What I Learned Today

Star and I can go fishing now because we both got "fishing jackets" for Christmas.

Apparently all vest like articles of clothing are life saving devices. 

What I Learned Today

I can only make rectangular or square paper snowflakes.

What I Learned Today

Filling out surveys for events you attend on campus pays off.

I am now the owner of an iPad mini. Finals week just got a whole lot better. Now I must force myself to focus on Spanish...

And God Said Let There Be Light...

Until the main light bulb in my room went out.  Thank goodness there are about 5 other lights in the room so I'm not stumbling around in the dark trying to get ready for bed.  Now to figure out how to put a maintenance work order in to get the bulb changed.  I'm pretty sure tomorrow is the day that they don't fill those too, since on the seventh day God rested.

I should probably put up a note for the Roommate, or I could just let her figure it out, or maybe she won't be back before they fix it....

She's Probably Shaking Her Fist

Tonight at my Ag Ed Club meeting we had an Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest.  When I found out about the contest a few weeks ago I told AL I needed to get an ugly sweater.  She told me I should just take Guardian Angel Grandma's sweater because she had it in the attic.  I stood in the line of ugly sweaters to get judged and you were supposed to give a brief history of the sweater when it was your turn.  Everyone else pretty much made up some elaborately ridiculous story about their sweater, but when it was my turn I looked at the group judging and told them this was my Grandma's sweater and she would probably yell at me if I told her it was ugly. Anyway Grandma's sweater won.  They said the turtle neck really topped it off.

Grandma I hope you're smiling while you're looking down shaking your fist because your sweater just won 10 dollars.

What I Learned Today

People don't appreciate you asking to write their eulogy. 

For the final speech of the semester, I have to give a special occasion speech. The TA told us we could do a toast for a friends wedding, an introduction for a speaker, announce an award, or a eulogy.  After class I texted Madam President asking if she would like to be toasted, introduced, awarded, or eulogized.  I was informed giving a eulogy was not a good option, I guess I'll be toasting.  

What I Learned Today

The stereotype for a state employee fits all state jobs. So far this week at work I have cut at least 10 different types of cheese into little cubes and sorted various colored paper clips into groups of 40.

That Awkward Moment

When the bells for the Salvation Army are in the apron tied to the bucket.  It turns out the stand really was ready for us and we didn't need to go in to County Market to ask them for the bell, or go to a different station and get one of their bells.  Whoops.

Note to self: next time check in the apron.

Quote(s) of the Day

Elizabeth Taylor: Someday I'm going to invent a car and name it the Quackerdoodle so I can get the Q in the alphabet game.

Star: (Upon reentering town):  We're back in our world!

What I Learned Today

The Engineer and I have an addiction to Downton Abbey.  It's sort of a problem.

What I Learned Today

BOTD and I pick real winners to sit behind at hockey games and glee club performances.

What I Learned Today

When you make a surprise visit home, you learn how your family really feels about you coming back.

Yesterday, Madam President had to go home to go to a banquet so she asked me to ride along.  I needed to do laundry and home cooked food sounded awesome so I went.  When we got back to Seventh Heaven the house was empty.  I let myself in and sat at the kitchen table waiting for someone to come back.  The first people home were BOTD and the White Tornado.

BOTD: What are you doing here? How did you get here? When are you going back?

Thanks.

White Tornado gave little reaction, I got a smile when he looked through the door and saw me sitting in the kitchen, but that was it.

Next, AL arrived home with the rest of the crew minus Elizabeth Taylor.

Super Trooper: Relish you home!
Little Miss:  I knew that was your pencil case sitting on the table! (she also gave me a hug)

I headed out to the garage to see AL, her facial expression was one of shock/surprise then she kicked into mom mode and asked "Don't you have class tomorrow?"

WiiMan probably wins because I got a running hug from him. Star's reaction was marred by her nap in the car so that one isn't going to count.

Elizabeth Taylor was cheering so I went to the game to find her.  She also gave me a running hug which was pretty legit since it was at the school and in front of her friends.

The Roles Got Reversed

Other person:  What year are you?

Me: Freshman

Other person: Really? I thought you were at least a sophomore. You're so mature.

Me: Thank you????

So if it is a compliment for someone to think you are younger than you actually are, what is this?

What I Learned Today

The correct way to ask someone what year they are in college is, what year are you? Not are you a sophomore and then get told no they are a first year grad student.  Sorry to the guy at swing dance who got called a sophomore, in the future I'll ask people the correct way.

It's About to Get Real

Tomorrow my blogging skills are getting put to the test.  I have to blog for a national competition and we have to be up in 5 1/2 hours.

It's About to Get Real

Tomorrow my blogging skills are getting put to the test.  I have to blog for a national competition and we have to be up in 5 1/2 hours.

Who's the Better Roommate?

The girl who never acknowledges my presence or the adorable little boy who woke me up at 6:20 to demand that I change his diaper and get him dressed?

I think Super Trooper wins.

What I Learned Today

How to figure out my chances at winning roulette and dice games. 

The University of Illinois prepping students for Vegas in Stat 100.

Reasons Meijer is better than Walmart

Walmart experience: 

Me (after wandering around for five minutes to find an employee): "Do you have any more resume paper in stock, because it's out on the shelf? 

Walmart employee (after another five minutes of waiting around): Well we have card stock and that could be substituted for resume paper..." 

No, I didn't ask you if you had a questionable substitute I would like the real thing. 

Meijer experience:

Me: 

"Excuse me sir, do you have resume paper?"

Helpful Meijer employee:

"Yes right this way and we have it in multiple colors." 

I'm with Jeti Meijer is better than Walmart 

What I Learned This Weekend

1.  I can only participate in 5Ks on days with less than ideal temperatures. 

(example one: My first 5K with Bride and Mrs. MC)

(example two: The 5K last weekend with the Engineer and my Future Roomie.  We all would have had warmer clothes on but we all failed to bring them to Chambana.)

2. It's the little things in life that make the best days. 

After coming back to Newman and grabbing a delicious lunch with the Engineer, Future Roomie, and her man, Seventh Heaven surprised me by showing up in full force to escort me back home (after a tour of my "apartment" of course.)  

Next on the list of the little things was being able to eat home cooked food with Seventh Heaven and Big Bad.  After finishing off the ranch chicken enchiladas, we taught WiiMan and Elizabeth Taylor how to play 31.  

3. Dairy Queen isn't open late enough to catch up after two months of not seeing my best friends. 

Which is why we ended up sitting in the parking lot for two more hours...

What I Learned Today

When walking through the bathroom you should pay attention to random spots of water on the floor.  They can and will cause you to slip and possible bruise the side of your foot.  Which is a real downer when your main mode of transportation is walking.  It also does not increase your chances of a strong performance on quickly approaching 5Ks...

A Weekend in Suburbia

This past weekend the Engineer generously invited me to join her on her trip home to the suburbs.  Having never really been to the suburbs before, I took the opportunity and purchased a bus ticket to head north.

Our adventures began on Friday afternoon when we took a charter bus back to her hometown.  The bus was the first foreign concept to me, as none of the charter buses stop in my hometown.  After arriving in the suburbs we ventured to her high school's homecoming game, which other than having about twice as many people and amazing fireworks, was virtually the same as any homecoming game I had been to before.

Saturday, after taking a tour of her ginormous high school, I got to experience the awesomeness of eating at a restaurant that has been featured on Food Network's show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.

It was delicious, I would recommend it if you are ever in that area and looking for a good burger.   Not only does the Engineer's hometown contain the Paradise Pup, they also lay claim to the original golden arches.  As we drove by the original McDonald's building I pulled a total tourist moment and snapped a picture. 

After all the adventures of Saturday, Sunday we laid low before heading back to Chambana.  

Thank you to the Engineer and her family, I have to say my first real adventures in the suburbs. 

What I Learned Today

You should always check to make sure there is toilet paper in the stall.

What I Learned Today

I can catch M&Ms better with my mouth than with my hands. 

Creative Cooking

Today I have a meeting for the Ag Ed Club.  In the e-mail with all the details in it, it asked people to bring a dessert or dish to pass.  After 18 years under the care of AL picking up some Chips Ahoy from WalMart would not have been acceptable, so I started racking my brains of things I could make in my room.  The solution, Puppy Chow.

My assistant, we'll call her the Engineer, and her roommates tested it out and gave the okay to take it to the meeting.  I guess I know where I can get rid of it if I have leftovers. 

What I Learned Today

My Spanish homework would have taken me a lot less time if I would have looked in the book first instead of using spanishdict.com to translate it.  Turns out the assignment was in the book, word for word.

You Can Tell We've Known Each Other Forever

Madam President needed to borrow tweezers, so like a good friend I walked my tweezers over to her dorm.  When I got to her room, I opened the door without knocking,  plopped down onto her bed, and threw the tweezers at her.  After she yelled at me for potentially scaring her for life because my tweezers could have killer her,  I went over to her fridge and pulled out a water bottle to ice my shin splints.   She yelled at me for that too, apparently rolling a water bottle on its side can contaminate the part you drink out of.... learn something new everyday.  

How to Make a Person a Little Bit Homesick

Moving out I knew somebody else would be occupying my room in my absence.  Since Elizabeth Taylor made it her duty to bring it up every chance she got when we had BOTD and AL in the room.   In the end Super Trooper won the battle, much to the disappointment of Elizabeth Taylor.  Two days after they moved me into Newman I got a text from BOTD that went something like, "Super Trooper would appreciate it if you would move the rest of your clothes out so he can have his dresser."  Followed by this,

My room was no longer my own.  So when I came home over the long weekend, I asked Super Trooper why his bed was in my room.  He promptly responded, "MY Room."   Rooming with him over the weekend was quite the experience since our sleep schedules do not exactly line up.  No worries, technology helped me out and he got to watch "bideos" on my "pone" while I slept in a little later.  

I guess I must have made a lasting impression as the best roommate ever because I got a text from AL this evening,  "Super Trooper wondered where you were when he went to bed and was very upset he missed your phone call with Elizabeth Taylor earlier."  Followed by the conversation she had with him in which he asked if I was coming right back.  

Man that kid really knows how to play your emotions, made me want to Face Time him right there.  Sorry buddy, I'll try to catch you tomorrow. 

What I Learned Today

There is such thing as coffee naps.  How it works is you drink a cup of coffee and then you take a twenty minute-ish nap.  While you are sleeping the caffiene in the coffee has time to get into your system so when you wake up you get the benefits of both the nap and the coffee.

This fun tidbit is brought to you by one of my friend's English paper topics.

An Update on My Roomie

All my worries about my roommate were actually rather inaccurate.  I'm not saying we're going to be best friends who are attached at the hip, oh no that will most likely not happen.  However, she's really not that bad, she keeps her stuff organized, we have decent conversations when we're in the room at the same time, all in all not a bad deal.  So today I felt a little bit bad when she accidentally got locked out of our room.  She had run into the room and set her stuff down and then ran back out without a word, I just figured she was in a hurry to meet some friends or something.  I also figured she had her key, so when I left shortly after to go up to my friends' room I locked the door.   

I was sadly mistaken, she did not have her key, as I got a text ten minutes later asking me to come let her in, whoops.  

Note to self:  Make sure the Roommate has her key when you leave.

What I Learned Today

Marshmallow dodgeball is very sticky.  It also is very difficult to see the marshmallows when you are playing at night so you can't catch them to bring your teammates back into the game.   Plus, once they are on the quad they really aren't edible anymore, which is sad because I was really looking forward to eating marshmallows.  I guess that's what the bonfire tomorrow is for.

On the bright side, my team won twice.

What I Learned Today

Command strips are false advertising.  They won't just stay until you come along and decide to take them down. Sometimes the things that they are supposed to be holding up will just randomly fall off the wall. 

What I Learned Today

They give you a lot of free stuff in college.

Today I acquired two new t-shirts, a cup (the cup was filled with popcorn), a water bottle, a bag of kettle corn, and a drawstring bag.

What's even better is that tomorrow is Quad Day. I've been told there is a lot of free stuff at Quad Day.

What I Learned Today

Getting lost in the rain is not a fun time.   

Going along with that, I also learned umbrellas really do the turn inside out thing like in Mary Poppins and mine does not require wind to do so.

What I Learned Today

The people dancing to music in the street who start clapping and cheering as you pull up to the dorm are a bit overwhelming, and they might make you want to lock the car door and never get out.

You really don't have to pick up a single box to carry it up to your room when you move into Newman Hall.

BOTD will suggest to buy every single item in the snack aisle at WalMart.

When you're really hungry it doesn't matter how gross the pizza is the dorm gives you for supper.

Oh, and my dorm looks pretty good all set up if I do say so myself.

This particular picture doesn't show the whole thing and I wasn't done decorating at this point, but it's really coming together. 

Maybe Newman Hall will become the home they've been welcoming me to all day.

Ready or Not...

Here it is.  In less than eight hours, I start the adventure they call college.  I spent the better part of the afternoon/early evening packing up my stuff into the easy to carry containers recommended by the dorms and now it is all sitting in the back of the Red Bus waiting for the morning.

While packing, I had to explain to Star exactly what I was doing and where I was going.  Her almost four year old brain hasn't quite grasped the concept of college as shown by the following conversation.

Star:  Why are you packing all of this stuff?  Is it to go to college? (emphasis on the o)

Relish: Yep.

Star:  Why do you have to take a pillow? Are there beds at college?

Relish: I have to take it because I'm going to stay there.  Yes, they have beds there so people can live there.

Star: Oh.  Are you going to stay there for a long time?

She's making me miss her already...

To Answer Everyone's Question

No, I am not completely ready to move.

Yes, I am aware I move in four days.  I just haven't touched a thing that we got on the College Dorm Shopping Night since the day after we went.  Why should I pack everything up weeks in advance?  Then there are just going to boxes of stuff sitting in my room, it would make no sense.  Plus, I use some of the stuff I am taking on a somewhat regular basis.  According to BOTD (Dad), I have to have everything packed in the Red Bus by Wednesday night, therefore I have three days to get myself completely ready.

On the bright side, with move in quickly approaching I have actually started having a legitimate conversation with the Roommate about how we plan to arrange the furniture in our room.

A Little Competition

So this evening Elizabeth Taylor decided to do Blonde Smart's nails when she stopped by.  (Blonde Smart is our neighbor down the street, basically my older sister, she too will probably be making frequent appearances on here because she also goes to U of I.)   The design was a bit complicated and Elizabeth Taylor was getting extremely frustrated from the number of times she was having to fix Blonde Smart's nails.  In the mean time, Walker Texas Ranger decided he wanted to try the design, so I let him do mine.  After they had both finished, it became a bit of a dispute as to who had done a better job, so I am leaving it up to the readers as to who did a better job.

The first candidate is done by Walker Texas Ranger.

And Elizabeth Taylor's handy work.

I'm sorry my photography skills do not really do justice to the work done so you will have to be forgiving to the competitors.  Let us know what you think!

What I Learned Today

Wiiman takes great selfies.

I have seen him take selfies before for example, the day he got his cast off I received this little gem.

However, during my attempts today to document one of our family road trips he only further solidified my belief in his selfie taking abilities. 

Sort of an Introduction

Mostly because I feel like she will probably be making many appearances on the blog, I introduce to you  Madam President.

Her name is due to her current position as the fearless leader of Section 9. This girl right here has been my sidekick, partner in crime, and whatever other titles you wish to bestow upon her since we were still in diapers.  We have done pretty much everything together since we met.  We were in the same class kindergarten through eighth grade, in high school we still had classes together, we went to most of the dances in the same group, and we did a lot of FFA together.  Two weeks from now the two of us will descend upon Champaign to try out the college adventure, watch out world.

In case you hadn't picked up on it, she's kind of played a big role in me growing up.  So it is only fitting she has a spot on this blog.

What I have learned in the last 24 hours is that Madam President and her dog are a lot alike.  They both get really excited about something and then they drag me along for the ride.  I have decided is that I prefer getting dragged along with Madam President more than Wrigley, mostly because the former does not have a leash that physically takes me along for the ride.

What I Learned Today

Wearing a bottom retainer for the first time in two weeks feels really weird.

Thank you small dog.

College Dorm Shopping: The Aunts Edition

As I get older and reach various stepping stones in my life, my aunts graciously volunteer their time to help prepare me.  The first adventure they embarked on was prom dress shopping my junior year.  I mean I am sure there have been many other adventures one or more of them have helped with but prom dress shopping is just the one that really sticks out in my head.

Once again, last night three of my four aunts readily volunteered their time, after work of course for Munchkin, piled into the Red Bus, and drove around BloNo on the great search for the perfect items to decorate my first home away from home.

I have to give them props.  I am possibly on the list for the world's most indecisive people, which was quite evident last night.  It wasn't until the third stop of the evening that I finally began to pick items up to go into my room.  After a return to trip to Target, triggered mostly by the fact that they have a snack bar and we were getting hungry waiting for Munchkin to get off work, another stop at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, a refueling break at Olive Garden, a quick run through of the mall, a repeat of WalMart, and it was declared that I had a vast majority of the articles I would need to survive the dorm life.

Thanks to Mrs. MC, The Bride, Munchkin and AL for helping me get the stuff for my room.  Next step getting it all in my room...


*Side note:  I'm sure The Mrs. would have loved to join us on our adventure, completing roll call, however, it seems that her friends always have more important places for her to be whenever we decide to go.

What I Learned Today

Who I will be living with for the next year.


One step closer to move in day....

What I Learned Today

It is still possible to fall off your bike at age eighteen.

Today I was riding my bike and due to construction on my regular route, I decided to take the grass.  Bad idea, grass can hide holes which can and will cause your bike to tip and you to lose your balance and gracefully fall off into the grass...

What I Learned Today....

I need to start figuring out how I plan to decorate my dorm....

Actually, I had this epiphany yesterday when I decided to go shopping and cruised through the picture frames at Gordman's.  I really hadn't thought about the fact that I may want to get some of the more important features of the room to then coordinate the rest of the decorations.  Of course it might help if I found out my roommate's opinion on decorating....