dear sisters,

in the words of The King (ok, not Jesus-all of a sudden I feel really guilty calling Elvis the king at Christmas time) himself, "I'll have a blue-ue-ue Christmas without you."

However, I am not shaking my hips while typing.

But just so you know, you're lame for having husbands and not coming home with me.

Merry Christmas.

-mollie

New Look

dear blog readers,

i just noticed we're five days away from christmas and my blog is still screaming Thanksgiving! No one told me!? How embarrassing! Anyway- so it was time for a make-over. I don't like this background all that much, but it was one of the few "wintry" ones to choose from (so I don't feel bad having a Christmas one up until April). It looked more blue online, but now it's looking gray.

But anyway. Some time I shall give you an update about coming home and life in general. But, not today. Because I am lazy.

-mollie

ode to katie

i have been trying to write a poem for katie for the last hour and haven't come up with anything good or clever.

so.

for now, this shall stand in its place.

dearest katie,
you rock.

the end.

random

Things that have been happening:

1) I got a 100% on a test last Tuesday!!!

2) I distributed letter-of-recommendation materials to professors on Tuesday!!!

2a) This means I'm applying to 7 programs. BAH!

3) I drove to Rexburg on Tuesday, with Nathan- a boy in my ward who was going to Blackfoot.

4) I stayed with Megan from Tuesday-Saturday.

5) We ate at Craigo's on Wednesday night. Yummmm.

6) We went to the arcade/fun zone place across the street from Megan and Chad's apartment, got stuck with an obnoxiously large group in black-light mini-golf, and played skee ball- my favorite! And I got one of those poppers (like the picture- crappy, but... you'd be surprised how hard it is to find a picture of those things), which I love! Oh it was a good night that brought out my inner 8 year old.
7) We spent about 30 minutes arguing and screaming about who had to put their hand in the business end of the turkey to get out the bag of guts and the neck. GAG.

8) The food was delicious. I especially enjoyed the mashed potatoes.

9) On Friday, Megan and I went to Idaho Falls, spent about 30 minutes in the mall realizing everything was more expensive there than online, and left empty-handed.

10) On Friday night, we went to a Rexburg town activity. Seriously. You bring a toy, they give you a glow stick and a hand stamp. You get free chili, cornbread, cookies, and hot cocoa, free horse-drawn carriage rides, and free pictures with Santa if you so desired (and there were a LOT of little children who so desired) all while being serenaded from a little live band that was sometimes good and sometimes not. Then they flipped the switch on the lights on main street, and everyone followed Santa to the tabernacle (secular and spiritual, together at last), for a talent show, which was pretty much a recital for all the local ballroom dance companies.

I must say, Rexburg surprised me. Despite the somewhat lame band and talent show, and the pitiful caroling down main street to the tabernacle, and Santa's anti-climactic drop-off in on the corner, and the crazy lady who kept breaking the touch barrier with us as we stood in line, it was a holiday-ee small-town kind of thing to do. Aww Rexburg. And, I want to reprimand my tongue for this word forcing its way out, but... maybe even, dare I say, "charming".

10a) Rexburg is absurdly cold. I kept telling Megan I didn't want to do things because it was too cold out. She said, "Mollie, you can't just not do things because it's cold. What, are you just gonna hibernate all winter?" Bingo! Yes. I would. If I lived in Rexburg I would never go anywhere from November-May.

11) On Saturday I took the shuttle back to Provo. It took 6 hours and a noticeable invasion of my personal bubble to get back here, but I did. And just for the record, Salt Lake Express, I did not get my complimentary snack or bottle of water.

12) I had tithing settlement on Sunday. Full-tithe payer. Boo yah.

13) I do not understand boys.

14) I found out that I will officially be Timpview High School's newest intern starting January- 25 hours a week. Exciting, but terrifying. (Note: Because of this, I won't get to TA again for Psych 304, which is lame, because I wanted to do both. This also means I have to give up Floral Design class.)

15) Tonight in the ward Christmas Party/Program, I played "Still, Still, Still" on flute with Ben (as previously mentioned in this post) on piano. I get really nervous playing, so that was lame, but it was fine. I'm glad Ben and I got to play together- it was fun. He's musical and all and that's nice.

16) I have the best coworkers ever. Seriously- some of my fellow PMs can make me happy on the worst of days, make me laugh and smile when I don't want to, and generally make the world a better place. When I think of "best" friends, I'd say about 90% of them are peer mentors. Oh how I love them. Thank you, Freshman Academy for the friends, if nothing else.

17) I haven't gone to bed on time the last two nights. Tonight is going to be the same. Blah.

18) Happy Birthday Dad! Erin already one-upped me with her post, so I'm not going to try to compete. Let's just say I'm your Cordelia.

19) On Friday I'm headed back to Rexburg. And Megan has warned me that it's going to be frigid- frigider (yes) than last weekend?! Is that possible?! If my spit freezes before it hits the ground, I'm not leaving the apartment/hotel room. Seriously- and Megan acted like hibernation was a completely irrational solution to the problem.

19a) Let's pray that Leonard survives the trip and the cold. Heck, let's pray that I survive the trip and the cold.

20) Only 6 more days of classes this semester.

21) 11:11- make a wish!

The End.

-mollie

I just have to say...

graduate school applications are making my brain turn to mush.

tempted to make the "round is a shape" joke...

So, I told Erin this today; she seemed shocked. Why?! I don't seem like the exercising type?

Well, I'm not. Which is why I don't tell people this.

But I've been dutifully getting up at 6:45 every school-day morning to go to the SFH and jog. Not very far. I get tired really fast. But this is officially my 6th week, and I think I've maybe lost 3 lbs. Ok, so progress is slow.

My goal is to finish the semester and hopefully be able to wear the jeans and other pants that I wore my freshman year, that I've been toting around in my car for the last 12 months. If that doesn't work, I guess I'll just have to resign myself to getting rid of them.

Watch out love handles.

-mollie

Today...

... was a good day.

And that's all that needs to be said for now.

-mollie

The Way The Cookie Crumbled

Dearest and darlingest blog readers,

I recognize I am not the greatest at updating here. I get busy- or at least... I should be busy. But I have to tell/vent a little bit about my day, and then I shall go to bed, sleep it off, and never worry about it again... theoretically.

So my boss came and picked me up this morning at 8 am and we drove to Timpview High School. She knows someone who works in their counseling office and we were going to see what internship opportunities they had with their school psychologist, etc. The meeting was not what I was expecting- just in the sense that I left with the instructions to decide if I really want to do this, and then email a schedule and list of interests to the counselor. This is just something I thought would be done in the meeting- "this is what we want you to do, this is when you'll do it"- but it didn't happen that way. But the meeting was fine overall. Made me nervous and excited to be there in Winter semester. And that school is giMONgous! Like... 2000+ students?! I want my little Cromwell High bubble back.

Then I got dropped off on campus because my boss wasn't going to be in today. I worked for a while, then went to the bookstore and dropped$20 on candy because I told my TA students I'd bring them Halloween candy. I taught the lab and gave the students time to work on an assignment. The professor was there to observe and said he liked how we did things, so that was a nice pat on the back. Yay for me. And then he asked if I want to TA next semester. But I don't know how this internship is going to work out, so I told him I'd have to get back to him. I would like to keep TA-ing but we'll see.

Then I went to work. I was asked to help conduct a meeting (because "the boss" wasn't there), regarding what we want the students to do next week. Anyway- long story short, I was advocating the boss's position on the task when I was somewhat shot down and the task went in a different, but related direction. When the boss found out about what we'd done, she again stated the position I had tried to advocate. And when this happened, there was what I will call avoidance and reattribution that went something like this: "mollie didn't tell us that's what you wanted us to do." And BAM just like that, it was my fault.

This meeting had already gone over its time limit by an hour and a half, and I had a test that needed to be in my hand by 5 pm, and I was supposed to leave to go study for it an hour and a half ago. Now I only had 40 minutes to study and get it in my hand. I was worried because I knew I didn't know the material. And I didn't know it. I did less than stellar on the test, and I was just so dang mad. Yes, it is my fault that I didn't start studying earlier, but an unnecessary overlap in my schedule that kept me at work where I essentially got blamed for something that wasn't my fault and then a resulting not-great grade on the test did not a happy mollie make. I had perfect grades last year, so the thought of losing that because of this test (in a class I did not need, but took because I wanted to learn), which happened under these circumstances, made me just so dang frustrated.

It did not help that I had not eaten since breakfast. [Note: If you do not know this about me already, I get grumpy when I'm hungry. It's really not pretty.]

I walked home at 7.30 and my roommate was getting ready for the ward halloween party. I vented a little and tried to shake it off for the party. The party was in the Wilk- it was fun, though I got flack for not wearing a costume , but I was not in the mood nor did I have the time for a wardrobe change. M'Lisa painted a cute ghost on my cheek and I ate some candy, after buying a couple soft tacos at Taco Bell. But by the time 9/10 o clock rolled around, I was tired. Being tired also makes me grumpy; my efforts to be less noticeably defeated by the day were wearing off. I just wanted to come home, put on my pajamas, drink hot cocoa, curl up in a blanket, and watch a movie or something. M'Lisa suggested 101 Dalmatians. This is why I'm friends with her.

Anyway. So I finally got home after 11 pm. Exhausted. Frustrated. Defeated. I was getting ready for bed when I used the bathroom and noticed ... I have been wearing my underwear inside out all day. Of course. It seems only fitting given the day I've had. My roommate, trying to cheer me up, said "But now you get to wear them twice!" It did make me laugh.

We watched 101 Dalmatians, and now I am going to bed. I'm frustrated with work, and with myself. But I'm hoping a good night's sleep and some good venting will do me well. Tomorrow's another day.

And if I start it by putting on my underwear right side out, I'm already ahead of the game comparatively.

random things.

update 1) I still have not found my checkbooks. I have resorted to using another checkbook out of storage, so they will be out of order. This irks me every time I write a check.

update 2) For my taught-by-a-grad-student-who-lets-us-teach-ourselves class, we had to write a paper. About psychological contracts. Which is a term that isn't in our book. Basically it's the idea that when you get hired as an employee, you have expectations for the job and your experience at that company. When those expectations aren't met, there's a breach in the "psychological contract" often causing people to quit etc. Well, our assignment was to find a journal article about psychological contracts and how they affect the relationships between employees and employers. I found an article that talked about how a breach of contract is related to feelings of violation and revenge which are related to deviant workplace behaviors. Pretty much saying if a company doesn't do what an employee thinks it will, the employee is less likely or willing to follow rules/protocol etc.

I wrote the paper, and thought "Man, if I needed a bunch of information on this, I wish I could just collect all our papers." And then I wondered about why he chose a term that wasn't in the book anywhere. And then, I went to class. Some point in the discussion about our papers, our grad-student-professor said, "When I was in a social psych. class, we came across this term and I just found it so interesting, which is why I've decided to do my thesis on it."

Hold the phone.

You're telling me we just wrote your lit. review for your thesis??? Are you serious?! So LAME.

update 3) I got free tickets to a play tonight through Freshman Academy, so my roommate and I are going.

update 4) I had to grade papers for my FA students this week, and they're all disappointed in the scores. But we were told to be harsh to push them to do their best work. I think we pushed them into learned helplessness. I feel so bad. :( Hopefully they don't hate us too much.

update 5) My boss at FA is currently working her networks to line up an internship for me for winter semester. I only have 5 credits of classes left to take, so an internship would fill a void in my schedule.

update 6) I registered for classes last night. I now have Intro to Social Psych, Floral Design, Bowling, Judaism and the Gospel, and University Band on my schedule. Yippeee.

ok, the end.

bills to pay

ok...

So, about a month ago, I was rummaging through my stuff at Erin's house and decided I better take my checkbooks out of a box somewhere so I wouldn't need to come searching when I ran out (which was going to be soon). I had no idea where they were- just that they were in a box somewhere. I found them, after about 30 minutes of searching, and took two of them with me. I distinctly remember putting them in a box with my pots and pans that I was also getting out of storage.

When I got back to my apartment, I cleaned the pots and pans, and took the checkbooks to my room. I also distinctly remember thinking, "I don't want to have to search for these again. I will put them right here __________________________ so I'll be able to find them again."

This is all well and good, and I pride myself on being organized and planning ahead, but... the problem is, I'm drawing a blank on how to fill in the blank. That is, I HAVE NO UNEARTHLY IDEA WHERE THEY ARE!!!! I have searched high and low, under and over, in and out, and in all other prepositional ways possible.

And I ran out of checks last weekend, and I need to pay my gas bill.

lame.