Last Blog!!!

So I dont remember if I have to write a blog this week or not but I figured I better do it now or I wont have time tomorrow. This week is in concensus the worst week of a lot of people's lives. It is the week before finals and everyone has their pre- final tests... which basically makes you want to kill yourself! I mean seriously how many tests can you possibly throw on someone. I hate school right now. I have spring fever and dont want to do it anymore! AHHHH I just want to go home and lay around all day and I cant. On top of that I have dance tryouts tomorrow and friday night which I am a little nervous about...not that I have to actually tryout but I have to run tryouts now and I dont really know exactly what I am doing. I will probably confuse people beyond their belief! haha oh well they will catch on eventually.
Ok I am not going to lie I really dont have anything exciting to write about anymore. My life is stressful and not exciting. I am going to Sioux Falls for the summer to work my life away. My boyfriend is also moving back home to Eden South Dakota which means I will hardly ever get to see him... SHITY!!! Then I will be back and forth to Vermillion doing random dance stuff as well. Thats about as exciting as it gets!

STRESSED!

Have you ever found that the more time you have the less you get accomplished? Well that is defintely true for me. I feel that the days that I do not have dance I waste more time than ever! I sit around all day procrastinating, putting everything off untill ten o'clock at night. I have absolutely no focus whatsoever. I never seem to get anything dont until the night before or the last minute when I am so pressed for time that it is always half assed. Even though I no longer have dance practice for three hours a night I get less accomplished than when I have three less hours a day. My life is super busy that I sometimes get so caught up with the stuff outside of my school life that I seem to leave all of the most important stuff for last. It is a terrible way to go about doing things but I seem to do it well! I hate that I am a procrastinator, just think if I would just go to the library and get my stuff done my life would be SOOO easy! However, I sit at home in my red reclyner and think that I am actually going to accomplish something...and I do... 3 hours later... after I have tried to multitask in watchin TV and trying to write a paper do a spanish assignment and think about how I am going to run dance tryouts.
Oh yeah and speaking about dance I am the new Dance Team captain and I have NO idea what I am doing. The old captain didnt really go through anything with me so I am pretty much going into this job BLIND! Me and the other captain are trying our damndest to get things going and started for tryouts and for this summer and we are just having a hell of a time doing! We need to get sheets for tryouts contracts for the girls to sign for liability and for the rest of the year as well as get envelops to send out forms for summer camp, get people to get music ideas, cut CD's get prices for dorms for our girls to stay in when they come as well as write a five page rough draft for English study for two finals next week and stay sain while doing so.... I definitely think I have my work cut out for me, whether I like it or not!

Thesis proposal

Name:_____________________
ENGL 201: Advanced Composition
Instructor: C. Wika


Thesis Proposal for Essay Four: Persuasive Research Paper

Please respond to the following questions. Answers should be relatively thorough, so I know specifically what you will be writing about. Remember, as you continue to do research, it will be vital to narrow your topic. Additionally, as you investigate your topic your stance may change. This is absolutely acceptable and expected in some cases.

I. General Research Topic: Stem Cell Research

II. Thesis Statement and/or Proposal:

There are numerous benefits to Stem Cell Research; however there are many people that are against it.


III. What reasons and evidence support your position on this issue?

There have been many case studies done on Stem Cells and they can benefit all kinds of people in many ways. Because of their ability to grow into any kind of cell they can help change a person’s life. There are however many myths that go along with Stem Cell Research that are untrue.


IV. Imagine all the counter arguments your audience might make. Summarize the main arguments against your position. What are the flaws in the alternative points of view?

Many people will argue that Stem Cell Research is inhumane and that it should not be allowed. They may also bring up the fact that scientists are getting the stem cells from the umbilical cords of aborted babies. However stem cells do come from the eggs from a female they are not fertilized and no babies die through this process. The bad thing is we would need a great deal of women to donate their eggs to continue finding ways to create new stem cells.

Brian Bedard extra credit

Thursday April 12th, Dr Brian Bedard read two of his creative short stories in Farber Hall. Going into the auditorium I really did not know what to expect. His stories were personal stories that were about landmarks in South Dakota. The first was about a catfish and the second was about a boy who hung himself when he was at work and a co-worker found him. The stories were very, I think the appropriate word would be interesting.
When I decided to go to this extra credit opportunity at Farber Hall I did not have a very good attitude. First of all I had just waken up from a nap and I did not really know what I was going into, I just knew that I had to do it. When I got there I obviously did not know anyone there so I frantically searched for a seat farthest away from anyone else. As I sat there and waited for the “show” to begin I was secretly thinking in my head that I hoped it would end soon!
When Dr. Bedard took the stage he introduced his stories as being based on landmarks from South Dakota, which I thought was actually kinda cool. His first story about the catfish truly relates to the lifestyle of many small town South Dakotans. My boyfriend could definitely relate, he loves fishing and all the talk about stringing the bait just right and what time to fish is the best really made me think of him. Also it talked about how the girl Jessica loved living in South Dakota reminded me about how much he loves living in South Dakota in a small town where he can fish and hunt whenever he wants to. It was interesting how you can relate to what he is talking about since it is from your own state.
The second story about the young boy who hung himself at work was also very different. However, it could probably happen to anyone. Being a waitress I know there is no way that I could continue my shift if I found a dead guy hanging in the break room! It amazed me how they made that girl keep working. It was neat how she drove all the way to Sioux City just to pick up his bird and take care of it. She knew that he didn’t have any family members that would do it, so she took it into her own hands. It was definitely a sad but heart warming story.
Overall I was pleasantly surprised with Dr. Bedards stories. He was a good reader and kept his audience entertained. He had parts in his stories that took you off guard for a second but kept you relating this to your own life all at the same time. Therefore I would definitely recommend going and listening to him speak again to anyone that asked.

Listing prompt for research essay

Stem cell research
who has done it already
why people are opposed to it
myths about stem cells- aborted fetus
why people are for it
why people are against it
My opinion
its benefits
its downfalls
how far have they been researched already
what its affects are
positives and negatives

Blog for April 3/5

This Blog is directed to every girl out there that hates getting her period. I mean honestly you just start a diet and your about two or three weeks into it and it crashes. Your unbearable cravings tell you to just eat that brownie, that soft chewy chocolate deliciousness. So after fighting the craving for hours on end you give in, you gobble that brownie with 25 grams of fat and 520 calories so fast you can barely taste the chocolatey sensation. However, once you flip that wrapper around and see the nutrition label you about want to shoot yourself. Your hour and a half work out can't save you now. I seriously go through this endless cycle every month! My cravings get the best of me and I give into food like its a million dollars on my plate. When I am about four days away from getting my period I eat food like it is my job, sweets and junk food are like a thousand dollar bonus on my pay check. However, after everytime I give into the sweetness of those sugary treats I always regret it and wish that I would have just eaten an apple or a piece of celery or something. It is as if someone is holding a gun to my head saying, "EAT THE BOWL OF ICE CREAM OR DIE!" So of course I dont want to get shot so I eat that damn bowl of ice cream and I enjoy it!
But seriously, the only good thing about having this monthly visitor from hell, is the fact that you can always use the line, "Gosh I have just been eating terribly lately... but I have my period" and then every girl around you will sympathize and say "OOOH I hate that!" It really makes me laugh too because once you open the subject about having your period every girl will break out their stories about how they act during their period. For example during my period about the second day into it I am an emotional wreck! A normal conversation with my boyfriend of him teasing me and joking around telling me I have a smelly butt will make me break down in tears! I will get so worked up about it that I wont talk to him for the rest of the day and I will cry myself to sleep. Granted it is not ALWAYS that bad, but it really did happen one time. Another time I watched the movie Tristin and Isolde during my period and I cried so hard that I had to find a different pillow to sleep on that night because I had cried so hard that my pillow was soaking wet.
But basically the purpose of this story is to complain. I am complaining about the fact that the last two days I have been eating like a lineman from a professional football team and I feel like I might be able to outweigh him with all the crap I ate today. It is very depressing when you work so hard to try to lose weight and all your period will let you do is gain it make at the end of each month. IT SUCKS!

Cultural Critic on Little Miss Sunshine

Ali Burkhardt
Cultural Critic #5
Courtney Wika
March 29, 2007
Little Miss Sunshine

Stereotypes are an idea that people hold of someone else based mainly on their association with a particular group. Gender is a stereotype that everyone falls into in one way or another. The movie Little Miss Sunshine has many prime examples of how easy it is to assume stereotypes for people. Although it is not a movie about gender or prejudice it is relevant all throughout the movie when stereotypes are being used when you look closely. The stereotypes used throughout the movie show how this twisted family gets through a trip that they will never forget.
Cheryl is the first character in the movie that has a stereotypical role. She is a wife, mother and sister, and on top of these three roles she is also the primary bread winner of the family. As a wife and mother it is her duty to make sure dinner is on the table for the rest of her family, which she does by having store bought fried chicken and salad. Throughout the movie Cheryl acts as a mediator as well, she is constantly trying to reason between everyone. For instance, at dinner when Richard is being blatantly rude to Frank she is the one trying to calm him down, as well as the restaurant when Olive wants to order ice cream and Richard does not want her to, she tries to get him to be quite. This is something that any wife or mother would do.
As females Cheryl and Olive carry a different stereotype, one that is based on their gender. In a scene with Olive and her grandfather, Olive asks him if she is pretty. This is something that every little girl goes through and never would a male ask this question, nor would he get all worked up about it like Olive did. Also while the family is sitting in the waiting room of the hospital after they had just found out their grandfather had died, only Olive and Cheryl were crying, none of the males were. However, on the flip side Cheryl is breaking the stereotype of a woman by being the primary bread winner of her family, which is normally seen as being more of the man’s responsibility. Duane also points out how she is breaking a stereotype when he tells her not to let Olive perform at the end when he says, “You’re her mother, you are supposed to protect her!” This is also seen more of a fatherly role. Therefore it is both enhancing the stereotype as well as breaking them down as well.
The male gender also plays a huge role throughout the movie. After Olive had asked her grandfather if she was pretty, he answered with a stereotype that he apparently must have of all women. He told her he was madly in love with her because she was beautiful, not because of her personality of her brains, which would have been a more sensible reason. The part in the movie that shocked me was when Richard told Olive she should not eat ice cream because it will make her fat was very untypical for a male to say to a girl. Normally you would think that a mother would be more concerned about her daughters eating habits. However, at the end of the movie when Olive is performing her talent is the males in her family step up to the plate to protect her. When the announcer was trying to get Olive to stop dancing and get off the stage, Richard ran up and got him to leave her alone, therefore acting as a guardian of his daughter. He was then followed by the two other males in the family, Frank and Duane, and lastly Cheryl joined them on stage. Once again stereotypes are being both enhanced as well as broken down for the males also.
Therefore, although on the surface Little Miss Sunshine is just a hilarious comedy, it has many hidden meanings as well. It carries much more depth than you would think if you were just watching it for entertainment purposes. From personal experience I did not think twice about the gender roles or the stereotypes that were involved in the movie when I watched it the first time. Analyzing the movie gives a completely different perspective on an innocent family trip to California.

Getting Ready to Leave...

I leave for Daytona in less than a week; I have homework up the wazoo, and I am stressed to the max! I also recently found that I decided to develop allergies therefore throughing my whole day off making me drowsy with watery eyes... wait let me rephrase that, ONE watery eye causing me to walk around all day with eyeliner only on one of my eyes! I just had to get that off my chest.
Anyway, I am getting more and more excited to go to Daytona. Last year was so much fun and I am hoping this year will be even more fun. The part that sucks is that I am going all that way knowing that I will not be able to dance. It is very frustrating having to sit back and watch everyone else working hard for one goal, doing well at nationals. It has been three months now since I had surgery and I am still going to therapy everyday, waiting to be back to "normal". I still cannot run nor dance. I am so used to being able to do anything and everything and now I am restricted to walking and eliptical for exercise, which tends to get a little old! However, I am very happy that I still get to go on the trip. Sitting through three hours of practice four days a week is deserving of a nice break.
Going on this trip is both exciting and stressful. I cant keep my mind off packing the right things. Having enough sleep and who is going to drive us to Omaha on Wednesday morning at 4:30am. I am excited and nervous to watch them perform the dance that they have worked so hard on. I wish that I could just be a calm normal person who doesnt get all worked up about anything and everything. I am the type of person who loves to be busy because I dont know what to do with myself when I am not, but I stress out really easily. I guess I will just have to wait and see how next week goes and pray for the best!

Today in English class we discussed various topics to for our next essay. We have the choice of doing an exploratory essay or an analysis essay. I think that neither one will be a simple task. I always tend to get anxious about writing essays. I feel it takes me a long time to discover a topic that I truly like. No matter what I set out with it never seems to be what I end up doind. If you know me I am a pretty inconsistent person. I am never always good at something and I never like the same thing for very long. My hair color changes constantly along with my favorite color. Even the topic of this blog. I started out thinking that I was just going to write about the english assignment and now I am talking about how often I like to change things. I guess this is just another great example. I often find that once I become comfortable with something it is time to change it, get a new scenery for awhile. Another example of this is where I have lived in the last two years, granted they are all within the same state and even the same city, I still had to pick up all my stuff and move. Last year I moved into the Mickelson dorms. At semster they decided to kick us out because they had to renovate it. So we packed up all our stuff and moved into the Olson dorms. Then about 4 months later I moved back home to Sioux Falls, SD. Then when the next school year came along I moved into the sorority house Pi Beta Phi. I decided sorority life was not for me and moved out of the house and in with some friends. I know live in a small bedroom inside a big yellow house and the stairs creek like crazy and the upstairs bathroom plubing does not always work. However, I am comfortable here... for now. In about two months from now I will be back living in Sioux Falls for the summer working four jobs and getting ready for another expensive school year to begin, and when it does I will be packing up and moving back to good old Vermillion, but into a differnt place. I will be living in a duplex off of Roosevelt street with new people and two fully working bathrooms as well as no creeking stairs. Life is an adventure... I guess I will take advantage of it!

Response to postsecret.com

This phenomenon with the postcards is very interesting. People are admitting their deepest darkest secrets to millions of people that they do not know. The key to their secrets is that no one knows who they are. It gives them a sense of security that no one will ever know that it is them, but at least they can get it off their chest. It makes them feel like they are more in control of their situations. Although their confessions are not to a specific person it brings awareness to the people around them about the daily activities going on in their lives. When hearing the word confession it almost brings a sense of guilt with it. To me the reason for confessing something is because I feel guilty that I did it and as soon as I tell someone I feel like it is not so bad. However, with these posted secrets it almost makes the confession seem in vain. It is really not accomplishing anything for that person because they are not telling the right people about their problems. I personally things that it negates the power of the act because I feel that if you want to confess something you need to tell the people who are involved to actually have something happen to make it better. If it makes the person with the secret feel better though then I guess it is what works best for them, it is their secret after all.

Extra Credit Blog "SPRING BREAK"

Have you ever had one of those days when everything annoys you and you pretty much hate life? Well I definitely had one of those days Saturday night. I thought that after being off of my crutches for five weeks that I would be ready to go back to working as a waitress. So knowing that spring break was coming up I called up my boss at Old Chicago to see if I could get a few shifts for the next week and a half. I told him that I would need to try and get the shorter shifts because I wasnt sure how my ankle would hold up throughout the night.
Just like I asked I got scheduled as an eight on Saturday night. For me that meant I was to be the first one to be cut for the night. As the night went on I began to feel the pain creeping up from my foot into my ankle and even up to my thigh. I figured I would be ok I only had at most fourty five minutes left. But boy was I wrong! What I thought would be a short in and out night ended up being the most dreadful night of work ever! As I sat with one table in my section I felt the anger boiling inside me. I could not believe Bill had not cut me yet! It was almost ten thirty and normally a section eight is done at the latest nine thirty. Then just as he went to go and start cutting people I got sat with a table of NINE! This wasnt just any table of nine though, it was a table of nine referees that decided to all filter in at separate times. So basically I had two guys there right away that ordered their drinks and food right away and then later one more guy came ordered a beer and waitied awhile to order his food and then four more people came. This is when it got really interesting, they ordered their drinks and when I got back with those I took their orders. But it wasnt over yet. Just as I went to go and ring up their orders I found out that we were out of the calzones that they had ALL wanted. So I grimly went back to tell them that they would need to find something else to order. They all decided to do the individual pizzas instead of the calzones and everything was fine.
When the food was finally done being cooked I brought it out to the anxious referees. They sat and ate and ordered a few more beers and talked away. When I went out to ask if anyone would be ordering anything else for the evening they all said no so I brought out all the tickets. As I handed all the tickets out one guy decided he was going to have another beer. So I went and got him his next beer and as I sat the icy cold miller lite down onto the table he told me to just wait awhile with his ticket because he was probably going to have a few more. As I felt the throbbing moving up from my ankle up into my stomach and feeling the tears build behind my eyes, knowing that all I wanted to do was get out of their I smiled a big smile and said, "oh ok that sounds good!"
When I got back to the register I was PISSED! All I wanted to do was go sit down and ice my entire body. It was starting to get rediculous at eleven fifteen and a section three was getting out before I was. At this time I was starting to lose it. So I went back into the party room and asked everyone if I could close out any of their tickets. Afew of them reached into their wallets right away and let me get going on my way. Then just as I had one guys card left to swipe one of the guys says, "well I will just hold on to mine, we are still waiting on a few more guys... we are going to keep you busy!" "NO WAY!" I said to myself, so I went to the bathroom, cried for a minute to myself and went back in and asked if they would mind if I closed them out because someone else would be taking over my section. Most of the guys were very cool with the idea and went right with me.
So I finally got all the tickets closed and transfered the rest of the tickets over to another girl and had all my side work completed, or so I thought. As I went up to my manager Bill to ask him to come and check me out he asks me if I had folded any silverware, with all my heart I wanted to lie and say that I had but I didnt. This is when the flood gates opened and the tears came streaming down my face. I was done! My ankle was so sore and my body was shot. As I started to fold the stupid silverware, I continued to ball my. Erika and Emilee came to my rescue. As the two of them jumped right in to help fold silverware I began explaining to them why I was so upset. As they finished up the silverware for me I got all my check out money figured out and sat and waited for what seemed like forever for Bill to come back and get me out of there.
By the time I got out of the resturant it was midnight and I was not a happy camper! I couldnt wait to get home and cry to my mom, and I definitely did!
Needless to say I was not excited to go to work the next day, however I did make one hundred and fourteen bucks that night!

Dickerson expresses her anger in many ways and makes them very apparent to her readers. Although she is a very high standing educated black women her status can not save her nephew from the harms of the world today. Her anger almost seems to take over her in such a way that it takes over her life and the way she views the rest of her culture. She is angry in the sense that she took the initiative to make her life better and work hard so that she did not have to struggle in life and earn a living the right way. Her way of living she did not have to get things by stealing and robbing her own family the way the man that shot Johnny did. His life is worthless in her eyes. Because he cannot do anything for himself he has to try to better his life by ruining others. In Dickerson’s eyes he is the cause of the places like the ghettos and the reason why people cannot own nice things because he is the one that ruins things for the rest of the world. She hates the fact that even though she took the initiative to do something for her to make her stronger, she cannot help her family when it is needed the most because the things that she has done for herself cannot fix what has happened and it frustrates her. Her anger stems from the fact that someone that is just like her could do something like this to another person. This “brother” that she talks about, to her is an outcast and someone that is worthless. He doesn’t know how to work hard for anything. She mentions the fact that mothers tend to raise their daughters and merely love their sons. Which to her means that they teach their daughters right and wrong but when their sons do something evil, they turn the other way and pretend like it never happened. This to her is why Johnny got shot.

There are many differences betweent the two stories about home. In Didion's "On Going Home" It sounds like it is more of a chore than a priviledge. She is not comfortable in going home because when she does she is not herself when she is there. When her family is around they suck her into "their" ways. She does not even think of her husband the same when she is with them. Going home for her was not something she looked forward. Personally when I talk about home it is a happy place it is never something that feels negative. The words "going home" right away signal that it is not something that is willing, it is as if she feels like she owes her family a visit every now and then. In Lee's "Coming Home Again" he speaks of home in a good way. He has many pleasant memories that relate to home. His mother and him had always gotten along and he loved to spend time with her. However, he also had his unpleasant memories as well. Even though he mentions some of his unhappy times or memories that were not something he enjoys he never makes "coming home" a chore.Didion's title is more of a negative story. It also contains the title that can be seen in more of a negative light. It is showing a sense of guilt and remorse. She does not like the way she is when she is at home.
Another way to look at the differences can depend on who you are directing your title towards. For instance, when you talk to a friend or someone who is your own age you are more likely to us the phrase, "going home for the weekend" as opposed to "coming home for the weekend". To a friend saying "coming home" would sound funny. However, to a family member that still lives at the place you call home you are more likely to say, "I am coming home this weekend". When talking to friends you almost make it sound bad that you are going home, but to your family you want them to think you are happy to be coming home. It is a dialouge that you use differently in different situations.
Personally I dont think there is a big difference in the words being said as much as there are the stories behind them. When I talk to my mom I tell her I will be coming home and I am usually pretty happy about doing it. I never usually have a complaint about going home. But when I talk to friends at school and I plan to go home on that weekend I usually make it seem like I really dont want to leave but I have to go home. It is all in context. Whenever you say it you are always saying it to different people and different age groups. Even if you are talking to someone who is not in your family but lives in the same time I will often tell them I am COMING HOME.
Therefore, you can take the titles of the stories in many different ways. It could be how a person actually feels about their home and family life or it could very well be just the way people talk to others. Interpretations are taken differntly. Everyone sees things differently and that is why we are all unique. The conversations people have together are all different. The way we converse with others all depends on the relationships we have.

My family and cooking... thats like a foreign languauge. Its not that we never have home cooked meals, its just that they dont happen very often. In a way it is kind of me and my sisters fault that my mom does not cook anymore. Back in elementary school we always had a family dinner together when my dad would get home from work. We would sit down together and indulge in a delicious caserole or perfectly baked chicken and rice. She always had a different dinner planned for each meal. How she had all these ideas always amazed me. I can't even think of what to cook for myself. But anyway, the reason my mom stopped cooking back in the day was because my sister, brother and I got so busy with extra curricular activities and school stuff that we were never around to eat at the same time. Then even when we were, we would all just grab a bowl of cereal or just make a sandwich and then have to get going on homework or get ready to go to our next event. When our whole family gets together though food is the main attraction. We wait for the next event to enjoy all the delicious dinners that everyone will bring. My aunts always bring their specialty deserts and apatizers and my dad will cook his famous turkey on Thanksgiving. He will spend all day marinating and baking. I think the fact that we dont have big dinners very often is what makes those dinners so special.

It has always been hard for me to talk about myself in a positive light. Whenever I have to write qualifications on applications and write down my strengths and weaknesses I find myself feeling conceeded and just plain weird about expressing how good I am at life. I know that it is important for employers and committees to know what you are good at, but I just wish there was a different way of figuring that out. However, I think this is a chance for me to get the things off my chest that I think that I am pretty ok at...no, things that I am good at!
I know it may sound stupid to some, but I have always found it easier to down play myself rather than talk myself up. There are a lot of things about me that I dont feel very comfortable with. Like every teenage girl growing up, I have always been uncomfortable with the way I looked, my weight, my height, what I wore and so on and so forth. Therefore, I have always felt that if I were ever to talk about something that I THOUGHT was good about me and someone else thought the complete opposite, I might be seen as conceeded or maybe just plain blind. It still haunts me to have to talk about myself on applications and during interviews to talk goood about myself but I am starting to get the hang of it.
Now when I go to write about myself on applications I make sure to list of the strengths that I know that I have and that I have been told once before. I know that I am a people person. I love talk and I like to make things better for someone else. I also feel like I am a friendly outgoing person. I also find that it is easier be kind to someone rather than hate them and be mean.
I know it all sounds a bit weird and skatter brained, but that is me; a little weird and a bit of a skatter brain. I don't think I am the hero in my own life story but I don't think I am the goat either. I think I am a little bit of everything. There is no real extreme in my life, except for a certain time of the month... then you might just catch the worst of me!

At about the same time every night my phone will ring, and as always I am at dance practice. After practice I go to check my phone and what do I get... a voice mail with a message from my mom singing "Call your momma momma Mia 361-2201, MOMMA MIA". Yes I get messages like this every night. You would think after being on the dance team for almost two years and having practice at the same time every night that she would know that I am busy at that time and call me before or after practice.
I have a friend that is going to stop over, or my boyfriend comes over and my mom doesn't know he is coming. When the doorbell rings she panics... "the house is a mess, I don't have any food, should I run to the store?" she says. To me she is crazy! To my friends the love her, they think she is hilarious.
As a fundraiser for our dance team, we put on a competition for surrounding high school dance teams. My mom walks through the door with my dad trailing behind with a tupperware full of decorations, markers, poster boards, a cash register, a balloon arch and other various things to help make the competition successful. She would say things like, "Why don't you hang a sign here or put this there... or whatever you think, I don't want to be Hitler or anything" followed by a big jolly laugh. Those who know my mom would agree that she has a laugh that you can't miss! She just wants to make sure that if anyone needs help she is ready and willing to give whatever anyone needs if she can.
Around our house if better be life or death before we call the doctor. When I was in high school I was dancing at musical practice, I was switching to a different formation and in the process I stepped on my foot wrong, and down I went. It was two weeks before the show was to go on. My mom just happened to be at the school when it happened and helped me get home. When we got in the car she started digging through her purse and pulled out a bottle with various types of pills inside it. After minutes of scavenging through them she handed over two little brown pills and said, "Here take some advil you'll be fine". This is a classic saying from my mom. Not only did I attempt to walk on my foot but I was taking advil every three hours because it hurt so bad. When the pain was still there two days later my mom finally gave in and had me go into the doctor. Oh wait I forgot, this is after my mom told me to stick my foot in a bucket of ice just so that I could try out for cheerleading! When the doctor came back in from looking at the x-ray he gave me the bad news. My foot was broken in TWO places! So much for that advil. However, this time when I broke my ankle she gave in right away and took me to the emergency room.
Even though I knew my ankle broke when I fell, I felt bad for my mom since she had been holding off herself on going to the doctor for because she had done something to her knee and could barely walk. Now with all the bills coming in from my ankle surgery she feels like she doesnt need to go to the doctor just to tell her to ice her knee and take some advil. Even though it is probably a little worse than that!
She can be stubborn sometimes... but thats why I love her.