Jenni's Winter Watch

12/18/08 2 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------12/20/08 11 PM

12/21/08 4 PM--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12/22/08 10 AM

Journal Jar

What is something few people know about you?
It takes me at least five seconds to start signing my signature... I just hover there, with my pen above the paper... I'm not exactly sure why.

What is something you've never done but would like to try?
I would actually LOVE to go up to a guy, maybe someone I know... maybe just a random hottie, and kiss him. Honestly; I would like to do the She's The Man approach, recite song lyrics to this one guy... I almost did it once too... "Take my secrets and I'll keep yours, never thought I'd find you. Fall, I'll save you...Stay, I'm with you... Say, I do too..."

Tell about a time when you misjudged someone. Perhaps you made a snap judgement about someone and it turned out to be wrong. Do people misjudge you? Why?
Well, without going into detail... I think that I can misjudge people a lot. I let snap judgements happen, even though I know they are bad and I know better. I try to be a very honest, and kind, and non-judgemental person, but we all slip sometimes... I do think that maybe people misjudge me more than I do others. I have a good friend now, who when we first met, at work, thought I was a very strict rule follower and not funny and whatever else that is not me. haha, and thats because when I first meet people, and especially when I am at work, I am more professional and to the point, and at work there are certain things I don't like to talk about, and there are certain things I like to get done. So I was more focused on the tasks at hand than getting to know new co-workers and he misjudged that to mean that I was a very closed off person, very cold, etc. But then he and I started talking and he found me to be quite open, very honest, very awesome. haha ...and sometimes people misjudge my jokingness to mean that I am conceited.

Do you have a middle name? Were you named after anyone?
My middle name is Whitney... and there is some speculation that I was named after Whitney Houston... I am not sure if this is true or not!

Do you have any traditions for the 4th of July?
Haha yes... go to bed early.
Okay, okay, thats just whats become of certain holidays for me... like New Years... when you don't have anyone to kiss... whats the point in staying up? This last year for the 4th of July I had been on a date, and he took me home early. ...lame. So I was kinda down... but I just grabbed my iPod, a blanket, and a pillow and laid out on my lawn and watched for a little bit... then I went inside and went to bed. The year before I had been on a date, and my date kissed me and so I saw two different kinds of fireworks, but that ended and I have since learned that I misjudged that kid... (I thought he was a nice person... turns out otherwise.) So, my traditions are to sleep. haha

What profession do you wish your future husband will work in, why?
Well, as my friend keeps telling me, he doesn't know what his "type" is, but he knows by a process of ellimination what his "type" isn't... and that is the approach I use here. I don't want to marry a doctor. I know, crazy, right? But I want my husband to have time to be at home. I'd like for him to work in a profession where when he comes home, he has no more work to do but be a father, my companion, my love, my friend. Maybe I am misjudging the profession of a doctor, but I think that if my husband was one, he would be gone all day long, and would be too tired afterwards to play with the kids, to help me cook dinner, to give me some attention. So I would prefer my future hubby to not be a doctor, a lawyer, a garbage man, or a ninja. I just think all of those require a lot of work away from the home and leave you too exhausted afterwards to fulfill your other roles in life.

What do your parents say that drive you crazy?
Haha, whenever I come home from school and then have to leave to go back, my mom always says, Don't Go. Oh my goodness, I get a migrane just thinking about it!! For some reason that drives me crazy even more than when my sister told me our mothers new years resolution was to not buy shoes till I was engaged. bah.

What is your favorite TV program? Why?
I really enjoy How I Met Your Mother. It is a love story in reverse, the main character is telling his kids how he met their mother, how that relationship started, evolved, etc. So far, he still hasn't married her, and we don't know who she is. haha... but the reason I love it is because of the friendship and relationships between the six main characters. I've always wanted a group of friends like they have, they can all make jokes about or with one another, and it is all in good humor and they just have honest good times with one another. They celebrate holidays together, they lean on one another for support when needed, and they are just funny. And I love Barney's weird relationship rules... I use them sometimes. Like the Crazy/Hot Scale (look it up on Youtube) or the Time/Relationship Continuum, or the use of We when we are not a we, but I am a Me and you are a you, but you say We and I want to die. Haha... if you watch it you'll understand.

How much does a carton of eggs cost? A gallon of Gas? A Movie ticket? (The paper oringionally said in 1999...) A cassette tape? A CD?
Eggs are about 1.39 for a dozen of Large eggs... I think... and Gas, in Seattle is currently 1.63, and in Rexburg, 1.41. This is amazing for just a few months ago it was 3.99 !! And a movie ticket can be anywhere from 6 to 9 dollars... or more. HAHAHA Cassette tape? hahahaha I am sure you can buy them... on amazon.com or ebay.com, for a penny... a CD, usually 14 bucks I imagine...

What is your favorite musical group or singer/song today?
Musical groups: Anberlin, Mae, Copeland...
Favorite song as of today: Oh My Love by John Lennon amazing.

What is your favorite movie?
Hehe... Today I will say HeartBreakers. It is a comedy, about two woment conartists, mother and daughter... and their con story. haha... but I feel like I can relate a lot to Jennifer Love Hewitts character, Page. She is hostile towards men, always thinking she is the shiz, but really she is insecure, scared, and just wanting to be loved and accepted. Another favorite is Garden State, the story of a man learning how to feel pain and joy after years of being numbed by medication prescribed to him by his father, his psychiatrist. That, and the Emporer's New Groove. hahaha

Journal Jar



I came home from school in Rexburg aka IceBurg Idaho to get away from the cold! To be immersed in rain and the greenery... instead Rexburgian weather followed me. So, I am effectively snowed in, for I flew home, so I am car-less, and I live at the bottom of a hill which is covered in ice and snow. In this picture you can't really tell that its a very steep hill.. for I am taking a picture from the top looking down, but it is infact very steep, and very slick.


Anyway, so since I am snowed in, I decided to bust out the ol' journal jar. Filled with questions and ideas of what to write in your journal! So, I thought, why not invite everyone to be in on the fun?

What is the longest period of time you went without sleep? How did you feel? Why did you lose sleep?
Well, I was 14, and a cheerleader for my junior high. It was tradition, that for the Student vs Teacher basketball game that the cheerleaders have a sleep over, and no one sleeps... and at a ridiculous hour in the early early morning the cheerleaders go out and "kidnap" some guys, and dress them up as either, cheerleaders, or just in funny costumes. So, this is what we did. I believe we watched Bring It On, haha and we went out at 5 AM after we were all dressed up crazy, and kidnapped our guy friends. (This was a Friday, and so I had been awake for 24 hours at this point, having gotten up at 5:30 on Thursday for early morning seminary.)
I remember almost falling asleep so many times during English class, cause Friday was a reading day... and man it was tough to stay awake! Not to mention, that after the assembly there was a dance after school for which I had volunteered to sell pop at, during which I also found myself dozing off. Say the dance is over at 6, I finally get picked up, I get home, call my friends who wanted to do something later that night and I said, well sure just let me take a nap.. So this is about 7 oclock now, it had been 38 hours awake... next thing I know, it is 8 in the morning. My mom says my friends had classed back, and that she put me on the phone, that I woke up and talked to them. I have no recollection of this at all!! I asked my friends about it later, and they said I was slurring my words and was hard to understand but they just laughed.
Other than that, sometimes while at school I get little bouts of insomnia, where I will either not sleep, or sleep maybe three hours a night for possibly a whole week or more. I think that is caused from when I was 9-11 or even longer, when I would try to stay up all night, singing Gangster's Paradise and The whole Lion King soundtrack, but I'd always fall asleep around 2 am. And there was an occasion, where I actually probably stayed up even longer than 38 hours, but this time my body was energized the whole time... Well I take that back, I probably slept an hour or three in... 41 hours... I had gotten up Friday morning at 7, had work, school, a three hour dance practice, went out with some friends, watched a movie, stayed up talking/cuddling all night, Had a five hour long dance practice, did homework all day, and went to bed around midnight. And all without an energy drink!

So for Thanksgiving I drove the 12 hours to Seattle, to be with family for the holiday. I didn't call any of my friends the whole time... I just hung out with Family. And a phone call today from my mom reminded me why I do that.

Pre-story: I love my nephews. I proclaim to dislike small children, but secretly I am a softee. Its more about me not wanting to have my own children yet, that when they cry or are stinky, I would prefer to hand them off to their mothers. I am not ready to be awoke 879,435 times a night to crying. So, when I was at home, I hung out with family the whole week. And I played a lot with my nephews, Dean 2 and Owen 6mo.
Dean and I had fun with making pies and eating pudding and licking all of the spoons clean when we were done.

That was so fun! Every day after I was tired or had plans with my brother or something, I would try to leave. Dean would say, "you go hoooome take naaaaaaaaaaap?" I would always say, yes! On Thanksgiving I told him I had to go home and he said, "no! staaaaaaaay!" I tried to calm his fears and let him know I would see him the next day, and he let up. "Tired? Take naaap? Dark out." (He would cover his eyes when he says dark. so cute.)

Well, then I came back to school. I miss the babies, cause they are too cute! Anyway, so my mom calls today. And this is where we get the story.

Story:

Mom texts me and says, the boys are coming over and I say yay! Send me pictures!

A few hours later she calls.

She says, sorry, I didn't get any pictrues but I have to tell you something that will make your heart cry.

I was kind of worried at first...

She starts. (See how I am building up this story? haha)

She says, I went to put Owie down for a nap, and he was fussy. So I left him alone for awhile and went back to check on him, leaving Dean alone. (This is where I was like, oh crap what has happened? did Owie fall off my bed? what could make my heart cry?)

She then goes on to say, Owen was finally asleep, and I went to see what Dean was doing and I saw him in the living room with a picture of you in his hands says, "Come home, come home"

At this point, not only was and is my heart crying... but I am too. That is so tender and awesome! Who knew kids could be so amazing? (and I want to boast and say, take that, I am the best or most favorite aunt!)(Our first picture together.)

This year for Christmas I decided to make Nanaimo Bars for all my friends, since I don't really have any money. So I made a batch of EggNog Nanaimo bars, and then a double batch of Mint Nanaimo Bars. The next day I made another batch of each!
I gave them to lots of friends, brought them to work, to a class, gave them to my visiting teachees and ers, and I still have some...

When I was at home for Thanksgiving, my sister made a batch and she cut them huge like brownies! I make mine tiny, more like two-bite sized!

The end of the semester is quickly approaching, and I have some foods I've been trying to eat up... like come extra coconut. I thought, well I will find a coconut chicken recipe... but every recipe calls for coconut milk instead of actual coconut. Well I decided to adapt one, with the few things I have.
The recipe called for onions, garlic, white vinegar, water, sugar, chicken bouillon, soy sauce, black pepper, coconut milk, and etc.

So Here is what I did...
Browned one piece of chicken breast. (I was the only one eating...)
Mixed up some water with chicken bouillon powder, with some white pepper and 1/3c of rice vinegar.
I added that to the pan with the chicken and let it cook, and boil down to nothing. I then got a plate out, and put some coconut on it, put my piece of chicken on that, and poured more coconut atop.



It was actually quite good! (for not really using a recipe and making it all up)