Happy Earth Day to You!

Until about a couple of weeks ago, I had no idea that Earth Day is on April 22! Wow, how perfect does that get? God has quite the sense of humor! Let's see, you're thinking, your mind is scanning all your mental data-bases, trying to figure out what is so funny about today being Earth Day, but you are still left wondering why I am so tickled about this! Let me explain.....

My lil' bro and I are very different. Robb is the athletic child, while I am more artistic. He is a jock, I am a (so-called) hippie. Now come on, people. As much as I love nature and nothing compares with the great out-doors, I am not chaining myself to an endangered historical building or to a condemned tree. I do not go by the name of Sunshine (okay, actually Autumn/Star and Jess call me that), or Butterfly (okay, Alli calls me that), Bambi (wait, no, that's what Steph calls me), okay so I do have a lot of hippie nick-names, but I'm not getting high in my tye-dye VW van or going to Wood-Stock! I just love nature and I am upset by littering! But, Robb has always made fun of me for that! He calls me a hippie, an environmentalist, usually he puts dork or nerd on the end of those words, he kind of just throws out whatever name he can think of! :) So, when I found out that his birthday, he who has always given me crud for the little hippie I am, was born on Earth Day!!! Hahahahahah! Does anyone else find that extremely ironic and hilarious?! In his birthday card, I couldn't resist drawing a tree and him hugging it with a caption saying "I love you, Tree!" and I drew the recycle sign, Earth, the peace sign, hearts, flowers, and smiley faces. It was awesome!!! So, happy 16th birthday to my little brother! Love ya, bud! :)

The Way Jane Learns

I finished reading The Way They Learn by Cynthia Ulrich Tobias. It was very interesting. I don't have any children to apply it to, but it has been interesting to read about different learning styles and see signs of those styles in myself and my close friends and family. By combining all the different topics discussed, Mind Styles, Environmental Preferences, Modalities, Analytic/Global Information Processing, and Multiple Intelligences, I have determined that I am a
Dominant Abstract Random Visual/Kinesthetic Global Linguistic Bodily-Kinesthetic Interpersonal Learner!

July 19

I am sitting here at my computer, supposed to be getting things getting ready for this upcoming college semester, but instead I am listening to some blues, sipping a big cup of hot tea, thinking about how hungry I am, blogging, looking up things that happened on my birthday....the list goes on and on! My birthday is July 19, 1990 and as I was sitting here, I was wondering if anything exciting (other than my birth...does it get more exciting?!) happened on that hot, summer day. Here are just a few interesting things I found:

~Flitch Day. Oh yeah, turns out my Bay is a "Bizarre July Holiday". Upon looking it up, I found Flitch Day to be an old custom developed from yesteryear into the holiday of Flitch Day. Bacon was given to any couple who could prove they had lived in harmony and fidelity for one year. Apparently, very few took home the bacon!

~The first Woman's Rights Convention in the United States

met at Seneca Falls, N.Y., July 19, 1848

~National Raspberry Cake Day

Still Just a Kid! :P

I thought I had finally reached that dreaded adulthood when I punched my voting ballot for the first time. However, when I walked out, I was handed an "I Voted" sticker. The sticker was the most exciting part and I put it on my forehead and walked out with a proud smile! That showed me that, praise the Lord, I am still just a kid!!!

A Few of My Favorite EASTER Things!~

I hope everyone had an AMAZING Easter Sunday! Here are a few things about Easter that represent the reason for the holiday, make up my traditions, or just make me smile!

Happy Resurrection Sunday!!!

~Camodes, Coffee, and Children's Class~

Today was an amazing day! I woke up this morning and took my dogs for a short walk. After that I came back and put some more hair dye in and tried to lighten my hair up some more. I think it worked a bit. Not the light brown I wanted, but at least it's a little bit different. Besides, with the sun becoming stronger, it is going to get much lighter soon anyways. I spent the largest portion of my morning cleaning both bathrooms and my grandma's bedroom (for which I got paid). Unfortunately, Grandma has a very particular way she likes the bathroom cleaned, and it takes so much longer. Much longer than I feel necessary! But alas, I was forced to clean it that way. But, her money, her way I suppose!

After spending the morning sticking my bare hand into the toilet bowl, I got to take my lil' sis Lauren out for a couple of hours! That was the best in the west! We have never hung out just the two of us girls. I don't know why we didn't ditch the boys sooner, it was so nice to go out and have some girl time! We went to Starbucks where I of course had a hot venti Apple Chai latte! Gotta be venti, baby! It's too good for anything smaller! Lauren had a Caramel Mocha Frappuchino, I think. We hung out there for a while then met Mrs. Wright at the mall. We talked about everything under the sun and were able to indulge in some girl talk which we have never been able to do since we're always with our brothers....so sorry guys, but we decided we like this girl time thing and are going to do it more often! We had a really great time together!

RU Kidz was good tonight. Matt was sick, which kind of stinks since he splits half of the program with me, but thankfully Raphael was there as usual, and Sarahjane was there tonight and offered to help so that was a blessing. A few of my kids were missing but we had four visitors so that was a treat and hopefully they will be back next week! I know at least two of them will be. We had 16 kids as it was, and that was missing 5 regulars! I realized that I have not given out any awards for attendance and the kids are supposed to get a star pin for when they are there 10/12 weeks and again when they have attended 20/26 weeks, but I have not given even one out. So tonight I realized that and made up for it. I had so many kids up there at the front receiving their back pay on the attendance awards and getting the ones due to them now, but it was pretty cool. I love it when the kids get awards in RU. I am so proud of them! Not that I had anything to do with them getting an award, mind you. Those kids work hard to complete the challenges they do and they do it without me, so I am not taking any credit for it. But it's very rewarding. I see my work paying off when I see some of them proudly, some with embarrassment walk up to Jodie and get their award. But I also see the look of excitement and pleasure on their faces, even if they wish they were not standing in front of people, and it makes the whole night worth it! It's so cool to their hard work paying off like that and to see how excited they are! Almost all of these kids come up to me during the week and tell me they're working on doing some challenges, or they've been writing their devotions down in their Walkie Talkie Journal, or those crazy over-achiever Nepomuceno kids are always telling me "I am almost done with my book!" haha! They do a good job! I guess what I am getting at is that I love RU Kidz!!!!

Recap

It's only Thursday, but so far I am having a very enjoyable week. Of course there have been a few not so groovy moments, but overall: "glorious"! Here is a recap of my week thus far:

~Monday: Hung out with Tim, Robb, and SJ. We ate lunch here and goofed off for a wee bit. Then we went to a pretty park in Rancho and played on the play ground, and saw some scary ducks and a cute turtle in the lake (which turned out to be more of a large pond). But then, tragedy struck! Tim was thrusting his knife into the tree to see how far he could get it in and I was trying to pull it out. I just could not seem to yank it out from this poor, suffering tree so Tim said "Let me do it" and tried to grab the hilt. At that exact moment, I wiggled the knife and successfully pulled the blade out of the trunk! But Tim had tried to grab it and did not have a firm grasp on the hilt, so the blade swept right through his hand, slicing his finger on the way! AH! He dropped to his knees, gripping his hand as he stifled a moan, or perhaps a loud yell, and grimaced in pain, all the while saying he was okay. He held it under water at the drinking fountain and we got a shirt from his car and tore it up to wrap around his hand. Once we got to my house we bandaged it up. It was very deep. He needs stitches but refuses! Fine! It's all fun and games until someone loses a.....finger? Then Monday night was Lord's supper. I have not been involved in this for so long! Last time was April 08, so a whole year! But that was in Utah, then they had it again in July, but I was working at Treasure Mountain at that time so wasn't around for it. Then I went to college and we didn't have it there, and this is the first time LBC has had it since I've been a member. So it was really good to partake in the service again. So good to dedicate a service to remembering the blood and body Christ sacrificed for us.

~Tuesday: Hung out with Tim, Robb, Ashleigh, and SJ. Went to Victoria Gardens, In & Out, and then Ontario Mills. It was a jolly good time! "Paper cut, I think I'm bleeding!!" hehe

~Wednesday: Went to a job fair that turned out to be more of a career fair since it was more colleges advertising than jobs. But that's okay....I guess it wasn't a complete waste of my morning....right? Prayerfully God will bless my effort! Wednesday night.....the highlight of my week thus far!! Met a group over at Raphael's house and got pizza (praise the Lord because I was starving!!!) and watched some......drum roll please!...... INVADER ZIM!!!!! YAY! Ah, I
doubt most of you (if any) have ever heard of this show! And I am sure some of you would not like it if you had, but to me.....I love it! It's a cartoon about an alien named Zim that is always messing up things back on his planet, so they send him to earth on a pretend mission just to get rid of him. He thinks he is scoping Earth out for destruction, but it's all a big scam! Meanwhile, his neighbor Dib knows he is an alien and is trying to reveal that fact to the world, but alas, his plans are always foiled! But they have many exciting wars and adventures, and largely due to his messed up robot, Gir, the show has many funny moments! I die laughing! In between episodes and eating, we stopped to go door-knocking at the church then went back to his house and finished up the night with some more food for some, more Invader Zim, and The Village. It was pretty legit and our group (Raphael, Renae, Andrew, Ashleigh, Matt, Ricky, Sarahjane and I) was a rad one, so that helped make the night awesome!

~Thursday: I have a new best friend.....skinny jeans!!! I have never worn them because I didn't think I would be able to pull them off, but today as I was leaving the house I was thinking how uncomfortable my jeans are and so I never wear them. At Aeropostale they are having some pretty awesome sales right now and they had a couple racks full of jeans 70% off! They had one pair I liked in my size so I tried them on, not realizing they were skinny jeans. But they are super comfy, and I surprisingly like the fit! Not sure why I am running on about them, I guess I just really like them! Besides....I got them on sale for $13 from $45......doesn't get much better!!! After that I ran to Wal-Mart and got some hair dye. I like my red hair, but I am tired of the up-keep and what happens to red when it fades....an odd pinkish tone. Not what I am goin' for with my hair, so I decided to go brown instead this time. I was going to dye it a dark brown, but my parents convinced me to go back to lighter hair, so I picked up a light brown. I even left it in early, but to no avail! After taking about an hour to dye, rinse and blow-dry, I looked in my mirror and saw the same color I have been seeing for the past 4 months!!! Ugh! Kind of disappointing after I was expecting brown. The red was hardly penetrated! I still have dye left so I am going to try again tomorrow. If it doesn't work I will either go for a dark brown, or I will go to a salon and ask them to take out the red and make it lighter brown. We'll see!


Then of course church was very good tonight. Pastor preached about prayer. Stressing the point that although we need to be praying for our own requests, we need to stop focusing on self and pray for other people. It was very good! So that has been my week. Tomorrow I have to do some cleaning around my house, and prepare for RU Kidz, and I absolutely can't forget to pick SJ up for RU! haha! Really looking forward to tomorrow! Saturday is soul-winning and I don't have anything else going on (anybody got any ideas?! :D) then Sunday I have church all day! Yay!!! I love Sundays! Then the Harvey's house, which is always super fun on Sunday nights! Then.....Monday.....at least, isn't that what usually follows Sunday? Does anyone know if that's the order for this next week? Hopefully.....

My Currently Reading's

I always have a long list of books on my "To-Read" list. At times it seems endless and is frequently added to by the recommendations of friends, the library, and websites. I am never reading just one book at a time. I read many, and they are usually from completely different genres...keeps it interesting.
These are the books that I am currently reading and I am thoroughly enjoying them all:
(in order that I started them)
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*This is a book that I bought at college, but being a full-time student did not have time to read.
Now that I am out of school I finally have time to read it!
It's a book for teenage girls and young women about preparing for adult-hood. It is packed full of strong Biblical truth and has taught me so much, and really helped me grow through some very difficult times in my life.*



*This book was so strongly recommended to me that I was practically commanded to read it! I have had it for quite a few weeks now but am only in part 2 because I just found it after it was lost for so long (which would stink since it's from the library!). Turns out it was in my car the whole time! But I have picked it up again and it's really good! Really big....but intensely good!*


*This was one of the books I had for college but did not end up taking the class it was required for. The other day I was looking through my books and this one really interested me when I saw it so decided to read it and it has been really good so far! I am learning a lot from it, even though I don't have any children to apply it to, I find it comes to mind when I am dealing with children, or even adults. The book is about the 4 different learning styles people have and how we all learn. I really like it. I am an Abstract Random Global learner.*


*Wow, a simple classic like this needs no introduction. Lately I have just had this strong hankerin' to read Montague vs. Capulet. :) Most definitely one of the best love stories ever written. The passion, the drama, the music, the hatred, the love, all the fiery components that come together to keep the reader (me!) on the edge of their seat! Need I say anymore?*

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What are you all reading right now?
Anyone have any more stellar To-Read's for me?

Fondly Remember Dan, Dan the Bandage Man

This was one of my fave books to read (or have read to me) as a young girl! Dan was so good at helping his friends, pets, and toys feel better! And I have a thing for band-aids even still when I am hurt!