Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Roger went to work for a few hours this morning. I got Jack off to his cub scout den meeting (sledding), stopped by the post office to pick up some priority mail boxes and then worked in my office a bit. When Roger got home around noon, I got organized to go out. I packaged up some orders, collected the muslin I bought yesterday, scissors, duct tape, and dusting supplies. After another stop at the post office I headed to the museum and started working on replacing the brightly colored shelf backings (that I put up last March for the Wayne Theibaud show) with the neutral muslin. I spent a lot of the time having conversations with people, so only finished four of nine shelves. Oh well. It was a good day. I regrouped with Roger over dinner out (Jack was home with Johnny and Benny). Then this evening I spent three hours ironing the slip cover and 11 cushion covers for the couch. I'm beat!

Monday, December 29, 2008

Started taking the picture book exhibit down. Roger borrowed his parents' pickup truck and we collected the couch, the bookshelf, the rug and the glass case we used to display David A. Carter's pop up book mockups. I stayed on at the museum sorting through books, taking inventory, and putting sale stickers on. Roger and I returned the truck to his parents, we got something to eat, and then I dragged him to a fabric store on an errand. I bought 20 yards of muslin for $15 to redo the backs of the shelves at the museum store. The whole time we were working hard, Jack was playing hard with his friends. He went sledding multiple times! In the evening I took the slipcover and all of the cushion covers for the couch we brought home from the museum to the laundromat to wash them in the big machines. But the labels said do not tumble dry (100% cotton would shrink I suppose). We hung all of the cushion covers in the laundry room to dry, but the slipcover was huge. Roger strung a rope in the garage and we hung it from that. Our jeeps had to spend the night out in the cold.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Yesterday I had a horrible headache all day, still recovering today. By the end of the day I felt pretty okay! Mostly watched movies recorded on my DVR. I've been watching a lot of movies this vacation. I don't often watch movies, so there are plenty to pick from that I've never seen. It was very strange how many movies I have recorded that have the same actors. A serious case of two degrees of separation. Like the other night I watched Barefoot in the Park with Jane Fonda, then the next day I watched Georgia Rule with Jane Fonda. I watched Fracture with Ryan Gosling and then The Notebook, also with Ryan Gosling. I watched Chasing Liberty with Mandy Moore and started watching A Walk to Remember, also with Mandy Moore. I watched The Good Shephard, with Angelina Jolie, and I've got The Bone Collector with Angelina recorded. I watched To Die For with Nicole Kidman and have Far and Away with Nicole recorded. Weird.

Friday, December 27, 2008

A lazy morning (I'm getting so spoiled on vacation!). Puttered with this and that until it was time to take Jack to a doctor's appointment. He had a stomach bug about a month ago and continued to complain that he felt sick to his stomach. It seemed to be in is head (fear of barfing - he has so little experience with that!). He was easily distracted by friends and he seemed to complain most when it came time to go to school or church. But he kept complaining after school let out for vacation. And then one morning he decided he'd just stop eating for fear of throwing up. So I made an appointment. He explained to the doctor what was going on and had to answer all sorts of personal questions (you can imagine). The doctor took Jack quite seriously and ended up prescribing three medications (primarily in an effort to make sure that Jack's digestion was on track) and gave us a list of fiber rich foods. Between the copayment and the prescriptions we're into this more than $100! But I am hopeful that Jack will end up eating more healthfully as a result. Doctor's orders and all that. After the doctor, we had lunch out, then stopped by the grocery store to stock up on fiber filled foods we think Jack will eat. Jack picked out some funky African fruit called a kiwano (or horned melon). We haven't tried it yet. Other events worth noting: I emailed all of the artists in the show re the closing in a few days and when they can start gathering their pieces. And Jack went to sleep fairly early so Roger and I had time to watch a movie together. We watched Hancock with Will Smith. Very different than I expected, but I like it. Apparently I'm catching up on movies this week!

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Happy Christmas! I managed to stay in bed until almost 7:00. Of course Jack had climbed into bed with us just after 5:00 a.m. so it didn't actually mean I slept until 7:00. Opening presents was very nice. We're quite civilized and take turns. At one point Jack opened a small Lego set and asked if we could take a break so he could put it together. Yes, very civilized. I tried to take a nap between opening presents and going to Ogden's for Christmas dinner, but mostly talked on the phone with family in Argentina (my sister) and Massachusetts (mom, dad, sister, uncle). Christmas dinner was also very nice. Lots of family chatter and games (I won a round of Apples to Apples after not winning a single point in the previous round). We got home late in the afternoon. Jack built more Lego (he finished building two of the three big sets he received), I watched a movie (Barefoot in the Park with Robert Redford and Jane Fonda - I'd never seen it before). 

Wednesday, 24 December 2008

Christmas Eve! Jack spent much of the day picking up and patiently waiting for our traditional pizza party, which didn't start until 5:30. Roger took care of vacuuming. I dusted and cleaned the bathroom. Good family effort! Roger and I went out a various times to run various errands. Dropping off gifts, buying forgotten items like paper cups and plates for the big party, etc. And, of course, lots of wrapping presents. But it was really a peaceful, relaxed day overall. The party was lots of fun with nearly 20 people: Ogdens (including cousin Saralyn), Grahams (including cousin Brian), Vaughns (including their five kids), cousin Evan, and Grandma and Grandpa. While the grownups talked, the kids had a huge nerf dart battle and played Lego. Then we broke out Wii Mario Kart. The Vaughn kids had no idea their parents had their own Wii system and Mario Kart wrapped up under the tree at home! A quiet evening after the party. Jack and I read, and, per tradition, Jack fell asleep by candlelight. Then we're pretty sure Santa came.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Almost all of our Christmas gifts are bought, wrapped and delivered, including a few top secret projects that required Jack to leave the house (Roger took Jack and his friends sledding and then I sent Jack to his friends' house afterward). We enjoyed a crazy trip to Target for last minute stocking stuffers. Jack finished up Grandma's Lego advent calendar for her. Roger, Jack and Jack's friend Cooper took apart our old microwave. We made a good attempt at cleaning the house for our Christmas Eve party tomorrow, but we are not done yet. We had family movie night tonight and watched Horton Hears a Who. Very funny! We especially liked the Ice Age short on the same DVD.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Christmas cards are done and mailed! I've also been catching up on sleep! Jack had five friends over, sometimes all at the same time. No more light saber battles inside the house! It snowed almost all day long. Jack and his friends had a huge snowball fight outside (thankfully not inside--that has always been against house rules). Jack got hit in the face with a giant snowball. Roger came home early and snow blowed the driveway. Then a few hours later he snow blowed again.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Lots of Christmas music at church today - always a favorite of mine. Worked on Christmas letters. Delivered some Christmas presents, a birthday present and visited with friends and family. Finalized the end of the semester by submitting grades online. Watched a bit of a movie with Roger and Jack. A nice pre-Christmas Sunday.

Saturday, December 21, 2008

A family day today. A quiet morning at home, then haircuts for me and Jack, a stop by an afternoon wedding reception for one of Roger's colleagues, a visit to Grandpa, a trip to Target (where we didn't buy anything except a gift card for someone!!!), dinner at Panda Express and a cozy evening at home. 

Friday, December 19, 2008

Roger took the day off, so I got to lounge in my warm bed while he took Jack to school. After I finally got up, showered, had breakfast and threw a load of laundry in, I got to work on our Christmas cards. I spent way too much time fighting with paper jams trying to print our letter. I'm not sure how many copies I ended up getting on the fancy paper I bought. I've got the labels all printed and will spend the rest of this evening getting the mailing put together. Roger and I went to the Christmas assembly at Jack's school, and Roger got some great shots I can put in the PTA newsletter. We made Jack finish school and he later called us to pick him up because of the "white out conditions." It actually was snowing pretty hard, but I'm sure he'd have made it home from the bus stop okay. We picked him up, dropped him off at Grandma and Grandpa's while we shopped at Costco, then picked him up and took him out to dinner with us. We are now well fed and cozy at home.

Catch Up

Okay, so I've been a slacker for nearly a month. A few highlights: We had a lovely Thanksgiving here at our house with Roger's parents and our nephew Tim. We've been to several fun parties, including a party at our friend Justin's photography studio in downtown Provo, an art opening at BYU for one of Roger's student employee's BFA project, a good friend's 60th birthday party (I love that I have friends who are 25 and friends who are 60!), a wedding reception for a neighbor's son, and a shower for a bride who is marrying into one of our favorite families. We wrapped up the story time series we've been doing at the museum in conjunction with the picture book art exhibit. I think it was a great success! Roger finished what he hopes is his final class for his MLS degree. Jack had a 24-hour bug and now refers to everything in his life as "before barf day" and "after barf day." (Thankfully he very, very rarely gets sick!) I took Jack to a Kurt Bestor Christmas concert at the events center at UVU, especially to hear his daughter, one of my students, sing. I've had a couple of doctor appointments and a CT scan, and am now on very strong antibiotics in hopes of licking what we think is a chronic sinus infection. I've also graded about 100 papers for my UVU classes, including one marathon session to get all of my student's final papers returned to them this past Monday. Jack and I finished So You Want to Be a Wizard and are currently reading Island of the Blue Dolphins together. Christmas shopping is well underway, we've got our Christmas tree up, we've got snow on the ground, and all of us are done with school (well, I still have one paper to grade from a student who turned it in late and then I've got to submit grades). Now back to my daily postings!