Reverence

Sure On This Shining Night

Sure on this shining night
Of star-made shadows round,
Kindness must watch for me
This side the ground.

The late year lies down the north.
All is healed, all is health.
High summer holds the earth.
Hearts all whole.

Sure on this shining night
I weep for wonder
Wand'ring far alone
Of shadows on the stars.
-James Agee

Question

What was so all-fired important at Walmart, or Toys-R-Us for that matter, that it was worth taking human life for?

Crunch Time

My house is scheduled to be listed on Dec. 15. In other words, I have a little more than two weeks to get everything finished to make my house show ready. There are a couple of things in my favor: I already did most of the deep cleaning (the kitchen and the bathrooms are remarkable), we rented a storage unit (which David has been taking boxes over to for two weeks already), and David took the next week off of work.

This week we are going to prep and paint. Next week we are going to carpet and tile. Then I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure the kids don't mess it all up.

Any heartfelt prayers you want to send my way? They are greatly appreciated.

Happy Thanksgiving

My girls are still at Grandma's (they slept over last night).

My boys are watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The turkey smells divine.

David is peeling potatoes.


I am grateful for my life.

Panic Mode

2 1/2 weeks until the house goes on the market.

Must finish cleaning.
Must paint.
Must recarpet.
Must pack "extra" stuff.
Must eliminate 1/2 my furniture.
Must weed the backyard.
Must clean the basement.

MUST STAY SANE!!!

Art as Therapy

Imagine my surprise when Ella came out of the preschool yesterday, took one look at me, burst into tears and came running over, inconsolable. Being four years old and incredibly shy, she doesn't give explanations easily, so I felt like I was playing twenty questions with her: "Uhuh" for yes and "I don't know" for no.

What I discovered was this: her cousin (who is not shy) made a new friend and decided to sit by said new friend at the Thanksgiving feast. She (being unable to even say 'hi' to new kids without a serious amount of coaxing) couldn't just join them. At this point she was feeling lonely, and so the natural course of action is to get mad at her cousin. Then, the teacher reprimanded Ella, which hurt her feelings even more, the end result being that when she saw me she burst into tears. Confused? So was I.

Ella has relied so heavily on Jacob for friendship, but we know, even though she doesn't that there is no chance of them being in the same school next year. I wish she could be just a little bit less shy. Her first year in elementary is going to be tough...new school, no Jacob, unfamiliar teachers...I suspect the list goes on.

Back on track...Ella drew me a picture when we got home. She was pretty upset until that time, but once the picture was finished, she said that she felt better; still a little sad, but not devastated anymore. If that's what it's going to take to get her through kindergarten, well, I'll buy her as much paper and as many crayons as she needs.

Part One: Life

XXXII

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

Emily Dickinson

Bits and Pieces

David took me to see "Quantum of Solace" on Friday night. May I just say, "I loved it!" To me, it was all that James Bond should be; fast paced with pretty women, too much violence, but so much fun! Just a quick warning: the chase scenes, and several of the fight scenes were filmed with that stupid "camera on the head of a drunk goat" technique that certain directors find so charming. One more thing...Daniel Craig...my favorite bond since Connery.

Utes by 24! Woohoo! Take that, BCS!

I took my entire family to see "Once on This Island" at West Jordan High School on Saturday night. Ella was bored, Benjamin didn't really care for it, Sarah, Joshua, David and I loved it! Many, Many congratulations to the students at WJHS for a job exceedingly well done. (I guess I should congratulate Bradford Garrison, the drama teacher, and Kelly DeHaan, the music teacher, too, but I don't really want to.) The show doesn't close until tomorrow night, and it only cost $7 (?) at the door. It was worth every penny, and I paid for six of us!

Alma Mater

Utes by 3!!!

Numbers

ratios
percentages
totals
___________

future


bottom line

Arrow

Last night Benjamin received his Arrow of Light award. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's the highest award a boy can receive as a Cub Scout, and it takes a lot of concerted effort on the part of the scout, his leaders and his parents for him to earn it. Nearly the entire pack meeting was dedicated to honoring Ben for this acheivement, which Ben thought was really cool. Even the refreshments (it's a church meeting of sorts, there has to be refreshments) centered around Ben...a cake with a big frosting arrow on it.

I'm proud of my Ben!

Question

Why is it that I'm more excited to see "Quantum of Solace" than "Twilight"?

Cleaning

I'm not a terrible housekeeper. My children have clean clothes to wear (although they don't always take advantage of that). We eat off of clean dishes. There are no fur balls the size of baseballs hanging around.

But...(there's always a big butt)

There is no way that my house is clean enough to show prospective buyers.

So, I'm cleaning. And cleaning. And cleaning. And renting a storage unit. And cleaning some more. I finished the master bathroom yesterday. I must say it looks amazing.

My plan is to clean the places that I know I can keep clean first, i.e. my bathroom, my bedroom, the storage room, the linen closet, the sewing room. Then clean the places that I'm almost positive I can keep clean, i.e. Ella's room, the living room, the computer room. And finally the places that I know once we're in show mode I'm going to have to thoroughly clean every day, i.e. the kid's bathroom, the boy's room, the family room, the kitchen.

It all makes sense, but my arms hurt already, and I only have until Dec. 15 to get everything (including the painting and carpet, should we decide to go that way) finished.

I think I'd better get to work.

Nothing

I'm staring at the computer screen, and nothing is coming into my mind.

I'm completely empty headed this morning.

Go ahead and laugh.

More Woods

Last night I took Sarah and Ella and we went to Cottonwood High School's version of "Into the Woods" Remember how this isn't my favorite musical? Well, it wasn't terrible. There were things that I enjoyed quite a bit.

I enjoyed seeing Sam Smith as Cinderella's Prince. He's such a nice kid, that seeing him as a ladykiller was a little bit of a shock, and reaffirmed how good of an actor he really is.

I enjoyed the orchestra. I don't usually expect a high school orchestra to sound very good, especially for the school musical, but this one was great! Although, Sam Noyce said the music was really easy, really repetitive, and really boring (but it did grow on him after a while).

I enjoyed talking to JaNae.

I enjoyed talking to Megan.

I enjoyed seeing Sarah reconnect with all her friends.

Afterwards, Ella liked the show, kind of. She was upset because Cinderella's story was not what she wanted it to be. (She's supposed to wear blue! And have a godmother!) But, when I asked her what her favorite part was, the answer I got out of her was "the Prince". Later she asked me who Cinderella's Prince was, and when I told her Sam Smith, David and I realized that she has a little crush on Cinderella's Prince. *smile*

Unexpected Twist

Last night the most amazing thing happened...I enjoyed "Into the Woods". As many people know, "Into the Woods" is not my favorite show. In fact, I have never really liked it...before. I could tell it was well-written, with some problems (at least I considered them that) in the script and the score. I thought the idea was good, but the execution was sketchy.

Well, last night I saw "Into the Woods" at Hale Centre Theatre, the MWF cast. The first time I saw it I saw the TTHS cast, and quite frankly, the MWF cast, with a couple of small exceptions, is the stronger cast. There was something about the way Jennie Richardson played the Baker's Wife that I suddenly understood. And I really think that is the entire reason that I enjoyed the show last night. I've always loved Jennie, I think she's one of the best actresses Hale has, but now I have even more to be grateful to her for. I finally liked "Into the Woods"! (Still not my favorite, but at least I don't hate it!)

More Spirit

Youtube has this way of listing related videos next to the video you're viewing. I'm so glad they do!

Merry upcoming Christmas!

Christmas Spirit

I'm not one who starts playing Christmas music as soon as Halloween is over (or heaven forbid even before that). But, I've been feeling a little down the last couple of days, and decided I needed a pick me up. Truthfully, I was searching for Hugh Jackman, because that would have cheered me up, I mean, really, and this is what I found.

Yes, I feel better now.

disrupted

Ella woke up just over an hour ago and threw up.

She almost made it to the toilet...almost.

There goes all my plans for the day.

Amazed

Ella, my sweet little girl, has been working on cleaning her bedroom since last week Thursday. Well, last night she finished the job. It looks amazing! She even cleaned under her bed. I have never had a child so intent on a sparkling clean room as this one has become.

There are a couple of dust bunnies and a tiny scrap of paper under her bed, but I think that's it!

Pretty good work for a four year old, isn't it?!

A (belated) gratitude

A big thank you to Carrie Barlow. When I was a junior in high school she made me stand up straight to sing...no bobbing of the head, no bending at the waist, just stand there and stand straight! If it hadn't been for her, I could possibly be as bad as the "moving lady" I sat next to at Sterling Singers last night. No...I could never be that bad!

A gratitude

David made homemade pizza for dinner last night....yummy!

Mamma Mia

David took me to see "Mamma Mia" last night. Yeah! Everything everyone said was true. Pierce Brosnan can't sing (but he looks great!), Colin Firth is darling, Meryl Streep is amazing, and the audience is the funnest part of the show. One question...why would Christine Baranski get so much plastic surgery that she looks absolutely grotesque?

Fourth

Rachael tagged me with this one...fourth folder, fourth picture.

This is me and my Indian Boys during Annie Get Your Gun...Craig is on the left, Andrew on the right. Don't we look like we're having fun?

Today

I woke up this morning and thought, "Isn't it enough that I'm awake?"

The answer to that, of course, is "no".

Today I have a plethora of lessons to teach, a house to vacuum, a skirt to cut out, checks to deposit, bread to make, exercising to do, a Christmas card to design, a desk to clean off...not to mention knitting, sewing, quilting, carving and recording.

But hey, I've got a great start. I am, after all, awake.

Pretty much self explanatory

Be Responsible

VOTE!!!

Knit

I love knitting.

I really, really do.

I haven't had a new knitting project in a long time...at least a year. So, when I started my newest project my hands went "Ohhh!", my blood pressure dropped, my breathing steadied, and I thought, "I remember this!"

I love knitting.

It Worked This Time

Halloween, all day long

a day in your life

The Rules: take one picture an hour throughout the day, then post them on your blog. Easy Peasy! (I took way more than one picture and hour, but it was Halloween, and I am a mother. Still, I chose one picture per hour to represent how my day was.)