I Finally Did It!

So, I've been talking for a year now about running a half marathon. Last week, I finally registered for one. It's the Canyonlands Half Marathon in Moab in March. It's happening a little early this year (beginning of March instead of the end) so hopefully it won't be too cold. The race winds along the Colorado River and is mostly downhill. I'm super excited to start training more seriously and actually have a goal with some sort of sacrifice as motivation (the $50 non-refundable registration fee). :) The lottery for the race happens in two weeks, so wish me luck on getting chosen.

A Great Feat

With the Thanksgiving Break, I had one goal: thank-you notes. You see, I have been trying for about four months to get all the thank-you notes from our wedding done. I had some silly goal that I would have them all written and sent out before school started in August. I suppose I thought I could move into a new house, unpack, plan the next school year in just under a week. Obviously, that didn't happen. However, this past Wednesday I finished writing and actually posted them. It feels like the voice of Emily Post that has been whispering in my ear about how many etiquette rules I'm breaking has finally been silenced. Now I have all sorts of new ideas for thank-you notes relief. For example, if someone gives you money, it's hard to write a note. I mean, what do you say? Thanks for the cash? That's not tacky at all. So I developed many phrases that didn't sound as gauche. Perhaps I could publish these in a book for those in similar situations. After watching the whole process and helping a fair amount, Nigel has invented an even better solution than pat phrases that sound hollow. The fix? He thinks that we should give our friends form letters to ease their fight with getting thank-you notes done in a reasonable time. The letter would be typed and then the recipient could simply fill in the blanks or circle words. Something like this:

Dear _______________,

Thank you for the __________________. Your gift was great/pretty good/ok/terrible. Without your friendship, our lives would be dismal/endurable/much better.

You get the idea. What do you all think? Is it marketable? :)

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving Break. Jo, with the combined help of Kate and Nigel, we reached 42 on the vocab game. It was hard work. Our rally cry was "We must beat Jo!" Thought you would like that.

The Joys of Grown Up Life

I feel like throwing an all out tantrum and I figured I might find sympathy among my fellow white mothers. Here's the deal -- the holiday season just isn't the same when you work full-time. Everything special about the season as I have always known it, has existed in part because of the huge lack of responsibility for say, a week or two, that accompanies Christmas break. But when you're a grown up and you work for a really fantastically ridiculous company, Thanksgiving means you get Thanksgiving day off. One random day in the middle of the week to stuff yourself and then somehow wake from your turkey coma on Friday morning to return bright eyed and bushy tailed to work. Christmas means you get Christmas day off. And that's it. No more lounging around mom and dad's house in pajama pants until noon, sliding across wood floors in your favorite wool socks and eating leftovers all day long. Those days are in the past. And the best part? At my current place of employment, we are not to ask for time off in November or December and from what I understand, any such requests will be denied. In other words, if my request of Christmas Eve is denied (it's a monday, for crying out loud!), I'm going to call in sick. And I announced that at our staff meeting last week. Might as well be honest if they won't be fair, right?

Now that I think about it, appealing to an audience comprised two-thirds of teachers, who will forever maintain in some sense the sanity-affording breaks that make the season special, may not have been the best place to call for sympathy.

A Saturday Delight

Last night Nigel and I went to a delightful film: Amelie. I've wanted to see the movie for the longest time but haven't been able do to an R rating. Well, BYU showed it in their international cinema the other night, and we went. How can they? you ask. Well, long ago BYU edited them, but someone had to WATCH it to edit it. Some person in higher places realized the irony/problems with having one student watch what was considered inappropriate to save the masses. So editing was done away with. If I recall, there were some problems with the whole changing of films/copyright thing as well. Enter modern technology with a new invention: the clean DVD player. Here's how it works: the DVD automatically skips any questionable part. If I understand correctly, you can go online and find the scenes that would be a problem, program the DVD player, and it skips it without actually having to change the film. Of course this entire process brings up several ideas--legal and otherwise--for a forum, but I don't have the time to write it all. The real news is that this movie was wonderful--fresh, funny, insightful, beautifully filmed, entertaining, etc. If you get the chance, see it. To start off the night, we went to a European bakery by our house (La Brioche) and bought pastries. Nice night.

Other than that I can't wait for Thanksgiving break. I'm ready for a couple days off. I have about 60 essays to grade between now and Tuesday. Think I can do it? We'll see. Love you all and miss you.

Sadness...

I miss you all. A lot. A lot lot.

Happy Birthday Jo!

Yay Jo! Twenty six fabulous years of life! (I'm just thankful that I've known you for a whole quarter of that!)

Let My Love Open The Door

Have you guys seen Dan in Real Life? It's really cute. You should.

I'm so happy that everyone is alive, and that we're all aware of each other in the blogging world. :) Yay! Sometimes though - despite my great love for the blog - I just wish I could have a Polly Pocket version of each of you and carry you around with me wherever I go. That way I'd never have to miss your passion, humor, intelligence, wisdom, kind hearts and friendship. Ah... to have Polly Pocketed Mothers.... Maybe that's what it's like in heaven. Polly pockets of all our favorite people.

Life is good. I love those moments of clarity when you can just stand back and count your blessings. Even when those moments are sparse and intermingled with super difficult circumstances. One of those blessings I've been thinking about is kind of what Whitney mentioned in her blog -- people that come into your life and give you a fresh perspective of everything. I love the idea that we are constantly changing, evolving beings, with the ability to have that influence on others -- to help them change and evolve, and perhaps even discover a little more of the divinity that is in them. Sometimes when you're getting to know someone it feels like even though they know you, there are some things they don't know and maybe never will. I like to think that it is only because as you are with them and you change together, certain (maybe less desirable) versions of ourselves can be left in the past.

I have been thinking about Jenny's post too. About how different a classroom is in theory than in practice. I think a lot of life is that way. I think most jobs are that way. If I studied advertising for life, I'd constantly be developing new and different strategies and concepts. In real life, clients (and bosses) are stingy and practical. They're boring and unwilling to take risks sometimes. I think that love, romance, family, and mothering are that way. (Not stingy and impractical, just different in theory and practice) How many of us have had experiences like we've seen in Serendipity or Pride and Prejudice?

Anyway, enough of my verbosity. But I have to tell you. My bishop has a blog. He's fabulous and it's fabulous. It's a great amalgamation of wisdom and humor and complete randomness. You guys would love him.

Grading...Homework for the Teacher

Long, long ago, there was a college student who avoided homework by searching the internet or reading a book. With graduation, that college student thought any likes of homework would disappear. Alas, she became a teacher. :)

In education classes, no one told me that grading would become my new homework. Some nights I LOATHE it--like tonight. I have a stack of 110 ninth grade essays, and I have absolutely no desire to look at them. So I decided to read the blogs, and I'm so glad I did! Not only is Whitney back from the dead, but she's holding hands with a boy wearing a Pink Floyd shirt. Does life get any better than that? And she's engaged! (Ok, so my heart nearly stopped when I read that.) He looks cute, and you sound blissful.

After reading Whitney's comments about real life in DC, I couldn't help but reflect/rant on how different the real classroom is from the theory. Whitney, I bet we could discuss this for hours. Right now, Utah is in the middle of an awful voucher debate, and voting finally took place tonight. Public school teachers have been taking some hits--we were actually accused of "not caring about students" and being "money-hungry" since most of us are against vouchers for families that have an income of $150,000 (that's right--the law would even subsidize that high of an income). I had to laugh. Now, I'm not as vehement as other teachers on the whole issue, but "money-hungry?" Has anyone seen my paycheck? It even got more nasty--I was sent a pro-voucher flyer that said "You can tell a lot about school vouchers by looking at the people who support them. And the people who don't." What's on the back? Well one side (the pro side) has pretty pictures of Republican candidates and then groups/people listed like "American Family Heritage Association," "Traditional Values Coalition," "Mitt Romney," "National Right to Life," "Focus on the Family," etc. The opposing side had pictures of Hillary Clinton and Al Gore and lists/groups like "Planned Parenthood," "ACLU," "National Organization for Women," "Atheists United," "Democratic Party," "Atheist Alliance International," etc. (Nigel and I laughed about how it was just short of drawing a line down the center and putting "God" on one side and "Satan" on the other, which felt like the overall point.) The bottom said, "Who represents your values?"

Well, that's the latest from the Utah political arena. Other than that, I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving break. Sigh. I miss you all.

Delicious Autumn!

Yay! I came back from Arizona for Halloween and finally feel like autumn has arrived. This is my ultimate favorite season. I mean, you can even SMELL it. What other season smells like autumn? None. My favorite months of the year are from September-December, hands down. Not only that, but my favorite part about autumn are the hours of 4-7pm. Just when the sun goes down and that crisp excitement fills the air. Here's a picture from my window of the house and trees across the street at about 5pm:

Before leaving for Arizona, the smoke was too thick to really feel the season, but now it is great - the days are in the 60s and 70s with that perfect crispness in the air. I found an amazing quote that pretty much sums it up for me:

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns." - George Eliot

Yup, that's how I feel. Other than that, things kind of stink as I still haven't found a job. I'm back on track and applying to some more, but it is definitely frustrating. Tomorrow I have a goal to go and try to find a holiday job. I've really been missing everybody lately. I just feel so out of place in life, but I'll get over it, right? Hope so! It's nice to be with the family and I am looking forward to Thanksgiving.

For once I feel like I am pretty caught up with all of my white mothers, so that makes everything much nicer! I do miss you all and hope that you are getting over illnesses and enjoying my favorite season of the year. Oh, and now that I have my own room, Jenny and Whitney will both laugh to know that the window is open 24/7 and I lay in bed at night under all of my blankets breathing in that beautiful cold autumn air without having to worry about freezing out any roomates! Love you all!

An Affair to Remember

Me and Jeff playing in a fountain...

Holding hands at the
WW II
monument...








Being cute at the
Washington
Monument...
ha ha

And laughing in the streets of DC...

I don't have pictures to capture all the great moments like sleeping on rooftops, getting lost in the Northeast quadrant of DC, dancing in the kitchen, fixing and eating two dinners within a two hour time span, tickling each other in the Metro (apparently, I can do it Jenny...without seeming like a "Big Princess"), watching the sun rise over the Potomac, and so much more...I have to say life is always an adventure with this kid...

I hope to post some more stuff later...

Debilitated in DC

Alright...so the long lost white mother is actually posting. It is a miracle. Did someone die? No. Am I engaged? Yes. Okay, okay...no, not actually. Ah ha ha. Sorry I just couldn't help myself. Little did any of the other white mothers know, I have been religiously reading the blog. I finally fixed my account, so I could sign in again and post and here I am. Jenny's latest post was what forced me to blog. I am sick too. I wanted someone to sympathize with me...I hate being sick and teaching. Last week in the middle of class, I was hacking up a lung and watched as 20 eight year olds stared at me in disbelief at how disgusting I was. I completely lost my voice on Friday and Saturday, and I was forced to stay in bed the entire weekend and even Monday. I have been using my inhaler, but I must admit that humidity is horrible for asthmatics. Who knows if that's actually a word... This is the other thing. I am not reading any of my posts before I actually post them from now on. I don't have time, and I just don't care. That may sound bad, but I don't care if I have perfect grammar or not. I don't think it's that important in this type of context. Indifference is definitely something I have learned from Jeff and feel it's quite liberating. Why care what other people think? I don't know. I don't know why I ever have really. Jeff has always been misjudged by others, and I have witnessed it on several occasions. He does seem like a punk kid, and he is kinda crazy in a lot of respects. In high school, he was in the whole rock band sence in Modesto and definitely hung out with a more questionable crowd. However, he was a good kid whether most people realized it or not. Even last semester he dealt with people making snap judgements about his intelligence. His roommates found out he was on scholarship and couldn't believe it. They just thought he was some off-the-wall kid that claimed he couldn't read. Ha ha ha ha...which is really funny to see people's response when he makes that comment. The best response came from one of my roommates in DC. When Jeff flew out to visit, she began talking about a good book she'd read. She asked Jeff if he'd read any good books lately. He didn't even look up at her, and with a stoic face, he replied, "I wouldn't know. I don't read." Well, needless to say, my roommate didn't talk to him for the rest of the trip. Later she made a comment to one of my other roommates, "Could you ever like a guy that couldn't read?" I thought I was going to pee my pants when it came around full circle to me. She actually thought he couldn't read! The funny thing is he does read, (maybe not every single best seller) but he thinks that just because you are a "well read person" doesn't validate you as a worthwhile human being. His perspective is soo refreshing and soo liberating. No pressure. You just are who you are. No questions asked. He is hilarious, and I wish all the white mothers could meet him.
Well this post as gone in a totally different direction than I had orginally intended, so I am going to stop now. I guess that's what happens when you write in stream of consciousness...

I love you all, and I just wanted to say...I am sick too.

I'll have to give you the update on the whole urban scene because believe me I have a whole new perspective on it. Bascially, I was completely full of crap before and didn't know what the heck I was talking about. So yeah...I hope life is wondeful for you all! It sounds like it.