What's keeping you awake nights?

I am the Ward Activities Committee Chairwoman/person/man whatever. I am in limbo (which my Catholic friends will recognize as being just this side of Hell).

Last Saturday, the LDS Church had an international organizational meeting. Among other things, Activities Committees were declared a thing of the past. So I have had this calling for about 3 months, just long enough to still be in charge of the Ward Christmas party.

We are doing Mele Kalikimaka. I wanted it to be more than just Hawaiian Haystacks.
(Side note: In case you don't know what those are, and I didn't, it's white rice with a "gravy" made from cream of chicken soup, topped according to wishes with chow mein noodles, grated cheese, green onions, tomato, pineapple, and. . .something else I am forgetting. They taste better than they sound, but I can say that because I leave off the tomatoes and pineapple). So I called for Kalua Pork.

Have you ever tried to figure out how much Kalua Pork you should make for 250 people, plus other food supplies and decorations on $450? No? First time for me, too. As a consequence, the last two nights my sleep has officially ended at 4:30 am, which my eyes suddenly snap open, and my helpful brain fires questions at me such as: "Do you know how long it is until the party? Have you figured out how much meat you need yet? How about how much it's going to cost? Do you have your entertainment in place? How can you be out of school, unemployed, and this unprepared?"

Ah, the imponderables my mind presents me with at such an inconventient hour.

So, suddenly, I'm not so sorry that this calling ends as of 10 pm on Dec 4. I'm kind of smiley about it, now!

What wakes you up at nights?

As promised: the work of an artist

I love to knit. It keeps me busy, it gives me something to do when I am trapped in line (or in class), and it's a relatively quick payoff when I need to produce something quickly that I know will fit.

Here is my personal hand-knit sock collection. Understand, these are not all of the socks I have knit. I have knit and given away at least 5 more pairs. These are the ones that I have kept.


I call these my "lucky socks." I never took a test without wearing a pair. See that pair on the far right? The lovely jagged orange ones?

They are my Disneyland socks. I first knit them in 2006 while on a trip to (you guessed it) Disneyland with my family. Anytime we had to spend time in line -if you can imagine- out came the socks. It attracted a fair amount of attention from fellow line hostages; they are lovely. They are almost my favorite pair. They fit beautifully, the color goes with nothing I own, but they are an exciting fire color.

They are also on sock hospice. See this?

They have a hole in the heel. Normally, as soon as a hole shows up in a pair of socks (or even when the heel threads thin noticably, indicating that a hole is imminent), the sock will wing its way to the trash.

Not this pair. These are my Disneyland socks. They have an emotional connection. They are my only pair of fire-colored socks. They fit as no other pair does. I will keep (and wear) these socks until my foot can pass through that hole. Then the sock with no hole will be preserved in its single state, a sweet momento of a family vacation.

I really can wear these socks. Here are two other pairs.

This is the Mermaid sock pattern (later, I'll edit this post to include publication information. Stay tuned!) These socks show the most common problem with varigated sock yarn: the regular production of socks that are fraternal twins, instead of identicle. It further assures that there is no other pair of socks in the world like these.

I don't remember what pattern this is (publication information forth coming), but I love the very subtle striping of this sock.

Tomorrow: sweaters! My battle with actual versus produced body proportions!

No technology today, either

I didn't have time or motivation to fight computer and camera today, so instead you get a look at a different part of my mind.

I am fascinated with what people read. I think it says a lot about their personalities and interests. I could be completely wrong, of course, but it's a theory I'm going with for the time being. Thus, with no further ado, here is a list of of books on my mind right now:

Books I have checked out from the library:

• The Last Lecture (for the Milne book club - haven't started it yet)
• The History of Japan (because I'm out of school and it feels weird not to be reading something educational, and Lizzy suggested October be "Japan Month."
• The Writer's Path (because I have a fantasy about writing a novel, but figured it might be like working out; start in small increments before heading off for the marathon)

Books I have on hold at the library:

• 10 Books Every Conservative Must Read: Plus Four Not to Miss and One Imposter (does it count if I just read about them?)
• Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow (variation on East of the Sun, West of the Moon)
• The Black Pearl
• Princess of Glass (variation on Cinderella)
• Princess of the Midnight Ball (variation on 12 dancing princesses)
• Troubled Waters
• (and 4 different books on meditation - because I am an American to my core, and I want to be able to achieve a deep meditative state, but I want to do it quickly, and I don't want it to be hard)

Books I've told goodreads I'm "currently reading:"

• The 10 Big Lies about America: Combating Destructive Distortions about our Nation's Past and Present (started it four years ago, still on page 67)
• Life of Pi (page 18)
• Silas Marner
• To Have and To Hold: A Personal Handbook for Building a Strong Marriage and Preventing Affairs (should I be worried that this was a gift from my father-in-law?)

Books I am actually reading:

• Silas Marner (slowly but surely)
• Lust and other things to do with your spare hormones. (Comic strip collection; no need to call my bishop)

So, there you have it. I'll let you decide what it actually says about me.

On a completely different front:

Today I saw my cousin Nathan get married. We (Nathan and I) aren't particularly close, but I love his sisters and his mother like crazy, and seeing them was awesome. I wish we'd had more time.

I checked my kids out of school for the family wedding luncheon. This was a mixed success.

Win: They weren't expecting it, so getting out early was a major treat.

Loss: The food was definitely for grownups (including grownups more adult than I), so they didn't eat much.

Win: My kids love my cousins as much as I do, and were excited to see them.

Loss: My cousins were (imagine) drafted for luncheon duty by their mother and were hardly to be seen.

Loss: My kids didn't eat much and ran around to drive off the boredom.

Win: They did it outside the church, so I wasn't embarrassed by a 15, 11 and 10 year old running around like mad people.

Still, I'd do it again, given the chance, and pick up Wendy's for them either on the way out or on the way back.

Better luck next time

Today was going to be a beautiful blog; I was going to show you some beautiful hand knit socks, including a pair that is now in sock hospice. I was going to show you a Work in Progress (WIP), and a project to come. It would have been lovely. You'd have been impressed and inspired, I'm sure.



But the technology stars just weren't in alignment for me today.



First: I took pictures of a lot of things, including kids, and then realized that I'd left the SD card in the computer. So I'd taken the pics, put everything away, and then realized that I didn't have a convenient way to put them onto the computer.



Second: I decided that taking the pictures with the SD card in the camera would be easier than figuring out how to transfer them from the camera to the computer without the SD card. So I pulled the card from the computer, put it in the camera, set the props up again, snapped photos, and sat down to transfer the pictures from SD to computer.



Third: The computer won't recognize my SD card. Don't know why (it did yesterday), it just won't. There's a little yellow slidey thing on the side. Remember how you could protect a floppy disc from being overwritten by sliding the thing? I think it's the same concept. I have no idea which way is protected. I tried it both ways (which way is up? which way is down?) and my computer still won't even recognize that there is anything in the drive.



Fourth: I took the path I'd been trying to avoid all the way along: transferring the photos directly from camera to computer. Spent a few minutes looking for any cord before realizing that the cord port in my camera is unusually small and requires its own cord (naturally). Then I focused my search on the cord, foolishly searching in the places that I had already looked before finding the camera box under a stack of rubbish on the desk. Lo, there was box, there was cord. Brought camera, cord, and computer all together, plugged it in, and waited for it to happen: the magical transfer of images of loveliness from camera to computer.



Fifth: The computer still doesn't recognize the camera. If I were the yarn harlot, I'd say it was obviously beer o'clock and time to move on to something else. Sadly, as much as I love the Harlot's writing, I'm not going to start drinking beer just because I can't beat some technology demons.



So, instead of a lovely column with pictures of knit elegance, you have my mild whining about how technology has it in for me today.

I am an artist

Some people draw. Some paint. Some sculpt. Others sing or dance. I don't do these things. My pictures are flat and uninspiring; I can only paint smiley faces. I've never tried sculpting. I like to sing, but don't do it well, and I'm much too large and awkward to dance.

I work with fiber.

Here are some of the tools of my trade:

I have two spinning wheels, my Ashford Joy and my Schacht upright. (There is blue cotton being spun on the joy)

Left is my ball winder, and right is the swift, which holds skeins so that I can make my balls. These two wonderful inventions eliminate the need for hijacking family members to hold skeins.

These are my double point knitting needles. They are great for knitting tubes, as when doing hats or socks. I have them in plastic (which frankly is just wrong on so many levels, but a friend found them at a second hand store in bulk, gave them to me, and you can never tell when I'll finally be organized enough to carry yarn and needles to convert an unsuspecting populace), metal (which I like best), and wood, which are best in group situations in which the slight click would be irritating (if you can imagine such a thing. I can't, but I can respect that others aren't as infatuated with knitting as I am).

This is the most important part of my art: yarn. Yarn that I have spun myself (which often ends up staying as skeins), yarn that I have bought for myself because I haven't had time to spin, yarn to have solely to have.

These skeins are all handspun. The top skein is a blend of cashmere and silk; the second skein is silk only; the bottom two are wool. I dyed the yellow yarn and bought fiber to spin the dark green wool.

These are all purchased. The cotton candy yarn on the left turned out to be a disappointment (if I can find the socks, I'll explain why), and other yarns will be featured in future articles (I know, you just can't wait).

Another time (tomorrow probably) I'll show what I can do with the tools of my art.

I'm baack!

Some important updates. Since I have last written:

I have graduated from the University of Utah College of Nursing with a Bachelor's of Science in Nursing, Cum Laude.

I have passed my licensing exam, making me officially a Registered Nurse.

The nursing job market has tightened up considerably. I went into nursing (in part) because it was supposed to be a "guaranteed job," and the darn recession has hit nursing as well. I've applied to 15 jobs, and have received 3 "No, thank you"s and several applications appear to have been reviewed and not deemed even worthy of official notice of rejection. (Not that I am bitter, no; I don't do bitter. Just don't ask me about discouraged.)

During school, my husband informed me that we no longer share religious beliefs, and he wasn't going to church with his family any more. (I've revisited that sentence several times, and that is about the best way that I can write it.)

After school, my sweet mother-in-law, who's husband did the same to her, passed away. I wish I'd had a chance to talk to her about how she survived it for so many years.

I am more grateful than I can say for my own testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The last 7 months have been a time of spiritual reinforcement unprecidented for me. I feel the love and goodness of God as I never have before.

The Spirit of Elijah

Today I went to the temple with Honey to do some temple work. One of the workers had the surname "Stromberg." Stromberg is my maternal grandmother's maiden name.

I asked the woman if she knew the first Stromberg in her husband's line to enter the country; she replied "Karl Johan." So, small world of small worlds: her husband's grandfather (Golden Alvin) is my grandmother's father. (As I look in my family history, it occurs to me that it wasn't likely to be her husband's grandfather; I wonder if she is a closer relation than I thought?!)

I was just struck by the coincidence. There are abundant descendants, scattered hither and yon, and two meet at 9:30 in the Oquirrh Mountain temple on a Thursday morning.

The spirit of Elijah made this possible. If it weren't for it, I wouldn't have known/cared about my grandmother's maiden name, and those who came before them. I wonder how many other family members I pass, all unknowing?

Happy New Year

It is always so reassuring that the New Year comes without me staying up to watch it happen. Being a morning person, I don't often get to/want to watch the old night tick over to the new day, and I don't really change that policy just because there is a giant party going on.

Some goals and hopes for the New Year:

1) To better represent my faith in the world
2) To better live my faith at home in and in private
3) To pass the NCLEX the first time I take it
4) To find gainful employment as an RN
5) To lose 25 pounds (is any list complete without a weight goal?)
6) To take my kids on more adventures that don't come with joy stick
7) To remember and acknowledge family birthdays

Hopes:
1) That my country will survive the current attempts to save it
2) That I will be courteous, no matter the conduct of others
3) That more people will desire self-reliance and liberty than assistance and bondage
4) That I will be able to help someone else in a meaningful way, and not do it for praise of the world - or even that person
5) That all will be well for the people I love, and that that list might get longer.

Happy New Year to you all!

Two Things

Why do kids always think that you have never been a kid? Why do they imagine that I can't figure out what they are thinking? (Okay, sometimes I really can't; but still!).

All of my kids play musical instruments. Addie plays the violin, Jake plays the trumpet, and Tom and Lizzie play the piano. The older two labor under unfair history. Let me back up.

Back in the days that we did home school, Addie and Jake took piano lessons. They were 7 and 6. Oops, I need to back up more.

Both Honey and I have musical backgrounds. My parents required their kids to learn a muscial instrument (two, actually; three all told). They had played, and they felt that we would benefit if we learned. We started with piano and something else, gradually dropped the piano and took the something else and, in junior high, changed it to still another instrument. We took lessons, we had to practice, we played in bands, we had family concerts.

Honey's family isn't musical at all. The only thing they play is the stereo. When Honey was in middle school, he started playing the sax. He'd practice in the afternoon and his older brother would complain that it was too loud while he was napping. Honey was told to be considerate and knock it off (that would never have flown in my house growing up. The whiner would have been told to suck it up. Actual practice happened so rarely that my parents would never have banned it). In defense, he changed to the electric guitar. If there is no amp, there is no volume.

Fast forward a bunch of years: I remember my instrument days with fondness. When I hear songs we played, I am magically transported to those years; I remember those friends, I remember those crushes, I remember weighing significantly less than I do now. It's magical. And. I never play. I have an oboe that is collecting dust, and a piano that I use to torture Tom and Liz. Honey plays almost daily. It is his default setting. When he isn't required to do something else, he is playing. He has a musical harem: guitars (electric and acoustic), bass, banjos, mandolin, and dobro. His heritage is playing for fun, mine is playing with discipline.

Now, back to younger Addie and Jake. They are doing piano. They hate it because I make them practice and take lessons and repeat bits that they don't play correctly. Every day is a trial, for them and for me, as we stride onto the battle field and choose our weapons. Everyday is a trial for Honey, as he has to listen to the battle. When it finally became clear that I was the only one who cared, we dropped it. Well, the music. I kept hold of a pretty good bundle of righteous resentment.

Forward some more: homeschool is over and Addie is in 5th Grade. She comes home and begs to be able to play the violin. Honey is all for it, and the seething pools of resentment that have been silent erupt in me. If there is going to be music, then there will be no whining about: practicing, lessons, band participation, etc etc. Terms accepted and agreed. Ditto when Jake entered fifth grade the next year and begged to play the trumpet.

At last, we arrive to now. Addie still loves her violin. She plays with joy and diligence, all is well.

Jake, on the other hand. He knows an easy A when he sees one (he thinks). So even though he doesn't want to practice, even though he doesn't want to listen to his teacher (who is teaching him so much more than just the trumpet, if Jake only had ears to hear), he refuses to quit because he doesn't want to yield that easy A.

I'm not dumb. I've been in band. I've been resentful about it. I'm not my parents. I won't compel it if it isn't wanted. But he has to tell me. I've asked: "aren't you tired? do you want to continue?" and his lips speak "yes" and then play "not so much."

And it all came to a head tonight. I got home from choir practice, and he should have practiced his trumpet, and hadn't. When I called him on it, I snapped.

"Jake, it's time to tell the truth. Tell me, to my face, that you want to stay in band because it's an easy A."

(Eyes shifting side to side) "Kind of."

"See? I've been thirteen! So: two choices: tell me, to my face, and I'll call the school and get your schedule changed. Or, suck it up one more year, follow my rules, and quit at the end of the school year. Cuz, son, I gotta tell ya, my job is to make sure that 'easy A' isn't worth the work!"

As of this moment (until the next time) we have come to an agreement that includes continuing until the end of the school year. I think I'd better get it in writing, though, with consequences for contract violation included.


Second thing: Tuesday September 8 is National Obama Day in the elementary schools. There will be a broadcast to the elementary schools from the white house; teachers have a packet prepared for them from the NEA, all about what teachers can do before and after the speech. These things include asking the kids what they can do to fulfill what Obama has asked of them. (Pretty vague language, addmittedly). Check it out: top of the page at www.ed.gov.

I'm keeping my kids home from school. It isn't anti-liberal (or not solely so); I'd have done the same if President Bush or President McCain had tried such a stunt. Thought you should know; the school claims that they are sending home a note about it, but that's all they are saying, and I haven't seen it yet.

Jake's New Thing

I was raised in a football family. My dad watched the Dallas Cowboys. I remember him and my brothers watching, hooting, and cheering. The thrill, I must say, passed me by. When I was a rebellious teenager, my most defiant act was to root for the Pittsburg Steelers, avowed enemy of the Cowboys.

Honey was raised in a sports home. Not as passionate, perhaps, but still, sports were followed. But Honey never really got into it. He's a musician. (We like to say that we really lucked out: I found the one man on the planet who didn't care about sports, and he found the one woman who wasn't into shopping.)

The Soccer Mom phenomena passed right by this family. Jake did a short season of T-Ball, once. Addie and Tom each did one season of soccer. Each of these things was community: you pay $40 to the city Rec center, and your kid gets a t shirt with a business logo, a participation "trophy," and a brief concept that this game usually has some rules, but we aren't worried about those right now.

So imagine my surprise when Jake announces that his all-time favorite sports team is the Denver Broncos; that his favorite athlete is Champ Bailey; and that is fondest ambition is to be a wide receiver for the Broncos. He was watching a football game on television (probably the first one ever to be watched in this house), and he was telling me about plays, and downs, fumbles and other such things. I felt betrayed when Honey came in, watched for a moment, and said, "Watch, now they'll argle gargle google goo" and when the team did, Honey and Jake cheered and high-fived. (Apparently, it's an XY chromosomal link thing. Not caring isn't the same as not knowing. Who knew?)

Now Jake is signed up for football. It comes with pads, helmet, uniform, coaches, games, practices, rules, tackles and the whole sweaty nine yards. It cost $200 to sign him up, and that was just the beginning of the shake down. (Remind me to someday complain about the "touchdown bucket.") Jake's season started today, with an exhibition game against Bingham.

Jake is a second stringer. At Bingham, he'd probably be a first stringer, but our team is absolutely loaded with Polynesians, and Jake probably weighs less than the team's single girl athlete. Apparently, though, it's all paid off. He came home from his first game completely jazzed: the Kearns Bantams won 27-13, Jake had 6 plays, and his coach said that he's learned faster and better than any other first year they've seen (most of his team has been playing for 4 years).

I can't say I ever pictured myself as the mother of an athlete, but the smile on Jakes face makes the flies buzzing around the corpse of the family wallet all worth while!

Talking to myself: the new semester

I write so rarely, this is like talking to myself. I don't know if anyone looks anymore, which makes it hard to want to write, which means people don't look. . . it isn't a cycle as vicious as familial abuse, certainly, but it does cycle just as much.

A new semester has begun: new classes and new things to learn. This semester is adult care -commonly called medical-surgery or med-surg- and I'll be spending two days each week for the next 15 weeks at the hospital. I'll be on different surgical floors, and spend time in the ICU, the ER, and PCU (the step down between ICU and home) and even one day in surgery.

Did you know that while the majority of nurses go to work in the hospital, it's (only) just over 50%? There are so many choices available! I could be a certified nurse midwife and deliver babies (my original ambition); I could be a family practice nurse, and have a clinic with patients; I could be a prison nurse (although I likely won't); I could do research and have little to do with patients at all.

More than just a nurse, I feel like I want to make changes. There is a professional hostility between certified nurse midwives and direct entry midwives (who commonly attend home births). Part of it is a territorial dispute, part of it is an educational snobbery, and I think part of it is based on envy: CNMs have really high malpractice insurance (although I can't imagine that DEMs have it too much better). But it bugs me, because in school the big theme repeated endlessly is the role of the nurse: patient advocate.

Another place that fascinates me is community nursing. People go on medical missions to foreign countries and feel righteous and holy (and certainly they are doing good work). Why not a medical mission to urban areas in the US? "There are free clinics here already."

So if there is already some mechanism in place to provide medical care to people who live on the fringes of society, why is there this mad rush to socialize medicine? Where are the flaws and gaps? Why are the free clinics not doing the job? What obstacles do they have? What are the limitations?

I'm not poised to become a bleeding heart liberal; I am excited about the power of the individual to make a difference. I hope that I can make a difference for the better, where ever I finally land professionally.

I must be living right

Education does not come without sacrifice.

People at school will say to me "Don't your kids get underfoot? Don't they bug you when you try to study?"

And I can honestly say, No, they don't. Because Addie and Jake are glued to the computer (on line or video game hooked) and Tom is playing with the Wii. Liz goes to play with a friend, mostly. The hilarity begins when Liz comes home and wants a turn on the Wii.

"Moooo-oooom. I want a turn on the Wiiiiii." (I'm convinced it was a diabolical Japanese linguistic plot that made that word so easy to whine.)

"Did you tell Tom about it?" (and off Liz goes, giving me a 30 second respite).

"Moooo-ooom. He says he's in the middle of something and he can't quit."

(Sigh. Eye roll.) "Tell Tom I want to talk to him." I realize using a fellow child as a messenger is probably bad parenting, but it gives me about another 60 seconds of study time before Tom plods sullenly up the stairs to hear the same. stupid. lecture I gave him yesterday.

"Haven't you been doing this since you got home? Isn't it true that Liz hasn't done it at all today? Why should she wait while you finish this level/battle this bad guy/find this save station?"

The lecture and rebuttals go on, but it's depressing enough to have shared this much of it.

In the past, I have told my classmates that I am willing to let their little minds fry while I'm in school if it means I can study unmolested. It hasn't played that way, plus their little minds are frying.

So today I declared a freedom from electronics day. They've been bored, they've wished I could be swallowed by the earth, but 3 of them are at a park with friends, and the fourth is out front with a buddy. None of them are plugged into anything (and I'm spending valuable study time writing a blog).

Electronic freedom day is about to become a weekly event!

A Beautiful Mother Moment

See this? Notice that the picture corners are peeling up? Notice that there are things scratched off and misspelled on both posters? And yet, if you look at this picture on the left, a dark arrow is pointing to a faintly circled A+. Why does such arguably shoddy work merit such a high grade?

Because, unusually in elementary school, this project was done exclusively by the second grader to whom it was assigned. Liz came home and said "I have to do an Africa report." and I said "Okay."

Then I did nothing. It wasn't due for a while, I was sure (they always give parents generous deadlines). And then I never heard anything more about it.

The next opportunity I had to remember it was the day I went to her class to volunteer. There on the wall, for all to see, were these two posters. Liz had gone on line, printed pictures, and found information all on her own. She'd cut out pictures, glued them on the poster, and taken them to school, all without any kind of parental supervision.

I mentioned that to her teacher, and I think that was why she got the A+. Not because I told him, but because it was so obviously all her own work.

List 7: Things I will be giving up

School starts. . .well, today, actually, even though classes don't technically begin until next week. I had orientation today, and it was packed full of things I still have to do.

First, some relevant mathematics:

(32-38 hours of class/week) x (3 hours of prep/hour of class) = No. Life.

I may be able to shave a little off the recommended study time, but given the hours that I'll be in class and clinicals, even if I do only 2 hours per hour of lecture, that doesn't leave a lot of free time.

So I hereby offer my sacrifices to academic excellece (or at least adequacy):

1. Television. I don't watch that much, but I will have to shave it down to the absolute minimum. That may mean I tape my two favorite shows, and watch them obsessively during the semester breaks.

2. Choir. Okay, so it was only 1 hour per week, but the practice is at 8 pm. That is the last hour of daylight on many days, and it is an hour when most of my kids are outside, or electronically entertained. It may be my only quiet hour of home study during the week.

3. Snacks. I'll be spending a significant amount of time on campus, or in a hospital, away from my refrigerator and pantry. If I also fail to take cash, and given the brutal sprawl of the campus and minimal student parking, I might actually lose weight.

4. Snooze. When the alarm goes off, I'll just have to get up. Every 9 minutes I can study without kids talking to me is worth 20 minutes with kids talking to me.

5. Leisure reading. This is a killer. I love to read. I love to roll the words in my mind, to laugh when it is witty and cry when it is sad. I love to ponder when it is thought provoking and snort when it is contemptible. I'll miss it. But it's only for 16 months, minus semester breaks.

There may be other sacrifices waiting in the wings, but right now they have the sense to keep their heads down while I still imagine this might be doable. If they were to make demands now, I'd probably come unglued. And Honey doesn't know quite enough anatomy to put all of the pieces back together.

List #6: Covering all the Bases

When you go to the library, they will print out a list of everything that you have checked out for the day. This list is one belonging to someone else, left in a book that I later checked out. I am fascinated by the list's diversity!

Games to Play with Toddlers

Kid's Book to Welcome a new baby

Games to play with two year olds

Sing a song activity and idea book

Sunday fun activities and ideas

Little hands fingerplays and actions

CTR A gospel games

Family Home Evening games galore (3 separate volumes)

Family home evening favorites

Sacred Path of Reiki: healing as a spiritual discipline

Ronald Reagan: fate, freedom and the making of history

His Excellency: George Washington

Liberal Fascism: the secret history of the American left, from Moussolini to the politics of meaning

General George Washington: a military life

In the footsteps of Churchill

The Mormon way of doing buiness: leadership and success through faith and family

American Fascists: the Christian Right and the war on America

I wonder if this is person is a homeschooler?

Let the stress fest begin

I've ordered all of my textbooks for the first semester on-line. Seemed brilliant; I saved anywhere from $100 to $150 dollars over just buying used at the U bookstore. Today, the first 3 arrived. One of them weighs about 6 pounds, all by itself. So:

I've always mentally sneered at those people who dragged their air-line luggage style backpacks around campus in the past. I have 3 classes on campus, on Thursdays and Fridays. All three classes, both days. Of the other two, one is on line, and the other is clinicals. Those three that meet twice a week comprise 6 of the total 9 textbooks I've had to purchase. I may well become one of those I've sneered at.

Also, ordering on line is cool to save money. Not so cool is watching the time til class starts tick down, and still be waiting for confirmation that the order that you placed 2 weeks ago is being processed. (According to the relevant web site, my books are "on order.") Maybe there is a reason that the books were so cheap.

Next time, I'll spend a little more and go with one of the other sites that has gotten me my books already.

List #5, and an addition to List #4

PS to List #4: Things I have worked on to justify my Dr Who obsession:

Sarah's Easter Dress.

List #5: On Today's Agenda

1. Ironing at Mom's

2. Drop off Tom and Lizzie at the Tey's

3. U of U: text book, parking sticker, student id (I'd better take alot of quarters for the meter!)

4. (Wish I could attend the Tea Party taking place down town)

5. Visit with Grandma

6. PIck up Addie, Jake, and assorted musicians from school

7. drop Addie and assorted musicians off at Symphony practice.

8. Contemplate what it means to be described, in part, in the newest Homeland Security memo on "right wing extremists" and the danger they present to the country.

List #4: Things I have done to justify my Dr. Who obsession

1. Ben's Star Wars quilt (pictures to come later)

2. Sam's Denver Broncos quilt (pics later)

3. Sarah's Spring sweater, hand spun and hand knit (pics later)

4. tons and tons of family history research: record condensing and ordinance confirmation.

If I could find a way to watch Dr. Who and walk around, I might actually get some exercise!

List #3: Things We've Decided to Put in Our Garden

Pumpkins (what they charge for those at halloween is nearly criminal, when you have four kids who want to do jack o lanterns for the holidays).

Tomatoes

Peppers (green and chili)

Raspberries (we spend a fortune on these at the grocery store)

Leeks

Maybe some peas or beans on a trellis, depending on how much space there is left over.

List #2: Addie is amazing

Reasons I am amazed by my teenager:

1. She practices her violin for at least 1 hour per day, and also paid her own money to rent a cello and expand her repertoire.

2. She is getting straight A's at school. I didn't do that from 6th grade until my second time at college!

3. She's decided she wants to graduate a year early, and is checking out summer classes.

4. In addition to summer classes, she wants to do Granite Junior Youth Symphony; that will be two hours a day, M-Th, starting at 7 am.

5. She's just decided she wants to run for student body officer: Lieutenant Governor (which is her school's version of Vice President)

6. Like me, she wants to be an author. Unlike me, she actually writes. Copiously.

7. She's diligent in her Young Women Personal Progress goals. She's set major goals for herself, spiritually.

Wow. I can't believe I've been trusted with this amazing person.