Blessing #2- Freezers

         Yes, the title of this post does say "freezers," and hopefully after I explain why I feel this way, you all won't think me so crazy.

         This coming week is going to be a blast!!!! My mom's side of the family is getting together to celebrate Thanksgiving and my grandparents' 50th anniversary. That means that altogether we'll have my grandparents, 4 uncles, 5 aunts, 1 great uncle, 1 great aunt, 18 cousins, and the 6 people in my own family. That many people = a LOT of food! Not to mention that a lot of the family is from out of town and will be staying at either our house or my aunt and uncle's in Alliance, so people need to be fed not only on Thanksgiving, but the day before and a few days afterwards. This is the reason why I am so thankful for the freezer. My mom and I have been pre-baking/pre-buying and freezing everything that we can. Right now our freezer contains (along with all the frozen meats, corn, blueberries, cherries, peaches, jams and jellies, etc that was already in there): 2 large turkeys, dozens of dinner rolls, cool whip, ice cream, 20+ dozen cookies, a few dozen blueberry muffins, breads, and other such things. This will mean less cooking and more visiting while everyone is here!

14 Days of Thanksgiving

          Hey y'all! Anyone else super excited about Thanksgiving?!?!? I am! Break starts at 11:15 tomorrow and I'm counting down the minutes : D
          So, I was thinking yesterday about the season of Thanksgiving. It's truly my favorite holiday. No worries about giving or recieving gifts; just food, family, and counting your blessings. It's just a really special time of the year, and I love it!
          And because it's my favorite day of the year, I'm going to dedicate two weeks (or 14 blog posts) to Thanksgiving Day. Nothing major, but every day I'll just post something little that I'm thankful for. There are so many big things that I'm thankful for, such as the death of my Savior on the cross to save me from my sins, or the wonderful country that I've been placed in where we have freedom to worship our great God, but I'm gonna focus more on the little things in life that God blesses me with; the every day blessings that sometimes go unnoticed.

SO....Blessing #1

This week has been super stressful. The last 2 days I've had 3 exams, and tomorrow I have another. This morning at 8:00, we had nursing exam #5 (it's the last exam before the final!!!!!). Usually after exams, we have lecture and then lab. But today, our lab instructor wasn't able to make it, so we were let out an hour and a half early! Didn't I tell you I'd be blogging about the little things? : ) But you know, God knows just what we need right when we need it. I cannot tell you how much I treasured that hour and a half. I was able to do some reading FOR FUN! I've had John Piper's Don't Waste Your Life sitting on my night stand half-read for the last few weeks, and I finally have an opportunity to read it and not feel stressed about homework that I should be doing instead. I cannot tell you how wonderful that feels right now!

And yes, my stack of nursing books for 1 class
this semester really does look like this :P

Laughter's the Best Medicine....

...and I got a good laugh out of this!!!

"Here's the solution to the controversy over full-body scanners at airports:

Have a booth that will not x-ray you, but will detonate any explosive device you may have on or in your body. It would be a win-win for everyone, and there would be no worries about racial profiling. This method would also eliminate a long and expensive trial.

Justice would be quick and swift.

This is so simple that it's brilliant. I can see it now. You're in the airport terminal and you hear a muffled explosion.

Shortly thereafter an announcement comes over the PA system, "Attention standby passengers. We now have a seat available on flight number 4665 ....
Paging maintenance. Shop Vac needed in booth number 4."

The Longest Post Ever.

              This past weekend was the best! I put all thoughts of homework and exams behind me and headed for Saint Clairsville to spend the weekend with the Clarke family. We had a blast! From watching Julian Smith videos, to using my computer's camera to capture some of the most hysterical videos ever (no seriously, my stomach hurt SO badly from laughing), it was a memorable weekend!

On Saturday morning we went to the mall.

Best 75 cents I've ever spent :P

Another of the ride, taken by Rachel :)

I <3 mirrors

Um, yeah... we were in really strange moods. Oh, and just in case
there's any doubt in your minds, I don't like Justin Bieber. AT.ALL.

oooooooh, lip gloss!

They lip gloss smelled really good ;)

Hello, this is Shoe-zy, how may I help you?

"this is the shoe I want to wear for my weddin'"

 And then to Starbucks :D :D :D

I love Izzes (or is it Izzie's???)

Saturday evening we went to the Clarke's friends' house to play games.

Beautiful sunset over the fields. Unfortunately, it had to be while we
were in the car, so the picture isn't the best...

Heading into WV for the evening.

Yup, that's right, I went to BETHLEHEM :P

Apples to Apples :)

Alex was building a mint-tower.

Sunday was amazing :) Of the group of girls in and around Saint Clairsville that are good friends with a lot of my other friends, the only one that I hadn't met yet was McKenna. So, the plan was to surprise McKenna on Sunday after church by showing up at her house. Well, what I didn't know was that when you email someone enough who also has gmail, they automatically get added to your chat list. McKenna and I have emailed a few times...And of course, since I was so excited for my weekend away, I announced it as my status on gchat. Anyways...long story short, she knew that I was in town, and got a bit suspicious. Sooo, it wasn't quite the surprise we'd planned, but definitely fun just the same!

*shakes head* that's Rachel :P

                            

I think they all like my computer better than me :P

AH! It's McKenna!

Quit being so darn cute, would ya?

and you too, Jordan!

                        

                        

Miss you guys and can't wait till next time!!!!

Oh, and last but not least, while I was there, I started writing down the funny sayings that went on in the Clarke household. I'm sure there were plenty that I missed, but here are the ones that I've got; 

You can be my McRib. - Rach

Can you help me kiss myself? -Rachel on using the "mirror" setting on my computer's camera.

Me: "Catherine, your  eyes are SO big!"

Catherine: "Your nose is so big."

"Why don't you just hurry up and knife him?" -Catherine on the scene in LOTR Return of the King where Gollum attacks Frodo and then convinces Frodo not to hurt him.

Me: "Rachel, can I help you?"

Mr. Clarke: "The kind of help that she needs you can't give her."

"See, I told you she was crazy." Mr. Clarke regarding Rachel.

"I play music, you don't." -Rachel

"I'm the best friend I know." -Rach

"We're having rabbits ears and camel rears." -Rachel in response to what was for breakfast

"Daddy, are you fat now?" -Catherine after Mr. Clarke finished dinner.

"Ashley, you need to eat without utensils so that we can see how you McMichaels' eat at home." -Mr. Clarke

"Wow, I feel like I'm meeting Oprah or something." -McKenna on our meeting for the first time

You know you're homeschooled if...

I love this video by Tim Hawkins entitled "A Homeschool Family." I saw it a while back and then when it popped up again on facebook today, it got me thinking about those lists that people make. You know, the ones that say, "you know you're ________ if..." So, I've put together my own list. Enjoy! Oh, and leave me a comment if you can relate to these (just so that I know that I'm not TOO weird, even though I was homeschooled :P). 

:D

You know you're homeschooled if....

You've got a rehearsed answer to the question, "Do you get to do school in your pajamas?" because you've answered it a million and one times.

You don't get school off on snow days, but you DO get it off on your birthday.

You consider getting school done at 1:00 "late."

The textbook that you fear the most is Saxon Math.

When people ask you if you have any friends, your response is "No, my parents lock me in the basement all day" and then you get a kick out of watching their responses.

Your librarian always stares at your huge pile of books when you check out, and asks if you really read them all.

You get a lot of 3 day weekends just because you do extra on the 4 other school days.

You have friends who are 2-3 years older than you, and you don't find it strange at all.

You get up earlier on Sundays than you do on school days.

You do school at the kitchen table.

You own more skirts than pairs of pants/more pollos than t-shirts.

You're always top of your class!

To your teacher, President's Day is not a day off, but rather a day to spend studying the presidents.

You do PE class with all the other students in your the school and it's usually held in your living room or backyard.

You know more about politics than the average adult.

You rarely watch television other than your family's Friday night movie nights.

If you get up at 6AM, you can usually get at least half of your schoolwork done before breakfast.

Your family can pick up and go on vacation pretty much anytime that they want.

You have to stop and think for a few minutes before answering the question, "what grade are you in?"

You have your library card number memorized (yes, I know, I'm a dork...).

You school "drama" is comprised of your siblings arguing over who drank the last glass of juice.

You actually got to help name your school.

Even though you have a desk in your room, you prefer to sit on your bed to do your work.

Science period is spent collecting tadpoles in the neighbor's pond.

You're so used to the funny looks at the grocery store in the middle of the week that you automatically tell those people that you're home-schooled and brace yourself for a slew of questions.

You start school 2 hours later than your friends who go to school, but you get done 3 hours earlier than them.

You don't get school off much when you're sick, because your teacher says that if you're well enough to play on the computer or read a book, you're well enough to do your school work (I always hated that).

You read history books for fun.

Your family reads together before bed even though most of you can read on your own already.

Rather than gagging over the smell of formaldehyde, you catch the fish that you're going to dissect.

Homework? What's homework?

Well, what did you think? Did any of the above make you smile and think "hey, I get that, too!? Did you enjoy my post? If so, drop me a comment and click the link right over there <--------------------- (well, it's in that general direction...you might have to scroll up a little :P) to follow my blog; you can follow me if you have Yahoo, Gmail, AIM, Twitter, etc :D