Strange Experiences

     Welcome back to Thinks and Thoughts! I've had a few weird things happen to me over the past few days and I figured since they're not normal every day experiences that I'd share them with you today! Things around my house are never really normal, but these three things are higher on the list of strange things that have happened.
     The first strange thing that happened had to do with my hamster. My hamster's cage sits atop a tall dresser in my room across from my bed. From the floor to the top of the cage is a little less than six feet. At six o'clock on Friday morning I awoke to my hamster crawling up my leg. I don't think anyone fully comprehends how scary it is to wake up to a rodent crawling up their leg. I also don't think anyone gets how strange it is that my hamster went skydiving at 6 feet in the air, survived, crawled up my bedspread, and woke me up in the morning! My hamster acts like a dog! Why didn't she escape or hide? This is probably the strangest thing that has ever happened to me besides the time I woke up to a bird flying around my room and knocking things over.
     The second strange thing that has occurred in the past few days was a dream I had. The dream started off as a dream about some other kids from school, an old teacher, and myself; however, it quickly transitioned into a dream where my cat was just sitting in front of me. As I stared at my cat I wondered what was going to happen next. I was surprised to look at her tail only to find a small yellow chameleon. Being the helpful cat-owner I am I decided to gracefully remove the chameleon from her tail. The chameleon willingly stepped onto my hand and I pulled my hand away from the cat. The strange thing was that the chameleon was now stuck to me. I'm not a huge fan of reptile like animals so I tried pulling it off my hand one leg at a time. Yet, every time I pulled a leg off of my hand, the chameleon would yell "OW!" in a deep man's voice! That was the end of the dream but I woke up super confused, and I'm still not sure why I had that dream. My first thought was that it was a chameleon because of an old McDonalds toy that I still keep at my grandma's with my cat. Now I'm just thinking that I'll always be destined to have weird dreams. I'm thinking I should keep a dream journal.
    The third and final strange experience I had this week has to do with our bathroom. Our bathroom has a tub without a curtain and then a separate shower. Normally I would walk into the bathroom, do my business, and then leave. This time, I was not so fortunate. I walked into my bathroom only to find that someone had put a piano bench and a music stand in the bathtub. Because why wouldn't they? Doesn't everyone practice their music in the bathtub? It may have something to do with the fabulous acoustics, or maybe the fact that I have a nine year old sister. I guess we'll never know.
     Thanks for reading about my strange experiences! It's definitely been an interesting week. Let me know what you think or what you want me to write about next!

Pros and Cons to Nannying

     Hello, readers! Welcome back to Thinks and Thoughts! A few weeks ago I started my summer job as a full time nanny, and after three weeks I already have so many good and bad things to talk about. I figured since it was on my mind, I'd blog about it! I'm going to start off by saying that being a nanny is a great way to make money. Most nanny jobs pay you every week regardless of how often you're there. This doesn't mean I'm biased, it just means that if you're looking to make big money, you should consider being a nanny or even just a babysitter. It's really a learning experience that is the first step to running your own business someday. Know how to best set your our own wages and hours is an important skill. Anyways, let's get on with the pros and cons.

PROS:

-You get to set your own wage

-You'll get recommended to other families for babysitting

-You get to eat whatever you can find in the house (My nanny family had me write my own list of food)

-You get to bond with the kids and build respect

-You can get stuff done on the job (I'm working and writing right now)

-Netflix, Netflix, Netflix

-It's not very much work

-You can take the kids to fun places and the parents cover the costs (Pool days for you)

-You'll probably have an unlimited supply of board games to play

-You can be on your phone

-You can bring the kids on errands 

-Nanny jobs are usually in your neighborhood and so you can grab more clothes or any other things

-It isn't necessary to look presentable (Joggers and sweatshirts all week) 

-You have your own personal mini assistants 

Cons:

-The kids do not always listen to you

-Whining will become the most annoying thing ever

-When parents work from home you'll want to dig yourself a grave (Kids stop listening to you) 

-You'll know the words to every kid's show theme song they can find on Netflix

-You'll be tricked into letting them do things they know they aren't supposed to

-You feel like you age a few years for every week you nanny

-It's not a lot of work, but it can be very stressful (Their lives are in your hands)

Overall there are more pros than cons for me and I think being a nanny is a really great thing to do, and since I share the work with my sister and only work during the day, I have time for my other job and manage to have free time as well. It's a great job and the parents are very flexible with pay and hours and everything else. As long as you develop your own rules on the job you'll be very happy. For me, I prefer them to stay on our side of the street. Their parents let them go wherever, but for my own sanity when I'm here they stay on our side of the road. The best part of being a nanny is that it's very tailored to the nanny and the kids will adjust to your schedule quickly. I would definitely recommend the job. 

Do it Yourself

     Welcome back to Thinks and Thoughts! This week I decided it would be fun to do a tutorial on a project! I've been feeling somewhat crafty today, and knew I couldn't be the only one. I'm going to just dive into this tutorial, but I want to ask that if you attempt the craft you send me a picture of the finished result so I can see what people came up with! Alright, here we go!

We will be making a colorful canvas design!

Supplies:
-Canvas (no specific size)
-Modge Podge
-A paintbrush (or your finger)
-Acrylic paint
-Printed out picture or colorful paper and stencils
-Scissors
-Punches (optional)

Step 1: 
The first thing you want to do is unwrap your canvas, and paint the entire thing with your acrylic paint and a paintbrush. You can paint a design, or a solid color, or anything else that you want. It depends on what you want your canvas to look like, so consider the end result beforehand! I'll be painting mine a solid yellow color for this tutorial.
*Make sure your paint is even
*Be sure to get the sides of your canvas
*Wash your brush after you finish painting
Let's let our canvas dry for an hour or so and then move on to the next step!

Step 2: 
Now that we've painted our canvas, our next step is to create our design. You can either print out a picture and cut it out, or you can draw your own on a colorful sheet of paper. I picked a pink and white chevron piece of paper and decided to draw a whale. I drew it on the back of my paper with pen. If you know you might mess up, I'd recommend using a pencil.

 

After you've finished drawing, you'll want to cut out your design. At this point I decided to also use a heart stamp to give my whale an eye. This part is optional because you have the choice to just cut the eye, draw the eye, or use a stamp. 

Step 3:

Now that we have our design cut out, we need to add the modge podge to get it to stick. Let's take our paintbrush and cover the entire back of the DESIGN. The we want to also put modge podge on the whole CANVAS. After doing that we can lay our design down on the canvas and reapply modge podge over the DESIGN and CANVAS together. 

*Smooth out your design with a card if you don't want wrinkles

*Go slowly for optimum results

*You can apply a little at a time instead of on everything at once (I tend to work too fast.) 

Step 4: Let the Modge Podge dry and fix any areas that didn't stick. Enjoy your work! Hang it up, give it to someone, or just keep it for your room! This is a quick and fun little craft to brighten up any space! I put it in my little sisters room!

Thanks for reading! Share if you liked it! 

My Next Tattoo

     Hello readers! I'm back this week to discuss what's been on my mind the most this week and it's the next tattoo I'm getting! This always seems to be something people are curious about also, so I figured writing about it would not only give me an outlet, but it would keep people from asking about it too much when I actually get it. Not that I mind of course, but it's a lot easier to have people read this post than to explain the tattoo every time. Especially because people forget and I've had the same people repeatedly ask what my foot tattoo means. Anyways, let's jump into it. Shall we?
     I have my appointment scheduled at 1:00 on September 19th! I'm not going to release the shop's name for confidentiality purposes, but I'll let you guys know after I get the tattoo. September 19th is my birthday and it's also my dad's birthday. We're going together to get tattoos that say "Semper Fidelis." Semper Fidelis is a Latin phrase meaning "always faithful" or "always loyal." For those of you who don't know, my dad was in the Marines for four years and Semper Fidelis became the Marine Corps' motto in 1883. I decided I wanted to get this with him because I have a huge respect for the Marines, and have always looked up to him for serving. Along with the words, I want to get my mom's, dad's, and two sister's birth years in roman numerals. I will always be loyal to my family and that's kind of what the tattoo means for me. It also helps to remind me of all the other members of my family in the armed forces.
     So there you go! Now you know about my nest tattoo. It'll be pretty small and placed vertically along the side of my back. I'm so excited!

Choosing a Major

     Hello readers! Welcome back to Thinks and Thoughts! Today I have some tips for you, as I so often do, regarding how to decide on a major in college. I'm sure if you're close to that point in your life you've heard over and over again how people are undecided even during college and how often times people will switch majors. Although it is common to switch your major or go into college undecided, it can be very costly. Lucky for you, I've got some tips for you since I just went through this whole mess for myself!
     The first tip I have is this: take an aptitude test! I cannot even begin to explain how much easier this made the decision. Not only does an aptitude test assess both your skill and your interest in specific areas, but your counselor will be able to look at it and suggest careers to you that you have never even heard of. I decided on a major in art therapy. If you think I knew what that was before I took my aptitude test, you're wrong.
     Tip number one was the perfect lead in to my second tip: research different careers.  I honestly can't even begin to talk about the number of careers out there. For every career you can think of, there are 20 more sub-careers within that one. For example, most nurses will just refer to themselves as a nurse. However, they could be an addictions nurse, a forensic nurse, a nurse practitioner, a parish nurse, a home healthcare nurse, a travel nurse, a transplant nurse, or even a nurse anesthetist. The list goes on and on and on. So, make sure to research different careers and look into each one that sounds interesting because maybe "nurse" by itself just isn't specifically what you want to do.
     The last tip I have for you is to follow your heart and don't worry about other people's opinions. I know this sounds super cheesy but I think being happy in your career is just as important as having a "good" career. People tell me all the time I could do anything I wanted. I could be a doctor, or a lawyer, or a mad scientist. Guess what, people? I want to do art therapy. The only person that is going to have to go to that job every day and experience it is me. So follow your heart and do what makes you happy. A "good" career isn't the one that makes you the most money or gives you the best reputation. A "good" career is one that you enjoy and one that you'll be happy with for the rest of your life.

Tattoo Touch-Up

     Hello readers! Welcome back to my blog page and happy mother's day! Today I'm going to talk about my touch-up experience as far as my foot tattoo is concerned. Let me just start off with some background information. The guy that did my touch-up is not the same person that originally did the tattoo, however, he is the person who will do my future tattoos because my experience with him was about a thousand times better than it was with my original artist. The girl that did my original tattoo used to tattoo in Vegas and they have a little bit more freedom there. Bottom line is that she made a few artistic choices that were her own and when she tattooed me, it hurt. So, the guy that did my touch-up is known as "no hands Nate" for a reason. When this guy tattooed my foot, I barely felt it! The artist that actually did the tattoo just pushed way too hard when she tattooed me which caused my foot to twitch and my leg to sweat and everything to go wrong. On the flip side, when Nate touched it up i didn't twitch, I didn't sweat, I could concentrate, and I barely felt anything. I'd get another foot tattoo if he did it. This guy makes foot tattoos seem like nothing. Now, here is what I have to say: If you go to a different artist they have to charge you. If you get your touch-up done with your original artist it shouldn't cost you because it's basically them finishing and double checking their work. 
     Alright, I know this post is short and all over the place but the bottom line is this: If you are going in for a touch-up and you were unsatisfied with your original artist it's worth the money to see a different artist. For me, it would've been the shops minimum, but Nate does all of my boyfriend's tattoos and since he was with me he just did it for free. I've learned to research your artists A LOT before you let them tattoo you. If that means finding some of their clients, do it. 
     That is all I have for you today! I hope you enjoyed reading about my touch-up and hopefully I've inspired you to look into your artists more! Have a great week! 

A Book

     Hello people! I am super excited to write today because I have a fantastic book to recommend! It's more of a series I guess, but the first book wowed me and I'm in the middle of the second so I'm technically only recommending the first. Although, I also secretly recommend the whole series and I will tell you why.
     Let me start off by saying the reason I fell in love with these books is that they're written from photographs. Have you ever seen a picture and tried to figure out the story behind it? That is what this author did,  however he did it after spending forever collecting vintage photographs and turned it into some books.  The first book is called Mrs.Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. It was written by a man with the name of Ransom Riggs. This guy spent awhile collecting photographs from garage sales, and ended up writing stories that fit the photographs. Who would've thought garage sales could make you famous? I absolutely adore the fact that this book wasn't written after being considered. The author just kind of went with it and it turned out to be one of the best books I've ever read. I can rarely find a book I'm into by the end of the first chapter which is why I don't read much unless I've seen the movies first. That being said, this book has no movies and I was hooked not by the end of the first chapter, but by the end of the first few pages. The way the story combines past and present is astounding,  and the explanations offered about things we've heard of all too often shock me. The book steals present day events and people and places them into another story.  It's the ultimate combination of things already known and things yet to be discovered.  The book is a mystery and tells about a boy named Jacob who discovers the stories his grandfather used to tell him may not have been completely false.  I would definitely recommend this book if you love twists, turns, mysteries, science fiction, history, or really anything else because this book could hook anyone. I think you should give it a try because I haven't been this passionate about a book in awhile. It is also an easy read if you're worried about that. There's a lot to learn but you can do it.  The second book recently was released I believe. It's called Hollow City and it continues where the first book left off. The second book contains a preview of the third meaning there is more to come and you can also expect some movies. Long story short, the books are amazing and if you're looking for a series that comes with a movie, this is it! 

Geocaching

     Hello readers!  I am back this week with a semi-fun and semi-informational post about a new hobby my sister and I have picked up together! I know many of you are already aware of what Geocaching is considering it's been around for a few years, however some people don't so that's why I'm writing this post today!
     To be honest I'm not quite sure of the the exact definition of Geocaching so I'll leave that to you to look up if necessary. For me personally, geocaching means getting a geocache app,  choosing some dots close to myself and driving to go find them. Basically a cache is something someone hides with an object or piece of paper in it depending on the size.  Once they hide it,  they put the coordinates on the Geocaching app for the rest of the world to go find. This happens in every state, and most countries all over the world. I've encountered the caches I've searched for in parking lot lamps, attached magnetically to the under side of signs and even wedged up into no parking signs. Today I found another in a parking lot,  and failed to find one in the woods after I gave up due to the fact I was covered in wood ticks.
     I'm not sure if this post makes any sense to anyone beside myself,  but overall Geocaching is a great hobby to incorporate into traveling or a fun thing to do when you're bored at a park. You can Geocache anywhere and I bet you'd be surprised how many are hidden around you. I know a friend who had one on his property. I also know of business that have given people permission to hide them on the property. It's crazy how many things you find that you never previously noticed. What's even crazier it's that the majority of people I've asked have done it before. So, don't feel
out of the loop any longer.  Download a free app and start searching in your area. Let me know what you find! Today I found a walrus sticker....beat that!

Nose Piercing Experience

Hello readers! Today I figured I'd tell you about my nose piercing experience since I get so many questions about it! I'll answer the questions I get most often and then I'll talk about the procedure and where I went. 

Q: Did getting your nose pierced hurt?

A: No. I think this question is actually perfect for me because I have a pain tolerance that is right down the middle. Nose piercings don't hurt, they just feel like a lot of pressure. Some videos make it look worse because people cry, but it's just eye watering. The nerves in your nose just cause your eyes to water. Out of ten I would say it was a two. 

Q: How old were you when you got your nose pierced?

A: I was 14 or 15. I remember it being hard to find a shop that would piece it since I was so young. 

Q: How does it stay in?

A: There are a few different ends to a nose ring that a quick google search could help you with but I usually use the nose crews or L bend nose studs. It's just how it's bent so it doesn't come out easily.

Q: Does it hurt to blow your nose?

A: No, it doesn't bother me because I'm used to it. Sometimes it's annoying when I'm trying to shove a Kleenex up my nose but other than that it's good! 

That's all I have for questions, so I'll go into the procedure! Basically I walked in and I had to give them my birth certificate and my mom had to give them her license and then this guy named Nick who is a professional piercer took me to his office type room at the back of the shop. I sat down and he showed me all the clean supplies in packages and took a purple marker out to mark my nose. He asked if I would be wearing a ring or not because it affects the placement and then he placed the dot. I thought it looked good so he cleaned off my nose and the Jewelry and got started. He put a tube into my nose to guid the needle so it didn't hit the other side and he slid the needle in and placed the jewelry. That was all! He gave me care instructions and a card with a date to come back on it and I left! This happened at the Canvas Tattoo in Eden Prairie. I definitely recommend the shop. 

Alright I'm done typing for today! Thanks for reading as always! 

What is Rugby?

     Hello readers! Yesterday afternoon I was present at University of Saint Thomas' rugby game due to the fact that my boyfriend is part of the team! Something I noticed was that most of the parents in the audience had no idea what was going on and didn't know how rugby worked. I happened to be in the same situation and so I have my boyfriend on FaceTime to help me explain to you some key rugby terms so if you ever end up watching a game at least you'll know what's going on so here we go! Oh, and don't think football or you'll be confused.

Try- A try is when you touch the ball to the ground past the goal line. When you score a try, you obtain 5 points for your team. The key is that you have to have at least one hand on the ball and it must be on the ground! What I'm getting at is that you can't drop it or just get past the goal line.

Scrum- A scrum results from certain and specific penalties being called. The scrum consists of all forward players (8) and the scrum-half. In the scrum you have three rows of guys that basically push each other to gain control of the ball. At the beginning the ref yells "crouch" at which point the players crouch and get ready. Next he yells "bind" which is when the players all lock on to each other. And finally he yells "set" and that's when the scrum begins. The players push each other back and forth while the scrum-half feeds the ball into the middle of the opposing teams.

In the picture, player #9 is the scrum-half. Apparently every scrum-half is #9. Every number has it's own position!

Scrum-half- The scrum-half orchestrates a lot of what goes on in the game. (If you happen to be thinking football even though I said not to, this is like the quarter back.)

Ruck- A ruck in rugby typically occurs when someone gets tackled. It's to gain possession over the ball. The goal is for SOMEONE to get the ball however you don't just want to run and pick it up. You want to jump over your teammate who was tackled and cover them up and not let anyone from the opposing team get past you. This is because when someone in rugby gets tackled they put the ball in front of them as they face their team so the team has a better opportunity to get the ball. \

Knock- A knock is when a player touches the ball with their hands and it goes forward. This results in a penalty.

Fun facts:
-Rugby players can only pass the ball backwards or horizontally.
-You can drop kick a ball through the uprights at any time.
-There are 30 guys on the field at any time.

     That's all I have this week! Thanks for reading!