New Blog Part 2

I have officially started the new blog, and will no longer be posting on this one. It is private, so if you haven’t received an invite yet, and want to, leave me your email.

(If you don’t want to leave your email on here, email me vano_182@hotmail.com.)

Thank you, and it has been a great pleasure writing for “Tyler and Janae”.

New Blog

I decided to start a new blog. I hope to start next week when I get finished with all my master’s classes. It’s going to be private, so leave me your email if you want to see it!

(I promise new and glorious poems will be coming!)

My Favorite Things

Okay, this “spring’ weather has really got me annoyed and depressed. I get really irritated with Mother Nature when she teases me with one warm spring day in the middle of many snowy, windy days. I wish it would just be spring already. Actually, if I am going to be wishing for things, I wish it was summer - now and always. So, in an effort to turn my frown upside-down, I have made a list of some things that can still make me smile.

1. Black nail polish. No, I am not Goth or satanic, I just like the way the color looks. I have also become pretty good at painting my own nails. I don’t think I’ll be opening a salon anytime soon, but at least now I can cut down on the professional manicures.

2. Scentsy Candles. I just placed my first order (thank you Allyson!), and I am very eager to get mine and join that bandwagon. No, I am not going to start selling - just smelling!
(Been there, done that, and forever have unnecessarily negative feelings towards Arbonne.)

3. Pedicures. I had one this last week, thinking I would be able to start wearing open toed shoes. Boy was I mistaken. However, I was very excited to find out that my favorite place to get them, Trendy Nails, is opening up in Rexburg. Now I don’t have to drive to Idaho Falls to get them. Hooray!

4. Music. I am one of those people who can’t stand silence (unless I’m in school, and then I demand it!) Whenever I look out the window and see snow being blown by 40 mph winds, I simply turn on one of my new favorite CDs, and it all seems to go away.




Don’t judge me…it has some really good songs on it.


Tyler bought us tickets to go see Taylor Swift in Boise!!! I can’t wait!!!

5. First graders. This is my favorite time of the year to teach. The children are able to do so much more than they could at the beginning of the year, which means we get to do so many fun things. Even though the school district has no money for field trips anymore, my class will NOT miss out on any of the fun. Right now we are growing caterpillars into butterflies, and they are SO excited about it. Some of the future fun includes more animal fun, homemade ice-cream, picnics, etc. Don’t you wish you were in my first grade class? Probably the best thing about first grade is how loving they are. I have one girl who has started to write “I love you Mrs. Ricks!” on all of her papers. It is so cute. Another girl, one of my shyest-never talks-cries if you call on her to answer a question, walked up to me the other day and said with a big hug, “I love you so much, Mrs. Ricks”. I will admit there are times when I want to paddle a few of them, but I just wait until I get home and take it out on Tyler. It really is such a rewarding career, and I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else.

Wow, that makes me feel so much better! Now I just have to close the blinds and blast some “Hoedown Throwdown”. :)

Welcome to America!

I looked in the mail and guess what I found?
A letter saying that I get to stick around.
No more will being deported consume my fears,
Because now I can live and work for 13 years!
So watch out America, because I’m here to say
Janae Elizabeth Ricks is here to stay!
(Unless Tyler gets a job up North,
Then to Canada we’ll go forth.)

Yet Another Shout Out

I am often amazed at how crafty people can be,
So let me tell you about my good friend Whitney.
She sits at a computer and in five minutes you’ll see
The beautiful blog header she made just for me!

I know this is a sad attempt at a poem, but I can’t think very creatively right now. Obviously Whitney can, because check out that awesome new header I have. I’m very impressed. In college we used to have “Craft Tuesdays”. I don’t remember how many times this actually happened. Part of me thinks just once, but it had to be more. The only one I remember is when we made our own maracas. They were incredible - made out of pencils and balloons. So if you need any crafty ideas, go ahead and ask. I will secretly ask Whitney and then report back to you.

Kittens!

I saw this video on The Soup and just about died laughing. I hope you do, too.

Shout Out

Today, I went with my friend, Emily, to get pedicures at The Essence of You Day Spa and Salon. It was the most incredible, relaxing, heavenly, sublime, soothing (and any other pleasant adjectives you can think of) pedicure I have ever had. It was an hour and a half of pure tranquility. I recommend that everyone in the area experience the Tropical Pedicure. I left feeling completely relaxed, refreshed, and energized. It was utterly life changing.

Confession

Dear Avon Makeup, I am sorry to admit it, but I have turned back to Bare Minerals. You just don’t make me as happy as they do. Yes, you are about a third of the price, but I simply need better quality makeup. I bought a new kit and started today. Don’t take it too personal, I may come back to you for other products…maybe. Sincerely, Janae – Happy to be back with Bare Minerals

Something Important

The richest person is not the one who has everything, but the one who needs the least.

The happiest people don't have the best of everything. they make the best of what they already have.

If you remember this post, you know I am trying to be more positive in my life. It is turning out to be a lot harder than I had hoped. Somehow, I thought the more sayings I recite, the sooner I will be able to believe and live them. That isn’t working too well. I often try to find happiness in places that I really won’t. I’ve got to figure out how to just enjoy the moment, otherwise I will never truly be happy. It is still so hard to change my way of thinking. I try to love that Tyler is still going to school and I am still working, but it is just so hard. The other day I tried to make a list of “reasons I am happy my husband is still in school”. I got nothing. Well okay, I got this:

1. It gives me more time to diet and get in shape for the day when we finally have kids.
2. He does all the housework while I do schoolwork. (That’s a toss up – some days I would rather trade.)
3. I am able to get a master’s degree a lot easier than I would several years down the road.

That’s all I could come up with, but hey, it’s a start, right?

Untitled

Teaching first grade brings me so much joy,
And I really do love each girl and boy.
But there is just one thing that ticks me off,
Why don’t you cover your mouth when you cough?!

Seriously...I am so sick of getting sick!

25 Things

I have been “tagged” on the Facebook and Blogging world, so I finally decided to do it. I’m not going to “tag” anyone, but whoever wants to do it, I would love to read your 25 things!

Here are the official rules if you want to do it:
Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

1. I was adopted as a baby. My birth mother was only 15 and since my mom badly wanted a girl, my parents adopted me!

2. From the time I was five years old, I wanted to be a teacher and would play school on a big chalkboard in my basement. But even before then, I would tell my mom all kinds of stories and she would “publish” them for me. I love teaching, but being a children’s author is my dream job.

3. Whenever I hear music, whether out loud or in my head, I have to start dancing. Not good dancing, but crazy and weird dance moves. I love it!

4. I started choir when I was four and continued until I graduated high school. At times I wanted to quit, but my mom wouldn’t let me. I am glad she didn’t, and I really miss it.

5. I am very picky when it comes to my classroom. Everything has to be perfect and in its perfect place. I really like things the way I like them, even if it means Tyler has to redo hanging up pictures because they look wrong.

6. It annoys me when people don’t use spell check or at least read over what they wrote. It doesn’t make sense, and it looks bad. (If you see mistakes in mine, it’s because Tyler did a bad editing job!)

7. I am an adult who loves macaroni and cheese with cut up hot dogs.

8. When I’m going through a 24 marathon, I find it hard to go out in public because I keep asking myself, “Do these people know what’s going on?!” (nuclear bombs, nerve gas, terrorists, etc.)

9. The only yogurt I will eat is peach.

10. I hate being alone. Whenever Tyler leaves the room, I ask where he’s going and sometimes just follow him.

11. I can’t paint my nails. Once I tried painting my toenails red, and it looked like my toes were bleeding; it was scary. Now I just pay people to do it for me.

12. Since I started teaching, I go to bed and wake up early, even on the weekends. If I’m not in bed by 9:00, I am very cranky the next morning.

13. I eat ranch dressing on almost everything.

14. I am not very outgoing around people I don’t know. I think this makes some people think I am stuck up, but I’m not!

15. I have the worst nerves. If someone just walks around the corner, I gasp and jump.

16. I am seriously addicted to coloring my hair. I go every other month to get it done.

17. I love buying books. Tyler gets mad when I don’t use the library, but I just like to own my books. I can’t really explain it.

18. I always drink out of a straw.

19. I get sucked into Lifetime movies very easily, so I try to avoid that channel.

20. I met Tyler online. I was embarrassed about it for a while, and even made up a different story of how we met. But, after three years of marriage, I am finally okay with it.

21. Sometimes I am afraid to have kids, because I fear that they will be obese. (I think this comes from watching too much Maury Povich in high school).

22. I always drink bottled or filtered water.

23. I often think if things are more expensive, then they are better. That is why I get mad when Tyler buys no name brands.

24. I played Rugby my senior year of high school. I loved it and wish I would’ve played more sports sooner.

25. I am a people pleaser, and I find it hard to say no to people. (Which is why I spent two lifetimes doing this silly tag!)

Happy Friday!

Snow Day

I woke up this morning feeling tired and sour,
But my spirits were lifted by the end of the hour.
Good news from the principal – it’s a snow day!
I then got to relax in a very big way.
Hours of TV and reading took place,
Until the time of Tyler’s returning face.
We went to a movie and then grocery shopped,
And lay on the couch until my head almost dropped.
Now off to bed, while all night I'll dream
Of another great call to make my heart beam...

Gratitude

Today I am grateful for three things:

First, I have a warm house that comes with a wonderful husband who will strip down while I crank the heat up to 90 degrees on frigidly cold days like today.

No, this is not really Idaho…it’s some awful place in Switzerland.

Second, This blue box that came today after my necklace was lengthened. Now I can finally wear it…hurray!

And Third, Jack Bauer

He is the only one you can trust.

Four Faves

Did you know that my own mother and father never thought I would make it through the first semester of college? Shocking, I know. Now it’s hard to believe that I graduated college and am now on my way to a Master’s. Honestly, I wouldn’t have believed it either if you had told me years ago. Somehow it happened, and tonight I was thinking about the amazing adventure that was college, and reminisced through pictures and memories that I hope to keep forever. I moved almost every semester in college, and was able to meet so many amazing people. Through the journey I met four people that I considered (and still consider) some of my closest friends. I would now like to introduce you to my four faves:

Emily

Jessica

Whitney

Allyson

I started writing individual paragraphs for each girl, but soon realized that was going to take hours. These girls were my greatest friends and (I know it might sound lame) but they changed me. Here’s a very short list of some of my memories with them:

-Emily and Jessica trying to teach me to dance – moment of silence for Club Retrix (and the thirty-two other names it went by)
-Watching Friends until all hours of the night and completely pissing off our lesbian, trumpet playing roommate
-Wearing our matching pants courtesy of Broulims
-Breakfast Tuesdays! Eating oranges and making waffles (and especially giving the ones that fell on the floor to our other weird roommate…haha)
-Making our own maracas
-Playing tricks on GP
-Filling giant holes in chocolate cake with frosting…what a sweet surprise!
-Every aspect of Vashon Island (Allyson, aren’t you glad I didn’t put any of those pictures on here? Yikes!)
-Spending hours walking the track and listening to boyfriend drama… Yes, I really do miss those walks/talks

Oh, I could go on forever, but since many are inside jokes and probably boring to you, I won’t. I sure do miss the “old days” when we would hang out without a care in the world. I’m sad that things are so different now with careers, kids, husbands, etc. It is crazy how things have changed so much in the last few years. But I am so glad that I am able to keep in contact with all of my four faves! And here’s to more years of memories together! I love all you girls!

Grammar Punk

Back in September, when I went to a writer’s conference, one of the presenters, Sam Beeson, told us about this “game” he created called Grammar Punk. I thought it looked like a great way to assist me in my creativity, as well as possibly bring into my class (on a much simpler level of course). This is one of the few things I have wanted for a while and never actually bought myself, so Tyler was lucky to get that as an idea for Christmas. I just wanted the dice, but since we couldn’t buy them separately, we got the game 12 Tall Tales, which on top of the dice includes cards with: location, character, genre, etc.

Here’s how it works:
There are six dice to roll. They tell you:
1. The topic of your sentence or story.
2. A type of punctuation to use.
3. A part of speech to use.
4. Vowel*
5. Consonant*
6. The number of dice words* to use.
*A dice word is a word that has the vowel and consonant you rolled in it.

Today I am using these to help me write my poem of the week. This is what I rolled.

So in my poem about sports, I need to include a question, an interjection, and at least three words which have a w and an i (turns out I had a lot more).

To start off, Sam suggests creating a list of dice words to use. Here’s my list:

wicked witch win wisdom wimp wind

wide will window write white wipe

And the final product:

Oh no! When I look out of my window I see:
All the wicked children playing football without me!
I point my wand out through the window,
And send a load of magic down below.
The football gets hit and takes a new flight.
While all the children suddenly turn white!
A few start floating up to the sky,
While many begin to loudly cry.
What is the lesson they must all learn?
Don’t forget to give the witch a turn.

I am pretty awesome at this game, but if any of you want to challenge me to a rousing game of Grammar Punk/12 Tall Tales, give me a call...

What is Grammar Punk?
(For those of you who may want to know a little bit more.)

Braggin' Rights

Remember that hideous paper my group and I spent days crossing the “APA” t’s and dotting the “neurology” i’s until we were just about ready to die? Well I found out that we got 100% on that paper! Can you believe that? 100%! That is completely unexpected, but utterly deserved.

On a side note, I also passed both classes with flying colors.

Straight A’s baby!

And here’s hoping for another perfect semester…

Arizona

After Christmas we left the great white north,
In search of somewhere warmer we set forth.
Hour after hour we did drive,
Only on junk and fast food could we survive.
We finally arrived after hour sixteen.
And we were very excited to improve our hygiene.
The purpose of this trip a month ago was revealed,
Tyler’s dad and his wife were going to be sealed.
Even though the trip was very short,
We were able to do some things of report.
We saw Tyler’s favorite mission companion,
As well as the breath taking Grand Canyon.
We ate gourmet food and rocked out with Dave and Kate,
And we ending up rocking until a little too late.
It was nearly sunset when we got to the park,
Which is why some of our pictures are a little bit dark.
The freezing cold and all the snow
Was something that surprised me so!
After our many hours of driving around the nation,
We were grateful to be home at the end of our vacation.

Ode to Christmas

We spent the majority of the holiday in Canada visiting my family. It was a lot of fun. My three brothers and their families all came to join in the festivities. Some of the highlights were: Wii games, walking down a “Candy Cane Lane” type thing, playing with two super cute nieces and one way cool nephew, eating McD’s breakfast, everyone (but of course not lucky Tyler) getting sick from such sweet kids, and driving thirty hours. Here’s some proof.

My parents' beautiful tree.

Tyler and my dad loving Wii golf.

Ally sprinkling food for Santa’s Reindeer.

A bad picture of us ruling Outdoor Challenge.

Jordan and Cyd in awe of how friggin' awesome Tyler and I are at the Outdoor Challenge.

Arms flapping...getting too excited for her favorite present.

And this is that very awesome present.

Tyler didn't flap, but was just as excited for his new shoes.

As was I for a new Tiffany's necklace to add to my collection.

Matching aprons from Cyd.

Jordan being weird while Cyd conducts the Wii Music Orchestra.

Warren, very addicted to Guitar Hero.

Like father, like daughter.

Sweet Grace.






Ally and my Grandma.

At the end of this very cold, yet very enjoyable holiday, we were so excited to go feel the warmth of Arizona. But that’s another story…