Another Fun Giveaway!

I read this on my friend Kellie's blog. She's so cool and fun! So here's the giveaway:

The first 5 people to respond to this post will receive something made by me for you.

I get to pick what I make for you, but it will be especially for you.

But here's the deal:
~
1 I make no guarantees that you will like what I make! (But I'll try to make something cool:)
2 What I create will be just for you.
3 It will be done sometime this year.
4 You have no clue what it will be.
5 I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? The catch is that you must repost this on your own blog
and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on their blog.

The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did will win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me!!

So come and play along!

To Mark, My Love

Mushy stuff.

The Best Part of Baking Up

Is Batter In Your Cup! (Or bowl, but cup rhymes.)
*That was to be sung to the Folger's commercial song.*

That's right. I finally got around to making my Amish bread. And it is going to be delish! You know how I know? I tasted the batter. I know, I know, it has raw eggs in it. But I've eaten many a batter with raw egg in it, and you know what? I'm fine. Smart, even.

For this batch of "Amish" bread I didn't follow the recipe exactly. Instead of instant vanilla pudding (which is the reason I don't think it's Amish - instant pudding) I used instant chocolate pudding, and I added mashed bananas and chocolate chips.
You want a piece of this?
Get on over here, baby, and taste this goodness. It'll be ready in 45 minutes.

My First Giveaway!

You lucky dogs, you! About 4 days ago (about=exactly) I announced that I would be giving away Amish Bread starters. Now, I've already gone through 2 phases of the bread and I really shouldn't make any more for quite some time, so I have 3 Whole Starters to give away. Isn't that something.
Down to business. Being the nerd that I am, I used a statistical software package to choose the winners (because that is true randomness). I forgot to decide before seeing the results whether to truncate the numbers or round them, so I took a vote in my office and they decided to truncate. Here are the results:

5.089600 (Jeff #5)
4.141414 (Kellie #4)
3.760981 (Faye #3)

To claim your prizes, you must contact me somehow (Facebook is fine) and give me your address. I'm looking into the mailing issue, so we'll see if that will work out (for both Kellie and Faye). If mailing doesn't work, then the runners up are LeAnn and Fezzik. Also, if you don't want the starter, let me know. I'd hate to force it upon you.

A New Metaphor

Winter is Like Pregnancy

It can be beautiful.
It can be enjoyable.
It can be fun.
Many can stand it multiple times,
Some cannot.
Often it is miserable,
And you want to die.
Ultimately, you are glad that it happened,
And that it is over.
Because now you can enjoy newness
With greater appreciation.

Thanks to the Cache Valley wind for inspiration.

Now I'm Embarrassed

I know, it has been too long since my last post... again. I have very few excuses and all of you mothers out there who have a million things to do each day and still get in your daily blog post would just think tsk, tsk, who does she think she is? She's just in college and probably has WAY more time than me! and it is to you that I am most sorry. It would have been my mom, but I call her all the time so she's the only one who knows what's up with me. Therefore, it is you. And I am embarrassed and ashamed of myself. For tonight, as I signed in to write a post, I noticed I had 10 followers (that's a huge deal to me, p.s.). And one of them is Motherboard. Thanks for following me! You're awesome. (She's the only follower that I haven't actually met, and she's really popular. This makes me feel special.) Enough about me and my lack of writing constantly.

Life these days is going grand. Hmm.. What else to say? ...School is kicking my buttocks this semester. I don't feel like I have that much to do, so I overschedule myself and am way more busy than I ought to be. The actual schoolwork isn't horribly hard, just mediochre hard. And two of my classes I enjoy going to. The third is at 1:30 in the afternoon, and it's just a bunch of theory. Sadly, I fight to stay awake every time. In fact, I think that all universities should be closed from 12:30 to 2 (and stay open later to make up the difference) so that we can have a siesta. I strongly believe that learning will increase, and all will benefit. All in favor? (Raise your hand.) Any opposed? I didn't think so.

I also strongly believe that people should not send their children to the door to pay for the pizza, unless there is a check written out (that includes the tip). With other payments, your children do not know to tip the driver. And that makes my life difficult. Like tonight, when the dad was on the phone and had the kid pay with a $50. I had to give back $24, hoping the dad would intervene and give $1 or $2 back (low-to-average), but no. He walked away. Maybe he did it intentionally. I guess if you don't want to tip your driver, have the kids pay. Good plan. If your kids come to the door, I'll know how you feel about me and I will tag your file so we don't deliver to you anymore. (I can't actually do that, but I've wanted to a couple of times.) Also, for those of you who don't know how much to tip your pizza driver (at least in Utah) it goes like this: $1 or less kind of stinks, $2 is average, $3 is good, and $4-$25 makes a happy driver. There you have it. Any questions?

And one last item of business: I am addicted to Amish Friendship Bread (which I do not believe is even Amish, as it requires a box of instant pudding from your local grocery store). Oh, it is so moist and sweet and sugary and delightful and.. and... mmm. It is my taste bud's best friend and my butt's worst enemy. Just the way I like it. Sort of. But it's really good. And in 4 days I'll have some starter batter to give away. It sounds like in 4 days I'll be having MY FIRST GIVEAWAY! Umm, just comment and you qualify. And if you win, I hope you're close or something because I'm not sure if mailing it would work. Winners will be chosen randomly using the statistical software package called R, using a uniform distribution having bounds 1 to n, n being the maximum number of commenters. Good luck! And thanks for reading.. and following.

Thanks For The Love, Tiff

I just want everyone to know that I was blessed with one of the most amazing friends ever, and I've known her since I was a kid. Yesterday I was talking to her on the phone, telling her my dreams of being a blog star. This is what she said about me on her blog!!!

Hey Jessica! You told me that you wanted your blog to be one that was read by tons of people and commented on by even more! That you really wanted to be somebody. I wanted to let you know, you are more than 'just somebody' to me. You are a best friend/sister, and a wonderful example of how I want my life to go! You've always been there for me, even when I was less than pleasant, and you never gave up on me when it was easier to just walk away. I love you more than you will even know. You're a daughter of God, and a truely good one! You're more than 'just somebody' to God, and you are more than that to me!!

Thanks for the love, girl! I love you too!!

Back In Bit-ness

Ok, people. My little sister just convinced me to try again at the marathon training thing. If you didn't already know, I tried a couple of months ago to start running. However, my heart rate gets quite high, and I get very out of breath when I try to run. Here is how she convinced me:
(In text messages)

Mel: When is that marathon? And how long is it?
Me: I'm not running it..
Mel: Why?
Me: My heart doesn't work as well as it's supposed to.. But if you want to I'd cheer you on!
Mel: Well that's lame. I was gunna start training today to go with you
Me: I'll walk/jog it with you, but running is not physically possible for me
Mel: When is it? If its soon I wont be able to run it either but I could walk/jog
Me: Moms birthday.. Sept. 19.. (New text message): You going to run it?
Mel: I want to but I wanted to go with you
*At this point, I realize she kind of wants this as a sister bonding thing. When I first asked her to join me, she said no, but now she's saying she wants to go with me. *Tug at heartstrings..**
Me (the pushover): I can try, but it really scares me when I run.. Maybe we could do a jog/run combo instead of walk/jog
Mel: Ok! You gotta start training though to get your heart strong
Me (trying to get out of it): I'll try.. It would be cool.. You know a marathon is 26 miles, right?
Mel: Ya I know! I'm starting training today
Me: Ok

Oh, the things I do for her...

Seriously, Dreams, Knock It Off

I've decided there must be something wrong in my subconsciousness. I constantly have really bad dreams. The last one I told you about was humorous but also quite violent. Violence and death seem to be my dream theme as of late. I constantly have dreams that someone is trying to kill me, and I have to run away. Sometimes I dream that I am the scary one. The other night I dreamed I was a murderer, and the night before that I turned into a monster (or something else really scary - I couldn't see myself) right in front of my niece. It scared her and she started crying. I was only trying to hug her, but my appearance scared her half to death. Last night I had a dream that my husband divorced me and wanted to marry one of my best friends. (That one had a happy ending though, thankfully. He changed his mind and got back with me in the end.) Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night needing to piddle, but I am just too scared to get out of bed (at which point I make Mark get out of bed and walk to the bathroom to turn on the light for me, or else I start crying (I'm totally serious about that)).
Do you constantly have dreams that scare you? Or is it just me? Does anyone know any "mother tricks" to help me have better dreams more often? It makes the days a lot harder when I don't get very good sleep. It's a good thing I don't have kids, or I would be one cranky mama.

A New Year

So much has happened since I last posted. We got home from Portland safely at about 2:30 in the morning. At one point we almost got hit by a semi, but Mark's brother was an excellent driver and kept us safely on the road without hitting the semi.

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. We spent it in Logan with 2 of Mark's brothers and their families. 6 small children in total. Little kids are so cute! One little girl was too tired to open presents. She said so herself, which was pretty funny.
Christmas weekend Mark and I went to SLC to spend a little time with my family and wish my cousin a happy marriage (congrats again, Tera!). That was also a good time.
We got Rock Band from the elves, a wet-dry shopvac from Mark's mom, clothes and plentiful other things from my parents, a game and gift card from Mark's dad, and we got a couple more video games for ourselves. Overall, we got spoiled. Thank you everyone!

New Year's Eve was celebrated at work. Not too exciting, but at least it was busy so we could make a little money. Also, I got my midnight kiss. :)

2 days later, Mark and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary. We're still together and quite happy!

Today school starts again. Wish us luck! Only 4 semesters to go.

Snow

In Portland it only snows once every other year or so. Except for this year. I think the snow loves my face. The morning of my graduation we got 6 inches of snow, making it hard for us to get to campus, let alone have my loving wonderful grandparents come in from out of town. Now I'm sitting at a laptop at the kitchen table of my brother-in-law's apartment, looking out the window at the blizzard outside. For the 4th time this week. We wanted to go to OMSI today (which is supposedly a really cool science museum, but I wouldn't know - I've never been) but because of an inch of snow, the museum closed down. And the Portland drivers? Don't even get me started. They have no idea how to drive in the snow. And the lines to buy chains for their tires are ridiculously long. I only see one positive aspect to this craziness of snow: this apartment is on a steep hill and we have a great view of the road, which means we get to watch the people slip and slide down the hill and crash into trees because they don't know how to drive. And that can be funny.

Portland

We're here! Mark and I are here in Portland visiting his brother (and his family). Remember the cute baby with the amazing sunshine in the hospital pictures? We're with them.. and that baby is SOOO dang cute! In fact, as I sit here typing, I am only using one hand so the other can hold this baby-smelling little treasure. Seriously adorable. Anyway, as some of you may know, Portland got an inch of snow yesterday. And when that happens, the whole city shuts down. Eric came on the bus to pick us up from the airport. We got to the airport right as the trains shut down (the switches and switch defrosters were frozen). Anyway, the trip from the airport to their house that should have taken 20 minutes ended up taking 5 hours. And it was really really really cold. But we're here now, and warm, and having fun. Yipee!

Cousins and Husbands and Dreams. Oh My!

Last night I had a visitor in my dream (probably thanks to trublubyu's dream giveaway). It was my cousin. He and I were good friends all growing up, but he lives in Idaho now so we don't see each other often. Anyway, it was nice to see him again last night. Sort of.
He and my husband were trying to blow up a bank with a nuclear bomb. And I knew it. And of course I had to save the bank, so I was calling 911 pretending I was talking to my mom so that Mark wouldn't get mad at me for snitching him out. You see, the cops had been looking for them for a while, and when I found out it was them, I was MAD! I just had to turn them in. I don't remember if the cops ever showed up. But I do remember that when my cousin shot the bags of chemicals with a paintball gun (to scoot it over a little bit for a better position) it blew up and he got burned. Really really bad. Serves you right, cousin. As for Mark, he never caught on that I was on the phone with the police and not my mom. And then I woke up.

Let the Good Times Roll

Or bend. Whatever is your preference I suppose.

This is my friend, Mary, whom I met in Yoga class this semester. She's good at things like this.
Oh, and the other two pictures (the blue shirt ones) are me.

Also, here are the pictures that I promised would come after I recovered from the delivery. Here is my question: usually when you see the new one you know right off whether it's a boy or girl. This one I'm not so sure on. Ideas? Name suggestions?

Delivered

This picture was taken with my phone (pretty good, I know). Real camera pictures will be coming, but I just couldn't help myself! YAHOO!!! (Can't type much today; my fingers are sore.)

I Want to Share

From Moosh In Indy and HP Computers; A Giveaway! I love things things. I stole the rules from her blog so you can see what this post is about. Take it away, Moosh In Indy!

HOW TO ENTER (these are my rules, and they only apply and qualify you for the giveaway here, at mooshinindy.com):

I want to know. Who would you share all this magic with and how would you do it?

1. Compose a post on your own blog, telling me what you would do with $6,000 worth of the latest HP technology. Who would you share with and why? Creativity counts, but it’s not everything. I’m going to be awarding this prize package to whomever captures the magic of sharing the most. Don’t have a blog? Go ahead and compose your entry in 200 words or less and post it here in my comments section, leaving a valid email in the email field. Video entries on YouTube, posts on MySpace and Facebook will also be accepted.
2. Somewhere in your post mention and link to HP’s Magic Giveaway along with a mention and link to this post on moosh in indy. When your post is published, leave a link to your entry, wherever it may be, with your name and valid email address in the comments section below.
3. Contest is open NOW! and will run through 10 p.m. EST December 9th, 2008. Comments will close at 10 p.m. EST on December 9th, 2008. So get to it.
4. That’s it.

THE NOT SO FINE PRINT:

• My family, friends and people I know in real life are not eligible. Sorry dudes. It’s just not fair. But you are more than welcome to enter any or all of the other 49 giveaways. (Although you can only win one.)

• Anyone who doesn’t fall into the above category, in any part of the world, is eligible to enter.

• All taxes will be taken care of by HP.

• You must SHARE part of the prize package with someone who isn’t you, preferably someone who doesn’t even live in your house. While I have no way to police you once the prizes leave my doorstep, I can assure you that if you don’t share, bad juju’s will follow you all the days of your life. Okay, so I can’t even promise that, just don’t be a selfish jerk okay? You’re a lucky fool if you win all this stuff. PAY IT FORWARD.

• The winner must provide me with a real street shipping address, P.O. Boxes will not be accepted. Items you choose to share can be shipped to the person directly at no cost to you (and is actually preferred. Who doesn’t love getting magic surprises in the mail?)

• By entering, the winner agrees to provide me, within two weeks of receipt of the prize, a 250 word story (at least) on what happened when they shared one or more of the products. Their story will be posted on moosh in indy. at a later date. Stories from those who were surprised with the magic would also be fantastic. Pictures optional, but strongly encouraged. I won’t post any personal information without permission.

• I have been using (reviewing, coveting, checking out) the hardware (dude, I don’t get to keep any of this stuff) but they will all be restored to factory/like new condition before I ship them.

• I will pick and announce a winner December 9th, 2008 at 12 a.m. EST.

I will be the sole judge and my decision is final. I cannot be bought with promises of cookies, lavish riches, goods, products or services. So don’t even try. Okay, so you can try, but just know it won’t work.

So, here's my entry. As many of you know, I am a college student who delivers pizza to pay for school and living expenses. Also, I'm starting graduate school next semester and a laptop and printer would be mighty handy. Everything else in the package is extra to me. As a pizza deliverer, I get to drive around town and see all sorts of homes and happenings. A couple of weeks ago, one of the houses that I often drive past caught on fire and the family was devastated. I still can't drive past that house without wondering where they are staying and how they are doing. Granted, they hopefully have insurance, but who wouldn't love to get 3 computers and a bunch of other stuff FOR FREE, especially right after your house burns down. This is the family I would pass everything else on to. During this Christmas season (especially with the economy the way that it is) it's really hard to feel poor. I don't know this families financial situation, but I know that if I were in their shoes, I couldn't be happier knowing that strangers are thinking of me and praying for me.

New Baby

The sun'll come out tomorrow! Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow... there'll be sun..

Do you know why? I do.

My Dad! He's the best. When I was young(er than I am now) and just getting into piano lessons, my daddy promised me that if I kept up with piano and music, he would buy me a piano. So, tell me now. Why does the sun come out tomorrow? Because my piano is being born into my world tomorrow!!! I've made an appointment with the delivery crew, and hopefully the birth goes well. He/she (we haven't found out the gender yet) might come right on time or a couple hours later. The longer it takes, the more painful it is. But when he/she is born, it is all worth it. This will be my second baby. (My first is my motorcycle. She's a beaut, but she's getting to be pretty old.) (Come to think of it, my first baby is my car named Baby. She's also a beat up beaut and getting old. Second is Mota (would have been Moto if she were a boy) the Motorcycle. And third will come tomorrow - name and gender to be decided upon arrival.)
You might think I'm crazy comparing the arrival of these inanimate objects to childbirth, but I'm not crazy. After all, many people have dogs that they call their children. They even let them eat at the dinner table! At least I keep my babies where they belong. Also, think of my items and childbirth in parallel: you're excited to receive it, it's hard to wait for, causes you stress if it gets injured, nice to sit on, etc. Too bad they don't make widgets with pictures of a piano (car, moto, etc.) coming closer to you (getting bigger) as the arrival time gets closer! I would be ALL over that. Pictures of the beautiful baby coming tomorrow or the next day (or whenever I recover from the delivery)!

Stuff

I feel like there's something really important that I should be doing right now, but I can't think of what it is. (I just remembered what I was supposed to do... Dang! I wasted so much time this morning - now when will I do that thing I was supposed to do?! *Inserted a few hours after making this post.) So, instead I'm going to do something fun. I'm going to give back the love - comment style. (I found this idea on Crazyland, and it looked fun.)

Rule 1. List the first 10 people who have commented on one of your blog posts. (Except that I only have a few faithful commenters, so I'll just put as many distinct blogger commenters as I can find.)
1. Kellie
2. Carrie
3. Fezzik
4. Linabean
5. Perception
6. Slipper
7. Rose
8. Lauren
9. Manda Jane (Private)
10. Tiffani
(Sorry, Mom, I couldn't use you, my most faithful commenter, because you don't have a blog.)

Rule 2. The meme questions: 10 blogs - 15 questions
1. What is your favorite post from #3's blog? Dear Old Jasmine. Fezz hardly updates her blog but she's hilarious and it's great when she does. So, though I know her life is fun and exciting, I must settle for this funny post.

2. Has #2 taken any pictures that have moved you? Pretty much every single picture she puts up of her boys moves me and makes me miss them even more than I already do.

3. Does #6 reply to comments on their blog? As far as I know, no.

4. Which part of Blogland is #4 from? She's from my group of high school friends.

5. If you could give one piece of advice to #7 what would it be? Umm.. Keep posting about your sons because I rarely hear about what they're up to.

6. Have you ever tried something from #9's blog? I've tried to be a photographer, but I'm not.

7. Has #1 blogged something that inspired you? Indeed. Kellie is a great example to me of how to be a good mom.

8. How often do you comment on #10's blog? Every time she posts (so, about once a month).

9. Do you wait excitedly for #8 to post? Of course! She's another one of those never-posters.

10. How did #5's blog change your life? Well, Perception likes to make deep posts, and just by reading them my mind opens to another level.

11. Do you know any of your 10 bloggers in person? All of them!

12. Do any of your 10 know each other? The high school friends know each other. And the relatives know each other. And some of the high school friends know the relatives. And Kellie is cool.

13. Out of the 10, which updates more frequently? Kellie and Carrie. Everyone else is pretty hit and miss.

14. Which of the 10 keep you laughing? Kellie and Carrie are hilarious! They always have such funny stories and comments. Sometimes I wish I had kids and a crazy life so I could have funny stories too.

15. Which of the 10 made you cry (good or bad) tears? Carrie, mostly. Especially when she tells sentimental stories about her boys. I just love them so much!

Any of you are invited to do this. Let me know if you do because I'd love to read 'em!

Retreat

I know that this is totally going to let everyone down, but I feel the need to tell you. I'm retreating from the marathon for this coming summer. Here is my reason: my heart. I've been hoping it would get better with time, but it hasn't. You see, every time I run a mile or more my heart rate gets excessively high (like, over 180 which happens to be the max heart rate for the next age group down). I don't really know what's causing that - my guess is that it's my exercise induced asthma. Anyway, I'm sad to have made this decision, but I think it would be better that I don't have a heart attack or something while I'm running a marathon. If you wish, I can continue posting each week the running schedule for that week. Also, I am totally willing to walk/jog the whole way, but running is just not physically possible. Thank you for all of your enthusiasm. And please, let me know if you want that schedule posted weekly.

By Request

My dear mother told me that if I am bored I should post about my exciting news. That's right, people. I'm not pregnant. And that's not the exciting news...

Drum roll, please.

Who: Jessica Anderson
Jessica Anderson-Anderson
or Jessica Anderson²
When: December 13, 2008
Where: Utah State University
Why: Because she's smart
What?




GRADUATION!!!

And you're all invited. If anyone wants to volunteer to be my personal reminder to get out invitations to my graduation, please feel free.

I should also inform you that I have been accepted into Utah State's School of Graduate Studies in the Statistics program. This will start in January. Currently I'm working on choosing a research advisor so that I can get started on some research right away. Anyone else excited? I am!