Miscellany

• I am now very concerned about bedtime and am always in bed between 10-11 due to my 6:13am wake-up time.
• I am increasingly annoyed that my closet is jam packed, but I have nothing to wear!
• I dream about math regularly. Not so much the solving of problems, more like equations on the board consuming my subconscious.
• I can reduce fractions like nobody's business.
• I have eaten lunch in my car a lot lately because it's more pleasant than being the new girl in the teacher's lounge; this may be a problem in the winter because the snow banks going to and from the car are deep. Maybe I should look into getting some ginormous snow pants.

• I have coupons coming out the wazoo! Lori helped me catch up on a month's worth of back coupons (times 5 papers!) but the filing of them may drive me to drink.
• I've been coming home with headaches lately and am trying to find the source. I don't think it's school, but I'm not sure what it is. I'm currently removing the Salty/Sweet granola bars from my between-class snacking to see if they're a trigger.
• Why is it so hard to come up with something different for dinner?
• Speaking of dinner, I feel ready for it everyday at 4:00. Seriously.
• Shouldn't all rent/mortgages get to skip a payment in December so there's money for Christmas?
• It is possible that Whitney does not fully comprehend what the word "clean" actually means. Maybe she needs a translator.

• We woke up so a schload of snow on Sunday.
• I finished my book in the middle of the night and shed some tears about it, both that it was over and because it was so good.
• I think I'm over "The Office", this season isn't very funny. I'll have to look to past seasons if I want to laugh.
• When I go to bed at night I usually have a song stuck in my head, and that song is often the first song I heard that morning. Last night as I went to bed at 10:10 with a major headache I couldn't get Harry Connick Jr.'s "Happy ho, ho, ho to you" line out of my head. It was like the worst kind of skipping record. I eventually got rid of it by reviewing scripture mastery verses and fell asleep before the 5th one...victory!

**What's your miscellany?**

Creative Friday--28 Days in the Making Edition

It has been a challenge for Michelle and I to deal with the lack of Creative Fridays going on since I started work on November 1st. I really thought I'd be better about sending things on my own from home, but it turns out I am most productive when sitting across the table from her working for an extended period of time.

Woohoo for the return of the self-portrait, and scarf season!

Michelle had ton a lot of cooking this week because of Marc's birthday and Thanksgiving, so she was all cooked out (which is a relief really because her stamina for kitchen projects is about a million times greater than mine), so I brought Taco Amigo for our lunch.


The boys got busy playing Guitar Hero, and Marc ran defense for us and took a grumpy Eva out for lunch and to the bookstore. Phew! He saved the day by doing this because when she came home her friend was able to come over and play, so she was happy and occupied for most of the day.


This is a shot early in the day before the table got really messy. I love the various shots we take of the table because I always like looking back later and seeing what we were working on.


Michelle had scored some Cadbury Eggs on sale at Walgreens this week (I went and got some yesterday) so all was right in our Creative Friday world.


No matter how much I prepare I always seem to forget something, and this time it was little cards to enclose in my good mail giveaway prizes and ribbon to wrap the stationery sets I was sending. Fortunately Michelle has oodles of supplies and a generous nature, so she hooked me up with all of these options.

I used the apples as stationery dividers this week.

I had done a substantial amount of prep work at home (i.e., printing cards and good mail labels) but it still took a long time to get everything together and ready to send. It felt so good to take care of all of this and to get caught up on all my good mail giveaway prizes and all the November birthdays! Plus, this picture makes me happy because I don't have 2.5 inches of icky roots!


This is what the table looked like later in the day as I brought out some fabulous caramel popcorn from my mom and Michelle brought out some tasty rolls...we had to keep our strength up!


At 4:30 we dashed over to Harmon's so we could catch their mail pick-up for the day. This is the very pleasing stack of goodness I had ready to mail! We continued to work on things after mailing these items and I felt a little bit "high" from the satisfaction of finally getting all of that done.


I often use my empty ice cup for a trash can at the end of the day, but I think this is the first time Michelle's drink was totally empty and she used her cup as a trash can too. You can also see that our Cadbury Egg stash was very low at that point.


Eva was a little confused and unhappy that it was dark outside and I was still there. She is used to me leaving around 4:00, so me staying until 6:30 threw her for a loop.

Michelle comforted her and let her "help" write a few things.

It was a great day and so productive. It was so nice to be able to regroup and talk and listen to music and work together like this again, it's just good for the soul.

**What do you do that's good for your soul?
Do you have any good mail to-do's weighing on you?
Thoughts??**

Comment Window Tidbit: After 5 glorious days of being off work I'm having a hard time feeling motivated to go back. I'm always experiencing a little PreAlgebra anxiety.

Sunday Thoughts

We had tithing settlement this morning at 9:20 (which I had grumbled about because we don't have church until 2:00 and I wasn't keen on getting up and ready so early) and ended up having a very spiritual experience.

Our Bishop is a great man and one who has always seemed to me to be the kind of man who was born to be a Bishop. He loves everyone and desires all to come unto Christ and feel the happiness the gospel brings. But he is a talker, which means the 10 minute appointments set for tithing settlement are really more like 20, so he is always running way behind (we were originally scheduled for noon last Sunday but he was too far behind, so we rescheduled for early this week).

Anyway, he brought us into his office and was talking to us and asking us how our year has been. He asked both kids about any big events that happened this year, and Whitney said "We put our Christmas tree up really early this year!" Which was funny but not what he had in mind. Then Landon said, "We've done better about reading the scriptures every day as a family." This was good, but also not what the Bishop had in mind. So I said, "I assume you're talking about Landon receiving the Priesthood and becoming a Deacon."

This is what he meant, so he started saying what a privilege it has been to get to know Landon and to feel of his spirit. Earlier this summer, about a month before Landon turned 12 we had a Stake Lagoon Day and Landon went with a friend from the ward. At one point he ended up standing in a long line for a ride with his friend and with the Bishop and his son, so the Bishop ended up quizzing him on all the Articles of Faith and their meanings. He said it was at that point that he knew Landon was really someone special, and that he has felt that over and over these past months since Landon has joined the Deacon's Quorum.

I think Randy and I were already feeling rather tender at this point, but then the Bishop went on to talk about paying a full tithe and the blessings that come from paying a generous fast offering. He talked about the story of Cornelius found in Acts 10 and got very emotional as he talked to the kids about their parents (us, what the?!) paying a generous fast offering. We were all in tears! We felt the spirit so strongly and were so moved by his words that Landon, Randy, the Bishop and I all had tears rolling down our cheeks. I think this was a new sensation for Whitney, she later said she felt the Spirit but didn't cry.

I am so grateful for this experience and for the blessing of having such a good Bishop. I'm thankful that Randy is so good about paying our tithing and that he is a righteous example for our kids. I have been feeling more and more blessed lately as I see so many people around us struggling. We certainly have our issues, but I am very thankful that standing firm in the gospel isn't one of them. We have the really important things in place and this becomes increasingly valuable as time goes on and as the kids get older. I love my broadened perspective at this stage of my life and am relieved and grateful that I have come through my earlier years full of faith and with a strong testimony. It would have been very easy not to come through some of our trials on the Lord's side.

Comment Window Tidbit: We woke up to about 6 inches of snow this morning and it hasn't stopped. I' so glad we put our Christmas stuff up last week. I am fully immersed in my Christmas state of mind.

Thanksgiving in Review

On our way to my aunt's house for dinner we had Lori take a few pictures of us in an attempt to get a Christmas card photo and updated family photo for the house (we still have the one from Whitney's baptism 2 years ago on our wall). She took about 6 pictures and then we hustled back in the car and hit the road. The irony our haphazard family photos is not lost on me, but it is what it is and I always feel lucky to have a usable family photo at all; last year's Christmas card was a self-portrait for Pete's Sake! (We didn't coordinate clothing or anything, sheesh!)


It's become tradition for Lori to sandwich herself between the kids to ride with us on Thanksgiving. I'm glad she does this because it's always more fun when she's with us.


I should have weighed my pie, I swear it was 7 pounds or more (the pie plate alone is heavy).


My mom's side of the family always gathers at my aunt and uncle's house, and whoever is available contributes to the meal.


This is Whitney's Thanksgiving feast! She had a roll and two tiny pieces of ham...what the?!

Landon chose more wisely.


This was my plate of goodness.

Lori looked just plain cute eating her meal.

This year my aunt had Lori make cupcakes for the kids, so we ended up with a serious surplus of pie (they could have had pie, but they chose cupcakes instead) which meant my chocolate pie (i.e., slop) didn't really get eaten.

Seriously?! All I could think was "I've done Michelle wrong."

My uncle passed out questionnaires for us to fill out, then later he read the answers and we guessed who said it.

The questions were...
1. What was your biggest event in 2010.
2. What do you have planned for 2011.
3. What is something most people don't know about you.
4. Name something you're thankful for.


This picture is blurry, but I like how it captures everyone laughing at one of the questionnaires. One of my cousins felt uninteresting and hard pressed to come up with something, so she made something up!


Landon M.C.'d the annual Thanksgiving Talent Show. Whitney told jokes, a couple of the girls sang, Robyn's kids read poems, and the tiniest ones danced around.


One of my cousins gathered the kids and gave them puppets to perform a last-minute show of "Old MacDonald Had a Farm".

Landon played a song on the trumpet.

This is the Thanksgiving Bingo Sheet Whitney drew, the 2nd picture over on the top is a picture of my aunt--I think it's hilarious.


After hanging out and getting everything cleaned up we headed out to freakin Eagle Mountain to hang out at my parents' house. Eventually we were ready to eat again and had very tasty paninis.


My mom taught us a new game called Quirkle, which ended up being pretty fun, particularly because Lori, Randy, Landon and I kept using the word Quirkle as a verb. We cracked ourselves up all night long and laughed until we Quirkled.

**How was your Thanksgiving?
How would you answer the questionnaire?
Have you ever Quirkled?
What's your favorite Thanksgiving food?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I went to Michelle's house for Creative Friday today and was super productive. Landon and I were there from 11:30-6:30, woohoo!

Gratitude, Thanksgiving & the Smoke Alarm

As I was commenting on Jane's wonderful Thanksgiving post this morning, I realized that my comment had the makings of a blog post in it. This is what I said...

"I am a big believer in being thankful and expressing that thanks. My prayers are often filled only with thanks, and I'm grateful we have the habit of having family prayer morning and night because that means we're taking the time to express our thanks to the Lord as a family twice a day. We see the direct results of asking for safety and then thanking Him for it every day." (This is true for good health, help through the day, and so on.)

I am in the habit of mentally listing things I'm thankful for regularly, but as I was listening to the The Power (for the 3rd time) the other day, I heard the author again suggest that I make physical list once a month of all the things I'm thankful for. She suggests being incredibly thorough with this list and including places, smells, people, events, and on and on.

I will be finding some time today to make my list, but until then I give you my Thanksgiving debacle.

Because I was loudly doing this.

I did not hear the timer ring for this.

So I was harassed by this.

Thank heaven I have more of these!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Comment Window Tidbit: It is currently 14 degrees outside (and my window is open because of the burned pie crust!) and the high today is only 18 degrees! Aye Carumba!

Just Busy

Whenever I miss a day of posting on my blog, Michelle sends me an email asking if I'm okay. I think it's funny that it's so unusual for me to miss a day of blogging that she immediately thinks something is wrong (i.e., illness or an extreme funk), but since starting work it appears that it means I'm just busy.



Yesterday I actually got out of work at 1:00 (woohoo) and treated myself to a Pork Tostada from Cafe Rio and a movie on the computer (When in Rome) while I watched it. It felt like such a rare treat to get to sit back and do that, so I was downright giddy about it and didn't use the time to multi-task the way I normally do. I just sat back and thoroughly enjoyed the movie and the tostada (and my clean desk).

But as soon as Whitney came home from school we had to dash out for her 4:00 hair appointment and some errands. The weather forecast was calling for "The Blizzard of 2010" so I made sure to stop at the grocery store (along with everyone else) for some groceries and filled up my car with gas. When I asked Landon what food he'd want us to have if we were snowed-in he said, "Cheez Its"; that was unexpected, but an easy request to fill.


Later Randy brought pizza home and we had a family pizza picnic while watching "HeavyWeights". After that Randy and I hung out and finished disc 6 of Season 1 of "The Good Wife" then I went to bed (I'm on a schedule now).

Because of my sensible bedtime (10:45), I woke up at 6:15. I got up to look out the window to assess the damage of "The Blizzard of 2010" and found only a skiff of snow! (Which was disappointing really.) I got back in bed and thought I'd fall back asleep but I ended up reading for 2 hours instead. Delicious! I have always wanted to be a naturally, early riser but haven't ever been able to make that happen. Hopefully that's something I'm cultivating now or at least for today.

Because of my early rising and bonus reading time in the cozy, I've been able to clean the bathrooms, take a shower, do some laundry and hang out with the kids all before lunch. I need to make the custard for two Thanksgiving pies, then hopefully I'll be able to work on some good mail. I have totally dropped the ball on all the November birthdays and I feel quite sick about it. I must remedy this before I'm too steeped in guilt.

**How often do you blog?
What would you want to make sure you had
on hand if you were going to be snowed in?
Are you a naturally, early riser?
What do you have to make for Thanksgiving?**

Comment Window Tidbit: Michelle and I get to have Creative Friday this week (woohoo!!!!) and I'm really looking forward to it, but also don't want the time to go quickly because I really want to savor these precious days of not having to go to work!

My Kind of Learning

Michelle and I were recently talking about the time she came to my house for Creative Friday and taught me how to make her grandmother's wonderful cream pies. I came across the photos recently and told her it was a long time ago because Eva was so little then, but both of us were shocked when I investigated further and found out that that lesson took place in November 2007!


I guess if I had really thought about it I would have realized that it had to have been several years ago because I've made those cream pies for the past three Thanksgivings (and will be doing so again this year).


The pies are now part of my repertoire and I'm very grateful I know how to make them. Of course it makes it just that much more special that Michelle taught me how and that she passed on some of her family's legacy of baking, which I can now pass onto mine (cue tears).

I love learning things from friends, and often think we all have such a wide variety of talents to share that we really should do something about that. Over these past few months Michelle has taught Amie, Crystal and I how to make her fabulous Artisan Bread, and then Amie taught us how to coupon (though I'm still such a beginner). But there are all kinds of things I'd like to learn how to do or to get better at doing (i.e., cooking, algebra, taxes, hair styling, fashion, exercise, speed reading and retention, photography, scripture study, life planning, etc.).

**What skills have you learned from friends?
Have you taught any of your skills?
What would you like to learn?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I'm feeling torn between the things I want to do, need to do, should do and so on. I hate feeling like my hours at home are limited by work and sleep. Aargh!

Sunday Thoughts

Last Wednesday at school the 9th graders got to participate in an activity called "Reality Town". They were each given a paper that told them what their career was, how much money they made per month (before and after taxes) and what their personal life was like (i.e., single, divorced, married, with or without kids). They were all given a checkbook with the starting balance of their monthly salary after taxes, then set loose in the gym where there were many booths set up representing the bank, the grocery store, the car dealer, daycare, beauty salon, property taxes, entertainment, chance, insurance, and so on.


I was assigned to work the donations booth with a girl who works for United Way. Together we told all the kids that visited our booth (which was supposed to be everyone) that they did not have to make a donation, but that if they would like to they could decide what amount they'd like to donate and where they'd like the money to go (Cancer Research, Church, Homeless Shelter, Humane Society, Education, etc.).

It was a fun way to spend my day (I had no idea that's what I'd be doing when I showed up at school that day) and was so interesting to watch the kids as they "spent" their pretend money.


I was particularly moved and impressed by the kids who came to our donation booth to pay their tithing. Even though the money was just pretend, it was still hard to write a check for $516 dollars or whatever amount was 10% of their earnings. For some kids there was no question at all that that's what they would do, but for many others there was a long pause and then a small donation of $10-20.

It was particularly interesting for me to see what the kids from my ward would do. A couple of the boys came to the donation booth after they'd been to many other booths and didn't have very much money left, so they wrote their small checks with red-faces and nervous laughter. One girl from our ward completely shocked me when she came and made a small donation instead of paying her tithing. Based on what I know of her and her family I was floored by her choice not to pay it first. Interestingly, she came back like an hour later and wrote another check, this time for $491 to cover tithing. I don't know if the guilt got to her or if she was waiting to see how much money she'd have left, but I was impressed that she came back.

It made me wonder what I would have done as a 9th grader with a pretend bank balance of $3, 150. In my youth, I always struggled with paying my tithing because it felt like so much money to me when I was already making so little (all those hours working at TCBY!). I didn't understand the true spirit of tithing or the concept of true obedience. My immature view was based solely around the money I was giving up, and totally disregarded the fact that everything I had came from the Lord.


This morning as we were getting ready to go to Tithing Settlement, we were explaining this concept (again) to a teary-eyed Whitney. She was gathering $1.70 to pay from the $17 of birthday cash she'd recently been blessed with. That $1.70 felt like a tremendous amount to pay, especially because she had already spent most of her money (we should have had her set it aside first) and would only have .50 cents left! It was no comfort to her to think of the big tithing check Randy had written today, because 10% of a person's increase is exactly that and feels just a easy or painful (depending on how you look at it) to the poor man as to the rich man. (Though I'd really like to give the rich man tithing a try some time!)

I have a strong testimony of tithing and know that we have been blessed because our obedience in paying a full tithe. Our blessings haven't usually been financial, but we are convinced that we have been blessed with good health and safety many times as a result of paying our tithing. We have been without insurance for a lot of years off and on and at one point for 2 years while the kids were very small, but we never had so much as an ear infection during that time!

**Thoughts??**

From Mormon.org--The principle of tithing, or voluntarily giving one tenth of one’s income to God’s work, has been known since Old Testament times. Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek (Genesis 14:17-20).

The law of tithing is how the Lord funds His Church. Today all faithful members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints contribute one tenth of their income as tithing. Tithing funds are used for:

• Constructing temples, chapels, and other buildings.
• Providing operating funds for the Church.
• Funding the missionary program (This does not include individual missionary expenses.)
• Preparing materials used in Church classes and organizations.
• Temple work, family history, and many other important Church functions.
• Education.

When the Lord reminded His people of this law through the prophet Malachi in the Old Testament, He promised to bless those who were willing to pay an honest tithe (Malachi 3:10)

Comment Window Tidbit: We put up our Christmas decorations this morning and are listening to Christmas music. This is the earliest we have ever done this, but for some reason my seasonal time clock feels right on schedule...weird.

3 Things

While cleaning the office desk this morning (which was a rather large job) I found these two notes I'd been saving from the kids. They wrote these awhile ago, apparently after some form of work.

I think it's hysterical that Whitney called me a PYT.

**Have you ever been called a PYT?
Have you written any notes this week?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I got my hair done today for the first time since early summer! My roots were so dark and so gray that I looked downright skunkish.

A Flashback--High School Style

Surprisingly I don't have any minutiae from this week to put into a Five for Friday post (what the?!) so I'm posting a random flashback instead.


Betsy and I washed our hair in the rain (the shampoo bottles can be seen at the end of the driveway) before our high school graduation (my hair did NOT end up looking very good that night).

I love this picture because...

• It shows the joie de vivre we had at that time in our lives.
• Betsy is wearing a BYU t-shirt (that she still has) which she bought at BYU's Education Week the previous summer.
• I'm wearing the only Polo shirt I owned (they were very popular at the time).
• You can see the back of my beloved, gold Subaru, Betsy's Valare and her mom's brown Cutlass Sierra on the street. (All 3 of these cars were a big part of my time in high school.)
• I was thin, somewhat tan and had lots of muscles (I was sure I'd look like that forever).
  
• This is one of the few pictures I have from high school (why weren't we taking more photos?).

**Did you do a Five for Friday post?
Have you ever washed your hair in the rain?
What kind of car did you drive in high school?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I think we may decorate for Christmas this weekend (which is a week or more sooner than we usually do) because I'm sick of seeing the Halloween stuff (which is still up) and because December always flies by.

Rather Inappropriate

Apparently I'm getting rather comfortable with my new job because today I had my first (hopefully not soon to be repeated) fit of the giggles in the middle of a math class. I laughed so hard that I cried and then could not stop laughing.

What triggered it was this: a Muppet-sized 7th grader came to the front of the classroom to tell the teacher that his pen had exploded, then he turned his head so the teacher (and the rest of us) could see the egg-sized blob of pen on his forehead. (This has me doubled over with laughter now as I try to write this.)


So the teacher (who is super dry and unphased by anything) sent him to the bathroom; meanwhile the bunch of kids I was sitting near were all laughing. They all stopped laughing until they saw me bent over hiding my face and shaking with laughter. The tears were pouring out and I couldn't stop giggling. Eventually the room quieted down as the kids went back to work and as I tried to calm myself by thinking serious thoughts. But instead the image of the huge ink stain on his forehead popped back into my brain and a guffaw escaped my lips! The teacher immediately looked at me and I signaled "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" but I just couldn't pull myself together.


The kids around me thought this was so funny. They seriously looked at me like I was a fascinating exhibit at the zoo. I suppose part of their fascination came from knowing that had one of them been acting this way the teacher would have sent them to the classroom across the hall to stand with their nose against the dry erase board (this is a common occurrence and is also funny), so they must have wondered if the teacher would assign me a similar fate.

Fortunately he did not. I was finally able to pull myself together with thoughts of termination. I kept picturing the principal walking into the room to scold me. This method was helpful and I was able to get back to helping the kids around me, except I swear they were trying to get me started again by saying things like, "Where is he? He's been in the bathroom a LONG time?" and "What a dufus, he had pen all over his forehead." As the kids were speculating as to where he could have gone, I had a vision of him in the front office having the secretary use Windex on his head. Just thinking about it got me laughing again, but I was able to stifle it so it didn't escalate again. I couldn't tell if the teacher thought it was funny too (he's very hard to read), but he didn't say anything about it.

Eventually (seriously like 20 minutes later) the boy came back to class with a faded ink stain on his head! It almost started me up again except that this time he would know about me laughing and would be embarrassed, so I was able to keep things under control.

I think it was a bonding moment for me and the surrounding students, and it was definitely the best laugh I've had in awhile. Good times.

**Have you gotten the giggle in an inappropriate setting?
Have you ever had a huge ink stain on your forehead?
How would you have stifled your laughter?**

Comment Window Tidbit: Apparently Whitney got sick at school today, so Randy picked her up and brought her home. I didn't know anything about it until I got home and found her in her pajamas. What the?!

Wordless Wednesday

Comment Window Tidbit: I need a Creative Friday! I am falling behind with my good mail and it is wearing on me.

Just Plain Nice

Sometimes I have so many things to blog about that I'm not sure how I'll be able to fit them all in (I still haven't posted about Halloween), and then other times I am at a loss for a topic and wonder how I've been able to post daily for almost 5 years! Now that I'm working, that means I'm not filling up my days with potential blog fodder (unless of course I decide to make my blog junior high all the time), so it's a challenge to have something to say every day.


Fortunately Michelle and Eva brought Cafe Rio for lunch today, so I got to have a fun lunch in Michelle's van instead of in the teacher's lounge (where I am a passive listener and noncontributor at this point...apparently it's too early for me to have any credibility or personality).


Eva suggested that we sing songs and tell jokes and riddles, but Michelle and I opted to talk instead. The time went far too quickly (if only class time flew by that fast), but lunch visitors are good for my soul.



Also, check out Miranda's blog today where I am a guest blogger for her Handmade Holiday series.

**Do you have any blog topic suggestions for me?
Have you ever tried to eat Cafe Rio in the car?
When was the last time you told a riddle?
Are you making gifts for Christmas this year?**

Comment Window Tidbit: I work one-on-one with a muppet sized student and I'm quite smitten with him. His innocence and sincerity are so endearing that I just want to put him in my pocket and bring him home with me.