SIDNEY RIGDON IS OVER!!!!

I am no longer transcribing that stuff. He died July 14, 1876 of paralysis, and I don't want to sound callus, but I was getting seriously tired of it.
So now I'm learning how to be a secretary! And there's nothing to do because Ruth isn't here...so I just thought I'd get that off my chest :)

Political SocioEconomics in The Merchant of Venice, or, I DRESSED UP LIKE A MAN!

Yes, it is as crazy as it sounds. I wish I had pictures. This morning in my Shakespeare class, my research group (there are four of us) did an interpretative performance of the courtroom scene in The Merchant of Venice and then led the discussion for the rest of the class period. It was AWESOME! I got to be Portia, which if you know the play means I got to play the most awesome feminist character in all of literature! She's so cool! 

For those of you who don't know the play (most people know Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet, but not so much Merchant of Venice) the basic idea is that Bassanio (A Nobleman) borrows money from his buddy Antonio (The Merchant) who has to borrow it from Shylock (The Jew).  B and A aren't too worried about it, but Shylock very slyly gets Antonio to agree to a loan which, if it is not repaid with interest on time, requires a pound of Antonio's flesh. I know, gruesome. But Shylock had been kicked and spit on for being a Jew just one too many times, I guess. 

Meanwhile, Bassanio uses this money to go woo Portia, winning her hand through a test with three caskets which her father set up before he died. She had been mistress of her own estate and wealth, but gave it all (supposedly) to Bassanio when she married him. Bassanio, however, then gets a letter saying that Antonio's ships all crashed, so he wasn't able to pay Shylock back, and Portia sends her husband off to try to defent his friend's life, saying she'll wait for him. Portia, then, however, dresses up as Balthazar, a young lawyer, and meets him in Venice at the court. 

The courtroom scene is kind of awesome because all the men are on the edge of their emotions, but then Portia [as Balthazar] at first expounds the idea of Christian mercy, but when Shylock won't budge, she claims that it is impossible for Shylock to get his due without killing Antonio, which is not in the contract. Even worse, however, is when Shylock gives up and is ready to stomp off in a huff, and Portia finds an even more obscure Elizabethan anti-Semitic law saying that if an alien even conspire agaisnt the life of a citizen (Jews were not citizens to Anglican England, even though this was set in Venice) then his life and all his goods were forfeit, half to the victim, half to the state. They give Shylock his life, but then make him promise to be a Christian and give all his goods to his daughter, who has run off with a Christian. It's pretty brutal. 

What I love is that Portia mostly keeps to her role as wife and daughter, obeying her father's wishes even though technically she could do whatever she wanted, and is a good wife to Bassanio, but she is assertive--she holds her own when he tries to defend the fact that he doesn't have his wedding ring (he has given it to "Balthazar" for payment) and defends her relationship to her husband as more important than his relationship with Antonio. She saves the day and TOTALLY wears the pants. She is just AWESOME! And I got to BE her!

For the discussion, we talked about how script and performance are related to scripture versus practice for both the Jews and the Christians, and how our interpretation emphasized that both sides only were true to their "beliefs" when it worked to their advantage. It was fun!

Want to know what's even better? We got a perfect score on our presentation! HOORAY!

I think I'm having a good day. :)

Oh, and 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

So how did it get to be March already?

Time is going by WAY too fast. We're constantly so busy, it's like, there's not even time to do the important things. I'm ready for school to be over. Too bad we're grown-ups who have to be responsible and do things all the time...
So we went to my parents' house in Boise this last weekend for James' baptism, and it was AWESOME! We totally needed a break. Like crazy. So we totally just chilled and had a blast with my family. I loved it :) My family is AWESOME.
Unfortunately, Sammy was having a really bad cold. And being three years old, he's not exactly the most anxious about personal sanitation and germ-spreading. And he and Mike are best friends.
So I had to make Mike stay home today because last night he had a fever of 101 and can't get his nose to stop running, and thus gets nose bleeds too. He's already doing a little better (at least he was before I had to go to work this morning...) but let me tell you, last night when we were falling asleep and he was all freezing and wanted to cuddle me but he was burning up...slightly toasty for me, I tell you!!! :)

Valentine's Day Happiness

Can I just say, my first Valentine's Day being married was the best Valentine's Day ever? This is how our day was. Just thought I'd make you all jealous.
So Friday night when we got home from classes, there were a dozen red roses on the table. APPARENTLY, his boss let him leave work for a while to go hunt down some flowers for me, so they were there when we got home even thought I THOUGHT we were both on campus all day long. Can you say cushy job? So can I :) (I know, I know, I'm one to talk. We're all having lunch tomorrow instead of working...) and that night was our ward Valentine's dance, which was super fun--and the "Sing for your Sweethearts" boys sang "kiss the girl" and made Joe and Stephanie roll around the gym in a trash can "boat" while they sang. It was pretty funny, and we all had a great time dancing the night away :)
I knew he had all of Saturday planned, even though I didn't know what the plan was, so I took advantage of his sleep deprivation and very sneakily got out of bed before him on Saturday morning, made some yummy cheesy scrambled eggs and toast and hot cocoa and woke him up with breakfast in bed. I don't think it was really a surprise, but he'd never had breakfast in bed before, so I totally got some points. And then he proceeded to totally skunk me in the points. Seriously.
After breakfast, we got all pretty and tried to go with the ward to the 10:20 session at the temple, but we totally just barely missed it and we went to the 10:40 session. Can you think of a better way to start the day? I can't. It was AWESOME.
After we left the temple, we went home to get into play clothes (who wants to be wearing a skirt during a snowstorm? NOT ME) and Mike casually suggested we go to Zupa's for lunch, where I had the best "ultimate grilled cheese" I've ever had in my life! (Zupa's does soup, salad, and paninis, if you're not familiar). It was SO TASTY.
And then was the surprise part. He handed me the directions from Google maps, but it had the name of the destination all taken off, so I just knew the street numbers, not where we were going, and it turned out we were going to the ART MUSEUM!! Yay!!! It was so much fun.
*Most exciting part of that adventure: while we were wandering around the museum, there was a little exhibit up in the soviet art (the exciting stuff) that had a ring box and a long-stemmed rose, and the placard said "this ring was given by -------- to -------- on February 14, 2009 to propose marriage for time and all eternity." !!!!!!!! And when we were leaving, we totally saw them! He was totally nervous, and she was totally unsuspecting! It was so cute!! I'm so happy for them!!!
Anyways, I'm already married, and my husband's WAY cuter than hers, so we're moving on...
Then we went home to take a nap, because we'd been up for a while, and totally crashed. When we slept through our alarm, Mike looked all disappointed, and when I asked what was wrong, he said that we "might have slept through our reservations at Macaroni Grill"...so we jumped up, got ready, and we were there by 7, and they gave us the reservations still, even though it was crazy busy, which was good, because if we hadn't had reservations, it was a 2-hour wait...!!!
So then we had the BEST meal ever. Seriously. The waiter was one of the best we've had, and the food was SO good. Mike had his first ever real Italian Soda, and he totally loved it. It was kind of funny-- he was like a little kid :)
So when we got home, he suggested we watch a movie, and I was contemplating what to watch when he announced that he had also picked up (when rose-hunting) a box of strawberries to use our chocolate fondue kit with, and my favorite chick-flick ever! Pride and Prejudice! (I already had the long one, so he got the 2005 version) And we had strawberries and watched it! And it was so fun!
Can you say best Valentine's day EVER? :)

I invented a new recipe last night! Try it out and comment! Or something!

So yesterday was Sunday, and I have this rule that I always want to make a nice hot meal on Sunday nights, just because I love to cook and I never get a chance during the week. But Saturday night was the adult session of Stake Conference, so we were in a hurry before, and I didn't think about what I was going to make until it was too late to go to the store. So I had to experiment.
So I pulled out my little crock pot that afternoon and just started throwing stuff in. I didn't measure--I made some amounts up when I wrote down the recipe, but they're SO imprecise. :) Here's what I used:
2 chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
several generous quirts of ranch dressing
a couple of splashes of lemon juice
about 1/3 package of cream cheese
some generous sprinkling of onion flakes
a pinch each of poppy seed and cumin
maybe 2? Tbsp of butter/margarine or whatever we had
I cooked that for a long time until the chicken was cooked and it was all hot and bubbly, then added about 4 stalks of celery and 1 big carrot, chopped up, then cooked it some more until it was all hot and the vegetables were slightly tender, then served it over noodles. I gave Mike the option of rice or noodles, and he said noodles. But I guess you could try it over rice.
So, any of you that like cooking and/or have a crockpot, you should try this out and see what you think or if there are any adjustments that should be made. This was totally me just pulling everything out of my fridge and dumping in the things I thought sounded good. :)

I got a 34% on my religion test last night!

Okay, so not really. I was just trying to get your attention. I did get a 34%, but it was the wrong test. :)
So Mike and I are taking Religion 234 together, which is the "LDS Marriage and Family" class, and we both LOVE it. We have an AWESOME teacher (Kent Brooks) and it's like, Tuesday nights are the funnest part of the week! (okay, not really. but it's pretty fun!) But anyways, we study together, and read all the material, and it's totally fun and we're learning a lot.
So last night we went together to take the first exam, and I was kind of sick, so I was kind of expecting Mike to do better just because I couldn't think straight. But when we got into the testing center, Mike zipped through it and had to wait for me, and I didn't recognize anything! We've been talking about covenants and the character of God and that kind of thing, but my test was all about dating and finding the right person. I didn't know any of the answers, because it was all quotes from different apostles, but I thought I had guessed right.
So we went outside, and Mike got a 98%, and I got a 34%. I almost died. I've never failed anything in my life! I even got 70%'s in American Heritage! I was seriously depressed, and cried, and was all cranky and sad, because I'd had a really bad day and was sick AND (I thought) had failed a test for the first time in my life!
But while we were walking home, Mike brought up some of the questions, and he said something about the Abrahamic covenant, and I was like, wait a second...
Anyways, we figured out that I had gotten the test that was for the next exam, so we emailed Professor Brooks, and now I'm going to go take it for reals after French tonight.
Haven't I just brightened your life a little bit by making you count your blessings? :)

Holy Cow my life is busy!

I've been meaning to get pictures up of our apartment, but that might not happen for a while. We'll plan on Saturday, after I can get everything cleaned up. :)
I've been up since 6:45 this morning, and I'll be on campus until 8. Gross. But you want to hear about blessings? I had a design project for my CHUM class due at 10:30, and I intended to do it before and after my Shakespeare class (9-9:50) because I had to do it in the MAC lab here on campus. I didn't realize it would take as long as it did.
Blessing: my Shakespeare teacher had told us that she had been summoned for jury duty, but she didn't know if she would have to go today, so she said she'd email us. I didn't get an email yesterday, but I showed up to class, and the only other people there were the ones who hadn't checked their email THIS MORNING. Class was canceled. And I finished my CHUM project. And learned how to use InDesign. And got to eat real lunch at work because Michael packed me one.
Life is good.