1. Finished another semester. weeee! Only 1.5 semesters left of class. I learned so much in my motor speech class. I'm loving this field more and more. Its incredible how things are 'gelling' and making sense and coming together. Our professors/clinical supervisors promised this would happen and I laughed in their faces. Oops. Also, I get to do my clinic placement at a nursing home next semester. I am so looking forward to hanging out with elderly people- hearing their stories, eating applesauce and playing bingo. (well. i'll probably be actually working...but a girl can dream)
2. I love my dog. He is laying in the bay window sleeping and chasing something in his dream. His little paws are twitching like he is running. He is the cutest! Even though he eats cardboard rolls out of the trashcan and tries to steal bananas and bagels and anything else edible off of the kitchen counters when I'm not looking...Usually when I'm in the bathroom. He swallows it whole before I can pull my pants up to waddle out there and yell at him. But he makes up for it by laying his head on my lap when he wants to be snuggled, going on morning runs with us and making us laugh by chasing flies around the kitchen, and darting around the house wagging his tail, jumping into the air and 'smiling' so big at Jonny when plays fetch. He's doing great in his obedience class. For a small bribe, he will now sit, lay down, stay, come, watch me, leave it, and walk on a leash without pulling my arm out of the socket. (usually)
3. Its HOT here. But it makes me happy, because summer is still hanging around. Our friends who have been gone all summer for an internship came back yesterday because 'Fall semester' starts in a couple of weeks. I don't like that. I told them to leave because them coming back means summer is done. (ok, not really. I'm not that rude. but you better believe I was thinking it.) Now if I could only lay out by the pool during these last precious days. Somehow I can't bring myself to roll my flabby whiteness out there and scare away the children. Plus then I'd have to leave Colby in his cage at home and feel guilty. So sometimes I lay on our cement slab in the back yard and he can hang out with me and eat grass and lay in the mud because its cooler and then come lick my legs when they get sweaty. But I can't stand it very long because I start having mirages of giant blue pools of water and the crusty petunias and barely-blooming gladiolas stare back at me looking thirsty. And it makes me thirsty. So I give up and go inside to get Colby and me a drink, looking none the tanner.
4. Went to dinner at our fav little cheap/fast/delicious Mexican restaurant the other night. You know its good when the road in front is closed and undergoing the requisite summer construction and people drive around in circles and jump over medians just to get to their parking lot. Also. We saw INCEPTION. You know, the new Leo movie. It was incredible, just like everyone says. I don't usually like those mind-boggling types. But this was just weird enough to be interesting and just sane enough to be enjoyable. Go see it, if you haven't already. Also, its amazing how Leonardo's voice hasn't changed since he was like 15 in Titanic. He sounds exactly the same, I almost felt my seat rocking and smelt salt water. We also went to a bar last night, and drank Diet Coke, to celebrate one of Jonny's lab-mates passing his Qual. Its basically a room full of critics. You stand up and say what you know, and they try to stump you, and then call you stupid when they do. He passed! Hurray. That means he has 1 year to get his final Defense ready and then get his PhD, if the professor-gods decide to grant him that small honor after 8 years of backbreaking work. We had great conversations, it feels good to be social on occasion.
5. I got a job for the Fall semester! I get to lead a 'discussion section' for a Service Learning class where the undergrads go out to nursinghomes/hospitals/schools to do volunteer work and then they come back and report what they are learning and observing. They also read articles and write journals and papers. And I get to grade them. Its a real blessing that I don't have to resort to restaurant slavery again.
6. I'm thankful. I love our little home. I love sitting at the breakfast table early with Jonny: reading scriptures and listening to the windchime on our porch tinkling in the cool-ish morning breeze coming through the screen door and blowing our sheer curtain up and down, up and down. I love my husband. He is so thoughtful and is an example to me and works so hard. The best part of my day is seeing him show up at the door in the evening, sweaty from his bike ride home and smiling to see his favorite person (me)...even if I didn't have time to clean the house or even if I was too lazy to make dinner. I love the gospel. I am so thankful for the many aspects of church service and the knowledge I have of God's plan for his children and the peace it brings me, and the countless blessings He gives me every day. The new
mormon.org is so cool. I love my family. I can't wait to fly to California in a week and a half to visit my sisters and my mom and see some friends! Time with loved ones always rejuvenates me, even if it leaves me with a twinge of nostalgia and regret.
