Rant about Reading.

Have you ever felt like this when you have read a book?  I know that this picture is supposed to make you want to write a letter, but I think that it speaks volumes about literature.  {Get it?  Speaks volumes...about literature???  haha. A pun that could have impressed the Bard perhaps??}  When I read The Book Thief (which is a remarkable book that both topped my list and changed my life), I felt like I was a part of her story.  Or rather that she was part of my story.  Am I sounding like a weirdo?  I cried when she cried.  I smiled, sitting alone in my house, when she was happy.  I was crushed and devastated when she lost someone.  I get so emotionally attached to the characters and their stories that I begin to write them into my life.   The sad thing is that I frequently make references in conversation to the books that I have read, which makes for an especially awkward moment when noone in the room has read the book.  
I guess when you know so much about a person{character}, you just feel like they are one of your buds.  So, I guess if I consider some characters to be my "book friends", should I send them Christmas cards this year???  Well, that seems a little desperate and awkward to even mention.  But just for good measure, I'll just make a shoutout to Elizabeth Bennett, Greg Heffley, Sirius Black, Jo March, and Edmond Dantes.  Thanks for distracting me so that I don't drive my husband crazy with overwhelming attention.  You have kept me sane.  Merry Christmas. 

(I'm going to use this picture as a writing prompt inspiration for my creative writing class.  We will see what they think of it.)

I WANT ONE!!!

This is the next thing on my list!  Now that I have the camera of my dreams, I need a cute bag to hold it!!!  I'll just leak this information to Josh and see how long it takes for him to make it happen. Haha! P.S.- I like the Clover and Paris models the best in teal or purple!  I wish I would have found out about this BEFORE all of my presents are wrapped and under the tree.  Darn it! Check them out at epiphaniebags.com! (I would hyperlink that for you, but I forgot to even mention the website when I first posted this, which I just noticed on my phone. Hence, me fixing the post on my phone. So just type it in the URL box, ok?)

The one with Ron Weasley

 

For a Halloween costume party this year, Josh and I dressed up as Ron and Hermione.  We had on our official dress robes and Gryffindor ties.  I also found a girl's red wig that I trimmed into a super neat Weasley do.  Yay for dressing up!

The one where you laugh at this funny video

A member of my bishopric told us about this video while we were waiting for a meeting to start. I think it is so funny! The high school has a "Bobcat Film Festival," and I want to tell my students to make an episode 2 and submit it. For now, I introduce you to Kid History: Episode 1.

The one where a student sings in class

One day, I forgot a few things that I needed for school.  I gave Josh and a call and asked him to come drop it off to me, even though I would be in class.  So, 2nd hour comes, and he sneaks his head in, sets the bag of goods on the floor just inside my door, and tries to sneak away without being seen.  My students were a little confused, so I said, "Oh, that was just my cute husband dropping something off.  I should go say thanks."  So I go to the door, open it, and look down the hall.  He was too far away to talk to.  So a really funny student of mine sings out, "Baby come back!" hahaha.  It was so funny.  Perhaps a moment you had to be there for???
Either way, here is a snippet of the song by the band Player, in case you need to hear it to fully appreciate how humorous the moment was.  

The one where I catch up....

Well, life is insanely busy, and keeping up with my blog has fallen low on my list of priorities.  However, I am going to take a few minutes to do that now.  I guess I will take a minute to tell you that I changed the name of this blog.  And if my eyes stay open long enough, I might even overhaul the cluttered design that I thought was so appealing a while back.  So, I decided to name it "The Shelf Life."  If you know me well at all, this makes perfect sense.  However, I will expound upon my reasoning.  Josh and I both have our favorite form of entertainment.  He loves LOVES movies.  In fact, even as I type, we are watching a movie.  I love LOVE books.  And I guess it is a good thing I like to read, because I have made a career out of it.  Teaching a novel requires a fresh read every time.  That is the only way that I can pull insights out and lead discussions about the book with my kids semester after semester.  So I read a set of about 6 different novels over and over and over.  And I love it!!! (However, it does slow me down from reading new books, since I am reading the same ones so many times.)  I spend time between classes looking through my Scholastic book order magazines, attempting to talk myself out of placing another order.  While Josh watches movies, I put in my earplugs in and read.  (But this is just when we are home with some free time, which is usually just an occasional weekend night.)  Since I basically relate everything in my life to a book, I thought it would be appropriate to bring a little taste of that to my blog.  Do I sound like a nerd yet?

HP All the Way!!!!!

The Harry Potter Club is well under way! I'm the club's adviser again this year and I'm so excited to be a part of it! We had our first planning meeting to establish house founders and heads-of-house. What a fabulous group of students! We will start our club sign-ups soon, and we have some really fun ideas for this year! Yay for a new school year!!!!!

Haha

As I'm walking down the hall of my church with Kayla, I see a guy who I know some interesting info about and this is how the conversation went.
Kelli: "See that guy up there. Josh told me that his is an MMA fighter. Cool, huh?"
Kayla: " Wait....did you just say an MMA fighter?"
Kelli: "Yeah. What did you think I said?"
Kayla: "Oh- I thought you said he was an Anime fighter."

hahaha.
hahaha.
Well----I thought it was funny.

Life as of yet....

Well, June was a slowly creeping month. I spent my days reading, crafting, and taking naps. I have some fun projects that I finished for my living room that I'll post in the next few days. But overall, I sometimes wonder to myself if I have really accomplished anything since school got out for summer. Then, just when I said a few words to my sister-in-law about how bored I was getting, life took a little turn. I already knew that July would pick up a bit. The month entails camping trips 3 of the 4 weekends of the month, a trip to Lagoon with my Cheerios, a week of hanging out with Josh's brother and fam visiting from Texas, ect. However, the same day that I talked to Krystal about having a lot of time and not a lot to do, I find out that the Buckle wants me back to work for back-to-school AND I have a new calling----Relief Society President. So, now I will definitely have some things to fill up my time over the next two months!!!
In other news, I just ordered my new camera!!!! I am freaking out inside right now! My new Nikon D90 should be arriving at my house any day now! I'm going to get mentored by Cassie Mickelsen from Pink Paisley Photography to learn everything I can from her. So, I'm hoping that in the next few weeks I'll go from knowing NOTHING about photography to being able to work a little photo magic. Whoohoo!!!!!
Anyway-----In the next few days I'll post some pictures of my projects! Thanks for listening! Here goes July and August!!!!!

DEXTER the DOG!!!

We have a new edition to our family! We just got a new dog! Yay!!! His name is Dexter, and he is six months old. We were a little nervous about getting a dog. Let's face it......it can turn into a nightmare. I would cite the stories of Cookie and Scruffy from my childhood, but I don't know that we have the time. Let's just say that my favorite barbie doll---Courtney the Cheerleader, got her head ripped off. Anyway, we went into this being a little nervous. However, he has been AMAZING. He is a big cuddler. He loves to be held like a baby and fall asleep in your lap. And he also loves to play. He's getting really good at fetch. So, he is a well-rounded little pup. This is as close as we have to a child in our house right now, so if you find I'm talking about him like he is my own son......well, just get over it. I'm not going to dress him up, so I'm not a crazy dog lady, yet.

We decided to get him fixed before he was too old. The poor guy wasn't supposed to lick his stitches. We knew we didn't want to put one of those big white cones around his head, so we came up with a better idea.

We got him some Dora the Explorer panties and made a hole for his tail. He looked so precious. haha. He got used to them after a while, but I wouldn't say that he enjoyed them!
Anyway----that's all you ever wanted to know about someone's dog and more! haha.

Counting Down!!!!!

Madison gets out of school exactly two weeks from tomorrow! And I have ideas for what I'm teaching to finish off my units. So basically, I'm sittin' pretty. Also, I have been obsessively raiding craigslist every day trying to find some items with awesome potential. And I found something that I'm really excited about. Inspired by the yellow end tables that I wrote about a few posts ago, I found some end tables and a coffee table for sale that I think have a similar style. Josh thought I was crazy when we went to pick them up at the flee market in Shelley. (I guess I don't blame him. They looked a little shady.) But I think he is feeling a little better about them now. This last weekend, my father (who has graciously joined forces with me in this project without even being asked......you know how dads are. :) I love that man) and I cleaned the crap off of them, and went through 5 cans of Kilz primer getting them ready to go. We have a little more priming to do this weekend, and then we'll start painting!!!!!! I'm so excited. I'll post some pictures so you can see the project each step of the way (if you care). Also, I'm painting them yellow, just like the ones from All Things Thrifty. And I'll explain my "spray paint madness" story in a later post. I almost lost my mind! Well, I'll write more later. Bye!

Yay for summer break!

We found out this week that our summer break will start one week early. Whohoo!!!!! Because of the budget cuts to education, the district needed to find some ways to save money. So, the school board voted and decided to close every school in the district early, doing a "hard core shutdown." They will flip the breakers off and lock the doors, saving the district $20,000 a day!!! So, I have only three weeks left of the trimester for instruction, and the last week will be used to give finals, get grades in, and pack the school up so we can be ready to move into the new high school over the summer. I can't believe this school year is almost over. This is CRAZY!!!!!!!

Craft time!!!!!

With my new obsession for craft blogs, I have found about 50 projects that I want to do for my house. It was hard to decide where to start, but I found one that I didn't think would be too difficult for a beginner. From the blog "Make It and Love It," I found the hemp ball craft.

This project requires hemp, a few styrofoam balls, spraypaint, a hot glue gun, and a little time. Kristi and I have started working on them together, one or two at a time, and they have taken quite a bit longer than we expected, and we have burned our fingers more times than we can count on those same fingers. However, I know that when we finish, the finished product will be worth the work. Right? Or maybe it is just another excuse for Kristi and I to get together for some girl time... :)
I'll post some pictures when we finally get these flippin' things finished.
(The links to all my favorite craft blogs are at the bottom of the left column on this page!)

Spring Break!

I start day one of my spring break tomorrow! I have the next five days off to do whatever I want! Things on my list of things to do include: take naps, read books, watch movies, turn my closet under the stairs into my crafting haven, make some crafts in my closet under the stairs, get my hair done!

In other news, the past few weeks have been crazy! I have hired a head coach for the cheer program, Hayli Peterson. And I also hired my good friend Samantha Mortimer as an assistant coach. We also had cheer tryouts, and it was such a hard decision to make as we created the squads. We now have 6 on JV and 17 on varsity. We are going to be competing for sure this year, and we are thinking about going to nationals next spring, so we will have both squads compete together. We had our first practice today, and we have so many talented girls. I'm so excited. Already, with brand new stunt groups, the girls are doing with ease things that I thought would take weeks to work up to. Next week, the girls will be working on double full downs from heel-stretches and scales. Not too bad for our second practice, right?
One of the girls had to get surgery on her ACL the day after tryouts, so I get to stunt in here place until she heals up. I had so much fun with it today. I was pretty rusty, but it clicked pretty fast. My girls said, "What if I hurt you? You're my English teacher????" I thought that was funny. It's hard not to just feel like one of the girls sometimes........ This next year is going to be so much fun!!!!!!

Dreams of the Moment

So, I have decided that I want to develop some hobbies. I want to list them here as a way to help me be accountable for them.

1. I want to relearn to play the piano. After years of taking piano lessons and then abandoning the instrument completely, I want to once again be able to play. I'm super rusty, and I really sucked when I started anyway, so I just want to start fresh and just rock it. I have a corner of one of our extra bedrooms dedicated as my piano area. I set up the keyboard that Marsha (Josh's amazing mother) bought me for Christmas. This corner of the room is specifically dedicated to "my music." Can you tell that I'm trying to channel my inner Ross from Friends. hahaahaha. I love that episode. I told Josh that I'm going to put some posters of the Jonas Brothers up in the room and wear big headphones when I play so that it looks like I'm in a music studio. If anyone wants a job as my producer, the job opens up shortly and pays nothing. Let me know if you're interested. hahahahaah
2. I have a list of books that I'm going to read in the next couple years. This list is conveniently located on the right side of my blog ---->. If I can do it in 2 years, it is about a book a week, which is manageable. The only problem with these books is that some of them are DOOSIES. So it is going to require a lot of time to chip away at the list. But I've already gotten through some, and right now I'm working on Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Two thumbs up so far, except that the dialogue's dialect sometimes gives me a headache as I attempt to translate it into Kelli terms.
   
3. I want to make amazing cards. I've finally collected everything I need (cricut, cuddle bug, paper, crafty accessories, envelopes, etc.) to make amazing cards. I've made a few sets. But I want to spend more time becoming more creative and crafty at making cards. Oh, and I probably should send them to someone so Josh won't keep giving me the *why are you making those* look every time I get my supplies out.
   
4. I want to develop my skills in the art of photography. To read more about this ideal hobby desire, check out the small excerpt on the left by the cute camera. <---------
5. I want to be a decorating fool. I found a blog that has inspired me to start refinishing furniture. Here is the link of the project that took my breath away: http://www.allthingsthrifty.com/2010/01/yellow-furniture.html (and here's a picture) So I'm going to start obsessively checking D.I., and I'm going to start practicing. I have a desk in our third bedroom that is old and charming, and I'm going to start by refinishing it white with a dark glaze over the top. I'm so excited!
6. Now the real question is------WHERE DO I BEGIN? Luckily, with my teaching schedule, I will have the whole summer off to foster these hobbies. I can't wait!!!!!!!
   

Whew! I'm worn out!

After some tedious hours of overhauling my blog, I can now say that I'm happy with the finished product. I've added some new elements down the side columns, the like a puny list of the temples that Josh and I have done a session in and my list of books that I'm working on. I hope that you enjoy the updated look.....because it took me long enough!!!! :)

Cooper Update!!!

I'm deeply sorry that I have not posted on my blog for about 5 months. Although life has been crazy, I don't really have a good excuse for neglecting my followers... (since I have AT LEAST two or three people who read my blog. haha) Here 's the latest!

Josh and I just moved into our new townhouse in The Meadows this last weekend! It is so fun to have a place of our own, and we just don't know what to do with all of the space! If anyone wants to stop in, we'd be happy to have you!
So, we're back in Rexburg, which is nice because Josh is closer to school, and I am closer to work. In fact, I'm less than a mile from the new high school, so I will basically be able to walk to work next year. However, anyone that knows me at all knows that I'm far too lazy to walk to work. Lame.
On that note, I'm super stoked for the new high school. We've been talking with the administration about the final plans we need to make before moving in to the school. It is HUGE! It's going to be so fun to have a brand spanking new classroom.


Also, I recently accepted the position to be the new cheer advisor. *save the cheerleader, save the world* We are in the process of hiring a head coach for the squad, and tryouts are at the end of the month! So life is going to keep staying busy for a while. There are some really fun girls, and it is going to be really fun working with them. However, I'm a little scared to think that I'm going to be heading up a program. It doesn't feel like it was that long ago that I was competing in Hawaii with my own high school squad my senior year! Wasn't that just a year or two ago???...ok maybe not. But I am still feeling a little inadequate. We'll see how it goes!




So much is going on in our lives that we are having a hard time keeping up. The second trimester of the year at Madison is coming to a close, and I can't believe that summer break is approaching so quickly. I don't know what I'll do with all of the extra time! But I'm pretty excited to find out! Until next time....