Writing about life

Blog updates

2011-03-02T12:09:00.000-07:00

I'm currently working on updating this blog. The background is temporary; it's from my Stampin' Up blog that is temporarily down. I haven't had the time to create another background yet, but it's in the works, as is a new banner.

Also planned is more updating at regular intervals.

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Girl Scouts and other happenings

2011-02-28T11:38:00.004-07:00

I took this picture of D before we left
for Chicago so my parents could see
all of her charms and IPP's.

Deirdre's Silver Award is 100% finished. She spent 31 hours planning the workshop; 9 hours running the workshop; and over 2 hours filling out paperwork. It was all mailed off on January 31. She will receive her award April 16 at an award ceremony in Salt Lake City.

I took this one, so her grandparents
could see all the patches she has
earned the last 2 1/2 years.

She sold 1026 boxes of Girl Scout cookies this year; this is the exact same amount as last year. It might be her last year selling so many boxes. If she makes the softball team, tryouts are today and tomorrow, it will be hard to deliver all her cookies orders. We may decide that it is too much trouble.

Deirdre has finished all of Program Aide requirements for the Senior level: be in grade 9, earn the PA Cadette pin and patch, 5 hours of advanced training, 5 hours of specialized training, 20 hours of Girl Scout service, and 5 hours of mentoring a Cadette PA. They certainly don't make it easy to earn, but it is extremely worth it.

The leadership experience that Deirdre has had has really given her confidence. She works so well with the younger girls.

I am currently serving as both the Service Unit Registrar and Events Director. It really isn't too bad and much better than being the Service Unit Director.

Jeff was asked to be part of the Senate at Snow College. He is also serving as the liaison between the Senate and Curriculum committee, and in charge of the General Education committee for accreditation next year. So for the last two months, he has had quite a few meetings that have cut into the time he normally would be grading papers. He flies to Chicago for a conference on accreditation later this week. They leave early Thursday and return late Saturday and he will be busy all day.

My mother and Deidre standing in front of Sue at the Field Museum.

Deirdre and I just spent Presidents' Day weekend in Chicago. My Auntie Barbie passed away on Valentine's Day and the funeral was February 19. We flew in on Friday and left on Monday. This way we were able to spend Sunday at The Field Museum with my parents. The last time we were there, both the museum and Chicago, was Christmas 2006. We watched a movie on how the paleontologists found Sue—one of the largest and the most complete (85%) T. rex ever found—the museum combined the actual finding with 3-d cartoon of how she might have lived millions of years ago. It was entertaining and educational.

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SILVER

2011-01-09T19:37:00.000-07:00

Deirdre has finished her Silver Award! She really hasn't; there are a few minor details to take care of, but the main project a "Cookie Workshop" is finished. She was in charge of the entire workshop that younger girl scouts earned Try-Its, badges, and IPP's at. She did a fabulous job and I am so proud of her. She spent hours (like 31) preparing and then the nine hours of the workshop.

I am always amazed at the things she does. She works so well with the kindergartners and first graders. She has some really leadership abilities that come through. She sets goals and always follows through with them.

As soon as I locate my camera from the back of the van, I will post the pictures she took of the workshop.

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Wow! It's been a while

2010-12-15T09:14:00.000-07:00

Well, here's an update or part of of an update—

We finally finished the remodel of the house. Well we aren't 100% finished, border and quarter round needed in the master bedroom, quarter round in part of the living room, and the walls of the media room are plain white still. But, and this is important, there is no more drywall dust and we have closets again—no more living out of totes.

In this process we whittled clothes down—I donated 33 garbage bags (the 8 gallon ones) of clothes to DI (Deseret Industries, like the Salvation Army, but through the LDS church).

The whole family has lost weight—combined is over 100 pounds!

Deirdre graduated from eighth grade and is now a freshman at Manti High School. She has a heavy load with English 9 Honors, Geometry Honors, Orchestra, Biology, Architectural Drafting (which is a concurrent enrollment class as a junior she can get college credit for the class), World Geography, and Spanish 1. However, even with this load she rarely has homework and still has a 4.0.

I have taken the year off from the U. I will return for the summer term and then at least one more semester after that. This has been a good thing as the high school is starting the accreditation process again and I have been assigned to help our provisional teachers (those who are in their first three years of teaching) get their portfolios in place so that they may earn their Level 2 license.

Jeff has been busy teaching and writing php code for people all over the world.

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"Yet another one bites the dust"

2010-05-03T10:12:00.001-06:00

How sad Lynn Redgrave has died. She was only 67 and had, unbeknownst to me, been battling breast cancer for seven years. A write-up can be found here. There is a great quote in the article, "It was always, 'Corin's the brain, Vanessa the shining star, oh, and then there's Lynn." I'm sure that wasn't the case, well I'm not sure since I didn't know her or the family, but… probably not the case really.

Probably awful of me to use that title, but those lyrics just popped into my head and off I went.

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Hannah's List

2010-05-03T00:20:00.001-06:00

When I'm in the right mood, I really enjoy Debbie Macomber's books. She writes contemporary romances with little to no sex and more on the light-hearted side. The Romance Dish blog has a give-away going on right now, well until May 9, for a free copy of Macomber's latest hardcover Hannah's List. The contest can be found here.

Set in Seattle, like so many of her other books, Macomber revisits some of her previous characters from Summer on Blossom Street, Twenty Wishes, Back on Blossom Street, and other Blossom Street books, in this book about widower Michael Everett. The reviews of this book have been mixed. The majority of reviewers like the book, but have questioned some of the sub-plots and the quick wrap up of them. I guess I'll have to read it for myself and find out if they are right. Here's hoping I win a copy from The Romance Dish.

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New SU information

2010-04-06T17:53:00.000-06:00

I have just posted on my craft site some great new information about Stampin' Up's changes. You can access that post here.

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Family

2010-04-01T22:32:00.000-06:00

I have family visiting, which is either good or bad. My niece and her husband are here for tonight and tomorrow from Colorado. My parents are also here, but until Monday morning. We are probably headed up to Hogle Zoo tomorrow. We have never been although D and I pass the turn off every time we go to gymnastics at the U. The zoo has a baby elephant, so I'm sort of excited.

My house is semi-clean. I have two bathrooms that are okay and part of the living room is actually walkable. I'll see how much more I can get done tomorrow morning.

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The ABC's of me

2010-03-11T12:38:00.000-07:00

I saw this on Southern Belle Mama's blog and I'm stealing it for today's post. Here's a bit about me:

The ABCs of ME!

A. AGE: old (44)
B. BED SIZE: queen...used to have a king, but it fell apart
C. CHORE YOU HATE: Cleaning, all of it, bathrooms especially
D. DOG'S NAME: no dog never ever
E. ESSENTIAL "START THE DAY!" ITEM: A shower and coffee!
F. FAVORITE COLOR: Purple...and green.
G. GOLD OR SILVER: Silver
H. HEIGHT: 5' 6
I. INSTRUMENTS YOU PLAY: Nope nothing, recorder in seventh and eighth grade
J. JOB TITLE: English teacher, full-time graduate student, Girl Scout leader/Service Unit Director, wife, mother
K. KIDS: Un— Deirdre
L. LIVING ARRANGEMENTS: We live in the house we built 15 1/2 years ago. They started digging the foundation the Friday before Memorial Day weekend of 1994.
M. MOM'S NAME: Caroline
N. NICKNAME: Kate
O. OVERNIGHT HOSPITAL STAY: 3 April 1973 for Rhy's Syndrome (nearly died), Dec. 1996 (D was born), and June 2001 (Pneumonia) I think that's it
P. PET PEEVES: People who can't DRIVE!!!!
Q. QUOTE FROM A MOVIE: "I'll be back!" in Arnold's voice of course
R. RIGHTY OR LEFTY?: Right, but except for writing, pretty much ambidextrous
S. SIBLINGS: Older sister
T. TIME YOU WAKE UP: 5:45 A.M.
U. UNDERWEAR: TMI. I'll just say yes.
V. VEGGIE YOU DISLIKE: CELERY!
W. WAY/ REASONS YOU ARE LATE: I am always trying to do too much
X. XRAYS YOU'VE HAD: Really? Too many—both ankles many times, knees, hips, left shoulder/collarbone, ribs, teeth, whole head, left wrist (not at the same time as the left shoulder/collarbone), right index finger
Y. YUMMY FOOD YOU MAKE: Lemon bars, turta (cheesy pasta dish that we all call turtle), banana nut bread
Z. ZOO ANIMALS YOU LIKE: Elephants, cat family

Now you know just a bit more randomness about me! Happy Thursday!

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Musings on deer

2010-02-04T10:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning on the way to work I spotted a deer sitting in the barrow pit to the east of highway 89. It was looking around watching birds flitting and cars driving. I thought it was sort of odd to just be sitting there and I did wonder if it had been injured or had the wind knocked out it.

This morning as I drove near the same spot, there was the deer. Unfortunately it had died. Unlike the majority of dead deer on the side of the road that stare at you accusingly, this one had put its head down as though to take a nap. Only one ear stuck up. At first glance I did think that it was asleep, but something in the way the body looked suggested that it was dead. I was certainly not going to stop and check on it.

For some reason this deer's death made me sad. I mean I'm sort of sad when they get hit by cars or trucks, but for the most part I realize that fast moving objects that weigh a lot are going to win when it comes to a car/truck and deer show-down. This deer's death reminded me of two deer from several years ago. In about the same place, there were two deer curled up in the barrow pit. One was clearly guarding the other one. Neither one was small, so it probably wasn't a mother/fawn situation. The next day though they were both gone. I assumed that one had been hit but not badly injured or just had the air knocked out it.

I think that looking at deer is quite nice. I'm not fond of all the hunting that takes place around here in the fall, but have grown used to the idea. I hate the deer though that decide to run in front of my car when driving. I can't remember exactly where yesterday on I-15 (up north in Utah Valley, I think) there was a dead deer on the road between the highway and an on ramp. It was in a fairly populated area, so I am sure that both the deer and the driver were quite surprised when they encountered each other.

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Pictures of The Nutty Nutcracker

2010-01-15T10:30:00.001-07:00

I asked Mark Goldweber for permission to put a couple of pictures from The Nutty Nutcracker on my blog. I took two because they represent probably my favorite parts.

Jason Linsley as Dr. "Disco" Drosselmeyer and his Disco Nephew (I don't have my cast list with me for his name) in Act I. Jason was screamingly funny (see here)

This scene was one of D's and mine favorite. Christopher Ruud and Christinia Bennett as the Sugar Plum Fairy and her cavalier are in the background. Rex Tilton as the Mouse King and Alexander MacFarlan as an unconscious Nutcracker in the foreground, while the ladies-in-waiting with their Groucho Marx masks look on.

All of the pictures were taken by Mark Goldweber. The costumes and scenary are property of Ballet West. These pictures originated at "West Point" Ballet West's blog.

The Nutty Nutcracker

2010-01-03T19:37:00.001-07:00

Last year (2008), Ballet West started a new tradition of showing The Nutty Nutcracker . This performance has all of the traditional dancing, with a few tweaks here and there, but the largest fun is all the large changes that are made. H mm let me see what were some of those many changes—

Prologue and Act I:

Jason Linsley as Disco Drosselmeyer. Yes that's right, a huge afro, in-line skates for the transformation scene and a rubber chicken were just a few of the changes that Jason made.
The party girls received horns for Christmas and the party boys dolls. Yes, they were quite confused, but it all worked out in the end.
No formal waltzing in this Nutcracker, instead it was boogie down the line with a disco ball twirling overhead.
How can I forget Kate Crews Linsley and Christopher Anderson with their darling "daughter" as an 80's ski couple who invade Victorian England.
John Frazer as the grandfather who walks through the beginnings of the snow scene for that last cup of eggnog (the alcoholic kind) that he had been denied during the party scene.
Or the bear who curls up with his teddy bear at the edge of the stage for the entire snow scene.
Snowflakes with jingle bells, that jingled in time to the music no less, and reindeer antlers. The snow cavalier with a top hat and cane.

Act II:

All of the ladies-in-waiting had Groucho Marx masks on.
The very best was Chris Ruud and Christina Bennett texting and doing nails while the Nutcracker Prince told the story of the first act. It must be so hard to not want to do that during regular performances.
No cakes with a dancer on the top in this production—cheese for the Mouse King, popcorn for Clara, and pizza for Chris R.
The Mouse King and Nutcracker Prince and their on-going fight. Rex Tilton as the Mouse King was fantastic. "I'll be back" "I told you I'd be back" and the white flag of truce.
Chris Sellars, again as the lead Russian, this time an over-weighted lead Russian. He runs on stage jumps up in the air, and lands, but wait…he is exhausted and the music must wait for him to catch his breath. Later in the finale he has to be helped off stage. Too too funny
Not one, but three Sugar Plum Fairies and their cavaliers (Chris R. and Christiana, Tom and Annie, and Elizabeth and Chris A.). Well choreographed changes were done to accommodate the three sets of dancers.
Alison DeBona as a bumble bee flitting through the Waltz of the Flowers was fantastic.
Tyler Gum as Waldo who appeared through-out the entire production was great. Seeing him do Russian in blue-jeans was marvelous too.

Of course there was beautiful dancing done by all. And lovely music conducted by Terence Kern. Can't wait for next year and those changes.

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The Nutcracker

2009-12-29T15:39:00.001-07:00

Attending The Nutcracker has been a family tradition since 2000. This was the first year thought that D and I didn't attend a matinee. We decided last year that it was the last one of attending "The Sugar Plum Fairy" parties after the performance. She felt that she was too old for them. We also decided that we would spend the night after the performance and do some final Christmas shopping on the way home. So that is what we did.

We didn't see our favorite dancers (Christiana and Chris Ruud) perform, but we did see Jason and Kate Linsley for the Waltz. I think it is a terrific idea that Adam Skulte had in having his married couples (or "significant others") perform together. There is always a chemistry and confidence level that doesn't appear to exist in other partnerships. John Frazer did a great job as both the grandfather in Act I and as the Mother Buffoon in Act II. He is quite the comic dancer. Chris Sellars was the lead Russian, which is always a crowd-pleaser. We love watch Aaron Orlowski in Arabian and Beau Pearson in Spanish. Of course all the female dancers did the typical three or four roles in one performance marathon.

The above picture was taken during intermission. D has been wearing the same basic outfit for three years now. I am loving not having to buy new "fancy clothes" for special outings. By taking the picture when we did, we were out of the parking lot before most people were out of the theater. I was afraid we'd get stuck in the underground parking garage behind a ton of people, but nope we were out quite quickly. It would have been even faster if the two cars in front of us hadn't used credit cards.

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The name game

2009-12-29T14:05:00.003-07:00

"Stolen" from Susan Wiggs' blog A View from Here. If you visit her blog, you will see why it is named what it is. If I had her view, I would accomplish even less than I do now.

LAST NAME GAME…. It’s harder than it looks! Use the 1st letter OF YOUR LAST NAME to answer each of the following questions. They have to be real places, names, things, nothing made up. You can’t use your name for the boy/girl question.
ONE-WORD ANSWERS ONLY!

What is your last name?…………………………………. Carney
A 4-Letter Word:………………………………………… Cast
A Girl’s Name:……………………………………………Caitlin
A Boy’s name:……………………………………………Charles
An occupation:……………………………………......….Cabaret Dancer
Color:………………………………………………………Claret
Something you wear:………………………………………Coat
A beverage:…………………………………………………Cocoa
A food:………………………………………………………Cheddar cheese
Something found in the bathroom:…………………….........ceiling
A Place:……………………………………………….......…Canada
Animal:………………………………………………………cat

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Candlelight Program

2009-12-29T02:13:00.006-07:00

Connor A., Deirdre, Elisabeth F., Corey H., Seth J,. Eric L., Logan L., Shaylie P., Brynn S., Tessa S., and Kaitlin Y.

Thursday, December 10 was the Candlelight Program for Ephraim Middle School held at Snow College Eccles Performing Arts Concert Hall. It is a long program with all three bands, two orchestras, two choirs, music appreciation, and guitar all performing. I would say that approximately 300 students were included in the program. After all the groups performed the 8th grade students with 4.0 cumulative g.p.a.'s were honored and two members of the community. There were 11 8th grade students with perfect 4.0's this year. We had some issues with D being part of this select group, but it all worked out in the end.

I have no idea what was happening here (D can't remember), but clearly Connor, D, and Elisabeth found something amusing.

Most likely the honor students are listening to the poem being read before the presentation of the candle to one of the two recipients.

After each recipient had his biography read to the audience, he stood and said a few words. While the recipients spoke, D had the honor of holding the candle/flower arrangement (picture on left). Then she returned them to the recipients. The picture on the right is of her giving it back to Jay Snow of Ephraim.

All of the honor students with the two recipients.
Back row: Connor, Eric, Corey, Seth, Logan; middle row: Tessa, Deirdre, Brynn, Kaitlin, Elisabeth, and Shaylie; front row: Floyd Bishop of Manti and Jay Snow of Ephraim

The 8th graders posing for their parents' cameras. Notice how all the girls are squatting in front of the boys. As the mother, I have to say that I love my daughter's smile in this picture.

Someone told them to act silly. Not always a good idea when 13 and 14 years olds are involved. Some are certainly sillier than others.

D and Jeff. Many people commented on how nice Jeff looked that evening.

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Before and After

2009-12-29T01:44:00.001-07:00

This is the morning of November 24. Deirdre is wearing braces.

This is the same day, but in the evening. NO BRACES.

After 19 months of wearing braces, they are off!

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Happy Birthday

2009-12-28T16:13:00.002-07:00

If it's Christmas time, it must also be birthday time. Jeff has his birthday today! Every year on Dec 28, he wakes up and thinks "I'm not 'x' today." This is because he has spent the last six months thinking he is x and on his birthday he becomes x + 1—EXCEPT he hasn't hit x yet. Did that make sense? Here's your example. Since about July he has thought he was 30 (deducting for good behavior), so on Dec. 28 he thinks he's 31. Except that he hasn't been 30 since July, only 29. Make sense now? Oh well we all get it.

Hippy Happy Birthday Jeff!

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All about D

2009-12-16T06:56:00.004-07:00

If you have been following this blog for any time now, you might have noticed one of those cute little "tickers" with how old Deirdre is. Today it says that she is 12 years, 11 months, and 4 weeks. YIKES! In two days she will be THIRTEEN! Dum, dum, dum…

A mother who was really on top of her game would have started on Dec. 5 with something cute and sweet about her daughter and had something new every day until Dec. 18. Instead D is stuck with me who has great ideas, but poor follow-through.

So, instead you will get a few pictures from the last few weeks. Maybe I can find the photo album of the first eight months of her life and scan a picture of two from then too. There are quite a few things that have happened in the last few weeks, so I will split them into separate posts. But this one will stay on top to give you an explanation for what is following.

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Pictures for Tuesday's class

2009-12-06T19:48:00.004-07:00

You can click on all of these to make them larger.

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The Time Traveler's Wife

2009-10-29T09:30:00.004-06:00

Looking for a good read? Then have I a suggestion for you—The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger has moved me to tears several times. I have just finished listening to it as I drive back and forth to work and to school. I can't remember a book that has made me laugh, smile, and cry as much as this one. As I write this I am three or four tracks from the end of the last cd. The climax has happened and we are moving on to the resolution of the story. As readers, we have known about the climax for at least one cd now. I really like the way the story changes from Henry's point of view to Claire's point of view. I didn't want to see the movie, but after seeing who is playing the leads (see below), I might (emphasis on might) be interested in seeing it.

AS I looked up the book at amazon.com to find out the author's name and "borrow" a picture, I couldn't help but read a few reviews. The majority of people (1185 of 2075) liked the book and gave it five stars. There were 174 reviews that only gave it one star. I could see their points: directions and streets given that weren't necessary, some poor development of secondary characters, and jumping into situations that are clear to the reader are just a few.

I also went to imbd to learn about the movie. I saw that Eric Bana was playing Henry and Rachel McAdams was Claire. But what I really noticed was that "Traveler's" is spelled with two "l's" in the UK title. That intrigued me.

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The facts of life

2009-10-27T13:51:00.007-06:00

This is my follow up to MckMama's post here.

Marriage is a hard road whether it is the first year or the 21st year, raising one child or many. Anyone who tells you that marriage is a piece of cake is either lying or is not married or living together or ignores the other half of the partnership. That's exactly what marriage is——a partnership. Personally, I forget that sometimes. I go through life a day at a time without thought to others.

When Jeff and I got married we had to meet with Father Jim three times before hand (maybe it was only twice, I don't remember). We heard the "lobster story" three times at least. Father Jim talked a lot about communication between spouses. He said he would rather be with a poor family, who loved each other and communicated with each other, eating pork and beans than with a rich family, who didn't like each other and didn't talk, eating lobster. What he really hoped for was a family who communicated and had the lobster too. When we were first married we laughed about this story all the time.

Because I have stretched myself too thin this semester, I have just now taken a rest from Girl Scouts. It will have to be someone else's problem for awhile. The plates that I was juggling are starting to fall to the floor before I can catch them. Something has to give and my family has already done enough giving. The posts may become even fewer and the crafting even less, in an effort to focus on school, family, and my job.

I opened my classroom door to grab this picture. It is snowing quite fiercely here. You have to look carefully at the white blurs those are snowflakes falling fast and furious from the grey/white sky.

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What a life

2009-10-15T15:06:00.003-06:00

Can you imagine living this life? Even if you have been doing it forever, it must be tough.

I saw this story on the net and wondered how the Queen and Prince Philip have managed for 57 years.

LONDON (Reuters Life!) – Britain's Queen Elizabeth stunned theater-goers in London this week when she and her husband slipped in to see a play unannounced and at the last minute, newspapers reported.

The queen and Prince Philip apologetically squeezed past other theater-goers to get into their seats for the West End production of World War One play "War Horse" at the New London Theater.

"The Queen and the Duke sat down as the lights dimmed and it was a huge shock when people realized who they were," said a journalist at the show for The Lady magazine. "They were incredibly apologetic for asking people to let them past and there was no hubbub or fuss about it all."

The queen and her husband often make incognito trips to the West End, but are rarely spotted, an aide told London's Evening Standard newspaper.

"The Queen has regularly undertaken similar private visits throughout her reign without any fuss," the aide said. "It allows her to live a bit more of a normal life."

The journalist from The Lady said the queen appeared to enjoy the performance, disappeared during the interval and then reappeared discreetly.

"When they left at the end, they were given a round of applause, which the Queen acknowledged with a wave," she said.

What a strange life some people live and how much we non-celebrities soak up all as much info from the net as possible.

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Pictures of THE game

2009-10-14T12:14:00.003-06:00

Getting a pep talk from Victor at the half. He told them to go out in the second half as though it was 0-0.

The other Ephraim team made a sign for the girls to run through as they started the second half. They also made one that hung on the fence and cheered for the girls through-out the entire game. Great support from their friends.

My camera wasn't fast enough to catch when Deirdre fell on top of the ball to prevent Fairview from making a goal. Instead I have before she falls and as she gets up. D stopped quite a few goals.

After the game the team poses with their soccer shirts. They also had real soccer shirts that Victor loaned them for the season. The goalie shirt D is wearing in the other pictures is a real goalie shirt with padding. The noise the girls made when the game was over was so loud. I forget sometimes how loud girls can get when they are excited.

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Oh yeah, we won!

2009-10-13T21:06:00.004-06:00

Okay I did no winning, but Deirdre's soccer team did. They beat Fairview 3-1 in the championship game. Oh my gosh were the Fairview parents obnoxious! They didn't like the way one goal went into the net, which our coach was willing to give it back. But when the ref called for a re-kick on a penalty shot, they went ballistic. I did get a few shots, but haven't really looked at them, so I'll have to post them later.

The girls were really excited about winning. Most of them have played on win-less teams for the past several years, so having a winning season (undefeated! one tie) was a real treat.

Great job Victor on coaching!

I'll post again with pics.

AND I got to go see them win, since the U is off this week. Hurrah!

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A teaser :)

2009-10-08T22:16:00.005-06:00

The soccer season ends next week. Deirdre's team has been unbeaten this season. I hope I didn't just jinx the rest of playoffs. I, of course, have not seen any of the games as they are all on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This week was an added game on … Monday—the other day I have class. BUT next week is fall break at the U, so no matter what day the game(s) is on, I can go. Hopefully it won't be on Wednesday though, I have Service Unit meeting and since I won't be there next month (Parent/Teacher Conferences), I need to be there next week. AND I am the SU Director and in charge of our next activity.

All the years of going to soccer games and I wait until most likely her last year in soccer to try and get pictures. Not only that, but I have to recruit Jeff into taking said pictures. D has played goalie the majority of this season, which I think is a responsible position. She has always played defense and goalie a few times, but in the last six games at least she has been THE goalie.

About to drop kick the ball. I think that is our silver van in the background. :)

Watching the action at the other end of the field. The tournament has been at Wasatch Academy's fields and the coach and girls hate their fields.

This was just a teaser for everyone. I have tons to "report." I'll be back soon.

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tenacious

2009-09-08T21:55:00.002-06:00

Today's word is "tenacious." I just heard from D's room in reference to the cat (in this case Alice) who was doing who knows what.

Living in our house is always a day full of words. I think that will be tomorrow's word for school as well. I'll see how many of my high school students know what the word means.

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The President's speech

2009-09-08T12:46:00.005-06:00

I usually don't make public comments about my political views, but after spending the last several days listening/reading about people complaining that President Obama would turn this speech into a piece of propaganda I felt that I had to post something.

If you didn't watch the speech, which I did, you can find the transcript released by the White House here. I am always amazed at how ignorant my students are when it comes to politics. I don't know why, but I probably will never stop being surprised at their lack of knowledge. After the speech, as a class we spent the last twenty minutes discussing what the President had to say. Some of the students maintained that he had told them that he was black, which he didn't. There were several other comments made that said basically "he said x" but he hadn't. It's been a few hours and I didn't take notes of the discussion. Some had no idea that the stimulus money had gone for jobs. I have no idea what they thought the stimulus was for, but jobs wasn't on their lists. All of the road projects here in Sanpete were brought about through stimulus moneys.

I actually took some notes during the speech. There were several key points he made— students have a responsibility to self; there is no excuse to drop out; being successful is hard work; don't give up on yourself; and what is your contribution going to be? I didn't find anything negative, just cold common sense and facts. Some people will only find the storm cloud in the bright sunny day and I think that they feel that way about the President.

This is my rant for today—before you talk about the President's speech to students (and he is not the first to do so, both President Reagan and President George H.W. Bush did as well), read the speech. Find out what he said. Then you can hold an intelligent conversation.

Okay back to your regularly scheduled programming.

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Home again

2009-09-07T22:57:00.005-06:00

And the traveler returns. After spending three days in Chicago, it's back to school and the daily grind tomorrow. Saturday, Deirdre and her grandparents went to the Museum of Science and Industry to view the Harry Potter exhibit. D said that everything in the gift shop was hideously expensive. One could purchase a replica of a a firebolt for only $1500! Sunday the family traveled to my aunt's for dinner and seemed to have a very funny time. Today, they went to the Brookfield zoo. Saturday my mother walked everywhere, but by today she was in a wheelchair. Her leg and back can only take so much. On a good note though she can go upstairs to sleep. She needs a cane to get up the stairs, but can actually do so.

This is where they (Delta) puts unaccompanied children who haven't been picked up yet. Between the stop and go traffic from Payson to University Parkway and the plane arriving 25 minutes early and the lines at both the ticket counter and security, I got to the gate at 8:25, but Delta had already shuffled D off to "Dusty's Den". Luckily this is the last time she flies as an unaccompanied minor. Delta allows adults to accompany anyone under 18 to the gate, so there isn't a problem there. The flight is a straight three hours with no changes. We are all thinking that in the future she will be fine on her own. She told me while waiting in Dusty's Den how much she wished she could just leave and not have to wait. Next time.

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Paint!

2009-09-07T17:13:00.003-06:00

My whole house smells like paint. Jeff put two coats of primer on our new sitting room today. Next up is the grasscloth, assuming it's still any good and that I still like it. Or perhaps the floor. Really I have no idea what part is next. It might be window sashes and sills and moldings for the doors. There is still a long way to go. But slowly, like the tortoise, it is happening.

The east wall with its two coats. That is door to the "hall" bath. There is no longer a hall, instead each room upstairs has its own bathroom.

Alice checking out the furniture in the sitting room. Lots of sunlight in this room.

Jeff painting the inside of the closet. This will be "his" closet when everything is finished.

More of Jeff painting. I don't mind painting, but if someone else is willing to do it, that is just wonderful.

The south wall with its two coats, plus the draped couch and cabinet, which doesn't have a home anymore.

Well, I'm off to pick up D from the airport. This was the last time (I hope) that she flies unaccompanied. Next time she is on her own.

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Fall soccer

2009-09-06T15:41:00.000-06:00

Deirdre is playing soccer again this year. For the first time she has a Hispanic coach and for the first time, since second grade, they are winning. I'm thrilled that they are winning games. I'm thrilled that our growing Hispanic population here is involved in city league sports. I, of course, don't get to see any games. The games are on Tuesdays and Thursdays and practices are Mondays and Wednesdays. So, she keeps busy, but I miss all of it. Maybe I can convince Jeff to take a camera to a game and grab some pics. You never know stranger things have happened.

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The traveler

2009-09-05T09:49:00.001-06:00

And she's off—

Deirdre has headed to Chicago for the long weekend. The Museum of Science and Industry has a Harry Potter exhibit that she wanted to see, so my parents are taking her. D loves to fly to Chicago; she would live there if she could. Right now her goal in life is to go the University of Chicago and then live in Chicago in a condo. No goal of a job or career, just the school and living situation. Hey at least she thinks about the future.

Filling up a water bottle. I personally find the traveling restrictions to be a nightmare and certainly don't feel safer by having them.

Hey, did you take a picture? Yep, that's me lately grabbing photos at every opportunity.

Say goodbye. I always wait until close to boarding to get her to the gate. Once announced that she is an unaccompanied minor, off she goes onto the plane. A quick shot here.

For those who thought that perhaps we went to the airport, but didn't go anywhere, her she is boarding the plane. Usually there isn't a gap between the plane and the "chute" (whatever that thing is that connects the airport to the plane).

And another getting on the plane with her TCBY yogurt. The gate person carried her bag. So nice of the woman, I'd been making D carry it.

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Happy Anniversary—to us!

2009-08-27T00:32:00.002-06:00

It's very early in the morning on August 27. Today is our anniversary. Twenty-one years! We have our ups and downs like everyone else, but we're doing okay. Since I won't be home until sometime after 9:00 tonight (my class goes from 5-8), I figured I'd better get this up now. Below is the card I made for Jeff. I used our wedding colors of forest green, soft yellow, and cream. For all the exact details on the card you'll have to visit the other blog.

The outside. I tried to keep it simple.

The inside, slightly blurring, again very simple.

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Elementary school

2009-08-26T09:03:00.000-06:00

In Illinois where I was raised elementary school, is called "grammar school." After living here on Pluto I have learned to call it elementary school. I remember those years. I had two first days of new school in a row as I attended private school for nursery school and kindergarten and then public for first grade. Then we moved the day before school started in second grade.

As my friends reflect on sending their children, whether the first or last, to kindergarten, I am reminded of Deirdre's first day seven years ago. The switch to kindergarten wasn't that much of a deal in our family. She continued to attend the Child Development Center at Snow College. We dropped her off there and they took her to school and picked her up from school. Her life changed, but as a whole the family's life didn't much. Now the next year was a different story as the Lab was no longer an option for first grade. We now were in charge of getting her to school. That's when D received a cell phone. She biked to school and sometimes walked home or to Snow alone. The cell phone was for emergencies only. Now she texts and calls all the time.

Flash forward to last year and the first day of sixth grade. Now that was a change. Seven days later or to be more precise a year ago tomorrow, we were contemplating the move to seventh grade. Did we do it? or did we continue to be frustrated and perhaps end up with a "problem" child. We did it, as I talked about here.

First day of kindergarten—August 21, 2002

First day of eighth grade—August 24, 2009

You will notice the tree next to her. She has grown quite a lot in seven years; the tree not so much. She is now taller than her grandmother, although I doubt my mother will ever admit that. She looks a little nervous there in kindergarten. Monday—not so much. As a matter of fact it was the first day that she planned on not having a parent either take her or come to her classroom with her. Unfortunately that didn't happen as she had a flat tire on her bike that I luckily noticed before I left for school and could take her.

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A striking resemblance

2009-08-21T00:05:00.003-06:00

Last night (Wednesday), we watched Marnie with Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery. As a family we've been watching Hitchcock movies all summer. Psycho is next, but I won't be watching it with Jeff and Deirdre. I have a very low threshold when it comes to horror and blood, etc. While watching Marnie, I noticed a striking resemblance from Louise Latham to my grandmother. Now Louise Latham was made up to look older than she was, but the resemblance was startling.

These two pictures (above and below) are of Louise Latham in Marnie.

The below picture is of my grandmother and father at his graduation from Northwestern University in 1964 (the same year Marnie was released).

This picture is of my grandmother, father, and sister at his graduation from The University of Chicago in 1967.

There was something, besides the facial resemblance, in the mannerisms that just seemed similar. I'm not sure if it was the slight southern accent that my grandmother had or the tilt of the head, but watching the movie brought chills to me. Is the smile from the first picture to the last picture not almost exact? This is how I remember my grandmother, not the pictures of her with white hair and stooped over with a Dowager's Hump.

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more PhotoShop for Carrie

2009-08-20T03:01:00.005-06:00

This time I saved the dps of the "zoom" and opened it in PhotoShop. Then I used the eyedropper tool to select the background. I made a new layer, selected all of it, filled it with the new color. Then I moved the new layer below the original layer so that the picture of my daughter sat on top of the background from your zoom dbs. That was fast and pretty easy. Probably the way to go.

PhotoShop for Carrie

2009-08-20T02:46:00.004-06:00

Original photo:
Photo after I cropped it, but before I put it in a new file window.

After putting it in a new window. I see that the white box is still around it when I uploaded it, even though in PhotoShop there isn't a box. I saved it as a .png which is what I use for my siggy, but it isn't working here. I'm not sure what program you are using. Can you place your photos and then do a new layer for the background? I really like your layout and would hate to have you change it.

I'll play some more and see if I can accomplish anything.

A new blog

2009-08-16T19:16:00.004-06:00

I set up another blog for my crafting, stamping, scrapbooking ideas and "stuff". So this blog will just be for family events and happenings. I'm sure there will be cross over every once in awhile. So for the next little bit the blog will be changing as I delete and move widgets that are for crafting to the new blog. I won't delete any of the old post, so those will still be available. I'm going to leave the link below also in case someone actually does want to place a Stampin' Up! order. My siggy will probably stay the same for right now, although I'm creating a new one for the new blog.

To see what is happening in that world click here for access to my "Stamping with Kate" blog.

This means that instead of a blog, a personal website that is basically for school, and a troop website to maintain, now I have another blog and my Stampin' Up website. Sometimes I really wonder.

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The new craft room

2009-08-16T18:46:00.004-06:00

Along with all the changes that have been happening upstairs there have been a few downstairs as well. No one really expected that we could only do one project at a time did they? So, my new craft room is pretty much finished. Okay the border isn't hung and the walls probably have to be repainted, but the furniture is where it is going to stay and it is usable. The first picture is what you see when you walk into the room. I basically stood in the entrance to take the picture. Yes, that is my family from 12 plus years ago in that picture. We've been hiding it in the former guest room since we had it taken. No one knows why.

Like my punch bars? I borrowed the idea from Erin, who I guess borrowed it from someone profiled in Stampin' Success. I only know this because when I commented to someone about how much I loved her punch storage, that person was really nasty about letting me know exactly where Erin had "stolen" the idea from. Some of you may know who I am referring to, but I'm certainly not going to state names.

This picture looks back toward the entrance to the room. Jeff finally hung (okay, I hadn't really asked him until D knocked the whole thing onto the floor including 71 ink pads) my 72 ink pad and ribbon holder for me. It is full and I have my craft pads (those that aren't Whisper White and Very Vanilla) and a couple of duplicates and retired (from '05) ink pads stored. This is certainly not all of my ribbon either. The dresser has my Big Shot, Cuttlebug, cutter, and a holder for 8 1/2 x 11 paper (mainly construction and white) on top of it. In the dresser drawers are my smaller cuttlebug folders and Big Shot dies. Plus it holds crafting supplies: pipe cleaners, wooden spools, pony beads, etc. Yes, Rudolf Nureyev and Michelle Phillips are wearing almost no clothing in the picture in the background. It is a movie poster for Valentino from 1977. Nureyev was my favorite male dancer before he died of AIDS about 10 years ago. His death is not the reason he isn't my favorite anymore just that new dancers have come along since then.

The colorful drawer unit used to hold most of the items I needed for Scouts, but now that we don't hold meetings in my dining room (YEAH!), I rearranged the items. D and I cleaned it out and moved some of the things to the dresser, some to the trash, and rearranged what was left. I also have drawers used for stamping items like the designer paper sampler, the punch sampler (thanks Erin for picking that up for me at Convention), and the ribbon sampler. Next to it holds the small tote with the items I use while working all the things that don't fit in my Pampered Chef tool holder. It sits on my desk and is in constant use. I deliberately left the top shelf empty to hold things while I'm working and don't want to put away right that moment. I also have my cd player, two Stack & Store caddys right where I need them. My desk is small, but it pulls out to another five feet or so if needed.

This final picture is of the stamp sets that have been labeled. In May's (I think that month) Stampin' Success a woman was profiled who labeled all her stamp sets. So I've started. Most of the retired sets do have red dots on them and all the holiday stamps are labeled. I also read online about people who photograph what each stamp set looks like and put the photographs in binders. This way they don't have to pick up each stamp set to figure out which one they want. A clever idea that will eventually happen.

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A new 3 x 3 box

2009-08-03T21:32:00.003-06:00

I'm loving these boxes so much, I made another one tonight. I haven't made any of the accompanying cards for it yet, not enough time tonight. I used current colors for everyone, so if anyone wants to duplicate it they can. Once I made the first one, I have found that they go pretty quickly. Of course the 3 x 3 cards will take more time. I'll have to do those Friday afternoon when I get back from Gooseberry. By then my 3 x 3 envelopes will be here and I can stamp those for the previous cards and the new ones. I'm having a blast with all my stamping/crafting stuff.

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paper: Certainly Celery and So Saffron CS, Tea Party DP
accessories: So Saffron and Certainly Celery brads, Certainly Celery button, SNAIL, and Sticky Strip adhesives, Certainly Celery twill ribbon (from Sale-a-bration Spring '09)

Hippy Happy B-thisday Mother

2009-08-02T18:38:00.002-06:00

It is my dear mother's birthday today. I called earlier, but no one was home. Mentally she is doing pretty good; physically she is not doing well at all. I have some things to ship to her that I am hoping will leave here before I head to Gooseberry on Tuesday.

Happy birthday Mother!

3 x 3 box w/cards

2009-08-02T02:19:00.006-06:00

I've been wanting to make this box with its accompanying cards for ages. I finally sat down last night and did it. I used the same paper and stamp set as the Splitcoasters tutorial. I really wanted to see how I was doing compared to the tutorial. Now I can go through my designer paper and choose something else. These were time consuming, but worth the effort. What did I do before I had an nestabilities? I can't wait to get more shapes. They cut down on time and add so much with just a little bit of effort.

After I took these pictures I realized that the adhesive isn't sticking as well as I would like. I re-stuck the ribbon on the one Kiwi Kiss card, but I just noticed the box and my computer isn't in my craft room.

I've been using a lot of retired colors lately, because I'm finally making cards and scrapbook pages and 3-d projects. It has been very nice to actually be able to see everything I have and can actually find things. When I was labeling all my stamp sets, I found that a ton of them are retired. I'm thinking of going through them and seeing what I really want to keep and what I'll be selling off. I have a few that I purchased off of e-Bay that I wonder "why did I buy that?" Those will definitely be the first to go.

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stamp set: Dreams du Jour and Sprinkles
ink: Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, and Pink Pirouette (all retired '08-'09 In Colors)
paper: Raspberry Tart DP (ret.), Riding Hood Red, Kiwi Kiss, and Pink Pirouette CS (all retired '08-'09 In Colors), and unknown white CS
accessories: markers: Old Olive, Regal Rose, and Rose Red, Pretty in Pink 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, American Crafts Elements 1/2" white grosgrain ribbon, Nestabilities, dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive, Button Bouquet (Kiwi Kiss and Riding Hood Red ret.)

Deep breath

2009-08-01T17:02:00.002-06:00

Well, I did it. I created my own Stampin' Up! website. I've taken the plunge. I want to get into it more somehow. I can't really do classes or clubs, because I don't have any spare time once school starts. But in searching the web, I've found many people who only hold classes for six people. It would be tight, but I think I can do that in my scrap/craft room. If I open my desk it will hold six people. So we'll see as the year progresses how or if I add this or not to my (our) life. I may even start a separate blog for scrap/crafts from the home blog. Again an idea just floating right now. One of the bloggers I follow has a class kit by mail, so all there is preparation not people in the house. That's a thought too. But for now there will be a "click here to place an order" on all most of my posts.

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Feast your eyes on this

2009-07-31T13:42:00.004-06:00

This is an updated picture of Stellan taken by his mother. He is doing so much better. I hope she doesn't mind me borrowing her photo. You can read about how he is doing here. Keep up your prayers and thoughts for this family.

In front of the camera

2009-07-31T13:29:00.002-06:00

When I received my paperwork for my scholarship to the U, it included a request for a 4 x 6 picture. I don't take pictures. I stay on the back side of a camera and take pictures. I faxed in everything requested, except a picture. Today I received a request for a picture. It was nice to know that they had everything else. I was a little worried, not enough to call and check, just enough for me to wonder at 2 in the morning. You see at the College of Education there is a bulletin board that has all the scholarship recipients each on their own plaque. The plaque includes which scholarship they received, a picture, and a short bio. It's extremely nice of them to do this.

So, Jeff took a few pictures today out by our tree(s) and then used Photoshop to get rid of the lovely extra red I have on my face, the zit that just appeared a few days ago, and I have no idea what else. Oh, yes I do the extremely lovely black circles under my eyes. I figured if a bunch of strangers were going to see this everyday for a year, then I could at least put it on my blog where even more strangers or worse close friends could also see it. So there you have it. If you scroll down on the right side is the latest of moi. At least I don't look like Jabba the Hut like I do on my driver's license.

Here, there, and everywhere

2009-07-30T23:22:00.003-06:00

visited 49 states (98%)
Create your own visited map of The United States
I found this on someone else's blog. Thanks to the six years of travel that I did with my family. I've been to all the states except Hawaii and all the Canadian Provinces except the new one (Inuit Territory?).

Inspired by Carter's closet

2009-07-30T17:51:00.005-06:00

After Libby so nicely took my advice and added Carter to her card inspiration challenge, I couldn't not participate. I don't have a dinosaur stamp, so I used my dragon from a long retired set Dreams & Dragons. I rapturously wrote about it here. I tried really hard to get rid of his wings and breath, but they didn't want to disappear totally. I didn't really have any circles either. Carter is sitting in a huge turquoise tunnel with circles cut out. So, I used bubbles instead. My layout is based on Splitcoasters card challenge SC239. I'm not sure if it still counts since I added another layer with the circle and the sentiment. I have no idea what I will do with this card. I'll put it in the box for an occasion in the future.

I just purchased my first set of nestabilities (all the circles), so I had to use at least one. I'm excited; it seems that everyone has at least one set of nestabilities and uses them frequently. I'm loving both them and my big shot dies. Once I had an idea of colors and layout, this card went quite quickly. Can I use another "q" word? :)

An update on Stellan can be found here. He is doing better, but still needs tons of prayers. He is headed to Boston any day now, as soon as there is a bed for him. Now that the medicines have kicked-in, he feels better. However, the high dosage of heart medication makes him really sick, so the doctors have added anti-nausea medicine as well. How his family manages I have no idea. Some people can take everything thrown at them and continue with life; others can barely handle just getting up every day.

stamp set: Dreams & Dragons (ret.) and Short & Sweet
ink: Taken with Teal, Basic Black
paper: unknown white CS, Tempting Turquoise, Taken with Teal, and Real Red CS
accessories: Pacific Point corduroy buttons (ret.), word window punch, Cuddlebug, bubbles cuddlebug texture, nestabilities, dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive

Have you been wondering?

2009-07-30T14:45:00.003-06:00

Yes, we did bring Deirdre home from Camp Cloud Rim last Saturday. I'm sure you have all been holding your breath wondering whether we left her there or not.

This is not the best photo in the world, but she is save and sound. You can see the new scab on her knee. This is the same knee and leg that she scrapped up in early May. This time she was playing "Thicket" which a game that I am supposed to know about—but I don't.

Well I'm off to try Libby's challenge using Carter's shirt for inspiration. I have no dinosaur stamps. We'll have to see how I do.

This is what I've been working on

2009-07-29T22:11:00.007-06:00

These are the scrapbook pages I've done for Deirdre's book. They seem to take forever. I can't just put pictures on a page. All the cardstock, ink, and accessories have to match the dominating colors of the pictures. I managed in three different days to make three different double page spreads.

These are actually in reverse order of how I made them. I really like the zoo one the best. There is another dps to go with full of dolphins, but the pictures need some editing in Photoshop first. On the screen they look fine, but once they are printed the dolphins are just dark blurs.

I also needed another of the gift card holders. I goofed when working on the base layer. I thought I was using the score blade, but instead was using a regular blade. So, I turned that one into an example that I put all the sizes into for future reference. Then I made a new one. These are so fun and easy to make. Thank you to Angie Juda for the tutorial on these.

stamp set: God's Beauty (ret. Hostess Level 1 S/S '09)
ink: Not Quite Navy
paper: Not Quite Navy, Kraft, and Very Vanilla CS, DP Bella Bleu
accessories: SNAIL adhesive, dimensionals, and white medium envelope

latest cards

2009-07-26T19:01:00.003-06:00

These are holders for gift cards. I got the idea from Angie (click here for her blog Chic' n Scratch). I didn't have the stamp set she was using nor the designer paper, so I looked through my stash (yes, I already have one) to find some DP that I liked for these. One is for my niece and the other for her husband.

Supplies used (all are SU! unless otherwise stated):

stamp set: Organic Grace (retired Hostess level 1 from Fall/Winter '08 IBC)
paper: Night of Navy, Brocade Blue, and Garden Green CS, Prestwick DP (ret.)
ink: Basic Grey classic
accessories: SNAIL adhesive, dimensionals, and white medium envelope

Supplies used (all are SU! unless otherwise stated):

stamp set: Eastern Blooms
paper: Kiwi Kiss (ret. '08-'09 In-Color), Pretty in Pink, and Whisper White CS, Raspberry Tart DP (ret.)
ink: Kiwi Kiss (ret. '08-'09 In-Color) classic
accessories: SNAIL adhesive, dimensionals, and white medium envelope

These have two slots inside—one for the gift card and the other for a little note. These were super easy and fast to make. I think it took longer to select the stamp set and DP than it did to make each one.

I told you

2009-07-26T17:33:00.001-06:00

I knew there would be several posts today. Here's the next one.

The late-night stampers have a "royal blog tour" happening on their many (80 in all) websites going on for the next few days. There are many really interesting cards, scrapbook pages, and altered items on these pages. I have found several new people to watch as their ideas are quite interesting. If you are interested in following or just looking at a few follow this link to get started.

Why does the cat…?

2009-07-26T16:33:00.006-06:00

Why is it that every time I do anything on my computer the cat (Greymalkin) wants to curl up on my arm? Not happy next to me or anything, it has to be on my arm!

After the last post, I added labels for all the posts of the last year (only 61). I think either this post or the last one will make this year equal all of last year. I have been working on scrapbook pages and actually finished two dps' (double page spreads). I still often think in yearbook publication terms. I haven't taken any pictures of them, but I might and I might post them.

Last year at this time I was reading Randy Pausch's and Jeffrey Zaslow's co-written book The Last Lecture. While reading, I wondered "is he still alive?" The day I checked was July 25 and he had just died that day. I finished reading the book, but now the poignancy was almost overwhelming.

This year, I was thinking about reading Teacher Man by Frank McCourt. Both Jeff and my parents gave it to me for Christmas in 2005. I had just read that McCourt had meningitis and was gravely ill. Last Sunday (7/19) he died. On Wednesday, I picked up the book to read. Again the poignancy was there, but not quite as much as McCourt lived to be 78, nearly 79.

I hope no one minds that I borrowed the images from Amazon. I then opened them in Photoshop and deleted the "see inside" arrows. I could have scanned the covers of my books, but it seemed too much trouble when they are right there on the web for the viewing.

Post one for today

2009-07-26T15:39:00.004-06:00

I know that I will have a couple of different posts today. First off—Stellan in Minnesota is having a bad time of it again. In March I stumbled onto his difficulties and have been following ever since. If you too would like to become swept up in this adorable almost nine month old's sage then click on the button below. If you are a praying person (I'm not) than I'm sure that Jennifer would surely appreciate a few prayers for Stellan. He is not doing well at all and I'm sure his doctors are swearing at what was supposed to be a fairly simple hospital stay. Unfortunately, Stellan has continued to do things his way and is not responding as he should (according to medicine).

The latest from Jen on Twitter is that he is not doing well at all. Stellan has now been in SVT (supraventricular tachycardia) for 36 hours with few break outs.

Well, I would have…

2009-07-23T11:00:00.002-06:00

I would have had Deirdre take off her cap in the picture posted below, but she was only sort of cooperating. Her statement, "Mom, you're so exasperating!"

I love being a parent of a preteen (most of the time). I'll take preteens over whining six year-olds or know-it-all seventeen year-olds. Gotta love 'em at every age or you miss out on their lives.

I'd rather teach teenagers than elementary or middle school age! I still say the biggest difference between a two year-old and a teenager is the vocabulary. I learned that as a parent of a two year-old ten years ago and still stand by it. They want to spread their wings and fly without any interference "thank you very much." But, they also want the loving support of adults when they fly too close to the sun. Gotta love 'em.

Cloud Rim

2009-07-21T14:21:00.004-06:00

Deirdre left for Camp Cloud Rim located at 9211' above Park City. I dropped her off yesterday morning. She'll be there for a week have fun working on her "High Adventure Interest Project Patch" while sailing on Lake Brimhall. Here she is posing with the lake in the lower left corner and the Wasatch Mountains behind her (actually all around her, but you can only see them in the background).

There were several girls checking into the same group as D when we got to Cloud Rim. She decided to wear her "CIMI" t-shirt as an ice-breaker—at least that is what I assume. She rarely wears any shirts at camp other than Girl Scout ones.

Twilight camp

2009-07-21T13:48:00.000-06:00

Last week I took my scouts to Wheeler Farm for Juniper Service Unit's Twilight Camp. They always hold their camp in the afternoon and evening because of the heat. So camp ran from 3:30 to 9:00 on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. We commuted back and forth each day leaving around 1:00 or 2:00 and getting home between 11:00 and 11:40.

At Juniper, accompanying adults are put with groups that don't include daughters, so I was with 8 year old Brownies. It was different working with the younger girls. I was supposed to be the helper for the group, but on the second and third days the unit leader didn't come, so that put me in charge of our unit. For our skit, the girls had Harry Potter since we were the "Broomsticks". They did a good job with almost no adult help. We did help them the first day figure out who they were, but after that they were on their own. My unit had really cute girls in it.

The far left group composes of Heather as Hermione, Hannah as Hagrid, Amelia (her back is to the camera) as Ron, and Celia as Harry. The middle group are the "evil" Malfoy (Serena), Crabbe (Cara), and Goyle (Alex). The last group is the twins Samie and Katie as Voldemort and Quirrell.

Getting pictures of my cadettes wasn't easy since I wasn't with them, but I did capture a few.

Watching the magician and eating dinner (D, Maddie, and Malynn and D, Sarah, Malynn, and Maddie).

Coming back from putting dinner back in the van (Malynn, Maddie, and D, and Sarah).

We have added a new member to our troop—Maddie from Ftn. Green. We are excited to have her along for the ride.

These pictures are from the girls helping the younger ones. Maddie worked with a Glass Slipper (the five year olds) while the others helped with Poppies. The girl sitting with her back to the camera next D is Jaydn, daughter of Melinda Despain, who I had as a junior back in the 1993-1994 school year. It truly is a small world.

Card Redoux

2009-07-13T18:46:00.013-06:00

Here's the next one I made today. This was a lot of fun to make even if it did take forever and a day. Hopefully, I'll get faster as time goes on. There are some mistakes, but it's hand made so no one should expect perfection. Right? The first image shows the colors better and the second image shows the saw's gold and silver better.

This is the inside before I put any personal comments.

Supplies (all SU! except where noted):

stamp set: Totally Tool and Very Versatile
paper: To the Nines Specialty DP (SU! retired), Sahara Sand textured CS, Very Vanilla and More Mustard CS
ink: Always Artichoke, Basic Black
accessories: Chocolate Chip 5/8" grosgrain ribbon, Curly Label punch, black buttons (retired), needle/thread, mat pack, paper piercing tool, dimensionals, gold and silver metallic pens (MS), Top Note Bigz die, Big Shot, sponge daubers, SNAIL adhesive

Update: To the Nines Specialty DP is not retired. I goofed.

Holiday Mini

2009-07-13T14:02:00.002-06:00

I just downloaded the holiday mini from Stampin' up! Can I saw WOW! This mini catty is fantastic. I want almost everything I see in it. The "Sweet treats cups" are an awesome idea. I really can't wait until Sept. 1 for everyone else to see this catty. I think SU! has really outdone themselves this time. Here's a peek at the cover.

First card

2009-07-13T12:47:00.005-06:00

Here's my first card without copying any ideas or layouts or colors. I know that in the scrapping world all of those are okay, but it sits hard with me. I love this set "A Kind Word." It was in the old catty and was carried over to the new one. It reminds of an artist from the early 80's, but I have no idea who that was just a memory of sweet round faces on the children. I colored the girl with watercolor crayons. Then I meticulously cut her out and mounted her on dimensionals. I also now know why some people don't like using chip board. It is a pain to cut out after covering in cardstock. I probably could have chosen an easier piece than the curly-que that I did.

After looking at now, I think I should have sponged the edges of the sentiment, but it's too late now. One lucky person will get this card for her birthday. It's pretty much a female card not male.

Supplies used:

stamp set: A Kind Word (SU!)
paper: Very Vanilla, Taken with Teal cardstock (SU!), Apricot Appeal textured cardstock (SU!), white cardstock (unknown)
ink: Stazon black, Certainly Celery (SU!) Taken with Teal (marker SU!)
watercolor crayons: Taken with Teal, Certainly Celery, Blush Blossom, Cameo Coral, Chocolate Chip, Tempting Turquoise, Apricot Appeal (SU!)
Accessories: Whisper White Taffeta ribbon (SU!), word window punch (SU!), chip board (K&Co.), dimensionals, SNAIL adhesive

Dover, UT

2009-07-11T17:14:00.003-06:00

This is where we went today—Dover, Utah. There are no living people in Dover just a cemetery with plain white crosses.

If you look closely, you can see the rise in the burial plots. They still haven't gone flat after 100+ years. There must be something really odd in the soil.

A few of the plots have newer headstones and a few have metal plaques that state the deceased's name, age, and parents' names that are also old.

Here's Deirdre reading about Dover. The whole town left by the 1930's according to Wikipedia (the plaque indicated that the town was gone by 1900). A woman bought the cemetery land and donated it to the LDS Church years ago. The plaque was placed by the Pioneer Women of Utah.

We looked for Clarion, but couldn't find anything that was a representative of that ghost town. We did drive on Clarion Road (according to the GPS in the Odyssey), but that was all. Three hours of driving for one little cemetery. It was interesting to see the other side of the Gunnison Valley though. All in all a nice afternoon.

Isn't this beautiful?

2009-07-10T18:07:00.003-06:00

I set this picture as the background on my computer. Deirdre saw it the other day and asked where I got it. I said, "my daughter took it." This is from her CIMI trip last October on the way to Catalina Island.

At last

2009-07-10T17:39:00.002-06:00

Today we actually delivered three of the bags of stuffed animals that have been living in the Odyssey for the last eight months. They (the bags of stuffed animals) are from the girls' Bronze Award (more info on what that is here) project. While delivering information for next week's trip to Wheeler Farm for Juniper Service Unit's "Movie Magic Twilight Camp," we dropped off three of the bags in Moroni to be put in the ambulances for small children. I was going to drop off another bag at the hospital in Mt. Pleasant, but didn't. We still have five more bags of stuffed animals that have to be delivered before the first of August; otherwise, there is no room for six people's things for Gooseberry!

2nd place

2009-07-06T13:32:00.008-06:00

Softball has finished for the year. We took second place in the Lion's Tournament on June 27. The game should have started at 8:00 p.m., instead we didn't get started until 8:50. The officials called time at 10:18. We lost to an accelerated dominated Manti team 16-7. We had beaten them before in Manti, but this time we just weren't getting hits.

Preparing to hit at the Manti game on June 23. This was the game that we should have won, but due in part to the idiotic ump (see no face mask) we didn't.

D playing 1st base. This was her usual position this season.At the Lion's Tournament in the first game against Gunnison. It was a close game that we won 8-7.Waiting at third to steal home. We stole a ton of bases. The other teams didn't like that too much. We stole the field twice at Manti in the game we lost on base on balls. Twice!!

Deirdre getting her 2nd place trophy from Lion's President Rasmussen.

The whole team that participated in the Lion's tournament. Back row: Jeff, Amy S. (ass't coach), D., middle row: Hannah S. (all the way from California), Olivia M. (holding up her cousin H.S.), Nikysha R., Bailee N., Savannah P., Sarah J., Taylor N., front row: Hannah O., Megan J., and Shonacee S. Missing are Jessica R., and Riley M. Neither were at the tournament.

June has ended and the summer is now half over. On to working on the house and getting ready for a new school year. Finishing out this post is a picture of "Miss Queen of the House" Greymalkin.

Yeah! We won!

2009-06-25T13:11:00.002-06:00

How great was it last night? It was great!!! Three softball games in three days winning two. We should have won Tuesday's, but for a variety of reasons that just make me mad to think about we didn't. Now we play in the championship game on Saturday!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

2009-06-11T14:39:00.002-06:00

As soon as I cool off from deep cleaning the microwave and cooktop, I will be calling my dear father to wish him a very Happy Birthday. His gift is still here 1500 miles away, but it will get there. Seventy-eight years old/young and still going strong—sort of like the Energizer Bunny, but never as annoying.

3.7 G.P.A.

2009-05-13T10:41:00.003-06:00

Well, I have two A-'s: one was a 93% and the other was because I missed two classes and the second miss lowered my grade automatically to an A-. This means a G.P.A. of 3.7.

A much better start of graduate school than I did the last time or when I started as an undergraduate. Grad school last time back in the fall of 1991 started with both classes as incompletes. One because I asked for it and the other because Professor Wine insisted I rewrite my final paper. As an undergraduate I started in the summer of 1987 with one class and received a B. In the fall of '87 I had 3 classes: Anthropology 150, Geography 1??, and Geology 102. I also had a wonderful personal trauma that quarter in November that messed up the end of the quarter. I received 2 C's and one B. So clearly two A-'s is a better start. I'm not thrilled with spending money to earn A-'s, but I can handle it. When I told a former student, who is currently a senior, what my grades were. She commented that I had stated earlier in the semester that I wasn't paying for college only to earn something lower than an A. I changed my tune. I also have had to get used to minuses and pluses. UIC didn't give those—only straight grades. So, if I had been attending UIC instead of the U, I would have received two A's. Ooh, that thought makes me feel even better about my grades.

I must have been really tired last night when I posted, because I just had to edit several spelling errors in it.

And the countdown continues—one week from today is the last day of teaching. My juniors should be handing in research papers today. So far I have nine out of the 63 I should have. I have already warned them that they should plan on signing up for summer school.

Tonight is D's orchestra concert. It's the final event of the year. The orchestras, bands, and choir all perform. Plus the students in the art class show off their work. Yesterday, the orchestra anand advanced band played for the fifth graders from Ephraim and Manti as a recruitment event. One of my Scouts, Samantha, will be in advanced band next year as a seventh grader. Josh, the band instructor, has beginning, intermediate, and advanced band instead by grade as the orchestra is. This means that students are at their ability level instead of grade level. Of course Josh has as many students in beginning band as there are in all of the seventh and eighth grade orchestras.

This is a busy week for us—orthodontist and dentist on Monday, Scouts and a game on Tuesday, Arts night today, a game tomorrow, free on Friday, and "Innovations" at Ballet West on Saturday.

First game and more

2009-05-12T22:45:00.003-06:00

Well we lost 11-6 against Moroni. But, they had an extra week of practice. Until last Wednesday the people in charge of city league games weren't even sure there would be a team at the Filly level. There is no team at Fox (7-9 grade) this year, only six girls signed up.

The team looked good. Our catcher was crying after the game, because she missed a few balls and one major error. But, it was the first game. D did a great job at first base. She, the pitcher (Megan), and the SS (Olivia) had some great in-field plays. If you saw her leg you would be extremely impressed. From knee to almost ankle is missing the first layer of skin plus some gashes. She really did a bum job yesterday playing baseball.

For Scouts we made scrunchies. D had done them in FACS (Family and Consumer Science) and was happy to be able to teach a class on how to make hair scrunchies. JoAnne (really Malynn) and I brought our sewing machines to the meeting. I had thread, pins, and ribbon. I thought I had the elastic that was needed, but I didn't. So JoAnne ran down to the local fabric store and bought some 1/4" elastic. She was already to write a check out from the troop when the owner tallied up the amount of 60" of 1/4" elastic for $.51. Surprisingly, she would not take a check for only 51 cents. :) The girls made their scrunchies for their Design It IPP. I have a feeling that now that they know how easy they are, they may make some over the summer. I have the lucky experience of wearing the one D made first. Hurrah!!

Turning the news to me—I received an A- in my harder of the two classes. I was soooooo happy! I reread the articles before the final and reviewed my notes, but it seemed that I could not remember anything, so I only got an 87% on the final. I received a 93% on the final that I spent all day and night doing. The final was 35% of my final grade. I was pretty thrilled with an A-. As a matter of fact I wasn't sure I wanted to open the e-mail that told me my grade. It's been 12 years since I did any schooling that had a grade attached, so I should feel good. And you know what? I do. I'm not some 22 year old going to school full time—I teach all day, drive the 100 miles each way to class, run a Scout troop, and try to have time for my family. I should pat myself on the back for a job well done.

Nope not me

2009-05-11T12:53:00.003-06:00

Well I thought I would take part in MckMama's Not Me Monday.

So here it goes—

I did not start counting down last week until the end of the school year. Nope not me.
I did not read all day yesterday instead of reading rough drafts of research papers. Nope not me.
I did not feel happy that we lost our last soccer game, which meant soccer was finished for the season. Nope, not me.
I did not find out that I threw out D's flower girl dress when I purged closets last fall. Nope not me.
I did not tell my juniors to sign up for summer school, because they hadn't done rough drafts for their research papers. Nope not me.
I did not miss Stamp Club so I could spend some time with my family. Nope not me.
I did not procrastinate and write my 12 (turned into 20) page term paper for school in one day and e-mail it seven hours late after spending the night up writing. Nope not me.
I did not just look in my planner to see what happened last week, because it's pretty much a blur. Nope not me.

That was fun. Head on over to MckMama's blog to play .

Mother's Day and more

2009-05-11T12:27:00.004-06:00

If you are reading this, then you noticed that I updated the header. I got tired of the same old same old and tried something new. While looking for quotes on writing I found a several that I really liked, but not enough to have permanently on my blog. So from a few of my favorite authors are the following:

"Almost anyone can be an author; the business is to collect money and fame from this state of being." ~A. A. Milne

"Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don't see any." ~Orson Scott Card

"I hated school. I don't trust anybody who looks back on the years from 14 to 18 with any enjoyment. If you liked being a teenager, there's something really wrong with you." ~Stephen King

I really have to agree with Stephen King. Mother's Day was a very relaxing day. I did nothing, but read. It was very nice. I called my mother, who is HOME! Yes that is right. She has been shipped home. She starts physically therapy today after a break. One of the things she wants them to do is teach her how to walk with a cane when she can't feel the ball of her foot. Jeff called his mother. See sometimes we are good children.

The first softball game is tomorrow! Unfortunately D slid during a baseball game at school and really scraped up her leg and knee. It's so nice to live in a small town. She called me at school, because Jeff wasn't home. I can't go get her, so the secretary who lives in our neighborhood took her home. Jeff came back just as they were going to go drive around Ephraim looking for him. He took her back to school after cleaning it up and bandaging it. Poor kid.

My freshmen and sophomores are writing alphabet books. "A is for Arthur who was king of the Celts." The sophomores are doing them for the Myths and Legends unit they are finishing. The freshmen are doing them for the books they just finished reading Literature Circles. I did this idea a few years ago with sophomores as a book report on the book they were reading. It takes a fair amount of work to do it right. I have these students working in groups (Lit. Cir.) or pairs (soph.) or for those who hate working with someone else they can work alone. I needed something to do for the last week of school in those classes and borrowed the idea from D's seventh grade lang. arts teacher who had them write alpha bios. They were due today, but I found out about last night at 7:30. URG save me from pre-teens. She stayed up and did it, while Jeff and I went to bed. I cut her paper for her and left her to it.

We are making scrunchies at Scouts tomorrow. They should be interesting to say the least. Cutting, pinning, sewing—what fun.

Memories from March and April

2009-05-07T13:01:00.006-06:00

I totally forgot that I had a bunch of pictures on my camera, so I was pleasantly surprised when I looked at the chip and found 150 pictures that I hadn't even remembered. The first one is our last day of Cookie Booth at WalMart on Saturday, March 28. We did pretty well for cookie booths this year and sold out of a few varieties.

The following weekend found us in Reno for a Moody Blues concert. We stayed at Circus Circus, which we enjoyed last year, but found ghastly this year. There was some major wrestling tournament going on the same weekend and the place was full of boys of all ages. Our room was right next to the fire stairs and people were using them, because the elevators were so slow and full. Unfortunately people didn't realize that they could be heard through the walls. I swear every person who came down the stairs had to jump the last couple of steps.

This is from before the concert at the really good (and expensive) The Steakhouse at Circus.

Justin Hayward and John Lodge near the beginning of the show. In the background you can see Gordon Marshall on drums. I had to look up his last name, because I couldn't remember it and read a really interesting article about him at a website in England. If interested you can read it here.

Dino shuffle

"Question" This song always ends the show.

The very end.

More updates without pictures

2009-04-26T22:06:00.003-06:00

I'm not exactly sure where my camera is at this point in time—suffice to say somewhere in the house. I am typing this with a very loudly purring cat curled up on my arm. Greymalkin has been making herself known a lot lately. When Eddie died, she decided to get on our bed for the first time. Now that Rocky has died, she has to be on one of us almost all the time. We probably won't get another cat for awhile, because each time we lose one, Greymalkin changes her behavior.

There is really not a whole lot to report. You know if anyone actually reads this blog. The remodel hasn't had anything new happen for a few weeks. Jeff is finished with the spring semester on Friday, so maybe things will start to happen. BUT, softball starts really soon, so nothing might happen. D and I have another four weeks of school. We both finish on May 22, just in time for Memorial Day weekend. The people around here have a major problem if students have to continue into June. I've grown used to it—you know that 17 years being here thing, but it still seems strange to not go until June.

I finish at the U this week. I have classes on Wed., and Thurs., and my term paper for one class is due by 5 on Friday and everything for the other class is due on Saturday. I don't know how to go to school and not work full time, but this semester has been hard. I won (earned) a scholarship for next year, so I have to take three classes a semester. I haven't decided if I will take the summer off or not. I registered for a class for the summer, but can always drop it. The class I would take in the summer is one I could take in the fall, but I found a class to take in the fall to replace it. I don't know whether to work on the house and lesson plans for next year over the summer or do those things and take a class. So many decisions. Jeff and I have to talk it over, plus I need to talk with my adviser at the U. The department I am earning my degree in is a part Ed. Psych., Education, and Linguistics. With all the budget cuts, it is being absorbed by the College of Ed. No one in the department is happy. I, however, need to find out how this absorption affects my degree program.

My mother remains in a care facility receiving physical therapy twice a day to help her nerves regrow. I am clearly not the best daughter in the world. My sister would be calling my mother everyday to chat. I just don't have that in me. My aunt calls my mom and visits too. Obviously I can't visit, but I just don't have that much to say. In my mind (and I have thought this for a long time—three years) the wrong daughter died. The one who called everyday and checked in was not me. I will go to my grave believing that my sister should not have died and if anyone was going to, it should have been me.

I did get the book my mother wanted and will try to ship it off this week along with the Girl Scout cookies she ordered before her surgery from hell. I also need to round up the scrapbooking mysteries I have been reading lately and send her those as well. They are pretty lighthearted and entertaining to boot. I wanted to send her a cd player, but she was afraid it would be stolen. My parents have learned, from Jane's long stays in nursing homes, that if it is something valuable it will probably be stolen by a nurse. Actually we have know this since my grandfather died back in 1979. His wedding ring was stolen in the one week he was in a nursing home. Hard to believe that in June it will be thirty years since I graduated from junior high and he died (one week later).

Well more later. This will be a hectic week, with finishing school, soccer games, Scouts, and all the other activities that are part of our lives.

Wow!!

2009-04-02T23:36:00.004-06:00

Ballet Russes—
what can I say. Ballet West's performance last week was phenomenal. D was late getting home last Friday, so I wasn't sure what time we would arrive in SLC. Turns out we got there about 6:30. enough time for diner, but not enough time for dinner and going to Warm UPs. We went to the Olive Garden which happens to be right across the street from Capital Theater.

As we made our way down the aisle to our seats, D said "I wonder if we will see Chris Rudd in the audience tonight?" I looked up and there he was walking toward us. I stopped him and commented on how he was out of the boot from his surgery. He demonstrated that he could do jumps and plies. He headed toward the lobby and we headed toward our seats.

What can I say about last Friday's performances? I had never seen "Les Biches" by Nijinska, sister to the famed Nijinski. It was different and clearly showed her disdain for males. It also was a clear precursure to Balanchine's many works. I had seen "Prodigal Son" before with Mikhail Baryshnikovas the Prodigal Son. Chris Sellars did a phenomenal job in place of Chris Rudd. As I told D, the strength it takes to pretend you have no strength is just amazing. Chris Rudd's wife Chistiana Bennett was the Siren in "Prodigal Son". I wish my husband looked the way Chris did when I commented on how wonderful Christiana was as the Siren.

Let me explain. After the performance, we headed for the elevator that takes us to our cars. Chris Rudd just happened to be right behind D and myself. He recognized me from the comments before the performance. I had to comment on how well his wife had done as the Siren. The look on his face as he strove to put his feelings in words was priceless. A look of strong, deep love came over his face and then the look of someone who is deeply loved and did a magical thing also crossed his face. Maybe 20 years ago someone could have caught Jeff with that same look, but certainly not lately. WOW to be loved so deeply and passionately.

Moving on to other things—Deirdre saw "Ballet Russes" by Ballet West on Friday, March 27. She will see The Moody Blues in Reno on Saturday, April 4, and Wicked at the Capital Theater on Wednesday, April 8. Lots of different types of "culture" in less than two weeks. Starting at age 3 3/4, Jeff and I have been dragging her to various cultural events. The first one that I remember was a Moody Blues concert in Las Vegas. She did well there, so I took at age 3 and 3/4 to see La Sylphdia at Ballet West. We haven't looked back since. Rock concerts, baleets, movies, symphonies, and who knwows. I fell asleep while tyring to update.

The emotional ups and downs of an over-stressed life

2009-04-02T22:33:00.003-06:00

Well, March is over. Did anyone tell Mother Nature? It has been snowing and raining this week and cold. I thought this was April. Oh wait I live 5000 feet up and this is April weather.

The re-model is in its sixth month and unfortunately nothing is really happening. Jeff is busy teaching and grading papers, so he can only accomplish so much on the weekends. For him, school is out in a month. Of course softball starts at that point or maybe earlier, but eventually we will no longer have drywall dust everywhere. Let's not go toward the clothes that line all the floors. No closet upstairs at the moment. However, that is not the only problem with the clothes situation, but I won't go into that right now.

I have been an emotional wreck this week. It all started on Monday. I hate ants. I loath, despise, hate, abhor, etc. ants. Well I got to school and there were ants all over my desk. I had left an open package of Thin Mints on my desk. The ants crawled in a diagonal from the corner of the room, under my printer stand and up my desk to reach this package. I have never had this problem. I found a custodian pdq and let him take care of the problem. All classes were held in the library that day.

Tuesday—lunchtime. There are ants all over my microwave and refrigerator. I have a microwave and refrigerator in my classroom for 15 years no problem. That was the week. I don't even know if I can go back on Monday.

No one wants to see me when I have a melt-down from ants. Today driving home from the U in rain a cat decided to race in front of my car in Moroni. I tried to stop in time, but I don't think that I did. There was no way I was getting out of the car to check. By the time I got home, emotional basket-case.

My mother is in a nursing home because her right leg is paralyzed. She walked into the hospital to have back surgery and now she can use her right leg. My father, bless his soul, is of course, considering suing the surgeon. My poor mother has been there for a month. They won't let her go home to a mutli-storied house until she can walk and she can't walk!!! Pain management has changed in the last decade or so. Instead of managing pain, it seems that doctors allow pain until the patient screams and the he or she does something about the pain.

I follow several blogs and one of them had the distressing news of five month old little boy who is trying to stay alive. Some how or other I have become caught up in this Minnesota family's problems.

Somehow it has become important to follow this family through their problems. I have no idea why.

Blog candy

2009-03-03T15:23:00.002-07:00

Through Libby's Little Addictions (see left sidebar), I found this great blog candy. It seems that a student at Mt. Carmel High School in my hometown of Chicago is looking to collect $1500 for St. Baldrick's Foundation "Shaving his way to Conquer Children's Cancer." It seems that this boy has had many family members affected by cancer.

I too have had a few over the years, but luckily the majority of my family dies of old age. If you want to see what Wendy K at Kaput Krafts is offering and more about this family go read Wendy's blog.

I thought this was a pretty neat thing for a teenager to do. Deirdre has donated hair to "Locks of Love" twice and is growing it out yet again. Three of the girls in my troop (including D) have a also donated hair—a worthwhile sacrifice that helps so many children.

Update

2009-03-02T10:29:00.002-07:00

"I Hope You Dance" by Lee Ann Womack
I have always wondered who sang this song. When a co-worker's daughter died several years ago, Heather Osmond came and sang it acappella at the funeral.

"And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance
I hope you dance"

It was so beautiful. The song has always made me cry whenever I hear it.

I am so glad February is over. My mid-terms are over. Hallelujah!

And even better we got our Saturn back. We bit the bullet and decided to spend the money to have a new engine put in. We are hoping for another 100,000 miles. We are having some transmission problems, but I have a call into the mechanic to see what the problem is. More great news—the engine dying wasn't my fault! Instead a leaky radiator hose was the problem. This makes it the mechanic's problem. We have yet to go talk with him about it.

All the drywall is up except for the area around the front door. We still haven't ordered a new front door yet, nor have we made a decision on the flooring. We have decided tile for the front door area and wood for the bedroom and sitting room. Colors and types are still up in the air.

I'll post pics later.

In Memoriam: Rocky—April 1993-February 9, 2009

2009-02-09T18:03:00.007-07:00

Well, Rocky has finally decided that he had had enough. He died this afternoon about 4:30. He had hidden himself under our bed. Jeff found him, wrapped him in a towel, and placed him on top of a heat register. Less than an hour later, Rocky died. So, now he's out with Eddie in our backyard. Rocky never really got over Eddie's death in Feb. 2005. Jeff dug the hole last November when we thought we would have him put to sleep.

We think he had diabetes. He drank tons of water all the time. He also had a voracious appetite, but kept losing weight. He didn't seem to be in any pain, though.

We first got him in May 1993 as a very small kitten, maybe six weeks old. Jeff opened his office door to find the girlfriend of a colleague's son standing there with this little tiny white kitten in her arms. He hadn't even been weaned properly yet. We think that his mother figured out that he was deaf and kicked him out.

Rocky loved to watch things fall. He chewed on glass objects. When in the right mood, he would sit on your lap forever. He hated being picked up. He was only secure against a body or a lap. We will miss him terribly. The girls are a little confused right now, but at least they have each other.

The best way to get photos of Rocky was when he was asleep. I'm sure I have some somewhere of him awake, but these were on my computer.

Clearly, I'm an idiot!!

2009-02-05T23:53:00.003-07:00

Well, I should never have posted about the three car situation. I blew our Saturn's engine yesterday. I was less than two miles from a gas station where I could fill up and get oil for the engine. Needless to say, I didn't make it! The engine block has a hole in it because I'm an idiot. We just had the Saturn in for service and I meant to call and have them do an oil change, did I remember? NO! Did I not pass numerous gas stations, WalMarts, Targets, etc. to buy oil? But, no, I had to get to 72oo South to fill up and get oil.

I have never felt so stupid in my entire life. I road in a tow-truck—certainly not on my "to-do" list for my life. I had a love/hate relationship with the Saturn. It got good gas mileage, but was soooo loud and small.

So, instead of three cars we are down to two. After the gymnastics meet at the U tomorrow, D and I will stop and clean out the Saturn. It has the rods for my punches in it, as well as, some other things that I would prefer not to lose. And yet another car goes to the Kidney Foundation. I really don't think that Jeff is willing to pay $2500 to $3000 to put a used engine in the car.

When I told one of my classes today, a student (who I see every day) asked if I cried. When I said no, he wanted to know if I swore a lot. I replied in the affirmative. Now I want to cry. But there really is no point. I cried when the station wagon was hauled off. I learned to parallel park in a Colony Park station wagon. I can park anything!

So, we are back to two drivers and two vehicles. Maybe later we will buy another small car for its gas mileage. Over the last two days the Grand Voyager hit 30 mpg! with 1000 lbs of drywall in the back.

Guess what I will be doing this weekend? Hanging drywall! And working the daddy/daughter event for Girl Scouts. Neither my dh nor my dd are attending. Well, D might attend as a PA, but not with her dad. Neither of them thought the event looked interesting. I tried in Service Unit meetings to make it more appealing. But did anyone listen to me? No, of course not.

Well, since it is the wee hours of the morning, and I have to read 150 junior Language Arts exams tomorrow, I had probably post this and head to bed.

I hate hate hate February!!!!

Last call

2009-02-03T12:54:00.003-07:00

Deirdre and Sarah taking an order from a neighbor. All cookie orders have to be in by tomorrow (Wed., Feb. 4). If you haven't order any yet and want to— drop me a comment.

Cars

2009-02-02T22:30:00.002-07:00

We have three cars and two drivers. When we bought our Honda Oydessy, we decided to keep our green Plymouth Grand Voyager. This meant we had three cars and two drivers. This semester we are doing the car "musical chair" game. On Mondays and Fridays, Kate drives the Honda and Jeff the Grand Voyager. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays Kate drives the Saturn and Jeff drives the Honda. At 15 1/2 years old the Saturn still gets 35 miles to the gallon. It makes more sense for the car that is driving 500+ miles per week to be the one that gets the most gas milage. Jeff drives carpool on Tuesdays and Thursdays and needs the Honda. Kate has class on Wed., and Thurs., and drives the Saturn. The Grand Voyager is full of drywall at the moment, so it has no seats besides the driver and "killer" passenger. Sort of hard to drive carpool with no seats. :) Amazingly enough all three cars are being driven each week!

Great Game

2009-02-01T21:24:00.003-07:00

What a supremely awesome Super Bowl. I wanted the Steelers to win and they did! Great emotion here. Screaming could be heard many times. Freaked poor Greymalken out enough that she left to go sleep in our bedroom. What an up and down game. Felt sorry for the Cardinals.

Cookie Rally

2009-01-11T16:26:00.009-07:00

Yesterday was the Cookie Kickoff for Girl Scouts. I happen to be in charge of it, again. We start selling cookies next Saturday (Jan. 17). To rev up the girls and help them learn about the cookies, we hold a rally. As usual the girls took home a bunch of paper products. They made ribbons for a cause, thought of ways they could package cookies to sell more, tasted cookies (including the new one Dulce de Leché), sang a song about the safety rules, set a goal for what incentive they planned to work toward, and listed ways they could donate. This year's theme is "Imagine If …" and philanthropy is a strong part of the cookie program.

I had four of my girls at the rally. Deirdre worked with a Senior PA (Program Aide) to help her earn her hours toward becoming a Junior PA. Girls who have finished sixth grade or are 12 can become Junior PA's. These girls are a big help to running events. It also helps the girls to learn how to deal with younger girls. Some groups need a lot of help and others don't. This was D's first event as a PA.

Malynn Christensen, Sarah Jacobson, and Samantha Olsen pose with Gayle Jensen, our SU treasurer, after making the cookie chains for booth decoration. D came up with the station title "Imagine If … you could chain-ge the world". Gayle was going to retire from GS after this year, but Uleda talked her out of it. With Lynette, our current SUD, leaving as of this week, I am now SUD and I barely know what I am doing. I know for a fact that I can't or won't put the time into being SUD that Lynette has. I just can't.

As you can see from this picture D spent most of the time alone as a PA. Amanda is a junior in high school and this was her last event as a PA. D said that she (D, not Amanda) found being a PA pretty boring. She flat out refuses to be a PA at day camp. It's okay, she has to have even more training to do that. But in a few years she might not want to go around doing things at day camp; we'll see when she's 14/15.

Here is Uleda Westland, our Girl Services Volunteer (basically a liason between the Utah GS Council and the local Service Units), taking a picture of D being a PA. Also pictured are Malynn, Sarah, and Samantha. The other three girls are from Marysvale. The troop down there brought 12 girls to our rally because they didn't have one in the Fishlake Service Unit.

This is Malynn, Sarah, and Samantha making their elephants. After tracing their fist and coloring the resulting elephant, each girl decided what she wanted to work toward in cookies sales.

Here all four of the girls with their paper chain that Sam, Sarah, and Malynn made. They are standing on the stage after the rally had ended.

Of course we have to have a silly picture to go with a "nice" one.

FYI:Because of school starting, I will probably only post once a week on Saturday or Sunday.

The new "sitting" room is drywalled.

2009-01-04T15:40:00.003-07:00

This is the from the new room into our living room. This end of the room used to be D's room.
This will be the door to the bathroom. Right now, since the sink is still on the other side of the wall and to give D some privacy, the bathroom side drywall is still in place. This picture and the one below used to be our sitting room, where the TV was.
Behind the cabinet is the other window. This is the south/west area. All the leftover drywall is stacked here. The cabinet used to be our linen cabinet. It is solid birch and extremely heavy. We haven't figured out where to put it yet.

We spent three days hanging 20 sheets of drywall. I'm exhausted and now have to go back to work tomorrow. It's pretty amazing how fast the drywall is up though. We haven't even ordered flooring yet. Plus, there's the taping and mud to do. The new sitting room is a ways off still. Probably because I didn't grow up with a television in my house until I was 13, I just have a problem with having a "TV room". I enjoy just being able to go and sit and read in a room that has a door. So even though a lot of television viewing will be done in this room, it will still be called a sitting room.

The latest on the remodel

2009-01-02T16:07:00.008-07:00

This is where we started today. Insulation, 2 x 4's, and electrical. First we did the closet. Closets are a pain, because they have all of the same amount of work, but no space to work in.

Here is Jeff nailing the bottom on the west side of the closet.

This is the top piece on the inside. This was a challenge to get into place, but we finally got it all figured out. It's been a long time since we hung drywall. In this picture you can also see the front and closet doors in the entry area. The wall the front door is on won't be drywalled for awhile. We are getting a new front door and will install all the drywall for that wall at the same time.

And here is where we finished for today. The entire north wall is finished. I have two pictures so you can see the jog the wall makes. The jog allows for trim around the window. We have a few places now that have no space for trim and the paint job is awful, because of the small area. Besides the trim, we are putting wainscoting on the bottom part and wanted enough of it to show in the corner as well.
Tomorrow we are hanging the window (west) wall and the south wall. Both are pretty straight shots. It's the east wall that has a bunch of cut outs and doors.

Look what I found

2008-12-30T14:15:00.004-07:00

Isn't this the most adorable picture? I found it on the internet (duh). It is of the following: "Two-and-a-half-month-old Persian leopard cub Chui, left, and her nine-year-old mother Cezi, seen in their enclosure, in Budapest Zoo, Hungary, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008."

I've never been to Hungary, but now I want to go see these leopards up close. I love large cats as well as small cats. I prefer large cats, though, to be in the wild or zoos, not up close and personal. :)

I've been updating my Facebook. I had forgotten I even joined, when I received an e-mail today from some person I never heard of to join her as a friend. I bought something from her off of e-bay about two years ago. Needless to say, I didn't join her, but I asked some people to be friends. AND I think I found a friend from high school. I haven't kept in touch with anyone since moving to Utah. Not that I was keeping in touch before we moved.

Oven cleaning

2008-12-29T15:43:00.002-07:00

I have banished everyone to the basement. Yesterday when Jeff cooked the roast beef for his birthday he commented that the oven could do with cleaning. So, I turned on the oven to clean this afternoon. The whole upstairs is pretty much full of smoke. Luckily not enough to set off the smoke detectors. We have windows open (it's 20º outside), fans going, and some unhappy cats. Greymalkin came downstairs crying, but when I followed her back upstairs to bring her back down, she hid. Hope we never have a fire where I have to find her!

Jeff has put in the studs for the new door to what is now the hall bathroom. After we are finished with everything, this bathroom will open into our new room. I decided not to go to school today. So, I am organizing "my" room. This used to be our guest room, but we don't have guests and I need a place to scrapbook, stamp, and do homework. I need to bring down a desk that is upstairs. First I have to convince Jeff to help me bring it down. It's pretty heavy. It was built in the late 40's or 50's when a lot of furniture did double duty. This desk has three small side drawers and knee space, but it also has a pull out table with ugly rattan on it. So it's a desk/table combination. D has a desk/dresser that was my grandmère's. It is a secretary type desk with three drawers below. When the top is up it takes up almost no room, when the top is down it is the desk's writing surface. It is from the same era. I believe these were built to accommodate the many people who were living in small homes and apartments after WWII.

Yet another birthday!

2008-12-28T15:56:00.003-07:00

Today, Jeff is 46! Happy birthday dear.

When we were pregnant with D, the only request Jeff had besides a healthy baby was for a different delivery day than his birthday. Bad enough that it is so close to Christmas, he just didn't want to share it. You know I don't blame him. Until family members started to die of old age, we had quite the holiday birthdays going. Here's the list:

Dec. 15: Carl Gassen (my brother-in-law's father, died March 2006, in his 90's)
Dec. 17: Lillian Coryell (my father's mother, died Aug. 2003, 91 1/2)
Dec. 18: Deirdre
Dec. 24: Grandma Dottie (my mother-in-law's mother, she's been gone for awhile. Awful of me, but I don't remember when she passed away. After D was born, I do know that. Pretty sure she was in her 90's too)
Dec. 25: Brian Harris (our nephew on Jeff's side, Phyllis' son)
Dec. 28: Jeff
Dec. 29: Charlie Carney (my stepmother-in-law, I think that's her birthday, awful again of me, 20 years and I'm still not sure)
Dec. 29: Linda Spencer (my cousin Jim's wife, again I'm not positive, but pretty sure)
Dec. 31: Fred Spencer (my cousin)

Quite the collection of birthdays there in a two week time. Plus in January are four more: 5th: Nicole Spencer (daughter of Linda), 18th: Jim Spencer (husband of Linda), 28th: Barbara Spencer (mother of Jim and my aunt obviously), and 30th (I'm pretty sure on the date and don't feel like going upstairs to check my planner): John Carney (brother to Jeff).

The home remodel is moving along. Jeff has been stringing speaker wire the last few days. The new sound system will be on the south side of the new room. Wire needs to go to the speakers in the living room and the kitchen, plus the speakers in the new room. We have the most amazing speakers in our kitchen! I love being able to put on music and have it play in there, but not be blaring through-out the house so that I can hear it in the kitchen. Right now they aren't attached to anything, as we are listening to everything off of the TV sound system. Sounds complicated right?! You see Jeff builds speakers too. So, we have amazing speakers in our living room and we had speakers in our old sitting room for the TV. Now that the TV is in the living room :( all are connected to the receiver for the TV. But the kitchen ones are still (or were until today) connected to the receiver for the stereo system. Sorry, I just don't seem to be able to explain it properly.

Back to wiring: almost all of the electrical is finished. Jeff thinks we can hang drywall on Tuesday. Yippee! So, I'll be off to school tomorrow. The semester ends the Friday after we return (idiotic, I know) and I am nowhere near being ready with assignments to grade. I also need to prepare some for next semester.

D spent Friday and part of yesterday at Sarah's. They had a sleep-over and played Nintendo DS a lot. Sarah invited another girl over, Savannah, and the three had a blast. She has been pretty much reading and playing new DS games since Christmas. Last night we played Harry Potter Clue. It's a little different from the traditional game. For instance, you have to make your final accusation in Dumbledore's office. So if several people think they know the answer, it's a race to see who can get to the office faster. We played two games and if I remember correctly, D won both of them. We had a lot of fun; it's been awhile since we played a family game.

And the remodel continues

2008-12-19T10:26:00.005-07:00

The latest update. I don't have better pictures right now. I haven't taken any (you know gone over the weekend) lately. The new wall is up (just studs right now). The old hall wall from the back of our bedroom closet is partial gone. We walk through the old closet to get to our bedroom. It's sort of a maze right now. The electrical has been a problem for Jeff as he tries to figure out what wires go where and power what. As stated before, our electrician wasn't the best. It's pretty exciting to see the way the area is shaping up.

And here is Jeff relaxing on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. He worked all weekend on the house, but had to read The Color Purple for class on Monday. After only four and a half years Rocky and Greymalkin have declared a slight truce. We gave Rocky a reprieve right before Thanksgiving. He actually has perked up.

On to me:
I was accepted into The University of Utah. My classes start on Jan. 14. I will be taking two classes Spring semester: one on Wednesday and the other on Thursday. On days that D and I have gymnastic meets than I will travel up to SLC three days in a row. I haven't figured out how I will make it through the next couple of years, but somehow we will manage. When I leave school on Tuesdays, I will have to be prepared for classes on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I need to move Scouts to Tuesdays. I will miss Service Unit meetings unless they are moved, and worse I'll miss Stamp Club for Feb., Mar., and April., maybe even May depending on my finals schedule. I can do this—at least this is what I keep telling myself. Wish our family luck for the next two years.

Deirdre is 12!

2008-12-19T09:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Deirdre's 12th birthday. According to her, she had a good day. After school was scouts. She lead the opening with questions from her P.A. training. We planned which activities we would do to earn the Cookies & Dough IPP. The girls decided as one of their service projects to create a matching game for the daisies. We will use the game at the cookie kick-off in January.

She received a Beatles T-shirt from us that she is wearing to school today. The Beatles is her favorite band. She also received Across the Universe dvd from us. We watched it over the summer and bought the soundtrack, but she also wants to be able to watch it over and over. She got a sweater, Harry Potter Scene It, and a hair accessory set from Grandmum and Granddad. From her cousin Fred she received the entire Dark is Rising chronicles. It's a great set of books. After reading the Twilight series four times in about four weeks, the Dark is Rising might seem "easy", but she will love them. She received other gifts from her Auntie Barbie, but I don't have my list in front of me. From us her big gift was a new digital camera with a case and memory cards. She hadn't asked for one, but her old was really beat-up and has limited memory card abilities.

What have you done?

2008-12-16T19:10:00.004-07:00

To participate, just copy and paste in your own blog, and bold all of the things you have done. It's kind of fun!!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland (does DisneyWorld count?)
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestor (does this mean the original ancestor who came over on the Mayflower or closer? Either way I've been to England and France, as well as, all the states, except Hawaii)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (does Elvish count—that's what my mother and sister said I spoke as a toddler)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David (I think it's at the Louvre?)
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser (um, no not really, we had to keep going on to Glacier Nat'l Park and couldn't wait for it to actually erupt)
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (I don't remember :( )
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie (does a PBS television production count?)
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (as a child and an adult!)
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason (are you kidding me! never in a billion years)
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial (drove past when in D.C., again no time to stop and actually tour)
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book (married to a published author, though)
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House (drove past)
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (eew!)
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury (called several times while living in Chicago, always sent home)
91. Met someone famous (Rudolf Nureyev for one and a ton of other dancers, and Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues, and Governor Thompson of Illinois back in the late 70's)
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Seen Mount Rushmore in person
101. Learned to play an instrument

I decided to participate too. I tag anyone who has the time to do it.

Our busy weekend

2008-12-15T09:51:00.001-07:00

Last Thursday (12/11) was the Candlelight program. All the orchestras, bands, choirs, guitar, and music appreciation classes all performed. Then the candles were presented to worth local citizens. This little old lady was one of the recipients. She was so funny. She is 97 and lives in Manti. Her 97th birthday was the next day. She stood on the stage at the Eccles Center and said "I'm wearing my gardening shoes, my cowboy shirt, and my hair hasn't been combed in a week." What could the audience do but laugh. This year there were seven eighth graders with 4.0 g.p.a's from sixth through current semester to present. Some years there are only a couple. With luck Deirdre will be one of the presenters next year.

Deirdre and I spent Friday and Saturday at Trefoil Ranch. It snowed like crazy on Saturday. When we got to the bottom of 189 it was closed. Boy were there a lot of angry people. Unlike last year, there were only about 25 people there (mothers and daughters). D and I deliberately tried to pick activities that we didn't do last year. So we learned about Kwanzaa instead of Hanukkah, the Netherlands instead of Russia and did new crafts. It was a lot of fun. The girls were older this year too. There were a few 8 year olds, but most were 11 and 12. The food was pretty good too. We ended early on Saturday, so we could get on the road a little earlier. D and I drove on up to Salt Lake City to spend the night there. Because…

We had our annual tickets to The Nutcracker by Ballet West. This was the last year Deirdre wanted to the Sugar Plum Fairy party after the matinee. We have been going to The Nutcracker since D was four and the party afterward since she was six. We spent the night at Embassy Suites and did some shopping before the ballet. We were scheduled to see Beau Pearson as the Snow Cavalier and the Waltz of the Flowers Cavalier, but he hurt his shoulder in Madam Butterfly rehearsals. So we were treated to Soloist Jason Linsley in Snow and Principal Christopher Rudd in the Waltz. Both of these males are my favorites with the company. Due to Beau's injury, Ballet West has brought in a male guest artist to help with the performances. We decided that next year, we might go to an evening performance, spend the night in SLC, and then do Christmas shopping the next day on the way home.

Twilight—the series! and more

2008-12-10T00:23:00.003-07:00

Deirdre has now read the series at least three times. It might be four. She insisted that I too read the series. I capitulated and read. I didn't like Twilight, but continued to read to find out if Bella actually became a vampire and low and behold eventually she did. I liked New Moon the most, followed by Eclipse, Breaking Dawn, and finally Twilight. I thought if they said "I love you" one more time in that book, I was seriously going to smack someone.

Deirdre went to the movie for the third time today—again with Sarah. Now, I am not a movie person to begin with, but the pictures just do not make me want to see this movie.

Remodeling is going slowly, but steadily. We have garage lights and living room lights back, and two new walls! I will post pics soon. Jeff is recovering from the flu. Both he and D have a cough. Once they get them, I hear coughing for weeks.

D and I will be heading to Trefoil Ranch this weekend for a mother/daughter Christmas bonding with Girl Scouts. We will spend Saturday night in Salt Lake, because we have tickets for the Nutcracker on Sunday. We have been going to see Ballet West's production of The Nutcracker since D was four. We usually have pretty close seats. Last year, they were the front row. Jeff has been a couple of times, but the ballet is usually a mother/daughter activity. We do season tickets and have a good time.

Happy Thanksgiving & Construction messes

2008-11-27T13:50:00.004-07:00

The picture on top is what the living room/hall/foyer looked like on Tuesday. The bottom picture is what it looked like yesterday when I got home at 6ish. We have no electricity in part of the living room, dining room, or kitchen. Luckily all three of those rooms do have some power in the plugs. Also the appliances are on different breakers. Our electrician was an idiot, I believe. He had to come back twice after we moved in and it would have been more times, if Jeff hadn't just figured it out on his own. But we are talking electricity—the one that kills if not used properly.

Today, Jeff has been dealing with attic insulation. The drywall on part of the ceiling had to be taken down, as well as, some 2 x 4's. This means a ton of insulation has fallen to the floor. So far, he is at 10 bags of insulation to be put in the dumpster. At some point either today or tomorrow we are hanging new drywall on the ceiling. Luckily it is only a few pieces that need to go up. Although, I think I prefer hanging the ceiling rather than walls. I don't remember, I have deleted the Thanksgiving of 1995 and summer of 1996 from my brain. When we decided to try for a baby, we also decided to finish the basement. So, the summer before Deirdre was born, we drywalled. Hard to believe that was 12 years ago.

This is the first remodel that we have done that doesn't have us thinking "resale" value. We might have really changed how much our house is worth by deleting an upstairs bedroom, but at the same time we are making the remaining two rooms larger. But we aren't selling until D leaves for college, if then. Who knows what the market will be like. No matter what we sell the house for, it will most likely be more than we built it for even with the additional costs of the remodeled kitchen, both upstairs bathrooms, the finished basement, and now this one.

I have a pumpkin pie baking in the oven as I type this. I love pumpkin pie! I like pecan pie even more, but D doesn't so it's pumpkin for us. We are having Cornish Hens, stuffing, mashed yams (mashed potatoes using a yam), peas, maybe spinach souffle (I had to buy it when I saw Albertson's had it), rolls, gravy, and pie with real whipped cream. Jeff doesn't really like turkey and D hates it, so Cornish Hens it is. Cornish Hens are easier to cook than a turkey anyway. I am also about to make the honey butter for the scones for tomorrow's bake sale in Manti. I have the dough thawing for the scones. I also have Rice-Crispy treats, brownies, and maybe sugar cookies to make. This is one of our fundraisers for Girl Scouts. Besides a small profit from cookie sales, as a Service Unit, we do two big fundraisers: the Manti bake sale, and during pageant time we clean the tables at the "food court" and hand out the Sanpete Messenger's pageant insert to the people entering the temple grounds. The majority of girls in our Service Unit live in Manti. As a matter of fact, our Junior troop there lost more than half its girls to aging out (They should have come to mine, but didn't reregister.), the troop was down to about 7 girls. She is back up to 17!! I can barely get 5 to come to our meetings.

Well have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I'm off to clean and cook.

Volunteer thoughts

2008-11-21T12:35:00.001-07:00

As the SUD-Bud for our Service Unit, I am in charge of finding ways to honor our volunteers. For our October meeting, I copied an idea that I received from Jostens many years ago. It involved M&M's as "pills". Each color represented a "cure" for a different problem. I made cute little "diaper pouches," filled them with M&M's. I wanted everyone to have at least two of each color and then a few more. They took forever to make 40 of. The top one shows the different components and the bottom one shows the finished product.

supplies used: all SU DP Ghostly Greetings, CS Basic Black, Whisper White, and Pumpkin Pie, Batty for You, Pumpkin Pie classic ink, scallop and 1 3/8 punches, misc. ribbon (from WalMart :( ), I printed the list on my laser printer on white cardstock.

For November's meeting I enlisted Deirdre's help. She doesn't like to CASE (Copy and Share Everything) ideas. I keep telling her it's how teachers function. Beg, borrow and steal ideas! She was very unhappy that I don't have a lot of patterned papers in fall colors. I tend to go for soft subtle backgrounds. I had just purchased some "holly" paper from ZIM's (25 sheets for $2), but it looks fall, not Christmas and I had another patterned "fall" color paper that she liked (also from ZIM's going out of business sale). I was going to make all 36 like the more complicated one below, but decided it was going to take waaay tooo long!!!

supplies used: SU scallop square, scallop circle, horizontal slot, and tag corner punches, orange cardstock unknown source, four different fall ribbons from Michael's, patterned paper from ZIM's, laser printer for tag.

We had a great assembly line going. Deirdre punched the orange tags and put the scallop papers on the mints and stuffed the bags with mints. I punched the scallops (those punches are a devil to use) and tied the bags closed and tied the tags on. They didn't take nearly as long as the previous month's. Then I left them at home! So everyone will get two in December.

I already have my idea planned. I am going to use my new BigShot and new Top Note Bigz die. I am doing red/white peppermints in bags with the TopNote used as the closer. I just don't have the "inspirational" saying or the stamp set decided yet. I already have the paper for the closers and the peppermints too. I need to get working on these soon too since the house is going to need my help soon too.

An update

2008-11-21T09:42:00.008-07:00

Yes, that really is a squid on Deirdre's head. All the girls did it during the dissection lab at CIMI.

Life has been really crazy the last few weeks. When we drove up to get Deirdre from the airport we were re-ended by another driver on I-15. Some idiot stopped in the car-pool lane causing all of us behind him/her to slam on our brakes. The woman behind just couldn't get her Suburban to stop fast enough. Our van was in the shop for three weeks and it cost her insurance $4500.

Below are the before and current pictures of Deirdre's old room. We decided to remodel. So far there is no drywall in two of the upstairs bedrooms or flooring. We are down to waverboard in bedrooms and the hall. I'll try to update as we go. Or I really should say as Jeff goes, since he is the one who is doing all the work so far.

There seemed to be so much more to update, so I was putting it off. But now, I can't seem to remember any of it. Clearly a reason for updating more often.

CIMI update

2008-10-06T17:59:00.005-06:00

"The girls had a great visit at the Long Beach Aquarium. Stephanie says they got to drag net some plankton, look at lots of marine life, and were still pretty excited to be on the way. There was also a chance that the girls were going to be shuttled to the ferry, eliminating the dreaded 10 minute walk with luggage. The girls were enthusiastically supportive!"

The above came in e-mail today from our "at home" contact. Every time a group of Girl Scouts travel, there has to be a "at home" contact person. This way if there is a problem, or in the CIMI trip case updates, this contact person does the contacting.

I ran into (not literally) Mr. Halling at WalMart. I have only met him once at Parent/Teacher Conferences. I kept asking myself "who is that man? why does he look familiar?" On the other hand he remembered me and asked how D was managing on her trip. Actually he asked "how's the world traveler?" It's interesting some of her teachers were excited for her opportunity to attend CIMI and others only saw it as missing class time. As a teacher, I know that what we do in class is the most important thing (it isn't really, but we all like to pretend). As a parent, I know that opportunities like this can't be missed.

On that point of not missing opportunities I nominated D (sneaking of me I know) as a student for the People to People Leadership Summit program. I also nominated some of my students, which is what they wanted me to do. I read about this program that was started by President Eisenhower in 1956 and it sounds fantastic. Of course I scoured the site for information regarding the cost, but it couldn't be found. I believe that by nominating her, we will receive information. All they wanted was an address, gender, and grade in school. The summits are held at places like Harvard, Stanford, UCLA, Johns Hopkins, George Washington University, and Columbia. According to the website "As a Leadership Summit Student Leader, you'll join some of the world's top 6th through 12th graders for a week of interactive and hands-on training from top college students, college educators, and professionals in your area of interest."

The Beauty of the "Yester-years" of Gymnastics

2008-10-06T17:36:00.002-06:00

This video of Oksana Omelianchik at the 1987 Worlds just blows my mind. No one has done a triple full punch front in years.

And just in case you thought release combinations on women’s bars were something new, take a look at Natalia Yurchenko back in 1983! The bars were closer together in 1983. Some of the moves couldn't be done today, because of the current distance of the bars. She just flies through the air. Ashley Postell of Utah, who finished her NCAA career last spring, and Courtney Koupets of Georgia are two of the best bars workers in college gymnastics right now. They both do absolutely amazing bar work with numerous release moves.

CIMI

2008-10-05T17:28:00.006-06:00

This is the whole group that left for Catalina Island Marine Institute (CIMI). There are 28 girls from sixth through tenth grade and four adults. The girl immediately to the left of Deirdre is the one who she will probably hang out with the most. Hopefully she is in D's group. I don't remember her name or I could look it up in my information packet. They flew out this afternoon and return at 10:30 Friday night.

One of the girls designed the picture and at their last CIMI meeting they tie-dyed the shirts. They decorated flip-flops too, but I just remembered that so they're not packed with D's things. Luckily the adults made the reservations before all the new flight rules went into effect, so everyone could check two "bags"—for most this meant a suitcase and a sleeping bag. They snorkle several times—once at night, disect a squid, learn about the ocean and science.

Update

2008-10-04T14:06:00.002-06:00

Well to save myself a little bit of money, I decided to become a Stampin' UP demonstrator. I did not do this to start a club or host scrapbooking nights. I have no clue what I am doing when it comes to cards or scrapbooking. I did this solely for the discount. I haven't decided if I will set up a website or not. It seems a bit much for something that will probably never be used. I already maintain a school website with numerous pages, a scout website with numerous pages, and this blog. That is about as much as I can reasonably do. Jeff only let me become a demonstrator with the understanding that it doesn't add any time to my life. Doing a club or anything would add time, so those are out. Scouts and scrapbooking/stamp club seem to take more time than he would like anyway, no sense in adding to those.

Bridging Invitations

2008-09-28T17:28:00.010-06:00

This is the invitation I made for the ceremony. I sent the cards through my color printer and then did the fronts. I used a musical wheel that I bought off of e-bay. The wheel is stamped in Brocade Blue, while the words and star is in Night of Navy. I used Apricot Appeal for the other stars and the ribbon. I used the new SU scallop edge punch for the front right edge. I didn't really know what I wanted to do with the invitations, so I just "winged" it. I thought they turned out rather well.

Below are all five of the invitations with Jessie, Samantha, and Deirdre behind them. They wouldn't let me take a picture without them in it.I edged the circles with Night of Navy for the smaller one and Chocolate Chip for the larger one. I used my favorite set for the stars. As you can see from the photo each invite was slightly different. I let the girls pick which one they wanted.

I have to add that the pictures were taken in the 4th ward's Primary room—our new home for scouts. Or it was our new home until the Achievement Days decided they would meet there at the same time! So, we are moving into the Relief Society room across the hall. Makes more sense anyway. All of the girls will be moving into Young Womens at some point this year, except poor Samantha has to wait until August. They won't want to meet in the Primary room after they have moved up to YW.

Paul Newman's death

2008-09-27T12:53:00.007-06:00

One of my favorite actors died last night. Paul Newman was only 83, but cancer can get you at any age. When I came home from the Bridging and Awards Ceremony, Jeff told me. I realized that I really don't know any of the "young" actors. So, all the actors/actresses that I love are dying off. I loved the following quote from Robert Redford:
"There is a point where feelings go beyond words. I have lost a real friend. My life — and this country — is better for his being in it." — Robert Redford.
As a family, we watched in August The Sting and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. So, Deirdre knows who he was and, of course, he was in Cars two years ago.

What a sad day for Joanne Woodward and the world in general. They were married for 50+ years. Such an uncommon occurrence in Hollywood. It probably helped that their main home was Connecticut. There are certain actors that you really don't want to ever die, because when they do, it draws home the age of your parents.

Yesterday was my mother-in-law's 75th birthday. I have decided that parents are not allowed to ever die. I, personally, can't imagine life without those people in my life. Even if I don't contact them as often as I should, I know that they are in Salisbury, MD or LaGrange, IL living their lives. The very thought that they might not be is awful to say the least.

Deirdre had Parent/Teacher Conferences on Thursday. She has straight "A's." Her mid-term shows a "C" for Orchestra, but she didn't know that she was supposed to be handing in practice sheets. That grade was resolved, and even more importantly by Deirdre, not me. She has had to learn to talk with teachers herself. I can't always "bail" her out. This becomes even more important as she gets older. Her current goal now is to start college two years before the rest of her age group at 16 instead of 18. With the grade skip and the fact that she can easily earn 7 credits a year instead of 6, like the rest of her friends, it will probably happen. This means that in five years (!!!), she might be off to college.

Tomorrow, I will post pictures from the Bridging and Awards Ceremony for Scouts. My girls are now official Cadettes.

What's my name?

2008-09-23T16:40:00.003-06:00

I "stole" the following from Heather Atwood's blog. As a teacher, I am used to "borrowing" ideas from people all the time. No sense re-inventing the wheel, or in my case lesson plans, when I can let other people put the time and energy into it. :)

YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car): Thisbe Odyssey

YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fav hobby/craft, fav weather element + “Tour”): The Reading Raining Tour

YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, favorite cookie): Mint Chocolate Chip Oreo

YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name): C-car (yeah, that makes sense)

YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal): Purple Cat

YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, hometown city): Rebecca LaGrange

YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first): carca

SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink): The Green Water (ooh, that sounds sooo scary!)

STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy): Chanel #5 Chocolate

WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names): Francis Theodore

WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter): Farland Frankfort

SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower): Fall Rose

CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”): Apple Sweatie

That was a ton of fun. Just what I needed today. The whole school has been sick. The faculty is falling like flies: headaches, sniffles, etc. I went to school and stayed until 9:45, which is when the sub got there. Of course by the time she arrived, I was feeling a little better. I came home and slept from 10:45 until Deirdre came home and slammed the front door at 3:10. My body just shuts down like that when I get sick. Of course there is tons to do this week, with the girls bridging on Saturday.

We sat outside WalMart for 5 hours on Saturday and didn't get any stuffed animals. We have a ton, but still a few more wouldn't have hurt. I had to deal with bored and fractious girls. Plus, a ton of people who wanted to buy Girl Scout cookies. If we had been selling cookies, we would have made a killing. But, no, we sell those at booths in the colds of March :( and go door-to-door in the "lovely" weather of late January/early February. For those wondering, cookie sales start Jan. 17. (I have students asking all the time when they can buy cookies. I should just sell the extra I have in my garage.)