The Hunger Games Webquest

Dear Players,

The author of The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins received inspiration for this story by paying attention to events and things around her.  Today you will be going a quest to discover what influenced her as well as discovering what influences you. You will have 5 tasks you will need to complete.  Each task will come with its own set of instructions.  Open a word document or a Google doc to record your answers.  Once you have completed, email/share with me your document at the address, ralder@alpinedistrict.org.  You will have 45 minutes to complete this webquest, so please remain focused.  Have fun!

Task #1: Theseus and the Minotaur

Go to this website http://www.shmoop.com/theseus-minotaur-labyrinth/summary.html and read about the Greek myth about Theseus and the Minotaur.  Make sure you read the brief and detailed summary.  Once you have completed the reading, on your word document, write a paragraph summarizing the story and its tragedy.  In a second paragraph, explain how this story connects to The Hunger Games.  What is similar?  What is different?

Task #2:  Hybrids

The Minotaur from the myth was a half man, half bull.  His life consisted of eating humans while aimlessly wandering through a maze.  Below are a few pictures of the Minotaur.  Reflect back on the book. What are some hybrid creatures that have already presented themselves in The Hunger Games?  What roles do they play in the Hunger Games?  Write your answer on your document.  Then create a hybrid animal of your own.  What does it look like?  What animals is it created from?  What is its purpose?

  

Task #3:  Reality TV

Part of Suzanne Collins’ inspiration came to her as she was watching TV.  Watch the following movie clip.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhKQBTJME5o  Collins was watching Survivor when the idea came to her to write this book. What elements of this show appear in The Hunger Games?  How does reality TV play a role in the book?  Record your answers on your document.

Task #4:  War:  What is it good for?

The last thing Suzanne Collins’ mentions as being an inspiration to her novel was the Vietnam and Iraqi war.  She saw pictures of the devastation that war brings—the poverty, the distress, and the hurt.  What role does war play in The Hunger Games?  What role does war play in today’s society?  In your opinion, is it necessary?  Why or why not?  In a paragraph, write your answer on your document. 

Task #5:  My Turn

Now that you know what inspired Suzanne Collins to write The Hunger Games, it’s time to get some inspiration for yourself.  What is the most influential thing in your life right now?  Record your thoughts on you document.  What are some current events that could possibly influence you?  Go to www.cnn.com to see what current events are going on.  Pick one to study.  Write a brief summary of that event.  What TV shows do you watch?  Jot down a couple of sentences describing what the show is about.  Combine these three things together and create the basic plot summary of your upcoming novel. Write it on your document and title it.

This concludes your web quest.  Make sure your name is on your document and please email/share it with this address ralder@alpinedistrict.org. 

My Way of Cooking

So, I've never considered myself much of a cook.  In fact, I've run away from every cooking opportunity that has come my way. But then I got married and discovered that my husband sort of needs my help in the cooking department (gotta maintain that healthy weight!) and so a new talent began to brew (yay for puns).  Now, I'm still no cook, but I am learning and last week I created somewhat of a masterpiece.  I call it Butternut Squash Soup. Very original, I know. And now I will share the recipe.  I wish you the best of luck in your attempt to follow.

Ingredients:

1 Butternut Squash
1/2 medium Onion
Butter
2 cans of chicken stock
Salt
Pepper
Chili Powder
Nutmeg
Cream Cheese
Buttermilk
Mozzarella Cheese

Directions (this is where it gets interesting):

1. You should probably wash the squash. Trying saying that ten times fast.  But if you're like me and are running late for your husband's mission reunion then it is perfectly acceptable to skip this step.  Better yet, make sure there is dirt on it that will make it into your soup. Mmmm. Protein!

2. Cut the squash in half longways and bake at 400 degrees for more than 20 minutes.  I only cooked mine for 20 minutes and it was definitely not soft enough.

3.  While the squash is "cooking" in your oven. Slice the onion and sautee in butter in your pot.  Proceed to burn the onion and make your husband repeat this step.  Add salt and pepper because you realize all recipes call for that.  Rummage through your spice pantry and find two spices that will work together.  Let your nose guide you.  Chili Powder and Nutmeg do not smell good together so obviously they'll taste good together right?

4.  Remove squash from oven.  Realize it is not cooked. Realize you are still late.  Cut the skin off and scoop out the seeds. Gross.  Then chop into cubes.

5.  Mix the chicken stock with the onions and bring to a boil.  Throw in those squash cubes (don't forget some dirt) and pray they cook this way.

6.  When squash is tender, pour entire mixture into the blender.  Don't forget the lid.  Blend until it is a fine liquid.  Realize that soup should be creamy and add cream cheese.  Notice that your husband has eaten most of your cream cheese on his breakfast toast so just add what you have.  Blend again.

7.  Return soup to the pot and reheat. Don't boil.  Notice that your soup resembles baby food more than actual soup.  Search your fridge for a "soupy" agent and find buttermilk. CHECK EXPIRATION DATE.  Good to go.  Add buttermilk until you think it looks like soup.

8.  Garnish with some Mozzarella cheese and you're good to go.

9. Taste test on husband first.  He likes it? Success.

*The events described above did in fact happen and the result was a delicious success.  But if you don't quite trust my way of doing things then pinterest is your place to go for a "normal" recipe.

Ode to A Mama

WARNING:  this post isn't particularly funny or snarky or witty or whatever else you may be expecting but if you want to know true mother daughter love then by all means, continue on.

How do you say thank you to a woman who has given up her life for you? I don't think you can but I'll still try.

For those of you who don't know, a couple months ago in October my mom suffered from a massive stroke.  It happened when she was home alone running--on the treadmill of all places.  It took away her ability to move, to feel, to hear.  In a nutshell it was scary.  She is less than 50 years old.  She's not a smoker.  She was healthy (remember the treadmill?).  She had no high cholesterol or blood pressure.  It snuck up on her when she least expected it and it almost took her life.  But gosh darn it, that woman is a fighter and she decided she needed to stick around.  Looking at her MRI she should be a vegetable at best but if you saw her today you would never suspect a thing.  Doctors marveled and many cried when they saw her.  There were those who were brought to remembrance of God and His hand in all things and more who prayed to Him in gratitude that He didn't take her yet.

It was the first time that I as her child had the opportunity to take care of the woman who had taken care of me these many years.  What a humbling experience to help someone you love who is completely dependent on you.  From doing her hair to fixing her dinner or reading to her I wanted to be there to help her.  From that experience a bond grew between us and made our love and dependence on each other stronger.

A few days after and still a smile on that face of hers.

I'm happy to report that she's still a fighter and continues to improve every day.  She regained movement although her left side is still void of feeling.  She speaks well and walks without a problem.  She's our miracle.

Now with all the craziness of life happening around her including my getting married my mom has yet again turned into a superhero. She never stops going. She never stops giving. She never stops loving. I feel like lately I may have turned into an ungrateful little snot so I want to say thank you mom.  You have always been there for me, and have always had my best interests at heart.  You are my champion and I am forever indebted to you.

Maybe sometimes we don't see eye to eye on everything but love is a powerful thing and it transcends all of that.  It's unconditional. It never ends. I love you.

The woman herself 7 months after.

P.S. Baby you got such great shoes. :)

Happiness is just outside my window

Word on the street is this girl's getting married. Want the details? Read on my friends. Read on.

His name is Preston Byron Alder. He's a Boise boy. I'm in love. You didn't know we were dating? You're not alone.  It all happened so quickly and so perfectly that it could be easy to miss so I'll make sure that doesn't happen.  Our engagement is as follows:

I was leaving for Hawaii in a couple of days and I obviously needed a new swimming suit. He was adamant that he go with me. I was adamant that he should not.  Seriously, who takes their boyfriend swimming suit shopping.  Better yet, who takes anyone with them when they go swimming suit shopping?  He won.  After he suggested that we go to Barnes and Nobles to pick up a gift for his mom for mother's day (my idea by the way). Well if you know me then you know any excuse to go to the book store is a good one even when I've demolished myself whilst shopping for that thing everyone looks flattering in...swim wear.  We walked in and immediately I was healed.  The smell of coffee, the sight of rows and rows of books, and the sound of Michale Buble singing in the rafters was the perfect medication. (Not to mention the handsome man who suggested we go was walking in with me.) We began perusing through the bookstore as one does on such occasions. I was finding my favorite books and smelling them (because I am weird like that) and he was looking for something "special" so we got separated. I soon hear my name being called from across the shop and he tells me to come look at this really cool book about tattoos (not even that cool) when he points to something on the shelf in the art history section (bonus points for placement). It's a cute handmade book titled "The Never-Ending Story" by Preston Byron Alder. I pick it up and look at him wearing a smirk on his face and I whisper (because it is a book store and squealing is usually frowned upon) "Are you kidding me?" He asks if I'm going to read it and so I plop down on a bench and begin reading the sweetest love story of them all--ours. Four chapters outlined the book.  The first chapter began with the first time we met at FHE and encourages all who are reading to attend FHE because it not only strengthens families but it creates them as well. ;) It goes through our courtship and things he loved most about all the time we spent together. He didn't miss a thing. Chapter two is title what I love about Reegan Lake. (That's me in case anyone was confused at this point in the story) Included are hand-drawn pictures of what he loves about me including my hourglass figure (awesome) and my ability to understand and watch sports.  (glad he enjoys them as well) Chapter Three is called why I want to marry Reegan and it is a tender and well-thought out letter about why he wants me to be his wife. The last sentence of the book is, "let's do this baby!" which made me giggle a bit on the inside. Chapter 4 concludes the story with three dots . . .

At this moment I thought I would look up and see him on his knee or he would propose to me there or something but no... Turns out he got a bit scared and there was too many people around (there was people there? I didn't notice...) So instead he says, "Well let's go buy this book for my mom." and we left. Cool. At this point I'm thinking maybe he was just being nice seeing how I was having a bit of a crummy day and I was satisfied with that. :) But then we got to my apartment and opened the door to my main man, Frank Sinatra, serenading us and a beautiful table set up with a nice tablecloth, a candle, some Parisian decorations and of course cupcakes! (Thanks to Bryce for setting it all up) It was at that moment I realized this was it, so naturally I buried my face in my hands and began to cry as any rational woman would do in my situation. I was just too darn happy. When I opened my eyes I saw the thing I wanted most in life--A man looking at me with love in his eyes (is this too sappy? I think not.) He was kneeling on one knee holding a box with my beautifully simple ring and asked me the question. I said yes of course and he slipped that ring on my finger and I haven't stopped smiling since. Frank continued to sing "love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage" as Preston and I danced the night away. We read the book together again and ate a cupcake and talked about what we would do if our kids turned out to be ugly.

And that is the over detailed story of why I am now on a search for which lighting this ring looks best in. 

Turns out happiness is a real thing people! But really I am happier than ever to be engaged to such a wonderful and worthy man. He is everything I could have hoped for and more and I cannot wait until we enter the temple and are sealed for time AND eternity. What a wonderful feeling it is. And so here we go. Let's do this baby.

Jealous yet?

Who said change was a good thing?

I used to think that I could handle change really well.  When it came to moving from Jr. High to High School, I was ready. When I could finally say goodbye to the braces, the bangs and the chubbiness of the awkward stages, I was more than ready, I was waiting.  But now looking at my life and the consistency of change that happens every day I find that I have been lying to myself. Change is not fun.

Yesterday I said goodbye to a dear cousin, roommate, and friend.  We grew up together, we lived together, and we laughed together.  I watched her fall in love and I watched her get married and now I get to sit back and watch her move on to bigger and better things in life and I don't like it.  It was a lot harder than I thought it would be and I haven't been able to stop thinking about how inevitable change is.

My best friend is getting married in a week,  people are graduating from college (what?), my relationships aren't what they used to be with people I love and it feels like the world is crashing down in a huge heaping pile of leftover change and I'm trying to keep from drowning in it. And everyone who knows me knows I'm not good at swimming. What is one to do?

Maybe I'm the strange one. Everyone is up and changing and here I am attempting to keep everything how it was or trying to go back to the way things used to be.  Maybe it's time for me to learn how to embrace life and its uncertainties. To learn to look change in the face with faith and determination and say, "bring it on." Maybe I just need to put on my big girl pants and live.

But how?

Therein lies the question I so desperately need to find an answer to.

Ms. Lake

I got in. It's official. I'm going to be a teacher!!

*More to come.

Now where did I put that?

To you few and "faithful" followers,

As you know, I went on an adventure this summer. An adventure I tell you!! I packed my bags and headed across that tiny little pond they call the Atlantic and did what every art nerd out there longs to do... sit in museums for hours without end and gawk at the god-like creations that adorn their walls.  Unreal. That's the only word I can think of that comes close to describing the experience.  I sometimes sit there and look back and think to myself, "wow, that really happened." It feels like a dream but then all of the sudden it's very real.

Needless to say i want to go back.  I've been home for months now and all i can think about is how in the heck am i going to get back there? I have absolutely no money, no connections, and I sure as heck don't have the needed language skills but I think I may have accidentally left something there. My sanity.  It's gone and i can't find it.  while i was there my worries switched from which boy to choose to which gelatto flavor was the best.  From how am I going to pay for all of this to how am I going to find lunch during siesta.  From minding my grades to minding the gap on the subway.  While I was there i found my sanity and upon returning home I discovered that i had completely lost it and i feel like i should go get it back. probably today.

so who's with me? I've been seriously craving a crepe.

I'm Back.

hello world. I know you've missed me. and by world I mean those five people on my sidebar that claim to "follow" me. oh and of course my mom (love you!).  When was the last time i blogged? a year ago?  maybe not that long but it definitely does feel like that.  I remember thinking "i'm going to blog at least once a week. at least." ha. funny how fast reality comes crashing in on you once you've created challenging and inspiring goals. Like that one time I was going to run that marathon? oops...

Moving on...

It's the start of a new semester (and by start of course i mean we've already been in school for 3 weeks.) and i've made new goals including not neglecting this precious baby of mine.  hopefully. hopefully reality will be kind to me this time around but seeing how it's been acting the past couple of months, I highly doubt it. all that aside, it's good to be back.

I Must...

...get my hands on one of these.

They're called dwarf hamsters and i need one.

Burn the Witch! Burn the Witch!

Last weekend was epic to say the least.  My roommates and myself and what seemed to be the rest of the world celebrated Holi Krishna aka The Festival of Colors. 

This is a Hindu festival based on some of their beliefs and it is widely celebrated in India.  The legend says that there was a prince who prayed to the Hindu gods.  His father, the king, didn't like the fact that his son was praying to other gods so he decided to burn him as punishment.  He had a witch who was known to walk through fire, carry the son through the flames.  The son prayed to his gods and was delivered while the witch burned instead.  To celebrate this victory over death, the Hindu's have a ritual burning of a witch.

The other legend that inspired the festival is of a beautiful and immortal love between the Lord Krishna and Radha.  Krishna would often complain how Radha's skin was so fair and yet his was so dark.  His mother advised him to throw some colors on her face to see how her complexion changed. And that is where we get the tradition of throwing colors.

We started out the day with a little taste of India at the India Palace. The best food you will ever eat is right there. I think the owner is starting to recognize us we go there so often.

Next stop, the temple in American Fork to throw some chalk. It was a mad house there. Loud music, lots of chalk, and of course...llamas. :)  We all gathered together to watch the burning of the witch and chant "BURN THE WITCH! BURN THE WITCH!"  Then we counted down from ten and threw the chalk into the air. Holy cow... it was insane.  It went pitch black.  You would think that you could hold your breath but no.  It was so long I just had to breath.  In the process of breathing I managed to suck in enough chalk to turn my tongue purple, like after you've eaten an otter pop, purple.  I could have probably spit in 7 different colors if I knew how to spit of course. So anyways, here's the results of the afternoon:

The Roommates. :)

Me and Jared showing off our color pride.

the car ride home

The Fierce-Some warriors. (and Katie Pitts who once again looks like she does drugs. (we still love you.))

Now that our clothes are all officially stained pink and our shower looks like we use Kool Aid instead of water we can officially say  HOLI KRISHNA!!

When It Rains, It Pours

The other day we had quite the rainstorm and in that situation there is only one thing you can do... 

PUDDLE JUMP!!

I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did.  

One Step At A Time

Ok. It's official.  I'm the craziest person alive.  You're probably saying to yourselves, "Duh Reegan. We figured that one out a long time ago." But seriously I'm a little slow and just discovering how crazy I really am.

So...the other day I got the crazy idea to run a marathon. Yup. The 26.23 miles.  Don't ask me why I thought this would be a good idea because I have no answer for you. So I called up the master aka "Dad" and he made me a schedule to follow so that I will be ready by October 15th to run this:

Cool Right?  I get to have Father/Daughter bonding with this guy so I'm pretty excited. :)

It's only the second week of training and I feel crummy.  How in the heck does one go about motivating themselves to do this? I feel like having some type of reward waiting for me at the end but everything I can think of isn't worth this craziness.  So far I'm running on self-satisfaction but I get self-satisfaction out of the simplest things so it can only last so long. Example: Today I wore shiny shoes. Self=satisfied. 

See? Not hard at all. Please, if you 

have any suggestions for me that would be awesome. :)

All in all, I think this will be a good experience in the end if I don't give up.  I want to do hard things and I want to challenge myself.  I keep thinking about how I'm going to feel when I cross the finish line.  Will I want to cry? Will I want to scream?  Will I want to dance?  Personally I think I may just want to eat a cheesburger but that aside I think I will be proud of myself.  Not the "sinning" kind of proud but the "good" proud.  The proud kind of feeling a parent has after seeing their kid make the winning touchdown or getting a good grade on a test.  I'm going to feel proud that I really can do hard things and that by setting goals coupled with my determination nothing is impossible. Woot!! I can do this. Wish me luck! :)

Also if any of you would like to be at the finish line to see me crawling across the pavement that would be great.  I don't humiliate myself nearly enough.

Scones=Family

You may be wondering how scones equals my family well I will tell you but first this:

The other day my roommates and I were craving some delicious scones so I went to the

masters for a recipe and ended up with some frozen rolls and the the advice to "roll them out really thin. The thinner, the bigger." Thanks Grandpa Baird for those words of wisdom. :) We took his advice and much to our satisfaction, we ended up with some beautiful looking scones that warmed our bellies.

Ok, now on to the explanation of how scones started this family of mine...

It begins with my father, Steve, in college.  He moves into a new singles ward and gets assigned to home teach Shelly Baird.  On one of his visits, Shelly's mom peeks her head in and notices the nice looking young man and begins plotting, or should I say "kneading."  By the time the lesson was finished, the smell of homemade scones was wafting from the kitchen.  The next part went a little something like this...

Well, dad stayed for dinner, and then he stayed forever. And then the world got this

and this

How grateful the world is for those scones.


Bon Appetit!

Please Tell Me You Would Date This

Today I was called a "special needs orphan from a Nazi concentration camp... with a skin disease" in reference to this picture:

Should I be offended or flattered?

I'll choose the latter.

Question.

How does one go about taking notes in a sign language class?

What's in a Name?

An amazing thing happened to me today. I've been waiting for this day since my birth. No one could have prepared me for the thoughts and feelings that came with this glorious event. It is now time for a story...

In my American Literature class today we learned about Christopher Columbus and how he came to the Americas and renamed all the tiny little islands. We got onto the subject of names and what they mean to people individually or as a group.

This of course got me thinking to how cool I think my name is. I mean really, how many Reegans do you know? We are far and few in this world. I even looked it up there's 1,556 Reegans in the United States and only 1 Reegan Lake. I'm pretty unique if I don't say so myself. Sure you've got King Lear's daughter named Regan and then there's the President/actor, Ronald Reagan that I am so often confused with, but that's different of course.

Well, while sitting in class thinking about my name the girl sitting to my left raises her hand to make a comment. The professor asks her for her name to get to know her and what do I hear her say? "It's Reegan." I definitely let out an audible gasp for everyone in the room to hear. In my whole 19 and almost 1/2 years of existence I have never met anyone with my name and now I was sitting right next to her! Turns out she's never met another Reegan either so it was great experience to say the least. I am now able to check that one off my bucket list.

Needless to say, I felt extremely accomplished with my day because of this one event and the best news is I get to re-live it 3 times a week for the whole semester!

The Beginning

As a little kid I used to think everyone was leaving me out and naturally I didn't want to miss out on the parties going on around me so I picked up a phrase, "what about me?" Here's an example:

ME: Mom, where are you going?

MOM: I have to go use the restroom.

ME: What about Me?

MOM: I don't think you want to come with me this time...

or another example in case that last one was a little too confusing,

MOM (talking to the whole family): We're going to go to the movies this week as a family.

ME: What about Me?

MOM: Reegan, when I say "as a family" that means you too.

I was a paranoid little girl hoping I wouldn't be left behind. My mom said it wasn't a rare occasion when you heard a squeaky little voice coming from the back seat of the car asking, "But what about Me?"

So when everyone started blogging about their lives, the lessons they've learned, or new hobbies they've picked up on I heard myself saying, "What about me?"

So here it is. It's all about me this time. No more getting left behind, I'm jumping on this bandwagon.