Attitude of Gratitude recap

For those who have missed out (or just didn't read it), here is an abridged version of everything I was grateful for this month.

PS I like doing it day-by-day instead of coming up with all of them at the end of the month. New tradition? Yes.

1. The amazing roommates I've been blessed with this semester.
2. Co-worker, Scott.
3. Help Desk on campus.
4. Creators of Tuna Helper.
5. My awesome job at Domino's.
6. Creator of "The Lizzie Bennet Diaries".
7. My somewhat talent of writing.
8. My knowledge of life outside the Rexburg bubble.
9. My car, Norbert.
10. My family.
11. My aunt Tamara.
12. McKay Library on campus.
13. My Foundations English teacher, Brother Shaffer.
14. Retards on YouTube...for providing hours of endless entertainment.
15. Nancy Gardner.
16. My Patriarchal Blessing.
17. Caitlin Kunz.
18. Christmas-y things.
19. An assignment in my Infant and Toddler Development class.
20. Sleep.
21. Grandpa Ron.
22. Sheldon (my camera).
23. iPod (which, surprisingly, hasn't been named).
24. Nana.
25. Great-Grandma Tuckett.
26. English teacher, Brother Hartvigsen.
27. Glee Christmas music.
28. Letters from Brazil.
29. Harry Potter musical scores.
30. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Next up, December posts. And most likely a new blog background. 

Attitude of Gratitude #'s 27-30

NUMBER 27

Today, I am grateful for Glee Christmas music. It's the best kind, in my opinion (along with David Archuleta and the classics). My absolute favorite, however, is "Baby It's Cold Outside" by Kurt and Blaine. It's like heaven in an mp3 file.

NUMBER 28

Today, I am grateful that my letter from my missionary friend in Brazil finally decided to show up. This Elder's letters ALWAYS make my day, and this letter showed up right when I needed it. It was pretty great. Now I just need to respond...

NUMBER 29

Today, I am grateful for the Harry Potter musical scores and for their awesomeness. These soundtracks made writing my paper that much more epic. Plus, it was like watching the movies in my head. Yay!

NUMBER 30

As usual, I save this item for the last day of the month. I am grateful for my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. They do so much for me, it's crazy. They are both so forgiving for when I sin (because everyone does). They are there for me when I feel absolutely alone (which is happening a lot more than I like). They are two of my best friends, and I love that I can turn to them in prayer whenever I need a question answered, or when I am feeling alone. I love that they will offer me comfort whenever I can't find it here on Earth. And I'm going to stop there before I start balling like a baby.

Attitude of Gratitude #'s 25 & 26

NUMBER 25

Today, I was grateful for my Great-Grandma Tuckett. I have been so fortunate to be able to get to know her (since most people don't get to know their great-grandparents) in my 20 years, and am looking forward to the time I have left with her. Not that she's dying or anything. But she's 96 years old. So every time I visit with her, I can't help but wonder if its the last time I'll be seeing her in person.

Because she's so great, I want to name my first daughter Jeanette after her. That way I'll still have a piece of my great-grandma with me even if she passes on before I have children.

NUMBER 26

Today, I was grateful for my English teacher, Brother Hartvigsen. Due to me being the lazy, procrastinating idiot that I am, I'm not doing too well in class. But he's willing to work with me to bring my grade up so I can pass. Best teacher ever? I think so.

McCabe Family Christmas Photos 2012

Well...I was going to put my pictures on here...but I guess I have used 100% of the 1GB I'm "allowed" to post on here. The eff? So I guess I HAVE to post my pictures on Facebook now...blech.

Attitude of Gratitude #'s 21-24

NUMBER 21

Today I am grateful for my Grandpa. Every time I visit, he always works on my car, whether it be an oil change, a tank of gas, or even new floor mats for the backseat of my car. He's also willing to fix it whenever something breaks (like my window). He's the greatest!

NUMBER 22

Even though this day was thanksgiving, and I should be grateful for things like my extended family or the pilgrims, I was thankful for Sheldon (my camera). On this day in 2011, I bought him. And I'm fairly certain he has been the best purchase I've ever made (aside from my car). He has been very useful this past year, including taking pictures at Yellowstone, and most recently helped my family take our annual Christmas pictures (which will be up here in the next couple of days).

NUMBER 23

Today I was grateful for my iPod (which I'm currently typing this on since I left my laptop in Rexburg). Because of my iPod (and a little help from my Hulu+ account), I was able to get caught up in Castle and New Girl, and get mostly caught up in Raising Hope. Up next: The Office!

NUMBER 24

Today I am grateful for my Nana. She bought me a sweater today (even though I can't have it til Christmas). She helped us take our family pictures. And we had a nice long chat while at Lava Hot Springs (which is one of the world's most boring places). She's been good to me these past 20 years ;)

Attitude of Gratitude #'s 16-20

NUMBER 16

Today, I'm grateful for my Patriarchal Blessing. Why? Because in it, it talks about my husband and children and the things we'll do in life. Which is helpful for days when I feel like I'm never getting married.

NUMBER 17

Today, I am grateful for my friend and old roommate, Caitlin Kunz. She invited me to a party at her work (Maurices), and said party included some sweet discounts. I ended up getting a pair of jeans that fits me PERFECTLY for $20!! Best.

NUMBER 18

Today, I am grateful for Christmasy things. I watched "The Polar Express", listened to some Christmas music, had some hot chocolate, cut up snowflakes for our window/apartment, and hung up Christmas lights. It was weird to be doing so, because normally I'm against anything Christmas until after Thanksgiving, and even then I don't actively participate until the week of Christmas. But it surprisingly felt really nice.

NUMBER 19

This might sound weird, but I'm grateful for one of my assignments in my Infant & Toddler Development class. This assignment is to go into the home of an infant/toddler and assess the child's development, and also observe his home setting. The child that my partner and I observed today was quite possibly one of the cutest toddlers I had ever seen. According to his mom, he was in "show-off mode", and the second we came inside he showed us his room, his mom's room, his bathroom, and his kitchen. SO. CUTE.

Also, since this child lived in Idaho Falls, and we showed up early, we got to go to Five Guys. Mmm.

NUMBER 20

Today, I'm grateful for sleep. I actually went to bed at a decent hour the night before, and woke up feeling...not necessarily well-rested, but more rested than normal.

Attitude of Gratitude #'s 13, 14, 15

I'm terrible at this.

NUMBER 13: For this day, I was grateful for one of my English teachers, Brother Shaffer. We had this paper that was due a couple of weeks ago. I turned it in on time, but failed to meet the page requirement, and had written it the night before (so I knew it wasn't as great as it could have been). He still gave me a B+. I'm also grateful for him because he's a great teacher, and is always super helpful. Now if only he didn't assign a 10-12 pg paper due on December 6th...

NUMBER 14: This day, I was grateful for the retards on YouTube who produced "Friday" by Rebecca Black, because they've done it again. "It's Thanksgiving" is their latest, and its hilarious how serious they are about the song. It made my day. Totally playing it ALL. DAY. on Thanksgiving. There's a link to the video if you hover over "It's Thanksgiving." And then my roommate showed me "Butterflies". This is also hilarious. And there's a link for that as well.

NUMBER 15: For this day, I was grateful for my friend, Nancy. We've been friends for two years now, and it's been great! She went to the midnight premiere of "Breaking Dawn: Part 2" with me and it was awesome. :) Maybe I'll go with her to see "Catching Fire" next year (November 22!) or even "The Host" (even though I haven't read the book yet...much to her dismay).

Hopefully I can get better at this whole "posting every day" thing.

Attitude of Gratitude #'s 10, 11, 12

Obviously, I have some catching up to do.

Number 10: I am grateful for my family. For example, my mom (on Saturday) went around non-stop from 8 AM to 12 AM. She took my brother to a presentation thing on mechanical engineering, then took me to Walmart to get hair dye (and other various things), then dyed my hair, then went to the BYU football game. My dad, on that same day, took my two sisters and our family's foreign exchange student to their dance classes (and picked them up), all ranging from 9 AM to 1 PM. He then took me to the place where I bought my car to see if we could cancel a warranty. He then also took us to the BYU football game (and paid for our dinner and my ticket). My brosef, Mike, let me watch the new Spiderman movie with him. My sister Caitlyn let me sleep in her bed for one night that I was down there. My sister Megan popped the area of my back between my shoulder blades (a place that is constantly hurting due to the fact that I carry my stress there). I don't think my sister Laura did anything outside of being the cutest little sister ever. And since she's technically our sibling until June, Lucia was gracious enough to dance to "Gangnam Style" with me every time we heard it.

Number 11: I'm grateful for my aunt Tamara. I got to visit with her for an hour on Sunday, and it was great (since we don't get to visit in person that often). We talked about everything from boys to this year's Thanksgiving plans. I can't wait til I get to spend some real time with her at Christmas.

And finally...number 12: Today, I am grateful for the McKay library. I was in here during the break between my DNA class and my Infant and Toddler Development class, and then I was in here from the end of my Infant and Toddler class until I had to work (approximately two hours), and now I am in here until 11:30 to work on more homework. Yippee...but seriously. Without this place, I'd have to stay home and do my homework. And we all know how well that works out...

Attitude of Gratitude #9

Yesterday, I was grateful for my car (I forgot to write this last night).

I bought the beauty (except its not a beauty) back in March, and up until a couple of months ago, it's been working fine (I had to replace a part a couple of months ago).

Last night, I drove down to Utah for the weekend. And my car performed well :) it didn't do anything out of the ordinary and helped us arrive safely (even if I drove through a snowstorm for the first time).

I just hope it keeps working properly...

Attitude of Gratitude #8

Today, I am grateful for my knowledge of life outside the Rexburg bubble.

Tonight, I went to see "The Perks of Being A Wallflower". Great movie...if you don't have an aversion to real-life situations. The rating "parents strongly cautioned" is there for a reason.

Anyway. There was a scene that involved a kiss between two men (and didn't progress further than that. I promise). The three girls in front of me all turned their heads, and the people behind me scoffed in disgust. Later on in the movie, I heard someone behind me say "what are we watching?" The only thing I have to say to those people is: "Yes. Those two men did just kiss. And yes. There is drug use. And finally, yes, there was mention of abuse of all forms. Get over it."

I know that I probably sound like the worst Mormon on this planet right now, for accepting the fact that those things were in this movie. However, I had heard about the book, so I knew what I was getting into the second I sat down in the super old chair at the not-dollar theater.

Sometimes, the naive people of this town worry me. What are they going to do when they graduate and leave Rexburg? If they ever do...

Attitude of Gratitude #7

Today, I am grateful for my (semi) talent of writing.

Today, I was able to complete the longest chapter I've ever written. The grand total amount of words was around 3500. I did not write this whole chapter in one day, however. I would have died. My hand would have as well.

Anyway. I'm happy that my story is progressing, and I know exactly what is coming next in my story. It's exciting. :)

Decision 2012

I decided to write a post about the election. Or, rather, my opinion on how it ended.

I'm not an Obama supporter. I wasn't impressed with the so-called "change" he has brought to the country in the past four years, and I'm not exactly looking forward to four more years from him. But that opinion does NOT give me the right to bash him, his family, or his fans/followers/supporters.

Obviously, my views differ from a majority of the nation, as evidenced last night. I don't think gay marriage should be legal (because it goes against everything I have been taught), but other people do. I certainly don't think recreational use of marijuana should be legal, but apparently a lot of people in Colorado do. That doesn't mean that I can whine and complain about said changes on Facebook/Tumblr, post links to hundreds of articles explaining why Obama is going to drive this country into the ground and that the world should end in 2012 because he's been re-elected and that Obama is the devil himself and so on and so forth. (Note: those are not my opinions).

Yes. I am a Romney supporter. Yes, I did vote for him, because I thought he would be able to turn our economy around. Not necessarily completely fix it from its current state, but turn it around. I also just didn't want Obama re-elected. Was I disappointed when it was announced that Obama won? Of course I was, like any other Romney supporter would be. However, my roommate and I decided that we wouldn't get our hopes up for Romney; that way, it wouldn't hurt as much when (not if) he lost. And that idea worked.

Today, I'm still upset, but I'm not going to whine and complain about it like other people. I'm not going to make endless status updates about the turnout of the election (instead I shall post cat videos and "Gangnam Style" parodies). I'm not going to start hundreds of feuds with Obama supporters in comments on articles about the election, like I'm sure my mom is doing right now. I'm going to keep my opinions (mostly) to myself. Yes, over the course of the next four years, I most likely will voice my opinion on how I don't like what Obama is doing. But that's because I have a right to say those things.

So, what am I going to do? I'm going to support my nation's choice of leader (even if I don't agree with said choice). There have been 43 presidents before Obama, all of which I'm sure had people who hate him. But those people still (somewhat) supported him and his decisions. And that's what we, as a nation of United States, should be doing. We should get over the fact that our candidate won/lost, and carry on with our lives.

I just hope the rest of the country will be able to return to a more civil state of mind, grow up, and respect each other within the next 24 hours.

Attitude of Gratitude #6

Today I am thankful for whoever is behind the idea of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.

Recently this has been popping up all over my Tumblr. Naturally, I got curious, and decided to check it out. 58 videos (ranging anywhere from three to seven minutes in length each), I am hooked. And I still have at least three more videos to watch (yay!). 

I am grateful for these because they are distracting me from the fact that Mitt Romney lost tonight. But that's not something to be grateful for (unless you're a Democrat), so we'll just leave that topic for another post (if I decide to write one about the election). 

Attitude of Gratitude #5

Today, I am thankful for my job.

Let me tell you about my awesome job.

I work at the lovely Domino's establishment in Rexburg. And I LOVE it (which was why I decided to stay there for the next semester). I love my coworkers, I love the work that I do, and I love making money. ;)

But seriously. This job has brought me new friends (including a bestest friend foreverest), and I look forward to going each time I have a shift.

Attitude of Gratitude #4

I didn't encounter anything/anyone special today so...

I'm grateful for the creators of Tuna Helper. Without them, I'd be going hungry tonight.

Attitude of Gratitude #2 & #3

My computer was being retarded last night and wouldn't let me access the internet at all, so I couldn't write #2 until now.

NUMBER 2:

I'm thankful for my co-worker, Scott. Why? Well, I have an opportunity to go to the very last BYU home game next weekend. I didn't know about this opportunity until yesterday, and I had already received my schedule for next week (which required me to work on Saturday). He was the only one who could/was willing to cover my shift for me. So, basically, he's great.

NUMBER 3:

I'm thankful for the Help Desk on campus. I have this web protection (K9. I wouldn't recommend it. It's been nothing but a pain). And it was spazzing out last night (remember that opening sentence I put up there?). After continuing to spaz out this morning, I decided to take it to the Help Desk and see if they could uninstall it (I couldn't figure out how). They couldn't figure it out either, BUT the second guy I was helped by (the first one's shift ended and just left without finishing with me. Jerk.) figured out that it had somehow been "stopped". So, he turned it back on, and now my computer is working gloriously.

Attitude of Gratitude #1

For the past two years I've been writing 30 things I'm grateful for at the end of the month. This year I want to write them day by day. Here's to hoping I remember to do so.

SO. The thing I'm grateful for today is my amazing roommates this semester. This means you, Korissa, Michelle, Jessica, Keshia, and Melissa.

Let me tell you about these lovely ladies.

Korissa--we were roommates last semester, and it's been awesome having her as a roommate again! We frequently take trips to get a special ice cream. We also are in the same religion class this semester, and that's an adventure. We don't really do as much as we used to last semester, but we're both busy with work and school and other stuff.

Michelle--I can't even begin to describe her. She's basically my twin. We both think Ian Somerhalder is hott. She makes me laugh harder than anyone ever has before. She understands me when it comes to "The Vampire Diaries". She's also an avid fan of "How I Met Your Mother". Along with her ability to make me laugh, I genuinely enjoy spending time with her. I hope I get to be her roommate in the future.

Jessica--she bakes things for us. Her most recent dessert was chocolate raspberry cheesecake. It's freaking divine. She's also made sugar cookies and Snickers cupcakes. She's also very sweet and lovable. We like telling her that she's going to get married, since she's the youngest girl in the apartment.

Keshia--she's the quieter one of the apartment, but she's still funny. We also like essentially the same things. There was one day where some random guy texted her burner phone that she had, and she and I had fun having a conversation with him. Even if he was creepy.

Melissa--She's never really home, so I can't say much about her. She's nice and funny though, and also enjoys HIMYM.

See you tomorrow!

I guess I have to change the background of my blog now.

Yes...the snow is here. Unfortunately. And it arrived on the best day ever...when I have to deliver for work. And not one person (myself included) in this stupid town knows how to drive in the snow.

So here are some pictures to show you seven readers (since I deactivated my Facebook for the time being) what I get to look forward to for the next seven months.

At least the trees look pretty.

These are a few of my not-favorite things.

• Mopping.
• Working til 1:45 AM.
• Not being able to do any homework due to the above statement.
• Epically failing a test.
• Rain.
• Knowing that a storm is moving in and that it will likely bring snow.

Now to counteract all that negative, here is a list of my favorite things:

• Working 8 hours which equals lots of dinero.
• Developing a stronger relationship with my main boss.
• Having a coworker who was willing to help me with the mopping even though she was told to go home.
• Tips.
• My coat. And beanie. And gloves. I love being warm. :)
• Getting the phone number of a guy I kinda sorta like...purposes for which are purely academic. At this time. 
• Being able to go to sleep right now.

My heart is torn.

Tonight's episode of Glee was NOT okay.

It doesn't help that the show is going on a month-long hiatus. WHY?!?!?!?!

Basically, they had better provide amazing explanations as to why they did what they did. That is all.

Fall.

I love this time of year.

Apple Cider-scented candles.
Colored leaves.
Pumpkin EVERYTHING.
Hoodie-appropriate weather.
Halloween.
Boots.

The only issues with these things...

Candles are kinda sorta not really allowed in my apartment. So shh!
REXBURG TREES REFUSE TO CHANGE THEIR COLORS.
I don't have money to buy pumpkin everything. Plus I'm fairly certain they haven't started selling them in Rexburg yet.
It's cold in the morning and then hot in the afternoons. I want it to be cold (but not to the extremes Rexburg goes to) all day.
There's 31 days til Halloween.
No issues here.

Hopefully the situation with these things get better starting tomorrow.

Happy (almost) October, everyone!

Life.

It's spiraling out of control.

And I can't find any way to grab a hold of it and get it back in order.

It sucks.

Distractions.

They suck. I'm talking to you, Tumblr and Facebook. I haz serious homework to accomplish this semester.

I just need to learn to use my time wisely.

So writing this post when I could be working on my ENG 251 homework is a bad use of my time.

But whatever.

Also, the background of this blog is VERY distracting. At least, for me it is. Over the next few days I'll be keeping my eye out for something I can use. Or maybe I'll finally be able to find a background online that I like.

Anyway.

Goodnight!

New semester goals.

• To be able to pay off my tuition quickly and start saving up to pay off the loan I most likely will have to take out. That'll be an adventure.
• Three dates. Is that too much to ask for, single male specimens of Rexburg? I didn't think so.
• 3.0 GPA.
• Awesome roommates. Most of them are my age this semester (thank heavens), so I hope we'll be able to get along.
• To finish reading three books.
• Go to a BYU football game.

At mid-terms I will update on how I'm doing with each of these.

Basically the "best roommate ever" award goes to...

Rachel Cox.

Seriously, though.

She comes out to the living room and says, "Kelsi, I have this box of stuff that I don't want. You can take anything you want, and anything that's left will go to Caitlin or the DI box."

So, thanks to her, I am now the proud owner of:

• KitchenAid hand-mixer (minus the beaters...but come on. You can find replacements for those at DI. Or even Wally World.)
• The Emperor's New Groove
• Finding Nemo
• Basically a new set of dishes
• A strainer
• An ice cream scoop
• Potato peeler
• Muffin tin
• 9x13 pan
• Tupperware

It's pretty awesome. I love her.

Oh. She also gave me pie. I've never had chocolate meringue pie before, but still. It's PIE. CHOCOLATE pie.

School.

It starts two weeks from today.

And I'm nowhere near being ready for it.

I don't even have most of my books.

I should probably get on that.

Except I have absolutely NO MONEY to do so.

I hate having to pay for everything on my own.

41,977!! And child development.

41,977. That is the total number of words I have written for my story. Only 8023 more words to go, and I've officially written a novel (according to the requirements for NaNoWriMo). Not to sound conceited or anything, but I'm proud of myself. :)

In other news, I've decided not to do a cluster in Journalism, and just minor in Child Development. It sucks that I've decided this so long after registration, because now I'm scrambling to find classes I can go to on the first day to try to convince the teacher to let me add the class...because at the moment I'm only registered for eight credits. Which is great for the whole money woes I'm going through at the moment, but not great because I'm not considered a full-time student unless I'm registered for twelve.

So...yeah. That's my life at the moment.

I dream of the past.

Sometimes, I wonder if I was born in the correct time period or not.

The wardrobes of women of the past are SO different compared to what we wear today. For example, in the 1800's, dresses NEVER went above the ankle. Not that I'm wishing we could go back to that, but think about it. They never had to worry about modesty because everything they wore was modest (except for the dresses that were low-cut). Today, I'm lucky enough to find a dress that will even hit my knees, A) because I'm freakishly tall for a girl and B) because, for some reason, designers think that a couple of yards of fabric equals one dress. I see movies and pictures of the different time periods, and while they may not be exactly correct as to how women dressed back then, the dresses in those movies and pictures were beautiful.

Tonight, it occurred to me that back in the day, women wore little to no makeup, and were considered beautiful, even gorgeous. Nowadays, a woman not wearing makeup is automatically assumed to either be tired or having a bad day. Makeup has been marketed to make us women think that without it, we are not worthy of the attention from a man. Yes, it is acceptable to wear the bare minimum. But some girls today take it too far.

What the heck happened to us?!

Tonight, I shall dream of a simpler time, in which women weren't so low as to think that showing as much skin as possible and caking on the makeup would make them appear beautiful.

Brace yourselves.

Today, I FINALLY left my apartment just for the heck of it.

I know. Weird concept when I don't have school, right?

I had nothing to do (there's a shocker), my iPod had died, which meant I couldn't watch any more "Vampire Diaries" (my latest obsession, I'm ashamed to admit), and I had thought about going up to the gardens on campus and taking some pictures.

And now I shall show them to you. :)

Enjoy my awesome (but totally not professional) photography skills!

 The roof of a gazebo thing.

 Focus on the pillar... 

 Now focus is on the vine. I love being able to do this kind of stuff with my camera :)

 Cool little house thing.

 The advanced garden specialists students (or whatever they are) REALLY like making arches. There's at least ten throughout the gardens.

 While I was taking these pictures, there was a man pouring this blue stuff in the ponds. I guess they're sanitizing it...or something. Either way, it looked cool.

 Lily pads.

 Waterfalls. There are also several of these throughout the gardens.

 It looks like a man-made bouquet of roses...but they grew like this. Honest.

 It took me a while to get this picture to work. But it sure looks cool, right? :)

 The chains supporting the swing bench thing I was sitting on.

 True story.

 There are four trees that look like this at the base. Nice little spot to sit.

 You can't really tell...but there's a bird in this picture.

 This sun looks happy...in a creepy way.

 Half of an arch.

 This statue also looks creepy...almost as if he's the entertainer that poisoned his masters, and is watching them drink the poison while still providing entertainment. Yes, my mind is weird.

  

 It suddenly got super windy at this point, and it was causing ripples on the water.

 It was so windy, it caused this grass stuff to basically bend at a 45* angle.

 This lizard totally has 11 spots on it's back. Said spots are yellow. Please tell me someone knows what I'm referring to.

 SO. PRETTY.

 It basically made my day when I noticed these white daisies had a smidge of purple in their center. Why? Because anything that has purple involved with it is automatically favorite.

 Not in the gardens, but it's still a waterfall on campus. Like I said, they really like them here. For some reason.

 So many beautiful colors.

Congratulations! You made it to the end of this post! In conclusion, I REALLY like taking pictures of flowers. Don't know why.

Have a great day. :)