Monday, December 29, 2008

lazing around

so i've been on holiday. hooray. i don't know how people can do christmas without a decent holiday from work. i spent a couple days holed up at my mother's - horizontal snow was a bit intimidating. we watched dvds from the library - a couple of "i spy" and "lois and clark." i like tv on dvd. i did a bit of tatting. i really need to complete that piano runner i'm doing - i think i have another couple decades of work. i wish i had a hobby that produced faster - at least crocheting only took me 6 years to do an afghan. today, though, i was really lazy. i read all morning - finished "the memory keeper's daughter" - good but can't say i recommend it. i think it just left me all nostalgic and sad - not sure i needed to feel all that - i get nostalgic and sad without reading a made up story. then i finally dragged myself out of the house to do some errands for work - took a lot less time than i thought - hooray! so i let myself visit a pregnant friend for a good hour. i helped her bake a chocolate cake - yum! then i came home and made a broccoli dish as posted by good cindy and hoping to make a prune cake as posted by the good pioneer woman. i love cooking. i wish i were a stay at home mom - then i could cook and clean and maybe even read to my heart's content. i can't say i'm looking forward to next monday - there's still plenty of playing left in me! i have about two other books i still need to read!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

2008

inspired by my good friends the flynns i thought i'd try a little "year in review" with photos. we'll see how much i can actually document!

i began my year by attending the symphony. i love the symphony. i got to go again in the fall. i am lucky. i'm sure january had other events, just apparently none that i documented!
in february i went on my annual women of the world whirl wind tour with plewe and kristin. we enjoyed the comforts of staying in a retirement community, vista del sol. it was nice to be in the land of sol.

march brought more good bonding with friends. there was the annual ski and bbq at solitude. nothing like a bit of snow and sun to say spring.
march is also the time of year to celebrate the birth of my good roommate. we enjoyed dinner and then a bit of u2 at the gateway. here we're kicking it on the ride down the elevator at the planetarium where we saw laser u2

in april i decided to lead a bunch of friends to the spiral jetty - one of my long time favorite destinations. it's full of melancholy for me and i wanted to see if another trip with different people might change my feelings - i don't think it did. but it was a great fun outing.
april also gave me the opportunity to gather with some friends for some music and the spoken word at easter. i like this photo - makes me think we're ready to win a round of family feud.
i believe april is also when jubi graduated from the u which meant another fun party with good people. (i'm noting the events i found photos for - just so you know.)

at the end of may (memorial day to be exact) i hooked up with family to visit dad's grave. it seemed the thing to do. mom was good enough to come with us and take a photoschool got out about a week later and that very day i headed south with good friends to visit fruita - a.k.a. capitol reef national park. it's a great destination!
it allowed for some mild hiking and more intense stuff for the other people.

with school officially over i had the fun opportunity of teaching summer school with a short break of visiting dc in between sessions. my sister's family lives there and my other sister's family was visiting - so i got two for the price of one. here i'm hanging with the nieces and nephews after a long day of lots of walking.
and then there is a big gap in photos to share. i spent most of july home scrapbooking. i had a big black boot on my foot - i'm sure my faithful readers remember the photos and don't need to see them again. here's a photo of my graduating class at a pep rally - i basically scrapbooked my entire life from birth to the year 2000. this christmas break i had great dreams of doing the last 8 years, but i have a hard time believing that will really happen.

july was also about the time i renewed my goal of weekly temple attendance, please overlook the fact that this photo was taken around christmas.
then in august i had a birthday! lucky for me lots of friends gathered together to celebrate with me. we had great food and great entertainment - all my favorite things!
right before school started i took a trip to cedar city where i got a tattoo. just a temporary one, though. mark did the purchasing for me. the end of august also meant a trip to lava hotsprings - but i have no photos to document that good time.
hurricane (near cedar city) has a whole lot of great things to see, like this 100 year old fruit cake.
september was full of celebrating. here i am with chris celebrating the engagement of plewe and dennis.
this photo comes from the wedding shower i helped host for plewe. she is thrilled with her traditional gift of lingerie specially designed by danielle and company.

in early october my granny came for a couple weeks to escape the lack of electricity in her home as a result of hurrican ike. this photo was taken on conference weekend.
after sepetember comes my favorite month - october! which means my biggest party all year - halloween! you can possibly infer my political leanings based on the photo below. besides celebrating halloween, i was also excited about the election in november.
these are my fellow hostesses - there's no party throwing without their help!
in november i took a trip to see my good sister and her family in california. i have no photo of the opera that was the purpose of my trip, but this shot of my nephews shows how much fun they are to visit.

december meant more parties. the ward party was all about friends and music and food and being entertained. i got to play the jingle bells while my piano playing buddies did a duet of sleigh ride on the piano. too bad i don't have a photo of that.

and that my friends is 2008, minus about a week or more. i can't say much will happen before it's all over so this is a fine stopping place. please excuse any redudancy in my stories, or stealing of photos that you may have taken and i likely copied to my own my computer. photo sharing has never been easier.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Look!

I got a new niece last night - at 11:59! I got to "tend" the older brother which meant I slept at my mother's house in the room next to his. Easy and fun for me.

Friday, December 19, 2008

gifts

sometimes receiving gifts from students is rather awkward. today, after handing out my usual "holiday cards" to my reading students, one girl approached me afterward asking if i liked fragrances. then she proceeded to give me three different bath and body products - all different flavors because, as she said, she didn't know what one i'd like. that was only a bit awkward because it was way more than i needed or deserved, but the most awkward part was when a boy standing nearby (who has some major social challenges) insisted he would bring me a gift too and asked what i liked. i kept saying i was fine and didn't need anything - just wanted him to be on time to class, blah blah. he kept offering jewelry and candy, and i finally insisted he could just write me a nice note, like what i gave. so he left promising me he'd write a poem over the holiday break. did i mention he's only been in my class less than two weeks?
now i smell like wild honeysuckle. :)

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

stress

snow does little to make for a pleasantly relaxed school day. it doesn't help that the snow made my photographer an hour late, thus missing two groups that were scheduled during first period. such is life - nothing can be done about it - but my preferred solution didn't appeal to the principal and she didn't offer a viable solution of her own, so i've spent the last 10 minutes doing a bit of fuming and reminding myself the world won't end and in a few months i probably won't notice or care. that's what stress is - good for nothing in the long run. what would help me feel better is getting some lesson plans made for the post holiday weeks.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Remains of the day

This plate was full half an hour ago.

cookies!


it's that time of year when cookies come flowing. yum! i got my first plate today from a yearbook student - my favorite chocolate chip oatmeal. happiness is in a cookie. my sister sent this photo of my niece. they made gingerbread men. too cute to not share. speaking of gingerbread men... my other sister in california who has 6 home schooled kids that eat home cooked food and wear home made clothes, was baking some gingerbread men this weekend as well. the neighbor kid was over and utterly amazed that people could actually make them at home. she was thrilled to decorate her own and take it home. sometimes i forget how limited people's experiences are.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

happy stories

today i started out my reading class by asking them for happy stories. do you know what i got? i guess it was no different than "good news minutes" in relief society. i got "my bday is in a week." i also got "i lost 2 pounds." they tried. i think it is unfortunate that more rejoicing doesn't come immediatly to mind when given the chance to share some happy stories. so now i think it's fair for me to come up with a happy story.

school is out the end of next week. on that following saturday i get to tend my nephew while my sister gives birth to a new niece. i will be making walnut shrimp for her - she loves it (who doesn't) and i want to try a new recipe i got from my good uncle at thanksgiving. then later that evening i get to attend a gathering of my old friends - the ones that might as well be family for how well they know me and the pain i've been to them over the years. i sure like those people. as for something more immediate - well i have banana cream pie waiting for me at home. yum! and leftover chinese food. can it get better? food sure does rank high for me on the level of happy stories.

how about the rest of you? any happy stories to get over the hump day?

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

scary

on my way to work this morning i nearly hit someone in the crosswalk. granted, she was crossing when the light was green - so she wasn't exactly in the right - but that wouldn't have mattered if i'd hit her. there were two trucks stopped in the left lane, but the car in my lane, on the right was turning right - i assumed the trucks just hadn't yet gotten rolling. as i was practically five feet from being in the intersection i noticed the waddling woman entering my lane - i had to swerve a bit to be sure to miss her. for a second i thought about braking but that may have only caused more problems. dark cold mornings don't make for ideal driving conditions.

Monday, December 8, 2008

choose the right

i know - it's not like me to blog so much. i had some down time - i'm like a pendulum. plus, i'm up, the computer is on, and i just watched the funniest clip - i had to share. my niece learned "jingle bells" last christmas. she's about 3 i think. maybe 4? sheesh time flies - i think her bday is in may. anyway, she was singing the song, and as children often do, she substituted different words by accident. in the clip she's bouncing up and down singing "jingle bells jingle bells, oh what fun, it is choose the right, in one horse open sleigh." technically, she may not be right, but shouldn't it be fun to choose the right? i think i can work this into my visiting teaching message for tomorrow night. we'll see!

Snow

I like the season, and I like snow, but I don't like driving in snow. Oh please, snow go away by 7 pm tonight. I know - kinda late - it's that time of year again - parent teacher conferences! Wahoo! Try not to be jealous. I expect to have a decent crowd, though, because I seem to have given a few unpleasant grades this term. Such is the nature of second term - the enthusiasm really drops. To help third term be more excited I give an assignment at the very start where the students have to persuade me they deserve an A at the end of the term - part persuasive and part visual. Good things for a 10th grader to do.

Now off to track down a copy of Julius Caesar - starring Charlton Heston. I hear the kids love it. Okay, they love it compared to reading the play.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Celebrating the holiday

So far i'm loving december. I just returned from seeing a dance version of "it's a wonderful life." i'll agree, life is wonderful - even with all its tangles. :) I am grateful for every single one. When I came in I saw my december ensign sitting on my bed. Even though it's late I chose to read an article about a man whose life was changed because his classmate opened up to him and shared something of value. I love courage and I love when people courageously show their love for others. I am grateful for the immense amount of love i've felt this year. I can't begin to find words to describe the pure joy I feel. But then I remembered this photo I took earlier. I took it so I could share the hilarity of it on my blog, but the truth is - I love the genuine spirit of the happy waving smiling snowman. He's crammed under a low ceiling and yet it doesn't stop him from waving. He's giving it his all. He's a good example of spreading joy.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Leftovers

You know how leftovers make for a great dinner the rest of the week? Well that's true if leftovers consist of more than christmas goodies. Tonight I had mexican wedding cakes and english toffee for my dinner. To be healthy I topped it off with leftover stawberry/cranberry jello stuff left over from t-day. At least i'm getting to bed before 10:30!!! Did I mention that my wakeup time weekdays is 5? Yep.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Music and more

Tonight I hosted (with the total help of super friends) a little christmas party. I wanted it to be open house pop in and chat while eating treats sort of thing. But I also wanted a short musical recital - like back in the day when they'd have a bit of music by the women who "played." I also wanted it to be a sort of service project. So... I invited people to bring canned goods for the food bank. They could show up any time between 7:30 and 8. I had probably a dozen different treats set out. Then at 8 I stopped the chatting and introduced our musical program. Luckily I have very talented friends. We had a piano duet, piano solos, a guitar/vocal number, little german numbers on the accordion and then a couple beautiful trumpet solos. Then to finish it off we all sang a couple christmas songs accompanied by the piano and trumpet. After the music there was another good half hour to hour of chit chat. It was a complete success. I love seeing so many people gathered together and enjoying themselves. Plus they all said it was a good holiday mood building activity. And as a bonus for me I have my decorations up to last the month and a ton of cookies left over that I can give to the neighbors as a holiday gift. Did I mention how much I enjoyed myself? Well I did. Now I must sleep. I have really good friends. I only wish more could have been invited and been able to come.

Monday, December 1, 2008

ow

man, some days are really bad. and some days, you think things are really bad and then you get a good slap in the face and you resort to blogging, which solves nothing, only procrastinates a bit. it's a monday after a holiday - i stayed up a bit too late, was a bit too emotional, and here i am at school (finally on prep) only now i'm facing midterm grades, and doing final proofs for my yearbook job. i'm new to this yearbook thing and every new step feels like a major mountain. i can't tell you how much faith i have to exercise - life would be so much easier if we just gave up at the first sign of difficulty. wait, that can't be true. we like to think it would be so much easier, but i know in the end it only gets harder. for instance, our school recently had a break-in/theft. we just learned that the perpetrator is a former student that failed to graduate. as my students pointed out, being a high school drop out can only lead to a life of desperation. i'm sure dropping out of whatever challenge you face probably will have similar repercussions. anyway, for how whiny i was feeling and trying to make myself stand up and be a woman, i just learned that the single mother of a couple students here just passed away. now that is humbling. that gives me a fresh perspective on the mountain i face. i'm sorry to have whined. i'm sorry i wasted a minute feeling inadequate and scared.