If I could describe my Thanksgiving in one word I would have to use the word silly. There were many funny little moments that happened that day that I don't want to forget. 

It has been so wonderful sleeping in the past few days. I feel that sleep is one way that we can recover from the the weeks of late studying. I would argue that there is no better feeling than waking up naturally, without the grating sound of alarm bells. 

I woke up to the smell of turkey roasting in the oven. I crept up the stairs to help mom with the upcoming festivities. I pity my dad and brothers. All they did was sit on their asses and let mom and I do all the preparations. I wish they would help every now and again. 

Fast forward a few hours, one set of grandparents pulled up. I'm going to be honest, they are my favorite grandparents. Is that terrible to say? Probably. I was so happy to see them. They always bring laughter and great stories with them. 

Grandma and I were peeling the potatoes for our feast, talking about life, school, boys (or the lack thereof). She always has such an interest in me. To feel validated is a craving that I don't know will ever be satisfied. But she helps with that. She called me a sexy mama... She makes me laugh.

Later, Grandpa motions me over. He told me that they were so proud of me and all my accomplishments. He helps with the whole validation thing too. He slips me a twenty and tells me to use is as burger money, or to treat myself in some way. Little does he know he just gave me grocery money for the next two weeks. I'm grateful for that.

The other grandparents showed up. It is always an adventure with them. Grandma is in a motorized wheelchair and our bathroom is up some stairs. Dad improvised a makeshift ramp to get her to her destination. She revs up her engine and guns it up the ramp. And I suppose by guns it I mean she goes about point five miles per hour with my dad and brothers pushing her up the rest of the way. It is quite a spectacle. Coming back down is even better, but I will leave that up to your imagination.

There were many laughs and stories that day.  But there was some contention and pain as well. There always seems to have some of that creep in. And all that self confidence, all that validity that I gathered up as just washed away. Washed away like a leaf down a raging torrent of water. This is a common occurrence when I am around my older brother. I suppose the best thing to do is to act invisible around him. Which is something I do, although rather begrudgingly.  

All in all, it was a good holiday. The good far outweighed the bad. 

Until next time

--Aubs 

Yesterday was yet another fantastic day(joke) at the turkey plant. Nothing gets me ready for the day of netting turkeys quite like being whistled at by random strangers. This happened a number of times in the first five minutes. It is really annoying to say the least. Good thing that I am a pro at ignoring the people that I don't like. I would report it to the HR crew, but I know they won't do anything. What a freaking great place to work. 

The only highlight was that I was able to leave sooner than I expected. I don't know about you, but there is no better feeling than pulling out of work knowing that you don't have to go back for a few weeks. 

Today was much better. I took two naps. That's right... TWO! GLORIOUS! I never realise how tired I am until I sit down and fall asleep. Although don't think that's all I do. I also made two pies and visited with long lost friends. All and all it has been a wonderful, school free day. 

Hopefully Tomorrow will be a good day. It's always a little worrisome having all the grandparents... They are very opinionated. I will keep you updated...

Peace

--Aubs 

Stop right now. What are you doing right at this moment? Are you in class? Are you at home helping mom make some pies for the upcoming festivities? Whatever it is, just take a moment to drink it in. Pay attention to the details. Explore every possibility.

For me, right now I am stilling in the library at Snow College. I have been here for a few hours working on a paper examining culture's role in small-town economics. Super exciting, am I right? Not really, but there are interesting things going on all around me. So I thought I'd fill you in.

I am situated in the perfect location for people watching. I am in a squishy chair facing the staircase and the bookshelves. Because of this I have been able to see a myriad of people drift in and out of the building. I find human interaction fascinating. Observing it is one of my favorite pass times. So if you ever see me watching you, it's because you intrigue me, not because I'm creepy. Each student that has passed me has a dream. The kid in the white polo shirt and khakis may dream of becoming a heart surgeon, or maybe even the President. The boy who has been napping in the corner may be dreaming of the girl he is madly in love with. The girl who was interrupted in her studies by some random dude may be dreaming of getting back to her calculus homework. 

I have may dreams. Some of them I want to come true right now! For instance, I wish that I didn't have to work today so I could go visit my family. Other dreams I want to hold off for a while. I dream of having a husband and kids, but I know that I am nowhere near ready. I also want to live my life and discover my own truths. 

I want to travel. I want to meet people from all over the world. I want to know other's stories. I want to write my own story. 

Another dream of mine is to help people. There is so much sadness and cruelty in the world. I want to improve what I can. Being kind to people is huge! I read a post early this morning about this. Think about it. How can we become better?

Today I took my weekly lunch trip to Chick-Fil-A and had this deep and inspiring AH-HA! moment: What if human beings treated each other the way Chick-Fil-A treats their customers? Every time I go through that drive thru, it’s like the best three minutes of my life. The employees always ask me how my day is going, if I have any plans coming up, give me compliments. And even though they’re mega fast, they don’t make me feel rushed. They’re probably even nice to the customers that aren’t nice back! I don’t know guys... I’m not the best person at being nice or stepping out of my comfort zone to make someone feel comfortable or accepted or loved, but if we all made the world a little more like Chick-Fil-A, I think there would be less hate and misunderstanding, and more love and acceptance.

--Aubs

Have you ever had a pre-Thanksgiving in celebration of the real thing? Well that is exactly what my homies and I did yesterday. We decided that we needed to practice for the main event. 

As poor college students without much experience you wouldn't expect much of a spread. I think you would have been surprised at what we came up with. Rolls, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, turkey, and of course pie! We had the whole works! 

For the past few months my best friends and I (who also happen to work at the turkey plant) have been swearing up and down that we would NEVER eat turkey again! I mean after you spend countless hours there smelling that smell, can you really blame us? Well that resolution disintegrated pretty quickly. I did partake of that wondrous bird. I suppose that there is a real difference between the raw and the cooked turkey. 

It was a good evening, there was one young man there from South America. It was his first experience with an American Thanksgiving. It was fun watching him try new foods! I told him the story of the Mayflower and the first Thanksgiving. I think he was paying more attention to his full plate than me, that's ok. I feel that it is important to remember our roots and where we came from. I have a special connection with this story because one of my great great great (probably more greats) grandfathers played an important role in it! William Bradford. He was the Governor of the Plymouth colony for a time. 

I am so thankful for my heritage. The actions of my ancestors inspire me to do better and work harder. I am also so thankful for my wonderful friends. They are the best friends I could have asked for. 

--Aubs 

“Thus out of small beginnings greater things have been produced by His hand that made all things of nothing, and gives being to all things that are; and, as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shown unto many, yea in some sort to our whole nation; let the glorious name of Jehovah have all the praise.”
– William Bradford

   

As promised here is a long awaited turkey story! As I mentioned in my first post, I have a glorious job at the local turkey plant. I decided to dedicate this post to the story of the giblets.

If you don't know what a giblet is you're not missing out.... Essentially they are the internal organs of the turkey used by some to make gravy! 

Any who, on this fateful day I had gone over to the netting table as usual, alas my supervisor came and moved me to the assembly line of raw turkeys. Keep in mind my supervisor is a tiny little Hispanic woman who is a little hard to understand. 

Well on came the turkeys. They were dropped from the moving hangers and put through a machine to tenderize them. They were then placed onto the belt. They are first stuck with one of those automatic thermometer thingers. The next in line was me. The giblet girl. I had to shove these little bags full of organs into the butt of the turkey. And it was terrible! The smell, the frozen fingers, it is the pits. And you can't forget the smell!! 

Ok, for reals, the belt goes hecka fast and it is hard to keep up. So, when they got to me, I'm not going to lie, I may have missed a turkey or three or twenty... But that is beside the point! My supervisor comes over, sees that I'm aboard the struggle bus and jumps on to help me!

She proceeds to tell me that I'm doing it wrong, and shows me the "correct" way to do it. However, the way that she shows me is the. exact. same. way. I. was. doing. it..... She flung me into the thick of it once again. I didn't do much better... They moved me to a different spot shortly after. Needless to say they have never put on on giblet duty again.  

Frozen fingers and all it was a great learning experience... Fake it till you make it.

TTYL
--Aubs

Happy days. Yesterday was the first little inkling of winter. It snowed for point five in the afternoon and quite a bit in the evening. There is only 38 days until Christmas. However, I like to think of myself as a purist when it comes to the winter holidays. I believe that they all deserve equal attention! It shouldn't go straight from Halloween to Christmas. I mean Thanksgiving is the freakin bomb! It is the one day a year that we aren't judged for getting fourths of Grandma's pretzel jello salad! (Although the judgment has never stopped me before...) 

Sooooooo, in honor of Thanksgiving next week I decided to dedicate the next few days to turkey stories. The majority of them will probably come from the glorious turkey plant because that is where most of my turkey stories come from. 

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I did want to start today off with a little different type of turkey tale. This story happened over a decade ago, but I still remember it like it was yesterday. This story began at my grandparent's house on Thanksgiving. It was quite a day full of food and fun! Us cousins were wreaking havoc as per usual. Pretending that we were aliens with olives on our fingers, sneaking as many rolls as we could, eating said rolls in the safety under the blankets in the guest rooms. 

It was all well and good, I was just a little girl having the time of my life. What I didn't know was what my parents were holding in. You see, my dad was part of the National Guard and he had received a phone call the previous day. He was to be deployed in January. My parents decided that it was best to keep that bit of information to themselves. They didn't want to ruin the festivities for the rest of us. Looking back now I am very thankful for that. 

The following day they sat my siblings and me down and explained what was going to happen. I was young, so I didn't fully comprehend what was going to happen. Essentially my dad was going to leave for a period of 18 months to serve our country.

Those 18 months were some of the hardest that my family and I have ever had to go through. When there is a key person mission from your life you totally recognize that. Having this happen has really helped me understand the importance of family and loving them no matter what. 

I suppose that what I want to draw from writing this is the importance of not taking things for granted. What we have today may not be there tomorrow. I know that sounds depressing and bleak. I don't mean it to be that way, What I am trying to say is that we should appreciate what we have now. Time, people, dogs, education, everything. All that we have is a gift. If you knew that you wouldn't have it tomorrow how would you treat it today?

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Don't fret, the rest of my turkey stories will actually deal with turkey (or something of the like). I just felt impressed to write this today. I suppose I am feeling homesick for my family. It has been a while since I've been home. I'm ready for that feeling of belonging and understanding that comes with family. 

Things are well.

--Aubs

There is a strange paradox that goes on with my procrastination. I love to be the best of the best. Like top of the class status, but sometimes I have a hard time motivating myself to do the necessary work that goes along with that. Hence why I am writing this blog post instead of doing my accounting homework. I can't be the only person out there who gets into procrastination slumps.

Even writing this post I feel like procrastinating. It has taken me a solid 20 minutes to write the past three sentences. Maybe I'm experiencing my first run in with blogger block. It's like writers block, but different in the sense that it s a blog. (Not that y'all couldn't have figured that out yourself) 

I think the best way to combat procrastination is by not giving in. That is key, but it is so, so hard. 

************************************************** 

Well the truth is I totally gave in to my procrastination... Like for about five hours. However, I did do a few productive things! I read a book, took a shower, and ate cake with my BFF Kenzie. I would argue this time was well spent. 

Every now and again I think it is perfectly OK to take some time for yourself. If you don't you will drive yourself crazy! I speak from personal experience. While I was on my mission I basically worked myself to death. I know that it is expected of missionaries to work themselves to the bone. However, it is not expected that they kill themselves. There was time that I had a fever of 104 and I still went out and worked. Those days are a complete blur. If I could do it over again I would have stayed home and taken a nap. I believe that God understands we all need a little break now and again. 

Procrastination only becomes an issue when it takes over your life. I know there are days that I would love to just stay in bed and watch The Office. But I won't let myself do it because I know I would hate myself after doing so. 

I really don't have anything else to say right now.

--Aubs

P.S. Speaking of The Office....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FApPcYaVtx0

I never really pictured myself as a blogger. Let's be real, the whole blogger thing really isn't my scene. I tend to keep my thoughts to myself until they bubble up in the form of sarcastic comments to my fellow classmates. I would love to sit next to a me in class. I think that I am so hella funny! Well, I make myself laugh and that is all that matters. 

Confession time, I actually had a blog about 12 years ago. It was hilarious to see what was on my mind back in the good old days. It consisted mostly of an adolescent love of goats. I don't know why I was so obsessed with them. I mean goats are so awesome and funny. 

I've decided to dedicate this new blog to my thoughts and experiences that I face. I am a strong believer in humor and laughing through life. That is how I have made it through these past 8,129 (give or take a few) days of life. As stories come to my mind I will tell them. It will probably be very haphazard and not very organized. Kinda sounds like my life and brain.

Honestly I don't know if anyone will ever read this. That doesn't really matter to me. I decided to write this blog for a way of stress relief. I feel like this will be a healthy outlet of my thoughts.

Signing off for now.

--Aubs   

I don’t know about you, but sometimes my day is full of hella awkward moments. At the time it is happening is feels so strange. I get all giggly and girly when I face those situations. Most of the time I don’t know how to react. Let me give you an example.

First off, I need to give you a little background. Right now, I am working a turkey plant. I know, that sounds weird. A turkey plant? What the hell is that. Well hold your horses and I will tell you. Basically, they slaughter 20,000 turkeys a day and I have the glamorous job of netting them. No, I don’t chase them down and lasso them. My job isn’t nearly that interesting. What I do is put the fancy netting on the frozen turkeys you purchase at the grocery store for Thanksgiving. Aside from the bruises, blisters, and smelling like turkey fart, it’s not all that bad… Joke.

At this plant they ship in islanders to work. There is one who has taken a liking to me. I can understand why, I mean hairnets are so sexy. Who can resist an Aubree in hair net? This Samoan dude is named John. At the beginning of our “work relationship” he was my knight in shining armor. Shoving 20+ pound turkeys for 12 hours in one day can be exhausting. He was kind and helped me out. He made my one person job our two person job.

I’m not going to lie to you, I flirted with him. What can I say? It was the hairnet. I think I gave him the wrong idea because now he takes ever opportunity to stand by me and talk to me. The other day he gave me a sticker with something written in Samoan. Obviously I didn’t understand it. All the homies who could read it started to laugh and giggle. So, I joined in. I asked a few of them what it meant and I got varying responses. One lady told me it meant girlfriend. Ummm no thank you. Another said it meant I was hot. Which I am, but still. I took it off because it made me uncomfortable. I proceeded to ignore him the rest of the day. I made the huge mistake of giving him my Facebook information. Now he won’t stop messaging me. Lesson learned don’t flirt with poly boys. Although I should have learned my lesson from my mission… Lesuma, Nuku… Oh well. My life is awkward, and I have accepted that fact and I am ok with it.   

You want to read more stories of my life? Really, I haven’t bored you quite yet? He is one that happened a mere eight hours ago. I was sitting in my Business Law class next to my twin Aubrey. I opened my laptop to look something up. Aubrey asked me as question about something and what I heard was not what she asked. The struggle of being selectively def. What I heard was “Is your boyfriend working?” I broke up with my boyfriend a week ago and she knew that. I responded, “I don’t know, I dumped him a week ago.” She seemed so confused, so I tried to clarify the situation by repeatedly telling her that she knew I broke up with him. Looking more confused, she asked me if my Wi-Fi was working. Obviously, I miss heard her question. Like a lot. My professor said that he heard Wi-Fi as did a few of my classmates. Let’s just say the rest of that class I felt like an idiot. It’s fine. It’s a normal occurrence in my life. 

Thank you for reading my mindless rantings. I'm sure that there will be more stories to follow. I don't know how or when. but they will come. 

--Aubs