Wednesday, March 18, 2009

I have so fallen of the planet. Not sure if I'm recommitting or not, but thought I'd make at least this entry. Worked a couple of hours at the high school after dropping Jack off at school. Trying to get all sorts of things organized for a huge student writers and illustrators conference hosted at the high school on Saturday. Nearly 400 registrants in the spreadsheet I've put together. Roger and I met one of the authors at Guru's for lunch to get some of her books for the bookstore. Fun to meet her! Ate way to many sweet potato fries. Worked a shift at the Brookside Elementary book fair. Grocery store, post office, picked up friends for Jack. Watched organizer Peter Walsh on Oprah (I confess I have a bit of a crush on him). Will be going to pinewood derby at cub scouts tonight, then off to the art museum for a book release party for Alex Bigney. A friend of mine conducts a children's choir which will be performing. (Update: pinewood derby ran long, bailed on the museum party).

Saturday, February 7, 2009

A very out of the ordinary Saturday! Out of the house by 9:00 to pick up Roger's mom. We drove to Salt Lake for Roger's uncle's memorial service. Uncle Ralph passed away about a week ago. They had a funeral for him in California, but he was being buried in Salt Lake where he grew up, so they had another service here. Uncle Ralph's son is married to President Uchdorf's daughter, and President Uchdorf was at the service and shared a few of his memories of Ralph. That was a special treat. I'm glad we took Jack with us. On the way home we stopped at the King's English bookstore to visit with friends who work there and to buy a couple of books for Jack. Then after a lunch stop, we dropped some paintings off to one of the artists in last fall's show. He and his wife recently moved to a home in Draper which is on the historical register. Very cool house! It looked just like a house he'd paint in a book! Another stop at Costco where Roger helped his mom pick out a new television. Then a stop at Roger's parents where he set the new television up. Finally home and into pajamas. I am so not 100%, but I'm trying to pace myself.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Got Jack to school on time, but didn't head up to school like I originally planned to grade papers. I am officially in procrastination mode on that front. Instead I came back home and spent some time getting organized - cleaned out my school bag, scrubbed the kitchen and took care of some emailing. In class I had my students write about the way Martin Luther King Jr. used language in his "I Have a Dream" speech and what it reflects about him, his purpose and his intended audience. It's one of my favorite assignments--students pick up on so many interesting things. Did many errands on the way home: post office to mail orders, pharmacy to pick up a prescription refill, museum to get the point of sale software registered (it worked this time!) and to pick up some pieces to take to one of the artists tomorrow. Came home and took it easy until Jack came home. We went to pick up Johnny and Benny, then later after we took them home, Roger, Jack and I went out to grab a snack. Jack and I started reading Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl the other night, but stopped cold after Danny learns his father poaches pheasants. Jack refused to continue reading a book in which innocent birds get killed. I can support him in that.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Sheesh! Another week has slipped by and here I am, trying to remember what actually happened. I've been sick (I think I've had a bit of a relapse because I caught a cold) so I've tried to get good rest and eat lots of vitamin rich food. I missed two days of work. I'm feeling a bit better today, but am frustrated because I'm so behind on so many things. I could write more about what I've put off in the past week than I can write about what I did! Some memories: Jack and I had fun putting in a couple of last minute bids for a set of "rare" Bionicle masks on ebay. We spent $1 more than we planned to, but we got them! A bit of an adrenaline rush. I better not do that very often! I was talking to a man and his daughter in my guitar class and discovered that I actually knew his family in Mass. I actually babysat for him at least once! I finally posted my 25 things on facebook (I had to write them twice because they accidentally got deleted). We went out for Mexican food at our favorite restaurant, Mi Ranchito. On the way home we visited with Roger's parents, who had news that Roger's uncle had passed away. All of a sudden we're having a lot of conversations with Jack about death (his friend Josh's grandfather died, Johnny and Benny's grandmother died, and now Uncle Ralph--all in the past few weeks). I spent 15 minutes on hold with a very nice Indian customer service rep who ultimately couldn't help me register the software because their servers were down. I got home from school on Monday just in time to watch Hilary Clinton get sworn in as Secretary of State. I like her. I hope she does a good job. We really need her to.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Gotta get back on track! Highlight of the last few days include taking CDs with Roger's photos to family and friends all over the valley on Sunday afternoon, staying home with a sick Jack from school on a snowy Monday, watching Jack do a fine job hosting his cub scout troop and teaching them the history of the Lego company on Tuesday afternoon, enjoying a great book club get together on Tuesday night (fabulous creme brulee, Virlie!), taking Jack to hear the first two pieces performed at the high school chamber orchestra concert at the art museum on Wednesday night, great guitar lesson on Thursday night, hunting down and reconnecting with high school friends on facebook, and going to work. Another week comes and goes with amazing speed!

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Jack went to his good friend Josh's birthday party today. We bought Josh a couple of foam swords and one of those squishy, spiky balls. We decided to wrap up the swords end to end, like a long snake and then add the ball as though the snake just ate his lunch. We even added eyes and a forked tongue. It rained pretty much all day. I just hung out at home and wasn't very productive. I organized and cleaned a few things, did the dishes, did some blogging, found some old friends on facebook, made a lasagna, folded laundry, got caught up on some shows on the dvr, that sort of thing. Pretty darn mundane.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Dropped Jack off at school and headed to campus. I graded a stack of essays and put together some questions for my students to answer as they peer reviewed one another's papers in class. While they worked on that, I downloaded software and did a test run on the audience response system I've been wanting to use. It worked! I picked Jack up at school, we met Roger at his parents' house, then headed to scout headquarters to pick up a cub scout shirt for Jack. I have long known that if I pushed scouts (which I already have very mixed feelings about) on Jack that he'd push back hard. So while I've made him go to cub scout meetings in support of his friends and leaders, I've never made him wear a uniform or earn awards. But I always told him that if he decided he wanted a shirt, we'd get him one straightaway. After pack meeting on Wednesday, he announced he wanted a shirt. The errand cost us more than $75 (neckerchief and slide, belt, shirt, patches, book, and then stuff for Webelos because he'll be 10 in a few months). But he is SO excited. We had a wedding reception to go to tonight (good friends, art museum, big band for dancing). He asked if he could where his scout uniform. Why not? We had a fun time at the party. I made Roger dance with me once. And Jack asked me to dance, and we danced three times! Now there's a reward for mom!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Another day at the high school, but it was far from routine. The librarian had a sudden emergency and she asked me to take over the class she was teaching, which wasn't on a good track anyway due to technical difficulties. I totally tried to wing it with mixed results (I did get them into the library catalog and into a few online databases and cajoled them into staying on task for a little while at least, but I had no idea what they were actually supposed to be doing). The substitute teacher had even less of a clue and was not too happy that we weren't doing what the teacher she was subbing for said we'd be doing. While I was walking through some things with the students in the computer lab I looked out into the main library and saw 40 students waiting to check out a novel for their English class. Our TA was missing (where did he go and why did he think he could leave, especially without checking with me?). So I left the computer lab hanging to go check out books. A crazy comedy of errors. But pretty entertaining, at least from a library tech's perspective. I don't think the substitute was entertained at all! Back at the high school later in the evening for my first guitar class. Very, very fun!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

One of those days where everything went wrong. Class was a bit rough, mostly due to technical difficulties with the computer equipment I was hoping to use. I wish I'd pulled off what we were doing a bit more spectacularly. But by the end of the class, we did accomplish our goal. We picked a topic that we'll be researching as a class throughout the semester: separation of church and state (possibly as it relates to gay marriage because that's the topic that was a close second in the voting). As we move forward, we'll be gathering information and ideas from all sorts of angles: historical, political, legal, psychological, moral, etc. We'll be figuring out how to define terms, understanding what assumptions people come to the conversation with, etc. And we'll be narrowing down our focus, ultimately developing several potential thesis statements by the end of the semester. Fun times! Pack meeting at 6:00. Several of the scouts brought games to share with the group. Jack did a great job explaining how to play Sausage and the group had some good laughs playing a couple of rounds. I thought my first community ed guitar class was tonight. I spent nearly 45 minutes hunting all over the high school campus for it (it's a very crazy campus). Got home and discovered the class actually starts tomorrow. Well, at least I didn't miss it and I got some good exercise!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Inauguration all day long! Actually I worked from 9 to 3 at the high school, but we do have a television there so a few of us stopped to watch the actual inauguration. (I was a bit shocked at how little the high school paid attention to the event! I was glad that Jack's teacher turned it on for their class to watch). One of my favorite things: Aretha Franklin's hat! In another life I'd like to be someone who can pull off wearing a hat like that.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Spent a lazy morning posting pictures on facebook and reading. Listened to Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream speech. What an amazing line he walked, rallying people to both passionate action and peaceful determination. Went skiing on the canyon trail with Roger and Jack. This evening we dressed up and went to our friend's inaugural ball in downtown Provo (Jack decided to go to a friend's house instead - I so wish he'd come with us). Limousine shuttle from parking, big band dancing, fairy lights and flags, a fabulous toast to our president elect (Utah Valley style with Martinelli's sparkling cider!), and lots of people who are excited about tomorrow's inauguration. Better get to bed. Back to school tomorrow.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Church in morning, then a quiet day at home. Roger and I launched a new blog (blogs are apparently my duct tape - an all purpose solution!). We are meant to help the members of our ward build up their food storage, and we thought a blog would be a great way to encourage people to share information. The address is www.storingup.blogspot.com. We're going to be posting hot tips, links to other sites, etc. I think it will be fun. I hope it catches on!

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Christened our new skis today on a groomed trail up Hobble Creek Canyon. We invited Jack's friend Rex to come with us. We did the short loop once, then Roger took the boys over to the sledding hill and I did the loop again. When we were done we were starving! So we went to our favorite greasy drive-in for burgers, chicken and fries. Later we had a massive meltdown over cleaning up the family room, but we go it done!

Friday, January 16, 2009

Jack had the day off school (teacher development day), so he went off to a friend's house while I went to campus to teach my class. I've been trying to get set up with this fun audience response system in class, but it's been complicated trying to get all of it pulled together. Major setback when I found out the software wouldn't work on my mac and that it wasn't loaded on the PC in the lab where I teach. I'm hoping the IT people downloaded it per my request. But somehow I doubt they did. Oh well. I may have to go low tech. When Roger got home from work we headed up to REI in Sandy, then further north to another REI in Salt Lake in search of cross country skis (a Christmas present). Success! Jack joined us on our adventure, but had his nose in a book the whole time - the newest Diary of a Wimpy Kid came out this week.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Worked at the high school library. I think we've got the faculty for our district writing conference nailed down. I checked out a book by one of the authors coming - Ann Dee Ellis. She started publishing after we closed our bookstore so I wasn't familiar with her. After school Roger and I went to parent teacher conference. We're so proud of Jack for doing so well in school when he'd so rather be doing other things. At 6:00 we headed to the art museum for a dinner for all of the volunteers. A Greek theme (the museum is organizing a tour to Greece later this year), and all of the museum staff were wearing togas and laurel wreaths!

Wednesday, 14 January 2009

Up early. Got Jack to school and headed up to campus. Scrambled to grade essays. Met with some tech guys in the library to try to get up and running with an audience response system I want to use with my class. Realized that it wouldn't work with my macbook. Will have to try again on Friday to get things up and running with the PC in my computer lab classroom. Met my friend Lisa for hot chocolate and a chat. She came to class with me to "observe" (I'd love to see her teaching at UVU). We discussed a couple of pieces of writing in class, including a very funny newspaper column written by Ann Cannon. Came home, regrouped, hung out with Jack, took him to meet Roger at his office, then headed up to campus for a staff meeting. Back home about 8:00. Into jammies. American Idol again. Now I'm going to read to Jack. We might finish our book tonight. Update: We almost finished the book. As usual, Jack fell asleep with three pages to go!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

High school library. Finished cleaning and reorganizing the 900s in the stacks. Worked on re-cataloguing biographies (we're shifting them to subject areas). Worked on the district writing conference we're heading up on March (researching presenter bios, etc.). Time went by pretty quickly. Picked up a few things at the grocery store on the way home. Cajoled Jack into going to cub scouts. About 5:00 I just hit a wall. Lost all forward momentum. Soon after that I was in my pajamas watching American Idol. Yes, I am a true American.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Dropped Jack off, headed to a doctor's appointment, went up to campus to work on a few things, taught class (seriously underestimated what I could get through in the time I had!), came home and promptly put off all sorts of things on my to do list. I'm not exactly sure where all the time went. Listened to podcasts and played spider solitaire. I did mail some orders at the post office. I did help Jack get his homework done. I did write up a quiz for my class. I did get some laundry done. Jack and I read. 

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Family confession: I turned off my alarm this morning thinking that Roger would wake us all up in time for church. I didn't know that Roger had been up half the night with a headache and that he would sleep in. So we all slept in! Even Jack didn't wake up until 10:00! We ended up spending the day hunkering down. A nice, restful Sunday. Reading, Lego building, watching tv, writing thank you notes for Christmas presents. I actually spent quite a few hours in my office working on various things, including sorting through a stack of mail buildup, paying some bills online and preparing for classes this week. I signed up for a community ed guitar class. It's for 14 and up, so I might find myself hanging out with a bunch of teenagers. That'd be fun!

Saturday, January 10, 2009

I spent a good part of the day putting off things I should have done. But I did get some things done, including going down to the museum to meet the new "fellow" who will be working for the next three months and who uses the store as an "office." I caught the tale end of the opening receptions for a number of exhibition openings and talked with sculptor Jeanine Young, who sculpted the cat that was installed in front of our bookstore just before we opened. I gushed about how many people stopped to see the cat, hug the cat, pet the cat, kiss the cat, take pictures with the cat, etc. She was very gracious. Roger, Jack and I went to La Dolce Vita for dinner (mmm, gnocchi).