My Last Will and Testament

I, Marie Teemant, of warmer places than here, being of sound mind (and frozen assets), do hereby make, publish, and declare the following to be my Last Will and Testament.

I. All books previously placed upon the white bookshelf shall be distributed between  BMMS classroom 728 and whichever charitable organizations seen fit by the reading teacher in that room (aka Mom). Please return all library books and take care of fines.

II. Italian leather gloves are to be buried with me somewhere warm. Like Bermuda. Or Hawaii. Sam McGee it if you have to, just keep my poor corpse warm!

III. All other possessions are to be sold and the proceeds are to be used towards the living and pampering of one Sassy S. Kitty, that she may be ensured a good and fat existence.


Should I survive the winter, this contract will be considered null and void until the subsequent snow fall.

Signed: Rie

Giving Thanks

Yesterday, I had the chance to go photograph a yearly project my mom leads with her students in sending packages to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 Earlier in the week, all the student council kids filled out the customs forms. This was one that was missed. Each package has to be exact or they won't make it there.

Admittedly, I photographed this one because I know the family of this soldier. There were two other names given this year, though. Every year, there are different soldiers from either other teachers, people we know, or students, who have a family member/friend serving. They are delivered to the one soldier, but there are enough boxes to distribute among the unit.

 

 

 

A Pretty efficient assembly line got started. There were four of five stamps on each one, to make up the right total. Besides collecting items from students, they were able to raise money to help out in the $1,700 dollars in stamps!!! 

 

Some kids were able to haul a ton...

 

Others... not so much.

 

Some of them found an easier way to get a lot to the right place.

 

In the end, everyone had their job!

 

This has been a project at Bob Miller Middle School for the last five years. My mom estimated that somewhere between 800 and 1000 soldiers have received a package like these over the years. Each of the three soldiers this year will get between 50-60 packages for them and their unit. 

I'm thankful to see people serving others. What a great bunch of students! I hope they learn to carry that service through the rest of their lives. A little bit of kindness definitely wouldn't hurt the world one bit!

And, of course, I'm thankful for our soldiers. I have several cousins, my little brother, and many friends who made the sacrifice to serve our country. Happy Thanksgiving to all our troops!

Six... more... weeks...

I have survived another week. I have made it through and am proud to say that I did so with every single assignment in. on. time. Granted one was lost to the world of the binary code and the three hour redo didn't work at all, but at least it was in.

I was thinking about it this week and this semester has kind of turned into a giant game of clue for me. I'm the host. My professors, the players. So who will it be? Which one has the power to finally do me in?

Fullmer...with Adobe... in the computer lab...

Lovell... with the outlines... in the library... or was it with the projector in the critique???

Turley... with the rasp... in the classroom... (this one tried THREE TIMES! If you don't know what a rasp is, think heavy duty cheese grater for stone... and then imagine it slicing across your knuckle!)


Really, it's amazing I haven't been finished off already, but I'm getting there.

Thanksgiving with the fam will be coming up, then Christmas and after that I get to go visit my favorite family in Arizona. So much to look forward to. And just six weeks to go!

Ever Wonder...

... what the world starts to look like for me after being AWAKE for 24 hours straight then only getting 2 HOURS of sleep? Something like:

Today... shall be... an adventure. 

Hello World!

Remember me? No? I was that girl that used to have a life. 

I used to read fiction instead of textbooks...

There was even a time I used to sleep, but then that might have all been a daydream.

This semester has been pretty crazy and is testing the edge of my limits, though I've set up some gear to keep me from falling completely off the cliff!

And if that weren't fun enough, last week I slipped in mud and knocked my shin pretty good on a stepping stone. Good enough, in fact, to warrant a visit to the student health center. Wanna see?

Lovely? No? My accident prone brother Matt would be proud. Of course, he would have one-upped me and actually broken it, but I think I'll let him win the being hurt in stupid ways contest. :)

On the Road Again

I enjoy traveling, but sometimes the drives are just so LONG! This weekend I'm helping with something in Las Vegas so I headed that way today. Having made myself wake up at 5 am (yes, you can call me crazy) and doing a Zumba class, I was rather tired. One thing that sometimes helps me is to stop along the way--as I feel inspired--and take pictures. Like these ones:

Thanks to the rain it was a rather beautiful scenery as I came down. Still, it didn't quite do the trick and I had to take a nap at a Cedar City Maverick station parking lot. Oh well. Caffeine will be on the menu next time.

The Greatest Antidepressant in the world

This whole week I've been quite a crab. Seriously. Red face, pincers, little beady eyes, and all. It's not that I've been trying to be that way. In fact, I've worked very hard at trying to make sure I don't come across crabby to every person I meet. I've been trying to be more social and find it helped for the most part, but then I'd be alone and suddenly the crab would return, irritated even by the slightest annoyance.


So yesterday after working a full 8 hours (having covered someone else's shift as well as my own) and being hungry all day, when a friend from my Italy adventures asked if I could help her with a paper and she'd take me out to dinner in return, I snatched it up. Part of this was definitely selfish (or shellfish, I guess if you want to continue the analogy)-- I was definitely hungry, have little that's truly appetizing in my fridge and really... there's no better person than Jen to cheer you up when you're ready to just find a hole and hide in it for the next semester just to avoid the schedule that's about to be heaped upon you.

We laughed and had fun and after  full belly, I was glad to come back to the school and start helping her with the editing and last minute things she needed to have put into the paper.

At a computer kitty corner from ours was a woman who was going back to school and told us she hadn't touched a computer in about 30 years. We helped get her set up with the document and she started typing, which she said was painfully slow after years out of practice.

Jen and I worked and worked on her paper until (yay!) it was complete. She planned to stay to add a last few citations and I grabbed my bag to go home and crash for the night.

Then I noticed out of the corner of my eye that the woman we'd helped earlier had everything handwritten already. She was having to type with just her index finger, trying to make it go as fast as she could and I had an idea. "How about I type for you?" I asked her.

She seemed amazed. She told me she was about to cry (a feeling I remember well at the greater generosity of some donors that allowed me to go to Italy). I sat there and typed for the next hour as we got through two of her assignments then I helped her submit them.

Was I tired by the end? Exhausted. But it was worth it. Even this morning I feel happier and brighter. Finding a simple opportunity to serve in that way has practically vanished all the selfish, bitter, mean feelings I've harbored all week that have been weighing me down. In a little way and with little effort and time I was able to help her, but I was also able to remind myself how to get out of these funks--by service.

It's a tried and true method and I hope that next time I remember it sooner! That way I won't have people ready to throw me into a pot of boiling water!