The Morga

Right now I'm listening to my niece's blog's playlist to see what they like and it makes me chuckle. Yes, Emma, Abbey, and Caitlyn, I'm talking about you :D I hear a lot of the popular songs all day long at work on the radio and they drive me CRAZZZZZY! It was cool to be in the know at first, but they all sound the same after time. And some of them are plain dirty. A little shock to my country infused music. Yes, there are some dirty country songs, especially Garth Brooks, and there are some corny ones that talk about their dog, their ex-wife, a firecracker...but a lot of them are good. Like listen to "Tough", "Rain for the Roses" by Craig Morgan, "Your Man" by Josh Turner, "Letter To Me", "Come on Over Tonight" by Brad Paisley, "Godspeed (Sweet Dreams)" by Dixie Chicks, "Days Go By" by Keith Urban, "My Front Porch Lookin In" by Lonestar, "Little Man" by Alan Jackson and tons of others!

I don't really want to know what are in the Ke$ha and Lady GaGa songs. They're catchy but raunchy. And don't fit with my style of life.

Country. Genuine. Easy-going. That's what I'm about. And that's the life I want.

It's been fun reading up about agriculture, agronomy, hunger, and agroecology. I'm taking a little break from my researching stint, it's been going on for five months and I'm a little put off with all the opinions and arguments people have. I finished reading "The Pioneer Woman: Blacks Heels to Tractor Wheels" by Ree Drummond. It was good. Makes me want a cowboy even more. And I'm working my way through "The Dirty Life" by Kristin Kimball. It's a book about a city girl who falls for a farmer when she goes to interview him. I love it so far. So they're still books about farming and ranching but in story form and without all the politics and other jargon.

And I'm moving home in a week to start on my adventure of getting that farm one day!

Here's some photos of late: Jaime and I went on a photo shoot in the forest cause we don't have a lot of pictures of us as roommates.

Well friends...I've been absent from this blog for 7 months. I'm sorry. To those who read this anyway. Many changes have happened as usual but these last several months have included dramatic, sort of life changing events.

#1: I have a new roommate who is great. She has her own room and replaced my other roommate Sarah who moved back to home in Oklahoma in Feb. Holly moved in beginning of March. She's been a bum ever since she moved here and now she's hopefully going to get a job soon. She's a chemical engineer and worked for Dow Chemical in Michigan before she moved here to Flagstaff. She made Styrofoam, which I learned from her is a name brand, just like Band-Aid. There actually isn't such a thing as a Styrofoam cup.

#2: I withdrew/quit/dropped out/closed the lid from school. I don't know the best way to say that little tid bit of info. It's a hard decision but I made it. I left NAU in the middle of March. So I actually got a 3 week long spring break and then some. It was very difficult for me. A mess does not give enough credit as to how I was at that time. But it was better than having a heavy burden on me, of dreading going to school each morning, being woke up every morning around 7 with my heart pounding as soon as I opened my eyes. I could not go back to sleep after that. I would go to my accounting class at 8 AM and would feel like throwing up or was shaking the entire time through class. My professor, Dr. Bain, scared me. He literally was the "bain" of my existence at that time. I would come home after class and would go to sleep. Yes, I needed to do homework, I needed to study and try to understand the foreign language in my classes...but I would just cry when I would think about it and accounting. I would sleep to escape. That's the only way my heart would stop pounding and I could not be in reality. I didn't want to quit, take a break...I only had a year left after I finished this spring semester. I was so close and I'm not a quitter.

I had started an accounting internship with a well-known Flagstaff CPA firm. I started that in January. I left in February so I could focus on school. I was working 20 hrs a week and taking 12 credits. 2 accounting classes, 1 finance class, and 1 management class. Sounds doable. Just not with accounting. It is, but I was not in the right mind set to handle all the stress. And I had a hard semester in the fall and was hoping for an easier time in the spring. My life was surrounded by accounting and I was in the thick of the trees and couldn't see the forest.

That's that, I left school.

#3: I didn't have a job any longer since I quit the internship. I was going to get a loan while I was in school...but I wasn't in school anymore so that option was out the window. I thought of moving back home. Option but not one where I would have the best time. So I needed to get a job. And I know, with having 6 or 7 jobs now since I've turned 16, it takes about a month from when you turn in the application until you hopefully land the job.

I stopped working in mid-February. I didn't get a job until the end of April. That last paycheck didn't last very long. And since I wasn't in school anymore, the deal was off with Dad and Mom having them pay my rent each month. So that added another $300 expense to my monthly budget. Here's what I did:

-I had an emergency stash of cash of about $230. I was talking to my roommate Jaime once and was just expounding my thoughts of how I have this money saved for emergencies only. She looks at me funny when I say, "Is this an emergency?" I did not anticipate this kind of emergency. I was thinking of more there would be a fire real close and I would have to evacuate the area and I would have to get at least half a tank of gas to make it 300 miles home. And I have about 30-$1 bills so that I could pay exact amount for gas and not have to lose $10 because I only $20 bills and all the gas stations are running out of change because everyone is getting gas. Yeh, having to pay rent with this emergency money, totally not the dramatic emergency expense I was envisioning.

-I lived off my small supply of food storage. Mostly just beans and canned fruit. Oh, and eating mashed potatoes from potato flakes plain. At least I had that. And I would bum off friends who were more fortunate than me at this time. Glad to know I have good friends.

-I night sat for a family, well, just the 2 kids they had for two nights to bring in some quick money and a job that I didn't have to commit to...so that I could take a better one instead of a fast food job. That brought in $100.

Let me tell ya, interesting times. Learning times too. Now, to the good part!

I'll sum this up real quick since this post is already long enough.

I got a job with the Flagstaff Athletic Club in the end of April. Right when I was interviewing for this job, my bishop calls and asks if I want to work at his law firm as a data entry clerk. I applied to FAC so that I could get out of an office and the plan I had of pursuing accounting and bringin in the big bucks. I was a little bitter about office and professional jobs. But, it would be $10/hr. FAC I only get $7.50. I told him no, well, that I would take it if I didn't get the job at FAC. Long story short, I am now working at both FAC and McGuire Gardner Attorneys at Law. I work 45 hours a week and have to change my clothes sometimes 3 or 4 times a day. I only have an official lunch break on Tuesdays but I also work from 4:45 AM to 5 PM on that day.

Crazy stuff, eh? But I'm much happier, especially compared to where I was 2 months ago. Life is good. Here are a few pics to show it.

To continue on from my last post, here's the little squirrel caught in action. He and his friends have been around quite a lot and my friends have even seen them, too.

The major snow storm. Jaime's car is under all that snow. Got 3' this storm.

Up to the waist.

Getting out of the house a little bit after being snowed in for 3 days.

Friday Night Activity, Skit in a Bag. You have random props and certain words you are supposed to use. Makes for good times.

Gateway Mall in SLC. Met with my best friend Carrie there!

And the freak snow storm. Sunny one min and snowing buckets of dippin dots the next.

We were takin pics from the side, just trying to see what we could capture. We had snuck into a hotel and went up to the highest floor, 15th. Carrie didn't know that they don't have a 13th floor in high rise buildings as I showed her in the elevator in the Radisson. But look, there's a door on the 13th floor with a 13 sprayed on the entrance.

A side pocket capture. Downtown SLC.

Took a little detour on the way back to Flagstaff after my 3 week stay home. Always wondered about these little towns called Bumble Bee and Crown King. Now I know exactly what Bumble Bee is made of. This is off I-17.

And this is why I was always so intrigued by these towns, cause there are these beautiful mountains but it doesn't look like their inhabited. These mountains are the ones you can stop and look at at the Sunset Point rest stop.

We went on a hike on a relatively warm day in March and there was this tiny little waterfall. It made my day. Anytime I can get to see water, I'm happy. Especially water in AZ!

Jaime and I watched all of Anne of Green Gables and wanted to replicate her hair after we were done.

Jaime's replication...while looking like an old Granny with squinty eyes.

Detour on the way to the temple...stopped by Montezuma's Castle and it happened to be National Park week so we got in free!! And I don't know why I look so pudgy in this photo. Wasn't sucking it in :)

Verde River at Montezuma's Castle.

A heart shaped prickly pear cactus pad.

Jaime forgot Sunday shoes at the temple. Makes me laugh. She said she got some strange looks in the temple.

Runnin through the fields at home.

Farnsworth fields. And Huachuca mountains.

Trying to get to the river and stoppin to take a band picture. Emma took this pic for us.

Crazy mother. :D

Had to shove all the stuff far into my trunk so that all 4 of our luggage could fit. Also put this up to represent when I worked with Dad on replacing my rear struts on Memorial Day weekend. I was in the trunk for most of the job.