home renovation

I am a worrier. I just am. It's part of my nature. It's the end of the term, which means it is a time of intense stress, and thus worry for me. Here are things I'm overly concerned about at the moment:

1. The huge stack of essay tests I have yet to grade.

2. The huge stack of LATE WORK papers I have yet to grade.

3. The huge stack of book reports that are being turned in next week that I will need to grade.

4. The huge stack of Writers' Notebooks that are also being turned in next week that I need to grade.

5. The fact that my sophomores are about two weeks behind where I wanted them to be by this point in the term.

6. Knowing that the school year is nearly over (1 term to go!!!) and having no idea how I'm going to get through everything that I need to before it does, particularly because most of my students seem to ALREADY be on a mental summer vacation and it's not even spring yet.

7. Having no CLUE what to do about next year. Am I teaching in Lehi? Am I teaching at all? Is my husband going to be able to find a job?

8. Feeling incredibly guilty that my house has needed to be vacuumed for the last five days and that it has yet to be done.

9. The fact that I have to pay a stinking late fee for the piece-of-crap Jane Austen's Book Club because I forgot to return it yesterday.

10. Is my body ever going to adjust to the new time change? Because seriously...I'M EXHAUSTED!

11. Wondering how I'm going to accomplish everything I need to without a lot of time this weekend, since I'm helping with the Utah State Junior Miss program.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! Seriously. I'm going INSANE! All I want to do is call in sick, forget about the papers sending off bad writing vibes from the corner, and curl up in front of the television in my pajamas. Not gonna happen, unfortunately.

I officially just wasted one-hour-forty-two-minutes-and-thirty-seconds of my time. How? By watching The Jane Austen Book Club my friends. If you want to see it (which, as your friend, I need to tell you--you don't), then do not read this. It might spoil the pure idiocy of the entire film.

I am fuming right now. Absolutely livid. HOW DARE THEY SLANDER AUSTEN'S GOOD NAME BY PUTTING IT ON THE COVER OF THIS SLOPPY, IDIOTIC FILTH!

I rented the movie because I thought I might be able to use a few scenes from it in my upcoming Persuasion unit. I am going to be incorporating a lot of film segments into the final writing assignment. When I taught Pride and Prejudice last year, I used a few clips from that BYU version from a few years ago. My students really liked seeing the characters transported into a more modern context. I thought this flick might give me a few scenes that might do the same thing for Persuasion.

Unfortunately, unless I've completely misread Austen, and this film is correct, there is no possible way I could ever use this film in my class. According to the film, the tormented love of Anne Eliot and Frederick Wentworth can be compared to a middle-aged couple in the midst of divorce because the husband has decided to be with another woman. A woman who, when the wife finds out about the affair, the husband refuses to give up. These are his exact words, "I'm not giving her up. That's not negotiable." Brilliant. Practically Shakespearean, I know. Anyway, she TOTALLY TAKES THE SCUM BAG BACK! Why? Well, because he writes her a letter of course. And we all know, that is the only reason Anne and Captain Wentworth end up back together, because he writes her a letter. It has nothing to do with the fact that THE SITUATION IN THE NOVEL IS NOT EVEN COMPARABLE WITH THE ONE PORTRAYED IN THE MOVIE!

Oh, don't worry. It gets better. The plot of Persuasion also, apparently, parallels the story of a married high school French teacher being seduced by (and somewhat seducing) her STUDENT! EW! Of course, it all turns out all right in the end, because she and her husband (who has absolutely no common interests with her, and leaves you constantly wondering how in heaven's name they ended up together in the first place) cuddle in bed and read Persuasion together. Thus solving all their marital issues...including her making out with a high school senior in her car and planning to meet up with him in a dirty motel room. (Which was BY FAR my favorite scene in the movie by the way. That scene concludes with her looking at a crosswalk sign that begins to flash "What would Jane do?" No. I'm not joking. That really DOES happen in the movie.)

I understand this one-hour-forty-two-minutes-thirty-seconds disaster is based on a book. Let us hope it is either completely different from the novel, or that the woman who wrote it starts to beg for forgiveness. I'm sure writing such trash purely justifies Austen's haunting her for the rest of her career.

On second thought, maybe there's some hope in this travesty. If an idiot like that can get published, well then why can't I? It's motivation to start scribling again!

I have written a lengthy tribute to one of my favorite parts about North Carolina before, so I will spare you the repeat. It's in my archive if you are dying to read it. The thing I am referring to is Bojangles.

I have been craving Bojangles for about the last three weeks. Well, really, I crave it all the time, but I try not to think of it too often because it lessens my withdrawals. Today, I decided to try to create some homemade Bojangles.

I'm much too lazy to really put a lot of effort into something like this, so I didn't make homemade biscuits or anything, but I did somewhat try to recreate my favorite Cajun fillet biscuit.

I went to Smiths and bought the frozen Pillsbury biscuits (Southern style). This was a tip I got from my mother-in-law, who got it from Prissy. And I'm sorry, even though Chad told me I was being prejudice and only thought they would be better because Prissy said so, HELLO...PRISSY SAID SO. And that girl knows what she's talking about when it comes to things like this!

I also bought some frozen chicken tenders.

I came home and cooked them up.

I even used the last of the Bojangles honey mustard I have been salvaging since Thanksgiving.

I sandwiched my chicken in between two halves of flaky biscuit. I smothered both sides with honey mustard. I took a bite.

And.

It totally wasn't the same.

I so want to be in North Carolina.

The bitter-cold wind that greeted me this morning only further convinces me of this fact.

Last night Chad and I went to the BYU vs UVU hockey game. I absolutely LOVE hockey! I don't normally promote violence, but in my opinion, hockey is exempt from the rules of peace I usually prefer. I love to see a good fight on the ice.

Chad and I first started going to hockey games when we were dating...well, even before we were dating. One of Chad's roommates was one of the announcers and knew all of the BYU players, so we were always getting free tickets and seats right next to the penalty box (again, I usually am nice to complete strangers, but strangers in the penalty box are, again, exempt from that rule).

Well, last night, everything changed. We sat on the UVU side. I wore a UVU hoodie. I rooted for the team that was playing AGAINST my alma mater! WHO AM I? A traitor, that's who. UVU won, because I left my cougars out in the cold.

It was still an absolute blast. The place was completely packed, and I only saw one friend from BYU, and thus avoided the harsh scolding I really deserved.

Unfortunately, there wasn't a single fight! I was so disapointed!

Came across this fun link while doing some research for my upcoming Persuasion unit. Thought some of you Austen fans also might enjoy!

Take the Quiz here!