Seizing the Opportunity

Right now I'm thousands of miles away from some of my dearest friends. I'm in California, Heather is in Nebraska, and Eryn is in New Hampshire. Our trio spans across the entire United States. It's lame being so far away from them because we're all in different time zones with different schedules and it's harder than you'd think to find time to talk to each other. However, we manage to do so on occasion.

In April the three of us will be heading back to school in Idaho for a reunion...but we're going to reunite before then. Eryn is bringing her car from New Hampshire to school and she's invited both me and Heather to fly to NH and make the drive with her. The drive across almost the entire continental united states. We're talking about road trip fest '09! This is something every college student dreams of having the opportunity to do. I'm a bit apprehensive, considering the amount of money it'll take and the amount of money I need for the upcoming semesters...but I'm doing it anyway.

A week or so into April I'm going to drive my car to Utah, leave it there while I fly out to New Hampshire, and then drive for about a week with my girlfriends. We're going to stop in all these places that I've never been before and we're going to see the country. I don't think there are words for how excited I am.

Carpe Diem. That's what this time of my life is for, right?

Nothing to report

Despite all of the things happening in my life right now, I feel as though I have nothing interesting to blog about. The days are just passing and I seem to not really have much to say. I think being home has that effect on me. I become more introverted when I'm home compared to when I'm at school with my best friends. It's a different, more mellow life. So, here's a brief overview of what I've been up to:

I'm rereading To Kill a Mocking Bird. It's one of my favorite books.

I've taught myself to play I'm Not That Girl from Wicked on the piano.

I'm writing letters to missionaries consistently, but I've been neglecting my poor journal.

I'm getting out at night and doing things with the Singles Ward, which is actually really fun.

I've been on a date and I'm going to go on another one tonight. I'm not dating the guy (and he knows it), but it's nice to get out there and kind of be back in the dating world (as much as I dislike it, it has its perks).

I've spent a lot of time with the kittens. Mallomar likes to come snuggle with me but Cupcake has recently started hissing at me when I get close. What gives?

Oh, and I've decided to take a road trip across the United States from New Hampshire to Idaho with Eryn and hopefully Heather. I'm stoked.


And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my life in a nutshell.

Kittens. They're here!

After waiting a week, I have my two foster kittens! I've got two three month old kittens, a brother and sister. They're pretty skittish and not super social (with people, at least. They adore each other) because they're feral, which means they were born in the wild and need to be domesticated. They're doing pretty well and they're warming up to me more and more as time passes (it's only been a day) and I adore them.



The grey one is Mallomar (the boy) and the black and white one is Cupcake (the girl). Cupcake has what the cat woman calls a curly tail. It looks like a stub, but really her tail is just twisted around so it looks like a big ball of fluff. It looks extra funny when she runs around my room.

My job with these kittens is to socialize them as much as I can so they become used to people and are desirable for adoption. Since they're feral, this will be a little bit more difficult than if they were domestic. Either way, I'm confident I can socialize them well. My younger brothers constantly have their friends over asking to come into my room to visit with them. Ava (my niece) came over earlier tonight and she got to hold them. She was SO excited!

Earlier today I woke up from a nap and peeked under my dresser (a popular hide out) a the kittens. Only Cupcake was under there, so I assumed Mallomar was in the bathroom hiding behind the toilet (another favorite napping spot). He wasn't there. I thought that was a bit odd, so I started checking all the places in my room in which a little kitten could squeeze but to no avail. Mallomar was nowhere to be found. I went and got my mother, frantic because I had lost a kitten that I don't own. She came into my room and we looked in all the corners and under every piece of furniture. I checked in the closet, even though I've kept the door shut all while I've had the kittens. I honestly was about to cry because I had no idea where this kitten could have gone yet I couldn't find him anywhere. Then I saw he very tips of two fuzzy grey ears sticking up being the books on my short bookcase. Apparently he'd squeezed himself up and over the books and fell asleep behind them, well out of sight. It was a big relief. Now the two of them sleep back there all the time. I think the fact that my laptop charger is back there and it's usually pretty warm has something to do with it...


Ava holding Cupcake


Mallomar hanging around the dresser, waiting for Cupcake to come out and play.


Sleepy kittens, hiding behind the books.

Thanks for the tag, Heather

50 things you may (or may not) want to know about me......

1.What color is your tooth brush? It's blue and white. How original.

2. What were you doing 45 minutes ago? Um. I was unloading groceries from my car.

3. What is your favorite candy bar? Probably hershey's cookies 'n cream bar. Sooo tasty!

4. Have you ever been to a strip club? Not on my list of things to do in life. No, I haven't.

5. What is the last thing you said aloud? "Yeah, Daniel's house. As soon as dinner's over."

6. What is the best ice cream flavor? I agree with Heather. Chocolate.

7. What is the last thing you had to drink? Grape juice. White grape juice.

8. What are you wearing right now? Shorts, shirt, sweater.

9. What was the last thing you ate? a pinch of cheese from the table. I'm anxious for dinner.

10. Have you bought any new clothing items this week? No. But after tomorrow....

11. When was the last time you ran? Ew, never. I hate running.

12. Who was the last person to send you a message/comment on your blog? The lovely Eryn!

13. Do you take vitamins daily? Oh snap, no. I don't.

14. Do you go to church every Sunday? I do. I should be getting a calling now that they have my records....

15. Do you have a tan? Hardly. Have you even seen my legs?

16. Do you like Chinese food over pizza? Often, but not always.

17. Do you drink soda with a straw? Depends on where I'm drinking soda...

18. What does your last text message say? "Wut does that make u 4 using it? =P". From Jason. He's a big kid. He graduated from high school. How is it that he can't use actual words? I hate that.

19. Are you someones best friend? Straight up.

20. What are you doing tomorrow? Letter writing, shopping with Carly, nannying, prepping for the murder mystery with Carly, mystery dinner, sleepover with Ariel at my house. Wow. What a full day!

21. Where is your dad? In the kitchen. I heard everyone cheer for his arrival.

22. Look to your left, what do you see? Um. A door.

23. What color is your favorite pair of shoes? brown flip flops or red jelly shoes.

24. Do you use chap stick? Dude. I never leave the house without my Burt's!

25. Whats your favorite thing to do in your free time? Nap, read, facebook. How lame am I?

26. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive thru? Depends on the time restraint and where I'm going. In-N-Out? Often go inside. Anywhere else? Rarely go inside.

28. Last guy you talked on the phone with? Um. Jason...?

29. Last girl you talked on the phone with? Eryn. She talked to me while I went to the store. :)

30. Any fun vacation plans soon? I have my fingers crossed for a road trip in April

31. Do you dye your hair? I've done it before, but I'm growing out the bleached parts. No more purple hair for Amanda

32. Can you say the alphabet backwards? No. Too much effort

33. Do you have a maid service clean your house? Well....my mom pays for it. Once a week.

34. Are you jealous of anyone? I'm a little bit jealous of those in Rexburg right now. Just a liiiitttle bit.

35. Do you love anyone? I love quite a few people, actually.

36. Do any of your friends have children? My sister is my friend. She has children. So, my answer is yes.

37. Do you use the word Hello daily? I'm going with yes....

38. Do you like cats? LOVE. I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of the foster kittens...

39. Have you ever been to six flags? I have! I had a pass for a whole year and only used it twice.

40. How did you get your worse scar? I sliced my hand open and got a scar from that.

41. What is your favorite smell? Probably my mom's rolls. Yum!

42. What is the last DVD you watched? Must have been The Fall with my mom last Friday.

43. Have you ever been to Disney world? No, but I have been to Disneyland!

44. What is your favorite number? 3. I suppose.

45. Do you toast your pop tarts? If I ever eat them, generally I prefer them toasted

46. Have you ever waited tables? Nope.

47. Where did you have your first kiss? On the trampoline.

48. What should you be doing? finishing a letter.

49. Do you enjoy wasting time blogging? I never waste time blogging. Whatever I blog about is of the ut most importance to all of my readers. I enjoy blogging, but it's never a waste of time.

50. Who do you want to tag? Hernan, since he hasn't been tagged yet.

On being an LDS Adoptee

The other night I was thinking back to a party I went to recently at which I reconnected with a boy I met years ago through my sister. When I told him that I'm Miriam's sister he said to me, "You two don't look a thing alike". I then told him that my four brothers and I were all adopted at birth, so it makes sense that we don't look like each other. His jaw kind of dropped and he remarked on the number of kids in our family and then said, "I kind of thought that most Mormon families ended up with so many kids because we just don't use enough protection. It's kind of cool that your parents actually chose to have so many kids". This just made me laugh. I think he's been mislead, because I know plenty of LDS families who planned on having a lot of kids.

Then last night I was talking to a friend about being adopted and some of the things I've had to deal with because of this. She has a younger brother who was adopted into her family when he was about five years old, so we had a few stories to exchange. It was interesting to me to hear about her brother and how her family, although there were six kids previous to his addition, felt incomplete. Now he's been adopted into their family and has been sealed to them and they're finally a complete unit.

Being a member of the Church and being adopted is different than just being adopted. We have the opportunity to go to a Temple of the Lord and be sealed for time and all eternity to our parents and siblings. This special act is something that I am most grateful for. I don't have any discomfort with my family and I feel as though this is where I was intended to be, but since my mom can't have kids, I needed a different way of getting here. Adoption is a beautiful blessing, but being sealed makes it that much sweeter.

Today has been one of those days where, while going about my daily activities, I just think how lucky I am to be a part of this family. I don't think there are better people out there.

Garage Adventures.

Today my family (meaning my parents, myself, and Aaron) started working on organizing our garage. When we moved in, everything was just kind of tossed into the garage in a fashion that allowed everything to fit, but it was a mess and you could hardly walk anywhere. We pulled tons of things out and moved around bookshelves and cabinets, with the goal of having two empty spaces so my parents can park their cars inside. We managed to get it pretty empty and organized, which I'm pretty impressed by.

Up above the kitchen we have an attic/crawl space which is handy for storing our holiday bins and things like that. Since I'm the smallest, I got up there to explore and figure out where we were going to put everything, but I ended up leaving immediately after almost crawling over a huge black widow. You know, I used to not be so afraid of spiders, but lately I've become a huge baby. As a whole, I know spiders are useful and they eat bugs that would otherwise be overpopulated, but I don't like it when they lurk in corners where I'm not expecting them or if they somehow end up in my shower (how does that happen four hours after I shower? honestly). They're creepy and they're gross and I don't like them one bit. Eight legs is six legs toooo many! Disgusting.

But we got everything we needed to into the attic and we got almost all the cabinets and bookshelves into place, so that's good. However, when we started to move things back inside so we could call it a day, I stepped on a screw that went through my shoe and into my foot. It only punctured my skin a little bit but it felt like it was pretty deep in there. I tracked blood all across the new tile (even though I tried not to) and went to the urgent care center to get a tetanus shot (we can't remember when I got my last one. It's been a while). My mom bandaged my foot up more than it needed (probably only needed a small band aid) but it's feeling a lot better now. My arm is sore from the shot, but that's to be expected.

Next weekend we'll have another go at the garage and maybe this time we'll finish.

Pottery Barn Bedroom

For the past two or three years for Christmas I've gotten items for my bedroom. I got a chair, a coffee table, a mesquito net for my bed, and a full length mirror. I've gathered several things of the same shade of green, like a box and a rug as well as a couple things I've painted. Along with the green is the tan of my chair and my bed spread and the black accents I added to the things I painted and the mirror I got.

Now that we've moved out and back in I've had the opportunity to rearrange my room and make it into a bedroom much better than the one I had dreamed of when I started requesting those things for Christmas. My mom allowed me to have a short bookshelf that is black and goes perfectly with my room. That is a bookshelf as well as a desk, since I now have my harp stool to sit on. All around, I'm very pleased with the outcome of my bedroom. It's not finished, since I have things to go on the walls and a couple things I'd like to add, but it's coming together.







Pretty good, eh?

Sometimes

Sometimes less information is better than all of it.
Sometimes we might be curious about something we really don't want to know, but we ask to know any way.
Sometimes you can still be happy, despite know those things.
Sometimes you can still be happy, but you can also make yourself sick over those things.

Now I know why curiosity killed the cat.

Untitled Poem.

I wrote this back in March. I wrote it in a way that was designed to make the reader this it's about one person, but it's not. I'd like to post it here and use italics to make the distinction between the two subjects.


You say this is all so simple
It comes and it goes
It's racing through my veins
I still don't know
Because we're talking late into the night
While you're sleeping miles away
With your silly little dreams
With you and with me
With all those things you hoped we'd be
But I'm waiting for that letter
I want to see your writing on the card
My journal is filling to the brim
With stories of you and of him
and I still don't know what to do
Your smile makes me melt
My head is spinning round
I'm tangled in these spider webs
I can't escape
I'm staying up late at night
Replaying those words over and over
It's making me sick
I think I want to be with you
But you're sleeping miles away
You've got your silly little dreams
With you and with me
And all those things you hoped we'd be
We aren't and we can't
California wants you back

I'd rather not explain it just yet, I'm just curious if it makes sense at all. I'm not sure that it does.

Dinosaurs and Goodbyes

I went to Sam's house last night for a final night with him. It ended up being me, Sam, Daniel (Sam's best friend), and Sam's family. We watched the last half of Top Gun (at least that's when I showed up) followed by Jurassic Park 2 and 3 (Sam pretended to be a dinosaur the whole movie. How obnoxious can he be? seriously) and about an hour of the fourth Harry Potter movie (we skipped to the 'good' parts. It's Sam's favorite movie and he quoted every line along with the movie. Accents and all). I'm glad I got to go. I'm glad I got to have a last night with him. He framed the picture of the two of us we had taken at his farewell last week and gave it to me. I don't care if it looks like an engagement picture (which both Eryn and my sister said), it's home is on my bookshelf.

You know, I realize this is old news to a lot of you and I'm sure a couple of you could have told me that of course Sam and I are more than just friends, like I've been insisting we are, but it's still nice that I got to know that there's still something there before he left.

I'm not waiting for him. I don't really like the idea of waiting for someone, but if it works out that I haven't gotten married by the time he gets back, then we'll see what happens. For now, I'm just proud of him for going. And I'm sorry I have nothing else in my life to blog about right now. I'm a little bit pathetic.

Ringing in 2009

I stayed up entirely too late. I went over to Natalie's for a New Year's Eve party (instead of driving a couple hours to a dance. Driving that long on New Year's Eve didn't sound like a good idea). We talked, played Apples to Apples, which ended promptly after Jared threw down the Helen Keller card for the word DEAD. We died with laughter. We toasted the new year, danced in Benjamin's room, then made ourselves comfortable in the living room and started the Pirates trilogy. Ori had fun braiding my hair and unbraiding it over and over. Most of us crashed in the middle of the second movie (myself included. Around 5AM) but Benjamin and Ori and Dimitri managed to stay up until 7ish. Eventually Ben crashed on the floor, Ori crashed in Ben's bed, and Dimitri went home. We all just slept and slept. I woke up for a while, though. Aaron (Ori's good friend) snores really loudly and he was on the floor next to me.

It was a crazy fun night.

Now I'm going to take the first nap of 2009. It's bound to be awesome.

Happy New Year, bloggers.