I have some extra time between my classes today so I thought I should probably update. I can't really think about anything but school right now so this is going to be a geography post.
I have to do a book report for my senior seminar class and I chose a book entitled, Geography of Nowhere: the Rise and Decline of the Man-Made Landscape. This is a really good book and would recommend it for recreational reading. It is about how sprawl (rapid growth) of our cities has led to us being a automobile dependent society and that everywhere looks like nowhere in particular. This is what I am going to rant about today.
it just baffles me that we have let our landscape turn into what it has. How many of you can walk to the grocery store? How many of you can walk to any store? Every time you want to run errands do you find yourself getting in the car? I don't know about you but this really bothers me. I would love to live in a pace where Isabella and I could walk to the park or grocery store. It seems like a dream when people describe towns where you can walk everywhere you need to go and you know your neighbors or have a garden. What happened to this town? People not wanting to share, that is what happened. People just can't stand not having their own space. Think about it, when you were a kid, did you want to share a room with your sibling? If people would just suck it up and share some stuff we wouldn't be stuck in the car all day. Did you know the average American spends four days stuck in traffic per year? Why are we so obsessed with cars? I hate driving because as you can imagine, people make me angry. I think I would be a lot more relaxed if there were n't so many cars around here, or anywhere for that t matter. Cars make you fatter too. I wrote a paper last semester and Studies actually show that people living in a town or city where they can't walk to run errands have a high body mass index.
anyway I'm rambling a little so here it is, SPRAWL SUCKS!!!!!!!!

I have a question for my readers that saw the super bowl on Sunday. If you happened to tune in for the half time show than you probably saw the "flash". I want to know how many of you think this was done intentionally or by accident and why? If you have any reasons to support you theory. I was going to put up a link that someone sent me of a picture of the occasion but since I have some young readers I will leave it off, I'm sure if you want to find a picture of the incident you can do it yourself.

I must admit I was disappointed by the show but not surprised. Our society is going down the crapper:(

Guess who I saw today? The halls of the geography building were once again graced by the presence of Jake the snake. I was hoping I would have a little bit more time before I saw him again but no. I thought this encounter would be like all the others I had had with him but I was pleasantly surprised he didn't really say much to me even though we were the only two people in the break room but I didn't mind. He was waiting for the honors advisor to come in and had apparently been there for a while. I had the advisor as a teacher last year while I was pregnant and he loved me. For those of you who have heard it, he sounds like the bird who sings the color song on the Disney songs collection when he talks. He loved me because he loves babies and his children weren't having any. When he finally did come in he walked right past jake and started talking to me about my classes and Isabella. This only irked Jake further. When Dr. Gade was done talking to me he said hello to Jake,who then proceeded to tell him how unprofessional he was for being late and not talking to him first. What happened next was something I would've loved to see everyone do when Jake said something rude. Dr. Gade started to chase Jake around the room punch him in the stomach (hard) and make fun of him. It took all myself control to not run into the hallway and yell fight!, so everyone could enjoy it as much as I did. By the way,this professor is in his mid 60's and Jake is like 23.

I guess you early risers can start calling me in the morning now. Apparently Isabella is suffering from separation anxiety. I knew babies would cry when you left and stuff like that but I had no idea how it really affects them. Apparently when babies are separated from their primary care giver they have severe adjustment problems. The first thing to change is their sleeping schedule. They start to wake up in the middle of the night and cry for you. I thought this meant that I might hear her whimper every once in a while but no. This means blood curdling screams even after they pass out. The only way to get them quite is to go in and touch or whisper to them. Isabella has perfected this. She will only sleep for about two hours at a time at night without waking up and maybe one hour during the day. It is like having a newborn again but the bottle doesn't sooth her. She also will not lay down. She keeps herself stiff as a board so you cant set her down. Next come the eating problems. She will only eat about half of her meal. She just cries and whines the whole time, tries to spit the food out or blow it off the spoon. Overall she is super moody and wants me or josh to hold her but then when we pick her up she just cries like she is fussing at us for leaving her. I hate school!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, here's the thing. Why do people assume that just because I am a mother I get up before 8:00am? Just because your children don't sleep past 8 doesn't mean that everyone else's don't. I happen to be blessed with a baby who likes to sleep in. In fact I usually have to wake her up around 9:00am. I think appropriate phone hours to call someone should be from 9:30-10:00am until 9:30 pm. That is unless you have been told to call earlier or later than that. I like to take advantage of all the sleeping time I could possibly have and when someone calls to early then I can't go back to sleep and I don't want to get up. So please, DON'T CALL BEFORE 9:00 AM!!!!! ( unless someone is bleeding or broken).

As I was poking around in Isabella's mouth yesterday I discovered something. She has cut another tooth!!! She is getting pretty good at this. She now has two lower front teeth. I can't wait for them to grow in so everyone can see them when she smiles. It will be so cute.

I'm sure this news will make some of you sad but I am thrilled. Jake the snake graduated last semester so I will no longer be graced with his presence on a regular basis. He seems like one of those guys who graduates and never goes away though so I think there will still be the occasional post about him. I have run a little dry on people who annoyed me that I am allowed to write about but I am sure that will change when I go back to school next week so fear not. Since I haven't put any pictures up here in forever, here you go.


I am pretty sure my baby has the longest tongue ever (besides that guys from KISS)

this is my brother matt and his daughter Stella (she's German)

I am debating on whether I am going to tell any family holiday stories. A good reason not to is because both of our families read this site and I don't really need the drama right now. Something exciting did happen over the break though. Isabella cut her first tooth on her seven month birthday. It only took her about ten hours to get it out. The thing that really sucked about it was that while she was crying we were on a charter bus with about 45 high school kids coming back from Florida. Isa was very brave about it though. She keeps sucking on her bottom lip so she can rub her lip on her new tooth. I can't wait until it is big enough that you can see it when she smiles.
I will try to think of a cool story about the break that wont get anyone in trouble but that might be hard.

It is a requirement for my major for me to take a lass about what is in a computer and how it works etc. The class is one of the more boring ones I have taken because most people already know this information. Well, one day in class the teacher was passing around different pieces of the computer around the classroom so every one could see what the insides really looked like. Every thing was going fine for a while and he continued with he lesson. But then it reached a point where this guy had to pass the pieces up one row. I didn't think this was as hard as he made it since my whole side of the room had been passing it up to the next row without a problem but this kid apparently had no idea what to do. I am pretty sure, that if he had thought about it a little bit longer, he would have been able to come up with a better option then the one he did. Keep in mind that the teacher is still lecturing. This guy, instead of reaching up and tapping the guy or whispering his name or even "hey you", decided that the best way to get the other person's attention would be to simply start banging the computer pieces on the table. He did this not once but for about 10 seconds. He only stopped at this point because the teacher walked over and took them away from him. The stupidity on this kid was funny yet very irritating. Did he think that only the guy in front of him could hear it? I don't know, but what I do know is that this kid is defiantly very self absorbed.

we took Isabella to her six month check up today and she is doing great:) she is 26 7/10 inches long and weighs almost 18 pounds. Her head is still in the upper percentiles but since she is so long it fits. She had to get five shots today because josh and I decided to give her a flu shot in addition to her other four. Poor thing, she did really good though. Josh held her hand for me which was really sweet. I can't stand to do that. I usually hid in the corner so she doesn't know I am just standing there letting people hurt her. She has started moving all over the room now. She can't quite crawl yet. She can get her back half moving and her front half moving but not at the same time so she gets around be rolling everywhere. I figured that meant she could only go in a straight line but if she wants to change direction she just gets on her tummy and pivots around until she is facing the right way and off she goes. She also grabbed the entertainment center door and tried to open it this afternoon so it guess it is time to baby proof everything. I can't wait for her to crawl and walk, it will be so much fun!!!

Like many people this season, I have gotten sick. I wasn't quite sure what it was because I would be fine one day and then really sick the next day. Finally I decided to go to the health center at school. I figured they would give me some antibiotics and I would get better pretty fast. Well, when I got there there were only two other students in the whole center. I register and then they ask me my symptoms so I rattle the list off, burns to breath and cough, clogging in my ears, nasal congestion and burning from dryness as well as a low grade temp and a weird red rash in the back of my mouth and down my throat. After telling the nurse this she asks me to go and sit back in the waiting area. At this point I should say that when I checked in I filled out a form saying I wanted all medicines given to me explained. Well, after sitting in the waiting area for a few minutes the Dr. calls my name and I go back for what I thought would be another mild examination. In reality I only stayed in that room for roughly 45 seconds while he tells me my lungs are clear, my ears are fine and my throat is not swollen. I was in shock for a second and by the time I came out of it I was back in the lobby. It all of those things were fine then I must not be sick, but wait........yep there it is, I am still sick. Then the nurse comes out and hands me a bottle of super decongestants and walks off before I can say anything. I could understand being rushed out like this if it were really busy but there was more medical staff there than students.
I just don't understand how I have nothing in my lungs when stuff comes out when I cough or why I can't hear if my ears are clean not to mention that my throat hurts. This must be all my imagination. I guess I just enjoy being sick so much that I would inflict all these symptoms on myself just to I could feel like crap. Silly me, I should have know that the incredibly wonderful doctors at the health center would see right though that.
needless to say, I will not be going to the health center ever again if I am really sick with something. They are completely incompetent. I'm sure I could complain more but against the advise of my physician I am sick.

Josh and I missed our date last week. We decided to try and make up for it by going out to eat at Macados. After we found a babysitter we were off. We arrived at Macados at about 7:00 pm and there was a line. This doesn't happen very often so they don't really have a system when the restaurant is full. Well, anyway, there was a party of six in front of us and after they told us there restaurant was full we stepped back to make room for people were would get seated before us and so it wouldn't been so crowded. About five minutes later a young college age couple comes in and walks right past the people waiting and gets in the front of the line. Josh looked at me and said "I would feel a lot better if they were at the back of the line" I agreed and about that time more people came in and we had to move up so they could get in the door. After a few more minutes the hostess comes up and asks me if I was waiting for a tow top and said she would seat us after she rang up some people waiting to pay there bill. I was surprised yet prepared for what happened next. The guy from the college couple turns abound and says "actually we were in front of you" , without much of a pause I turned and said " actually we were in front of you but you walked past us and got in the front of the line" he looked a little surprised at this but backed down. The waitress laughed about it on the way to the table because she was surprised that he had done that and said she remembered us and would have said something if I had not.
I just don't get people. Why did he think he was first? The whole lobby was full of people when he got there. It just baffles me.

I love living in the mountains! With all the beautiful trees, streams and rolling green hills. I especially love the fall and winter. The leaves changing and the white fluffy snow. My cute little family decided to go and take some pictures, with Josh's digital camera which I a sure you have all heard about, at Grandfather Mountain and then blowing rock. I was then reminded why I hate living in the mountains, floridiots. They are everywhere and Blowing Rock is crawling with then. They just walk out in front of your car at intersections and then look at you like you have broken some law. I guess we should be grateful that they actually came to the crosswalk. They usually just walk out into the street and stop traffic in both directions. These people are also proof of an earlier theory that stupid pedestrians make stupid drivers. I can't get anywhere in under 25 minutes and without stopped for several people who can't drive and cut me off or hold up traffic because there reflexes are so slow that it takes them 8 seconds after the light changes to push their gas petal, and there are speed limits for a reason. If you don't feel safe driving the posted limit then you shouldn't be driving! I could go on about his for a while but I think I will save some for another time.

Josh and I saw this movie when we were at blockbuster renting a movie and of course I have something to say about it. I don't get the title. From Justin to Kelly, that makes no sense. I mean, is he writing a letter to Kelly, are they in a town named Justin and are going to travel to a nearby town called Kelly, or is he giving her a gift and just wrote on the from that it was to her from him? Who came up with this title, better yet who had the idea of this title pitched to them and said hey, that's a good idea! I think that title of the movie should have something to do with what the movie is actually about not just be place to put the actors name, that is what the credits are for. Just for the publics information I do know what the title is referring to, it just annoys me.

I was having trouble thinking of a post because I was on fall break and wasn't around anyone except Isabella but after spending some time with adults I have a post.

My mother did a very good job teaching us phone etiquette while I was a child so I am a little picky about how other people use the phone. She would teach us before we could answer the phone that when we picked it up we were to tell the person where they called, and who they were speaking too. This might sound weird or that it would take a long time but it really didn't and we always got compliments on your phone manners. To help everyone understand what I am talking about I have written the following. It absolutely drives me crazy when someone calls me and says " do you know who this is?" how rude can you be? Do you really want to play a guessing game or did you just forget who you are? Next I don't like it when people call and say "what are you doing?" and then have nothing else to say or were you really that curious about what I was doing at that very second that you just had to call me and ask? I also have a problem with people who call you from a loud place and then yell in your ear that they can't hear you. Did they think all the noise would stop as soon as you picked up your phone? Josh brought up a good one that applied in the pre-cell phone era. The question of
"where are you?" did you not just call me? don't you know where you called? You would probably be surprised how mush this one occurs on a house line. To help all of those people who have committed these blunders I have made a list of phone rules.

1) always answer by telling you name
2) always identify yourself as soon as the person answers
3) call only if you have something to say other than asking them what they are doing
4) make sure it is quiet so you can hear them and they can hear you
5) lastly, know where you called.

Time for the latest Jake the snake story. Our classroom is set up of long tables that seat four people each. This is the only big classroom on the floor and it is packed with tables and chairs so it leaves little room to move around. At my table we sit, from left to right, Jake, Nyssa, me and Mac. Before class started the other day Nyssa was standing at the end of the table where Jake sits. She wanted to get to her seat and said "Jake, I am not that skinny, could you scoot your chair up a little?" he proceeds to ignore her. She asks again "Jake could you please move you chair up?" what happened next was one of the rudest things I have encountered in a while. Jake looks at her, leans forward, like he is going to move up, and just as she goes to walk to her seat he leans back in his seat and makes himself a little more comfortable. We all thought he would then laugh like any normal friend would do and move out of her way but no, this jerk just sits there and makes her walk all the way around the table and go behind me and Mac rather than move his chair up three inches. Needless to say, but Mac and I gave him some really dirty looks and told him how rude he was being. He just snickered and sat there. I was wondering what I could put as the little moral of this story and I think I have come up with something that works pretty well. DON"T BE LIKE JAKE!!!!

As most of you know I am taking some classes this semester at ASU. I don't like to leave Isabella for any longer than I have to so when I get out of class I try to get to my car as quickly as possible. This is when I tend to meet the less than intelligent individuals in our lovely little town. I say try because I am rarely successful in getting there quickly. It has come to my attention that people have no idea where they should walk while on a sidewalk. I thought this was common knowledge but apparently it isn't. I was always taught that you should stay as far to the right as possible unless you need to pass someone. This allows for a smooth uninterrupted walk. If both people stay to their right then everyone has plenty of room. It would appear that most people enjoy walking right in the middle of the sidewalk and refuse to move even if they see you coming, so you are forced to step off of the sidewalk so you can continue on your way without running into them. Did their parent's teach them nothing? I just want to keep going and walk right into these people. This inconvenience is costing me precious time with Isabella. I hadn't really noticed that I was ending all my posts in caps until josh pointed it out and I don't want to confuse anyone by changing it now so here it is, STAY TO THE RIGHT ON THE SIDEWALK!

I know I said that I wasn't going to do any more Isabella updates but at the request of several people I have decided to give it one more shot.

I took Isabella for her four month check up on Monday. This was her first visit to her new doctor. I had to switch because her old one was not very good with infants and it was very traumatic for both of us. This new guy is great though. He let me hold her through the whole exam instead of making me lay her on the table and hold her down. She did great and only cried when she got her shots and for about ten seconds afterwards. Her new stats are in the 90% for her height and weight. She is now 15 pounds, 12.6 ounces and very tall at 25.75 inches. Josh and I are thrilled that she is so health and growing so well. She isn't enjoying the rice cereal very much. In fact I am pretty sure she hates it but I have gotten very good at making her eat it. I think I might lay off it for a while though since she hates it so much, I don't want her to start to not like feeding time. She still loves her bottle though. :) there you go, the latest Isabella information.

Since I just had an encounter with some people that got on my nerves I think I will share with group. I was driving down king St. In Boone on the way to school today at around 1:00pm. For those of you who don't know about Boone, king St is one of the worst roads to drive on except at about 9:30 am on a Sunday. I was at a light trying to turn left and I knew I was going to have to wait for the light to turn yellow for me to turn so I waited patiently. Just as the light turned yellow I began to turn and a flock of people walking run about into the intersection trying to cross. Hello!, did you think you could make it all the way across in the 2 second pause before the light turned red. Of course you couldn't, that is why the sign said DON"T WALK!!! I then had to wait in the intersection for these people to get across so I could then get out of everyone else's way. There is a reason for the crosswalk sign. In case you missed it, the crosswalk is this really nifty invention that tells you, get this, when to walk. So please pay attention and if the sign says walk then by all means walk but if it says don't walk then KEEP YOUR BUTT ON THE CURB!
(just kidding Justin, I wasn't mad at you but who was that guy you were with?)

Since all of you are aware of the purpose of this web site I think that the following serves you right.

I can't stand it when I write something and then someone writes something very similar to what I wrote and they get all the attention. Yes I am attention hungry. I don't think this is really my fault since I am a middle child. I need attention. I just see no point in talking at all when people are only going to respond when someone else hasn't said the same thing after me. It doesn't bother me that someone else said the same thing, just that no one even mentions that I ever said it. So just for future reference I will not be giving any updates of Isabella on this site. Since you all seem to enjoy it when josh does it better.

now on to "The Jake"( to emphasize the filth). I have started bringing a snack to class with me. As I was eating my snack one day I hear someone ask if they can have some. To my surprise, before I could even answer, I see a hand in my food. A hand that for all I knew had not been washed in days. I was in shock at first and then completely lost my appetite. This guy, even though he saw me throw away the rest of my snack has tried to do the same thing again to me and one of my friends. We now eat with our food in our laps or before "The Jake" can come and steal some. If you must ask for someone elses food then at least wait until they say you can have some. People have serious issues when it comes to things they want . They think just because the y want it then they should get it. Well, the world is full of disappointment, so I am just trying to help you experience life when I say " KEEP YOUR HANDS OUT OF MY FOOD".

Just a little happy Isabella update. Tomorrow is her 4 month birthday. Happy Birthday Punky!!!! She gets to eat baby rice cereal now. Let the messes begin. That probably sounds pretty boring to most people but it is really cool to us. It just gets kind of boring feeding her only formula after a while. I am sure she was bored with it along time ago though. She is sooooo adorable. I will have to post some more recent pictures of her. More stupid people coming soon. I just wanted to give everyone a little baby info.

My dear husband gave me the idea for my next post. It kind of reminds me of a Seinfeld episode and maybe Justin can tell us for sure. I think it is a mixture of a couple of episodes actually. Anyway, josh and I both have a real hard time with loud whisperer. You know the type, the person who is pretty much yelling (or at least talking in a normal voice) but they think no one can hear them but you. This can be really embarrassing if they area actually saying something you don't want everyone else to hear or if it is a situation where no one else is talking except your "friend". This can lead to some very uncomfortable situations. Josh encountered this last week at church and it was super annoying (it was tj). Like most people in sacrament meeting he goes there to listen and if he needs to talk, which he rarely does, he will whisper so quietly that the person he is talking o would have a hard time understanding him. Here is a good rule of thumb, if you can hear yourself other than in the echo in your head, you are being too loud. If you find yourself getting some odd looks in meetings when you try to tell someone something then you are probably a loud whisperer and you should bring a pen and pad of paper and keep your mouth shut.

I have decided to make this Jake guy a regular on my page. I think he has earned it. I will refer to him as Jake the jerk or maybe something a little more colorful from time to time. So expect more about him soon.

I know we have all worked on a group project at school with someone who knew everything. Well, at least they thought they did. I have had the pleasure of welcoming a new lab partner into my lab group in one of my classes. I'll call him Jake*. Jake is the type of guy that doesn't want to do any of the work himself but will be more than happy to tell you that you are doing it wrong. I made the mistake of volunteering to write down the answers on our last lab. Everyone knows that you can't write down everything your group says or the answer wont make any sense and you will find yourself quickly running out of room. Well, as I was waiting to hear everything they were going to say before I wrote anything down, Jake stops talking, looks over at me and says " are you going to write any of this down " I was shocked for a minute but another group member shot to my defense by asking Jake if he would like to do the work. This only shut him up for about 2 or 3 minutes and then he was at it again. I have decided, along with me other group members that we are going to let Jake do the work as soon as he tries to correct us. We did this last week and he didn't seem to enjoy it very much. That should teach him to correct other people, well, at least until next weeks lab. Don't be lazy and bossy. If you feel the need to boss someone around then be willing to do the work yourself, especially if you have no authority to be telling them what to do.


* no names have been changed