Number 1

So I started a goal to write one poem a week, in order to keep my creativity and rhyming skills fresh. Here is the first of many. I won’t necessarily post them all, but since this is number one…it’s more special.

Penelope and Pete loved to eat.
They devoured every single treat.
Everyday they would eat, laugh, and sing,
Without knowing one simple thing:
Eating all day can quickly make
You 300 pounds! Without mistake.
All of the sudden, before their eyes,
Penelope and Pete had doubled in size!
They made a vow on that horrific day,
To put all the candies and chocolates away.

23? Not me. 24? For sure.

I am finally back from work and school…let the birthday celebration begin!!


Wait…what’s that you say? I have to go to bed, so I can be rested enough to teach bratty six-year-olds all day tomorrow?

Oh…crap.



Well, at least I got some flowers to show for it...
(Okay, and some new clothes, perfume, dinner, etc.)

Fall Into Books

Yesterday, I attended a Workshop at BYU-I called “Fall Into Books”. It was awesome! They had two Keynote speakers and then various mini workshops for authors, illustrators, teachers, parents, and teens.

The Keynotes were Chris Crowe, an author and BYU Professor, and Brett Helquist, an illustrator best known for illustrating A Series of Unfortunate Events. I really enjoyed Chris’ presentation. As you may or may not know, I have written two children’s books that I am hoping to get published. So I went to this as an aspiring author, as opposed to a teacher. Anyway, he shared a lot of the lessons he has learned along the way to becoming an author. One that impacted me the most was that “there are no excuses for not writing”. I get so busy and always seem to put off something that I love to do. It can take years to get a book published, even after being accepted by a publisher, so I might as well continue writing my future great books while I wait!

Sam Beeson is a high school teacher and children’s book author and he presented one of the workshops. He told us that he has written a poem a day since 2006, just to keep practicing. What a great goal! I don’t think I can do a poem a day, but I’m going to try to write (and maybe even post) one a week. Some will be terrible, and some might turn into a great story.

I bought these two books





to help me get through the publishing process a well as a few children’s books to add to my library. The first one tells you all the places you can send your manuscripts, what types of books they like, how they pay you, etc. I’m anxious to get these books and really make this dream of mine happen! I left this conference feeling so inspired and excited.

"Books fall open, you fall in, delighted where you've never been; hear voices not once heard before, reach world on world through door on door; find unexpected keys to things locked up beyond imaginings. What might you be, perhaps become, because one book is somewhere? Some wise delver into wisdom, wit, and wherewithal has written it. True books will venture, dare you out, whisper secrets, maybe shout across the gloom to you in need, who hanker for a book to read."
~ David McCord

But it's only Fair!

Can…not…move. Too…full…of…delicious…food.

Over our time at the Fair, Tyler and I devoured:
-3 Teriyaki rice bowls
-2 Fudge brownie ice-cream waffle cones
-1 large plate of scone nuggets with honey butter
-1 plateful of dutch oven BBQ pork, green beans, and potatoes
-1 deep-fried Twinkie with whip cream and strawberries
-1 deep-fried Milky Way with whip cream
-1 foot long corn dog
-1 funnel cake with powdered sugar and cinnamon sugar
-Cinnamon glazed almonds…on the ride home

We had a GREAT time at the fair this year. Usually Tyler isn’t the type to pig out, but he made a HUGE effort this year, just to make me happy. I believe the fair is the time for you to eat as much as you possibly can, in order to survive until the next year. I know we did an excellent job at that.

In between our “meals”, we walked through all the exhibits and only got tricked by one company. I bet you can guess…Trend West. Stupid timeshare people. They suckered us into giving them our information. But luckily, Tyler figured it out in time, so we just gave them fake info. Haha…jokes on them now. We also listened to a few different people perform on the free stage. Most were average performers that I would not pay to see. But then we went to the hypnotist, and he was so good. Personally, I don’t believe in hypnotism, but whether they were faking or not, it was still so, so funny. Our favorite was “Band-Aid Boy”. Every time the hypnotist would touch his face, he would think he was cut and bleeding to death. He would shout out “Medic! I need a Medic!” and another girl would come put a florescent Band-Aid on him. He had about seven by the end of the show. Haha…that was really funny.

All in all, we had a blast. Yes I feel sick, but at the same time, very happy.

Too Good To Be True?

Can I just tell you that I almost screamed when I saw the trailer for Confessions of a Shopaholic? I love this series of books and after viewing the trailer, I can’t wait until the movie comes out!



I know it won't be as good as the books, by far, but I still think it looks awesome!

"Your Mama Don't Dance"

Remember that post where I announced the walls of my sheltered life were coming down? Well, they did last night. I went to the most amazing and unexpected concert of my life. Thanks to my 80’s music loving friend, Linda, I went to the Poison concert. I really don’t know any bands from then, let alone any of their songs. But, thanks to Guitar Hero and VH1’s Rock of Love (Yes…I admit I watch that show), I knew a couple of them. I thought they put on an awesome show. I loved every song they sang, even the ones I didn’t know. When they played “Talk Dirty to Me”, I was able to sing along and jump like real rockers do. Ha. It was awesome. C.C. DeVille (guitar) and Rikki Rockett (drums) both did amazing solos. I have never been one to be impressed by someone playing a guitar, but wow, C.C. was incredible. I don’t even think I could do that well on Guitar Hero…let alone a real, actual guitar.
Janae = Speechless.

I will let you in on two secrets:
1. I think Bret Michaels is very sexy.
(Even though he looks a little too much like a woman)
2. C.C. DeVille scares me…a lot.

Here is my crappy cell phone picture, to prove I was there, and so was Bret Michaels.