Pay it Forward

This morning on the news there was a news report that caught my attention.

In a coffee shop there was a lady who was just so full of the Christmas Spirit(you know how that is- always willing to give) -Anyway, she paid for her drink as well as for the person behind her. The reporter said it was like wildfire, spreading down the line. Soon everyone was paying for another person's drink. I think it started a near five in the morning and here the reporter was, standing by the shop, about eleven o'clock-lunch time, and people were still at it.

It amazes me how good you can make someone feel if you simply try. I know these drinks were like three bucks (not to mention, full of disgusting coffee-) but still, it was enough to make people realize how wonderful it is to serve.

My father always said that the way to love someone is to serve them. And he's right. ...So girls, if you find a cute guy all you have to do is pitch in a couple of dollars of service and maybe it'll work out. But no, really, life is beautiful. It is what we make it. If you want to be a miser the world will mise with you. And if you want to be a giver guess what? -the world will give back. Mind you, it may not always be in the way we expect, but there will be effects, both good and bad.

Anyway, I didn't mean to steer away from my original subject- back to what I was going to say. I know it may sound funny or child-ish, but I'd like to challenge all who read this to notice when someone does something for you (whether big or small) and pay if forward. (Yeah, like the movie.) Okay, now, I realize that most of you are probably regretting you ever read this post, but really it doesn't have to be big, just do it. You'll feel good about it. Step out of your box and do something for someone else. Whether it's jumping in front of someone to open a door, or carrying boxes for an elderly woman, or just saying hi to someone who looks miserable. -Just do something. Anything.

Then, for my sake -I'm so bored- please comment on what you did. Let me know how you felt when you did it. And please, I realize that doing something for your family is the easiest way to go, but just try acting outside of all that. Serve a stranger. You may find out that they weren't very strange to begin with.

Just try. Please. And, of course, Good Luck!

Forgotten Superheroes

Yesterday at work was so boring. I believe it was due to the fact that our "SUB-WAY" lights were burnt out. At first it was just "WAY" that was out, but since the workers came yesterday to fix it, all of it went out. So, yeah, nobody really thought we were open. It was very boring.

There were three workers; Me, Mackenzie, and Brandon. Brandon is a college student of twenty-one years (but he really only looks fifteen) and Mackenzie is just sixteen. Anyway, aside from the boringness of it all, Brandon and Mackenzie were acting really goofy. I admit at first I found it fun, but then after a short time, it became just a little too much.

Near the end of my shift Brandon decided (actually I think he was dared) to put on the Subway-Man suit that we keep in the back. (Its of a smiling sandwich, of course, only he's got a long red cape in the back.) When he put it on he went out into the lobby and started sweeping, or mopping, or whatever. It was hilarious watching him try and mop when he could barely see in front of him! There was one point when he started mopping a rug, thinking that it was the floor. Yeah, it was pretty funny.

For the longest time I've wanted to dress in the Subway-Man, take a picture, and post it. But I haven't really got around to it. Except Yesterday. Mackenzie happened to bring a camera with her. I didn't dress up in the suit, but I did have her get a picture of me and Sandwich-Brandon. We had our thumbs up and everything! It was really funny! Mackenzie could hardly hold the camera still because she was laughing so much!

Anyway, after work I walked a few blocks away to "Chili's" where Melinda, and her friend Sarah, were eating their dinner. It took me a while to find them, but I won't go into the details. They were just finishing up with their appetizer when I came in and scooted in next to Melinda on the booth.

They got their food a little while after I arrived, all the while we chatted about random things. Oh, boys and such, lol. I only had water. Lots of it. Our waiter just kept coming around and pouring me glass after glass and I kept drinking it, glass after glass.

"Are you a camel?" Melinda asked me as I sipped the last of my third glass (rather rudely, making way too much noise). I had to stop drinking when my sixth glass was about half empty. Boy, was I full! And fool. I really should have know better than to drink so much water all at once! Oh, well. I'm still alive.

But yeah, sorry this post is so boring. I really have nothing else to blog about. Nothing much else has happened...yet.

But who knows. Today could very well be better. Or worse.

P.S. I'll be sure and post the pictures when I get them. No worries there!

Of Good "Scents" and Car Chases

"I'll take you home," Sister Furnell said looking at me from across the room.

"Well-," I answered, "Kara was going to take me."

Sister Furnell just tipped her hand. "Oh, Kara's going to be late as it is. No, I'll just take you home."

Late? I glanced over at Kara who was sitting at the table eating her Seminary breakfast. She was normally very good about keeping up with time, and thus far she didn't seem worried that she'd be at all late. No, we weren't going to be late. But then...I looked back at my Seminary teacher and thought only one thing. "Cheryl Lynn must be up to something." But of what- I had no idea.

I obligingly passed the news on to Kara, that she was going to be "late" if she took me home and I told her that Cheryl-Sister Furnell that is- had offered to take me home. She never does that. Whenever the need arises I'm always the one asking the question. No. Something was definitely up.

I helped Nicole Young, another girl in our Seminary, carry out a couple of boxes of donuts to her car. I placed them in the back seat of the car, bid her and her sister goodbye and escaped back into the warmth of the house. There I found that Cheryl was holding up a copy of the book she had "present-ed" to us earlier this morning.

"Oh, who left their copy?" She asked the tiny book in her hands. Once she flipped open to the front cover she found the name. "Melyssa Young," she read aloud. "Oh, well. I'll just give it to her on Sunday." But when she set the book back down on the counter I snatched it up and bolted for the door. The girls had just left and I was sure I could run them down!

Their little red car had just pulled out of the parking lot. I wasn't too late! Nicole, who was driving, shifted the car into Drive and started down the way. I managed to leap down the stairs and fly down the drive just in time. There were, I'm happy to say, a few moments when I got to match my speed to that of the car. Running up beside it and then running it down. Sadly it was only for a few seconds. Nicole just looked at me through the tinted window and slowed the car to a stop.

"What is it?" She asked smiling through the rolling down window.

I took in a few sharp breaths and held the book out for her to see.

"I already have my copy," she answered, her smile growing just a tad bigger probably at the thought that I had just gone through all that work to return something that was never lost to begin with.

"No," I panted holding the book closer to the window, toward it's owner in the next seat. "It's Melyssa's-"

"My book-!" Mylessa said reaching over and taking it from my cold hands. "I almost forgot it!"

I said my goodbyes once more and returned to the house.

Boy that was fun! I think I might actually enjoy running, when, that is, it's for a good cause. Anyway, Sister Cheryl Furnell walked me out to the garage and climbed into the drivers side. And as I walked around the car I noticed a small rectangular box, wrapped with Christmas paper, sitting in my seat.

I knew it, I thought opening the door. She was up to something.

Cheryl scooped up the gift so that I could sit down and then she held it out for me. "This is for you," she said just before rolling the car out of its place.

I took the small gift and turned it over in my hands. I asked if I should wait 'til Christmas or if I could open it then. "Oh no, you can open it now," she answered a little anxiously. So I did.


Once the paper was fully off, I found in my hands a small pink box. The color and the sleek texture of it made it obvious that it was perfume. And scrawled in a beautiful font, just in the middle, were the words "Bella Belara."

Bella. Of course. This was a gift for and from a Twilight fan. I do love Cheryl Lynn!

We talked for the rest of the ride home. She even took the long route so that we could get as much said as possible. The conversation went a little differently today. She began by asking me the personal question: Do you date? I answered by saying that I'd only ever been on two, but that I wasn't completely against it. Turns out that she had a particular boy in mind for me. She described him and the conversation they had to lead him into the idea of dating. I don't want to bore you with the details, so I won't. She was just curious. "I'm not a matchmaker or anything, I was just wondering." The boy in mind, actually showed up today in Seminary (It's not that he doesn't go, he just doesn't go to this particular one. Today, as the other students put it, he was acting as "Spy" for the neighboring Seminary.) Anyway, if anything other happens I'll be sure to let you know.

Five days until Christmas Can you believe it! I can't really. I'm not sure the reality has hit me yet. But that tends to happen with me. I don't really see something coming until it's already arrived. One of my many flaws I guess, ;) Enjoy your break from life! I'd wish you Happy Holidays, or a Merry Christmas, but I think I'll do that later. Well, Bye!

P.S. The perfume smells wonderful!

Of Chocolate Muffins and Smoke Detectors

Today for breakfast Melinda decided that she wanted chocolate muffins. So she found a recipe on the internet and we started making them! ...Well, actually, she made them, I just read the directions. Anyway, the fun thing about this was that we had to use the oven. What's so funny about using an oven? Well, I'll tell you. When I first arrived here one of the things Melinda warned me about was the Smoke Detectors. "They go off at the tiniest hint of smoke," she noted. "They are very sensitive."

It's been about two months now (Holy Jersey Cow! Thats quite a while!) and I haven't heard them go off once! I admit, I began to wonder if the Claybrooks really had been telling the truth. (Haha, just kidding) They mentioned that if the oven was ever used, or if the toaster was ever used, then the Smoke Detectors would go off. (Let's just say, my Toast and Jelly days were finally over, just because I'm too afraid to use the toaster)

Then the other thing about the Smoke Detectors: They are all linked. If one of them goes off then they all go off. It's like when a baby cries during the Sunday meeting. When one starts, they all start. And before you know it the entire congregation is crying. Even the ones that aren't children. -Or like when you yawn. If a person sees you or hears you or even thinks about yawning, they unavoidably, without fail yawn too. How bizarre is that!?

So, the chocolate muffins were made and divided up into their own little hole, then placed in the oven to cook. After about ten minutes or so Melinda asked me, very serious, I might add, if I was ready. I had to ask why.

"Because," she said handing me a checkered hand towel with an earnest look, "I'm going to open up the oven and the Smoke Alarm is going to go off."

I took the hand towel slowly from her grasp and remained in the hallway, just under the small white sensor pressed against the ceiling, while she disappeared into the kitchen.

"Okay!" she hollered. "I'm opening the oven!"

Quick as a flash Melinda opened the oven and quick as a flash she yanked the muffins from the depths of the oven. (She did it so fast, in fact, that on the last round, more than half the muffins fell to the ground. It was really rather funny. I laugh just thinking about it! Of course, they're were only three muffins in the pan to begin with, but hey, it was still more than half)

I remained under the detector watching as Melinda worked. So far the alarm hadn't gone off and I was beginning to wonder if it ever would. I guess I wasn't too surprised when it finally did. (Beep! Beep! Beep!) I was a little busy laughing at folly's to fan the smoke away. Melinda came round bopped me lightly on the head with another towel and started whipping away the smoke from around the abhorrent sphere.

Although I had plenty of good laughs at this small act, I was a little disappointed that I had not been entreated to the full effect. The alarm only went off twice. The other detectors in the house hadn't had a chance to go off yet. Oh well. I'd like to say simply, "better luck next time" but somehow that doesn't seem to fit right. Oh well.

When we were each done eating our muffins (which turned out rather well, if I do say so myself) we decided on a couple of things. The house, for one, is a boy. The car, however, is a girl. The car is a girl simply because she has her days of when she feels like starting or not. Plus, it just looks like a girl. Then the house is a boy because, as Melinda put it, "It makes weird noises." And it does. Really. Whenever I find myself home alone, the house makes the strangest of sounds. There are times I even think that I'm not alone, because it makes so much noise. We also decided that the smoke detectors alone aren't really a he or a she. They're just an "it".

So yeah. That's how my day went. Interesting hu? ....yeah, you're right. It was actually very boring....Oh well. That's life!

I guess the lesson to be learned here is that the unpredictabilities of life are indeed very unpredictable. Strange things can happen and quite often do. …-Oh, and another lesson is that you should always have a towel handy when cooking muffins. You wouldn’t want to disturb the neighbors or give yourself a heart attack.

White Compass

On Friday at 10-ish, Melinda drove me to the Metropolitan Community College up in Longview. I was going to take my Compass Placement Test and see what classes I need to go too. Thankfully, for my ACT results, I only had to take the Math section. Everyone takes the Math. Doesn't matter how good your ACT score was, you still take the test. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Of course, it would have been much harder had I been given the College Algebra and Trigonometry portion, but thankfully they realized that I was too stupid for that and only gave me the Pre-Algebra, and Algebra.

It took me about a half an hour to finish and that was actually taking my time. The lady at the front really emphasized the "Take Your Time!" thing, but I finished early. Which was good I had other things to do. ....Sort of. I had work later in the evening. Like four hours from then....whatever.

When I was done with the test (and I took it on the computer by the way) I had to wait out in the hallway while my results were processed. I wasn't out in the hall for very long, but I liked getting a first look at the school I would soon be attending. I always like to know what I'm getting into before actually getting into it. Then, shortly after, the lady called me into the office and sat me down to discuss my results. She was very pleased with my score and said that I was right where I needed to be. I was so relieved to hear her say that. I always tend to get very nervous when I have to do anything, especially when I know it may have a lasting effect on my life. Sure it was just a little old test, but it meant a lot to me. I don't know. I guess I'm weird that way.

Okay so that was the "Compass" part, now for the "White" part.


Yes, its snowy up here. Or down, depending on where you are. My family informed me today that there is actually NO snow there, just a smidgen of ice. Well as my little sister says "Like five inch icicles hanging from the roof!" And to think I was worried about driving all the way to Arkansas in this weather, come to find that there is no weather! Or well, no snow anyway.

Just yesterday, Seth took me to the bank so that I could deposit my last couple of checks (I'm terrible at remembering. Last month I was going through my things and I found a check from Dairy Queen that I hadn't cashed yet, so I was like "Hey cool a hundred dollars!" I love it when that happens!) Anyway, as I was getting out of the car I put my leg out and then, as I always do, I shifted my weight to that one leg and then the ice happened! Before I knew it I was sitting on the rim of the car, or that gap between the seat and the door, or whatever you call it. The thing you hop over when you get into the car. So half of me was in the car and the other was out of it. It was actually kind of funny, but my bum was cold. So, that wasn't very fun.

Well, see ya later.