Great day!

I received my letter today of my acceptance into the teaching program here at UM-Flint! It is a great day. Also, Michigan vs. Penn State is my favorite game of the year. GO BLUE! :)

Recipes for Halloween

Puppy Chow

     2/3 cup peanut butter

     1 cup chocolate chips

     1-2 cups powered sugar

     8 cups chex mix cereal

Directions: In small bowl, heat the chocolate chips and peanut butter in the microwave until fully melted. Once melted, mix all of the chocolate and peanut butter in with the large bowl of chex mix. Once completely covered with chocolate, pour powered sugar over the top and mix it all together. Easiest done if mix all of the chex mix, chocolate, and powered sugar in a ziplock bag and then shake it all together.

Rice Krispies

     40 marshmallows (big) or an entire bag of mini marshmallows

     6 cups of rice krispy treat cereal

     1 tablespoon of butter

Directions: On the oven, place the tablespoon of butter into a large pan. Let melt completely. Once melted, dump all of the marshmallows into the pan and let those completely melt. Once melted, turn off heat. Pour the rice krispy cereal into the pan and stir. Grease a pan and pour the rice krispies into the pan and even out with spatula. Let cool. Best served that day.

Brownies

     8- 1 ounce squares of unsweetened chocolate
     1 cup butter
     5 eggs
     3 cups sugar
     1 tablespoon vanilla
     1-1/2 cups flour
     1 teaspoon salt

Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 13 pan. Melt chocolate and butter in a saucepan over low heat. In a mixer, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla at high speed for 10 minutes. Blend in chocolate mixture, flour and salt until just mixed. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Cool and frost with orange frosting and decorate.

I love baking! These are just a few of the Halloween desserts I am making this weekend. For more recipes, click on these few links provided! Have a great Halloween!

            Pumpkin Cakes

            Brownies

            Rice Krispy Treats

            Puppy Chow

Cake Decorating - Halloween Jack O Lantern Cake

Halloween!

This week is Halloween. My mom and I decided to make my costume. I am going to be a witch. We bought all of the material from JoAnne Fabrics. Luckily the day we went, all of the fabric we needed was half off so I spent maybe $25 on a costume, which is a lifesaver because costumes these days are completely ridiculous!  (Plus, as a college student, I am literally broke! Well not broke, but I am not allowed to touch my savings account because that is all for Spain.) We bought black and red material. My mom made my skirt, hat, and cape. I had an old corset lying around which matched perfectly. The skirt, cape, and hat were all sewn with the red material. The red material actually has spider webs on the fabric so it is very “Halloween-y.” I am going to Central again this weekend to celebrate. Then on Saturday, I have to work and am going to a work party too! I am very excited. I love Halloween.

For the parties this weekend, I am in charge of the desserts. I love to bake (not cook! There is a difference to me). I am making puppy chow, orange rice krispy treats, a pumpkin cake, and brownies with orange and black frosting. It seems like a lot but I can multitask pretty easily. If anyone wants recipes for these, I will post them on my next post so all of you have some Halloween treats to make! Some of my friends are being some ridiculous things. Most are the normal cat or bunny. However, my boyfriend and all of his roommates are going to be the dragons from Dragon Tales… quite interesting if you ask me. My best friend is Robinhood and her costume is very scandalous… not something I would ever wear! I would like to keep some dignity. Girls will be girls though right!? Overall, next to Christmas and my birthday, Halloween is my third favorite holiday. However, it has changed so much since I was a kid.

This year in my neighborhood, kids must trick-or-treat on Saturday night (Devil’s Night), not on Halloween because it falls on a Sunday. That it just total bogus. Next, they are only allowed one hour to runaround and get candy. We used to be able to go from 4 pm until almost midnight! And, they must trick-or-treat before it gets dark. I think this is just nonsense. This generation is ruining the fun of Halloween. Next, we will probably have to start handing out fruits and vegetables, not candy. I hope kids are still enjoying Halloween like I used to. Even though the economy is horrible, I hope parents are still able to afford costumes and candy. Hope everyone has a great week and Halloween. My next post will have all of those recipes!

Paranormal Activity 2 Fan Trailer Official (HD)

Life

     So, since the past three weeks I have seriously done nothing but work and school, I decided that this weekend, I am going to finally allow some "me" time. I am going to hang out Friday night with just my family. We're going to the movies and a late night dinner at our favorite restaurant- Chili's! We have not chosen a movie yet. Saturday, since Michigan football does not have a game, I am driving up to Central with some girlfriends to hang out with some other friends I have not seen in almost a month, including my boyfriend! It has been too long.
     If you have never been to Central Michigan University, I would suggest doing it at least once. It is CRAZY. There is so much to do, including restaurants, clubs, parties, or just chillin' out with some bowling or laser tag. Since it is around Halloween, there is also a few cider mills and a haunted house this month.

Here is Central's campus if you have never seen it. It is beautiful and outdoorsy!

    My friends are all grown up now. I still live with my parents, but I love doing that. I do not have to pay rent or food money. All of my friends have their own apartments and expenses. I like visiting because of this. I can feel free for a weekend. This Saturday, we are going to watch the Central football game and then we are all going to the cider mill, haunted house, then to see Paranormal Activity 2! It is going to be such a scary night, but then all of us girls are having a huge slumber party in the living room! If anyone has seen it, tell me if it is worth it. I will post a preview of that movie in a few short sentences!
     Once I return home on Sunday, it is back to the grind. I will be studying and doing homework all day. I have two exams this week and one paper due... I thought midterms were over! I guess not. I hope you all have a great weekend.

Basic Skills Exam/Midterms

      In the past week, I had two midterms, two papers due, and the Basic Skills exam. Saturday morning, I woke up and got out of bed at 4:45 in order to be on time for the basic skills test. The closest location to me was about 45 minutes away and I had to be there a little before 7. So, the worry wart that I am I got up a little earlier than needed. I think overall, the basic skills exam was easy. I do not find out my results until November and then I find out after that if I was accepted into the teaching program or not! Overwhelming stuff... I cannot believe I am already going to be a senior.
     Once I am a senior, I will be only taking education classes. I will have a semester of observations and then I will student teach full-time. I actually had a meeting on Monday night about the next steps into the program. It is going to be a hard last two semesters! Since I am from Oakland County, I do commute to school. One of the policies of the teaching program is to student-teach in one of the district-need schools in Flint. My parents so totally unhappy about this, but I cannot change school policy…If you are interested in taking the Basic Skills Exam, or any of the other subject matter exams, follow this link to the MTTC website!
     The two midterms I had were Spanish and Biology. The Spanish one was very interesting. Since this is my last grammar class for my major, I pretty much had to know all of the concepts of grammar, all verbs, all verb conjugations, all verb tenses, etc. I began studying two weeks in advance, so at least I know I put all of my hard work into this exam. The other exam I had was Biology. It was not as hard as expected. I had two papers due in both of my English classes, but I also believe I did well on those.
     As I mentioned in my previous post, there are several ways to study and I listed all the ones I find helpful in maintaining good grades. Here is a link for more study tips from other college students! Good luck on all the midterms coming up!

Case 39

Here is my review of Case 39! Enjoy! For the video trailer, follow this link! If you don't see this movie, you will not be missing out on anything!

 Case Closed

A scary movie should be one where the audience grips onto their cup holders so tight that the whites of their knuckles show; one where the audience jumps into the lap of whomever they brought along to share the experience; one where everyone in the theater is sitting on the edge of their seats, with bulging eyes. A scary movie should be fast-paced with suspense in every second. It should not be slow, boring, and making a person want to go fill up the popcorn bucket or use the bathroom. Case 39 was not a scary movie. Come to think of it, the last real scary movie I have seen in the last ten years was Paranormal Activity. Only one scary movie in ten years, something needs to change.

Renée Zellweger plays Emily Jenkins, a social worker. She works with children who may be abused, neglected, abandoned, etc. by their parents. She seems to love her job, yet groans at the amount of cases piling up on her desk. Before Lilith Sullivan (nickname Lily and played by Jodelle Ferland) comes into her life, she has 38 cases. Lily is case 39, hence the title. Lily shows no signs of abuse, but signs of neglect. Her parents act ashamed and frightened of their daughter, and also downright crazy at the beginning. Only does it come out that of course, her parents are not the crazy ones, Lily is.

This movie fits the description of the uncanny, little kid who acts all innocent, but turns out to be a freak-killer, kind of movie. After Lily’s parents attempt to kill her by burning her in the oven, Emily rescues and fosters her. At first, things are perfect. It was like Matilda all over again. However, things take a turn for the worse. Emily’s close friends start dying. Doug, played by Bradley Cooper, dies by a sudden attack of bees coming out of his ears, eyes, and mouth; as if that could ever happen. Mike (Ian McShane), a police officer, kills himself while trapped in his car with a police dog. Emily realizes that Lily is a demon, killing off the people close to Emily. Emily devises a plan to kill Lily, because obviously she must die. The ending left me stumped and scratching my head for answers.

For the most part, the plot was not as bad as expected. If the child was not a demon and did not kill people by swarming bees or being caught in the car with a police dog, it could have some potential. The previews made it seem as if Lily had demons chasing her, not that she herself was a demon. The ending was predictable; the girl is a demon and is killing off everyone the protagonist loves, someone must kill her! That is exactly what happens, in that order, too. The movie was slow. The first hour dragged. I actually looked at my watch over four times. I jumped at only one part, which was in the previews for Paranormal Activity 2. Towards the end, the movie sped up because everyone knew that Lily would die, it was just a matter of how and when. The movie also left many things unsaid and had unnecessary details. For instance, Lily had friends in her therapy sessions, held by Doug, before he died. One time, she whispered into another girl’s ear. We never found out what was said. Another instance is the fact that Mike accuses Lily of telling her friend Diego to kill his parents. It was never fully said if that happened or not. When Lily lived with her parents, her father was building a huge, coffin-shaped hole in the basement. Was this for Lily after they killed her? An inappropriate, unnecessary element was that Emily herself started to act crazy. When she locked herself in her room away from Lily, all of a sudden this random, bloody woman started chasing Emily. It made no sense and if I had been the director, I would cut that out.

The director casted Jodelle Ferland perfectly; she was a beautiful girl, who acted as if she wanted someone to love and to be loved back. However, when she needed to be creepy, she did it. Renée Zellweger was not extraordinary, but played the part. Bradley Cooper, for not being the star, did an okay job, too. Ian McShane played a great policeman. It was unfortunate that he died.

Case 39 could have been a scary movie, if the director added scary parts. It was not realistic enough to even be near frightening. However, it was not the worst movie I have ever seen. I would definitely not waste ten dollars to see it in the theater, though. The movie needed more work before it was released. Wait for it to come on DVD. Even then, there will be a better one to rent.

Go blue!

Today, I woke up at 5 am to take the basic skills test for the Teaching Program. I think I did pretty well. More to come about that. I just wanted to say a quick GO BLUE!

Study Guide: Study Cycles

Midterm/ studying tips

     So the past few weeks I babbled about my trip to Spain. I hope all of you enjoyed the pictures. I think studying abroad will be one of the best experiences for me. I need something new in my life. As talked about before, studying in college is a necessity. And why is studying so necessary? Because, everyone will be tested on what they have learned. Also known as midterm and final exams, or just tests in general. Next week, I have three midterms and one paper due. The paper has already been finished so check! I have a midterm in Spanish, Biology, and Theatre. The Spanish midterm is an interesting one. Since this is my last Spanish grammar class for my undergraduate major, our professor is expecting all of the students to remember all that we have learned in the other grammar classes we have taken. I must know all vocabulary words, verb tenses, verb conjugations, sentence structures, etc. It is going to be a lot of work. However I have already begun to study. My exam in Biology will not be that hard. I enjoy anatomy and we are learning about the heart, which is very interesting to me. Theatre is also online, so if I have to, I can use my notes and book. However, never bank on that!

As a student, I have come up with a list of things to do with study. They may be helpful to you as well!

• If you study while drinking coffee, tea, or pop, also drink this when you are taking an exam. (Also applies to chewing gum or candy!)
• Try to outline what you already know, what you barely know, and what you only need to review a little. This helps balance out which subject or topics need to be focused on more.
• I love flashcards for vocab. Quiz yourself.
• Study groups are extremely helpful, when the group actually studies! This is very true because you will be able to teach what you already know to someone else, as well as learn from someone else what they already know.
• Think of tricks to help remember things. For instance, acyonyms help me get through Spanish.
•  When studying alone, find a nice quiet place to relax. Have some QUIET music playing in the background. Too many distractions = no learning.
• Eat a meal before and after studying.
• Take a break about every hour. The brain needs oxygen so take a walk or lay down for about 15 minutes. Breaks are important, do not just study for hours with not pause. No knowledge will be retained.
• Do not wait until the last minute to open the book. A.K.A. DO NOT PROCRASTINATE.

These are just a few of my tricks. I have provided an interesting video as well. It is about how IUPUI (Indiana and Purdue Universities) create these things call study cycles. Have a great weekend! Add some tips for others if you have any I forgot or did not mention!