Another Semester Bites the Dust

WOOOOOHOOOOOO!!

I finished my semester! I did it! AND I finished strong!

AAAAND I think I might have pulled all A's!!

I'm super proud of myself.

Plus this Saturday night/Sunday morning is Husband Man's last night shift of the year (and hopefully ever, but he's studying IT and so you never know what hours they'll make him work in a real job).

And then we're both home-free for three weeks!! Since Husband Man had to work Thanksgiving break, he made other people work Christmas week and gave himself tons of time off.

I'm so excited!! One more semester and we'll be gradumacated! Except for Husband- I mean, he'll graduate, but then he'll take another semester of classes in anticipation for the Master's program he's hoping to get into for next year.

It's so funny-- I'm sitting here brainlessly watching Say Yes to the Dress on youtube and for a moment I thought, Uh-oh, I should make sure I get my homework done so Dan doesn't have to get after me...

Oh, wait! Hahaha!

Pretty sure I'm sleeping in tomorrow. And working on my story.

Happy finals, everyone!

(Haha... "happy" finals... hahahahaha)

Thanksgiving 2012

Yes, we were at home for Thanksgiving. It was a bummer to not visit my family again this year, but Husband Man had to work. Even still, we had fun cooking all day (I had to be careful not to bake a million things, there are only two of us!) and on Friday we went to visit my aunt, uncle, and two cousins for a day. We still had fun! Now I have to go tackle all those projects due on Monday...

Happy Thanksgiving!

F. H. E. Monday #2

Last night I told Dan that it was his turn to plan FHE. He pulled out the book and picked one, and I don't have the book with me but I remember the activity.

The book gave us fifteen lists with six random things on each of them, words like "circus" "Winter" "mother" or "tree". I would read a list to him, word by word, and without saying anything he was supposed to write down the first word that he thought of when I read him a word. So I would say  "tree" and he would write down "leaves" or whatever it was that came to him first. Then we would switch and he would read to me and I would write down what I first thought of.

After we did that, I would go back to the original list and try and guess what he had written down for each word. So it would go something like this...

M: First word is "tree" so... leaves? Green? Bark? Brown? Rough? Stump?
H: Not even close.
M: Tree... hugger? Tree... chopper?
H: Yeah, no.
M: All right, moving on... next word is "flower" Um... colorful? Pretty? Sparkly? Leaves? Petals?
H: Petals, you got it.
M: Ok, next word...

This taught me that Husband Man and I think really differently. One word was "mother". I was guessing things like "stubborn" "happy" "pretty" "loving" and he had written down "in-law". He would often think of continuations, so if the word was "football" he would put "field" or something like that. Not all the time, but often. When he was telling me words I would see pictures in my mind, either of the object or something related to it. So he would say "dog" and I would see a picture of the dog, and I would recognise his ears first so I would put "ears". If he said something more abstract I'd see something related to it, so "dreams" made me think of clouds.


Like I said, this really taught me that Husband Man and I think differently-- A LOT differently. We did two lists each time, and the first time he guessed five out of the twelve words I wrote down and I only got something like three. We did another round, and he got five again and I got... none. His brain works differently from mine, and so he would think of other things first than I would. I always knew we thought differently, but this really reinforced it and so when we have misunderstandings I hope I remember this and realise that he doesn't always see things the same way I do.

Plus this activity was just fun in general. "The word was "autumn" and you put... "ottoman"? How on earth did you get that??" Hahaha-- Try it sometime! It's an easy and fun activity!

By the way, I'm listening to a song from the Prince of Persia soundtrack. This soundtrack is one of my favorites, go listen to it!

Yockeyite Banter

While putting groceries away...
Me: Please put the marshmallows with the chocolate chips."
HusbandMan: Are you sure we shouldn't just put them with the regular chips? I mean, you eat them like chips..."


Sitting on the couch...
M: Did you shave today? You're scruffy.
H: ....I'm a real boy! Excuse me while I go drag a razor sharp piece of steel across my face--
M: <laughing> Hooray, you have a five-o-clock shadow!

While traveling in the car... (I must have smacked him or something...)
H: You were like SMITE and I was like SLAIN.... <makes blood spurting noises>

After making a breakfast cake...
M: Look! I only made a tiny mess!
H: What have you done with my wife?

While trying to do homework with Sous Chef (one of my friends up here, she's awesome):
M: Life is strange and unusual.
S: <quietly> punishment...

While talking about particularly bad-for-you desserts...
M: They call it "better than sex cake" but it has coconut in it, and coconut is not better than sex.
S: <horror-stricken>
S and H: <burst out laughing>
M: Did I really just say that?

M: Are we allowed to use the word "sex" on our blog?
H: Well, they have it in the Bible.
S: Usually when it's in the Bible it's called "adultery"...

While Husband Man was trying to kiss attack me, I put my hands up to cover my face...
H: I used to be a lover like you, and then I took a diamond in the teeth...

Sous Chef while cooking bacon...
S: Bacon, bacon, sizzle sizzle, you'd better taste good... for shizzle....??

After looking for something on the top shelf of our closet...
M: My face and my trumpet [case] got in a fight, and my trumpet won.

Texting my baby sister...
S: What if you farted so explosively that the friction from your butt cheeks set your pants on fire?
M (in real life after reading it): . . . . . <evil thought>
M (in text): You should ask [Husband Man] how that goes.
S: He's set his pants on fire? That's so cool!
M: <facepalm>

While waiting for the chiropractor...
M: How's this for my Husband Man muppet face impersonation?
H: You have little wrinkles... frowny dimples...?
M: Frimples!

WOOHOO!!

If anyone knows anything about me, they know that I'm totally done with college and school. I'm still chugging away at it, however, and I'm reaching the end. Husband Man and I are planning on graduating in April.

And I know for a fact that I'll be graduating, because this last Wednesday I stopped by the lead adviser of the Performing Arts and sat down with her for hopefully the last time and figured out what I have to take next semester.

And guess what?

I only have 5 credits of required classes to take next semester.

And it gets better.

Here's the full story:
I go in and sit down with her. When I talked to her last semester, we got everything mapped out and I had about 8 credits to take my final semester. However, to keep from having to take more classes, I wanted to switch to the newest catalog, because it said that my Music History classes could double for World History classes. That wasn't the only change that came with the catalog, however-

It changed the number of total credits that I needed for the degree to 120, and I already have 119 (not including this current semester's credits).

It removed the requirement of a minor/clusters. That meant that I could drop my music cluster without consequence, and the classes I had already accumulated for that cluster were added to the electives for my degree. Those extra classes actually completed my degree, and my adviser turned to me and said in a quiet voice, "You don't have to take any more music classes. ...Did you hear what I just said??" She was just as excited as I am! I've completed my degree! And I don't have to take 7:45AM class if I don't want to!

But I can't graduate quite yet, because I have one last foundation (our gen-ed) class to take. And since that class is required and I'm going to be here anyways, I decided to keep my creative writing cluster since I only had one class left to complete that. I also want to continue organ lessons. That's 6 credits total.

THIS. IS. AWESOME.

I'm seriously considering taking some fun classes. Classes I want to take. The crazy thing is, who ever heard of a music major who got to take extraneous classes? My adviser recommended a basic cooking class, and I'm also considering a basic baking class or another religion class or a sewing class... Or I could take nothing at all besides those 6 credits and just stay part-time. I haven't checked with the financial office, but so long as my adviser is correct I can even still get financial aid- I get half if I take 6 credits, three-quarters if I take 9, and the full thing for 12 credits.

If there's a train wreck coming, I'm ignoring it until it gets here. I'm so excited that my last semester could possibly be fun. It's MY semester.

Take that, college!

F.H.E. Monday #1

So I'm going to start doing an Family Home Evening run of posts, but mostly because I really enjoyed what we did last night for ours!

To be honest, we are really awful about doing FHE. We've been married for two years and I can count on one hand the number of times we've had it. We've heard the counsel, I've felt the impressions that it's so important- one of the biggest ones being, if you can't do it when there's two of you then how will you do it in the future when you have kids and even more responsibilities?- but we've just been plain lazy.

A while ago, while at DI, I found this cute little booklet put out in 2002 called "Family Home Evening for Newlyweds" and it has a TON of cute and fun ideas. There are different topics, some for just the couple, some that would work for groups, some for holidays; some that cost a little money or not money, or little preparation or no preparation... it's really cool!

So last night I decided that it was now or never with FHE, and I grabbed the booklet. I got as far as page nine before I'd found a couple ideas that I wanted to do. Husband Man decided on one, and it was called "Alphabet Soup" (they have super cheesy names, btw):

The idea was very simple- You take a piece of paper and write out the alphabet down one side, and then you think of words to describe your spouse. The book's examples were silly, like "Always smiling" for A and we wanted actual descriptions that began with A like "Awesome" or "Annoying" or whatever. (Disclaimer: I didn't call Husband Man "annoying".) Some of mine for Husband Man were "Book-a-holic" and "Logical" and a few silly things like "Yow Maximus" (that's a name he came up with that he wants to bestow up on one of our future children. Don't worry, I said N-O).

The activity doesn't seem like it would take that long, but we tried to be really creative and so it actually took quite a while! And since I finished first I chose a scripture, Genesis 2:24, that I thought could go along with the activity. When we were both done I read the scripture, and then we sat together and took turns reading them- "I put ____ for A, what did you have?" and so on down the alphabet.

It was super fun because it got my brain thinking, and it made me respect and appreciate my husband even more as I tried to think up a ton different and creative ways to describe him and tell him how I appreciate him- in only a word or two.

I love  my goober of a husband!

Homework Ate My Life

You want a blog post? You want a blog post?

This is all you're getting. Sorry.

Oh, ok, fine. Stop pouting. Here-

My siblings are awesome.

This is me all the time.

Oh my- I've resorted to putting internet cat pictures on the blog. I'd better go drag Husband Man out of bed so we can go to the dentist. (That's his most favoritest place on the earth by the way, I'm sure he will just pop out of bed when I mention it.)

I really need to leave now before something else bad happens.

There is a little bit about what's going on if you go here (and maybe here if you're extra bored) and I have a post almost completed of random funny conversations we've had, but otherwise... yes. Night shifts and homework. And the dentist. The end.

Second Anniversary

Hooray! Husband Man and I have been married for two years! (Almost exactly- we were in the temple right about this time!!)

I'm sure we've all had those times when there's a day that we've been looking forward to for forever, and then it doesn't turn out at all the way you wanted it to.

I'm having one of those days. Or couple of days.

I decided to skip organ masterclass yesterday so I could get a bunch of homework done, which sort of backfired on me. I have a large-ish project coming up where I need to harmonize a tune to be arranged and played by a string quintet. This can be tedious, but I forgot we had it because the teacher never announced it in class. So I was going to get a head start on it yesterday, but the piano lab that I needed to do my project was closed for two hours in the name of FHE. While I appreciate the intention, it was not helpful or practical. I tried to get other homework done, and now I have to do the entire thing today after classes.

What makes it worse is that Husband Man has been telling me for the last two weeks he has something planned for our anniversary. Since we got married during the semester and didn't get a honeymoon, this really means a lot to me. He told me yesterday would be a good day to do it, but the homework fiasco prevented it. So we arranged for it to be done today, after I work on my project, but I don't know how long my project will take and I still have other homework. And on top of that I didn't sleep that great last night, so I was zoning out hardcore in my 9AM class this morning, and when I got to my English class I realised that I'd forgotten an assignment.

Today is going to be difficult. Someday I hope I can celebrate my anniversary...

Yockeyites Are Getting Healthier

I couldn't think of a better title. This is totally going to turn people away. BUT DON'T! This is so cool!

So we've been married for almost two years, and we aren't very good at doing things we probably should. Cleaning the house? We vacuum before people come over... Which isn't often. Fruits and veggies? Here and there. Exercise? Not really. We're even really bad at drinking water!

Well, I got sick of this. I wanted us to get into better habits. Yeah, we're college students, we can't do everything, but we knew we could do something. And I really felt like if we tried hard to do better then we would be blessed.

So I sat down with Husband Man and we made a chart. We started with a list of things that we need to do daily, such was waking up on time, reading scriptures, morning prayer, how much water we drank, one fruit and one veggie, exercising, tidying up the house, brushing your teeth, doing homework, and going to bed on time. Then we made a list of things we wanted to do weekly, such as going to the temple, FHE, washing the dishes (3x a week), vacuuming, and sweeping. The next list was for things that could be done twice a month, which for us was doing laundry and washing the sheets. The last list we did were things we felt we could do once a month, which included things like dusting, deep cleaning the bathroom (instead of just wiping down surfaces), and mopping.

By the time we completed the lists we felt it was something we could do, even with our busy schedules. So now we write our first initials on the line, and every day we fill out what we got done. Some days are better than others, but it's become kind of fun to try and see how much I can get done that day. It looks like a lot, but most of them don't take that long. It reminds us to add veggies to meals, to grab a banana on the way out, to keep hydrated, and to get up on time.

The best part is that I can tell the difference. I haven't dozed off in class, even though some nights I don't sleep well because Dan's gone on night shifts all the time. I'm alert and feel like I'm absorbing more information. I feel better about myself, I feel like I have enough energy to get through my day. It's just better in general!

SO! Challenge yourself! You probably don't need something as detailed as we have- or maybe you do- but just take a moment and sit back and analyze your life. What are you struggling with? What goals can you set? Try to get a friend or a spouse in on it too, and do it together. Hold yourself accountable to someone else- my mom and I have been texting each other every day to ask if we exercised that day. If I can do it, so can you!

And if you want to know how you can make your own chart on excel, comment or message me or whatever and I'll have Husband Man write out how he did it. I know it wasn't difficult. Same thing if you want to see ours as an example.

(I know what you're thinking. "This isn't what we thought we were going to get! You promised summer photos and stupid song lyrics!"
Yeah, I know. Get over it. Those posts are coming. I was just so excited about this! I'm making my life better!)

Behold... The Power of Music

First of all, Happy Labor Day!

Secondly...

I was in middle school when I joined the music program and learned to play the trumpet (among other instruments). I remember going door-to-door selling junk out of a catalog so that our band could raise money to buy things like chairs and rental instruments so that everyone who wanted to could participate. In middle school, the school administration built (another) gym off of the building. When I was in high school, they renovated (or something) the current gym when we could really have used an actual theater for the fine arts department to use. I was part of the fight to keep music in schools- I wore homemade buttons, I went to meetings and wrote letters to administrators. It seems to have worked thus far...

But had I known about this wonderful clip, I bet I could have convinced any administration about the importance of (good) music in our society. Here is about what my presentation would have been (in my special, non-eloquent way):

Hello, administrators. It has come to my attention that you have been considering the possibility of removing the music programs from your schools. Let me ask you this- Do you watch movies? Surely you've gone to the theaters and been surrounded by the noise that makes up a movie, that penetrates into your center and draws you in to the action, the emotions, the drama! Part of that noise is the music that goes with it. The music helps to shape the movie, is an inseparable part of it.

If you still aren't convinced, perhaps this clip will help...

If you still aren't convinced, please review my presentation before you go to bed tonight. Thank you.

 To be fair, I suppose this clip more supports media, but music is an integral part of it, so I say it works.

I know we haven't been around during our seven-week summer, but don't leave me! I have a bunch of good posts pending, including one about what we did during the summer and one about ridiculous song lyrics in today's pop culture....

Husband Man's 3D Millenium Falcon Puzzle

So in my last post I told you that I had the flu, right? Well, Husband Man got it last Wednesday, except he threw up all day. That night I slept on the floor because he was asleep on the couch, and then in the middle of the night I woke up and he was gone so I crawled on the couch. We've had all kinds of wonky sleeping patterns this last week!

Anyways, a couple days after he threw up I begged Husband Man to go to DI with me since he was feeling better. He obliged and we drove to DI. I just like walking around and seeing all the random junk that shows up there, and occasionally we'll find a good book or a CD or something that we like. Husband Man was poking through the games, and next thing I know he's standing next to me holding a giant box with a picture of the Millennium Falcon on it, giving me the same look that a little six year old boy would give me.

"Ashee... can I have this?" he implored bashfully. All I could do is laugh, and when I said "Yes" he grinned and gleefully ran off with his box.

When we got home, he worked on that puzzle for... three or four hours, at least....

Poor Husband Man got a little flustered during parts of it, since the puzzle is made of foam.

He eventually figured it out though...

 ...and now we have a giant Millennium Falcon adorning our puzzle table.

He's happy, and that's all that matters! It really doesn't bother me, I just laugh a little every time I see it. I think the funniest part is that there's a little tiny fishbowl on the table with it now, because we're watching the fish for a friend until she comes back for fall semester.

Watching Husband Man play with his toys is so much fun! I should get him to pull out his legos again...

The Seven Week Break Begins

Last Friday I finished my last few assignments and was officially done with the semester! Woohoo! I've never been so happy- so free!

That evening we went to late-night $5 buffet at Pizza Pie Cafe and stuffed ourselves silly with delicious pizza and pasta to celebrate. Later, when we were getting ready for bed, my very full tummy started to hurt. Thinking maybe it was just an overload of delicious food I crawled into bed and went to sleep.

Three hours later I was leaning over the toilet puking up the wonderful pizza that had been my dinner. To be fair, I felt considerably better so I had some water and went back to sleep. An hour-ish later I was puking up that water, although I didn't feel better afterwards this time. I crawled back into bed and attempted to wake up the Husband Man. He mumble some sort of apology and scooted closer to me, but didn't really wake up. I was on my own.

I threw up two or three more times, the last one after Husband Man woke up in the morning. By that point I had relocated to the couch because it was closer to the bathroom. I spent my entire Saturday lying on the couch, weak as a newborn. That wasn't fun.

One of the ladies that I visit teach had the flu, she and her husband had it at the same time, and she called me Thursday morning to ask if I'd watch her baby so she could have a nap. I'm sort of thinking that I was exposed to it then- especially since I talked to another lady in the ward who watched their baby too and she had the flu as well.

So Monday I'm starting to feel better, and then yesterday I got a cold sore, and then today Husband Man doesn't feel good. So the break is starting off fantastic!

I haven't gotten my grades yet--teachers haven't posted them--except for one teacher who posted and I guess I got a C- which really makes me upset but whatever. I know I have another C for sure, that's just how the class is, and I have a couple of B's and then a couple of A's. Overall, given the fact that I didn't want to do anything this semester, I think I'm alright with that. I just hope there aren't anymore surprise grades (unless they're good surprises).

Yeah. That's how it is now. I'm starting a list of fun things that I'm dead set on doing over break so that we don't have a repeat of last August where I just sat around the house and we didn't do anything fun. Once we're not sick we're going to party it up! (When Husband Man isn't at work anyways. But he's got a leadership position so he's getting lots of experience!)

Quick Update.... Finals and Family

It's officially finals week (again....), although last week I had so many projects and things due that this week almost feels like a breeze. (Almost.)

This last Tuesday we drove over to West Yellowstone to spend a couple hours at my family's reunion there. I wished so much that we could have camped out, just for a night!

Since my family was so close my parents and younger brothers drove up on Thursday after reunion was over, just in time to see my organ recital! I played Brahms choral prelude "Oh World, I Now Must Leave Thee" and I'm so proud because it took me all semester to learn!!

After the recital we sat at the house in true Yockeyite fashion (that's all we do during the semester, sit around the house.....) Some of our comic books were passed around, and my brothers played Nintendo '64- just like the last time they were here. I also watched a little girl for a gal that I visit teach so she could get some packing done, and when my mom woke up from her nap she was smitten with this little girl. Once she saw her my mom wouldn't let anyone else have her!

 (My mommy is so pretty!!)

After that we went to dinner, and then I had to stay up until 2AM to finish the homework I should have been doing while they were here....

This weekend has been a little slower, I'll probably die tomorrow trying to get all my homework done again. But I'm glad we were able to have some fun and relax at least a little!

NateMan came over again for the first time in a week to have Sunday dinner and relax. They tried a new game that was similar to Axis and Allies (one of Husband Man's most favorite games on the planet and a game that I can't play because it's complete strategy and I'm horrible at those) and I think it was a hit.

It is way too much fun to listen to these two banter as they play. "Infantry versus cavalry!" "Miss!" "Infantry versus infantry!" "Hit!" "Infantry versus artillery!" "Hit!" "Nooooooo!"

It's been a fun weekend.

If I don't return in a few days, however, it means either I or Husband Man perished during finals. May the force be with us....

Happy Fourth of July!

'Nuff said.

That One Time I Choked While Playing the Organ for Convocation

The first semester I played organ for devotional I was also asked to play the organ for convocation. The reason they asked was because they held the convocation in a stake center- a church building- but they had it in the chapel, which means you're supposed to be super reverent. (I don't know why they picked the chapel.) So to keep people from whooping and hollering they asked for an organist to play quiet hymns or whatever on the organ. And I was the lucky one chosen.

This means that I play prelude, postlude, and I also played while they read names. This means that except for when they read a name, I was the only thing they were hearing. Me. Playing the organ. Nothing else.

I was sorely unaware of this fact when I went in there.

So I panicked a little, but told myself, Ashy, you'll be all right, just stay calm, you're a pro, you've played devo...

Despite pep-talking myself, I realised I was still shaking and nervous. I made one mistake. You're fine, just keep going like it didn't happen, no one probably even noticed it... I made a second mistake, and a third right on the second's heels. Seriously, you'll be fine, just stay calm...

Then I remembered the advice the organ professor gave when I played my devo hymns in masterclass the day before devotional. Just take a deep breath. Just breathe.

So I took a deep breath.

And I choked on my spit.

If you've ever done that, it's largely embarrassing in and of itself. But here I am, sitting in front of an organ, in front of hundreds of people in a silent chapel except for the guy reading a name every thirty seconds and my organ playing, and I choke on my spit. My eyes watered up, I couldn't breathe, I needed to cough but if I did I would have stopped playing and then everyone would have noticed for sure, but I didn't want to just cough all over the organ...

I don't know how badly I messed up. I don't want to know how badly I messed up. I just kept on playing, even though I couldn't breathe, letting myself cough a little when I felt like I could. Finally I regained control of myself, and it got a lot easier to play all of a sudden. I'm not sure if that was because I could finally relax after trying not to cough, or if it was knowing that no matter what mistake I made after point it didn't matter because I'd already messed up really badly anyways. Either way, the rest of it went pretty well after that, in my mind.

Except for the end, where I finished all of my predetermined pieces for the reading of names part and then there were still a dozen people to go through, so when I finished my last piece I was frantically scrambling for my hymnal to get it open and start playing with as little silence as possible between pieces. That was fun.

And to make matters worse, the guy who was doing all the announcing and who was kind of running the whole convocation got up after they finished reading names and said, "And special thanks to our organist for her wonderful job."

I couldn't decide if he was serious or just trying to make me feel better.

Perhaps I didn't completely blow it when I choked. I honestly don't remember- I was kind of trying not to die at the time. Maybe my fingers just magically kept on going. I kind of doubt that, but maybe...

So yeah. That's my story. You can laugh, that's why I posted it. I laugh about it too!

Really quickly, in other news my delphinium died. And my calibrachoa got bugs on it. A friend picked out a bug spray, and so I hope it works. And I think I'm slowly killing my friend's orchid that I'm babysitting.
Oh, and the opera! I'm in the pit for a production of The Mikado. It's SO funny!! There are so many jokes and silly things (from what I can hear under the stage, anyways- and the audience laughed a lot too.) I hope I get to see it on a night that I don't have to be in the pit.
And there's only three weeks left of school. That makes me feel better too.

The Experibass

This is the opening theme to "Sherlock Holmes".

There's kind of a strange, sort of Eastern-sounding instrument in it. For some reason people assume that since I'm a music major that I automatically know what it is... and while I like to think I know everything, let's face it- I don't.

But I do know what instrument this is now!

Ladies and gentleman, Just when you thought the tromboon was the height of instrument experimentation... I present to you... the experibass.

My music literature teacher showed this to us today in class while we were talking about film score music. After I got over my initial shock of this guy sawing up a bass, I thought it was really, really cool. I've mentioned film score music before and how I never would have considered putting together a full orchestra with organ AND with electric guitar. Film score composers nowadays compose with anything and everything that strikes their fancy... including the experibass.

Here's the guy who invented it, Diego Stocco, talking with Hans Zimmer (who is one of my most favorite soundtrack composers) about the experibass. I don't don't know why they start off talking about spaghetti sauce, just keep watching it.

I think the things that they come up with for movie soundtracks are crazy amazing. These guys don't get the entire time the movie is being made to create the soundtrack- in fact, music is one of the last things to be added. The composer has a super-tight deadline, has specific down-to-the-second clips of the movie that s/he has to score for... the only place for freedom is the main title, the very beginning. And yet, despite all these limitations, there are some composers that make everything sound SO AWESOME.

Someday I'll try my hand at this. No, not at creating an experibass- at composing. You sillies.

Husband Man

 I've collected a few photos of Husband Man, and he's such a goober that I need to post them. I love him so much!!

 I forget exactly when I took this picture- it's at least a couple months ago- I was up a little late finishing a homework assignment and he went to to read a book in bed. I found him like this, and while I know guys don't like being called cute, you have to admit- he's pretty cute in this picture.

 This was the last haircut I gave him. (Or half of it, rather.) I fought with him for over a week about getting it- "I don't need one! I don't need one!" he would cry, and finally when I got him to sit in the tub for the haircut I had to snap this picture because I thought it was so funny! His hair grows so fast, and poor silly Husband Man doesn't like haircuts.

 A friend of mine went to Alaska this summer, and her boyfriend doesn't know what to with himself except work and come over to our house. Husband Man doesn't mind because they play games together (they're playing Smash Brothers in this picture) and I don't mind because they let me play with them (when I'm not doing homework) and because he'll help cook in the evenings. (He taught me how to make friend rice the other evening!)

 Their latest thing is that they're trying to set up a server to run Minecraft on. Husband Man runs one off of his laptop, but it gets wonky sometimes and he can't leave it running all the time. They bought an old pc from DI to gut and use some of its parts for their server, and inside they found a prize!

(And for anyone that missed it, I got a haircut. As in, they removed another six inches from my head.)

When the Fam Came to Visit

I love my parents! They came to visit a week ago, with my two little brothers. They made it just in time for my concert last Wednesday (we played Schubert's Unfinished Symphony, and the Walton Viola Concerto with a faculty member) and then they stayed all day Thursday and left Friday morning. I'm so happy they came! I miss my parents SO MUCH!!

We had a lazy day. I went to classes Thursday morning and then Husband Man and I swapped and I came home and he went to class. When I came home my mom was going to help me re-pot the China Doll (picture of that in this post). So my mom and I went to Walmart...

I should say right now that my mom LOVES plants, so me going to the store with her was probably not a good idea. I mentioned that I was thinking about potting snapdragons (since last year's plant never came back) because I wanted a plant and they seemed pretty easy to take care of. Next thing I know I'm asking her "What kind of plant is this? What about this one? And this one?" and she's telling me about annuals and perennials and trying to decide if a perennial would even come back next spring since we're in Idaho, etc.... We didn't pick up any plants for me until we found a corner with clearance plants, ones that had been damaged a little. There we found some snappies, and my mom found some lupine, and then I said "Oh this one's cute" and next thing I know we have a cart full of plants and we still haven't gotten dirt to re-pot the Doll!

So we ask a worker where the dirt is, and he says, "Oh, it's out in the parking lot next to the greenhouse. There's more plants out there, by the way." So my mom goes out to get dirt and I walk through the greenhouse to see what they have out there.......

We went through the checkout with two carts of plants and dirt. (And a gallon of milk that wasn't as cold as it used to be.)  The total? $80 worth of plants, dirt, and pots.

I turned to my mom and said, "Dad's not going to be upset that you're getting plants to take home, is he?"

"Nope. He's used to it. I was just going to ask you, is Husband Man going to be ok with this?"

"I think so. We're pretty laid back."

But this comment made that mean spot in my brain question that- I was positive that Husband Man wouldn't care, but that mean spot kept saying What if he is? What will you do then??

 Some seed geraniums, some snappies.... some other plants that I don't remember the names of... (And the irises came back again this year! Woohoo!)

 I think the orange fuzzy-looking one is so cool. I think there's some verbana or something in there. (I'm too lazy to go back out right now and look at what they are.....)

 This is my delphinium. We pruned the roots (we removed an inch of root coil) and the next day it got battered by the wind and now she's not looking too happy. I'm starting to feel like she won't pull through.... and the Del was one of my favorites....

 The hanging pot is one of my favorites too. I love the little flowers! (And you can see all cars that are by the park, which is pretty jam-packed- the norm for a Saturday.)

Husband Man wasn't mad at all, by the way. In fact, he was rather happy that I spent a little money (or a lot) on something that makes me so excited. I really am excited about the plants, they make me so happy! My mom taught me how to put them in the pots and how to pack the dirt down a little so that there aren't gaps, and the root pruning, and she taught me about the Doll's super-growth (we ended up pruning her a little too). We hemmed and hawed over the orchid, and determined that I shouldn't have put her in the window to get direct sunlight and the orchid's leaves got burned. I will feel so badly if that plant dies, but she's trying to put out a bloom so maybe she's ok.

I'd better stop before I bore everyone with plant jabber. I'm just so excited! I learned so much! I'm so glad my parents came. I wish I'd gotten a picture of my brothers, they played Smash Brothers on the Nintendo 64 over half the time they were here. And I learned how to make chicken pot pie for dinner too! And pie crust! (And my poor dad got so bored that he fixed our toilet, so now it doesn't wobble anymore.) I wish I lived closer to my parents. I miss them.

I love you, Mommy and Daddy!

It's Monday, Monday...

Oh yes. Monday. We meet again.

I have a sectional today (which means I'll be in school from 7:45AM-6:30PM straight), a science test tomorrow, a paper due Wednesday morning and a concert Wednesday night, and a project and another paper due on Friday.

There's a little over a month left of this semester and my brain started summer vacation this morning. (Husband Man wouldn't let me go with it.)

A week ago I registered for the second-to-last semester of my college career. After pitching a momentary hissy fit when I realised that two classes I wanted to take were offered at the same time and I couldn't push one back to the last semester, I decided that I didn't care about percussion methods and now my earliest class this fall is at 10:15AM (which has NEVER HAPPENED) and I'm only registered for 14 credits (which has also NEVER HAPPENED).

A couple of days ago I learned that any ice cream that has a peanut butter swirl is NOT worth getting. (At least not the store brands. Blech.)

Yesterday I learned that Husband Man is head of the IT department over the summer break in August (or something like that, he's in charge of stuff). That's right. My husband is awesome.

But you know what's not awesome? Monday.

Not an Organist

You might remember this post where I played the organ in devotional for the first time, right? And that went really well, right? Well, I knew that after that performance I would probably get asked to play devo for the rest of the time I was here, once a semester. Sure enough, (sooner than I thought,) I was asked to play. The hymns weren't too difficult, but I didn't know any of them at all and I had just one week to prepare them.

Oh boy.

I paced myself, didn't overplay them, didn't let myself get frustrated, but when I played them for my organ teacher last Friday, they were horrible. We both panicked. I didn't know what to do. I knew I could play these hymns, but I kept messing up left and right (and foot). We agreed that the weekend should be enough time to tidy up the hymns.

Come masterclass on Monday, I played for the other organists and... it didn't go so well. I was embarrassed, but I was trying so hard to play them as well as I knew I could. They weren't perfect, sure, but I kept messing up passages that I knew I could play. It became a consistency issue- I knew I could play the hymns but I couldn't play it well even twice in a row, and each hymn has 3-4 verses. (And the one, "I Believe in Christ", was the same three lines repeated twice for one verse!) The organ teacher still seemed optimistic, and asked me to review them and try to pick up the speed a little before devo on Tuesday.

So on Tuesday I go to the building that devo is in, and meet both teachers so that I can review the hymns one last time before I debuted them. They weren't any better. It was still frustrating and upsetting, but strangely by this point I was calm. After I played them the organ teacher came over to me, and I knew that what I had been able to prepare wasn't enough.

I looked right at him and said, "If you want someone else to play today I'm not offended. I completely understand." He nodded, and said, "I think if you had another week then they would be great. But... we only have an hour..."

So my organ teacher had to play the hymns, and I only did prelude and postlude. I felt so horrible because she had to play impromptu and it's all my fault... but I feel like I did my best...

So, these things happen. I know I'm not the greatest organist to ever walk the earth- I'm nowhere close to that! But I felt like I was being honest with myself, and that is what is important to me. I did what I could, and just wasn't at the skill level required for the situation. Husband Man told me later that he was proud of me because I didn't insist on playing them even when I knew I couldn't.

It was a good learning experience, however, as I did pick up a few practice techniques that can help me in the future. The organ instructor told me that I would probably be asked later in the semester, when I would have more time to prepare, but honestly I feel kind of crappy about playing the hymns. I'm focusing on my other pieces for my lesson right now, and maybe I'll try the hymns again after Memorial Day weekend.

[Sorry about the depressing post! Would knowing about impending posts make things better? Of course it would! I have a really funny story about me playing organ at last semester's convocation that involves me literally choking over the organ. Also, this weekend is Memorial Day weekend, AND my birthday! And Husband Man says he has lots of things planned, since my family was going to come and then couldn't because of work and my cousin's graduation.

That's not enough to counter my depressing post? Here, have a picture of a kitty.

This is a good interpretation of Husband Man after school is over for the day and I make him wait while I make him dinner.]

Grandpa's Baptism, a Family Sealing, and Why I Didn't Get a Plant For Mother's Day at Church This Year

We've got a few things to cover in this post. I have so many things I want to share!! (Because apparently I'm too lame to keep up with this blog!) So this might be long, but bear with me because it's all really good stuff. You can also go here to see what's happening on the writing side of life.

The first weekend in May Husband Man and I drove down to Utah for my grandfather's baptism. (My mom's dad.) I honestly never thought I'd ever see this happen, but ever since my grandmother passed away when I was a freshman in high school my grandfather has had a roller-coaster of attempts to be baptised and get his life in order so he can be sealed to my grandmother. It was a wonderful blessing to be a part of this huge step in Grandpa's life, and it was the most beautiful thing to see my mother cry with joy and the Spirit because of this decision my grandpa has made. I love my grandpa so much, and I can't wait until next year when I get to be in the temple with my family! (Hopefully I can be there, anyways.)

Today the coolest couple on the planet took their adopted son to the temple to be sealed for time and all eternity. I love these people! I call them my big brother and big sister, because they pretty much were older siblings for me when I first went away from college. Their home was our home. We watched movies there, played games, had dollar birthdays, played guitar hero (or was it rock band? I don't know. It was fun!), we laughed there, we cried there (ok, I cried there.... a lot), I got a priesthood blessing there when I got an abscess in my mouth and almost went to the hospital for dehydration, we stayed there over a weekend when the entire college town got drunk over football (there was a lot of alcohol around, no joke), and so much more. I'm so glad that they finally have a little boy that is theirs for eternity, and I can't wait for more to be adopted! Congrats! (You can visit them here)

Finally... Mother's Day. The ward gift was pretty hilarious- So about mid-April I go to a council meeting thingy with our bishopric members in place of the Relief Society president, and at one point the men talked about the upcoming Mother's day and what gift they should get. Then they turned to me and said, "You should ask the sisters in Relief Society what they want. We have no clue what to get them. Do they want a plant like last year? Or something different? Chocolate? What?"
So I agreed to ask, and a couple weeks later the question was brought up in Relief Society. When asked whether the sisters would appreciate chocolate or a plant like last year, the general consensus was a plant and that most sisters had enjoyed receiving that as a gift. That lasted for about two minutes, however, until a sister raised her hand and said,
"Can I change my answer? I voted for flowers, but I killed my plant last year."
This caused a murmur among the sisters, and calls of "Oh yeah, I did too..." and "Now that you mention it, I think I'd rather have chocolate."
So this last Sunday, as we left the chapel, we had a selection of candy bars that most of us shared with our husbands. That's probably the real reason why they asked the women to pick- it occurred to them that they could just default with flowers again, but if we happened to choose chocolate then they could have some too....
Oh, you want to know what Husband Man got me? He didn't get me anything, and I told him he couldn't. I'm not a mother! So I told him he couldn't get me anything. I'm not sad, so you shouldn't be either!

Idaho: The Windy State

This last Monday dawned bright and early. I dragged myself out of bed and peered groggily through the blinds to see the sun lighting the outside world. I got ready for my grueling school day of non-stop 7:45AM to 5:30PM classes, pulled a light jacket out of the closet, and donned my backpack. After family prayer with Husband Man, we stepped outside of the house to walk to campus.

The entire 10-minute walk we were buffeted about with headlong winds that threatened to force us to walk backwards instead of forwards. My carefully-brushed hair was blown all around my face. My eyes squinted against the dry gales. I thought I would never make to campus.

The same wind guided me home, but in true SE Idaho fashion still blew me almost face on despite the fact that I was walking in the opposite direction as that morning.

The same wind walked me to and from school for FOUR DAYS. I stopped styling my hair. I almost gave up going to my Doctrine and Covenants class because walking uphill with an unrelenting headlong wind seemed impossible.

I hate the wind. With a passion. The wind makes me hate Idaho, which makes me hate going to school. Even the sunshine doesn't make it better. Today it's not quite as strong, but that's not saying much.

As for school, Husband Man and I are doing all right. We've gotten to the point where we feel that school is our life, and there's nothing beyond that. We are trapped in a black hole of papers and books and reading and research. Husband Man dropped an extra class so he wouldn't have 18 credits, so he's holding up. My workload isn't too bad, thank heavens... but by the end of this semester I'll have done five semesters in a year and a half. I'm so ready for the seven-week break! I'm so ready to be graduated! But alas, no graduation for us until next April...

Let's see... I haven't killed any of the plants...

Oh! My grandpa is getting baptised tomorrow! I'm super excited for that! He asked me to play the piano for it. We're going back to Utah tomorrow so we can be there. I'm happy that he's getting baptised, and I'm happy that I get to get out of Idaho for a day! Woohoo!

(Honestly, my life isn't this depressing.... but it is pretty mundane! Haha)

Flowers!

Did I mention that Husband Man got me flowers the other day? He wanted to get them for me over finals week of last semester (to celebrate my last 18 credit semester!) but we were going to Utah right after finals so I wouldn't get to enjoy them. So he got them for me after we got back!

By the way- the flowers had a sticker that said "NOT EDIBLE" on them. That was weird. But also made sense, because they have dye in them so that they turn colors.

Easter was really fun! In the last post I told you we took pictures, (and if you want to see a goofy movie of us you can go to the sister blog,) and I got to see all of my family and Husband Man's parents too!

And I got my Easter basket from my mommy! Only one of the boxes of peeps came in the basket, though- the rest came from other people who were given peeps and they don't like them. Husband Man eats them, though. I don't like that they put granulated sugar on the outside- blech. No peeps for me.

In other news, I'm watching a few plants for a couple of friends. The cactus belongs to one gal, and the orchid and the bush belong to another. I'm not sure why they asked me to because if I inherited my mom's green thumb then I haven't discovered it yet!
But... at the same time I'm thinking of getting a plant for myself! Hm....
I'm not sure if the plant from last year will grow again, but the irises by the steps are coming up. Hopefully they put out flowers soon!

This semester is going well so far... to be honest, I really just want to be done with school! I'm so sick of it! I honestly don't think I'll be like those people who graduate and then say, "Well now I miss it!" I'll be super excited to be graduated.

Husband Man's older sister and her family are visiting this weekend and I'm so happy! I love it when family visits!! Woohoo!!

Semester "Spring" Break

Good-byyyyye 18 credit semesters! Bahahaha! I gave them to Husband Man, so while he takes 18 credits, I'm going to take a leisurely 14. I've already had issues with a couple of my classes, which is SO lame, but I'm going to get answers whether people want to give them to me or not! Take that!

Between semesters was pretty fun, though! Over Easter we went down to Utah, where my baby sister got her prom dress and where all three of us got together and partied it up!

One thing my parents wanted to do was to take a picture of us in our fancy dresses. My dad really likes this picture of us girls (as in he ADORES this photo) and we thought maybe we could do an updated version...

(The order in this picture is not the same as the little girl one, ps)

This is about how the entire thing went. Our eyes were closed, we were being goofy... hahaha!

 And of course posing by the trees got lame pretty quickly so we all ran for the playground!

 Ok, here's a serious one. Husband Man thought that I could take my wedding dress and do a shoot like this. The idea is that when Meema gets married that we'll do another shoot with her and I in our wedding dresses, and then eventually there will be all three of us in wedding dresses! Another updated version of us sisters!

 I LOVE MY MOMMY! This is one of my favorite pictures. I love my sisters so much! You can tell that we're all related, but we're all different and you can tell that too!

Seriously we had so much fun! My mommy brought me baked goodies and my Easter basket (although she said I have to keep it now... I cried a little) and I got to spend the weekend with them! We also saw my aunt and my grandpa (Mom's dad) and my uncles and it made me so happy!!

Husband Man and I stayed in Utah for another two days, and we went to SLC and walked around both of the malls and around the temple, and I got to go clothes shopping and get a few new shirts! And we went to A&W which was super tasty. And then we came home and he worked a bunch of night shifts... The only sad thing is that the semester starts tomorrow and I'm SO not looking forward to that.

I can't wait to see my family again next month!!

Happy Easter!

I'm so grateful for the resurrection of our dear Lord and Savior.

I'm also grateful for my parents and husband, who have thoroughly spoiled me this Easter.
And I'm grateful for the hot tub last night. It was glorious. No more classes for a week! Huzzah!

"Death and Transfiguration"

So I'm in the symphony orchestra on campus, and it's so awesome!! We've played some pretty awesome things in the past, like Beethoven's Fifth Symphony (which was cool for me because that was my second time playing it, but the first time on trumpet), Brahms Academic Overture, Hanson's Romantic Symphony (that one is one of my super-favorites!) Tchaikovsky's First Symphony... We've played a lot of really good literature.

Our first concert was normal- we played Borodin's Polovstian Dances and the overture to Prince Igor. Our second (set of) concerts was the Sacred Music Project.

But this last concert was the greatest of them all. We started by playing Brahms Tragic Overture, and that was really fun... there's so many great moments in that piece. We then finished the concert (it was a short one) with one of Richard Strauss's symphonic poems- namely, Death and Transfiguration.

It. Was. AWESOME!!

If you haven't heard this song, or any of Strauss's symphonic poems... you need to! Your life will be so much more complete after hearing it!! It has such a huge orchestration and the sound and the complexity... it's SO good!! And we played that concert darn well! That was the best brass section I've ever been part of in orchestra.

I'm so glad I'm a BA. I went to a trumpet recital last Saturday, and it really reaffirmed what I thought I already knew- I don't want to be a big solo performer. I really don't like solos as much as symphonies, and I never have. The bigger the ensemble, the better. I ADORE giant orchestras, and giant symphonic songs for giant orchestras.

Go listen to Strauss! Now! I command you!

Finals Horrors

Ok, for some reason I haven't been able to keep track of my homework this semester. This often happens to me at least a few times during the semester... but this semester I've been forgetting EVERYTHING! Arrgh!

The most recent one was last night. I stayed up until 1:30AM finishing my final draft of a music literature paper. When I came to class this morning I learned that the paper wasn't due until Friday, and everyone else in the class, excluding me and one other person, knew that.

I almost broke down crying. I could have spent that time last night doing one of my forty million projects that's due tomorrow.

Pretty sure I'm eating as much ice cream as I want tonight.

SPRING!

I saw Spring today! It's glorious! As I was walking out of the building that I have science in, I saw little green shoots poking up out of the black, muddy ground. I stared at it as long as I could without walking backwards. It was beautiful! And walking home through the park I saw green grass trying to come up!! No matter that the park still smells like sodden dead things (because that's what it is right now), there is green!!


(By the way, we're not thinking about the great possibility that snow will probably happen tomorrow. Nope. Ignoring that.)

Look! The blinds are up AND the window is open!! And look at the sunshine!! The picture does not do it justice.


I had given up hope for Spring in southern Idaho. But it's here! Hooray! (Or at least trying to come... I'm sure the weather will change that again soon enough...)

And here's a random picture of Husband Man and his new hat. I think it's a platypus from "Phineas and Ferb"?


PS-I posted over at the nerd blog again today- part of the prologue to my novel! Just three paragraphs, from a section that I've been working on. And no, I did not work on it during science. I have no clue where you got that idea from...

Calling All Cruise Advice!

Here's the deal, people: Husband Man and I got married a year and a half ago... but because it was right after the semester started we haven't gotten a honeymoon. After lamenting this for months, we've decided to try looking into cruises- particularly European, Alaskan and Caribbean cruises.


The bad news: We can't spend a fortune, it has to happen in August (if it happens this year), and we have no clue what the heck we're doing.


(And as far as I know, both of our parents have never been on a cruise... so they're no help at all!)


So I figured that since I know a lot of people read this blog (despite the small amount of followers), then I would post some major questions we have, and ask for any and all advice you have on cruises!
Should we go through a travel agent?
What cruise lines would you recommend?
What cruise locations were your favorite?
What do you think about cruisetours vs. cruises? Are they worth the extra money?
Should we try to go this August? Or is it worth it to wait until after we graduate next year?
What advice do you have for new cruise-goers?

We DESPERATELY need advice!! Please leave a comment or message me on Facebook. Leave as much or as little as you'd like! Teach us everything you know! Even if it's just one thing or forty million!

I'm an Organist!

This last Tuesday at devotional I played the organ!!


It was SO SCARY!


But exciting!


I was really lucky too- I had two weeks to prepare, (meaning two weeks to freak out about it,) and I already knew one of the hymns from my first semester of lessons.


It was kind of scary because I felt like I was playing for General Conference! The building devotional is held in resembles the Conference center a lot, plus they take camera shots that are similar to the Conference broadcasts. I even turned pages for another gal who was playing for the choir. (That was amazing too because I can't play like she can!)

And when it was over I got so many compliments! Even last night I got one, when I ran into a gal from one of my classes while going grocery shopping.


It makes me so excited that I successfully played in devotional. It's like I've been initiated into the organ studio, even though I'm a non-major. I've been through the fire, I can now relate to the other organists! When I was asked to play at devotional, he also asked me to play at convocation at the end of the semester so I get to play preludes for a couple hours too. It makes me so excited that I'm learning the organ and able to use it in my life. I wish I had started lessons sooner! But I kept having 18 credit semesters... silly school.

Hooray I'm an organist! I'm so excited about the organ. My grandma has always inspired me to want to play it and I'm so excited for her to hear me when they get back from their mission!


In other news... we finally went to bed before midnight. It was amazing. I feel like I got so much sleep! Now I just have to be proactive and get all my homework done this weekend....

Sacred Music Project

This last week was crazy. CRAZY.


I'm in the symphony orchestra, and every two years the orchestra participates in the Sacred Music Project. The leaders of the church have asked for new LDS music to be written, and so when a work is commissioned we are asked to play it.


This is a HUGE deal! It's so cool to be part of the Sacred Music Project. This year it was a brand new oratorio by K. Newell Dayley, "Bring Forth My Zion". The story starts out with the Nephite people right after Christ's resurrection, how after He visited them in the America's they were all one people, undivided, living in a Zion community. Then it goes on to tell how pride divided them again and the Nephites were destroyed. Then the story jumps ahead to our day, with the First Vision of Joseph Smith and how the Gospel is restored to the earth again today, and how we can achieve a Zion community now.


The text was plain and simple to understand. The music itself wasn't too extravagant- it called for two soloists, symphony orchestra, and choir. It made me think about how the Gospel is plain and simple to understand. It was so wonderful to play a brand-new LDS work, and to be part of it's very first performances. The last performance was in Salt Lake City, in the tabernacle at temple square.

(Picture via the internet)

It has a GORGEOUS organ inside. I wanted to play it but no one ever said I could... <sigh> Admittedly, no one ever said I couldn't... but I was good and just sat in my chair... The accoustics in that hall are so wonderful. I feel so blessed to be part of this work, spreading the message of the Gospel through music.


The only bad thing about the whole experience is that it took A LOT of time, and I've been sick since last Wednesday after our 7-10PM rehearsal the night before... But as long as I make it through to the end of the semester then I'll be fine... Only a month left! Husband Man and I have been planning on going back to SLC to walk around and visit temple square again. Right before concert call at the tabernacle I met him outside and I dragged him over to the visitor's center because they have a new display where they made a model of the temple and shaved off one side so you can see the rooms inside. It's so awesome! I can't wait to go back and have a weekend just for us! (Before we go right back to school...)