Destination Imagination: Turkey Edition

For almost all of elementary school, I participated in the program called Destination Imagination. This program involved being on a team of other students and creating skits and doing improvisation activities. The objective is to develop creative problem-solving skills, and looking back, I feel like I have really benefited from it. (If they offer it at your kids' schools, I highly recommend looking into it!) One thing my team did every week at our meetings/practices was find ways to creatively interpret the end-of-meeting snacks. For example, if the snack was Tootsie Rolls, we would go around the circle and everyone would say something that their Tootsie Roll was, i.e. a log on a fire. I introduce with this information, because I was able to put my D.I. skills into action this week!

Last week, I volunteered to plan Family Home Evening for my group this week because I thought that it would be fun to make the chocolate turkeys that my family makes every year on Thanksgiving. Though a good concept, the execution tested my creative problem solving skills to the max! The supply list for this project is fairly simple, requiring Whoppers, red decorating gel, chocolate frosting, and chocolate stars. I forgot in my planning that the chocolate stars, which are crucial to the composition of the turkeys, are tricky to find. We find ours at an over-priced, obscure grocery store near our house, and I was hoping to have similar luck out here. I hoped in vain. Charlotte sent me to Allen's Family Grocers, which is more ghetto and sketchy than obscure, and they had nothing in the area of chocolate stars.

I'm a "Can-Do" person, so I didn't give up hope. Rather, after asking a couple workers about the stars and realizing that they had not such thing, I returned to the candy aisle and let my creative juices flow. What could be used as or turned into roundish, flats disks of chocolate? I started by grabbing a bag of miniature Reeses, which I figured could be cut in half to produce the desired thickness necessary for the turkeys. I then selected a bag of Hershey's nuggets (you know, those little rectangles of milk and dark chocolate, Krackle, and Mr. Goodbar?) The chocolate is soft enough that I decided that they could be used to carve out the round base and back of the turkeys. My friends weren't sold on that one, but I had confidence in my plan. Finally, I found some chocolate covered gummy ring things in a box up front, so I bagged about a pound of those. These turkeys would not be classic Wood Family Thanksgiving turkeys, but they would be inventive, unique turkeys.

As is to be expected by any circumstance which involves sixteen college freshmen and a table full of chocolate, we didn't end up with many actual turkeys, but some very creative chocolate sculptures. Jace made a tractor, Greg made a snowman and a Christmas tree, (note how these are both guys) and the other guys mostly stood around eating the Whoppers. It was fun though, (not to mention delicious) and I considered it a success. Displayed below are my attempts at turkey creation with my limited supplies, and I don't think they're half bad!

This was made by slicing a Reeses in half horizontally.
It looks more like an oyster in my opinion.

This is an example of carving a rectangle of Hershey's milk chocolate into a circle. This is probably the closest thing to the real deal.

This was my attempt at being creative with the chocolate covered gummy rings. The ring is on the bottom and what looks like a run-down fence behind it is Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate trying to look like feathers.

Catch Up

Well, my "12 Days Before Thanksgiving" series lost momentum quickly amidst my week of studying, so I'll just stick with one big recap of the week.

Tuesday: 11 Days Left
-Spent 14 hours up on campus, which was spent at work, in class, studying, in a review session, and taking a test.
-I got my second D ever. My first was the 60 I scored on the last Physical Science test, and this second one the 69 I got on American Heritage. At least I'm showing improvement. I was pretty disappointed, though, because I really thought I understood the material, but I'm realizing more and more that multiple choice tests don't work with my brain very well. It was pretty frustrating to score that low after having studied for about 10 hours over the course of two days. I know a lot of people who scored low as well, so hopefully the curve will help me out. Also, I felt good about the essay portion, so that will hopefully bring me up a little.
-My boots made their on-campus debut paired with my skinny jeans, and I feel I definitely gave them a good breaking-in. Once again, I failed in my documentation due to the fact that by the time I got back to my room a little after 10:00 that night, my feel were blistered and I was so mentally and physically drained, it was all I could do to get my boots off, put on pajamas, and get ready for bed.

Wednesday: 10 Days Left
-I wore my boots again, this time with less pain.
-At work, I was excited because there were brownies, but was sorely disappointed when they tasted like PlayDough. What's worse is that I at an entire brownie, even though it tasted very little like the baked good it claimed to be.
-I was only on campus for 11 hours, but stayed up studying for my third Physical Science test until about 1 a.m. Wednesday night was rough, because I felt so discouraged because even when I study hard, I feel like I can't do as well in my classes as I'd like.

Thursday: 9 Days Left.
Thursday was an interesting day. It started off pretty horribly, because I woke up with a headache and felt completely wiped out. I was late to work, and spent my five hours there running down the clock and feeling completely drained. My day steadily improved, climaxing when I broke my streak of D test scores by getting a 70 on my physical science. I was so excited because after Tuesday, all I was praying for was to get better and get a C, and I got exactly what I needed! This was a good reminder to us that God rarely answers our prayers with miracles, but rather gives us just what we need to keep going and stay motivated. Not only did I feel great about my score, but I was thrilled to be finished with my last midterm before finals. I took a celebratory trip to Target with Charlotte, during which I splurged on a twelve pack of Cherry Coke Zero and some Honeycrisp apples, which are our family's favorite variety. Thursday night was one of those times when I just felt happy and smiled for no apparent reason. I sang along with Supertramp in my car, and I just felt happy. I am so grateful that because of the gospel, even though life is crazy and I'm getting D's on tests and spending 14-hour days on campus, I can still feel happy.

On the 12th Day Before Thanksgiving Break

I cannot believe that I only have twelve days left until Charlotte and I go home! I love looking back on the last two months and seeing how much I've grown and all that I've learned. It's amazing, and so strengthening to see all that I've been able to overcome through faith and prayer. I've been so blessed, and I am so grateful for all that's behind me and for all that's still ahead. 

So, today, the 12th day before Thanksgiving break, I:

Dined on my favorite vending machine fare. On the menu today was my favorite breakfast of a honey wheat bagel with strawberry cream cheese. These are pretty delicious, though the bagels are always stale. This is a common meal for me in between Music Civ and ELang, since those classes are in the same building, and said building houses the best vending machine assortment on campus.

Also got lunch from the vending machines.  EasyMac is a staple. Mmm.

Reconnected with my days as a preteen by listening to *NSync on my Pandora Christmas playlist. I'm actually disappointed that I got rid of my *NSync Christmas cd with the rest of their cds, because it's pretty decent holiday music.

Wore a new outfit, but sadly forgot to document before changing into pajamas and washing all my jeans. I wore my new flats, which was fun. It's my goal to wear a new ensemble everyday this week so that I have some good outfits to wear when I'm home. I love getting even just a couple new pieces for my wardrobe, because then I can do all new things with those plus what I already have.

Passed my cleaning check for the first time this year! I know this may seem surprising, as I enjoy cleaning, so allow me to explain. Our cleaning checks always take place on Mondays, and they don't announce each month's until the Saturday before. I never see the sign until Saturday night, at which time I don't want to clean. I don't like to clean on Sunday, either, so I end up trying to mask the dust and dirt. Our room really does stay pretty clean, but the cleaning days I select personally rarely match up with the scheduled checks. It felt good to get the sticker for once.

Only 11 days to go!

The Votes Are In!

I would first of all like to thank all my readers for their opinions and input on my boot contemplations. I took it all into consideration and have the results!

I went for a slouchy, buckled pair that I found in a little store in University Mall for $34. I saw them just as we entered the mall, and knew it was fate. I like to think that they found me. The store reminded me of China Town because there were no shelves, just stacks and stacks of shoe boxes. This meant that finding one's desired size required much digging through and toppling over of boxes and display shoes. There was not open seating, so I had to try on my boots while standing up and leaning awkwardly against an unstable stack of shoe boxes. I was on a mission, though, and I got my boots. They made their debut at church today, and I look forward to experimenting with them with skinny jeans and skirts this week. I've entered the world of boots, and I'm never going back!

Here's a closer view, in which you can see them in greater detail. The color is true charcoal, for it is dark, but not black, but not grey. I love that they have a heel, and it's not too high or too skinny, so they will not hinder campus traversing. I love them!

I have studied more this week than I ever have in my life. I've been so blessed, though, because I've actually enjoyed my week. I love the satisfaction of walking out of the library after focusing on something for three hours and thinking about how much more I have accomplished than when I walked in. I had papers for Music 201 and American Heritage due this week, and tests for ELang and Book of Mormon. This coming week, I have my hardest tests, which are in American Heritage and Physical Science. However, since I was focusing on the things I had due last week, I didn't get started on my studying for these harder tests until this weekend. Therefore, I pulled a Friday night study session in the library for three hours. I felt super lame, but got some good studying in. It was especially important for me to get a head start this weekend, though, because Saturday was game day, which eats up a lot of potential study time.

That being said, Saturday, Jessica and I went to the last home football game of the season. Since the beginning of the year, we have worked our way down from our seats at the very top of the stadium. Our tickets still say we should be up there, but we have friends who have closer seats, so we just sit with them. It's all benches anyway, so it's easy to fit extras into the row, especially when they are as fun as we are! :)

We got some "last time in the stadium" shots, and had a lot of fun. Andrew, the guy on the right, realized that since all the guys will go on missions next year, they won't be back in the stadium for three years! Whoa! I'm going to miss our guys so much next year; it's weird to think about them all being gone, and then coming back when we're seniors. Weird. I love that they're all planning on serving missions. I get so excited for missionaries and love doing missionary work. For the last few years I've loved the idea of serving a mission myself. Kristen, Kimberly, and I went with some guys from our ward to the call center at the Missionary Training Center, and it was so cool being in there! I'm such a dork, but I just get so excited about missionary work! My friend from home got his call to Cordoba, Argentina, and two of friends here already have their calls for Alaska and Anaheim. Way to go, guys!

After our shopping trip, we went to the library (not to study this time) because we heard that they were showing "The Sixth Sense" and "The Others" in the auditorium. To our dismay, our information was incorrect, but we were able to rent out a viewing room upstairs and watch "The Others" online. I love the adventures I have on campus with my friends. Last night, Tyler and I made a trip over to the JKB for vending machine treasures. Armed with our friends' id cards, we braved the confusing labyrinth that is the layout of the Jessie Knight Building. We decided that it's like Hogwarts, in that the staircases move, because nobody could possibly design a building to be that confusing. We found our way into the proper wing on the proper floor, and filled all the orders.

So, how do you smuggle this:

many beverages up to the fourth floor of the library?

Simple. You thank your lucky stars that you come from a family that values large purses.

We still maneuvered past the security guards with caution, but our mission was successful, and I got enjoy the movie with my Sprite Zero. Ah, refreshing.

The library plays loud music at quarter to midnight every night to rid themselves of all studious stragglers, and last night, the selection was especially happy. I thoroughly enjoyed myself by dancing my way down the stairs and out the building, rejoicing in a fun, productive, weekend, good friends, and a good life.

Photo Updates!

I feel like I'm finally getting a grip on life here. I went through a couple weeks in October of homesickness, where I just wanted to get in my car and drive home. One of the downsides to working data entry for up to five hours in a day is that I have plenty of time to just think, and when that thinking is about all the things I miss from home, those five hours seem very long. It's a good thing my office is in the back where nobody can see me unless they make the specific effort of actually coming back there, (that is, if they even know there is an office back there) because I can be sad and maybe cry if I need to. One Friday a couple weeks ago, I was so close to driving home as soon as work was finished. After looking up air fare, and deciding that I didn't want to spend $200+ to fly home that night, I texted Mom, asking "how crazy would it be if I drove home tonight." To my dismay, she responded that with my car, that would be pretty crazy. That was probably wise, seeing as I've never driven that far by myself, and my car really isn't as reliable as I like to pretend. A Saturday at home, mopping with Mom would have been pretty Shamazing, however.

Part of my homesickness came because at home, with my family, I am my truest form of Emily. Being here, I miss doing some of the things that make me that way. I don't have time or resources to acommadate the baking I did at home, cleaning, and piano practicing. I miss our King Soopers grocery store, the high school choir community, my ward, and most of all, my family (Duh). Last week, therefore, I decided that I needed to do those things that make me feel like me. Monday night, I put on my favorite cleaning shirt, and attacked the hair, dirt, and grime that filled our bathroom. I used a considerable amount of Clorox Cleanup, and I'm pretty sure I was getting high on the fumes by the end, but the cleaning was wonderfully therapeutic and satisfying. Tuesday night, I took my ever-increasing stack of ironing down to the basement, and pressed all my t-shirts and jeans as only a daughter of Denise would. The rest of the week went well, and I was able to get on top of my school work. 

The week culminated with Halloween, which I spent with my friends at the condo. Our plan was to make homemade pizzas with homemade pizza crust, which failed when the dough I mixed up was severely floury. It didn't even hold together. Leaving behind the failed dough, I drove over to the dorms to pick up the two carloads of party guests. (One of my friends really needs to get a car.) On the way back, we picked up some pizza crust mixes, but by the time we got back, one girl had found a way to repair the dough. Thus, we had four pizzas, and enough dough leftover to make a pan of cheesy bread and cinnamon sticks. The pizzas turned out deliciously, and we topped them so that when they were cut into pieces, each piece would look like a piece of candy corn. (See pic below for visual)

The Halloween pizza! It was actually pretty delicious.

Patriotic cheesy bread. Even things without minds had their minds on the upcoming election!

Making Halloween houses

Monster dough.

There was more that I had to report, but I'm too behind, so I'm going to move forward. 

Contamination!

Just moments ago, I was taking a break from the large stack of quizzes I'm entering into the computer, commenting on Susan's blog, when I noticed a funny taste in the baby carrots I was snacking on. (Previously, I had purchased a vending machine meal of EasyMac and a "Carrot Dippers" pack. I hate vending machine lunches, but on Mondays and Wednesdays I have work right after class, so they are a sad necessity.) When I first opened my carrots, I could tell they weren't fresh, but they looked edible. False. After eating over half, I looked down to see the horrific sight of black spots on a few of the carrots at the bottom of the package! #*!@&%! Gross! In a panic, I ran (yes, I actually ran) out of my office, back up to the third floor bank of vending machines, and frantically purchased a bag of trustworthy Wheat Thins and a Dasani. Phew.

Back in my office now, I am munching on my sanitary Wheat Thins and drinking my purified water, hoping to clean my mouth of any mold or other nastiness from those stupid carrots. It's a good thing I didn't crack open the ranch dip that came with the carrots; who knows what state of aging that would have been in?!

Attention! Alert!

Attention all bloggers! Freshmen t-shirt sighting in the Harold B. Lee library, second floor, periodicals! With Charlotte as my witness, I declare that students actually bought, and wear said shirts. (She and I just happened to come to the same area to study this lovely fall afternoon, and have been sharing Wheat Thins and Facebook messages back and forth. Later today we're going to see High School Musical 3. Good day.)