Spare Parts

Strong Girl, Raised

2011-11-14T00:28:00.001-07:00

My parents had only daughters, 2 of us. Their motto and referencefor thinking in raising us girls was "Raise Strong Girls". Theytaught me to be smart, capable, and about what matters.

Be Smart: Myparents placed me in an environment, culture, and society where knowledgereally is power. Learn, simply for the sake of learning. Read poetry simplybecause it invigorates your mind. The Church values knowledge and learning.Through this, also introduced to me and taught by my parents, I learned tovalue knowledge. Love to learn. I was taught that I have been blessed with abrain, and with that I have a responsibility to fill and use it. Their parentstaught them the same lesson, and it was passed down to me. My poetry book isthe same as one my grandpa has. His is heavily worn, all the pages read, spineheld together by duct tape. I watch him slowly turn through the pages, recitingthe poems printed on the pages, but not reading them. He pulls them deep frommemory, from a place deeper than he seems to be able to access for otherinformation. This, these familiar, learned, beautiful words are what heremembers. What you know is a solace, a comfort, a friend when all other thingsleave you.

Be Capable: Ilearned to be capable, be independent. My place in the world is wherever I wantto be. I have chosen to become a teacher, but eventually to stay home with myfamily. I was taught that what I can do is important. I need to have thepotential to be completely independent. Should I need to support my family, andmyself; I need to have the skills to do so. Throughout college I havetaken classes in electronics, robotics, woodworking, sewing, cooking, finance,parenting, nutrition, interior design, among others. I am learning skills thatI can use to take care of my family, if the need arises.

Know what matters: I learned that friends may come and go, butfamily is where time matters. I will always have my family and thoserelationships are more important than anything. I was taught to stay close tofamily members, help them, even when it means sacrificing something that Iwant, or time that I want to use elsewhere. The gospel matters. It also is moreimportant than anything. Whatever happens, I will always have my family, andthe Church.

Here I am, as a strong daughter, Raised.

A few of my Favorite Things

2010-01-20T12:18:00.003-07:00

1. Yellow- I love the color as long as it is the right shade. I love creamy, softer yellows, not like caution signs or Wal-Mart Smiley faces. I have lots of yellow stuff.
2. Sunsets- My favorite thing to do in the evening, especially in winter, is to watch the sun go down. I will watch the shadows get longer and the light turn more blue and then I know it is time to say goodnight to the sun for the day. I love simple less colorful sunsets as well as the vividly colored ones.
3. Good bread-By bread I mean good French bread, or sourdough. Crusty and wonderful with cheese. I am fairly picky as to which breads I LOVE versus the ones that I like, but I know my favorites.
4. To lie in bed doing nothing knowing that you don’t have to get up yet-the feeling of things to do—but not just yet. The mild suspense of a day yet to come, but able to wait a few minutes.
5. Watching people-People are all so different. It is so much fun to just sit and watch what happens. The best is when you can hear bits of conversations, but just watching is nice too.
6. Blogs- This goes along with my love of watching people. Blogs offer a snapshot into the writers life that otherwise would be unavailable. I love to read blogs of people that I don’t know. I get involved in their life and they seem to become one of my friends although they have no idea that I know they exist.
7. Photography-I love to take pictures. If I had all the time in the world, one of the first things I would do would be to better learn how to take great pictures. Being able to present so simply what I see is such an amazing thing
8. Photographs- Looking at photographs, especially museum quality ones, is a love I seldom get to experience. Photographs are like paintings, but of things that the viewer knows really happened, not something pulled out of the imagination of someone. The emotions that are easily shared through a simple image can be so varied.
9. Getting letters in the mail- Knowing that someone took the time to write something and send it as a little surprise for me to find later just makes me happy.
10. Looking at the stars- to quote the song by Switchfoot, “when I look at the stars, I feel like myself” Looking at something that far away that is still so beautiful here is amazing. Also, looking through a telescope at the things that are so beautiful if you are willing to work to see them. Empty looking patches of the sky are really full of stars.
11. Spending an afternoon with a book and a bowl of popcorn- Being able to leave this world and enter the world of the book is so relaxing yet energizing, and the popcorn doesn’t hurt either. Learning about how others think and such helps me realize more about my own life.
12. Watching little kids- Kids have a totally different view on the world than older people do. Everything with children takes more time than if it were to be done alone, but letting them do their own thing, even just walking on their own instead of being put into the stroller is so fun to watch.
13. Smelling books- Books smell good.
14. Playing piano-Piano is my way to de-stress. Sadly, I don’t really have access to one very frequently, so I have to find other ways to calm down. The best is having a piano while nervously waiting for a date to come. Having a few songs that I can just play while my mind wanders helps a lot.
15. Going places with my dad- Even if it is just to the hardware store to get a few screws, I love going places with my dad. He seems to know everything about whatever I am wondering. He can explain all about things on a million topics. I guess I love just talking to him more than being in these places.
16. Ending a run-The end means it is over, meaning I started at some point but don’t have to keep going right now.
17. The silent sound of snow-This is one time I understand the sound of silence. The world is muted through the snow, all sounds are dulled. It is a special kind of silence that has as much presence as music does.
18. Beautiful architecture-The thought that goes into a design of a building, to make it unique, but functional. It is like a functioning, practical piece of art.
19. Going places- I love to travel. I haven’t ever left the U.S. but I do love the places I have been. Seeing people that I won’t see again, and the anonymity of being just another person is intriguing.
20. Pasta salad-Pasta. Italian dressing. Cheese. Olives. Amazing.
21. Clouds-They are always changing, but always have some sense of what they are. They change shape and color but they are still clouds
22. Plants- I love plants and flowers. Anything that grows. I am happiest when I don’t have to weed the garden around them, so indoor plants are so fun. I love buying flowers just for fun and arranging them. I also love having something that is alive from outside inside my room during the winter when everything looks so dead.
23. Going home- The feeling of being at home is great. I am blessed to have a good home that I can go to frequently and be welcome there. I love knowing where everything is and all the little rules of the house, like don’t sit on the arms of the couches, don’t put stuff on the piano, etc.
24. Words- I love to write, but rarely do so. I love knowing words and talking. I tend to talk too much generally, but I love words. I have been a voracious reader nearly since I started to read.

Snow Shoes

2010-01-01T14:25:00.003-07:00

I went snowshoeing for my first time today. I got snowshoes last year but the snow got rained on and I got busy, so I never had the opportunity to go. I am blessed to live in a place where a fifteen minute drive from home takes me where I can go enjoy the outdoors. I really liked snowshoeing; it was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. I was expecting it to be as hard as backpacking or something. Granted, I was on a trail where other people (snowmobiles, cross country skiiers, etc.) had all been, so the trail was fairly packed. I was passed by a jogger who was just in normal shoes and he was doing pretty well. It did get harder when I went off the path and into the looser powder and scrub oak. Clothing wise I was pretty comfortable. I had jeans, borrowed gaiters, a long sleeved shirt, a hoodie and my new Gore-Tex shell. It was cloudy, but not too cold.

Christmas Lights

2009-12-27T20:59:00.000-07:00

General Conference

2009-10-04T16:24:00.001-06:00

What a great weekend! Getting to sit and listen to the Prophet and others speak for two days is wonderful. Conference sessions can be found here. I found a blog with really good notes on the talks here. Can't wait until next conference in April!

Life's too short to have a boring umbrella

2009-09-30T17:19:00.001-06:00

Due to a large storm starting late yesterday and growing into everything a storm should be, there were lots of umbrellas on campus today. Walking to class this morning there were those who had umbrellas, those who wished they had one, and those who weren't awake enough yet to realize that they needed one. Oh, and a few like me who had a waterproof jacket and whose roommates didn't and they needed the couple umbrellas in the apartment more than I did. That pretty much covers everyone.
As I was walking, I noticed one girl had an umbrella. A rather large one. She saw someone who had woken up enough to realize it was raining, but not until he was outside in shorts and a t-shirt. She ran up to him and walked next to him, sharing her umbrella. I heard her introduce herself and walk towards the building he was going to. As they reached the doorway, she said "Nice to meet you" and ran off to class. I think the guy smiled the whole day.
Later, as I was walking back to campus for a later class, I had an umbrella. I don't know where it came from, it just was here in my apartment when I moved in. It is one of the cool ones with the pointy thing on the tip and the curved handle. The best part about it is that printed on the cloth-ey part is this painting, Poppies at Argenteuil. Makes for a pretty bright umbrella. Noticing the looks I was getting from my brightly colored umbrella, I started looking at others. For the most part, they are terribly boring! Black and navy were the most common colors! Where were the neons? the pastels? the Anything-but-black's? As if rainy days aren't blah colored enough, at least get a colorful umbrella.

Stormy Monday

2009-09-14T17:42:00.000-06:00

They called it stormy monday,but tuesday is just as bad
Oh, they called it, they called it stormy monday,
But tuesday, tuesday is just as bad
Oh, wednesday is worst and thursday oh so sad

The eagle flies on friday now, saturday Ill go out to play
Oh, the eagle, the eagle flies on friday saturday Ill go out and play
Sunday Ill go to church, and I fall on my knees and pray

I say, lord have mercy, lord have mercy on me
But lord, lord have mercy lord have mercy on me
You know Im crazy bout my baby
Lord, please send her back home to me

School!

2009-08-29T13:42:00.000-06:00

I am halfway excited to begin school again on Monday. Having something to do all the time will be exciting, but I'm not sure that I want that "something to do" to be school. I am excited for the classes I am taking. I think they will be a lot of work, but will be ones that I enjoy. I am taking a break from my major (Technology Engineering Education) while I decide if that is really what I want to do. Instead, I am taking lots of General Ed classes that I will have to take eventually anyways, and have to be finished with before applying to the other major I am considering, Elementary Education.

I am excited to get new school things and to organize them all. A few weeks ago my mom, sister and I went school shopping. I didn't get much, but I really like what I did get: a button up shirt, a sweater/jacket thing, and a bag.

I also recently got another bag that I totally love at the local Farmers market. She sells them here. They are wonderfully big and bright. I am going to use mine for textbooks on lighter days, and for groceries when I remember to go shopping.

I am looking for a job on campus and it isn't going too well. I have applied to lots, but heard back from none of them. I just have to keep looking I guess.

I have been looking for simple things to cook for dinner that I can easily reheat the rest of the week for lunches. What are things that make good leftovers? What are some that are fast to make when I am tired after classes?

2009-08-27T17:15:00.001-06:00

Cleaning can only take up so much time. I have been working on fixing my apartment to a liveable state since my previous roommates left and didn't take a lot

Food

2009-08-17T23:24:00.001-06:00

Food. Its on my mind right now for some reason. Which is unusual, because unless I am cooking, I don't care much about food. It is late and I could and probably should eat something, because I don't like breakfasts. I have a love/hate relationship with food. I love making it and sometimes enjoy eating it, but I often dislike having to eat. If I didn't get sick from not eating, I would probably go several days between eating. But I do get sick, so I do eat fairly regularly. Being a student makes having food constantly is a bit of an issue. I do alright when I go shopping regularly. Enough about food. I think I will go eat cereal now. That sounds good....

Worlds coolest boyfriend

2009-06-17T23:42:00.000-06:00

I have the worlds coolest boyfriend. Ya he lives at least 6 hours away from me. But that is ok. Tonight he stayed up and helped me study for a final I have tomorrow. We worked on it for a couple hours. He had no idea what he was even quizzing me on most of the time (Astronomy). I tried to escape but he was determined. I even facebook messaged his sister for help! (Did not work.) In the end we got through it all. I was (and am) pretty tired.
He says:
and...thats all
you are studied
I say:
good
He says:
so
what now
I say:
do i get nachos?
He says:
do you want nachos?
I say:
mjh,
He says:
then you get nachos
See? What a good boyfriend. He lets me have nachos at 11. Cool.

Floral Class

2009-06-10T09:56:00.001-06:00

I am in a Floral Design class this spring at school and here are some of the arrangements I have done.

This is a Dutch spiral wrapped bouquet.

These are a wrapped bouquet I did.

Gnome Vacation

2009-03-02T21:52:00.001-07:00

Spring? Maybe?

2009-02-24T22:25:00.000-07:00

There is hope!

Aside from the lovely warm weather so far this week, there is hope of spring coming. I discovered these a week or so ago in our garden when there was still snow around.

And lastly, the best thing of all...

Blue sky!!

Ice Ice... yeah...

2009-01-24T16:03:00.000-07:00

I was home earlier this week and saw these cool ice crystals on our grass. So I had to take pictures of them :)

Clueless

2009-01-18T23:36:00.000-07:00

I wanted to write a post today, but couldn't think of anything to write about. For Christmas I got a Writers block. (The Writer's Block by Jason Rekulak) So I decided to pick a page and write about that. I opened to a page that said Sparkword: Clueless. That meant that I had to write about being clueless.
This was a difficult topic for me to write about. Not because I am clueless though. Far from that. It is because I have no idea which incident I should write about. I feel clueless so frequently that I couldn't pick just one moment. (I am taking a math class if that explains anything) So I guess I got a firsthand experience with being clueless tonight. It isn't too much fun.
The one thing that I can think of that is me being clueless right now is remembering my electronics class last semester. I would work and work to get all the parts lined up and try to test the circuit, but it wouldn't work. And I didn't have the faintest idea why. I am just thankful I had a patient teacher and a bit of free time when he wasn't teaching classes. The feeling of having absolutely no idea what was happening is not fun. I guess I figured enough of it out because I managed to come out of the class with a B+. Not too bad for something that goes totally over my head.
I guess I have that feeling again in my math class right now. But that is in no way unfamiliar to me with math. Just a part of life.
When have you felt the most clueless? Did the Ah-ha moment ever come?

Sick Day

2009-01-15T20:52:00.001-07:00

I am sick today. It is not fun. Not one bit. I was scheduled for 12 hours in classes today. First one was at 8 AM and I was supposed to get done at 10 PM. My teacher let us out three hours early though. Still meant that I had that class for 3 hours, but still. (Here I will ramble about today, no idea what I am even thinking. Read at your own risk) Getting home at 7 instead of 10 is a nice thing. I got home and immediately crashed on the floor with a blanket for about 45 minutes. I finally got dinner after roommates commanded me to. I ate and went and lay on my bed crying for a while. Called my parents and they told me that they wanted me to come home. So after a while I did. So now, I am at home doing pretty much the same thing I was at my apartment.

Being sick has messed with my brain and so now I am going to write about my favorite memory of being sick. I was about 7 and had a fever and a cold or flu or something. It was late and I was up with my dad because I couldn't sleep. He showed me a secret stash of Hershey bars and gave me a couple Popsicles. I most distinctly remember sitting wrapped in a blanket with a chocolate bar on my lap, Popsicle in hand watching South Pacific with my dad. Although I was sick, it is still one of my favorite memories.

Gnome vacation: A photo story

2009-01-10T00:50:00.000-07:00

Being a gnome is a drab life. You sit on a shelf or in a garden, watching life happen to everyone else. Finally it becomes simply too much to bear. It is time for a vacation. You pack your bag and head out. After many tricky situations, you finally are on your way. Until....

A closed door. This is a serious predicament indeed.

What a discouraging view. Maybe this is why gnomes don't get out much.

BBQ Sauce

2009-01-01T20:23:00.000-07:00

I asked my sister what to write about today, and she told me to write about BBQ sauce. So here we go I guess...
My sister had a lovely experience today with BBQ sauce. We went out to dinner tonight, and she got the kids menu rib plate. It was a meaty little rack of 4 ribs. I honestly think she got more sauce on her than in her mouth. In the end she was rubbing it on her hands and face. Basically making herself a total mess. My family was cracking up, as was the waiter. In the end she said that the ribs were good, which means that SOMETHING ended up in her mouth.
Our night out to dinner was the reward for cleaning the house and putting away the Christmas decorations. The house looks strange without all the Christmas things everywhere. Definitely is cleaner though. It will be strange to leave to go back to my apartment next week.

Turtles

2008-12-31T21:42:00.001-07:00

It is Christmas Eve!

2008-12-24T16:34:00.000-07:00

It is the day before Christmas! There will be snow here for our white Christmas. My family goes out to breakfast on Christmas Eve morning. It was very good. While we were driving there at about 8:00 this morning, the temperature was between 14 and 17 degrees. The wind was probably between 25 and 30 mph as well. It made for a very cold walk through the parking lot. The picture above is from the car while we were driving home.

Today I made cookies. It was nice to not be in a hurry making something. I spent two hours and now have lots of frosted sugar cookies. In case you cant tell, we have red hearts and santas, (the blob things are Santa with his pack on his back. The two in the picture below are upside down.) yellow stars and bells, and green Christmas trees.

Library Trips

2008-12-23T17:48:00.001-07:00

Beware of the library. Okay, not really. Just don't go with me unless you want a huge pile of books. In under a half hour I managed to find 13 books that make a total of 4409 pages. I also got 2 CD's and 3 DVD's. As I read them, I will try to post reviews of how good they are. They range through a variety of genres and reading levels. I still prefer the teen fiction over most any adult fiction.

Snow and Home

2008-12-22T18:27:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am talking about snow. But its what is happening around me. We got a massive snow storm today. My dad measured a foot deep in the level, non drifty parts. I got a couple pictures this evening.

More snow but at home this time

2008-12-19T15:22:00.000-07:00

Finals are finished and there is nothing else I can do for any of my classes. My grades are astuck being whatever they are at. I am going to miss a lot of my friends from various classes, but am excited for next semester.

I am home for Christmas break. That in and of itself is cause for celebration. But the problem is that I miss my roommates now that we are all home. It is also weird to have nothing random going on. Usually if I get bored, I can just go talk to one of them and they will be doing something fun or will remind me of something I need to do.

There is a lot less for me to do around the house here. At my apartment I have to cook dinner if I want to eat. I have to keep everything cleaned up or it turns into chaos. Here, it is already done! Very strange.

I went to go visit friends at the high school today. It was really fun to see some people who I haven't seen in a few months. I got lots of hugs and a chance to talk. When I was done visiting people I looked outside and it was nearly a blizzard. After fighting through the crazy wind that was trying to kill me, I had to drive home. Thank goodness for 4-wheel drive. It took me over twenty minutes to make a five minute drive. The visibility was poor. My guess is about three houses was maximum. As I would pass a house I was slowly able to see the dark space where the third house down was.

Once I got home I took a few pictures to try to show how snowy it really is.

It's COLD!!

2008-12-16T10:44:00.001-07:00

This whole winter thing is not a foreign concept for me. I am just used to winter starting in early November, not late December. As much as I don't like being cold, I love winter. It snowed somewhat significantly today. I am partly afraid to drive onto campus because other people are not used to driving in snow. I guess they will get used to it. I am glad it snowed though.
Interesting observations about snow:

Snow makes things warmer. I know that doesn't make any sense, because snow is, well, COLD. But it makes the outside temperature feel warmer if it does not actually make it warmer.
Snow does not fall silently. There is a sound in its silence. This also makes no sense, but until you experience it you will not understand. There is a different kind of silence in the snow. Everything sounds muted.
Snow brings out either the inner child or the inner old person. Either you love the snow and are captivated by its magic, or you ignore its beauty and grump about how its cold and wet. Personally I think the childlike approach is better because there is nothing you can do about snow. It is here until it wants to leave.

Here are some pictures I took this morning of the snow.

Origin

2008-12-12T10:16:00.000-07:00

The name for this blog came from a box. I know, that is rather strange, but it is true. I was getting Christmas lights out to put up in my room and I looked on the back of the box. Now, I have this strange habit of reading EVERYTHING. Cereal boxes, billboards, ads, and apparently light boxes. The box lists the typical Caution: touching wires that may have lead in them has been found in California to cause cancer etc. (I think that notice is on everything in California.) then the Very Important! electrical announcements (This product might shock you unless you read the instructions. It just KNOWS who has read them). Then I see the heading Spare Parts. (2 twinkler bulbs, 2 regular bulbs and 2 spare fuses if you were wondering.) I have been thinking about making a blog and I figured that would be as good a name as any. So I went for it.
I am sure that story was just fascinating, but I don't exactly have a direction I am taking with whatever I post here. It is all going to be just Spare Parts.