New Year's Eve- Eve-Eve!

Hello everyone!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! The next exciting holiday, the new year, is almost here!
I was just thinking about this and realized, I'm not even sure what my New years resolutions for this year were! I know I wrote them down and there were a fair few, but I don't have any clue where I possibly put them... I even looked in my journal, to no avail. You would think that would be a good place to put it right?

Ha ha, maybe that should be one of my goals this year, write in your journal more!

I can, however, recall that I wanted to learn something new, get more organized (especially concerning my room), improve myself, and to learn how to paint.

I am happy to say that I made some headway with those goals! I took a bunch of online art classes, which were fun and instructive. I also took a few other random classes online for continuing education. I have been in the midst of a huge purging, cleaning, and reorganizing party. I feel like if I call it a party it will be more fun... right?

Oh, I do believe getting more fit was in there too! As it happens I've been getting some assistance with that in the past month... Which I stand by the theory of better late than never! I've also been on weight watchers! I have lost a total of 7 pounds which is pretty exciting stuff!

It's been an eventful year, and every year has it's ups and downs, but I can only recall more good times than bad this year! Which is great! I must be doing something right for my goal of improvement!
I am sure there are some items on that list that I never achieved, but I don't remember what they were either. But I've been working on looking at things more positively, so the glass is half full.  Any accomplishments, big or small, have to start somewhere. If you've made even a foot of progress in any of your goals then that's a very good first step! And if you have been too busy, hey that's totally fair! Life happens, and you have a life! So how did you do this year?

There are only a few more days left until the new year comes calling. I personally am looking forwards to November 2016, which is when a certain someone returns home from his mission! BUT in the mean time, I will be sure to keep working on whatever goals I set for myself, whether they are a continuation, or completely new resolutions from this year. If there is one thing I have learned this year it is that having a goal to strive towards makes all the difference in how you approach each day. And that can be anything from a physical goal, to something more personal like improving yourself in a trait/ area you are unhappy with.

But until then, stay safe and have a good New years Eve in a few days! Now would be the time for that last minute scrambling to get your resolutions from this year done. But only if you care that much to scramble. I personally believe just re-committing yourself to old goals that never happened is a great place to start. That's what I did for years. Literally. I believe that if you have the intent to do good, then the drive will follow, sometimes from your unhappiness in lack of progress, but all change has some measure of good. They may not be noticeable, but they will be there. Even if terrible things happen, our character and how we improve through these trials are the good that will come out of them. I've been there, struggling in/ with that sorrow, and I know many people who are there still. There will be a comforting light at the end of the tunnel. It may not happen right away, but who you become from those trials is what matters the most.  Each and every day is a gift to improve yourself. You just have to make the choice to do so.

Not every day will be perfect, and often the things that anger us or peeve us, are things that we honestly need to change about ourselves. I used to be terrified of change, and for that I only lived in loneliness, fear, and a whole lot of self- doubt. But as I have made changes, and been open to other changes outside of my control, I have been blessed with a stronger personality with which to deal with trials and whatever comes my way. And I certainly wouldn't have been able to do any of these things without my savior, Jesus Christ.

Lets everyone make a goal to be a little more kind to others this year. The world is an ever increasingly dark place with lots of very real physical and spiritual dangers. If we can show each other Christ's love for us, by being kinder to one another the world will be that much brighter. Lets not be quick to get angry, but rather quick to forgive.
Good Luck!

The fun of cheap!

Okay so lately my very "indie" friends have been slowly converting me to their ways. It is so hard to fight trends and be yourself, in an ever growingly facetious world. And I mean that with the utmost respect. 

It's true though, people are on a steadily growing trend of trying to be others. Whether it's celebrities, or people they know. Heck, even supermodels can't be themselves. I have learned through a second hand experience hearing accounts vicariously of someone whose daughter was in that industry. They can't eat what they want, and even when they look the way they want to, editing is still done to "touch up" their photos. 

But us commoners, who can't live that life of luxury and catering to beauty have no other choice than to follow the crowd, and buy what is trending.

So what does that have to do with my indie friends? Well they are a brother, his wife, and his sister ; and what started as a love for "different" and "original" music turned into the birth of their very "Indie" and loveable  personalities and way of life.

I have known them since we three were 9, 11, and 14. They are my family as much as they are friends and I love all three of them as such.

I have watched this transition of their indie lifestyle over the years. It started with the small differences; such as their taste in music, then how they dressed, but most importantly their self sustaining happiness.

It's not that indie is a way of life or a way of "the universe". I read today somewhere that "the Indie style isn't so much about skinny jeans as it is about being eco friendly, self sufficient, and learning to be comfortable in your own skin". 

This is totally true, they have a unique style all their own and they own themselves in a way that I am inspired to learn. I am between them in age and they are all role models to me. I want to have that laid back happiness that they have of being happy and most importantly their frugal charm. 

I am quite new to their ways, but they have slowly won me over to loving their style in music, fashion, and dare I say it (again) their easy happiness.

It is rather charming. 

So I hit up Pinterest and find a ton of stuff. Channeling the inspiration of that "Indie" and eco friendly  frame of mind; I needed up in a super inspiring area of Pinterest.

Re-purposing your own clothes! 

How AWESOME would it be to be your fashion designer?! I always seem to be behind trends' seasons and want what is no longer the new in fashion. But I like what I like ( which is another thing that Indie's are about) and it's never available. But Pinterest had a ton of stuff on how to make both from scratch and from scraps, those very things! 

Why spend between $20- $100 on things I can do for free?  I am admittedly really bad at over spending, so it is time to follow some easy-as-pie Pinterest tutorials, hit up the thrift stores and do it myself. 

I may be new to the indie style/ mind frame but I am excited to finally embrace my inner creativity in a whole new way that will be rewarding. And hopefully learn a thing or two on the way. 

Don't be afraid to be yourself, there is no one else better to be, and if you happen to love trends then good for you. Do whatever makes you happy. 

Besides do you have any idea how hard it is for Mormon girls to find modest and cute clothes now of days. 

It's time to blow off the dust from my sewing machine! 

And being a shorty in this tall-person world, I already know how to hem my own pants, so I'd say I have a fighting chance. 

;) 

Remodeling extravaganza!

Growing up as a kid we usually had some sort of remodeling project going on. I always found it exciting! I loved the idea of new! I still do! 

And I'm keeping that interest alive by remodeling my blog! 

It is going to include pages that relate my many diverse interests and hobbies. I have been secretly working on my blog and reading up on how to make it better. 

I even bought a book. It's actually been very useful! 

So I'm hoping this will help me make my blog better. 

Upcoming update: there will be multiple pages (possibly more interesting than my blog home page) that express some of my interests! 

These pages will not be posted until there is some actual subject matter to them. Who wants blank pages floating around? 

So look for these exciting changes coming soon! 

In the mean time I'm even thinking of giving the blog a new name! 

I am open to suggestions, but I am going to keep it a secret until I decide! I feel like my current title is very impersonal, generalized, and all around sort of blassé. 

Thanks for reading this update! I haven't forgotten about the blog! 

And hey, thanks for taking an interest in what one voice out of billions in the world, has to say. :) 

The Art of Breathing.

What is your reaction when your mother asks you something outrageous? Do you find out that you need to do something, like let's say, learn how to breathe? 

That was me. 

So near the end of the year in 2011 my cousin from Germany was coming to stay with us... so we drove off into the foggy sunrise  one morning to pick her up at the airport 2 hours away. After driving about an hour we reached a small town to get some gas.

As my dad stepped out of the car to fill up, my mother pulled down her visor and began to apply some Lancome Lip Gloss. After turning her head this way and that to see how the light hit the sparkling pink of her lips, she smacked them together and then turned around to face me in her seat.

My senses immediately went on high alert. I LOVE my mother, don't get me wrong, but she has a very unique skill to say some of the most outrageous things one has ever heard. 

I had been pretty tired up until then and as soon as she got 'that look' on her face the sleepy fog clouding my brain immediately cleared up. I repeated a mantra in my head of ' Be prepared' and 'What is she going to say?!' Then out of her mouth comes this: 
"Do you like my lip gloss? Are you jealous?" 

I frowned in response and let my guard down... that was not at ALL what I had been expecting her to say... and I don't even know what I had been expecting either. 

"Oh yeah mom, it's awesome. Love it, so jealous." Was the nonchalant reply.

But I noticed her following smirk too late.

" Jessica... would you kiss these lips?" She gave me a mock-sultry look thrown over her shoulder and my eyes widened in shock. 

Had she REALLY just asked me that?! It only took one second to realize that she not only had, but was now awaiting a response. 

So I panicked and scrambled to search my brain for something that was both a really good retort and not offensive at the same time. 

For example, pretending to gag wouldn't be very nice.

So I did the only thing any respectable twenty year old would do. I opened my mouth and prayed that whatever came out of my mouth would not only be witty, but nice as well.
I had no such luck. 
With her expectant look and all of this happening within seconds. 

I opened my mouth, breathed... and began to choke on nothing but air. 
My mom momentarily looked flabberghasted as both my little sisters began to howl with laughter in their seats behind me. 

But what they didn't realize right away, was that I was actually chocking on my own spit and couldn't breathe! 

She looked at my dad who was just paying for the gas and then back at me as I finally stopped gagging and was now dramatically gasping wildly for air. Laughing and trying to breathe at the same time certainly didn't help! 

With my sisters still in hysterics and my mom trying not to laugh herself, she gave me a pointed look.

" The CORRECT response, Jessica, would have been: If you were a boy you'd kiss those lips." Now openly laughing at the irony of the entire situation, I managed in between giggles, "You wouldn't have asked me that if I was a boy!" 

After another full two minutes of dying down giggles my dad finally re-entered the car that had become now dead silent. 

His spider senses tingled as he quirked an eyebrow and turned to look at the four of us and demanded to know what happened.

 My little sisters both immediately launched into the tale at the same time, whilst trying to re-enact the whole thing making the laughter start right back up! 

Upon hearing the story, my dad gave me a humorous look and I tried to explain that it was simply all irony and complete chance that I had started choking on nothing... at that exact moment.

And that, dear friends, is the only time that it is EVER appropriate to choke and gag on nothing in response to a question someone asks you... and even then it cannot be guaranteed where and when the random choking-on-nothing will ever strike next. My only advice...
Learn how to breathe. 
Seriously... put it on your checklist of things to do! 

The phone was ringing! Wasn't it...?

It was a pleasant spring day, after school when I was in high school. I was sitting enjoying some time listening to my mother in the kitchen making supper as I was doing my howmework. 

There was only the sound of the sizzling pot full of food and the delicious aromas of said food wafting over the counter, which was the only barrier between my mother in the kitchen and myself who was sitting in the dinning room table.

There was peace. There was calm. There was suddenly...

"GET THE PHONE NOW!!!!" 

... my mother screaming at me from six feet away. 

Adrenaline immediately coursed through my body as I threw aside the chair that was in my way. It ricocheted off my shins making me tumble over it, and fall to he floor. I scrambled up and over it and threw myself at the counter directly in front of her, then lunged for the phone knocking it over and then shakily managing to grab a hold of it and then lifted it up to her face. 

It had been standing upright, innocently, not even a foot away from her. 
I stared at her in frantic alarm holding the phone out and she stood there blinking in confusion, right before bursting into a bout of hysterical laughter! 

All I could make out in between her chortles were that she had thought she heard the phone ringing. At the time all the kids had a really bad habit for leaving the phone up to mom when it rang, whether she was busy or not. 

So she thought she'd heard the phone and no one was getting it. So naturally that justifies her shrieking at me from five feet away, to hand her something that was right in front of her the whole time.

But still... the sudden change going from quiet to sudden angry bellowing echoing off the windows and kitchen walls... I'll have you know... that scared the CRAP out of me!!! Luckily we get along and to this day we still laugh in stitches about it. ;)
Mom... you're the best! All of my favorite memories revolve around you... <3

#HashtagWars

In a galaxy far, far away, there was a phenomenon known as the hashtags. Most of the citizens in this strange world saw this as a dawning of a new era! The movement of the hashtags rapidly increased across the globe. Forcing the panel of highly esteemed literary experts to all agree and formally include the '#' hashtag symbol as an actual definition in the dictionaries.

There was one person (who, she was certain, wasn't the only one) who was determined to rebel against this phenomenon...

Okay, so I realize we aren't in a galaxy far, far away. But sometimes it really feels like it! I was SHOCKED when I discovered that the meaning for 'hashtag' had been formally introduced into not only one but a few different dictionaries.

That is basically like we are promoting the younger generations to use "txt lngo" in their everyday life.
I watch my younger siblings and cousins (and even just very few hashtag enthusiast friends) all day everyday, hashtag almost everything.

Don't get me wrong, I don't hate hashtags per say, but I don't understand their purpose in life either.
That could also be because they started on twitter (I believe) and I don't twitter.

I was okay with Twitter trying to branch out and be unique. They wanted to have their own culture that would permanently set them apart from Facebook, and Instagram. Twitter, as I see it, is a mixture of the two. So introduce the hashtags, and their social media forum had taken on new heights.
And I was perfectly fine with that.

Until hashtags started following people over to facebook, instagram, and literally every other form of media. Both online, and not online!
It's everywhere. Like a virus that has spread.

Yes, some strong wording there... No I still don't hate it. I just find it useless.
And then came the day when my sister posted something on facebook. Her post, was literally 4 words.
with 12 hashtags that followed.

Now my older brother and I decided to take matters into our own hands. She does lots of hashtags, but for this instance the hashtags were not only repetitive and therefore redundant, they were exactly 3 times longer than her original post!

Now normally I don't interfere with people's hashtags, but this was serious. If you're going to hashtag, at least have them make sense, and don't (for the love of all that is good) be repetitive. If you're expecting people to actually read your hashtags, then making hashtags that are so similar that you're basically being a broken record, is going to make us lose interest.
Just saying.

So anyways, like I said, my brother and I decided to do a hashtag war, waged on my unsuspecting sister, and continued even long after she had gone to bed!

It was great fun, especially for me (because I am such a trouble maker) and my brother finds hashtags even more annoying than I do!

Here was how it turned out. Please enjoy our sporadically clever, but mostly just fun teasing replies to her post.

Bro:  #nomorefbhashtags
Me: Can I hashtag that??
Me: #idontunderstandthepointofhashtags
Lil' Sis: ... WOW guys, lol! Hashtag war!
Lil' Sis: ... Oops, I didn't mean war... I feel stupid... (she felt bad because my brother and I have a history of not always getting along.)
Bro: Hey Lil' Sis, we grew up in a world where a hash tag was the number sign on a phone. Typically it would get pressed most after entering a voicemail password. Ha ha.
Me: #oldschool
Bro: #stopdoingthat
Bro: #please
Me: #ohsorry!
Me: #illstopnow
Lil'Sis: #lolyouguysmakemelaugh
(So at this point I was hanging out with a friend who is a band geek, and coincidentally my sisters post had been a band post. So my friend helped me crack a band joke that I didn't understand at all...)
Me: Wow Lil' Sis, SHARP words!
Lil' Sis: LOL!!
Bro: #sorrynotsorry
Me: #youcanteachanolddognewtricks
Me: #hashtagsshouldstayontwitterwheretheybelong
Me: #imdonenow
Me: #brotherwillyouforgiveme?
Me: This has to be my most favorite comments/ conversation I have ever seen!
Bro: # viva la revolution. # see what I did there?
Me: #hashtagwars
       #thiscouldgoonforawhile
Bro: # you promised you'd stop
       # lol
Me: #youredoingitwrong
       #ijustcalledmyvoicemailbyaccident
       #toomanyhashtags
Bro: # on purpose. # viva la revolution step 1
Me: And this all stemmed from one incomplete sentence. Hmm...
       #youknowyourehavingfun
       Oh! Now I see what you did there. It took me a minute
Me: # viva la revolution
Bro: So I'd say it's hashtag YOU'RE doing it wrong.
       Calling your voicemail...
Me: Ha ha nice. Thanks Bro.
Me: Hey I did say right at the start that I don't understand the purpose of hashtags. I think that implies that I don't know how to do it correctly.
Bro: So many notifications for tiny sister tomorrow.

(at this point we'd been going back and forth with the #hastagwars for almost an hour after Lil' Sis had gone to bed!)

Me: # text lingo required.
       Lol yes, I wonder how long we can go on for?
Bro: And look at us tweet tards by the end of the status.
Me: # most comments on a picture/ post ever?
Bro: #we'regetting old.
Me: Ha ha ha! #tweettards
Bro: Grammar kills the hashtag, go figure...
Me: #calledit!
       #textlingo
       #sorry  I meant #txtlngo
       #just killed some brain cells...
       #you're rebuttal?
Bro: *Many
       But we did it together ha ha.
       #teamwork
Me: ha ha #this is fun!
       We should do #hashtagwars more often!
Bro: I'm not so sure about that, but destroying Lil Sis's statuses after her #bedtime or #anytime
Me: yes #agreed  what should we call this madness?

(I think at this point he had either gone to bed and left me to my own devices, or got fed up with the hashtag war.)
Me: I feel like looking up and seeing what the history of the hashtag is... #nerdiness
Me #foundit
Me: "A hashtag is a work or an unspaced phrase preficed with the hash character, #, to form a label. It is a type of metadata tag. Words or phrases in messages on microblogging and social networking services such as Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Twitter,  or VK may be tagged by entering # before them. 1. either as they appear in a sentence or 2. appended to it. The term hashtag can also refer to the hash symbol itself when used in the context of a hashtag.
A hashtag allows grouping of similarly tagged messages, and also allows an electronic search to return all messages that contain it.
Because of it's widespread use, the word, hashtag,  was added to the Oxford English dictionary in June 2014.

Me:...
Me: #thatsjustsad

So that was our crazy first episode of the hashtag wars. Who knows if there will be a second one. I may not cling to it as much as I did then, purely because I enjoyed the irony of it all.
Although, after the first 3 hashtags that I wrote I found myself getting irritated because I couldn't type properly. Not to mention that we were both surprisingly unsurprised that grammar killed the hashtag.

But how remarkably sad that grammar, and spelling are now being encouraged by the oxford dictionary. Because in order to properly hashtag, you can't have spaces or any accentuating marks for grammar.
That's almost like legalizing Marijuana because "everyone does it". Oh wait...

If we thought that society now of days had an issue with people in my 20's generation having poor grammar (and even text lingo on resume's) now, imagine in 15 or so years when the hashtag generation gets there?

I am sure I'm not the only one out there who feels this way. But I am also that person who loves the Jane Austen or even Shakespear generation of writing and authors. That time era, and the ones they reference in their writing, I find fascinating. Because words held more meaning, which is why there are so many words in the English language. Words held more meaning and properly portrayed the exact emotions that the speakers felt. The language is beautiful and flows, and no one talks like that anymore.
Instead of "Fair thee well" upon departure, which means not only farewell, but to take care at the same time, we have kids texting and saying "g2g". They are learning to look down at an impassive screen, and they don't call to learn social skills. And they aren't learning proper grammar.

But that is an entirely different rant altogether!

We literally have hand held devices that can access the wealth of all knowledge and information, and what do we use it for? To tweet our lunch and look up pictures of cat's all while saying "#cute" or "#delish!".

I don't have kids, but I do have a nephew and younger siblings, so I must implore of you...

Stop the hashtags!

# viva la revolution!

Hopefully you enjoyed #hashtagwars episode 1!

Love, YOU!

So I spent years hung up on the fact that I went on very few dates and was always wondering what was wrong with me that guys didn't want to date me. 

 I seriously even made a pact with my roommate that we would be old crocheting- yarn buddies if we never married, JUST as a backup plan.  Because you never know when those will come in handy. 

Then I met someone who, like all those cheesy quotes, made me realize why it never worked out with anyone else. 

Only for him to leave on a 2 year mission- of which our only correspondence is that of emailing.

Don't get me wrong, I am completely 100% supportive, and he will come back a better person for it. I am truly happy that he is willing to sacrifice his life and even his fear of leaving his girlfriend (me) to serve others and do the work of the Lord. He has incredible strength and courage. 

The only thing is that I promised him ( and my mother) that I would date other people while he was gone. He felt it wasn't fair to ask me to wait for him. Which says a lot about how much he cares about me.

Only once he left I went back into that sad lonely state, but this time I missed him like crazy. My heart ached every time I even looked at a photo of him.

We email each week and one week he didn't have time to write to me and I was really upset.

So naturally, I decided to work on myself. If my happiness was decided by one email a week- that was just plain sad.

So I decided to empower myself. I took up a painting class, and booked up my week wih social and uplifting things. 

And I've been so happy. And I have only gone on one date! I'm not lonely because I am trying to bring myself closer to God, just as my guy is! 

In the past I never understood it when people said they didn't need a man in their life to be happy. Only the more confusing when they said so while holding said mans hand. 

But lately I have just been flying!  I am doing awesome and I am happy- and there is no man (physically) in my life! I finally empowered myself and got to the point where I DONT need a guy in my life to be happy! Even though I am writing one on a mission (have to keep that cliched trend going)! 

So if anyone is like me and had some self esteem issues that were only hardened by loneliness, please, please  put your heart in the hands of God. He will place it in the hands of someone who deserves it! You are so incredible and wonderful! Look towards God and try to love yourself. How can you expect anyone to love you if you don't love yourself? We are our own worst enemies. Love yourself and that is when you will find someone! 

And hey if you don't, everyone has that best friend that is willing to make a pact to be your old cat, lizard, yarn, or dog lady with you. 

That is true friendship right there! Keep them! 

Love you all! 

Wherefore art thou floor...?

So I have been on a cleaning and purging kick, because let's be real... Finding ants in your messy room is a GREAT motivator! 

At the same time I'm listening to music and decided, hey why not purge your music too? 

There is stuff on there from high school that I don't listen to at all anymore! In fact whenever it would come on I would skip it. So I'm doing a double time purge! The guiding question to whether to keep the song or not? If I had kids right now would I let them listen to my iPod. The answer was no, so I'm working on it until the answer is yes! 

Also I can actually see my floor now! I have a surprising amount of floor space that was just piled with stuff on it. But now I can even close my closet door., not to hide what's inside it either! It is organized and clean! 

This may not seem like a big deal to you, but I moved in September and I still have boxes that aren't unpacked. I also unpacked one of those! 

My room has always been a disaster zone growing up. My mind frame was that if a robber ever broke into my room, it was a self defense mechanism. One step in the door and they would trip and die... Okay it wasn't THAT bad. I'm not a hoarder, but definitely a lot nostalgic about things. I have a hard time parting with things, but I do part with them! 

Already I've gotten rid of 3 garbage bags worth of stuff!

If you're like me and have a hard time cleaning because it's such a daunting task, then here is a question to pose to yourself- but also some wise advice that I recieved from my mother: 

" How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." 

So I've been working on small sections, completely cleaning them and I've only got a couple small sections left to go! I've got a small room and about two rooms worth of stuff, so the purging is very necessary. 

Anyways back to work I go! I want to make sure those ants leave for good! 

Ciao! 

A sneaking feeling... Or a crawling one... On your leg!

Have you ever accidentally sat on an ant hill? And then jump up and start swatting little creepy crawlies off you in a panic? 

Or how about when you walk through an invisible spider web and start swatting at the air wildly, instantly becoming a ninja for 5 seconds... Meanwhile people cross he street to avoid you? 

Well I have, and I may have fears of planes crashing in the ocean( because I hate sharks and potentially drowning), but  I have this ridiculous and irrational fear of small crawly things with between 6-8 legs , that are thousands of times smaller than me. 

The first time I ever saw a cockroach was when I was in Japan living with a host family for two weeks. My host mom slowly rolled up the paper and casually walked into the living room, then in this ferocious voiced yelled "HIIIIIIYA!!!" And brought the newspaper down like an executioners axe upon the cockroach- that I didn't know was there until I saw it bounce up from the impact and scurry off. At which point I flew to the other side of the house while she started banging around with the newspaper after it. 

Supposedly that was the first bug they've seen in their house in 12 years. Architects of the world, please learn from Japan's immaculately built houses, proven to be big free for 12 years in some houses! 

But moving on... 

Well the other day I was sitting on the couch, watching Netflix and enjoying my supper when I turn my head slowly ( I don't know what prompted this) and there was a spider sitting on the back of the couch... Right. Next. To. My. Head. 

To my credit I didn't scream OR jump off the couch! I calmly stood up and grabbed the fly swatter ( but is actually our spider-swatter as my roomie and I live in a  basement suite.) and brought a swift and sudden death upon the offending arachnid.

I almost pressed my cheek on the wall right onto a spider once. I was trying to look behind something then looked over and the spider was right in front of my nose. 

That time, admittedly, I did scream. My roommate came running as I stumbled out of the room gasping for breath and stuttering as though I had just been scarred for life. It WAS pretty funny... But not before I was able to form coherent words and sentences again.

But this mornings, THIS MORNING, after I had rolled into my knees to say my prayers, walked across the room without glasses on, had my shower came back got dressed and was sitting on my bed again... That's when I noticed movement... Multiple movement on the floor!  There was an army of ants crawling across my room right where I had been kneeling and walking around in bare feet! Ants in the middle of winter!! 

All because of one random cinnamon heart that had fallen by the way side! This is just another reason for me to dislike Valentine's Day. I thought this year would be different. 

So in a mad panic I grabbed my ammo of wads of Kleenex  in both hands and killed by my count at least 11 ants! 

So what do I do? I go and Google ants at work. Wanting to make sure they weren't carpenter ants, which they weren't, but they are just black ants "the most common type of ant to infest houses and they can live in the walls or under the carpets."

If my work computer was a laptop... I would have slammed it shut and said "No... Just, no!" But I did stop googling after that and emailed my landlord. 

At first I was alarmed because it is the middle of winter in southern Alberta, then I remembered that Monday was a high of 19 degrees Celsius... The poor bugs' tiny little minds are probably confused. Which really didn't prevent me from heartlessly crushing them at all...

Then my landlord agreed that the bugs are confused ( I was worried that middle of winter non hibernating ants meant an infestation in the walls.) as the other day two bees flew into his house. 

BUGS! It's not spring yet! Leave us alone! The only thing I like about winter is the lack of bugs! 

And even then there is always an increase of spiders in houses in the winter!! 

Ant traps will take care of that. I could utilize the spiders but I really don't want to risk feeding them so they get bigger...

I'm not a girly girl ( maybe a little...) but I kill my own bugs, and they are the only things in the world that are able to release  that high pitchced squeal of terror in me. 

*Shudder*

Here I Am!

Hi!

Welcome to my blog!  Just to introduce myself, my name is Jess, I'm 24 years old, and I am a Mormon. If that turns you away from the blog, then don't worry I'm not offended. If you have stayed then that's great!

I'm not a very preachy person, so don't be alarmed, I'm not going to be preaching to you. If you ever have questions I am definitely open to those and will answer your questions the best I can. 

I will however, be blogging about life and since religion is a huge part of my life and who I am, I will be commenting on religion and religious aspects. But mostly I want to blog about life, my life as a young LDS adult in the world. 

If you don't know what LDS means we actually typically don't refer to ourselves as Mormon. Our church has the Book of Mormon but we are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We go by LDS for short. 

Allow me to debunk some "Mormon myths" and set some things straight.

We are Christians and believe in God, and we still read the bible, we believe the Book of Mormon is an extension of the bible. 

We go to church on Sunday's, we don't worship Joseph Smith, our first modern day prophet, but we do respect him and listen to the inspiring words and wisdom of him and all our other prophets including our current one Thomas S. Monson, our current prophet and President of the church. 

And no, we don't practice polygamy. 

So yeah, that's a little bit about me and  as a wise blogger friend told me, "Just do your thing". So if you don't like my blog, then I'm not offended. You might be missing out though ( I can be pretty funny). 

Well happy Monday! 

-Jess