dress, 10 yr olds and thermostats, xmas shopping

Melody wrote about our wedding dress shopping foray and I can't improve on it so I'm going to just quote her. It really happened on Friday though.

"SATURDAY, THERE WAS A PRETTY LITTLE GATHERING OF THE GENERAL WOMEN OF THE FAMILY, PLUS JACK, MINUS A FEW SISTERS-IN-LAW. ALL IN ORDER TO GO DRESS SHOPPING FOR A CERTAIN SPECIAL OCCASION. IT WAS A GLORIOUS EVENT, WITH MUCH GIGGLING AND ‘OOH-ING’ AND ‘AHHH-ING,’ AND ‘I BET I HAVEN’T SHAVED MY LEGS LONGER THAN YOU HAVE.’ IT WAS EVERY HOLLYWOOD CLICHE I COULD EVER DREAM OF (WELL, MAYBE MINUS THAT LAST TIDBIT.) AND MY MOTHER LEFT ONE LOVELY WEDDING DRESS RICHER. AFTERWARDS, WE ALL ATE UNTIL WE WERE UNCOMFORTABLE AND THEN SOME."

I find shopping to be draining so I didn't take Marene's advice to keep looking and come back later if I still wanted the dress. I just bought it. It's very gorgeous, not the traditional white thing. And after trying on all those dresses and looking in all those mirrors, I did NOT overeat at the restaurant. I let the young women do that.

This morning, I noticed the house felt warm--it's a rather cold house. Then I remembered that I told Joy yes when she asked if she could turn up the furnace. So I went and looked at the thermostat. Try to guess what a 10 yr old would set it to. Years ago, we shared a house with a neighbor from Ecuador and the thermostat was in her side. She kept it in the 80s which was great until we moved out and the landlord sent us the utility bill for an entire year. Joy had put it to 82 degrees!! Sometimes I'm not too bright. You would think after raising so many kids, I'd be a little quicker to anticipate outcomes.

Words escape me sometimes when trying to say how I really feel. I'm still in the euphoric state of being madly in love. I didn't think that was ever going to happen again. If there was time and space to tell what I've been through the last 2 1/2 years, you would understand when I say that I am so, so thankful to have Keith and I love him more than I can say.

I'm off school and work now for a couple of weeks but so far there's been no rest. I foolishly have not finished my Christmas shopping and the lines in the mall are much longer than I anticipated.

Thanksgiving; funnest three days of my life

Monday morning--back to the grind. I am at work, procrastinating homework just long enough to blog. (I tutor students and if there isn't one at the moment, I am free to be on the computer.)

We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner with 6 of my kids; the four at home and Richard and Alden and their families. The two of them are nine people now, ten if you count Dallas, the Beagle puppy (AesaLina's baby) who came for Thanksgiving dinner, too :-) My grandchildren are the cutest and the sweetest and pretty smart, too. I know everyone thinks that about their own grandchildren. But they really are :-) I LOVE them!

Then in the afternoon, Melody, Joy and I went to the airport to pick up Keith Chandler. That began the funnest three days of my life. I am a very private person so I won't be writing a bunch of details--even this is hard for me. But my kids love him and he fits right in. My word for it is "familiar" and his is "natural." I took him to the airport last night and he has gone home to Missouri, which will allow me to recover from too much smiling and laughing :-) That was not a joke. I do need to recover :-)

Okay, I know you want to know. Well, some of you. He asked me to marry him. I said yes, more enthusiastically than it comes out in this writing. There's no timetable because a few details need to be worked out. He has to move to Utah for one thing. And we plan to get married in the temple so there are a few details there that make it impossible to know the date right now.

And now, I MUST concentrate on homework which has gotten the short shrift for the last several weeks. Three more semesters! I can do it!

rose-colored glasses

I went to bed last night at 8 pm because I've been so tired lately. Joy and Sam came in and out of my room though to ask important questions for which only a mom will do like, "Can I get on the computer? Melody won't let me use the power cord." And "Can I use the computer now? Joy's on it." Being the warm, caring mom that I am, I handed out helpful answers like, "Have you brushed your teeth? It's bedtime. And shut my door all the way when you go out." They know I love them. :-)

I'm keeping my head above water at school but just barely. It's starting to feel like work. Every time this happens though, the end of the semester looms. The class average on the first half of the last accounting test was 60%. I got 76%. I think that's the lowest I've ever scored on anything. All I have to do is stay at the front of the bell curve though which I usually manage.

So I've been single for a couple of years, as most of you know. The entire time, I've prayed to be invisible to anyone who is not right for me. Anytime someone appeared on the scene who seemed interested, I've prayed, "If I need to be protected from this person, please protect me." In every case, it would become obvious within about 24 hrs that my prayer worked :-)

Until recently. He and I have known each other for about 16 years but only had a real conversation a few months ago. I already knew that he shares my religious convictions, has integrity, and is kind and hard-working. What I didn't know is that he is a writer, articulate and intelligent, more in my league that way than...(cough) other people. With whom I may or may not once have been associated. And he makes me laugh. This might be a small thing to some people but for me it's right below breathing on my life's priority list. We're the same age. He would do anything for me and worships the ground I walk on. I think the rose-colored glasses he views me with are extra-strength. We all have our faults you know. :-) But he's fair. He views everyone that generously. I think of myself as more of a realist which is just code for, 'I'm not that good.' He does live 2 states away. He's coming to visit at Thanksgiving. I'll let you know how it goes.

His name is Keith. If you were ever in the Lebanon Ward, I do mean that Keith. I am as surprised as anyone that it worked out this way.

Precious, but not in a good way

Just took a Finance test and tomorrow is the group Marketing presentation. The semester is more than half over—the time flies. Next week is an Accounting test on 4 chapters and a Marketing test on 6 chapters and then the international business group project, which we’ve done absolutely nothing on. I’m grateful for the university experience because I’ve learned that I can do very hard things. It’s almost as hard as child-rearing :-). In a different way though. If someone asks for a 10 or 20 page report, you learn to just dive in and get it done. And read or reread those chapters, while ignoring laundry and dishes. Okay, that part I could do before college but now, ignoring the housework seems noble.

My kids will tell you that I’m stingy with the thermostat level. I never put it above 68◦ and always turn it down at night to about 62◦. When people complain, I tell them to put on a sweater. But last night was a pretty cold night so I decided to splurge and just leave it at 68. This morning when I went downstairs, I was surprised how cold it was. AAGH! Melody opened the window when she ran on the treadmill and left it open all night! You don’t know how this hurts me. I can’t help it—I’m my father’s daughter. Our house was always cold when I was growing up. I’m pretty sure this contributes to my desire to build a passive solar house one day.

I apologize for the usual gratuitous kid story but here it is: I was driving on the freeway the other evening with Joy in the front seat and 7 yr. old Sam in the back. It’s very dark and quiet and I hear a raspy, throaty voice loudly whisper, “PREEE-CIIIOUSSS.” After the hair on the back of my neck laid back down and after I stopped laughing, I said, “Sam thanks for always providing facebook fodder.” My life is many things but it’s never dull.

Bees, Confessions, and other stuff

I don’t know how much more homework, projects, tests, and reading I can take—but I just found out I only need 31 more credit hours to have a bachelor’s degree in accounting. That’s 12 credit hours next semester, 7 in the summer and 12 in the fall and I’m done in December 2012. If the Mayans are wrong, Dec. 2012 won’t be anticlimactic after all. Marene says we’re having a big party.

Thank you to Richard for putting my new lawnmower together. I mowed the backyard and Joy mowed the front, we pulled weeds, and the yard no longer screams, “WHY does no one love me?” The perennials I planted feed the bees and, somehow, this makes me feel useful and needed in the world. This pic was taken this afternoon. You can see the honey bee in the middle of the picture.

I have one granddaughter who lives far away. This is Melody’s blog about her. I don’t think Melody got her clever genes from me, dang it. http://thislittleaunt.tumblr.com/post/11515318734/aurora-dear I hope she can feel our love from 3 states away. And in other news, Taylor is going to be a dad again sometime in June. I’ve gotta get done with school so I have time for people again.

Confessions:

1. I ate the best homemade cinnamon rolls today and blew my good intentions.

2. I don’t really like chocolate that much. I wonder what’s wrong with me.

3. I love my finance class. I learned how to use the Time Value of Money buttons on the calculator and Wow! Why didn’t I learn this 25 years ago? If you want to know what your retirement account will be in 20 years at various interest rates and payment levels or how much to add to your house payment to cut it to 15 yrs instead of 30, come see me.

4. I’ve missed yard work.

5. I don’t like getting old. I miss my 25 year old body.

6. I miss my mom, too. My heart aches to talk to her again. And I shouldn't leave out my mother-in-law. What a joyful day it will be when I can talk to both of them again.

Have a good day!

The customer is always right?

Fall, again. My mind rebels against the idea of turning on the furnace and wearing a coat, if only because we’ve had warm, sunny days lately. But the house was 59◦ today so even I had to admit that was too cold to not run the furnace.

I’m far enough into the semester to know I’m going to survive and it’s not that hard so far. At first, I could hardly stand my Chinese professor’s lectures. But when he says “trading systerm” and market datar” in the same sentence as “nowerdays,” I hardly notice anymore. Not sure this is a good thing. He’s very smart and knows a lot about economics, foreign trade, currency exchange, etc. but the language barrier keeps him from effectively transmitting the information to most of the class.

Nathan keeps saying funny things and I record them so I won’t forget. His latest was, “Mom, what’s Somalia?”

Me: It’s a country in Africa.

N: No, it’s a disease. It’s in my book. (One second after.) Somalia! It’s really awful.

Me: Somalians might beg to differ. Show me. (totally went over his head, as I knew it would.)

So he looked it up and the word was salmonella. It's not really funny. He has his father's dyslexia. Let's hope he deals with it better.

I had an epiphany today. Background—Monday night, working in the accounting lab, this lady, possibly my same age or older, was trying to print several homework problems but the printer spit out one sheet with all four pages superimposed on each other. There are computer techs we call for such problems but they aren’t there that late (7 pm) so I suggested she try another computer. This instantly annoyed her so I suggested we try to print them one problem at a time. This made her even more mad. She insisted that she had printed them all at once last semester and that’s how she wanted to do it. I was trying to ascertain the reason she wouldn’t print them one at a time so I asked, “Why don’t you want to print them one at a time? Are you trying to save the 5¢…or…” Then she got positively angry, but didn’t answer the question. In the back of my mind, I was thinking that I would print them on my own personal account for her if that was all that was holding her back. Instead, she repeated that she knew it could be done all at once because she’d done it before and she was going to file a complaint against me. I was a little stunned and started to say that I’m not the tech guy but I could have them fix the problem later. This made her hopping mad. I added, not angrily, that I am hired to tutor accounting students. She cut me off mid-sentence with “Well, I would NEVER want you to tutor me!” and stormed out. I felt disconnected somehow, like I was in the twilight zone, unable to understand what just happened. I live in a sheltered world, where people are normal, affable, and kind. I have only rarely had an exchange like this with someone—perhaps 3 or 4 times in my life and always with strangers. (Likely bcs I never worked in fast food or retail.) What made it so strange for me was the idea that if she knew me or anything about my intellect and personality, she wouldn’t have treated me that way. So today, I thought, “What should I have done differently? How am I supposed to react to people like that?” And again, the thought persisted that if she only KNEW me, she’d be terribly embarrassed for the way she treated me. Suddenly I had a mental picture of the Savior being treated much more reprehensibly. If only they had known he was the very Creator, the person with power who could help them immensely. And then the thought in my mind was,”You react the way He did. With kindness, patience and love.” I said out loud, “Ohhh. I get it now—a little bit.” It doesn’t mean I’m suddenly kinder, more patient, or more loving. But, hopefully, I’m one baby step closer to seeing things as they really are.

What's the 'criterior' for getting through life's vicissitudes?

I’m working really hard to just stay behind on my homework. Blogging is getting the short shrift. So to make a long story short, I didn’t submit my paperwork properly for BYU’s accounting program and didn’t realize it until it was too late. They said I could take the senior classes this year instead but there would be no guarantee of getting into the junior core next year. And I would have to take Acc 301 (financial and managerial which I already took at UVU and got As in) and get nothing lower than an A-.

I said, “What if I get a B+?”

“Then you don’t get in. But UVU would probably accept all those senior classes and you could transfer back.”

That would have meant taking 5 classes this semester. I did that once before so I know the stress would be huge and I’d never see my kids. And I had already booked a flight to Missouri and wasn’t going to be around to straighten it out when someone was available at BYU to help me. I had to decide quickly and I’d like to think there was some divine intervention steering me. I was also going to lose my job if I went the BYU route. I think I kind of need it.

So I’m at UVU taking 12 credit hours: Corporate Finance which I really enjoy. I’m afraid it’s going to get much harder though before we’re through if my friends Jeff H., Mark D. and Shelia C. are correct; Intermediate Accounting—seems to come easy to me compared to normal people. Or maybe it’s because I’ve worked in the lab and have done the homework from financial and managerial many times over in the tutoring process; Marketing—it’s okay but not my favorite thing; and International Business. I like int’l bus. but my professor is from China so he’s hard to understand. He got a master’s degree at Harvard so he puts r’s on the end of words that don’t have them. Some examples of things he says are—“systerm” for system. Ooh, Word doesn’t like my spelling. “Criterior” for criteria, “wire me” for Wyoming, “quoter” for quota, etc. I get a little distracted from the topic at hand, writing down the funny things he says.

I also moved to Orem two days before the semester started (by the way, I don’t recommend this) about 4 blocks from my friend Kathy Benson—but I haven’t even called to tell her because it’s been so crazy busy. I guess I’m not that great of a friend. She’s working on a bachelor’s degree, too so she hasn’t noticed my delinquency. I’ll try to make it up to you when I graduate, Kathy and anyone else I’m neglecting. That would be Victoria, Ben, Ben’s little brother, Jack; Claudya, William; Tad and Aurora; and possibly some of their parents, my sons and daughters-in-law. Sorry, this is as fast as I can run, at the moment.

So life is good. I hesitate to mention anything of a religious or spiritual bent (I’ll leave that to my friend Sariyd.) Let me say that there is real unseen power. It operates in my life, even though I’m one small speck of humanity and this brings me joy. Hardship and pain make their appearance, too but I feel unspeakable gratitude for the good things.

little lambs; moving

Taking a break from packing, cleaning, organizing, and more packing. We are moving to a house in Orem which will give us more space and a fenced backyard. But I had planned my trips to California and Missouri before I knew I was going to move and now I’m trying to get it all done as fast as possible because school starts for me on Monday and then it’s back to studying.

The kids had their first day of school today at their new schools. They missed the first day. A lady from the office walked us to Sam and Joy’s classrooms. Sam went into his class and I called after him to say I’d pick him up out front at the end of the day. The look on his face clearly said, “I am a lamb and my own mother has just brought me to the slaughter.” The office lady said, “Oh! He looks like he’s going to cry. He can come to the office and sit with me if he needs to any time during the day.” But I knew he wouldn’t need to because he is like me. We only have “pull yourself up by the boot straps” mode and “complete collapse” mode which just means cry your eyes out in private, then rejoin the world when you feel better. Asking for help from someone other than immediate family is tough, even mortifying and I haven’t mastered it yet.

Nathan was adamantly against moving, as any 8^th grader would be. But his first day went well; he talked to new people and seems to like it, after all. He wants to go to the private school just down the road—Karl G. Maeser Academy because his friend Alex goes there. I told him if he gets good grades this year, I’ll look into it for next year.

Thanks, Spencer and Michelle, for letting us hang out with you last week and get to know sweet, little Aurora a little bit. Thanks to my other big kids for holding down the fort while I was gone. Melody did a lot but she needed her big brothers, too. I am so, so lucky. And I don’t mean “luck” in a random way. I am lucky that I have been so blessed.

Deserts, Mountains, Pleasanton

Pleasanton—my favorite place; 410 miles of I-80 in the Nevada desert, not so much. The trees in the Sierra Nevadas are beautiful, too. The kids were getting cranky so, to distract them, I asked them to see if they could tell which trees telephone poles are made out of. Joy said, “How can you tell? Do they have telephones on the side of them?” I thought she was joking until I remembered she’s from the cell-phone tower generation.

The drop in elevation out of the Sierras is pretty steep in relatively few miles and this is how the conversation went when we got down on the California side:
Sam: Mom, why is it so quiet all of a sudden?
Me: Maybe your ears are plugged. Swallow.
Sam: What?
Me: (louder) Maybe your ears are plugged. Swallow.
Sam: (very loudly) WHAT?
Me: (muttering under my breath but smiling) I give up. I’m right but he’ll never know it.

For 13 hours, Sam asked every 15 minutes how much longer or how many more miles to Grandpa’s house. Okay, I exaggerate a little. Really, he only asked about 3 times per hour. At one point, I answered, “Well, it’s only been 15 minutes since the last time you asked so the answer isn’t really different.” And he laughed like he was a little embarrassed. But he still couldn’t help but keep asking.

This morning, I jogged around the park on Black Avenue a couple of times, Joy and I collected a few seeds from Gpa’s flower garden and now we’re going to take BART to San Francisco and take the kids sightseeing.

If you've never been deeply hurt by someone else, don't bother reading this

Just some interesting, possibly life-changing stuff from a book I'm reading:

"People who score high on forgiveness as a personality trait are less likely to be depressed, anxious, hostile, narcissistic, or exploitative and are also less likely to become dependent on drugs or nicotine. They are more likely to be empathic. Combat veterans suffering from PTSD experience less depression and fewer symptoms of trauma if they are able to forgive themselves and others. 'High forgivers' (those who score high on forgiveness as a trait) show less reactivity in blood pressure and arterial pressure when asked about conflict with a parent or caregiver. In contrast, those who score low in forgiveness show high reactivity and poor recovery...

"In one study of thirty divorced or permanently separated mothers with young children, those who had forgiven their ex-husbands reported a greater sense of self-acceptance and purpose and lower levels of anxiety and depression. ... One 2001 study found that the impact of forgiveness was truly global: from age 18 onward, the extent to which people reported the tendency to be forgiving strongly buffered them against psychological stress.

"Just deciding to forgive someone doesn't work very well, according to studies. Far more effective is the process of invoking love, compassion, and empathy and practicing forgiveness exercises. ... A one-on-one forgiveness intervention conducted by Robert Enright was highly effective in helping women who had been molested increase their hope and decrease their anxiety and depression. After intervention, emotional health in a group of such women was just as good as or better than that of women who had not been molested. ... Says Robert Enright, "All of the incest survivors asked us, "Are you sure you want me in the study? I will not forgive this person,' and we said, 'Yes, we want you in the study.' Then they said, 'Well, my motivation for being here is to make myself better.'

" ... A forgiveness intervention with men whose partners had decided to have an abortion showed the same decrease in grief, anger, and anxiety." (Why Good Things Happen to Good People, Post & Neimark)

I ran every day this week except yesterday; instead, I swam for 1 1/2 hours. I keep moving the whole time, swimming laps or treading water. This morning I ran a mile at my fastest speed yet, about 5 mph avg. Still not very fast but an improvement. Now I am SO sore! I called my supervisor to come down and let me in the lab instead of climbing the stairs. I've lost 5 lbs this last month. Running has always been the only way for me to lose weight but I've been in denial, thinking I could do it some other way. Interestingly, since starting to feel runner's high, it's no longer drudgery to get on the treadmill.

Melody is in Oregon at her Aunt Nancy's, picking berries with her cousins. I miss her a lot. The kids are back from their dad's early--they just like to be home. My house was spotless the day before they returned. The next day, when I got home from work, a tornado had come through the front room and kitchen. See? It's not just my housekeeping ability--it's mostly kids.

Have a good day!

Runner's high but inundated with pics

I’ve been jogging pretty consistently for almost a month. I haven’t upped my distance much in that time but I’ve shaved about 3 minutes off my mile time. Tonight, I am feeling my first runner’s high. Wow. It’s been years since I’ve felt that. I’d like to become more familiar with it.

I’ve also been out of school for this last month and have been doing major cleaning and decluttering. The kids are wondering who I am and what I’ve done with their real mom who just reads textbooks all the time. Closets, bookshelves, the pantry, file cabinet, the laundry, and dresser drawers have all been shaved down and straightened. I think it’s partly a reflection of healing on my part. I feel true joy and can’t put my finger on exactly why. But I think that means it’s not contingent on anything external so it can’t be easily taken away from me.

I have hundreds of pictures only about half of which are in photo albums. Do you think it’s necessary to keep every one of them? A lot of them are pre-digital and not that great. I’m thinking of winnowing them down and keeping the best ones because if there are too many, it becomes overwhelming for any of us (my kids) to look at them. We already have 10 binders worth of photos in albums. Do we really want/need 20 or 30? And now that we have scanners, printers, and digital scrapbooks/photo albums, is it necessary to keep zillions of wallet size and smaller photos from all the kids photo shoots and school pics? I don’t want to go overboard with the decluttering but it is SO nice to have empty closet and cupboard space.

Nathan is up to 117 lbs. Last October before heart surgery, he weighed 89 lbs. We went swimming today and he is so much stronger. I expected to see changes but still, I am amazed at what I see and words cannot express how thankful I am for the technology that allowed him to be “normal”. Babies born with TAPVR 35 years ago usually died. Nathan should have died and the fact that he didn’t is a miracle. Even when he was born, the surgery wasn’t as refined, and therefore, successful as it is today.

I am very blessed.

Summer so far; Unrealistic movies--or is that redundant?

July 7, 2011

My son, Spencer is here visiting for a week. Michelle didn’t come bcs their baby is due in two weeks. It’s been fun to have him around although my house is a little boring, especially with the two youngest at their dad’s. Yesterday, Melody and I voted to see Larry Crowne; Spencer and Nathan voted for Transformers 3.

So we ended up at the action movie. It’s not really my kind of movie though the demographic they’re catering to loved it, I’m sure. I don’t want to like Shia Lebeouf but I guess nothing about being a jerk in real life precludes good acting ability. (Or does good acting translate to lots of money which generates jerkiness in real life? He seems to have a lot of company in Hollywood.) In any case, his facial expressions are really great in the movie. He has one very funny, terrifying scene with his car, flying through the air above the freeway and ending up back in the car. But the plot and stunts are ridiculously implausible and the “humanizing” of the machines (features making them old, young, bad guys, feeling pain, etc.) is so fake. But I’m sure that will appeal to kids. The battle scenes went on and on making for an almost 3 hour movie. Two hours would have been more than enough. My kids liked it—Nathan thought it was great.

I have no school now until late August and it’s SO nice to have no homework; no thick books to read two or three times in the next two months. I will hear sometime in July if I am accepted in to the accounting program at BYU. I got an A and an A- in the two prereqs I took Spring term so I’m planning on getting in. I’m still working, too but not very many hours. I will lose my job at the end of August since I’m not a student at UVU anymore.

The current plan is to clean out a closet or cabinet every day while I have time off and to exercise. I made some good progress at first but it’s been slow-going this week. My house is looking much better and less cluttered. I’ve been running, jump-roping without a rope, and skating. The treadmill is drudgery and I have to force myself to go get on it but skating is better, though hard, physically. Just reporting to keep myself accountable.

Lagoon

I took Nathan, Joy and Sam hiking on Tuesday. I meant to go to the Battle Creek canyon but mistakenly went to the Grove Creek canyon which we hiked anyway. I am so out of shape! So on Thurs, we tried again. Everyone but Sam wimped out on me; the two of us hiked to the waterfall at Battle Creek. It’s not very long and fairly easy—lots of moms and kids were hiking it. At 11 am, it was still cool and there’s lots of shade on that hike. The water’s running a lot higher than last year. But the last couple hundred yards are pretty steep and I was spent so I didn’t go right up to the top; before I could stop him, Sam scampered up farther and I couldn’t see him anymore. I didn’t know what was up there besides a roaring river and a 40 ft. cliff. I am guessing the trail ends there. Thirty seconds after he disappeared, I was wishing I had some big kids to send after him and worrying that he might fall in and come crashing down the waterfall. Thankfully, he came back down after a minute or two. Raising six boys is teaching me to just stay calm. And the view up there is SO gorgeous of the valley and Utah Lake below. We are so blessed to live in this beautiful place. Next time, I’ll take pictures. Driving back home (a whole three miles to our house), Sam said, “You are the best mom in the whole world!” because I took him hiking.

Yesterday, we went to Lagoon (Six Flags-Great America-type amusement park.) Melody didn’t go bcs she went w/Alicia last Sat. and w/K’Lani on Wed. Alden and Sinda came also with their two little kids and it was a lot of fun. Sinda’s never been there before and said they would just stay three hours or so. We were there for seven hrs. I’ve never seen anyone have more fun than Claudya had at the waterpark. And Sam took her on several kiddie rides while her parents went on a roller coaster. He’s so protective and solicitous with his nieces—I love to observe.

But the interesting part of the day was going to a Vietnamese noodle house in West Valley City for Pho (pronounced like foot without the t.) It’s a hole-in-the-wall place which reminds me of some of the places my parents took us to in Chinatown in Oakland and San Francisco when I was little. The food was good and we’ll definitely go there again. Nathan and Sam loved it. During the meal, Sinda said,”See, if you just listen carefully, you can tell the difference between Laotian and Vietnamese.” I had to laugh. I said, “If YOU listen closely, you can but I certainly can’t.” When I graduate, I hope to carve out time to study some foreign languages.

June 14, 2011

Finals are tomorrow and Thursday so I am cramming. This morning I looked for my Writing & Speaking for Business text and couldn’t find it anywhere. Panic. No, don’t panic. Worst-case scenario is I will drive over to BYU and buy a new one. After wasting two hours cleaning the house in an effort to find it, and sending some desperate pleas heavenward, I got an idea. Just an inkling that wasn’t solid—the boys took my TV from the front room to my bedroom to play Xbox on Saturday (Richard, Alden, Taylor, Melody—yeah, sometimes, she gets to be one of “the boys”.) I had already looked thoroughly in my room though. Somehow, I knew there was a connection. But what? Try to think…I went over to the piano next to my bed which has a stack of music books on top because I’m giving Nathan, Joy and Sam piano lessons. I looked through the stack and there was my textbook near the bottom! Joy! I didn’t know it was there and don’t know why I looked there. Thank you, thank you to whoever heard my pleas and put the thought in my head. My guardian angels have ‘needs lots of help’ or ditzy or something similar written on my file, I’m sure.

On my break, I’ll be repenting of having stacks of papers and books around. Bad idea. If I put everything away though, I forget about it so I leave stacks of papers out so I will take care of the pile. I know, poor excuses. I do fine when I’m not in school. I’ve heard that when you are under stress, you become more forgetful because only the most important things stay on the radar and everything else drops away. I haven’t lost any of the kids yet or forgotten to take a test :-). Wish me luck on finals!

Find someone more stressed than me? Okay

June 10, 2011

Assignment: Find someone more stressed than you and do something nice for them. I’m a full-time college student with a part-time job, raising four kids by myself. IS there anyone with more stress than that?

Well, the only time period in my life that was more difficult was when I had little kids. So I have three daughters-in-law raising little kids. What could I do for one of them? Melody is babysitting for my son, Richard while he and AesaLina are on a date. It’s my son Taylor’s birthday and I overheard JAC tell Joy that they’d be picking up Tad to babysit him. So I called my son, Alden. He was at work and Sinda was alone with the two little kiddos. I asked if they’d had dinner yet and she said no and that she’d love some company. So I picked up Subway sandwiches, grabbed a little bag of Cheetos for Claudya and went over to visit.

Apparently, fit-throwing and strong-willed genes run strong in the family (which may or may not have come from me but, fortunately, it’s accompanied by charm and good looks. ;-) Just look at my grandchildren.) Claudya has been demonstrating her talents the last couple of days with a vengeance (she doesn’t want to be outdone by her cousin, Victoria—a story for another day) and when someone comes over, she’s easier to deal with than when poor Sinda is there wishing Alden would hurry home. His shift doesn’t end until 10 pm so it’s a long evening alone with demanding kids.

We ate our sandwiches and then picked about two quarts of strawberries from their little garden, more than half of which were consumed by Claudya. Sinda made a wonderful smoothie with yogurt, bananas, and strawberries and we had a good visit. She said I was an answer to prayer. I’d like to be in that position more often but I think in the past, I haven’t been “available” or listening. I guess I better start practicing.

p.s. to my friend, Kathy. I did have a nagging feeling that you fell into the "more stressed than me" category and I haven't called you yet--See? Not listening well. When finals are over, we can get together.

Need. Sleep.

June 7, 2011

Classes end Monday, Tuesday is a reading day, then it’s finals week. I feel weary. I always push myself and bite off more than I can chew and I wish I could stop doing it but I don’t know how to change my basic personality. I’m not taking any classes in July or August so that’s my effort to slow it down a little for now.

Two nights ago, Sam woke up at 3 am with a toothache. He kept me up until about 5 am. I’ve been getting up in the night with crying or sick kids for 27 years. Time to move on to the next phase, I’m pretty sure. (See biting/chewing above for how I get myself into these situations.) Then I had to take him to the dentist the next day for an emergency procedure. A baby molar chipped because of a cavity and the nerve was exposed and/or infected. I like the dentist in Nephi because he’s so good with kids and works fast so I drive 50 miles one way. Then I stopped in to see Marene in Mona, went home for 5 minutes, and went to school ‘till 6:40 pm. I didn’t get any homework done that day. So now I’m playing catch-up.

I just finished the last project for the writing class! The only thing left is to reread the entire 186 page textbook and memorize it for the final. Ha! (When is there time to clean my house, do laundry, and be a decent mom?) There’s one project left in ISys--the HTML project. I have to make a website using HTML code which we were introduced to yesterday. There will be a test on it Monday and then the final is the last thing. I really need a break because I feel mentally exhausted. Or it could just be sleep-deprivation.

Whenever I am trying to lose weight, I put different things in my shopping cart; more good protein, more produce, no chocolate or donuts. Lunch was tilapia and steamed broccoli; dinner was a baked chicken and cucumber slices which is great, except for the Haagen Dazs bars I also ate. So I need to convince myself to eat well all the time. I wish I could blame it on the stress of the last two years but that would only be partially true. The goal is to eat something raw at every meal. ‘Cause I’ve looked in the mirror and I’m not getting any younger. Youth is wasted on young people. I know I didn’t appreciate how good I looked until it started slipping away from me.

Sorry for rambling. I just need to go take a nap.