I'm Officially Excited for Life :)

So the other day, I was laying in bed SICK AS EVERRR and felt like I was going to croke. I realize this is kind of an odd statement, but it really got me thinking.. We don't know what each day will bring so why do we act like we are entitled to so many days on Earth? Then it got me thinking about graduation and what exactly I'm going to do with my life. THIS is when Ellen hit a brick wall. What the HECK am I going to do with the time I'm given?! Sooooo, I started a bucket list. You are fortunate enough to be the first people to witness all the things I, Ellen K. Scott, will strive to do at someee point in my life with the blessed time I'm given. :)

1)Run a Marathon- speaks for iteself and is somewhat predictable considering I am an athlete. My mom tells glory stories about her times no one can beat, so I might have to show her what's up. I definately have a feeling that I think it's alot easier that it really will be, butttt I'll deal with it when I have to. ha

2)Be in NYC for when the ball drops- Now let's just think about this. How LEGIT would that be? First of all, NYC is an amazing city and I miss it a lot. Secondly, I don't need another reason because helloooo, it's a huge party in Times Square.

3) Read the Bible from front to back- This goal should be very obtainable considering I have already read a fair amount of the Bible but I would just like to say I read every page of the most influencial "book" in the world.

4) Becoming a certified Scuba Diver- Random, right? I have always wanted to do this due to the fact that both my parents scuba dived for many years together prior to having kids. That's right, Dean and Peggy Scott were complete B.A.s. It makes me stop and wonder why they ever stopped "livin the life" and had three kids. I asked my dad that question once and I recall him claiming that SOMEONE had to do his laundry and clean the house.. ha reeeal funny dad.

5) Become a vegetarian for a month- I realize this checkpoint comes outta left field a bit, but I have always wondered what it would be like to be a vegetarian. My brothers girlfriend grew up in a family that stressed being vegan/vegetarian. I am an Iowa girl who lives on a farm, sooo the word "vegetarian" is not really found to be the top of my vocabulary.

6) Stand in four states at once- I once watched "A Walk to Remember" long ago and ever since that movie, this goal was officially set in my head. I find that saying you were in four different places at once would be about the coolest thing ever. I'm a loser, I know.

7) SKY DIVING!- As you can tell by my clear excitement and over usage of CAPS in the title, I will for sure be checking off this item at some point in time :)

You may think that some of these items are a bit ridiculous, but all I have to say to you is LIVE A LITTLE. Going day to day and getting stuck in a rut is something we should all avoid. Look around you! Do you not see that you have the world at your feet? I'm going to use the time I am given to the best of my ability and hope to rub off on some people as I go. So please, go start your list :)

The Finishline Is Ohhh So Close..

I would like to thank my friend Bryce for giving me the push to write this blog about the fact that school has been all we do in life.. all of our lives.. Not to take a depressing tone, but really! Think about it. How many of us can distinctly remember a time in our lives before kindergarten? Maybe I'm the only one that can't recall life before the pit, car nametags, and nap time. I dont remember exactly what the number was, but I think Bryce said that, we seniors, have spent close to 8,985,600 minutes in school!? Ahhh! That just kinda blows my mind when I think about it.. not so much that we spent all that time in school, but that it's almost over!
The whole graduating thing has slowlyyy been hitting me more and more throughout the last couple weeks and I'm sure will continue to sink in with upcoming finals and projects. Senoritis has set in a bit but, to my surprise, I'm still very much focused on just finishing some-what strong(if I hadn't added "some-what", I would have been lying). I do find it also a tad bit crazy that after graduation day, I probably won't see 90% of my graduating peers again unless it's a random run-in at the grocery store or other random places. Just think, you have spent most, if not all your life with these people around you and we are all headed in new direction of our own choice. Ahh, I find it sad and exciting all at one time. I know your probably thinking wow, she didn't write a book like normal. Butttt, talking about senioritis reminded me I have a scholarship paper to type now..haha.. Sooo, fellow bloggers, I will be leaving you with this:

CONGRATULATIONS CLASS OF 2010! :)

Spring Break

Spring Break came upon us all before we knew it. To me it felt as if it couldn't possibly be spring break with dirty snow drifts lining the road, but hey, that's Iowa for ya. The week before spring break was full of excited chatter of all the different directions people were headed. Whether it be New York, Can Cun, Florida, California, or Chicago, everyone seemed to be going somewhere. Well, everyone but Ms. Scott that is..
Now I'm definitely not complaining about having time off of school, because that was AWESOME, but I might take a negative tone talking about the not-so-exciting places I went. It wouldn't be that bad, but the fact that I could have been in not three, but FOUR different states instead of Adel kind of bothered me. Now your probably thinking, wow Ellen, how could you possibly screw up four different opportunities for your senior year spring break? Well, if anyone was going to manage to do so, it would be me. My first option was presented veryyy early on this school year in art class. The art department was providing a spring break trip to NEW YORK CITYYY of all places. At first, I thought there would be NO way I would turn down this offer..
About a month later, I was in church and the youth pastor approached me about an upcoming mission trip that would take place over spring break. I couldn't help but think of New York, but the trip was planned to be in sunny Texas and I knew it would be a great experience for me. At that point in time, I was planning on attending the mission trip and hitting up the heavy Texas sunlight..
Then, about a week later, my best friend presented me with an invitation to Florida that would be with her and her mother. I grew extremely excited for this opportunity because it was in the dead of winter and just thinking about a ray of sunlight put a smile on my face. I hadn't committed to the mission trip yet but felt a bit guilty about "ditchin" the volunteer work for a soft, sandy beach. I thought about it for awhile and finally decided that I would be going to Florida with my best friend and have the time of my life. I knew it might take some work to clear the idea with my parents, but I had a feeling they would be okay with it in the end because, after all, it's my senior year.
So, just in case you have lost track of all the awesome places I could have been, we are now dealing with New York City, Texas, and Florida. That's right, there is oneeeee more place I get to screw up.
Well, anyways, I was planning on going to Florida untilll a college I was very much considering contacted me and wanted to have me come to their school and officially try-out for their volleyball team. At this point in time, I had no choice but to drop ALL plans and agree to try out because I had a good chance at getting an athletic scholarship. Of course, the coaches ONE open day to try-out was smack in the middle of my spring break week. I was ooberly bummed for awhile about not being able to go to Florida, butttt this just meant I could spend a week shopping in Kansas City! (where the college is located)
Okay, so here is the kicker. A WEEK before spring break I decided I will be attending a different college then the one I was going to go try-out for.. which means I had no reason to go to KC anymore. BUMMER! So guess who spent their senior spring break loading feed and picking up horse poop for their dad? Ms. Scott did. Move over New York, Texas, Florida, and KC.. 'cuz Adel, IA is what's up! ..and THAT would be my pitiful spring break story.

it was just one of THOSE days...

It started out a beautiful morning with the sun shining bright and the smell of fresh-baked pancakes lingered...NOT. Boy, do I wish I woke up on the right side of the bed more often. I have officially decided that I'm not a morning person. Today it felt like I wasn't a morning, lunch, afternoon, or night person. Let's just say it was a bit of a rough day...
I woke up rearin' to go to school in exactly what I wore to bed. My mop of hair was lucky to have even been collected into one, some-what controlled unit of hair. Off to school I went rockin' a whopping four hours of sleep! Thanks to an upcoming family vacation and volleyball tournament, I will be missing four days of school. That doesn't seem like much to handle, right? That's what I thought! Turns out Mr. Goodale LOVES being the devil and is making me finish my three-day CALCULUS test asap. Studying for this FREAKING IMPOSSIBLE test explains why Ellen only caught four hours of sleep last night. It wasn't that the actual studying kept me up, it was more so the nightmares of radical signs and pies chasing me (you heard me, PIES). Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but regardless, I did NOT get a sufficient amount of sleep and I now regret it. MUCHO.
I got to school and got "that look" from many people.. You know the look I'm talking about. The "did she even look in the mirror this morning?" look. I'm pretty sure I set the new record high for receiving that look today. Ha, it's all good.. right? WRONG. Right when you think your day is turning around, the breakfast line doesn't have your kind of muffin. UNACCEPTABLE! Okay, I do realize that it's absolutely pathetic that I would let a muffin take part in ruining my day, but I love my muffins people. I continue through the day attempting to keep my eyes open and failing miserably. I took a couple cat naps in a selected few classes, but the day truly took a turn for the worst when lunch came around...
I know what you're thinking.. it was a gross lunch, right? Actually, the worst part of my day was lunch because I didn't get to eat it! At all! You see, Mr. Goodale is a Nazi and makes us "derelict" children finish our tests in one period and lucky for me, my only open period was LUNCH. It didn't help that the first part of the test was only eight problems and it took me my whole fifth open to finish them (I'm not stupid, the problems are just reaaaaaaally hard....;). I have to admit, I did feel very accomplished after finishing the devil's version of mathematics.
The rest of my classes went well for the day and I soon started to get very excited for track and volleyball after school. I'm not one of those "crazies" that just lovesssss to run in circles, but I am coming back from being injured and haven't been active in almost a month and a half now! If you are an athlete, you understand just how depressing this kind of situation can be.. and trust me when I say ANKLES ARE OVERRATED! Anywhoooo, I got my ankle taped by the trainer and all was going well! I even did a side heel click out of pure joy ( not the smartest thing in the world). But ya know what sucks? I ran ONE measly lap and my ankle killed. How can that be? One freaking month later and I can't simply jog?? Ehh, I'll quit my complaining because I know that no one really want to hear it, but it crushed me.. absolutely crushed me.
Why I went to volleyball thinking it would feel better, I don't really know.. I realize now that a bum ankle means playing defense is near to impossible, hitting a good ball is a joke, and jump serving only happens in your dreams. If you know me, you know that I LOVE volleyball so you can imagine the mood I'm in now immediately upon returning from the biggest failure of a practice I have ever participated in. Just awesome! Oh, and as if things really couldn't get worse, I received a phone call on my way home about my grandma who has just been checked into her local hospital for heart complications. Catching a break seems a little far-fetched, doesn't it. Well enough of my moaning and groaning, I have CALCULUS to study for.. and a lunch to pack.

So Many Decisions, SO LITTLE TIME.

Would the perfect college for Ellen PLEASE reveal yourself! She's getting antsy.

Okay, sooo I know you really don't want to hear about my college choices and all the different opportunities I don't know how to take advantage of, but suck it up.. because you are about to hear it. If you are going through the "selecting a college" stage right now as well, you might know the, well, I don't know how to say it..AKLJGHLSWGFHLAQHLFJKFHLFJ feeling. If you are one of those people who have decided what you are going to do with your life, where you are attending college, and where you are going to live, please feel inclined to jump off a bridge. Ha, okay so I was just kidding.. I'm actually just jealous of you because you have a plan. A plan I'm in the process of making.
So you might be thinking to yourself, wow, she is an idiot and really has no idea what she's going to do (which is only partially true). I AM an idiot for putting college decisions on the back burner for so long, but I do have a partial plan. I KNOW I want to play volleyball literally anywhere that will pay for most of my tuition. If that doesn't end up happening, I will attend Wartburg and play there. Not that there is anything wrong with Wartburg or other DIII schools, but they do not offer athletic scholarships like other DI and DII can. So right now, I am in a comfort zone knowing that I can go to Wartburg and not have it end up being too expensive due to academic scholarships I have recieved.. But yet I am still seeking other places willing to pay more. Ehh? Please, for my well-being, just agree and say it sounds like a somewhat decent plan.
Another problem soon came up after looking into random colleges across the nation (name a state, any state). What the heck do I want in a school?? Every time I come home from a visit, I have very few negative things to say about the school. I don't know if this is because I am a laid back person in general, or if I'm just not at "the school for me". I also know that weather conditions or the distance from home won't phase me in the end so there are few factors helping me narrow down my oooberly important decision. Some people know what major they are interested in, but it should come as no surprise to you that I, again, am undecided. I never thought that having too many interests was going to be such a setback! I love art/design but I am also very interested in possibly attending medical school as well. Which makes me, as I said before, a VERY much undecided senior with the worst case of ajkhas;djklghals;dgj emotions in her gut.
I'll tell you a little about a couple schools just in case you were curious as to some of the places I'm looking into. One coach from Longview, Florida (I believe) e-mailed me the other day saying that for conditioning, the volleyball team went swimming with dolphins. For SOME reason, I think I could handle that!? Another school is located a few minutes away from the heart of NEW YORK CITY. Again, I find myself okay with the thought of that. A school in Texas has a 71%(male) to 29% (female) enrollment rate.. So that school is definitely still in the running! ha JUST KIDDING. I don't want you to be under the impression that I don't take this decision seriously, because I really do. It's just that it can be SUCH a life changing decision and I don't want to have an opportunity pass me by without even considering it. In a nut shell, I'm waiting for the answer to my "college selection" to randomly fall from the sky... Is that too much to ask?! :)

THEE One And Only Little Red Wagon Story

Maybe you can't tell, but I am one of the worst procrastinators I know. My previous blog was written and and posted within 15 minutes of the deadline so I thought I would get an early start this time. It's not that I don't like writing these blogs, I can just never decide what to write about! My life is just soooooo exciting.. I'm just kidding, life is great. As I was reading through the topics to write about, I was convinced I was going to write about how stressful the whole "college commitment" decision has been, but then it hit me. You may be thinking to yourself, what hit you, Ellen? Well, you are about to embark in one of my favorite snow day memories.. of all-time.
It all started one snowy Monday morning, which of course turned out to be a snow day (there is officially nothing better than a Monday snow day). It was a beautiful morning with a fresh coat of fluffy snow, unlike the icy snow days of death we have been encountering lately. Adam and Kevin, two of my great friends at the time, immediately text me to see if my hot tub was in working condition so they could come over for the day. I, of course, had no problem with this because I wanted to do something with my snow day other than shoveling the side walk and facebook creeping. As soon as they arrived, we went down to the hot tub only to find that it had been drained and cleaned the previous day. Just our luck, right? We found ourselves at a loss of what to do...
So I lied. It didn't take us long to figure out that sledding on my backyard hill (that I had hosed down the previous night) most definitely needed to be part of our snow day. We dug through my garage finding ten year old sleds, shovels, snowboards, and even plastic wrap to slide down the hill on. It was entertaining for awhile, but Adam's curiosity got the best of him and he ventured back into the garage not knowing he would come across the best sledding object of his lifetime. That's right, you guessed it. Adam proudly sauntered out of my garage with our ancient, "lil red wagon" in hand.
Most of you know Adam and Kevin which should make the situation I'm about to explain to you that much more entertaining. Kevin, being one of the biggest pessimistic people in the world, immediately shakes his head at Adam and doesn't hesitate to assure him that he is indeed an idiot. Turns out, just this one time, Kevin was right on the money. Adam set the wagon at the top of the hill and tucked his knees up so he was balled up just enough to fit in the wagon space provided. Kevin and I began to push him down the hill and unfortunately for Adam, it didn't take long for him to pick up some speed thanks to the sheet of slick ice under the rickety, old wagon wheels. All was going as planned until the bottom of the hill emerged with a large snow drift that was sure to stop Adam dead in his tracks. He attempted to ditch the wagon but failed miserably and reached for the handle to try to steer the wagon. Now that Adam's legs were hanging off the front of the wagon, it began to tip forward JUST in time for him to hit the drift with serious force. I then watched as my best friend's crotch was propelled DIRECTLY into the steering bar that he was holding so very upright. The force of his body flying forward then catapulted the back half of the wagon into the back of his head which left him awkwardly sandwiched between a wagon in the middle of a snow drift. I hope you just chuckled, because it gets better.
Of course Kevin and I couldn't help but laugh a little but then we realized we should most definitely be helping our friend. Kevin strapped on his snowboard thinking he was a pro and rushed down the hill to remind Adam that he was, after all, a COMPLETE idiot. I carefully began my descent down the hill but looked up just in time to see Kevin not only wipe-out, but absolutely dominate Adam in the process. You see, Adam propped up from the wagon just in time to get run over by Kevin but table top him as well. Adam's mangled body was back to it's original position and Kevin lay ten feet further cursing Adam for his usage of the "lil red wagon". All I wanted to do was attempt to help them up and make fun of them, but I had absolutely no room to talk at this point... You see, I had just peed my pants.
I walk through our garage on a daily basis, but every once in awhile I catch a glimpse of that wagon in the corner and find myself laughing out loud. If you didn't find this story entertaining, I'm sorry for wasting your time but it was, without a doubt, one of the best snow days ever.

All I Want For Christmas Is 600 Bales Of Hay.. NOT

First off, before I get to being my good ole' negative self, I hope everyone had a great holiday season and made great memories together with their friends and family! I sure know I did. There is nothing quite like the anticipation of Santa's arrival or the joy of dodging crazy relatives visiting from afar. This year, I had a new kind of anticipation unfortunately sprung upon me. It all started on one cold and rainy Christmas Eve...
Let me set the story for you so you have a great visual in your mind. The Right Turn Feed Store is where it all began.. My father owns a drive through feed store as some of you are aware of. Of course, being the AWESOME daughter I am, I volunteered to help work at the store on Christmas Eve (again, I'm awesome). What my dad failed to mention was that there was a load of hay coming in at 10:30 AM and that I needed to be able to help unload. Not a big deal, right? Just a little hay is all.. WRONG. I need to get three more paragraphs out of this story, so I'm not going to jump to the exciting part just yet..
So where was I.. Aha.. at the store, 10:30 am, starving with a side of sleep deprivation, and left with no hay. I called my father at 11, 12, and again at 1:30 and still so sign of hay. I'm a bit distraught at this point because the hay delivery running late meant that Ellen's plans for the day were instantly chucked out the window. My dad assures me that the hay will arrive promptly at 2:30 pm, and boy did it. Now when my dad said "some hay", I thought for sure I could handle it. I'm a strong girl, right? Well "some hay" turned out to be 600 bails of uncovered, sopping-wet, weed filled hay (remember, it was MAYBE ten degrees and raining that day). It didn't help that the semi-driver HAD to be special needs and could not, for the life of him, back the semi up into the loading dock. So being the nice Scott family we are, we trudged out through the snow and slush to begin our Christmas Eve bonding.
We started by fork lifting my brother and his friend to the top on the eight, wet layers of hay. I hope you are imagining this as completely miserable, because it was. Anyways, they began by rolling off hay bales one by one and each hay bale landed one by one in a large puddle that had formed in the road. Yay. I thought semi- wet bales were hard to lift and strategically place on to old, rickety palettes, but turns out the jobs is TEN times harder when you are forced to fish the bale from a lake-like puddle. To top things off, my dad has a worker who mumbles under his breath and talks to himself. I, of course, was NOT informed of this and was talking back to him thinking we were having some sort of conversation. He then turns to me and states quite mockingly, "You talkin to your lil self girl??". Ha! Merry Christmas to you too crazy, old, mumbling man.
It was clearly not a good day for me but despite the frozen fingers, wet clothes, and blistered hands, I made a memory with my family that I will never forget. The most important realization was that I HAD a loving family to share this miserable experience with and that I HAVE a loving family to laugh with today about our Christmas Eve adventure. So thank you, Santa.. for ALL 600 bales of joy. :)