Friday, August 29, 2008
Weekeeeend!
This morning I started off my day by dropping a can-opener on my foot. And I still can't find my keys (day 2 of that saga). The last time I saw them was when I was coming inside with my groceries on Tuesday. I'm sure a thorough cleaning of my kitchen/whole house would unearth them, but for some strange reason I haven't done that recently.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Fireside
One of the nice things about being a youth leader at church is that I get to go to their fun activities. They had a fireside tonight, and the speaker was really funny and drove home some important points.
Do you think Arnold Schwartzenegger's son ever gets worried if he can't open the pickle jar? Do you think he goes, "Unnnnnngh!" can't open it, and then just puts it back in the fridge?
Do you think Bill Gates's daughter gets upset if her computer doesn't work? She's like, "Dang it, my stuff won't print!"
And we have the Commander in Chief of the Universe as our Father.
In the scriptures, there's a part that says "Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings." Note that it doesn't just say "Pray to the Lord."
Those are just a few of the things I felt were noteworthy. :)
Do you think Arnold Schwartzenegger's son ever gets worried if he can't open the pickle jar? Do you think he goes, "Unnnnnngh!" can't open it, and then just puts it back in the fridge?
Do you think Bill Gates's daughter gets upset if her computer doesn't work? She's like, "Dang it, my stuff won't print!"
And we have the Commander in Chief of the Universe as our Father.
In the scriptures, there's a part that says "Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings." Note that it doesn't just say "Pray to the Lord."
Those are just a few of the things I felt were noteworthy. :)
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Books, books, books
This is from Susan's blog. Unfortunately, I am going to have to add two categories:
4) Underline books you claimed to have read, but really just listened to your class discussions/oral reports
5) Books you started but didn't love and didn't finish: designated with !@#$
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Star the books you LOVE.
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen *
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte !@#$
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling *
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee *
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell !@#$
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott !@#$
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy *
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien !@#$
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot !@#$
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell *
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald *
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams !@#$
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame !@#$
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy !@#$
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis !@#$
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (why is this separate from #33?)
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini *
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy !@#$ This one is where I realized it followed the same formula as Tess, and I wasn't too interested (whatever horrible thing could happen does)
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck (I think I gave an oral report of this one... didn't even open the book)
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas (although I have it from a good source that the movie is better)
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding***
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett *
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens *
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert !@#$
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle !@#$
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince- Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas !@#$
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare (again, why is this separate from the complete works? Is the complete works higher up because more people have read ALL of them than just this one? Weird)
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo * (although it was just the abridged version)
So what I've learned is that I start a lot of books, and if I finish it, that is usually because I love it. Why waste your time finishing a book you don't love?
Although, yesterday I read a book that was crap. I learned a lot from it, though: what not to put in a book. (Crap)
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Chinese Fiesta!
Last night we had a few people over for Chinese food. And when I say a few people, it's a straight-up lie, because there were like 15 people here. I invited Cathy, the teacher I taught with last year, and two of our students (the same ones I took touring BYU earlier this summer, Ariadna and Livier) and their families. Last week, Ariadna's family invited Kevin and me over, and we got to talking about making and burning food, as well as real and fake Chinese food. So I wanted to invite them. Livier's family had invited me over that day of the BYU trip, so I wanted to invite them also. Then I hadn't seen Cathy all summer, and I knew her husband speaks Spanish, so it would be nice to have someone that can talk to everyone. :)
So it was quite the fiesta!
I made some cold Chinese dishes earlier in the day (soy eggs, tomatoes & sugar, and cucumber salad), and then when the guests came, I had some hot eggs and tomatoes ready with rice. And the awesomest part about it was that since my garden is now in super-production mode, I didn't have to buy anything for those dishes except for the eggs (like $1.50).
The main attraction, though, was the Chinese dumplings, jiao zi, potstickers, or whatever you want to call them. Kevin and I started making them in the kitchen, but one by one, most of our guests came in to try their hands at making some. Honestly, this just the Chinese version of the Tom Sawyer trick, and it worked marvelously! I got to go eat my food and talk with everyone in the living room, and there was a little jiao zi factory going on in the kitchen.
Howie was a main attraction for the kids at the party. There were some little brothers there (about 9, 10, and 4 years old), and they dragged him all over the place. He jumped all over trying to catch his toy they would hold for him, and wherever they went, he followed. This is kind of amazing. Howie is always like that, but we thought he'd be a bit chill last night because he had just gotten neutered the day before. But I honestly don't think he even noticed he'd had surgery. He had a blast with those boys! I can hardly wait until I have kids that age. They were wild and crazy, loud and rambunctious, but they didn't break anything or pull things off the shelves like the most well-intentioned toddler does just by being in a room. They went to play soccer outside when they got full and then bored. And I didn't have to worry about them falling head-first into the pond. They just went. And then came back. Kids are the best.
We have a Chinese calligraphy painting on our wall that people always ask us about. The characters are written so that each paintbrush stroke is a small bird. It is a love poem, but Livier's dad, Juan Carlos, told his boys that it said "DON'T PLAY WITH THE CATS." The boys knew he was joking... sort of. They left Howie alone for a few minutes after that.
And my favorite part of the evening, the reason I am blogging about this (besides my goal to make everyone jealous of me), is that after the party, Ariadna's and Livier's moms both started to clean up. I thanked them when they stacked dishes and put them in the sink, and then I tried several times to tell them they didn't have to wash them. But the more I protested, the more their eyes sparkled and told me they would clean every single dish and the kitchen would be sparkling when they were done. I tried and tried to protest, but then I figured I couldn't stop them, so I might as well do my part. It is my kitchen, after all.
So Livier Sr. washed, Maritza rinsed, and I dried. It was fun to have that little assembly line going on, and it was fun to talk with them. I don't speak much Spanish, and they don't speak much English, but we got along marvelously. You just have to be more expressive and listen more carefully. After a while, it was just the two of them talking, but that made me happy that they were so comfortable in my home.
And at the end of the evening, my kitchen was SPARKLING. It made my evening and really my entire weekend. When I go to people's houses in the future, I'm going to do something like that. I usually give up when people protest, thinking they really mean that they'll just do it. But where I would have been up until 10 doing dishes (or more likely leaving them for today), they were finished, and I got to go to bed knowing I'd wake up to a perfectly clean home. That's something I need to do for my friends.
So it was quite the fiesta!
I made some cold Chinese dishes earlier in the day (soy eggs, tomatoes & sugar, and cucumber salad), and then when the guests came, I had some hot eggs and tomatoes ready with rice. And the awesomest part about it was that since my garden is now in super-production mode, I didn't have to buy anything for those dishes except for the eggs (like $1.50).
The main attraction, though, was the Chinese dumplings, jiao zi, potstickers, or whatever you want to call them. Kevin and I started making them in the kitchen, but one by one, most of our guests came in to try their hands at making some. Honestly, this just the Chinese version of the Tom Sawyer trick, and it worked marvelously! I got to go eat my food and talk with everyone in the living room, and there was a little jiao zi factory going on in the kitchen.
Howie was a main attraction for the kids at the party. There were some little brothers there (about 9, 10, and 4 years old), and they dragged him all over the place. He jumped all over trying to catch his toy they would hold for him, and wherever they went, he followed. This is kind of amazing. Howie is always like that, but we thought he'd be a bit chill last night because he had just gotten neutered the day before. But I honestly don't think he even noticed he'd had surgery. He had a blast with those boys! I can hardly wait until I have kids that age. They were wild and crazy, loud and rambunctious, but they didn't break anything or pull things off the shelves like the most well-intentioned toddler does just by being in a room. They went to play soccer outside when they got full and then bored. And I didn't have to worry about them falling head-first into the pond. They just went. And then came back. Kids are the best.
We have a Chinese calligraphy painting on our wall that people always ask us about. The characters are written so that each paintbrush stroke is a small bird. It is a love poem, but Livier's dad, Juan Carlos, told his boys that it said "DON'T PLAY WITH THE CATS." The boys knew he was joking... sort of. They left Howie alone for a few minutes after that.
And my favorite part of the evening, the reason I am blogging about this (besides my goal to make everyone jealous of me), is that after the party, Ariadna's and Livier's moms both started to clean up. I thanked them when they stacked dishes and put them in the sink, and then I tried several times to tell them they didn't have to wash them. But the more I protested, the more their eyes sparkled and told me they would clean every single dish and the kitchen would be sparkling when they were done. I tried and tried to protest, but then I figured I couldn't stop them, so I might as well do my part. It is my kitchen, after all.
So Livier Sr. washed, Maritza rinsed, and I dried. It was fun to have that little assembly line going on, and it was fun to talk with them. I don't speak much Spanish, and they don't speak much English, but we got along marvelously. You just have to be more expressive and listen more carefully. After a while, it was just the two of them talking, but that made me happy that they were so comfortable in my home.
And at the end of the evening, my kitchen was SPARKLING. It made my evening and really my entire weekend. When I go to people's houses in the future, I'm going to do something like that. I usually give up when people protest, thinking they really mean that they'll just do it. But where I would have been up until 10 doing dishes (or more likely leaving them for today), they were finished, and I got to go to bed knowing I'd wake up to a perfectly clean home. That's something I need to do for my friends.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Work
Yesterday and today were the training days for my job. I think I'm going to love it!
It's a school that teaches mostly challenging kids, and so the staff are just some of the most competent, motivated, and laid-back people I've ever met-- as a group. I get to work with a guy named Kelly, who now teaches the Social Studies lab, but he's been the driving force behind this program for 30 years, starting what was then an after-school program for adult learners and is now an entire school for kids who need second chances. Or last chances. I'm really excited to work with him and with the other staff members.
And I'm excited to get to know the students. This year will be an exercise in patience, resilience, separating myself from my work, and also putting my whole self and soul into my work.
I'm trying to make sure to read my scriptures every morning before work, and Kevin has some General Conference talks on CD that I'll listen to in the car. I know there will be many uplifting things about my job. I'll be working with kids that really need me, and I'll be able to make a difference just by being supportive and consistent. But I know that every day will bring challenges. A friend that worked there said she cried the first time one of her students called her a b----, but then after the 10th or 11th time, it didn't hurt anymore.
One thing that we talked about in training, in how to deal with angry children, is to not let their anger make you angry. I'll try to keep this in mind. I am there to help them through their problems, but their problems are not mine.
I feel like I'll encounter just the same problems I encountered last year at Orem Junior High, but probably more consistently and more developed. I could see some problems and issues budding in the Junior High students that probably will come to fruition and be full-on problems in my students this year. But people with problems are still people. I just really don't want to see any of my students from last year at my school this year... although there were a few on a straight course towards it. Maybe it will be fun to work with them again.
It's a school that teaches mostly challenging kids, and so the staff are just some of the most competent, motivated, and laid-back people I've ever met-- as a group. I get to work with a guy named Kelly, who now teaches the Social Studies lab, but he's been the driving force behind this program for 30 years, starting what was then an after-school program for adult learners and is now an entire school for kids who need second chances. Or last chances. I'm really excited to work with him and with the other staff members.
And I'm excited to get to know the students. This year will be an exercise in patience, resilience, separating myself from my work, and also putting my whole self and soul into my work.
I'm trying to make sure to read my scriptures every morning before work, and Kevin has some General Conference talks on CD that I'll listen to in the car. I know there will be many uplifting things about my job. I'll be working with kids that really need me, and I'll be able to make a difference just by being supportive and consistent. But I know that every day will bring challenges. A friend that worked there said she cried the first time one of her students called her a b----, but then after the 10th or 11th time, it didn't hurt anymore.
One thing that we talked about in training, in how to deal with angry children, is to not let their anger make you angry. I'll try to keep this in mind. I am there to help them through their problems, but their problems are not mine.
I feel like I'll encounter just the same problems I encountered last year at Orem Junior High, but probably more consistently and more developed. I could see some problems and issues budding in the Junior High students that probably will come to fruition and be full-on problems in my students this year. But people with problems are still people. I just really don't want to see any of my students from last year at my school this year... although there were a few on a straight course towards it. Maybe it will be fun to work with them again.
Friday, August 08, 2008
Two Things
Thank you so much for your kind words everyone. I'll admit, I was kind of fishing for sympathy. At least I wasn't fishing for compliments. That's a couple steps lower.
Anyway... Shannon tagged me for something else, but I never did it. I am rebellious like that. But this one looked like fun, so I'm doing this one instead, also from Shannon.
Two names you go by:
1. Chelsea
2. Pumpykins
Two things you are wearing right now:
1. A denim skirt
2. Unmatched socks
Two of your favorite things to do:
1. Kevin
2. Sew
Two things you want very badly at the moment:
1. Kids
2. Homework to magically do itself, especially the group projects for this week (blech!)
Two favorite pets you have had/have:
1. Toby
2. Howie
Two things you did yesterday:
1. Watched Rhythmic Gymnastics on Youtube
2. Had Two Good Things at my house (my creative writing group)
Two things you ate today:
1. Chocolate Zucchini Cake
2. Meatloaf at a friend's house
Two people you last talked to:
1. Kevin
2. Ashley, the girl whose house we ate dinner at
Two things you plan on doing tomorrow:
1. Rake wood chips into a large pile instead of several small piles
2. Homework, including the group projects (Blech!)
Two longest trips taken in the last five years:
1. 6 months in a 5-star hotel in Beijing
2. 5 months on study abroad in Nanjing
Two favorite holidays:
1. Christmas
2. The 4th of July in White Rock
Two favorite beverages:
1. Pepsi
2. Water
Anyway... Shannon tagged me for something else, but I never did it. I am rebellious like that. But this one looked like fun, so I'm doing this one instead, also from Shannon.
Two names you go by:
1. Chelsea
2. Pumpykins
Two things you are wearing right now:
1. A denim skirt
2. Unmatched socks
Two of your favorite things to do:
1. Kevin
2. Sew
Two things you want very badly at the moment:
1. Kids
2. Homework to magically do itself, especially the group projects for this week (blech!)
Two favorite pets you have had/have:
1. Toby
2. Howie
Two things you did yesterday:
1. Watched Rhythmic Gymnastics on Youtube
2. Had Two Good Things at my house (my creative writing group)
Two things you ate today:
1. Chocolate Zucchini Cake
2. Meatloaf at a friend's house
Two people you last talked to:
1. Kevin
2. Ashley, the girl whose house we ate dinner at
Two things you plan on doing tomorrow:
1. Rake wood chips into a large pile instead of several small piles
2. Homework, including the group projects (Blech!)
Two longest trips taken in the last five years:
1. 6 months in a 5-star hotel in Beijing
2. 5 months on study abroad in Nanjing
Two favorite holidays:
1. Christmas
2. The 4th of July in White Rock
Two favorite beverages:
1. Pepsi
2. Water
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Just feel like writing
This Tuesday will be my third wedding anniversary. This Tuesday I had my third miscarriage. I'm getting kind of sick of them.
This time, at least I didn't tell anyone about it, so I didn't have to do follow-up calls.
This time I felt really queasy and nervous, sick to my stomach for a lot of the time. At least I felt something. The other times I didn't feel any different at all.
This time I didn't run out to buy maternity clothes... and I didn't outgrow my normal clothes either.
This time I got a positive pregnancy test that you didn't have to imagine before you could see the line. It was bold.
This time I didn't have a job to run off to, so I got to sit around home and mope.
So I read Breaking Dawn. I didn't enjoy it as much as I might have otherwise.
I have an awesome life, really. My husband is practically perfect in every way. I have two snuggly little cats that require very little attention but give me attention. I have a job that I won't have to quit in March. Looks like I'll be sticking it out to the end. I'm taking classes towards a Master's degree, and I'll be finishing my classes in March (then there's student teaching). I have a beautiful little house to take care of, a vegetable garden, a lawn, and a fish pond.
I have the option of eating whenever and whatever I want. No need to set a good example of nutrition or take care of whiny hungry people... besides myself.
Sometimes we go out to dinner, and there are only 2 of us to pay for.
I have an iron that I leave on the ironing board, knives on the table, glass glasses, and hazardous chemicals under the sink-- with no protective closures.
I leave piles of junk precariously perched on low-sitting coffee tables, and it is there when I get back.
I take naps or sleep in whenever I want.
It still takes me only 30 minutes to get ready to go. Anywhere. Shower included.
I don't know where to buy the cheapest diapers. Don't need to know, either. ;)
We go to the movie theatre. We go on dates. We go on bike rides. We don't have to call babysitters.
I go to the library and get lost reading books I want to read. Sometimes I sit down in the aisle and just read snippets of a few books for a while. It's nice and air conditioned in the library. It's quiet in the adult section.
I pursue my hobbies: I play the piano, read, exercise, sew, write, cook, play in the garden. Well, except for the exercise part.
I know it will all work out for the best. Maybe I'm supposed to do a bit of teaching for a while. Maybe we won't have kids until after Kevin gets a good job and we can actually afford another person. Would that be so bad?
Everyone has challenges, and if it weren't this, it would just be something different. Maybe worse. I like my life. I wouldn't trade it for anyone else's.
But I will whine about it once in a while. Thanks for listening. Er, reading. Whatever.
This time, at least I didn't tell anyone about it, so I didn't have to do follow-up calls.
This time I felt really queasy and nervous, sick to my stomach for a lot of the time. At least I felt something. The other times I didn't feel any different at all.
This time I didn't run out to buy maternity clothes... and I didn't outgrow my normal clothes either.
This time I got a positive pregnancy test that you didn't have to imagine before you could see the line. It was bold.
This time I didn't have a job to run off to, so I got to sit around home and mope.
So I read Breaking Dawn. I didn't enjoy it as much as I might have otherwise.
I have an awesome life, really. My husband is practically perfect in every way. I have two snuggly little cats that require very little attention but give me attention. I have a job that I won't have to quit in March. Looks like I'll be sticking it out to the end. I'm taking classes towards a Master's degree, and I'll be finishing my classes in March (then there's student teaching). I have a beautiful little house to take care of, a vegetable garden, a lawn, and a fish pond.
I have the option of eating whenever and whatever I want. No need to set a good example of nutrition or take care of whiny hungry people... besides myself.
Sometimes we go out to dinner, and there are only 2 of us to pay for.
I have an iron that I leave on the ironing board, knives on the table, glass glasses, and hazardous chemicals under the sink-- with no protective closures.
I leave piles of junk precariously perched on low-sitting coffee tables, and it is there when I get back.
I take naps or sleep in whenever I want.
It still takes me only 30 minutes to get ready to go. Anywhere. Shower included.
I don't know where to buy the cheapest diapers. Don't need to know, either. ;)
We go to the movie theatre. We go on dates. We go on bike rides. We don't have to call babysitters.
I go to the library and get lost reading books I want to read. Sometimes I sit down in the aisle and just read snippets of a few books for a while. It's nice and air conditioned in the library. It's quiet in the adult section.
I pursue my hobbies: I play the piano, read, exercise, sew, write, cook, play in the garden. Well, except for the exercise part.
I know it will all work out for the best. Maybe I'm supposed to do a bit of teaching for a while. Maybe we won't have kids until after Kevin gets a good job and we can actually afford another person. Would that be so bad?
Everyone has challenges, and if it weren't this, it would just be something different. Maybe worse. I like my life. I wouldn't trade it for anyone else's.
But I will whine about it once in a while. Thanks for listening. Er, reading. Whatever.
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