S-K-I-I-N-G (Skiing)

Warning: The following article has allot of MN sarcasm. 


Dear GA/Southern Friends and People,
For those of you who have never skied/snowboarded I will now explain to you in great detail what the word SKIING means. By now I have lived down here for a year so I pray that I have at least talked about snow enough that you know what it is. If not please just Google deep snow. Your 2 centimeters does NOT count. Ok so now that we have that all clarified I will now begin the process of explaining to you how you get ready for skiing! You NEVER just walk out your front door. (You will most likely die of instant hypothermia so pay attention)

Step one is finding all the proper clothing. There is a lot of clothing to! If I know I am going to a ski meet the next day I will check and make sure I have all the proper clothing washed and laying out so I forget nothing! Here is the list:

Smart wool socks! And they have to be smart wool
nothing else seems to work! Also note you may
want to put these on after the long underwear.

Long Johns, Long Underwear, Thermals,
Whatever you want to call them! I like the
Patagonia ones. Also these are not meant
to be worn as clothing! The UNDER part
is very important!!!!

Up next is the long sleeve shirt. I usually
would just wear a thicker cotton shirt.
(If it was a SUPER cold day I would put
a sweatshirt over this as well)

Next you are going to put on a pair of
sweatpants! Jeans are extremely uncom-
fortable and you want to be able to move!

At this point I will now put on a pair of
thin gloves! You need these so you can
drive and carry things, and scrape the ICE
off of your car with an ICE SCRAPER.
note: A credit card does not work on the
ice in MN.

Now it is finally time for the snow pants!!

Put on that thin jacket for day below 10
degrees.

If you are headed out to ski now is the
time you put on your mittens! (They
must be the feather ones! Otherwise your
hands will literally freeze!) And never
EVER wear gloves! They do NOT work! 

Finally you get to put on your
winter parka!! Yay!!

And the last ingredient to the puzzle
is a hat! You must wear this! And
everybody does! It's a style trend
in MN. I have lots of these bad boys! 

Now that is what you will need if you are just going for a day of skiing in the freezing cold temps! Now if you are a ski team member you will need one last article of clothing!!! A GS suit! It is made for speed!

These come in many different colors and designs! (And yes I do have one!)

Now that you guys know what clothing to wear I will now tell you what kind of equipment you will need!

Wait for it....

SKIS!! 

Race Skis in other words My Skis

Regular Ski in other words Your Skis

Poles!

Race Poles! (For blocking gates)

Regular Poles

Helmets!

Race Helmet so you don't break
your nose! 

Regular Helmet so when you fall you don't get a
head injury!

Boots!

Cough...Cool people boots...Cough
Racer Boots

Regular Boots! (Warmer!! haha)

Shin Guards for Racers Only!

I think it's pretty obvious what they are for!

Ok so since I can't actually show you how to ski since for some reason there seems to be no snow to ski on down here! I will show you a few videos! Be sure and watch carefully!

In this here first video you can just skip to the first minute! This is pretty much how I would teach you but, I would probably be a little bit more fun! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1Ahrib0pao

Warning you will probably look like this! ;)

 Ski Racer:

This is what it looks like from my point of view! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqpCIEaLWRM

And this is from what would be your point of view! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuZJim10RXA

 Ok so I hope you guys learned what it means to actually ski and when I say I was on ski team I hope you now understand a little bit of what it was like!

     

Rainy Days

There is something about rainy days that I just love. I love them almost as much as a snowy day. (And that is saying allot.) As much as I love rainy days I will say though that a streak of rainy days is awful. Along with plain old cloudy days. I figure, it might as well rain if it's going to be dark and cloudy. OK now with that clarification out of the way I will now tell you why rainy days are so amazing.

Before my brother, Nate, came along I was a single child and even when he did come it wasn't till he was around 2 that I actually got to play with him. For the first 5 years of my life I was all by myself. I loved to play outside and with my dolls and with my imagination. When my brothers were old enough to play I would get so frustrated because, all of a sudden they didn't want to play house. They wanted to make bomb shelter forts and pretend machine guns, and pretend the stupidest things I had ever heard of as a girl. I will never for get the time they dug a deep hole, (we don't have GA clay in MN so it's easy to dig a hole quickly) than they put these ginormous logs around the hole, and took turns putting each other into it and putting a big wooden board on top. For me I never understood the fun of trapping each other in a hole?! I would sometimes play as the nurse or spy but, for the most part I would just get frustrated with them and their ridiculous ideas. (Ridiculous in my opinion at the time) The only times I ever got to play exactly what I wanted to play with no annoying boy twisting the story was on rainy days. While the boys watched a movie or played Lego's I got to make forts and play with my dolls in my bedroom. I loved the lightning and rain as the lights glowed and twinkled and my imagination came alive. It was quite relaxing and I enjoyed the time to myself.

Plain old rainy days a great but when you throw in the thunder I am in heaven! I love love love falling asleep to the sound of rain on the roof and I have been blessed all my life to have a room that is either up stairs or the house is only one level. Rain is such a beautiful sound. At my home in MN there was a leak somewhere in my closet but, I could never find it because, I am pretty sure it was right behind the wall. But as I laid in my bed listening to the torrents of rain coming down I would also hear this one solitaire rain drop dripping in my closet, it was such a comforting sound. Peaceful.

Another thing I love about rainy days is Adele. On those cold rainy days when you are snuggled up inside the voice that one usually prefers to listen to is Adele's. Probably due to the fact that her voice and types of melody's just match the rains. (Maybe cus she has a song about rain as well? haha.) I relish the feeling of curling up with a good book with Adele's voice singing in the background. There is just something about a day like that.

Now I know this is quite a big leap from calm and relaxing but, every great once in awhile if I really don't feel like being calm and restful on a rainy day, me and my brothers will head over to the trampoline while it is down pouring. I hardly ever go on the trampoline but, when I do it is usually while it is raining. When I move out and get my own house or apartment and have a back yard I may just have to buy a trampoline for those rainy days. ;)

For me rainy days are my (usually my) stress relieving days. I am the type of person who enjoys being with people allot but, if it's raining I am probably in my room listening to Adele, and working on some Pinterest craft. Growing up rainy days have always been a day that I hide out. I don't really know why but it has become habit and lets just put it this way I love and adore rainy days. The only thing that could maybe possibly make it any better would be kissing in the rain....but we won't go there right now.

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater
Isiah 55:10

All My Mamas

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and as I sat around the table with friends, I was very thankful for everything good and bad that has happened in my life to get me to that exact spot. But the thing that I was most grateful for this year was all my mamas. I have 4 moms; and each of them are very different and they each bring something extremely different but also extremely good into my life. I don't know what I would do with out you mamas! I love you all.

1.My Real Mama:
My real mama has been with me since I was born. Strike that since before I was born. Without her in my life I would not be the young woman I am today. She is the one who taught me how to be strong, how to cook and take care of a family. She has put up with bad attitudes and loads of laundry. She has taught me many many things, from how to be hospitable, kind, and loving to how to properly scrub a toilet seat. Through our highs and lows she has shown me what it is to be a strong and stubborn woman.

Dear Real Mama,
Even though we don't agree on quite a few things and even though we have our differences. I want to say that I still love you. I really have learned so much from you and I treasure all the knowledge that I have. I am growing up now and am about ready to leave the nest, but I just want you to know you're one of the main reasons I have stable and strong wings to fly away on.
Your Little Girl,
Laura Jane

2.My Second Mama:
My second mama has know me since I was 5 years old. Every time my parents left on vacation without us or needed a babysitter my second mama would step in and take us into her home. I feel like we grew up in two homes in MN, because when I walk into my second mama's house, I feel as if I am home. The building is only a small part of it though, it is actually the mom inside that makes it home. My second mama has been there for me since I can remember. I have learned lots from her as well. She has taught me how to be patient and calm. She has taught me to wait for the good to come out of a bad situation. She has always had confidence in me and what I do.

Dear Second Mama,
Without your love and support of who I am, there are a lot of things I wonder if I could have done at all. When I am feeling down you seem to have a way of lifting my spirits and making life seem like a wonderful place again. I know that I am always in your prayers through everything that I go through in life good or bad. And I love knowing I have somebody like that.
All My Love,
Laura

3.My Crazy Mama:
My crazy mama, is definitely what her name sounds like. She is crazy but, the best crazy I have ever known. My crazy mama has given me motivation ever since I was a little girl. There is one big thing that I love about my crazy mama. She has dreams. You only need to know my crazy mama for one week and you will know that this is true. She will come to you and say. I have the BEST idea EVER!! And sometimes I am thinking mom settle down I don't know if you are going to want or be able to do that! The thing I have learned from her though is she doesn't care what other people think about her ideas. She goes after them. I have watched many of her ideas and dreams spring to life. I have even helped with some of them and I love watching her face when she gets super excited for what God is doing with the idea He gave her.

Dear Crazy Mama,
I have definitely learned more than how to be crazy from you. I have learned how to listen, and have an appetite to learn. I will never forget the Sunday I came over to your house and we sat in the porch and went over some Bible verses for probably 2 or 3 hours. It meant allot to me. You have also taught me how to go after the dreams God has put into our souls. They are very real and I love watching yours come to life. It makes me very excited for when mine start to become a reality. Thanks for being a supporter and a dreamer.
Much Love and Dreams,
Laura

4.My Loving Mama:
My loving mama has also know me since I was 5 years old. My loving mama always has a box of animal crackers, a listening ear, and a loving heart. Whenever anything exciting happened we would skip on over to church or her house to tell her the great news. No matter how big or small it was she would always smile, ask us questions about it, and give us a big hug. Whenever crisis hit no matter what her loving arms were there to pick us up. The biggest thing I have learned from my loving mama is how to listen. I am not always a good listener but, I know how it feels to be listened to and I want to be able to give that gift to other people.

Dear Loving Mama,
All I have to say is thank you. Thank you for putting up with us noisy kids bursting into your office almost every single day. Thank you for listening to me. Thank you for showing me where the chocolate animal crackers are hidden. Thank you for showing me what it means to love and be loved. I don't know what I would do without your love for me and my brothers!
Your Animal Cracker Thief,
Laura

Snowball

Snowball. My precious Snowball. Snowball is my stuffed animal who has saved me from many a night of bad dreams and has made me feel at home in any bed anywhere. If there was one thing I could rescue from a fire (other than people) it would most definitely be Snowball!

I will never forget the day that me and Snowball met. It was Christmas time and I a six year old girl was obsessed with stuffed animals. I had every single type of stuff animal you could imagine! There was a snake, a pink and purple bunny, a frog, cats, dogs, etc. You get the idea any animal I probably had it and in many different shades most likely. But the day Snowball came into my life was completely different. I unwrapped the furry little guy he was a black and white snow tiger! As I held him there under the Christmas tree I named him Snowball. Later on I read the tag on his leg and it said his name was Snowball as well! It was our bonding moment!

As I grew up I grew tired of my stuffed animals. Most of them were given away or donated to Goodwill. But one animal stayed. One animal had the love and bravery in his stuffed little heart to protect me through my nights. One little animal had the compassion to be with me through every tear filled night. One animal toughed it out through every messy room and brother filled day. That little animal is Snowball. Snowball with his unique soft fur and his little pink button nose. Snowball made the cut and has been with me ever since.

Many people would argue with me and say that stuffed animals do not have personalities. And for the most part yah I would have to agree with you. Snowball on the other hand is different, he is the nicest and most patient stuffed animal you will ever meet. He has great style advice and he loves to just sit there and listen to you rant. He can take a beating from my brothers and still be able to forgive them. I am always learning something from my patient little animal.

He is getting older now, since he has decided to stick around with me through better or worse he has gotten a little roughed up. When you look at him now you don't see the perfectly cute and cuddly snow tiger anymore. He now has a hole in his head, (and I have no idea where it came from) his fur is matted, and the colors of his fur have faded. But through it all he has remained faithful and loving. He is still my baby. I love you Snowball!

Proper Bug Killing

Living in GA has brought on a whole new realm of bugs. In Minnesota I can think of dealing with spiders, ticks, mosquitoes, and maybe a few centipedes. Well let me tell you in Georgia they have these except a "little" larger, PLUS they have other species of insects. First let me throw out there that I am not complaining and I am really not afraid of bugs. I just prefer not to have them living in the house. Because of this I have come up with the perfect bug killing solution for when nobody is around. (Let me pause here and state if there are people around and by people I mean guys, just scream like a little girl even if you are not afraid of the bug; it's just nicer for you and the guy if you let him kill it. They like feeling like a hero and I'm sure you don't enjoy cleaning up bug guts!)

If there are no guys around though, I am about to demonstrate the perfect bug killing theory. When we first moved into our house down here I was home quite often by myself and nobody had sprayed for bugs in quite awhile. Well as I was sitting on the couch (probably typing a blog like I am doing now) something ran by me feet. I looked down to see a scorpion. Yes I swear to you I know what a scorpion looks like and so I know for certain that it was most definitely a scorpion. Of course I got up and squished it with a shoe! When my dad arrived home from work I announced to him that I had killed a scorpion today. His first question...Are you sure it was a scorpion? YES!! Positive!! Next question....How big was it? Medium sized as far as scorpions go!!! Next question....Was it really that big? I don't think it could have been that big. Of course I usually just roll my eyes and ask if he could just pretty please spray for bugs!

This happened quite a few more times with cockroaches and big spiders. Because, he is the nice man that he is, he sprayed for bugs, got spider spray, (which does not work) and cockroach traps. (Which I know work) I sincerely appreciated this but, now that fall is upon us and the weather is cooler the spray does not keep all the bugs out. And telling my father that the bugs really are huge and gross and that they have to go does not help. I got to thinking how am I going to convince him that the bugs really are that big and disgusting while at the same time being able to kill them?!?

Well one day as a huge spider crawled out of the laundry pile the idea struck me. Grabbing my phone I quick snapped a picture of the grossness than stomped on the spider. Cleaned him up and threw him away. When dad got home that day I said hey dad there was a HUGE spider in the laundry today. Of course he said you are probably just exaggerating and I of course smirked and said well I got a picture of it! He was very excited to see this "tiny" spider that I had so amazingly killed today. I showed him and he took me seriously about that bug. I have also realized that if I don't get a picture there is no way you can convince a guy that it was as big as you really say it is! So below are the 5 steps to killing a bug. (Warning pictures are added so that you believe me)


Step 1. Scream just in case somebody is around

Step 2. Quickly run and grab your phone or camera (Be quick! You do not want that bug running away!!)

Step 3. Snap a picture.

Step 4. Squish the bug with a shoe or anything within reach. (Note: On your run to grab your phone or camera try picking up a shoe on the way back to the insect. It takes practice but once mastered the whole process works quite efficiently.)

Step 5. Clean up the guts and wait for the guy(s) to get home.

One last things take pictures of the snakes that you run into as well! That way the guys can know what kind of snake and how big it was.

Biggest centipede ever! I hate them!

Huge spider in the laundry! (This pic looks different cus it was taken with my old phone
 and it wouldn't transfer so its a little blurry but, you can definitely see how large it is!)

Even though it's just a little beetle it still counts! 

Wild Blueberry Muffins

Since we have not gone blueberry picking since leaving Minnesota we have been short on our normal blueberry quota. Last night as I opened the freezer to get out a pack of our hand-picked wild blueberries.....I realized that it was the last bag. Dread filled me as I realized we would now have to buy the big ones from the store. (Which are good, but after you eat wild berries they are not as fantastic) In honor of the last of the wild Minnesota berries I decided to make a recipe tutorial on blueberry muffins. We have used this recipe easily 100 times. Love it! (And it's quick and easy)


 Wild Blueberry Muffins:

 1 egg
 1/2 cup milk
 1/4 cup vegetable oil
 1/2 cup sugar
 1 1/2 cup flour
 1/2 tsp salt
 2 tsp baking powder
 1 cup blueberries

To start off just pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees.

Now you mix the egg, milk, and oil up in a bowl.

After the liquids are thoroughly mixed you are going to mix in the sugar, flour, salt, and baking powder.

Just make sure there are no flour lumps and than that's all the stirring you have to do.

Finally you are going to fold your blueberries in. Wild or store bought or dehydrated if you want. (Mine are wild)

And last but not least put your dough in the muffin tins. (If you don't have paper muffin cups just spray the pan. Personally though they taste a little different when I have to spray.) Bake them at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Voila!

Why Don't You Date?

The question should not be why don't you date, but why are you not dating currently? Or something along those lines. I'm guessing allot of people think something like this. "Ok we have know Laura for quite awhile now she hasn't had a boyfriend yet, she is pretty so I'm sure she gets asked. Why doesn't she date?" Then the question comes, "Laura, why don't you date?" Of course I could say allot about why I don't date but, there is never enough time or the question gets whispered to me during church. I usually say something like "I just haven't found the right guy yet." Or "I am young and have no need to rush things" Or "I have chosen not to date at the moment" The last one sorta makes people frustrated cus, obviously they already figured that one out. But NOW when people ask me "Laura, why don't you date?" I will just tell them to come right here and read all about why I "don't" date.

At every job or sport or any thing done with my peers, I would get asked out once or twice or flirted with but if I said no or never flirted back than two things would happen first the guys would obviously say "Hey that Laura girl is hard to get." So then of course one of them would try really hard to get my attention and get me to go out with them. Let me tell you it was never like a cold hearted "NO" when they asked. Sometimes everything in me wanted to say: "YES! YES! YES!" After that the story would go around that "Laura does not date anybody ever." End of story no more guys asking me out in that place.

So what made me say no? Why didn't I say yes? What is my problem?! I think the easiest way to explain it is to show you my thought process when a guy asks me out. First of all I ask myself a few questions: Where am I going in life? Where are they going in life? Is it worth it if they are going the opposite direction in life? Do I want to live in the moment or save my heart from breaking multiple times before finding the guy that I am going to marry? How is this person going to affect me now and later on in life? Now allot of people would say but what if you passed up you soul mate?! Guess what?! I already have a soul mate for life and I know where He wants me to go in life so if I don't find a guy that has the same or close to the same goal why would I bother? Now this sounds all fine a dandy and you are probably thinking easy for you to say Laura.

Well I would like to clarify right here and now that none of this is honestly that easy to put into practice. It is actually quite difficult. Having to say no to a guy you like is actually a really hard thing to do. I know allot of people feel bad about saying no, so how do I have the heart to say it? As long as from the get go I know that no I will never date this person there is no point; than I need to also not flirt or lead that person on. If they ask me out and I have lead that person on I should feel very badly about saying no. (And I am not perfect, it has happened  before and the toughest thing is apologizing, saying no, and letting it go.) Otherwise I should not feel bad at all about saying no at all. Trust me most of the guys I have said no to got another girl a few months later.

Another thing is I don't ever want to just jump into a relationship. Say I meet a person that does have similar goals, I'm not going to be like: "OH MY GOODNESS, I FOUND YOU!! LETS GO ON A DATE RIGHT NOW!!" Nah not at all. I want to be friends with whoever I am going to end up dating or getting married to in the end. Feelings don't last forever but, friendships can if treated with respect and honor. Also I may meet a guy that is going in the same direction as me but, that does not automatically mean that he is "the one."

So in summary why am I currently not dating? I am not dating because, honestly right now where I am in life I would learn to lean to heavily on the guy and not my creator. Before I am going to even contemplate dating anyone ever is if my relationship with the man who created me, and has held my heart for years and years is in a good place. If I am not fully relying on and trusting Him with my life; than I am not ready. Especially right now when I am going through allot, if I start dating somebody they are going to become my "solid rock" which, is not a healthy thing to do because, we are all human and all humans make mistakes and hurt people. And that is why I "don't" date.