Piercings, Spandex, & Barefeet

I seriously think some of these students I encounter on a daily basis need to have a full length mirror somewhere in their direct line of sight. Seriously. I do.not.get it.

First off - lets talk about the piercings. Ears, eyebrows, cheek bones, and lips are one thing. I've sort of gotten use to all that crap. Its the tongue and belly thing I CAN NOT understand. Do you suppose they think they are alone in the world when it is time to clean said piercing? The belly for example. They scrunch down in their desk, with their shirt pulled up to their boobs, cleaning out around the stud. Sometimes with wipes! Followed by lotion. SICK. And the tongue is no different. Except it requires a mirror to be held with your tongue sticking right out, and your free hand scraping around the stud. Can you imagine the sickness of this display? And yet, for some reason, it is totally accepted. In fact, sometimes one girl will ask another girl to do the lotion part!

And the Spandex. Seriously girls. No where. In America. Or the world. should any female. OR MALE. ever. wear. spandex. Leggings, pants, shorts, shirts. Ever. Especially not the bright colors. Or white. Its just gross. Haven't you people seen the 70's and 80's photos. What an era. Let's leave it there. Wow. {as a side note, the under the skirt look, although not my preference, is acceptable.}

And finally - the footwear. Or lack thereof. Is there someone in the world that thinks it would be just fine to walk around a grocery store without any shoes or socks on? What about a mall. Or a school? It just seems really nasty to me. Why would anyone take their shoes off in a nasty classroom? Have you seen what is under the desks kids? What makes you think the floor is any cleaner?

And yet - without fail. Every. Single. Day. The piercings must be cleaned. The spandex is apparently a fashionable trend. And the shoes will come off. Welcome to High School. I hope they can look back at these years and smile.

Sincerely, Me.

Dear {city in which i live},

I would really like to be able to go on a morning run. Without having to carry a bat and worry my husband to death. I'm just sayin'; all the other cities are doin' it.

Dear Photoshop,

You're quite delightful, and even though my creative juices seem to ebb and flow, you are always constant.

Dear Chipotle,

I'm not sure how to say this. But. We need to break up. It's not you. It's me. Really. I am not really ready to commit to a larger pant size.

Dear students,

This is not rocket science. I am not asking you to create a planet. Trust me, if you can't handle this stuff, life is going to be really challenging.

Dear Vacation-itis:

I mean this in the nicest way. If there were some kind of walk-a-thon to find a cure for you, I would participate. Its nothing personal. And I'm not saying a 100% cure is possible. But some sort of valiant effort could perhaps start a change.

Dear Blogspot,

Thanks for not giving up on me. I'm trying to be better.

Dear Mark Lyman:

I love you. Lots.

Sincerely, Me.

One Pathetically Late Post

Dear world. Please forgive. Before another month passes with me managing to neglect my blog; I give you the "Reader's Digest" version of many missed blogging opportunities.

THE WRIGHT'S: One of the highlights of our last few weeks was seeing all my family together again. We sure know how to laugh, and love, and get on each other's nerves! And how to cram it all in just a few short days. This year we all met up in the Dutch town of Solvang in S. California. We had a mini "Chopped" competition, swam, played games, and eat. And boy did we eat. My mother is the best dessert maker in the world - and my sister has learned well. Which makes this a very common theme.
I fell in love with my adorable nephews all over again. And wish they lived closer so we could love on them more. Someday, when the Stork finds its way to our home, we're going to make some DARLING kids. I mean look at the genes we Wright's carry?Darling right? And for the old memory maker, here we all are. With our loves. Twice as big as we once were. A really great looking group if you ask me.

After a medium car dilemma; we were grateful for Dave and Cory and their willingness to replace a few broken pieces. And to momma who lent us her car for the drive home while ours was fixed.

WORKING AGAIN. As soon as we got back from Solvang, I started working at Deer Valley, as a long term sub again. This time for a lady who is out on maternity for the 1st quarter. It has been a bit of a struggle getting the students to actually respect me as their teacher and not as a nobody. I don't think they really grasp how many times I have taught this World History class. Anyway. It all came to an exploding peak when a fight broke out in my class a few weeks back. A genuine fight. Between 2 girls. We're talking fists flying, and words blaring. I naturally flew toward the smaller of the 2 girls-which I thought was a good move while under pressure. She was throwing her arms around me as I bear hugged her away from the other. Meanwhile, the other brings herself right up to my back yelling "hit me. I want you to hit me". Nice right. As if that wasn't enough, the other students in the class all start to stand on their desks chanting "fight, fight, fight" and to top it all off, began ripping their paper out of their binders and throwing it in our direction. Imagine all this happening with me right in the middle of it. Talk about an adrenalin kicker. Finally I got one girl to step outside while the other backed off. Security eventually had them all headed to the office. And after another hour, I had the class starting on their assignment. It was a nightmare. I threatened to quit. So now the vice principal sits in class with me almost every day. I guess I can chalk that up to experience. I can now add "bouncer" to my resume. Delightful.

PROVIDENT GENERATION of AMERICA: We are very excited and busy with the new company we are working with. Mark's brother introduced us to some awesome people who have begun to teach us some incredible things with money management and some possibilities that are out there. Mark is working on getting his CA license for financial advisement and we are starting to work with families in getting a more financially secure and "provident" way of living. It's awesome.

YOUTH CONFERENCE: I can't believe I haven't even posted about how Youth Conference went. We were assigned as the directors of the Stake weekend activity many months before the blessed weekend came. So we have been developing these ideas for a long time. And I am very happy to report that it went swimmingly well. It couldn't have gone better. Mark was the keynote speaker and he did a fabulous job at getting some very important messages across to the youth. They were eating up his vivacious personality and obvious dedication to the gospel. It was so fun to see him in a position he is passionate about. We had them out playing games on the field, and in classrooms learning about the Gospel. We did a service project in 99 degree weather, and not one young man or young woman complained. It was just a great turn out. To all the adult leaders who helped carry out our ideas, you really hit it right out of the park! Kudos to everyone involved.

OTHER NEWS: We finally got the pests out of our attic. That was nice. We continue to find projects for the house yet can't seem to find the money quite as easily. The weather has been hotter then we like, which makes us miss our Southern California life. We, along with the rest of America, are thrilled that TV is back. Amazing Race, Biggest Loser sans Jillian which is a major downer but at least it isn't pirate themed (Sara *wink wink*), ANTM-all stars! what? Tyra, you really out did yourself, and a very intriguing new Persons of Interest. Which - if their season is as good as their 1st episode, its going to be a great one. I've committed myself to run the Walt Disney World Marathon. When you ask? 2013. I'm realistic about what its going to take me to train. I've picked up another 2 projects for my little scrapbooking side love and it is addicting how much fun it is for me. And fall is right around the corner. I love the fall. So much in fact that I am currently making some fresh bread and soup to commemorate our first day of cool weather, grey skies, and sprinkling rain. Bring it on!

**Ps-don't you love how I tricked you with a few pictures at the top of the blog only to leave you pictureless later on. Sorry about that.**