Jen Russum

Bad Blogger Award

Well despite my last post, I am now giving myself the "bad blogger award." I suck at this. Seriously, where have I been? Sometimes I think, well all these moms have time to blog because they stay at home. I am never at home, so it's no wonder I can't find time for this. But wait... these moms have KIDS. Hence the title "mom." I have no kids, so I have no excuse. Okay, well maybe the fact that I am in school, teaching two college classes and working a tiny bit on the side does make me a little busy. Perhaps reading literary theory on the Renaissance, trying to figure out how to conduct qualitative research for my digital literacies class, teaching three days a week, grading 37 essays a month, trying to keep my house clean and making coffee for impatient snowbirds in Scottsdale is the equivalent of a baby or two? I hope so. That's my excuse. Mental note: cut back on schedule before procreating... It also doesn't help that our internet does not work well at our house. I mean, why should it? We don't pay for it. We have always picked up an open signal since moving in, so we never bothered to actually pay for our internet. Is that stealing? Using some waves floating around in the air? I don't think so. I think another reason we never really got around to buying our internet is because we also don't have a TV and it seemed pointless to go to the effort to buy an internet package without a cable package. Anyway, our internet is free, but it is also very low quality. Sometimes it won't work for days at a time. Usually, I am at school anyway, so I have little need for the internet at home, but still it's still a bit inconvenient. This week we are having internet problems again, but not just because our weak signal is having trouble floating over from four doors down. Our most generous, anonymous internet provider has forgotten to pay his or her bill! Our signal is actually better than ever, but when you open the browser a window pops up that says "Hello friend, due to a missed payment your internet service has been temporarily disconnected. It will be reconnected when you pay your outstanding balance and a reinstillation fee. Please call ... with any questions." Yesterday, I was seriously tempted to call the number to see if we could afford to pay their bill, because I was needing the web! But a reinstallation fee for reactivating your service? Mental note #2: When we finally get around to purchasing real internet service, remember that Cox Internet is out to get you with fees... So here's the deal... I will be back soon. Hopefully in the next week or two. My mom is coming to visit me this week and I am taking a little time off from the coffee shop to hang out with her. After she leaves, I am continuing my time off until the end of the semester so I can get two massive research papers written. Hopefully, this time off will allow me to get my school work done and leave a little extra time to blog (since I am supposed to be blogging for school anyway...). But in five short weeks, summer will be here! And hopefully in the summer I will have time to blog like mad and lose this "bad blogger" reputation of mine... ... Read more

The Hunger Games

I like to think that my book club makes a small impact on the world. Or at least on the world of literacy by helping people know how cool it is to read. Notice I didn't say "make reading seem cool" or "look cool" because reading is awesome. We don't need to make it "seem" better than it already is. One of the fun things about our book club is that, not only do we all read more as a result (except Kristin who would read a book a week- book club or no book club) and try books we wouldn't otherwise pick up, but we get to recommend books to other people. Never has this been more true than in the past few months since we decided to read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and have been recommending it to everyone we know. This originally was supposed to be our book for our October meeting, but the girls got so into it that we postponed book club until early December so that everyone could read the whole trilogy. This book is good. It's actually juvenile fiction, but it's deep and a little dark, and makes subtle commentary on government and war and poverty, while telling the story of a girl named Katniss in a futuristic setting, where most of earth has been destructed. But don't disregard it because it takes place in the future - it's not too future-y. And don't disregard it because it's about a girl - Katniss could kill you in a split second (but she's nice, I promise, Micah kinda has a crush on her...) Micah and I just finished the 2nd book, Catching Fire (we are behind book club, because we read them together which takes a little longer), and are about to start the third and final book, Mockingjay. If you are reading them by yourself, you will fly through them. I recommended Hunger Games to my friend Bekah and she finished it in about two days. Micah also recommended it to the 15 year old son of a lady in our Missional Community, because he needed a novel to read for school. He liked it too. Everyone likes it. Young and old. Ready to jump on the bandwagon? And then you can get excited for The Hunger Games movie that is in production. Actually, they are still casting, so you might want to audition.... And this is supposed to be the posting that inspires me to FINALLY set up my Amazon store, so you can buy The Hunger Games trilogy and read them for yourself... better get on that. ... Read more

Stylish Blogger

Oooh. Oooh. I have won my first ever blogging "award" from my friend Caitlin over at Hello Hines Family! As Caitlin explains on her blogs, these "awards" are not real, but just one way for one blogger to acknowledge and compliment another blogger. Whatevs. I'll take it. Thanks Caitlin! Caitlin is actually one of my real life friends who got me interested in studying mom blogs as I have watched her blog evolve so much over the past year as she prepared for and brought her adorable son, Denver, into this world! Okay, so here is my award... It seems somewhat silly, but I think my digital literacies classmates are going to LOVE this blogging achievement. In addition to my "award," I have also started getting some feedback from bloggers I don't actually know in real life. That's huge! While I appreciate all my friends and family who read my blog, I am excited to make blog-only friends! And here are the rules of the receiving the title of "Stylish Blogger." I feel like it's a mommy blog chain letter... 1. thank and link back to the person who awarded you2. share 7 things about yourself3. pass award on to bloggers you think are fantastic4. contact those bloggers and tell them about the award So, seven things about myself...Both my brother and sister have red hair. I do not, but I am considering adding red highlights in the very near future, so my sister and I can get asked if we are twins even more often than we already do. What do you think? Yay or Nay on the red...really more of strawberry blonde highlights? Yes, my sister and I sure did dress like twins and wear fake glasses for teacher pictures... we are professionals. The red-headed broski and me last summer... I am thinking highlights closer to his shade... I was homeschooled for one year of my life. My mother decided she didn't like the public school systerm, so she forced me to be homeschooled in 8th grade. I always have and always will love all things school... homework, papers, competing for grades, hanging out with friends, learning from teachers, listening to lectures, taking notes, school sports. So, basically, I hated being homeschooled. I resented my mom and I didn't do any school work all year, except read my history book, because I thought it was interesting. Basically, I skipped 8th grade. But then my mom let me go back to school in 9th grade and our relationship was repaired :) And in retrospect, I went to an awful middle school and not being there when I was 14 years old might have actually been a good thing for me. Ahhh, retrospect. I love coffee! But I am very picky about how it is made, and I typically only drink one cup a day unless I am seriously sleep deprived. I used to buy my coffee everyday (Starbucks when I lived in Texas because it was my only option and then at various espresso stands in Seattle), but now I have my own espresso maker at my house and I make a white chocolate mocha every single morning. I don't know of any place in AZ that sells Ghiriadelli White Chocolate (the ONLY white chocolate if you ask me), so I order it off Amazon and have a 10 lb.box shipped to my house every four months. My friend, Allison, and I just calculated my coffee expenses and it turns out my delish white chocolate mochas are only costing me $1.00 a day!!! Hands down my favorite kitchen appliance! Micah and I don't have a TV. I have lived in many houses in the past without cable (in fact, I haven't had cable in my home since 2005), but we don't even have a television on which to watch movies. I do have a DVD player, but it just sits in our guest closet. If we are really desperate to watch a sports game, we go across the street to this little sports bar called The Max (we like to think it's the setting of Saved By The Bell - The Adult Years). Sometimes we will watch movies on my really crappy Dell laptop from 2005 (sorry little guy... I feel like I have to apologize to him or he might crash on me as I type this). And sometimes we will invite ourselves over to other people's houses to watch sports games or movies. Someday we will actually buy a TV and invite all those people over who have let us borrown their TVs over the past six months. Until then... thank you friends!!! My dear friend, Kristin, and I borrowing my cousin's TV to watch a Horned Frog Rose Bowl victory. One of the best days of my life! I think one of the best dinners in the world, especially when you don't feel good or are too tired or busy to cook, is Kraft macaroni and cheese with sliced hot dogs in it. In the Russum household, this is our comfort food. Just like my babysitter used to make it for me when I was five years old. Micah and I are starting to look for a house to buy in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area. And I LOVE looking at houses, so I am very excited. Micah said that my job this summer (instead of trying to find some extra filler job to fill the months of June and July when I am out of school) might be to find the right house for us. I am pretty excited about this. Best job ever! I love our new church in Scottsdale. It's called Old Town Bible Church and it is amazing. Our pastor is a great teacher with a subtle sense of humor. The teaching is theologically sound and deep. Our missional community on Wednesday nights has become one of my favorite events each week, and it is so fun watching our community in the church slowly expand as we make new friends. Tonight I have the privilege of speaking on "joy" at our women's event and I am so excited to share God's word with the ladies of our church body. Sweet Anne debuting her new Hell's Angels jacket at our Missional Community's White Elephant gift exchange.... Alla and her new hookah pipe... I think it made her a little nervous. Adam and Shalyn model their White Elephant makeover... Okay, I am going to pass this award on to my friend Ashley, over at One in the SAHM. Ashley is my other real-life friend who got me intrigued about mom blogs. She also had her first child this past year, an adorable son named Brecken, and has since decided to become a stay-at-home mom and blog about her adventures in motherhood. She is a hilarious writer and has great craft ideas. Enjoy! ... Read more