Nephew

I can't remember if I posted this or not - but I meant to. It's my nephew being held by his aunt chewing on his grandpa's saline infusion bag. I guess empty bags can be fun for teething.

sermons

i'm having my students give sermons (or lectures) in class today. it could be about any problem - their own or someone else's or the world's. the best looking kid, highest gpa, and on the football team - one sharp well respected boy - got choked up on his first sentence and couldn't deliver his. luckily a classmate volunteered to do it for him. i nearly cried. he wrote about the problem of families and divorce. his parents got a divorce recently. he's stuck in the middle. all of his siblings have gotten injured and sick since this began. he's had to scrounge for change to buy school lunch lately. how horribly sad that people can't get along better. oh, how sad.

Baby!

I have a new niece today! She had to be delivered by c- section because she was breached (is that the word?) - anyway, pretty exciting!

when music offends

so in my reading classes my students are reading about some of the cases where music has been deemed offensive and it's resulted in a band. all of my students agree that some music little children shouldn't listen to, but that as mature 16 year olds they can decide what is appropriate or not. they are also very capable of pointing out the risks of listening to offensive music. strange that they still choose to listen to it. ANYWAY, that's not my point. what i wanted to comment on was a funny discovery. i noticed that my blog had been read by someone in maryland. i looked to see where they came from. the site from which they came was 2pac. as in the rapper guy. it's a whole blog about tupac. call me insensitive and narrow minded and bigoted, but the site made me laugh. that guy sure seemed to take himself way too seriously. at least that's what my impression is. like i said, i'm probably too narrow minded, but such is the extent of my experience.

Being an artist

Who we are speaks volumes to what we do on the outside.

That's a quote (or close to it) from a presentation by that famous lds fantasy painter whose name I think is christensen. It is part of his advice to artists - know who you are spiritually - be connected to your family and be active in church. Keep your priorities and keep balanced - it feeds your art.

Flags

Finally it seems all the flags are at full mast. For so long it seemed some or all were at half mast. I should look up the rules on such things since the inconsistancy was bugging me. Anyway, they're finally all up, which seems odd since it feels like they've been at half mast more often than full mast ever since 9/11. Am I right or am I right?

superhero test

Your results:
You are Superman

Superman 70% Wonder Woman 70% Green Lantern 60% Spider-Man 45% Supergirl 45% Hulk 45% Robin 42% The Flash 40% Iron Man 40% Batman 30% Catwoman 15%

You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

attitude

here's a perfect quote for a monday:
"if you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it." - mary englebreit. isn't she the wrinkle in time lady? smart one.

honeymoons

there's nothing worse than spending lunch with a bunch of old married women and one single guy who just got engaged. he likes to ask everyone for advice on proposing, ring buying, and now it's honeymoon planning. makes me sick. and for a bit i had a crush on him. well that's gone. now i'm just plain jealous and feeling oldmaidish. especially when no one likes my honeymoon suggestions. today they said i'm too bohemian. not sure what that means. i was all for going on a cruise. how is that bohemian? he's the dork who doesn't want to spend more than 8 or 9 hundred dollars. cheapwad.

Ice

So it's a bit cold here. The ice cicles coat everything. My poor rose bushes are draped in them. Under the weight of ice they bend over.

gold

there's gold in the northern hills of slc. at least yesterday i saw it. shining so bright in big chunks i was convinced i could touch it from my car on 7th east. after breaking at 13th south i looked again and the gold was gone. it had merely been the setting sun reflecting on the oversized windows of the oversized homes in the federal heights neighborhood. after a week of inversion and biting cold, that gold had been most inviting. too bad it was so fleeting.

Holiday

Yep I had a holiday today. I would have liked to ski but i'm suffering from a cold, besides we're having subarctic temperatures lately. Instead a took a road trip to logan with my parents. My little sister lives in wellsville, a couple miles outside logan. They have 9 wards in wellsville - even have their own tabernacle. But they have no library. The post office may be the only "business" in town. Anyway, logan is just a few miles away so we went there for lunch. We dined at the coppermill. This is a photo of alicia standing in front of a sign by the entrance to the coppermill. I took the photo because one of my brother's nicknames is "rj hunt" - like on the sign. Pretty cool we thought.

beauty

it seems i haven't had a lot of good stories to share lately. nor good photos. luckily, my siblings share photos in their weekly letters. this one is so perfectly peaceful and since plewe seems to like temple shots i decided to share this one that my brother took outside my mother's kitchen window. it makes winter/snow/cold not seem so horrible.

Strange

I found this stuck to the towels in my bathroom cupboard. Where could it have come from? Very very very odd.

more niece

this cracked me up. she's learning to dress herself. apparently she could only get so far before deciding she needed a play break.

Nicknames

We all have them and generally throw them around to others. At least I do. So do my siblings. Well, some anyway. My brother Stephen has had more than my brother Ron has had warts - we're talking near 50. Anyway, I think I just got a new one tonight. I was talking to Mitch (short for Michener which is a variation of his real name, Marshall) and when he said goodbye he called me "Harry" - or "Hairy" - he was not specific - but I think it was the first. For many years he's called me "Sarah O'Hara" after that great TV show that starred Mr. Miagi from "Karate Kid" - what's his name? Pat something. Anyway, I think it's now morphed to just plain "Harry."

Sunrise

You can't tell - but it's beautiful. My house faces north so this is the best view I have (out my kitchen window) - sad for me. I went to the front porch all bundled up to watch it before realizing it was the wrong angle. I'm just happy to be up. I ate the best aotmeal, started my wash, skimmed through the ensign (being reminded that marriage is the best), and still have time to blog before heading out for some rigorous schlecking for day!

nephew

i love this kid. he's always been a character. here he's showing off some christmas presents. he's about 8 years old. i envy his courage and love of life.

The park

While in the park the other day I came across this piece of trash - a page from some magazine. It's will smith. His head is just smiling out at all the passersby. He's a happy guy. It's just a floating piece of trash offering a bright moment to anyone who cares to notice.

Football

Look at me. I'm watching football. It's in overtime. I'm still here. I have to get up at 5 to go to the gym before work. Who have I become? I think it's just a fluke in the space time continum (s?).