SILVER

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

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"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"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

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

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

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

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

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








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The Time Traveler's Wife

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

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

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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