Monday, October 26, 2009

Journaling



What a hectic week and this one promises to be too! We had concerts three of the weeknights and a Halloween party that the ward youth put on for the primary children. (Pictures above, Krysta helping with a bowling game and Camille, with Tricia in the backgound getting ready for the party). It was so much fun to attend each performance. The choir program was excellent at Northridge High on Monday night. It was so fun to watch Camille sing in the choir and an extra treat to see Rachel (who like Camille, in women's choir) and then later in the night Daniel and Paul. Paul sang with a smaller little jazz group and accompanied them on the piano for one song and was excellent.

Wednesday at Sunset Jr. we heard from both of their orchestras (Eric in one and Amy in the other) and their choir groups. It was great to watch Krysta having so much fun as she sang with her women's choir.
Friday was a highlight. Camille's voice teacher had arranged for a performance for all her students at Layton High's small theater. Camille sang, "Someday" from Hunchback of Notre Dame. She has nice poise and confidence when she sings and is progressing and sounding so good.

We have been having furnace trouble--actually it has been broken. The fan wouldn't shut off without turning off the power and it wouldn't make us any heat. We researched the problem on the internet, learned to decipher the blinking led code, Bruce took the furnace apart and took out a suspected part, and I took it to a furnace repair and parts store that Alison had recommended. The guys there told me that the part I brought really worked and showed me on a furnace on display what their guess would be. I drove home, Bruce took out the new suspected part, I went and got it and he put it back in. Voila, Heat! It only took three weeks, some chilly mornings, two trips to Clearfield, 21 dollars (yeah, only $21), multiple hours of work and research and it was fixed. The same morning we picked up the snowblower we ordered from Sears. We are prepared now to huncker down for the winter.

Katrina called and asked Tricia to illustrate a children's book she had written as a class assignment. She sent it Thursday but our internet was down. Friday was way too busy to begin it so Saturday morning at 9:45 I put Tricia to work drawing. We figured that to get it to Katrina on time we needed to get it to the post office on Saturday which closed at 2pm. With Tricia drawing, me outlining her art in black and Krysta and Tricia coloring. We got it done and zipped up to the post office with 3 minutes to spare. Pwhoosh, (that was the sound of me wiping my brow).

Camille gave her first Sacrament mtg talk on Sunday. Our home teacher (also in the bishopbic) asked her to speak a month or so ago but never really told us the date, so it was really embarrasing two weeks ago when from the pulpit he asked, "Sister Stanford, Are you planing on speaking today?" My heart raced! Camille's probably did too. So, this Sunday when I woke up and realized that this was the week of the talk, there was no postponing a second time. Bruce printed a couple of talks about the subject off from the internet and I talked to her about it. She went to her room and 45 minutes later she was ready for church and ready to give the talk. She did a wonderful job. It was organized, she used scriptues and quotes and applications to her life--makes me want to see what she could do with more time.

Last night we drove to Springville to participate in blessing David and Rebecca's new baby, Henry. (Tricia tells us that is such a handsome name for a young man) He is a perfect little boy, so cute. It was nice to see extended family and spend some time with Staci, who we picked up at BYU on the way there.

Krysta is planning a muder mystery party (actually it is a theft not a murder) for Thursday. She planned for us to clean "top to bottom" on Saturday and worked hard long after the rest of us got tired. She has left me a list of things to do today so I better get to it.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Three words












I took my humanities midterm.

Identifying art and sculpture was a breeze:
Equestrian group--parthenon--check.

The section on identifying literature was tough--Homer, Virgil, Aeschylus, Sophocles...
all seemed so similar with few identifying features.
The Apology, The Republic, On the Nature of Things, Genesis, Romans, Poetics...
Who said what and why?
I agonized over each passage
looking for clues,
digging deeper into my brain for forgotten tidbits.
Logically pulling apart phrases and narrowing options.

I started on a fresh passage,
read a few words and curiously, I knew...
It was the Bible.
I questioned myself,
"How could I know? I've only read three words."
"Read more then."
I read the first line.
"Yes, it's the Bible."
"But you haven't read anything that identifies it as a Bible passage."
"Right, but it feels like scripture."
"Just to be sure you better read the whole thing."
I slowly read the passage's five lines ending with "sons of God." In all that we had read only Christians believed mankind were God's children.
Those final three words had intellectually proven it. The answer had to be the Bible.
But in my heart I had known after the first three words.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

shoot, shooting, shot

I took Tricia to get a flu shot this morning.
The doctor's office said to come at 8am.
We rushed the 25 minutes to Bountiful and learned that--nope, they were out (shoot).
After 2 healthy winters with shots I was determined not to have her go shotless this year, I persevered...
IHC has been out for a while.
Smiths and Walgreens were by appointment only and you to be over 13.
Davis Health Dept--not open on Thursdays.
Weber Health Dept--open but had a limited supply.

Shooting 40 minutes back across the valley we headed to downtown Ogden.
Inside a crowd was gathering--I didn't bother with the scooter, just grabbed Tricia and headed in.
A nice lady coming in at the same time held the door for us.
Inside I learned they indeed still had vaccinations so grabbed forms and asked about costs.
As we filled out the paperwork the nice door lady approached.
Her: "Let me help you".
Me (feeling in control of the situation, so confused): "In what way?"
Her (feeling in her wallet): "Let me pay for your shots".
Me (flustered): "Oh that is so sweet,thank-you, but we are all right, really".

A few minutes later Tricia got her shot (what a tough cookie, she didn't even flinch), a turquoise bandaid that matched her shirt and her double whiff of M1N1.

I'm wondering just a few last things from the day.
-Do you think the McDonald's sausage biscuit that I bought Tricia counted for "you owe me big"?
-What was it about us that prompted sympathy from the door lady? I'm feeling slightly self-conscience. Is there something about us that says, "desperate", "poverty stricken"? My flat hair? My worn purse? Maybe I need some new shoes. New shoes would say money in the bank, right?