Book Review: The Hunger Games

Holy cow! This was a great book! Probably one of the best I have read all year. Buy it--read it. Seriously.


The sequel, Catching Fire, was equally well written. And I am looking forward to reading the third in the series, Mockingjay.

Scripture of the Day: D&C 3:4-11

Saturday Morning Cartoons #41

Have a fun weekend everyone!

And feel free to friend me on facebook :-); I promise I am not a puppy!

Scripture of the Day: Jude 1:4

Good Advice

"If your lips would keep from slips,

Five things observe with care:

To whom you speak, of whom you speak,

And how, and when, and where.

By: W. E. Norris

Scripture of the Day: Revelations 3:16

A Few Fun Sites

I have been surfing around a bit today--I am trying to find a good idea for 2011 birthday gifts for Primary kids (the theme is about scriptures next year). I have not found a good gift idea yet, but I have found a few new interesting sites.

Check these out:

LDSscripturetools.com - this site will help you design a reading plan. You can enter what you want to read and the time frame you want to finish it in--and then it will put together a schedule for you. It also has a scripture memorization help.

Scriptures4kids.com - This is a fun new site that is growing. There are some LDS kid-friendly games to play (yay for a new Sunday afternoon activity), coloring pages, FHE lessons, and it even had a fun summer scripture reading challenge with a reward from Deseret Book. The best part about this site, though, is that it has an illustrated scripture reading tool for kids (with four different reading levels). It will even read it aloud to them if needed.

Readthescriptures.com - Another great site to help assist in getting your scripture study in each day. On this site you create an account and then tell it what you want to read and how much. The site will e-mail you that portion of the scriptures to read online each day. Once you have read it you click a button at the bottom of the e-mail to tell the site you have done so. Additionally, the site has a way for you to maintain a scripture journal.

And here is a fun pdf scripture reading chart - too bad it was for 2010, not 2011.

I Survived

Yesterday was my first day teaching at MCC. I have two communication courses, back to back. And I was so nervous! Although I have subsituted before, having two complete classes to teach for an entire semester scared me. But I survived. Here is a summary of the experience.

First, what did I wear? Of course, that was one of the most primary decisions I had to make. I made sure I had a good outfit to wear before I even put together my lectures! (Yes, I am certifiably crazy.) But back to the question at hand. I wore my favorite colors: navy blue and white--blue dress pants and heels with a white cardigan over a white top. I felt like I looked nice, which boosted my overall confidence.

I arrived 35 minuted early to pick up the photocopies of my syllabus in the faculty work/lounge. It was a good thing I arrived early because the syllabi were stapled incorrectly and it took me 20 minutes to get them reorganized and stapled properly. As a result I did not have time to photocopy a game I intended to play to illustrate a communications principle. I decided to try to get along without it last minute.

Afterward I headed off to my first class, Com 100. The smaller classroom was full once all 27 students were seated. It was also pretty warm in there. I started off by introducing myself and by going over the syllabus. At that point I was running early time wise and decided I had better come up with some other game as time filler or else I would be done way too early (not that the students would have minded). I opted to play a game my family played growing up that is similar to Scattergories--having the students do one round on their own and then a second round in small groups. It worked well and put me back on track time wise. At that point I went through a brief lecture based on the first bit of Chapter 1 of the textbook. In the end I still finished five minutes early, but felt fine about that.

Immediately after class ended I was off to Com 230--Small Group Communication, but stole a few minutes to photocopy the game I had not been able to utilize before. On the way to class two students asked me where the classroom was, so (feeling somewhat like the Pied Piper) I said to follow me as I was their instructor.

This second class was held in a room twice the size of the first class, but was still on the warm side. Before starting class I opened up the computer to use the PowerPoint file I had spent an hour preparing that morning. However, when trying to use the computer it asked for a password, which I had not idea of what it might be. So, at that point I knew this class would be somewhat more off the cuff. To help take up more of the time (would I be able to remember everything in the lecture without the visual notes?) I went through the class roster to try and get to know each student individually. After doing this, going through the syllabus, and then playing the game I brought, I only had eight minutes to fill with my "lecture" (and I use that term very loosely).

So I survived. By the time I got to the car and headed off my head started to pound with a stress headache. All the tension finally got to me. I popped some headache medicine and did some deep breathing exercises. Still, I was wiped out for the rest of the day.

The first day was done. And I survived.

Good thing I get to do it all again on Wednesday.

Scripture of the Day: Helaman 4:11-13

Saturday Morning Cartoons #40

This cartoon is to help me get in to the proper frame of mind for teaching this week. Wish me luck! I will need it.

Have a fabulous weekend!

Scripture of the Day: 1 Ne. 13:26

Rad/Not Rad -- Crazymama Style

A friend of mine often writes blog posts called Rad/Not Rad, which I always enjoy reading. Generally her cute kids are doing funny things and she blogs in a way that is true to life. I admire her for that ability because when I try to do it that way it comes off as whining. Somehow it doesn't seem like whining when she does it. Oh well. But any way, here is my day done Rad/Not rad Crazymama style. (Thanks for the inspiration, Crazymama!)


Rad: Finishing both of my class syllabi (is that the plural of syllabus?) and getting them turned in for copying.
Not rad: Driving to MCC and getting such a nervous upset stomach on the way there -- I almost thought I would have to pull over to throw up.

Rad: Meeting a very helpful cool secretary who was willing to hand-hold me through some new procedures. Audry rocks!



Rad: Finding a Downeast Basics navy blu and white skirt 40% off at Seagull Book.
Rad: Going to the temple for a quick hour of service.
Not rad: Having to wait 30 minutes to get my quick hour in.
Not rad: Leaving with oily hair!



Rad: Having time to read some of Heather Moore's new book Alma the Younger.
Not rad: Having to put the book down to do laundry.



Not rad: Sweetie Peach complaining about Patch teasing her.
Rad: Me getting Sweetie Peach to smile by telling her I was going to buy diapers for Patch to wear to punish him for teasing her. She thought that was hilarious.


Rad: Going to Zumba--Kathya had great music tonight subbing the class!
Not rad: Leaving with oily + sweaty hair!




Guess I had better go hit the shower!



Scripture of the Day: 1 Timotht 4:1-3