is the best bedding imaginable for hamsters. Look in the top-right corner of the cage.



When I was finally able to distract her from her wheel









she fell in love with the toy, as you can see!

mildly melancholy

I've had two snow days, which has been nice. I'm completely caught up and spending lots of time at home relaxing, which is nice. I've finished some of my Christmas shopping, which is nice. And I will probably do the rest of my Christmas shopping today, which will be nice.

But I had a realization, which shocked me and depressed me all at the same time. I ordered Steve's gift online, and probably spent more than I should have on it. But I realized this...

This gift is more than a Christmas gift. This gift is a good-bye gift, a going away gift. This is the last gift I will give him before I embark on my life without him.

I'm graduating in one week. I look forward to it and I dread it all at the same time. I look forward to it because, well, it's graduation. I dread it because after graduation, I will have to be honest with steve. I have to tell him that he can't have his cake and eat it too.

It makes me so sad to think of that, because I am so afraid of what he will say, and so frighteningly sure that he will not be interested in me. And it makes me so sad to imagine my life without his precious friendship. I have to remind myself that God is faithful, and that He will bring something better into my life. Sometimes it's hard being human.

Snow day! snow day! snow day!

Woohoo!!!! Tomorrow we have a snow day!!!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!!!

I'm so happy because having an entire day off of school will give me a chance to get caught up. Not to mention a chance to sleep in!!!! Wahoo!!!!

Today was about as crazy as they come. My supervising teacher had to get a sub (she told me about it yesterday afternoon) because she was getting some tests run and blood drawn and stuff at her doctor's office. So, it's already a bit crazy because she's not there. Early this morning (like, an hour and half before school started), it started snowing. Now, we have three floor-to-ceiling windows and no window blinds in our classroom. So the kids start school, and of course, the snow is far more interesting than I am.

I'm limping my way through the morning, so to speak, and come lunchtime I find out that we are going to be dismissed one hour early. We decided not to trade classes this afternoon, so after lunch I started a movie for the kids. The afternoon was pretty relaxing, kind of a make up afternoon where the kids could watch a movie and make up on any late work they had. We had indoor recess and finally... all seemed to be well...

Dismissal was at 3:05. The time was 3:02, and I'm thinking, this is good, I think I've pulled it off, look at this, everyone is still in one piece. Suddenly from across the room I hear one of my boys yell, "Miss T, I think I'm gonna throw up!" This was accompanied by that pained look that told me that he really was sick. Suddenly, I'm thinking... do I send him to the nurse? Usually we don't send kids to the nurse during the last hour of school. Then I'm like, what the hey, he really looks like he is sick.

So I pull out my stack of clinic passes from my desk and call this student to come over to me. He takes three steps towards me and - BLAH!!! - we have vomit on the carpet. I guide him over to the trash can (meanwhile he makes two more vomit productions) and I just tell him not to worry about a clinic pass, but to take this trash can with him to the nurse and if he has to throw up... well, aim!

Oh my! I love teaching... but I don't love it when kids throw up on my carpet! It's a good thing that God has arranged for me to have a day to recover from these experiences!

I am going to be grading papers for the rest of my life!

Seriously... I have a ton of papers to grade tonight. Like two or three hundred.

Sorry that I haven't blogged in awhile, but I have just been so unbelievably busy. I just don't have the time that I would like to devote to this blog during the week. Hopefully it will improve in another week or two.

Drea, I'm afraid you're right. I hate to turn on comment moderation because I want my blog to be a place of open discussion. Also, during the week, I have hardly any time to devote to this blog. I have begun working so much during the week that I have almost no time left over for blogging. But I will not put up with profanity on my blog. So I might give it another day or two, but if it continues, I will definitely turn on moderation.

Apparently a few of my comments on another blog have incited an explosion of anti-Christianism. Ah, the good old days. Like Jesus says in Matthew 9, "you will be hated by all nations because of me". I guess sometimes I forget how intensely we can be hated.

And I have just this to say to those who stumble across my blog: Kids are a blessing that I pray I am blessed with someday. And prescription drugs saved my life. As long as they keep my heart beating and my lungs breathing, I'll continue to take prescriptions.