I just held my very first writing workshop for my writing. It was really exciting and SUPER nerve-wracking all at the same time! I had a huge knot in my stomach all day long waiting for it.
I wrote a science-fiction short story, and in order to get feedback and critique from my friends, I had a few people over to read it and basically just tell me what they thought in a big group discussion. I asked for the things that did and didn't work, what was confusing, what felt slow or too fast, etc. It went really well. I got tons of feedback to sort through, and now I'm onto the hardest stage of writing- the editing! I'm really grateful that my friends did this for me, since I know it couldn't have been very enjoyable. It felt a lot like a classroom. At least, it did for me! Hopefully they enjoyed speaking their opinion in a place where it was very much appreciated. They are also very good sports for reading through it when it was still in a draft stage.
I can't post my story on here because then it would be considered published. If I want to try to publish it any time in the future, it can't already be published. But maybe, and just maybe, if you want to read it when I have a final draft, I can get you a copy.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
book clutch
Last night, Alysha had work off, and I still haven't been allowed back on for shifts, and I'm finally feeling better after my trip (I had a fever last week, yuck), so we did a craft together yesterday. I saw a picture on Pinterest of a purse that had been made from a book cover. I immediately recognized the cover as a part of a special collection that they sell at Barnes and Noble. They have a special right now, buy one get one for $10, so Alysha and I each picked a book and got to split the price. Neither of us were able to pick our favorite because the book was too thin to be a sizable purse (I wanted to use The Chronicles of Narnia), but we picked covers that ended up turning out great! I picked The Complete Sherlock Holmes, and Alysha picked The Count of Monte Cristo.
After getting our books, we went to Wal-Mart to pick out fabric for the purse lining, and accessories to use for purse handles. It took us about an hour and a half to put it together with a hot glue gun and sewing machine (and a lot of playing around with things until we found something that worked!) and they both ended up so cute! We had a great time watching Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and making things up as we went along.
After getting our books, we went to Wal-Mart to pick out fabric for the purse lining, and accessories to use for purse handles. It took us about an hour and a half to put it together with a hot glue gun and sewing machine (and a lot of playing around with things until we found something that worked!) and they both ended up so cute! We had a great time watching Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and making things up as we went along.
The inside
The front cover
The back cover
The book itself remained in tact and is still ready for eager eyes to read it.
Alysha's purse. I love her purse handles made from beads.
Monday, May 28, 2012
thesaurus
I cannot express how much I absolutely love the Thesaurus! I feel like I have a pretty wide vocabulary, but there are so many times when I'm writing and need and want a specific word that just won't come to me. The Thesaurus has almost never failed me in finding that word.
Bravo, Thesaurus. I wish I could give you a high-five.
I would absolutely love a t-shirt that has a picture of a dinosaur on it, with a caption underneath saying, "My favorite/preferred/best-loved animal is the Thesaurus." I just barely came up with that.
Bravo, Thesaurus. I wish I could give you a high-five.
I would absolutely love a t-shirt that has a picture of a dinosaur on it, with a caption underneath saying, "My favorite/preferred/best-loved animal is the Thesaurus." I just barely came up with that.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
question eight
What are 5 passions you have?
I have no idea what's up with the weird spacing. I did not put a huge gap in between everything. Not in any particular order:
1. Food- I love good food, especially sugar. I love that John loves good food. I don't love everything I try, but I try to appreciate everything for what it's meant to taste like. There are some things, however, that are just plain nasty. Like tomatoes.
2. Writing- It's hard to make myself sit down and write sometimes, but when I do, I find myself in a completely new world. Every single care is forgotten, stress is melted, and time is unimportant. In one of my writing sessions, I wrote for over six hours and hadn't even realized it. I know I've had a really great session when I'm finished, and my whole body just relaxes, and I'm exhausted. That is one of the best feelings in the world.
3. Love/Family- Even as a little girl I was always a sappy, hopeless romantic. I watched the princess movies and wished my Prince Charming would ride off with me to forever. Now that I have my Prince Charming, I can say that I am absolutely passionate about him and our love. And someday, that love will expand to our future family.
4. Cats- They have always been my favorite animal. I've had cats my whole life. Now, I have Momo and Suki. I'm still trying to warm up to Momo (he bites me... but only me), but I completely adore Suki. She is my baby and one of the most precious things in my life.
5. God/Religion- I wouldn't be the person I am today with the Church and the knowledge and testimony that I have. It's one of the most important things in my life.
I have no idea what's up with the weird spacing. I did not put a huge gap in between everything. Not in any particular order:
1. Food- I love good food, especially sugar. I love that John loves good food. I don't love everything I try, but I try to appreciate everything for what it's meant to taste like. There are some things, however, that are just plain nasty. Like tomatoes.
2. Writing- It's hard to make myself sit down and write sometimes, but when I do, I find myself in a completely new world. Every single care is forgotten, stress is melted, and time is unimportant. In one of my writing sessions, I wrote for over six hours and hadn't even realized it. I know I've had a really great session when I'm finished, and my whole body just relaxes, and I'm exhausted. That is one of the best feelings in the world.
3. Love/Family- Even as a little girl I was always a sappy, hopeless romantic. I watched the princess movies and wished my Prince Charming would ride off with me to forever. Now that I have my Prince Charming, I can say that I am absolutely passionate about him and our love. And someday, that love will expand to our future family.
4. Cats- They have always been my favorite animal. I've had cats my whole life. Now, I have Momo and Suki. I'm still trying to warm up to Momo (he bites me... but only me), but I completely adore Suki. She is my baby and one of the most precious things in my life.
5. God/Religion- I wouldn't be the person I am today with the Church and the knowledge and testimony that I have. It's one of the most important things in my life.
Monday, May 21, 2012
wedding/work/bracelet/liam neeson
Well, I'm in the middle of my two week wait now. I'll be testing this weekend sometime (maybe Memorial Day if I can make myself wait that long. But more realistically, probably Saturday). And I'm just trying to find things to keep me busy.
John, Jacob, and I drove to Rexburg/Sugar City this past weekend for their cousin Lauren's wedding. She married Saturday afternoon in the Rexburg temple. I had never been inside, and it was a beautiful temple. The theme inside was wheat. There was wheat on the stained glass, and braided wheat patterns on the borders. I wish I could have done a session and seen the Celestial room, but the sealing room was beautiful.
We had a really nice time in Sugar. It was a very short trip, and I was completely exhausted the whole time because I had to be awake during the day, but it was still fun. We stayed with John's grandparents. Shortly after we arrived, Uncle Joe and his two kids came, and later that night, John's parents showed up with Beth. So we had a full house! Grandma fed us great meals (I really want her recipe for that steak thing she made on Friday), everyone else played a few hands of Rook, and we piled in front of the TV to watch Pawn Stars.
For Starla, since I'm pretty sure she was super confused when John, Beth, and I kept making references to this:
***
For the last two weeks I haven't been able to really go to work. Someone in administration dropped the ball and forgot to turn in my yearly background check, so it was over two months late. She got a call from the company owner asking why it wasn't in, and said that I wasn't allowed to work again until it came back, which would take about two weeks. I made a few phone calls (angry phone calls...) and they finally said that I can go to work and clock in so I can make some money, but I'm not allowed to do checks or be with the girls. I joked with seriousness that they should just give me the money since I'm not doing anything for them to earn it.
A few days after I was told I could not take shifts, I got another call telling me that I needed to also get fingerprints to turn in with my background check. I think this made me the most upset, because they waited a few days before telling me. What were they doing for those few days? Obviously not trying to turn in my background check. So, after having to wait the weekend for the police station fingerprint office to be open, I got them done, and my excommunicated-from-work time was bumped up to a total of three weeks. My time has almost been served. It will be three weeks on Wednesday. We'll see if I get the call to come back by then. I have a feeling, after experiencing this whole mess and incompetence, that it might be even longer.
So, to occupy myself tonight (since there are no dishes, my fridge is spotless now, and the bathrooms are all cleaned and bleached, and the laundry is in the drier), I made a bracelet. I haven't made jewelry for years. Of course, the jewelry I used to make was awful, ugly stuff with plastic beads and wax string. I am a member of a Clomid/infertility support group online, and someone started talking about fertility bracelets. There is some coot out there who is claiming to have beads and crystals with special powers to help with fertility, and charges $50 per bracelet. It's all a load of bologna, but the bracelets were actually really pretty. I remembered that I have an old pearl necklace that broke, so I re-purposed the pearls toward my bracelet, and went to The Bead Fairy in Orem to get the other components. I ended up getting some pink (because I want a girl!) Swarovski crystal beads and some other pretty glass and metal beads. I put it all together, and it looks pretty good! Maybe I should make jewelry and sell it on etsy. If I end up pregnant this month, maybe I can claim that I make bona fide fertility bracelets and sell them for twice the price. Shame on that person for taking advantage of women in such delicate emotional states.
John, Jacob, and I drove to Rexburg/Sugar City this past weekend for their cousin Lauren's wedding. She married Saturday afternoon in the Rexburg temple. I had never been inside, and it was a beautiful temple. The theme inside was wheat. There was wheat on the stained glass, and braided wheat patterns on the borders. I wish I could have done a session and seen the Celestial room, but the sealing room was beautiful.
We had a really nice time in Sugar. It was a very short trip, and I was completely exhausted the whole time because I had to be awake during the day, but it was still fun. We stayed with John's grandparents. Shortly after we arrived, Uncle Joe and his two kids came, and later that night, John's parents showed up with Beth. So we had a full house! Grandma fed us great meals (I really want her recipe for that steak thing she made on Friday), everyone else played a few hands of Rook, and we piled in front of the TV to watch Pawn Stars.
For Starla, since I'm pretty sure she was super confused when John, Beth, and I kept making references to this:
***
For the last two weeks I haven't been able to really go to work. Someone in administration dropped the ball and forgot to turn in my yearly background check, so it was over two months late. She got a call from the company owner asking why it wasn't in, and said that I wasn't allowed to work again until it came back, which would take about two weeks. I made a few phone calls (angry phone calls...) and they finally said that I can go to work and clock in so I can make some money, but I'm not allowed to do checks or be with the girls. I joked with seriousness that they should just give me the money since I'm not doing anything for them to earn it.
A few days after I was told I could not take shifts, I got another call telling me that I needed to also get fingerprints to turn in with my background check. I think this made me the most upset, because they waited a few days before telling me. What were they doing for those few days? Obviously not trying to turn in my background check. So, after having to wait the weekend for the police station fingerprint office to be open, I got them done, and my excommunicated-from-work time was bumped up to a total of three weeks. My time has almost been served. It will be three weeks on Wednesday. We'll see if I get the call to come back by then. I have a feeling, after experiencing this whole mess and incompetence, that it might be even longer.
So, to occupy myself tonight (since there are no dishes, my fridge is spotless now, and the bathrooms are all cleaned and bleached, and the laundry is in the drier), I made a bracelet. I haven't made jewelry for years. Of course, the jewelry I used to make was awful, ugly stuff with plastic beads and wax string. I am a member of a Clomid/infertility support group online, and someone started talking about fertility bracelets. There is some coot out there who is claiming to have beads and crystals with special powers to help with fertility, and charges $50 per bracelet. It's all a load of bologna, but the bracelets were actually really pretty. I remembered that I have an old pearl necklace that broke, so I re-purposed the pearls toward my bracelet, and went to The Bead Fairy in Orem to get the other components. I ended up getting some pink (because I want a girl!) Swarovski crystal beads and some other pretty glass and metal beads. I put it all together, and it looks pretty good! Maybe I should make jewelry and sell it on etsy. If I end up pregnant this month, maybe I can claim that I make bona fide fertility bracelets and sell them for twice the price. Shame on that person for taking advantage of women in such delicate emotional states.
I have also been playing more Fallout 3. As time went on, I slowly became more dishonest and was stealing more and more stuff from people, much to my amusement. You get all the cool stuff by stealing it. If you're good and honest, the game isn't as fun. The best trick is to help someone, get the reward and Good Karma points from doing the good deed, and then kill them so you can take the rest of their stuff. My dad, Liam Neeson, is going to be quite disappointed in me. I pretty much suck at a lot of the game, so John helps me out quite a bit. But I'm enjoying playing it. It's a pretty cool game, and I include it in mine and John's "bonding time," since we play it together.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
a call for action
I am beginning my next round of Clomid on Friday. My doctor upped my dose from 50 mg/day to 150 mg/day. I didn't really have any side effects last month, except a few random cramps here and there, but I have a feeling, taking triple the amount this month, that I'm going to feel it.
The impact that I didn't succeed last month finally hit me tonight. Realizing that I have two more chances with the drug, and then I'm back on my own is a scary thought, too. If this doesn't work, in June I'm onto my last round that my doctor will give me (Clomid is only prescribed for three to six months since it can have adverse effects if taken longer than that. As an OB/GYN and not a specialist, she doesn't feel comfortable giving it to her patients for longer than three months). After three cycles, she's handing me over to a specialist. The next step would be IUI (intrauterine insemination) and IVF (in vitro fertilization), and John and I just can't afford those right now.
So I am doing something I have never done. Not during the time that I was in extreme depression, not in the time that I was seeking help from starving myself, not during the time when I was miscarrying.
I'm asking you to pray for me, pray for John. Pray daily, more than daily. Fast for us. Put our names in the temple. Ask your friends to pray for us. Call upon that higher being whom you believe in. Send all your good thoughts and vibes. Wish upon stars. Do whatever you do to ask for divine help. I know that with all of our prayers combined, John and I can finally have our miracle. The power of prayer can do so much. I have seen it change lives, and I know that with everyone's help, it can change ours. They say it takes a whole village to raise a child. Maybe it takes a whole village to create one. Well, not in a gross way... You know what I mean.
The impact that I didn't succeed last month finally hit me tonight. Realizing that I have two more chances with the drug, and then I'm back on my own is a scary thought, too. If this doesn't work, in June I'm onto my last round that my doctor will give me (Clomid is only prescribed for three to six months since it can have adverse effects if taken longer than that. As an OB/GYN and not a specialist, she doesn't feel comfortable giving it to her patients for longer than three months). After three cycles, she's handing me over to a specialist. The next step would be IUI (intrauterine insemination) and IVF (in vitro fertilization), and John and I just can't afford those right now.
So I am doing something I have never done. Not during the time that I was in extreme depression, not in the time that I was seeking help from starving myself, not during the time when I was miscarrying.
I'm asking you to pray for me, pray for John. Pray daily, more than daily. Fast for us. Put our names in the temple. Ask your friends to pray for us. Call upon that higher being whom you believe in. Send all your good thoughts and vibes. Wish upon stars. Do whatever you do to ask for divine help. I know that with all of our prayers combined, John and I can finally have our miracle. The power of prayer can do so much. I have seen it change lives, and I know that with everyone's help, it can change ours. They say it takes a whole village to raise a child. Maybe it takes a whole village to create one. Well, not in a gross way... You know what I mean.
graduation
John Jeppson, Bachelor of Science in Microbiology! His parents came up from Boise and stayed with us, and we had a great time eating and laughing and taking pictures.
John gave me his Stole of Gratitude for my hard work helping to put him through school. He gave his parents one, also.
We also had a wonderful, succulent dinner at Bombay House, which was maybe my favorite part. It was a pretty fast weekend, and I'm sad that it was over so quickly. But I'm happy that we got to spend it together!
The announcement that we sent out to family
I was excited that I got to meet Hilary's family. She graduated as well, so her family was in town. Craig also graduated ('tis the season for graduating), so the three families all shared a meal together at Terra Mia. It was actually quite delicious! Then, somehow, Hilary was able to convince John and Jacob to see the new Zac Ephron movie, The Lucky One, at the theater. We all actually enjoyed it. It was cute and had a happy ending. I would recommend renting it when it comes out.
The announcement that we sent out to family
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