How is your Mindset?

There are those rare individuals in this world who are “born” with special abilities. We believe their brains work differently. Einstein, Stephen Hawking, or any other brilliant physicist or scientist. There are those who gather information more quickly than others, and those who have the ability to remember almost anything learned. Then, there's me (kidding).

It's common to look at somebody with these abilities and think, “Man, if only I had that brain, I could be a brilliant mathematician.” There are also many in this world who are so fascinated by a subject or topic, but convince themselves they'll never be able to be that person or have that PhD in mechanical engineering because they're just not smart enough.

“It is the belief that intelligence can be developed that opens students to a love of learning, a belief in the power of effort and constructive, determined reactions to setbacks. “ -Carol S. Dweck, Professor of Psychology at Stanford University and the author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.

This is a very important and true quote from this article: Brainology: Transforming Students’ Motivation to Learn . She explains that many students (and people) believe intelligence is fixed (or, a fixed mindset). Because of this, they see challenges as threatening and worry about how much of this fixed intelligence they possess. They also see setbacks as a bad reflection on their level of intelligence. On the other hand, there are those who believe intelligence is something that can be cultivated through effort and education. They believe that everyone can improve their abilities through hard work and learning; and having setbacks is a way of getting smarter.

“We found that students with the two mindsets had radically different beliefs about effort. Those with a growth mindset had a very straightforward (and correct) idea of effort — the idea that the harder you work, the more your ability will grow and that even geniuses have had to work hard for their accomplishments. In contrast, the students with the fixed mindset believed that if you worked hard it meant that you didn't have ability, and that things would just come naturally to you if you did. This means that every time something is hard for them and requires effort, it's both a threat and a bind. If they work hard at it that means that they aren't good at it, but if they don't work hard they won't do well. Clearly, since just about every worthwhile pursuit involves effort over a long period of time, this is a potentially crippling belief, not only in school but also in life.”

So, where do you fall? I automatically placed myself in the fixed mindset while reading this article; because it sounded like me. Having this fixed mindset is probably one of the biggest reasons why I have yet to graduate college and why I had average grades in school. When I'd fail, I'd see myself as dumb and give up. When I found a subject or a topic fascinating, I'd shove it aside because I believed I'd never be smart enough to reach it.

Gary's different. He most definitely has a growth mindset. When Gary fails, he sees it as an opportunity to grow and develop even more; another step to getting smarter. He went into college with a plan, and came out as the outstanding graduating senior of his college (and was valedictorian of his high school). We we'd discuss school, we'd clash. He constantly had to tell me I'm not as dumb as I tell myself I am. He had to tell me over and over again that with the right motivation, you can do and learn anything, whether it's physics or the alphabet. My self-esteem always got in the way. I wasn't bad at math; I just needed to think a little harder. When it got “too hard”, I gave up and assumed I was dumb; and the cycle continued. Sometimes it still does.

Some time ago, Gary introduced me to Lynda.com, an online library of training. For a monthly or yearly fee, you have the opportunity to learn anything computer related whether it be software, programming, or any other form of technology. I glanced over it a few times and put it on hold. Eventually, since I've been jobless and out of school (due to my fixed mindset and lack of motivation), I decided to give it a shot. It's not a college or a school; so you don't get a degree or any certification- but they keep it that way on purpose. The first thing I decided to jump into was computer programming- mainly because it's what Gary does; and, to be a good wife, I thought if I just took a few classes it would make him happy. Was I doing this for him? Yes, to start. However, it caught my interest rather quickly. The classes/lessons are on video from real professors who have been teaching for years- and they're REALLY good. I started with the Fundamentals of Programming course (about 6 hours total) to get started. It not only has videos, but exercise files you can follow along with and use. This specific professor was good- I found myself remembering everything I had been learning along the way and even found myself speaking computer to my husband. Impressed on how quickly I caught on, he told me, “Emilee, you're a lot smarter than you think you are and catch on more quickly than you know.” It made me happy. Now, currently in the C# course (my goal is to learn all the languages they provide), I'm giving myself, as a gift, a growth mindset. All these years of abusing myself with this fixed mindset is coming to an end.

I do recommend reading this article. There's a lot of good information. One thing that really stuck out was how to get your children in the growth mindset. The studies they did had fascinating results:

“We praised the children in one group for their intelligence, telling them, “Wow, that's a really good score. You must be smart at this.” We praised the children in the other group for their effort: “Wow, that's a really good score. You must have worked really hard.” That's all we did, but the results were dramatic. The children praised for their intelligence lost their confidence as soon as the problems got more difficult. Now, as a group, they thought they weren't smart. They also lost their enjoyment, and, as a result, their performance plummeted. On the other hand, those praised for effort maintained their confidence, their motivation, and their performance. Actually, their performance improved over time such that, by the end, they were performing substantially better than the intelligence-praised children on this IQ test. Finally, the children who were praised for their intelligence lied about their scores more often than the children who were praised for their effort. We asked children to write something (anonymously) about their experience to a child in another school and we left a little space for them to report their scores. Almost 40 percent of the intelligence-praised children elevated their scores, whereas only 12 or 13 percent of children in the other group did so. To me this suggests that, after students are praised for their intelligence, it's too humiliating for them to admit mistakes.

The results were so striking that we repeated the study five times just to be sure, and each time roughly the same things happened. Instead of giving them confidence, it made them fragile, so much so that a brush with difficulty erased their confidence, their enjoyment, and their good performance, and made them ashamed of their work. This can hardly be the self-esteem that parents and educators have been aiming for.

Often, when children stop working in school, parents deal with this by reassuring their children how smart they are. We can now see that this simply fans the flames. It confirms the fixed mindset and makes kids all the more certain that they don't want to try something difficult — something that could lose them their parents' high regard.”"
To conclude this long and very random post- make sure you get your head in the growth mindset. I find it to make life a bit easier.

Our Anniversary and the Holiday Spirit

 As some of you know, I procrastinated a bit when it came to decorating for Christmas. I'm usually big on freshening up for the new seasons, but this year, I just wasn't feeling it. A part of me was annoyed that so many people and companies started celebrating long before Thanksgiving, so I guess it made it less special for me. I did eventually pull out and set everything up to make our place more festive, but even still, it just seemed like the thing to do. I also contributed it to the fact I wasn't enjoying the cold weather change. My body goes through crappy-mode when it gets cold and it dampens my spirits a bit.

 I eventually had to tell myself that Christmas isn't about decorations and holiday store music (which I dislike, mainly because you hear the same song 20 times by 20 different artists). In fact, it's not even about how terribly cold it is (even though it's pretty warm compared to other parts of the world). It's about Christ and celebrating the birth of our savior. Pretty simple explanation there.

 I've been doing my best to focus on those things and not how pretty or plain our tree looks. Spending time indoors with my husband, snuggling to hot chocolate while reading our scriptures together or our Marriage and Family Relations study guide (taught during the 2nd hour of church) is what's important. Watching uplifting films about Christmas and talking about our childhood memories during the holidays is a sure way to get my holiday spirit fired up.

In other obvious news, Gary and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary on the 14th. That evening (after we went out to dinner), we met with our bishop for tithing settlement. One of the first things he said to us while we sat down was, "You two are both smiling about something." It wasn't because one of us cracked a joke beforehand, it was because we were just...well, happy. In fact, we were discussing computer programming languages. Exciting stuff, right? But anyway, I am so blessed to have my husband. He really does have me smiling at the most random times, whether he's present or not. It was a good day for the both of us. Gary received another beautiful raise, we spent the evening together going out and celebrating, and we were told we were perfect in a commandment- tithing. Looking at that total number we donated to the church had us momentarily thinking, "Wow, that's new car money", but quickly had to switch back to gratitude mode and realize the blessings we've received because of that faithfulness.

Anyway, that's our update for now. Have a fun/awesome/spiritual Christmas!

Thanksgiving

 Gary and I had a great Thanksgiving weekend (minus the sickies- but I'll go into that later). Thursday morning, we headed to Bakersfield to meet with my family, where we spent the day and Thanksgiving feast. It was delicious!

 We also were able to play some Wii, and I was able to run a couple of miles on their treadmill after dinner- haha. I so needed it.

Family picture! From left: Gary, Andrew, Me, Garrett, Karen (Grannie), Carrin (Mums), Jazmine and Lexi, Blaine (Pops), James, Devonn, and Carla

 We enjoyed Thanksgiving and being able to spend time with family! As usual, I brought my camera but didn't take pictures. I am awesome.

Friday morning, after a good workout with the chubby dog, Gary, I, and my dad all met up with Devonn, Carla and the boys to an area off of Taft Hwy to go shooting. We were able to try out our new Kimber while we were there- a bit heavy, but it was nice and comfortable. I think I hit maybe 2 targets- meaning I should probably practice more often. There's no membership gun clubs around here, which is kind of a bummer. We had a membership to one while living in Bakersfield, but not here. There are some beautiful shooting ranges, but we have to pay per day to shoot. Eh, I guess it's not all that bad. We'll just have to look into it. We did have a lot of fun, though! Reminds me of old times- shooting cans and such while I was a kid with the family (I was only able to shoot a .22 until I was older, but it was still fun).

Anyway, we headed out Friday afternoon to avoid rainy and cloudy weather on the 5, and spent the rest of the day doing some shopping and relaxing.

Saturday was totally lazy.  We did some shopping, but spent most of the day inside, playing video games and, well, being lazy. We also went out to eat at New Moon, a lovely Chinese restaurant (and has nothing to do with Twilight). The food was amazingly delicious and we had to take it home to eat the rest later on. I then made the mistake, for dinner, of eating leftover food from a meal I cooked only a few days ago. It was chopped up steak and potatoes with some beans. It was only a small portion, so I ate the rest of it for dinner since neither of us felt like cooking- Gary had cereal or something. It backfired on me later.

4am yesterday morning, I awoke out of a dream feeling extremely nauseous. I tried to ignore it and go back to sleep, but it didn't work. I ended up running to the bathroom instead. Every half hour to an hour, I was forced to visit the toilet. This went on for over 5 hours. I didn't have a fever, just some chills. The only thing I could think of was that leftover food I ate- and I was for sure poisoned by it. Lovely, huh? It was terrible- I HATE throwing up; the thought of it makes me sick. But, I had to let my body do what it wanted to do. Gary woke up around 9:30 to get ready for church, but instead had to run to the store to buy me everything he could think of to help. Dark soda, soups, crackers, breads, etc. Such a good man for taking care of me. I spent most of yesterday wrapped up in blankets and sleeping- and tried to bring some Skyrim into it. Hey, it distracted me from the nauseating feeling. At one point during a nap, I woke up to find Dexter curled up in my arms. He was extremely affectionate yesterday. Maybe he knew I was sick?

Anyway, I'm glad that's over. I'm still a little achy and sore today, but thank goodness the nausea is gone. I hope that doesn't happen again for a long time- if ever!

Well, time for me to do things today. I'm avoiding video games since I spent a good chunk of the weekend playing. I'm ready to get out and exercise and visit the lake. Wrapped up sick inside all day is making me stir crazy. So, I'm completely ready to hit the sunshine and catch some fresh air.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Snuggles and Tea

 Snuggles is something that has definitely been on the list of things to do around here. The mornings are absolutely gorgeous with crispy cold weather (which I understand is warmer than other places in the world) and bright orange and red foliage.

 Totally beautiful out there.

 Drinking delicious and herbal teas has been handy and nice as well (and a little hot cocoa on the side). It definitely helps bring in the colder weather spirit.

 So far all has been well in the Pollock household. Gary's still growing and excelling in his job, and I'm still...well, doing what I normally do. Wife stuff with a little work and school on the side. However, thanks to the new season, I've become sick. It started with waking up one morning with the worst sore throat. Regardless, I went out and ran at 5:20 that early morning in the icy weather. Probably not the smartest move. The next day, my chest started hurting a little too. My cough was more of a dry cough so I assumed it to be irritation (which I still believe) from something I possibly inhaled. This went on for a couple of days and today the cough seems to be a little worse, but not horrific. I'm still hoping it's an irritant issue and not a virus or bacteria issue. So far, no fever has come my way, so I'm ruling out anything serious.

Recently, I decided we were going to switch cat litter. I really like the litter we were using since it clumped so well, but the sandy texture got everywhere. No matter how often I vacuumed, the little bits and pieces got into every little crack. It, well, got annoying. So, I thought we'd try the bigger pellet litter. A couple of Saturdays ago, Gary and I were visiting the local flea market when I noticed a family was selling Petsmart products. Cat food, cat litter, small animal stuff, etc. They were selling the higher quality litters and food...for cheap. A 45 lb bag of the good cat litter was $4. So, I bought it. I'm thinking I'll start heading over there on Saturdays when our animal stuff is getting low. Although I doubt I'll find their food there since it's a special and specific brand, I could use other stuff there. But anyway, this cat litter I bought did take me for a bit of a surprise. It smells nice, does the job well, but unfortunately, it's dusty. Not good. So I'll be switching brands again (poor cats) next time around. When I would change their box nightly, I would inhale a bit of the dust; which I'm guessing is what started this whole thing with my throat and chest. I'm hoping so anyway. I'm not down with bronchitis or any other similar illness.

But besides this annoying thing on the side, everything is good. Gary and I have been playing Skyrim which is super duper fun. I play in the day when I have the time, and he plays in the evening. We're nerds; but we have fun.

Anyway, that's all for now. I have errands to run today, but first I need to exercise. Speaking of, new exercise blog updates are posted. Have a great day peeps!

I Love November

  I can never decide which month I love the most: October or November. October is when the real change from summer to fall hits; regardless of the first day of autumn being in September. October is also my birth month- which of course is always the coolest. As for Halloween, it used to be my favorite holiday. The scary movies, the candy, the whole atmosphere of it. However, this time around, I just didn't feel it.  I stayed away from candy (okay, I had a few pieces), watched maybe a couple of scary movies with Gary, had a small get-together with friends, and that was about it. No costumes or anything; we didn't even stop at any Halloween stores this year. It just kind of passed by. Less spending in the long run, so that's always a good thing. And we missed our ward party this year. Of course, this was because I thought it was on a Friday night (the night we got together with friends), and discovered too late it was on Saturday. Whoops. The get-together was fun though. Gary and I rented out our theater and invited a group of friends/couples to watch a scary movie. We ate popcorn, amazing cupcakes, delicious spinach and artichoke dip, etc. Mmm. There were 10 of us, so seeing a movie in our apartment wasn't going to happen- so we used the theater instead- and thankfully got our full deposit back because we kept it so clean. :)

But November; November is different. A new spirit arrives. Halloween is gone and done, and now a more peaceful, cheerful, and uplifting presence shows itself. It's a happy month. Cold, but not as cold as December, January or February. Fall decorations start showing, stores begin their festivities and displays. It's just a happy month. So you know what? I'm choosing November.

I do have to admit I get a little annoyed at all the Christmas decorations and such. I know many people agree with me when I say this month should be about Thanksgiving. It's such an important holiday but seems to be lightly tread over because everyone becomes obsessed with Christmastime. Heck, I heard Christmas music in a store yesterday- I mean, really? Chill out, Sparky.

 

 You tell him, turkey!

 I'm excited about this month; I love seeing and being with my family. I love being able to truly count my blessings and find gratitude in everything. It's something I should be doing more often year-round, of course, but it feels so special this month. And let's definitely not forget to remember our pioneers and the suffering they went through for their families and our future.

 Anyway, I suppose I should start getting ready for church. It has been hecka-cold here and raining like crazy. But despite that, I am grateful for the changes as well!

 Just real quick, Gary and I decided to get something nice for ourselves (mostly him since I kind of "stole" the Nookbook). We bought the Samsung Galaxy 10.1 tablet. It's pretty stinking awesome and can pretty much do everything (it's an ipad competitor, and we're not really Apple fans). We love it.

 

PS- Two new fitness updates and my argument with the scale.

Uneventful

 So, it's been pretty uneventful here. Gary's been gone for a week, but he'll be back this afternoon. He'll leave again tomorrow morning and return the evening of my birthday.

 What have I done all by myself? I wish I could say I did a ton of things, but it's not true. I did get a lot of time to workout, so I posted an update on my fitness blog with some motivating tips.

 Tuesday afternoon, I headed to Bakersfield to visit family. Since I'm a genius, I brought my camera but took no pictures. You can probably catch a few unflattering ones on my Facebook, haha. Anyway, I brought my Wii for some entertainment. I had a pretty good time there that evening playing games with the family and enjoying a delicious chicken dinner. Quinn played Harry Potter for a bit and then a group of us played Mario Party 8- you know, the game that destroys relationships. Okay, not really. But kind of. My mom was in the lead with everything until Quinn not only stole her star, but most of her coins, putting her in last place. Pretty stinking funny.

Early the next morning, around 6, I headed out for an hour of walking. I chose walking over running because I brought the dogs with me. They're a bit out of shape, so I didn't want to push them. Sam might have made it since she was totally eager and going all directions, but Katrina was out of breath after a block. So I took it easier with her (I traded off...took Katrina out for a half hour then immediately Sammie for a half hour). After showering and getting ready, a few of us headed out to see Andrew (my nephew) receive his student of the month award. He was so adorable about it, too (kindergarten).

I stayed a bit longer, did a little shopping, and unfortunately had to run home earlier than planned. FedEx had shipped a package a little sooner than expected, and I learned they had dropped it on our doorstep. When I called the apartment management, I was told nothing was on my doorstep, not even a note. I had no choice but to return home and figure out what happened. It's still missing- and probably stolen. I left notes on everyone's doors (on our floor and the 3rd floor), but no response. The person above us mentioned he did remember seeing it on our doorstep for a long time. Shortly after, maintenance came through to clean the stairs and hallways, and it disappeared after that. Management, all staff and maintenance were notified and I had to keep bugging them until I made my point. Getting a package stolen from your front door doesn't look good to them, so they said they would keep a lookout and figure out what happened. I'm sure it's long gone.

It was shipped from Walmart.com. I called Walmart, explained my package went missing, and surprisingly, they immediately refunded my money. It was the first time I received great customer service from them. Pretty shocking, huh?  The item was a special order that only Walmart.com carried. However, they sold out online so they were unable to ship a new one. BUT, after reading a few forums, I discovered they shipped limited editions to the stores. So, quickly, I called around nearby Walmarts until I found a store that carried it. I rushed and bought it. This was good luck.

Anyway, not much else to update. Be sure to check out my fitness blog for more Emilee update stuff.

Football, Chicken, and Gifts

  Gary and I had a fantastic weekend. It's always nice spending such great time with him.

     Friday night, we went to our gym. I finally convinced him to go.

It's been upgraded just a bit with newer features (a towel system so you don't have to bring your own towels, newer machines, etc) so it was a little more fun. Gary spent time in the weight area (behind the photo taker, so you can't see it) while I ran for 30 minutes on the treadmill at a pretty decent pace (over 2 miles). I noticed I run more miles when I'm running outside and couldn't figure out why I ran a shorter distance on the treadmill in that time. But then I read something about stride and it made more sense. I take bigger strides outside, therefore I cover more distance.

 Anyway, it was a good and excellent workout. Gary did about 20 minutes on the treadmill as well, so he got some cardio in, and I lifted some weights so I got some strength training it.

The next morning, Gary requested biscuits and gravy for breakfast. Okay, not the healthiest meal, but I used fat-free and wheat ingredients, so the meal was still under 500 calories per person; so better than the norm at least.

We spent the morning doing some chores, making the place look nice, making ourselves look nice, then headed out for some light shopping. For lunch, we headed over to try a new Sushi place called Mononoke.

Not only was the sushi delicious, it was insanely affordable. $2.99 for a regular roll and $5.99 for a special? Incredible. We ate a spicy tuna roll and some sort of beef roll.

After a light yet delicious lunch, we did a little more shopping at TJ Maxx where Gary was able to buy himself a nice carry-on from Hilfiger for his upcoming business trip. He'll be leaving me for a week by going to Houston. When he comes home, he'll be back for a day, then he'll head back out again to Costa Mesa for a few more days. He's definitely looking forward to it and I'm excited for him. He'll be going with a colleague who has experience traveling, so I know he'll have a good time.

A few more stores later, we decided we wanted to have a nice healthy dinner that evening. So, we stopped at our local Whole Foods Market and ordered a couple of fresh sandwiches from their deli department. We came home and began watching the 3rd season of Merlin (which we were so excited to realize the 3rd season was released). Merlin is a BBC show you can find on Netflix. It butchers the King Arthur story a bit, but the show is so awesome and revolves around the wizard Merlin. I totally recommend it.

One of the many discussions we had while we were out shopping revolved around football. Gary used to be a football fan and even played a bit in high school. He mentioned how he missed playing and was also kind enough to go over all the rules for me since I asked (football was never my sport). So, after a few Merlin episodes, we watched some football on TV, as well as played some football on the PS3. While we were out, we also purchased a football so we could go out and play more. It was quite fun. I think he's looking forward to getting into this football season thing, and I'm kind of excited to tag along.

We also had a fantastic day today. Church was wonderful and we enjoyed our Marriage and Family Relations class which just recently opened up for the 2nd hour (this is the 4th week I believe). It's so wonderful, nice, and always brings us closer together.

After church, we had a light lunch, then pulled out the special dinner we wanted to try out and prepare together. You see, when we were first married almost 5 years ago, one of the wedding gifts we received was a Baby George Foreman Roaster-rotisserie. However, we had never opened it nor used it and I always assumed rotisserie's were always for large-portion cooking. However, I decided a few days ago I wanted to try it out. Today was the day. I pulled it out of storage and the first thing I asked myself, seeing the features, was "why did I wait this long??" Silly me.

Anyway, we pulled out our thawed young chicken and got to work. Trussing, as I assumed was a very easy task, proved different. This was mostly because we couldn't find the cooking string. So, Gary tried dental floss at first and just couldn't get it because it was so thin and slippery; and he couldn't find satisfaction with his work. Luckily before we tried anything else I was able to find the cooking string. Much better. So, we tied that sucker up and I went to town with seasoning. I stuffed the inside (after taking out the gizzards, of course...not our thing) with garlic cloves and freshly squeezed lemon juice and decorated the outside with rosemary, thyme, crushed red peppers, and a little salt and pepper. I suppose I should put the recipe on the cooking blog, but that thing is so badly neglected. Anyway, here are some photos of our first time roasting a chicken.

Gary's first attempt with the floss.

After the  real tie down. We totally left the sticker on the front.

     We set the timer then headed out and walked to the Promenade park to play catch with the football. I wish I brought my camera-we had so much fun laughing at ourselves. Hey, I had a pretty good throw if I do say so myself.

    By the time we got back, the chicken was nearly done.

 We were actually impressed- it turned out fabulously. We were expecting some error our first time around, but there was none. The meat was fully cooked and juicy in every part and nothing was undercooked at all. I'm going to have a lot of fun with this rotisserie. For real.

 This is when we pulled out another wedding gift untouched- our electric carving knife. We unwrapped it and Gary did a marvelous job carving off the meat. A delicious and successful dinner indeed. Yes, we do have leftover chicken. We sealed it away and hope to use it in our meals throughout the week. Anyway, that was our new adventure.

In other quick news, we had a super-rainy couple of days here. It. was. cold! The rain wouldn't stop. I loved it. But hated the cold. But it was beautiful.

 Okay, so I suppose it's time to end this blog. Happy October everyone!

I Love My Family

   I am so blessed to have been raised in the family I was raised in. I was able to learn morals, values, respect, and many other important things which made me a responsible adult. I'm definitely not perfect, but I am so glad I have the family I have.

   I came across a profile on Facebook earlier of a childhood best friend. Some of you already know who I am speaking of. We lived only a few houses down from each other and became best friends in 2nd grade. Looking at her profile and seeing her life now just saddens me. Growing up, she was daddy's perfect princess. She got to wear whatever she wanted, do whatever she wanted, stay up as late as she wanted; pretty much anything she wanted she got. Often times she was a sweet girl and a great friend... but she wasn't always a great friend (and I admit, I probably wasn't the best either); thus the reason our friendship lasted until Jr. high. She had a habit of gossiping and spreading false rumors about people. She was desperate to be in the center of attention at all times. It was something I could never understand. Her parents loved her- so why was she so desperate for attention? She would easily drop friendships if it gave her the opportunity to fit in with the popular crowd.

  I couldn't understand her behavior until I was older. It's because she had no rules to follow. She got away with whatever she wanted. As a child, I was jealous of that. My parents made me go to bed at a certain time, do certain things, follow certain rules. She thoroughly like to rub it in my face and tease me about being Mormon and living with strict parents. At one point, while back-talking my mom, my dad sent me to my room as punishment- and because she was never disciplined in her life, she was appalled and told several people in the school I was being beaten and abused by my father. This caused phone calls to my parents, teachers and counselors approaching me to "talk about it", students coming to me and telling me they knew somebody who could help me. I was shocked. Luckily the whole situation worked out in the end when there was no evidence of my abuse and my friend admitted she went overboard.

 In high school, because of her rumor-spreading habit, she lost a majority of her friends and was far from popular. This is when she decided to get pregnant. At age 15. I could tell you it was an accident, but she fully admitted it was a planned pregnancy because she wanted to prove to everyone she was sexually active- therefore cool and popular. What a tragedy.

Fast forward to years later. Divorced with 3-4 kids (can't remember) and parents who provide for her.  Seeing her profile, I couldn't feel anything but sadness.  She bleached her already blonde hair, got a massive boob job, got tattooed up and trashier than the norm, changed her name to a stripper-sounding name, and ran off and married a woman.

Mom and Dad, thank you so much for being strict with me. Thank you for setting rules. Thank you for punishing me and disciplining me for my actions. Thank you for always "being on my back" about pretty much anything and snooping at the appropriate times.  We never really understand when we're younger why our parents are so "mean", but as we get older, it completely makes sense. I met a wonderful man. I married in the temple. I understood the true power of forgiveness and repentance and because of it, was able to wipe clean of the mistakes I made in the past and move forward (and I committed some pretty serious sins). I was able to always recognize the Holy Ghost. Sure, sometimes it's tough being raised in an LDS church. Kids can be mean. But look at my life now. Totally worth it. Totally and completely worth it. I'm hoping someday those in my family who don't see it now in their lives will see it later- so they can get a full understanding as well and be able to live in happiness and harmony. All in God's timing.

I don't care if I was labeled weird or strange. Luckily I had many friends in the church who understood and I'm sure most of you experienced that as well. And while there were moments when I was ashamed and embarrassed, I am far from it. YES, I AM Mormon and I'm happy to be. No, I don't drink or take drugs. No, I don't drink coffee or tea. No, I don't cuss or swear. Yes, I do dress modestly. Oh, but why all the rules? Rules are what people don't understand about Mormons. What rules? Oh, you mean respecting yourself and taking care of your body? Having morals and values? Being happy? Forgiving others? Sounds horrifying, right? :)

Anyway, that was my ramble for the day. I'll just end by saying I love my parents and family with all my heart. I am glad I had a protective (and often mean) older brother who just wanted to make sure I turned out okay and didn't run off and marry a criminal. I'm glad I had siblings I fought with constantly (even though I'm sure we stressed our parents out more than anything) and a childhood I wish I could re-live over and over because it was so spectacular despite the trials. You guys are the best!

PS- Fitness blog updated! If you haven't been there in awhile, there may be a few posts you missed.

Fall!

 Welcome to fall everyone! I am so happy. Being in a festive mood, I organized, dusted and deep cleaned the apartment; then brought out my fall and Halloween decorations. I've had these decorations for some time now, and I was very tempted to go and buy more, but I kept myself from doing so since we're a little tight this week.

 Target has been the worst, though. Luckily I haven't splurged there yet. I just LOVE Target. I really do. It's the greatest store ever. They have the cutest items and I love their seasonal section. Considering Target is just a walk away makes it even harder to keep from running there and buying everything. Because I would. Seriously.

About Target, right now they are in the process of turning it into a Super Target, which will be finished by October. They will have a whole grocery section and everything. Pretty scary. But exciting.

  Nothing too exciting, but still makes it look all festive-like. See that candle above? That's from Target. I love those candles. Not only are they big, but the wax is amazing meaning they last a long time. Gary was the one who talked me into them because he likes them too. They work really well, better than a Yankee candle if you ask me (and much cheaper). The whole place smells like fresh pumpkin pie the moment you open the lid (before lighting it).

    Anyway, I did rather enjoy myself. I've been enjoying the weather too this week and I'm glad things are starting to cool off. We didn't really have too warm of a summer this year (unlike last with all those heat waves), but still warm enough to sweat.

     He really would sleep out there all day if given the chance. In the evening time, he's pawing at the door handle. However, it's praying mantis season and often he'll bring a friend in to his mom so they can play with it together. 99% of the time I'm able to save the poor thing. But sometimes I'm forced to keep him inside during the evening to prevent that from happening. Fly to your freedom little guy!

      In other news, Gary is slowing starting to feel better. He had a stomach bug that literally lasted a week. He forced himself to work everyday until he would throw up and would come home during lunch. He only missed one day of work and came home twice during lunch. Otherwise, he stuck it out. He's definitely a hard worker. The other evening, I had him go for a walk for fresh air with me and took him to Bridgeport. He admitted it helped tremendously.

     I'm glad I'm starting to get my poor husband back.

     Anywho, it's a Saturday morning and I plan to do something about it. Time to get things done. It's been smelling like rain all morning so it definitely has been boosting my mood. Bye!

Housewife, Work, and Other Updates

 Everything's been going pretty well here in the Pollock home. Gary's been working his tail off at his job doing so many different tasks and assignments it's crazy. Sometimes he has to fix a problem late at night if it arises. I call him a superhero because of how hard he works. He'll be leaving me again for a week next month on a business trip in Houston. After Houston he'll be going to Costa Mesa. Busy man!

     Emilee, not so much. I'm just doing wifely duties but mostly have more free time than I'd like. It's nice having free time, but at the same time, it's not nice. I've been lazy about exercise. Well, actual breaking-a-sweat exercise. Our apartment has been looking pretty good lately though because of my free time, which is a good thing. The storage closet has been cleaned out as well as our walk-in closet, under our bed, and other various places that needed deep cleaning and organizing. I've also been on top of chores like none other. So yes, our place is pretty darn clean and neat.

     I am looking for some good work though, so we can really start adding more money to savings. Since we're out of debt, our main focus right now is just tossing money into savings to prepare for anything big in our future to arrive, whether it's a house, baby, whatever, or possibly a new car if needed. Right now we really don't have a need for a new car since our cars seem to be working just fine. Not having a car payment is pretty darn nice. But you know, just in case something breaks down we want to make sure we have the funds to get a new car if necessary.

     A local  (okay, so a little further than local) humane society contacted me for some testing to work for them as an animal control officer. The training is fully provided and it makes a lot of money; there's also a lot of overtime. If hired, they'll send me to a PC 832 course and POST level 3 course. But we'll see. I already went in for testing last week but haven't heard back. It was a basic and simple test (just simple math and a few judgement questions). It's kind of sad though; after, I realized I probably got a couple of the math questions wrong. It was easy division and multiplication so I don't know why I messed up, but as I went over the questions in my head, I realized I did. I tested in the dispatch office and there was a lot of loud talking and distractions, but it shouldn't be an excuse. So I'm kind of embarrassed. Oh, well.

      There have also been a lot of other opportunities I'm waiting to hear back from as well. One of them is vet tech position. They provide all the textbook training (getting paid to train for something most people learn in classes is really awesome). It's a really neat idea. They work through multiple veterinary clinics, hospitals, pet stores, etc, so every shift is a new location. The traveling sounds really nice, but that's IF they reimburse for gas. Otherwise traveling all over our area and Los Angeles might hurt (they even work for a clinic in Bakersfield) and may not be worth it. It's $20/hr, so we'll see about that and all the details.

     In other news, Gary and I decided to get ourselves a Playstation Move.

 It's actually pretty fun and decent. It reads a little better than the Wii, granted you have the right games. This sports one is definitely fun. Gary also purchased a Playstation Move sharpshooter:

The neat thing about this is when your body moves (like, let's say you turn the gun to the right), it all moves with you. It's really awesome and puts you right in the action. It's nice having a Gamefly account (like Netflix for games), so we can always try games out and decided if we want to buy them. So we have some games that should arrive today that we can test out.


 Anyway, I don't think there's much else to update! Life is going amazing as usual. I found new cat food from Blue Buffalo called Basics. It's made special for cats with allergies and food sensitivities. I am really thrilled about this. So next week I'll slowly introduce it into the cats' diets so I can fully switch them. It doesn't have eggs, wheat, dairy, soy or corn. It's a limited ingredient formula. I'm really looking forward to it since the cats have food sensitivities (to the point of throwing up sometimes after eating). So yay! And it's still holistic food without by-products or fillers or anything of the like. I'm just debating between turkey, duck or fish. I might try out duck first and see how they like it.

Okay, that's all! I'm SOOOO excited about fall and am extremely tempted to pull out and start on the fall decorations. I'll give it a few more days (first day of fall is on the 22nd). The weather has been amazing.

Bye!

My Day

 So, my day was a little blah today. I called back the job place and realized I didn't get the position. Unfortunately they decided they wanted somebody who spoke Spanish- which the other girl did. So, she got the position. I was rather bummed, considering it seemed so promising. Usually having 2 interviews and everything else I went through makes one think all is well. I just really wished they put it in the job description. I told them my very first meeting I didn't speak Spanish and I was told it was no big deal and I shouldn't be concerned. Fantastic, huh?

Oh, well, life goes on. I spent the day feeling completely blah and pigged out. I was nervous about tracking my calories because of it, so I decided tonight I was going to run. I ran 3.5 miles (to Bridgeport lake, around the lake, and back home) extremely proud of myself for running for so long nonstop. Just a few months ago I couldn't run more than 5 minutes straight. I really pushed it this time, determined and just kept flowing. It was amazing. I also learned running on a treadmill is much different than running outside. Lol.

When I got home, I had the nerve to track my caloric intake for the day only to realize I totally didn't go over my calorie limit- probably because I didn't have time to eat lunch. So, that felt even more amazing. Still wish I didn't eat those nachos though. Luckily the cheese sauce was more of a fondue sauce and only 130 calories- which made it way better and healthier than cheddar cheese.

Anyway, that's the update. I still feel completely bloated and blah, but at least knowing I ran so well tonight makes me feel a little better.

I also updated my other blogs.

Night peeps! Time to enjoy the 3-day weekend with the husband (and the beach later!).

Fingers, Toes and Eyes are Crossing

Note: I also updated my girly blog.

 Of course, crossing my eyes probably won't be much help.

All is well in the Pollock home. I know, it's been awhile; but seriously, there's really nothing too exciting that's been going on around here. Gary's working, Emilee's sitting around and scratching her nose...okay, not really.

So some of you know the school thing went a little out of plan. Financial aid had some issues, classes were canceled, and waiting lists were too full, which left me with little to do. It was a bit last minute to throw everything together for school, I know. But there's always spring.

However, you know how I mentioned I'm leaving my options open? Well, a beautiful opportunity happened to present itself to me and I'm very much eager to move forward. Last week, a company here in Valencia gave me a call and had me come in to fill out some forms and take some tests to work for them as a receptionist. I was tested in math, English, and MS Office software to see where my qualifications were. I was in there for 3 hours; interview included. I was a bit nervous after, wondering how well I tested. However, I was told I scored the highest that week so I should have no concern.

Last night, I was called in again to have a second interview today. I was very pleased with this interview because it went so well. I spoke to a few people and was given a full run-down of the job and requirements. I left pretty confident and will find out Friday if I was selected for the position.

Here are some great things about the job:

It's Monday-Friday, set hours. I'll be out 2-3 hours before Gary gets off work, which will give me plenty of time to prepare dinner and such. Weekends and afternoon/evenings off= amazing. Not only are they closed on weekends, but they're closed on holidays as well.

It's 30 hours per week, which Gary and I are both pleased with. It will give me a full afternoon and evening at home to do errands and other wifely duties. Plus, it leaves the door open for school if I choose to add classes later. I also have the choice to increase the hours to 40 if I choose to several months from now.

The people there are sweethearts, including the owners (husband and wife). Most of the time the owners will be away (they work out of the home for the most part and travel to visit family frequently). So, including them, there are 5 people who work for the company, 3 who work in the building itself. I would be the 4th. The reason why they want a fourth person is so the owners can spend more time away with family (they're of retirement age). There's an office manager who runs the office. I'd also be cross-trained.

Here's another amazing thing- it's less than a mile away AND walking distance from Gary's job. The two buildings are just a block away from each other. I think that's pretty awesome.

So, I'm thrilled and am definitely excited about this. It seems like the perfect job AND with good pay. I definitely love how the owner told me, "our office manager did an amazing job choosing you as a candidate." There's only one other person they will be interviewing later. So, yes. Fingers, toes, eyes, and everything else is crossed.


In other news, this is the cutest video ever. I about died. I WANT ONE!!!

Ticklish Penguin- (the short version)

School, Work, Etc

 As you read in my previous post, I'm leaving Petsmart. School this semester is originally 15 units for the program.

 However, I am leaving my options open. I posted my resume around different sites, have had interviews, and fill out applications constantly to start work if necessary. However, if I don't have any luck, I'm prepared to take on school instead.

 I received my MT diploma in the mail yesterday- in a not very nice way, might I add. Lazy mailwoman bent it when there's bold, red and capitalized instructions NOT to bend it. Ah, well. I'll be filing a complaint, but luckily there's no damage and we were able to frame it. The certificate itself wasn't bent, just the folder it came in. It hangs next to Gary's degree and his outstanding graduating senior award certificate (and plaque), so it doesn't even compare in coolness, but I worked hard so that's all that matters.

Anyway, if I can find a job in the MT field, it would be marvelous. This way I can actually put my education and skills to use and pay off what I paid to get through school. Well, school is already paid off in full, but you know what I mean. Make it worth it. Also, the income could really help us add to our savings and prepare for a house. All of our debts (except his student loans) are paid off so it would really help the savings account.

I wasn't really going anywhere with Petsmart. I mean, what was I to do? Work 10-15 hours every week for the next 5 years while doing nothing else? I even spoke to my manager a few times about moving up to management (since most of my managers are younger than I with no other work experience), but she kept putting it off or making excuses not to meet with me. Heck, not even that. We scheduled times to meet but she wouldn't show up. So, I moved on. I probably wouldn't have been happy as management though anyway- not my style.

So yeah, that's my explanation for leaving and my plans to move on.

On a different note, I am smart. Yesterday, I was coming out of a store when I stepped on an angled-curb in the road and totally fell. I didn't hit the ground, but I tripped big enough to catch myself on my hands to keep from hitting the ground. I immediately bounced up like it was the most natural  thing, and as I glanced over at a car full of men, one of them said aloud, "I didn't see that!" I turned red and said back, "Nope, nobody saw that. I'm good!" I was also laughing at myself.

Of course, now my ankle has been hurting. Oh, my lovely clumsy self. Hopefully I can workout today without damaging myself further.

On a very different note, don't you hate when people flat out ask you your political views, especially on gay marriage? I do. I don't mind sharing my opinion, but at least let me be on friendly terms with you before we go into that...otherwise it's uncomfortable. Not to go too much into detail, but some people had come forward about me liking Quinn's "Yay, New York!" status update. In reality, I hadn't heard the news because I was away camping, so I thought he was actually going to New York- totally unrelated. He even shot me a text message to tease me about it. So, in fun, I left it up. No deep explanation there.

Anywho, time to get ready for the day. Bye!

I Has a Happy

 So, yesterday Gary and I were looking around for things to help with his video game developing he's doing on the side.  We then noticed a new Guitar Center had opened up nearby, so we decided to check it out. After some browsing and looking at things, we came home with this:

 I've been mentioning to Gary in the past (not consistently, but every now and then) how I miss playing the piano. As you know, it's not possible to have an actual piano inside an apartment, so he was nice enough to buy me a nice keyboard, stand, etc so I can play. Also, it hooks up to the computer and with specific software, you can create all kinds of music; something he's definitely interested in for his video game he's developing. So yay! I was happy.

Apparently someone else likes it, too:

 Uh huh...


Anyway, I may update a few more things later. But for now, home teacher will be over soon!

PS- Friday is my last day at Petsmart!

Small Update

    Our high today is 80. According to our 10-day forecast, we won't be going above 90. This is good news. This morning is a bit foggy, but it's beautiful and I'm loving it. I cannot wait until fall. This is a open-window kind of day.

    Sorry for the small brag, it's been pretty warm here lately so I'm soaking this one in.

   As for the Pollocks, all is going well. Gary's been enjoying his job as usual, and I've been enjoying life.  He is starting to develop mouse shoulder though, so we're working on his posture. It has to be hard sitting at a desk all day. I'm trying to get him to take actual breaks and go for walks during his workdays. Poor guy. He's been really busy though too during work.

   For my work, I haven't really been working. I work 2 days this week, each shift 4 hours. I try and be productive though. Errands, shopping (without spending too much), studying, whatever. When Gary gets home I try not to pull and drag him shopping somewhere, but it gets tempting.

Speaking of, we found an amazing Japanese restaurant nearby and they have the best food/sushi. We've been to a few places to experiment, but this one came out on top. It's new, too, but got incredible reviews from not only friends, but people in the area.

  It's named Sushi One. The sushi was seriously the best. The white fish, the shrimp, the cream cheese and avocado. Mmm, I'm already ready to go back there! Some of them were crunchy and deep fried. Just yum. So seriously, if you're ever in the area, go there! You will not regret it.

  We had an amazing dessert, too. Strawberry mochi ice cream. Delish!

Besides that, there really isn't much else to update. I might have some cool news later, but we'll see. I did update 2 of my blogs though. Enjoy!

Yosemite

 Gary and I had a fantastically fun time visiting and staying in Yosemite. It was breathtaking, clean, cool and just wonderfully relaxing as well.

 

  We headed out early Sunday morning from Bakersfield (since we stayed there the night before) and went on our way. It was about a 4-5 hour drive, with only a couple of stops. We took the route through Yosemite National Park itself which slowed us down a bit because there was a delay at the toll booth, but it was definitely a scenic route!

This is on our way to our campground, behind our "friends" (because we followed them for so long)

 

    We did eventually pull over and lose our "friends" because I wanted to take a few pictures at a stop.

     We also stopped at an adorable town named Oakhurst. It was beautiful. Like Devonn and Carla said, it was a city which appeared out of nowhere. It had everything from shopping to beautiful homes.

 We arrived at our camp around 4-5pm and set ourselves up for the night. We ended up choosing a lake-side location in the member's-only area. It was nice being next to a lake because it made it more convenient to go fishing.

 

 Sorry, the picture's a little fuzzy, but this was the lake area behind our camp. Fish were jumping everywhere but I literally had the worst luck ever in the fishing department. Ah, well.

Our first campfire on our first night

 Being able to have an open fire was definitely a benefit to the whole thing.

 Early the next morning, I woke up feeling refreshed from a QUIET night's sleep. The birds (especially the crows) are very quick to wake you up early. But we slept so well. Anyway, I took the picture above of our camp location. The cabins behind us are cabins you can rent. Those are the one bedrooms, but there are bigger bedroom cabins in other locations (the lake is behind me).  We had our tent and our "indoor" gazebo thingy.

     After hot showers, we decided to visit the family lodge and play a little pool.

 It was a cute but large 2-story cabin-looking lodge. It had cable TV, a library, indoor sport activities, a fireplace, a piano, lots of puzzles, etc. We played pool and attempted a puzzle another day.

 Above is the balcony view from the family lodge. There was also a beautiful bridge with flowing water.

     We also spent a good time fishing. My luck wasn't all that great. After an hour, a 7-year old kid comes up with with father, casts his bait, and five minutes later I hear, "Got one! Okay, let's go clean this one. Are we done for the night?" Sure enough, he walks off with a huge trout to the fish cleaning station and wishes me luck. Thanks, kid. I didn't catch one fish the entire trip. Everyone else around me did. I even bought the recommended bait and at one point got INTO the water to fish by the cove (which seemed to be the most successful way to catch). I got several bites but nothing else. I was probably too impatient though. I kept reeling in and re-casting  to better spots. I should have waited longer. Ah, well. Gary said he's kind of glad I didn't catch anything because he wasn't up to gutting and cleaning a fish.

     That evening for dinner, we enjoyed juicy steak kabobs grilled over the fire pit. YUM! We also enjoyed hot chocolate.

      On Tuesday, it was laundry day. There's a laundromat there so we washed all of our clothes to prepare for the next few days camping. We also visited a small town away from our camp (about 20 miles) named Groveland. Technically our campground was in Groveland, but still. It had small little shops and other fun little things. It had that old western town feel.

 Wednesday, we headed to a city about 45 miles from town named Sonora. Driving to Sonora was definitely a scenic route. There were acres and acres of golden fields and much land for sale as well. It definitely got me thinking about moving there! They had major shopping stores like Walmart, Vons (Safeway), and movie theaters and everything. We decided while we were there to go ahead and check out part 2 of the Harry Potter movie (Deathly Hallows). It wasn't bad either. We also did a little light shopping before heading back to camp. Sonora, in Tuolumne county, was also part of the huge Don Pedro lake.

  Thursday was when we decided to head to Yosemite National Park and spend the day there. We headed to a few nice locations, one of them being Glacier Point where we were able to overlook everything. It was absolutely beautiful.

 On our way back to the car, we came across a brave little soul who decided to come right up to us and start eating. He glanced up at us and just kept eating. We were surprised he didn't run off when people started quietly and cautiously taking pictures.

 We then had a picnic near a ghost town in a beautiful meadow.

 I know, I didn't get many pictures of Gary and I which I should have. I just had too much fun with scenic pictures.

 Anyway, Friday morning we headed back to Bakersfield where we stayed for dinner then headed home. It was nice to sleep in our own bed!

I definitely had a wonderful time spending the whole week with my favorite person ever. Definitely does good to a marriage! I just love that man.

Then, Saturday morning, we were able to finally go and pick up our new gun. It's a Kimber 1911 Custom II. .45 ACP.

 For some reason, Blogger is being idiotic and will not accept the picture rotated. I have no idea why, but it has been rotated. Ah, well. There it is.

K, that's all!