Online Dating...Yes or No?

As February draws to a close, I think about how this month is considered the "Valentine's" month. So many people put a lot of stock into Valentine's Day (or as I like to call it-"Single Awareness Day") and it puts me into a thoughtful mood concerning why we consider it to be so important. I don't mean to belittle the idea that sharing your love with someone is not important, I'm just wondering why we can't just do that type of thing more when there isn't a day to help us remember. Is this just my single status talking? Which brings me to the question:

Should I put myself back on an online dating site (or two)?

I have already been on LDS Mingles. For a little over two years, I put my profile on, web mailed new people from the site, and got out of my comfort zone to go on some dates. I met some very nice people and had some good experiences. I left the site due to money issues, but also because it wasn't going anywhere. There were some major weird guys on there, believe me.

I also tried Eharmony. BIG MISTAKE! Not only does it suck the financial savings right out from under you, but there were few matches for an LDS girl that would love to be married in the temple. I was matched with a guy in Las Vegas who sounded very nice, but when I talked to him on the phone, he spent most of it talking about his job (he has some sort of thing with music) and he sang a portion of something he was writing. Entertaining, yes. Falling head over heels, heck no!

So here is where it stands. I am considering going back on and I would love your input on if I should and if so, which one (or two). I've been thinking about match.com or chemistry.com, but again, I wonder about LDS matches.

Could you give me some advice?

Out With The Old...

And so a new year begins. 2009 was an interesting year. For some of my friends, it wasn't their favorite year due to the things life just throws at you. We all got one year older, we had up times and down times. This January, I would like to shake off the old and go on with something new. I would like to do some things this year I have not done before (but at no risk to my life). I haven't quite made up a list, but if anybody out there is reading this, would you like to comment and give me some suggestions? One of the things I would like to work on is being more social-both in the dating field and neighborhood or friend field. I need to get out of my comfort zone a little more and 2010 seems just perfect for it. So please-suggest away!

Family Ties

Lately in church, our ward has been discussing the new Family History program. Our 5th Sunday was spent in learning how to use the website new.familysearch.org to work on our family history and do temple ordinances. I am way excited because I've been wanting to learn how to do family history for a long time and I even made it one of my goals for the upcoming year. Our bishop asked us to come with a goal to tithing settlement that we could work on. I brought two. The first one is the one I just mentioned: family history. My second one is to work on food storage. Being single, I don't pay attention to things most families would. I have decided that I need to be more conscious about things and try to be more prepared. I even asked "Santa" if he could help me with some food storage for Christmas. Maybe this will help me get more organized. One can only hope!

Time Out For Women

So I have been remiss in updating my blog. I thought I was going to do so well too... Oh well. I've had a few exciting things happen. The one I'm going to talk about right now is when I attended Time Out For Women two weekends ago. I had heard about this for years, but had never gone. When Sommer asked me if I would be interested in going, I jumped at the chance. We went with Sommer's mom, sister Brittany, and sister-in-law, Marcie.

On Friday night, we headed to the Salt Palace where we heard Wendy Watson Nelson (wife of Elder Nelson) and Sheri Dew speak to us. I loved it! I should have been taking copious notes, but I didn't bring any paper. Jenny Oaks Baker performed that night as well.

On Saturday, we heard talks from Mary Ellen Edmunds, S. Michael Wilcox, Emily Watts, Kris Belcher, and closing remarks by Sheri Dew. Hilary Weeks was there and performed several of her songs. We even got to have CDs and books signed by the authors (I paid a boatload of money on Deseret Book stuff) and we had our picture taken with Hilary Weeks! I've included the pictures that were taken from my phone. Next time I will bring my camera.

I came out of this "conference" feeling a lot better about myself and wanting to do better. I hope I can live up to the expectations the Lord has for me! What great examples I have!

Hilary Weeks

Sommer, Marcie, Hilary Weeks, Me

Marcie, Hilary Weeks, Me

The End of One Stressful Quarter!

I have no idea how it happened, but I somehow made it through a tough quarter. What's funny is that it wasn't the students who made it tough-it was me! I have always been one that wants to get involved in things and help where I can. Sometimes, I take on more than I can handle. At the time I accept responsibilities, I feel I can handle it, but I find out quickly there are only so many hours in the day.

Last year, I started taking on Home Hospital duties to earn a little extra money. Basically, I go to the houses of students and teach them what they would learn in school while they are recovering from an illness or something of that nature. I am only required to spend 2 hours per student per week, but I find myself spending more time planning what to teach them than I often do for my own students! For the past several weeks, I've had two extra students so it's been double the stress. At least they are both good!

I am also in charge of our leadership team at school. We have been preparing for Red Ribbon Week which is next week. We meet every Wednesday after school. Well, after midterms, our school does a remediation program to help students who received Ds and Fs at midterm to come in and make up work. Guess when the day for Social Studies is? That's right. Wednesday. So I had the leadership team on one side of the room and the remediation kids on the other. Can I just say utter and complete CHAOS?! Lucky for me, my leadership team is very self-motivating.

One last clincher was a parent who accused me of not working with the kids. All based on the fact that her son (who was getting a C) was not allowed to redo work. Apparently I'm the only teacher who doesn't allow people to redo their work. Right. What she was really upset about was the fact that I discouraged her from letting her son come to remediation after school because he wasn't getting a D or F. Aside from miscommunications and what not, I ended up letting him come where he now has a B. Interestingly enough, he would have had that B had he done an assignment correctly and turned in his extra credit sheet without having to come to remediation. After listing all the above stories, does it seem like I don't work with kids?!

Anyway, after this long venting session, I am doing much better. I'm still not totally on top of things like I normally am, but I'm getting there. If you see me just off in my own little world or I seem pretty grumpy, I'm not mad at you, I'm just stressed. A trip to Bath and Body Works last night to pick up some Stress Relief lotion and Sleep spray for my pillow ought to do the trick. Let's see how well it works...

"Be Diligent!"

It always amazes me how inspired our Prophet and General Authorities are. I don't know if anyone else noticed it, but I saw several similar themes during today's conference. The predominant one was about listening to the Spirit and how to recognize the influence of the Spirit. Another theme was about being diligent. I heard this word so many times and I have been thinking about the importance of being diligent in my own life. I have so many things to work on! I know I am not near perfect in any way, shape, or form, but I want to do better after listening to these wonderful talks! I can hardly wait to watch tomorrow's talks as well!

"No Worries, Mate!"

G'day All! I know I've been back from Australia for about 2 weeks, but it sure has been crazy since school started and my car decided to put me out of my happy place. I can tell you one thing though-AUSTRALIA IS ONE OF MY HAPPY PLACES! I have never encountered nicer people and I will definitely go back again if I am given the opportunity to do so. Amy, Sommer, and I did a ton of walking and stairs were involved in almost all of it. We stayed around Sydney for the most part, but headed to the Blue Mountains where we explored Scenic World in Katoomba and also the Jenolan Caves. We even got to pet a koala (and help drive a boat-see Amy below)!

Probably one of the highlights for me was experiencing the culture and getting excited over boomerangs. I bought 3 boomerangs and I've decided I need to go into the huge field by 6200 South and try them out. If anyone wants to come, let me know. We should do it before it gets cold. I plan on mastering the boomerang before spring so I can show my students.

I also purchased a didgeridoo (spelled many different ways) and had it shipped home so I wouldn't have to worry about it on the plane. It's a smaller one, but it's pretty. No, I don't know how to play it, but I'm sure I can find out how. That's what the internet is for, right? One of my pictures below is an Aborigine dressed traditionally playing a didg.

If you have ever thought about visiting Australia, I highly encourage you to do it. It is one of the best trips I've ever been on!

L to R: Red Kangaroo, Me and the Opera House, Sydney Temple, Amy driving the Deerubbun, Sommer, Me, and Amy with koalas, Me with pretty flowers at temple.

L to R: All of us on HMAS Vampire, Me at Manly Beach,

Amy and I with Sydney in the background, Me and Sommer on

the Endeavor, Me petting cute koala, Aboriginal man playing

didgeridoo.