The Messiah Sing-Along

Now that I live in a big city, as defined by the fact that I live on the 8th floor of a building that still has floors above me, one thing I wanted to do this Christmastime was attend a sing-along of Handel's Messiah. Two weeks ago, I googled and found one at the Kennedy Center. I immediately ordered a copy of the score and invited some friends to go with us. I love concerts, and I love the Messiah. What could be better?!

Well-laid plans rarely turn out the way you envision them, and tonight was no exception. Our friends had to cancel coming with us, and I had an impossible time trying to find a babysitter. I called some girls in our ward, and they told me there was a stake-wide YM/YW Temple Trip that evening. Well, there goes the entire babysitting demographic. When I called the people I already know (and I've lived here just over a month-- there aren't too many in this category), everyone (EVERYONE) was either out of town or had family plans. Not surprising, just disappointing.

But Kevin and I decided that, despite the dismal odds of Penny lasting through a concert starting at her bedtime, we'd just take the girl. We dressed her up really cute. This way, if she was screaming, fewer people would sneer and think she was a nasty child.

The concert started at 8, but the free tickets were available starting at 6:00. We arrived at 5:50, after a couple thousand other Handel enthusiasts. The line snaked back and forth through the Hall of Nations a couple times, outside, around the corner, down one end of the Kennedy Center, and back again. As we chatted with the people in line with us, we found that we weren't the only ones who had planned to stop by, pick up a ticket, and then go grab a bite to eat before the concert started. Ha ha ha!!! After an hour in line, that sure wasn't going to happen. But there's a friendly camaraderie between folks hugging their Messiah scores to themselves in an effort to stay warm in a line reminiscent of Disneyland but without anything interesting to look at while you wait.

We eventually did get to the concert. And despite the fact we had to leave at intermission so no one would see our baby turn into a pumpkin, I am VERY glad we brought our little girl!

We got amazing seats 2 tiers above the right side of the stage, and when the music began, Penny threw her arms into the air and waved them around while staring up into the lights. She sang along with all the songs-- especially the tenor solo at the beginning. When anyone clapped, Penny stood up, beamed, and clapped enthusiastically. She danced and swayed, the whole time taking in the spectacle with her wide brown eyes.

The witching hour did finally arrive, and she did squawk and cry a little bit. No one seemed to mind, though, and I don't think it was just because I had dressed her cute.

A little bit torn

Kevin is doing some on-the-job training for a little while at the China-Mongolia desk. See, the State Department has these "desks" for each country or area of the world. I imagine these desks looking a little something like this:except with a few more flags and posters on the wall. Anything you want to know about China? Come and ask us! We'll give you brochures, pamphlets, and a cheery explanation before sending you off in the right direction!

From everything Kevin tells me, this is nothing like the China Desk where he works. Apparently there are computers and cubicles just like any other office. But I prefer my mental image.

Eventually, Kevin is going to get some Chinese training, bringing his passable score up to a pretty awesome score. And as the wife of a Foreign Service Officer, I have the opportunity to get some language training myself, provided there is room in one of the classes.

Part of me would LOVE to take advantage of this. I studied Chinese in college, and the reason I chose it as my major is because I loved studying it! It's one of those languages where you throw out everything you know about English and start learning from scratch. It's sometimes like a puzzle or a secret code, and as you get more and more of the pieces and turn them the right way, the picture just falls into place. It takes time for me to understand the phrase, how it fits into the sentence, and then how the sentence takes on meaning as part of the whole paragraph or article. I gain a whole new level of understanding just by spending this much time pondering the meaning of words. Let me tell you, it's been a long time since I've read so carefully in English.

So, long story short, I would love to take another Chinese class. And after finishing my Master's on Monday (just had to work that into the conversation here), my brain is suddenly free and open, ready to receive new information and tackle new challenges.

But I think I've decided not to take any classes... for now.

See, while I did my student teaching, I left Penny with Kevin and my mom during the day for about 7 hours. She had a great time with them, and they with her. When I got home in the afternoon, though, she'd see me and cry, having realized she had missed me all day. Then whenever I was around her (afternoons, evenings, weekends) she would get a little frantic when I'd leave the room she was in. Part of this was just the age she was, but another large part is that she loves her mommy. I'd decided from the beginning that I want to be home with my kids while they're growing up, and going to a language training class would mean sloughing her off on a babysitter or a childcare center, and I don't really want to do that.

The biggest reason, though, is that I just love being Penny's buddy during the day. Don't get me wrong-- I sometimes get to the point where I want to be by myself-- or anywhere but with Penny (i.e., last Saturday), but then there are times when I'm sitting by her playing with toys, and she climbs over onto my lap to play. She loves her mom, and I want to be there with her.

I love studying Chinese, but what it comes down to is this:versus this:
Who could say no to those little brown eyes?

And I'm reading an article in Chinese every day or so to keep up my skills, and when we get to China, maybe we can have a tutor come over and teach me! I'm not giving up on the opportunity to learn Chinese. I'm just passing on this one class.

Best food ever

My new favorite recipe is a BBQ chicken pizza. I've made it twice now for guests, and it worked both times! That's a new record!!

Crust:

1 packet yeast

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1 1/2 c. warm water

1 tsp salt

2 Tbsp olive oil

3 1/3 c. flour

That crust makes two pizzas, medium-sized I guess.

Then for toppings:

BBQ Sauce (I used Kraft Original. Not too sweet or spicy, just a good BBQ sauce)

chopped cilantro

4 green onions (chopped of course. I'm not sure how it would be otherwise...)

1 green pepper, sliced

chicken pieces (I use the leftovers from a Costco roasted chicken)

Mozzarella cheese

Bake 15-20 minutes at 425.

I'm writing this on my blog for two reasons: 1) so you can all make it and then tell me how wonderful it is (and by association, how wonderful I am), and 2) so I can remember the recipe.

Puckered

Penny is always cute, but sometimes, even after a long day of nonstop Penny, she is exceptionally darling and heart melting.
Tonight after a trip to the store, I was lying on the couch putting my feet up. Penny came over to me and explained something to me very emphatically. Then she sucked in her bottom lip and squeezed her mouth tight together. She looked like she had just eaten a lemon!
She stared at me for several seconds with that same sour pucker face and her big, brown eyes. Then I realized that she wanted to give me a kiss. I leaned over and let her kiss my cheek. She released all the pucker in a little "smack" sound, and then toddled off.

Fancy Reception

Last night the three of us headed to downtown DC for a fancy reception for Kevin's A-100 class. We knew to dress up and be on our best behavior. I was a bit late after tackling Penny, wrestling her tights onto her, and forcing some Tylenol down her squirming gullet (she's teething).

It was a really fun party, getting to meet and chat with several of Kevin's classmates. The last time I saw most of them was at Flag Day, where everyone was a little giddy, dumb-struck, or otherwise not their usual selves after hearing where they'd be going for the next two years. But last night, it had all soaked in, and everyone had something fascinating to talk about.

I was excited to go, partially of course to schmooze and eat free food, but mostly to chat with Kevin's classmates and their spouses. I've heard this rumor that I'm not the only one in the class-- or in our apartment complex for that matter-- who stays at home with a small child and could use some socializing. So I was really looking forward to chatting with some of said spouses.

Apparently, though, all those spouses had gotten the memo that the party was going to be a little more like this:
And a little less like this:
Ah yes, I missed that memo.

Penny may or may not have been the youngest person in the room by about 25 years. But she had great social skills, considering. As long as either Kevin or I was holding her, she was quiet and good and enjoyed the general spectacle.

The reception was put on by a group of (mostly) retired diplomats. It was really cool to talk to some of them and hear their experiences, the highlights of decades of American-foreign relations, and also get some thoughts and advice as we start on the same trek.

Penny made some friends. We talked to one of Kevin's classmates, a woman going to Poland for the next couple years. She is very cool and gave me the idea of tracking the weather in my upcoming post. I did so, and today's temperature ranges from 6 to 16 and then back to 12. That has to be Celsius, doesn't it?!

Penny socialized by grabbing some olives from this woman's plates. Then putting them back. Penny's mouth was already full of about 10 already-chewed olives, and she realized she couldn't fit any more in. Apparently at that same moment, Penny also realized that she had no plans for actually eating those olives. She opened her mouth and began spitting out the black goo. As cute as this is when your own child does this (?), if I were standing there watching someone else's child do this, I would have stepped back and let the floor do its job. But Kevin's amazingly cool and personable classmate reached out and let Penny spit onto her hand. And also her plate. And she also got us some napkins so Penny could finish spitting out every last bit of those chewed olives.

Now, in my defense, I would almost always, in every situation, be the one to reach out and catch my baby's disgusting projectiles. But I was holding a baby on one arm and a small hors d'oeuvres plate in the other. And in hindsight, it would have been best to have Penny spit onto my plate. But I'd just gotten my food, and those curry chicken kabobs were to die for!

So maybe that's just one of the reasons that many people know not to invite children to events like this.

I did get to talk to a classmate of Kevin's whose wife lives in our apartment, has a baby Penny's age, and has another one coming next summer. We should become friends. In talking to him, I found out the mystery of today's power outage, and it didn't have much to do with the storm. As I mentioned, the power flickered once, and then a minute later it flickered and stayed off. My future friend lives on the 1st floor, and outside her window, she saw a fireball shoot 10 feet into the air. Cue flicker. Then another one shot into the air, and the power was off for good. Apparently there was an underground gas leak or something that exploded and shot the manhole flying into the air and caused a power outage.

We did eventually regain power. At 5:30 this morning.

Powerless

It's easy to be grateful for things when suddenly you have to do without.

Yesterday as Penny and I were getting ready for the day, the power in our building flickered. When it came back on, I thought, "Phew! That would be rough to be without power in this building!" And then 10 seconds later, the power went out. And stayed off.

It had been rainy and windy all morning, and I assumed it was something to do with the storm.

I'm happy it happened when it did. Penny and I had already watched Tuesday's episode of Glee, and had the power been out 5 minutes earlier, I would have still been rinsing soap off a slippery, squirmy toddler. As it was, I just didn't have the chance to dry my hair, which is not the worst thing in the world.

The bathroom lights don't work with the power out. Neither does anything in the kitchen, the laundry room, or the furnace room. As I was trying to find things to do, I kept wanting to do my online class. But obviously that wouldn't work either! We ended up just playing with toys and taking a really long nap.

Our housekeeper still came, even though the vacuum didn't work and she had to clean the bathrooms in the dark. If it were up to me, I would have given her the day off, but our complex didn't feel the same way I did. I am grateful and spoiled to have someone come help me clean house every week. I'm sure that, compared with the apartments of single people who work all day and then come home to a microwaved Lean Cuisine. See, we thoroughly USE our house. I bake stuff and otherwise use almost every single dish, and I use our bathroom washcloths to clean Penny after meals. They get a little bit food-covered and gross. This is, again, probably not the case in many neighboring apartments. So I always work really hard to clean up the apartment before our housekeeper comes. She has her jobs to do, but they don't include cleaning UP after us. I'm very grateful that she comes.

Yesterday afternoon, I met with a friend from church. It just so happened that she came while the elevators were out of service. So instead of meeting her in the lobby and hiking up 8 flights of stairs, we just packed a baby bag and met in the activities room. Penny's favorite activity in the activity room is leaving and closing the doors behind her. I just let her come in and out, but at one point, someone in the lobby started hollering about "a baby here with no mom around." Hmmm... that was mine! After that, we closed the doors with Penny INSIDE. Novel concept.

Thanksgiving, part II

My sister keeps pointing out to me that if I do a part I, I need to do a part II. So Sarah's OCD, this is for you!

There are many things that need to be done the day before Thanksgiving. (As I learned a few years ago, going to Costco should NOT be one of them.) For me, it meant cooking some delightful side dishes. We'd been invited to spend Thanksgiving with our friends, the Griffiths, whom we met in Beijing and then rented a cottage from during law school. Now they're living in Virginia, and... so are we! So they invited us out for the holiday, and we had a great time. Holidays are mostly about spending time with people you love, and I am thankful for dear friends.

I took pictures of the food I made, but I generally forget to take pictures if I'm having fun. So no pictures were taken during the actual Thanksgiving feast.

Behold, cranberry sauce:

I made it from real-live cranberries. It makes me feel so rustic. I'm practically a Puritan! I added a generous sprinkling of cinnamon and a handful of blueberries, making it hands-down the best cranberry sauce I've ever had. (I might be biased.)

And then I made a pie. Safeway helped me decide what kind of fruit to use by stocking frozen peaches and blueberries in their freezers. Thank you, Safeway, you make a marvelous pie! Well, I've never liked pie crust, so instead of making a top crust to double the stuff I just throw away anyway, I put a streusel topping like on an apple crisp. It was amazing!

It might have been prettier if it hadn't bubbled over, but we didn't complain too much.

Voila:

Our evening at the Griffiths' was marvelous. Each family has their own take on the Thanksgiving classics, and their stuffing was fantastic!

Taking Penny to friends' houses is always risky. We never know if she'll be docile and just enjoy the spectacle of being in a new place or if she'll get bored and start rooting through other people's things. She was a little bit of both on Thanksgiving, until she got settled with Andrea and watched the entire movie of "The Never-Ending Story." I have kind of mixed feelings about her attention span lasting so long as to watch an entire never-ending movie. She's well on her way to becoming a major couch potato.

I was happy to hear that the little cottage is doing well. They've planted more fruit trees, redirected the driveway, hooked up to the sewer system, and generally made progress on the place. And everything that was watered by the drip-line is still thriving and doing wonderfully. I'm so happy that it is. I loved working on that yard, and it's good to know that the time I spend 7-months-pregnant finishing that stupid drip line has actually paid off! Maybe someday I'll go visit my sister and stop by to have a look at the place.

So that was Thanksgiving. I'm thankful for friends. I'm thankful for family. I'm thankful for all the pie I got to eat. I am thankful for all I've been blessed with.

City Girl

Penny can't quite run yet, so she doesn't know she's missing out on frolicking in wide, open fields or twirling in the hills like on the Sound of Music. She sometimes does twirl a little bit. This, along with her raised eyebrows and emphatic nodding counts as her dancing. And we dance a lot in our apartment.

Since we live on the 8th floor-- and also because I have yet to find the stairwell leading from the main lobby to the parking garage-- we take the elevator several times a day. Remember when you were little, and the elevator was practically as exciting as a roller coaster? Your stomach would lurch at the top and the bottom, and for the whole duration of the ride, you'd wobble and move, feeling dizzy and trying not to fall over? Well, I'd kind of forgotten how fun it used to be, now that my mass takes a bit more force to lurch and sway. When Penny gets on the elevator, she's recently become scared of the little gap on the floor between the building's floor and the elevator's. She won't cross over it without holding someone's hand, and often not even then. Once on the elevator, when it starts to move, she bends her knees and stares at the floor. Sometimes she'll see that I'm leaning against the wall, so she'll mimic my same pose.

Our little city girl likes elevators, but she loves parking garages.

When we get off the elevator or out of the car into the garage, she starts yelling, "A! A!" You have to be careful not to be holding her right next to your ear. She has discovered the echo and loves playing with it! Kevin and I usually join in. I'm not sure what other people might think of us, but I'm not sure I care much, either.

Today we went down to our apartment's activity room for Kiddie Corner. We were the only ones this week, but it was a great experience. We learned that right under the coffee cups is a whole cupboard of toys just perfect for Penny to play with! Penny played happily, and I talked to a couple other adults who had shown up. We also found a dried Fig Newton in the coffee table book about horses. That may be a relic from our movie night down there on Saturday....

Penny does pretty well eating at restaurants. She rarely eats much, and sometimes she gets kind of restless. Once she starts squawking, though, it's usually because she's sick of sitting in her high chair, and once she's out, she happily plays and throws silverware on the ground. We don't go to fancy restaurants for some reason.

We put up our Christmas tree this weekend, and for some reason, the lower branches often find themselves denuded of ornaments. But the top is very pretty, and is where I put my cranberry garlands.

City life is an adjustment, but Penny has adjusted well.

Thanksgiving, part I

This year, Kevin, Penny, and I spent our Thanksgiving morning at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Penny was enthralled the whole time! At this rate, she could have a promising career ahead of her as a tour guide.

She really loved it. I loved the museum too, but my favorite part was watching Penny love it.

And this next picture is for Melanie and Katie. See that coral reef? It's crocheted! And it's huge! This is only a small portion. I think it's a great idea, but something you really can't put in your living room for display. But one of this size and magnitude definitely works in a museum.
And Kevin's favorite part was the gems and minerals. I loved that they had some out for kids to touch and play with.
And that's how we spent our morning on Thanksgiving.

Penny and her hat

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08jBP5gUHmY

Penny on Flag Day

Flag day

I know I ought to have taken a bunch of pictures, but I have this special talent of taking my camera places when its batteries are dead. So, let me describe what happened during flag day.

I met the fiance of one of Kevin's classmates in our apartment lobby to drive us all over there. But when I got down into the garage, I couldn't find my car keys, despite having double-checked before I left the apartment. I ripped through my purse and everywhere I could think of, but they just weren't anywhere to be found. I ran back up and searched my apartment. Same thing. I ran back downstairs and found that they hadn't magically reappeared, so I called Kevin. Maybe he could beam himself back and use his car key.

Or we could just take a cab, which is what Kevin suggested.

So we took a cab. The friend's fiance ended up paying for it because I didn't have cash (I know, I feel really awesome about the whole ting), but we did get there in time.

The basic gist of the meeting was that they would show a big flag on the screen, then announce the post and who would get sent there. My heart would skip a beat every time they would call the name of Kevin somebody. I think it was the most popular name in the class!

In this class of 75, there were 15 people going to various cities in Mexico, and I can't say I was very happy about any of those posts. I also wasn't terribly thrilled about many of the African posts. I'm sure many of those would actually be fine, but there is so much I don't know, and that makes me a bit timid about them.

Eventually, probably about 2/3 of the way through the class, they finally called Kevin (Fisher)'s name. And in May 2011, we'll be going to Shenyang, China! This was our top choice, and we are both very excited to be heading out there!

I really thought we would go somewhere else. See, Kevin isn't the only person in his class who speaks Mandarin, but this was the only post in China. It is a Facilities Management position, and that's not Kevin's area of expertise. But thank goodness for training opportunities. I can imagine it would be easier to learn to manage facilities than, for example, to be an economic analyst. Especially when your entire understanding of economics can be explained using a picture of a pie and a chart showing one person making shoes and another person making ladders.

So Shenyang, China. It's really far north and gets very cold in the winter. Actually, it is pretty cold all the time. You know those kids in China who wear about 6 layers of clothing? That will be us, all of us. They have an ice sculpture festival in Harbin, which is sort of in the same area. I'm just glad our baby will be born in the summer, not in the middle of the frigid fall, winter, and spring.

And our cats can't come with us to Shenyang. I think this means that, once and for all, we have to find a new home for them. It will be simpler in the long run, but that doesn't make it easier.

Thoughts on Flag Day

When Kevin started law school in 2006, we knew where we'd be living and what we'd be doing for the next 3 years or so. That's the last time we've had that luxury. But after today, we'll know where we'll be for the next 2-5 years. See, since Kevin speaks Chinese and used that skill to raise his scores and get hired sooner, he's obligated to use Chinese at one of his first two posts. Since there's only a tiny chance that he'll get sent to China this time, we're pretty sure that's where we'll go next time.
I'm excited about all our possibilities. But honestly, there are so many options that are each so entirely different, I'm a bit overwhelmed thinking abou them all. I'm happy that we find out today where we'll be going so I can just think about the one-- not all the "what ifs."
One of the biggest reasons I'm excited to know where we'll be in the future is that we'll be finding out where our next child will be born. The baby should be here about June 7th, and there are about a million places we could be at that point. Part of me thinks it would be best if we were still in DC. But on the other hand, moving around the world with a newborn and toddler would be pretty tough. If we are posted in a developing country with inadequate medical facilities, I'd go to a nearby first-world country to have the baby there. At least, that's my understanding. I'm sure each situation is different.
Well, this is an exciting day! Woo hoo!

In DC

Back in 2006 Kevin and I lived in Beijing. But since then, we've lived in small towns, most recently White Rock, New Mexico. White Rock has two traffic lights, and during the night you can see all the stars in the galaxy. Since I grew up there, I know a lot of people everywhere I go. It's a good little town.

Now we're back to the big city. We live on the 8th story of a building, and our nighttime view consists of the neighboring buildings and their lights. The Reagan International Airport is a few miles away, so Penny is constantly pointing up at the sky (or ceiling), which is her sign for airplane. We're working on making sure Penny holds hands with us when we go out walking, and now after a couple days, she's complying a bit more.

It's a bit surreal being in Washington DC. I mean, in order to get to Costco, the directions include driving past Arlington National Cemetery and the Pentagon (as in, THE Pentagon), then turning left. And the whole time you can look across the Potomac and see the Washington Monument pointing up at the sky. It's pretty cool.

Today Penny and I took a walk around our neighborhood. Now, I've always heard that people on the East Coast are a lot more proper than in the west. But as I walked in my sweatshirt, jeans, and tennis shoes, I was quite aware that everyone I saw (Everyone, even the homeless people, I think) was wearing slacks, polished shoes, and an appropriate amount of makeup. I don't even have any makeup!

Also, there are no playgrounds around for Penny or other kids to play at. I looked at the map for parks, and there are a few around. Some are memorials for various things (the Berlin Wall coming down, etc), and others are just a tree or two with park benches for the homeless to hang out at during the day. Or in my judgmental eye, that's that they looked like. And then there are some vast empty lots surrounded by tall chain-link fences, but I'm not about to throw Penny over just so she can play in the weeds.

So I'm getting used to this city life again. We're planning on going to the National Zoo pretty soon while the weather holds up. We also want to go to some museums and fun stuff like that.

Tomorrow is Flag Day for Kevin's training class. That's where they have a little ceremony and find out where everyone is going for their first posts. Kevin is trying not to be stressed about it, and I have put off being stressed until later. We gave our preferences a couple weeks ago, and once we find out where we'll be going, there will be plenty to read, study, buy, and otherwise prepare for. No sense in doing any of that until tomorrow. For once, my procrastinating has paid off!

To DC

Flying by myself (except for the baby, two cats, two suitcases, stroller, carry-on, and large diaper bag/bag of tricks) from one end of the country to the other, I was pretty sure that nothing would go wrong. After all, how hard could this be?

Imagine my shock when I arrive at Albuquerque's ticket counter (my mom helping me lug everything) and there's a problem: the cats. Despite being properly caged and prepped, they weren't going to be allowed on the plane. There's a minimum temperature requirement of 45 degrees, and in Albuquerque right then it was 42 degrees. Sorry, no can do. Plus, they told me, it was 31 degrees in Washington DC, so it just wasn't going to work out at all. (Hmmm... it may have been 31 degrees CENTIGRADE, but there is no way it was below freezing here. When wimpy-I got off the plane and followed Kevin through the parking lot, I had to take off my coat because it was too warm, i.e., not below freezing. Far from it.)

This makes me mad for several reasons. First, the only reason I paid to fly on stupid American Airlines definitely wasn't for their reasonable ticket prices or quality customer service. No, that's why I'd originally bought tickets on Southwest. But Southwest doesn't check cats, and I needed to find an airline that did. So I cancelled that ticket, paid twice as much for an American Airlines ticket, and then paid an arm and a leg to check two lousy suitcases. When I called their customer "service" hotline to ask questions about taking the cats, I never found an option on their menu to give me any help. And despite my laborious efforts, I never got a chance to talk to an actual person. I hate that airline.

I had to leave the cats with my mom, and she is trying to figure out how to send them to me. We'll get it straightened out, one way or the other, though.

Only one other thing went wrong on the trip, though: I missed my opportunity to board with my group in Dallas, which meant I boarded after the overhead bin space had all been filled. I'm a trooper, but it was quite inconvenient to try and fit my diaper bag, backpack, coat, baby's coat, and baby all on my lap and under the seat in front of me. It's a good thing I have a cute baby, because when the flight attendants would walk by to check if we were ready to go, they would just look at cute Penny and move on. It also helps to have a backpack and coat that matched the blue airplane carpet.

But everything else went well. Penny is delightful and travels as well as any kid. She beamed and cooed for the first flight, and then after fussing for maybe 25 minutes, she napped for a lot of the second flight.

Finishing up

As far as a last week of student teaching, I couldn't have asked for anything better. Monday: normal-- I teach half. Tuesday-- same thing. Wednesday-- work for 20 minutes and then have a going-away party. Thursday-- Veterans' Day. No school! Friday-- Field trip.

Yup, it was a great last week.

My first-period class has some incredibly motivated students in it. There was an entire planning committee who planned, delegated, and carried out a fantastic going-away party. It was originally a surprise going-away party, but when your only time to plan is during school, it was almost inevitable that I heard little snippets of conversations that let me on to their plans. That didn't detract from its awesomeness, though! They made some going-away banners that said things like "Thank you for being our teacher" and "We'll miss you" -- in Chinese! One person was designated to make a card, and the whole class signed it. And then everyone brought food. You might think that 8:00 AM would be too early for chips and salsa, homemade guacamole, pudding cake with strawberry sauce, soda, and brownies, but you'd be wrong. Everyone chipped in either food or utensils, and it was a fantastic party! I was amazed at their preparation, and I was almost as amazed that everyone remembered to bring things. I guess it's easier to remember party supplies than homework.... ;)

Each class after that had a few students bring things in, and Mrs. Holmes and I both brought treats, so they were all really fun parties. I have awesome students, and it was nice to just hang out for a few minutes.

I made turtles for everyone, and a few people wanted the recipe, so here it is:

Turtles

Ingredients:

Mini pretzels

Rolos

Pecans or cashews

Directions:

Set pretzels on cookie sheet. Peel Rolos and place one on each pretzel. Bake at 350 for about 5 minutes. Pull them out of the oven, and poke a pecan or cashew on each one.

Tadaa! Easy! The hardest part was peeling all the Rolos. Oh, and making sure not to buy Honey-Mustard flavored pretzels. I haven't tried them, but I have a sneaky suspicion they might not go so well with chocolate.

Happy Hula Girl

Even though I have more current things to post about, I am still going to go back and post this video of our happy little hula dancer at the ward Halloween carnival (which should explain the ruckus in the background). Oh, and if you see little bits and shreds of green hula skirt grass all over the ground.... I don't know where that might have come from. :)

Happy October

I've been rather busy lately. Mostly, though, I haven't written on my blog because I've been procrastinating writing a paper for my class. And if I have a paper due last Tuesday, if I write anything, it SHOULD be that paper, not a blog entry. Hence, no writing (blog nor paper). But I finished my stupid paper today, so here are a few pictures from the last little while.

After I get home from school, Penny and I usually go out on a walk. On this day, we went to Chamisa, my old elementary school, and played on the playground.

Then this is the only picture I uploaded from Halloween. I may upload more later, but my computer was being slow, and I only have so much patience. She cried when I initially put on the grass skirt, coconuts, and leis, but eventually she forgot about them and had a dandy time. This is a picture from a noontime party we went to with some of the other families in our ward that have young kids.
Penny said she may want to be a hula dancer again next Halloween because it was a simple costume and should still fit her by then. And when else can you wear a coconut bra and not be completely scandalous?!

Bidding

I have been so excited all day! Kevin told me last night that today is when he'll be getting his bid list. That's the list of openings in the various embassies around the world. Kevin will get assigned to one of them, based on his bids and preferences, and then we'll be off... eventually.

Since both of us speak Mandarin and have been trying to teach Penny some as well, we've been looking forward to bidding high on all the Chinese-speaking posts. There are billions of Chinese people, and we have like 6 embassies and consulates in China, plus more in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore. HUNDREDS of people work at these embassies. Kevin has family in Taipei, so that was going to be top of the list, with the rest of them shortly following.

Now that we have the list, there is.... ONE... opening in China. Period. And it's an opening for a management officer, while Kevin is a consular guy. And he said there are probably 8-10 other people in his training class that speak Mandarin.

So.... we'll be doing a lot of globe spinning in the next few days and weeks.

I'm not allowed to post the list, and I'm also not supposed to give too many specifics. But I'm excited to be learning about all these places. There are several in the Caribbean that I think we'd be stupid not to bid for. But then again, some people would say that about Europe, and we're not terribly excited about Europe.

Honestly, looking at these options, I'm realizing that any of these places would be exotic and adventuresome in their own way. I guess it just depends on how much adventure I'd like to have on a daily basis.

Kevin is obviously looking at different things than I am. Some of these posts require language training, and some locations are better for his career than others. Some posts have hardship pay that can be up to 30% of your regular salary. On the other hand, you do earn this hardship pay in most cases. (I say "in most cases" because China's posts receive hardship pay, and for us, we don't consider it a hardship. We like the briar patch! But we won't say no to some extra dough....) I'm more looking at the living conditions, weather, travel availability, healthcare availability, and possibility of friends and family coming to see us.

Anyway, we have a few weeks to mull and stew over the list. I think Kevin said that we'll find out where we go a few days after I get to DC. I can hardly wait!

Poor Penny

Tonight Penny decided to help my dad remodel the kitchen. He had the kitchen sink upside-down on the floor and was trying to wrench the drain off the bottom. He got it firmly clamped with the giant wrench, and right when he twisted it, Penny reached in to help.

There was much crying, a little blood, and a wrestling match to keep her from touching her bleeding finger. My mom and I managed to wash it off and put a Band-aid on it, and then we went to watch Beauty and the Beast for a few minutes for her to forget about the pain. She eventually did settle down, and we had a nice, relaxing time watching the villagers storm the Beast's castle. Anyway, Penny got pretty squirmy after a bit, not content with sitting on my lap to watch the movie. She wiggled and ootched, and then pretty soon she was snuggled up hugging me with her head on my shoulder.

I'm sorry if I make you jealous, Kevin, but it was pretty much the cutest thing she's ever done.

Where we were

Penny spent the day with Grandma. They went to a soup class at church and had soup for lunch. Then they played with toys and had a generally wonderful time together. That's not hard to do with Penny around!Kevin spent the night last night in Shamrock, Texas. Then I talked to him after school, and he was just outside Little Rock, Arkansas. Penny and I talked to him before bed, and he was on the Music Highway nearing Nashville, Tennessee.

If it's possible, though, I feel like I covered more ground today.

Today was the Discover New Mexico day for the entire 7th grade, for the entire day. We had presenters come from the community and surrounding areas to give classes on New Mexico and its wonderfulness. Each kid got to choose 5 classes. There was obviously a lot to choose from.

We had several artists: potters from Santa Clara Pueblo (and grandparents of one of our students), a weaver from Chimayo, a painter from San Ildefonso Pueblo, and then a tin-working class and retablos demonstration by the Spanish Colonial History Museum. One person demonstrated primitive arrow making, and another class was doing flint-napping.

We had presenters from the Los Alamos National Lab: DNA extraction (where the kids actually extracted DNA from strawberries), Nanotechnology, Bees (which are trained to sniff out explosives), and Robotics.

Then there were several presentations about the surrounding nature: owls, falcons and a snake came to one presentation, there was a game about native plants, presenters came from Bandelier and Puye Clilffs, and there were more activities about animals.

This was pretty much education at its finest.

My jobs for the day were to go pick up the catered lunch from El Parasol (a fine NM restaurant in town) and go to the various presentations and take pictures. This means I got to see a little bit of all of them.

By far, my favorite one was the Santa Clara Pottery presentation. They showed what the clay looked like when they dug it from the ground, and then Grandpa demonstrated how to make a pot, coiling the clay and shaping it with a gourd piece. Then as Grandma gave more information about how it was being made and then how it was finished, Grandpa worked and worked.

By the end of the presentation, the pot looked pretty much like this (except not polished or fired, obviously):

But he had completely shaped the pot and carved intricate designs into it. During the 5 classes, he made 5 little pots.

They also had some animal and people figurines on display, and they were absolutely gorgeous! The part I thought was so cool, and of which I was completely jealous, was that for each class, the kids put their name in a bucket, and one lucky kid got to take home a piece of pottery. Now, Grandma and Grandpa said that these were pieces with a flaw, maybe a chip, a crack, or a discolored part. It wasn't something they could sell in their art shows. But the piece I saw was a figurine of a woman, and to me it looked perfect. You'd have to be the master to know there was any sort of flaw.

At the end of the class, each kid got a good handful of clay to make their own creation. They had watched how to make pots, and they also got a quick demonstration of how to make a turtle (a very popular Santa Clara piece). Like this one:

It was really really cool. This was my favorite class, but all of them were fantastic. New Mexico is really an awesome state, and quite a cultural hodgepodge, too. I learned a lot about the surrounding area. Even after growing up here for 20 years, there were still things I didn't know.

It actually happened

My husband just left me. I can't say it was entirely unexpected. We have been rather stressed lately, and he has been mentioning it more and more lately. And today it finally happened, leaving me alone, unemployed, with a baby, living at my parents' house. *weep*

Seriously, though, Kevin just left this afternoon for Washington DC. I know I'll miss him in a day or two, but right now, I am just so excited for him to be starting his new job!!! We've just been treading water/ marking time this whole year, and it is marvelous to be finally moving forward!

My dad went with Kevin to accompany him on his three-day drive. They're hoping to make it to Amarillo tonight, Tennessee tomorrow, and DC on Friday. Or Saturday. We'll see how ambitious they are. I certainly don't envy them the drive!

I'll be following them once I finish my student teaching in about 3-4 weeks. Luckily, I get to fly, which will be quite a feat, considering I'll be taking Penny, a stroller, 2 cats, my luggage, and baby stuff for the trip. Can you see why we sent our car seat with Kevin and will just borrow one for the next few weeks?

Moving our stuff has been fun. In the last year, we have moved/downsized now 4 times. We moved from Provo to Boise, then to Kevin's parents' in Washington. Then we left our stuff in storage in Washington and just took our car-full of stuff (including baby and cats) to New Mexico. Each time we moved, we got rid of a significant chunk of our things. Each time, I thought we'd gotten rid of everything that we could possibly do without, but then we find more things-- or they get gotten rid of themselves. It turns out that mice got into our storage over the summer, and that obligated us to toss several things that I wouldn't have otherwise wanted to get rid of. So now I really have no idea what is left, but whatever it is, it's on its way to Washington DC to be stored for the next while.

Kevin will be moving into an apartment that the State Department provides for us during his training in DC. Most people complain about these apartments, how they're kind of dumpy and have boring, white walls. But after our college apartments and living with family, we are SO EXCITED to have our own place!!

I'm happy that Kevin left me, but I'm very much happier that I get to rejoin him in a few weeks! Bring on A-100 training!

One benefit to being a Title I school

Los Alamos is not -- by any stretch of the imagination -- a poor community. It's not insanely wealthy either, just middle-class comfortable.

In so many ways, this is a huge blessing to our schools. Parents are generally well-educated, and they teach their children to value education. Many students have a parent staying at home, and so the elementary schools have plenty of parent volunteers. Parents follow up on their children's progress and help them with homework.

We have great computers and technology resources. Heck, they're tearing down the high school right now and building an entirely new building.

But man, when it comes to the cafeteria lunches, I wish we were a Title I school. At Title I schools, more than 40% of students are from below-poverty families. Most of them get free lunches. This means that the government is very concerned with the quality of lunch provided: there have to be certain amounts of fresh fruits and vegetables served, and there should be some healthy content to the main course.

Today a student came to a lunch help session with her cafeteria tray in tow: nachos drenched in canned nacho cheese, fruit salad swimming in whipped cream, and a cookie.

What are we teaching our kids?

Hoops

The final countdown begins: Kevin leaves for Washington DC in a week! He'll be driving our car and all our stuff* out with him. Penny and I will live out of suitcases for a month or so until we join him. I can hardly wait.

I've been busy (or at least preoccupied) with my student teaching, so I haven't really done much to prepare for this major lifestyle overhaul. Today, though, we finally decided that it would be prudent to have a legal license plate for the cross-country trek next week. This meant battling the Los Alamos DMV. For the third time.

The first time I went in, there was a sign on the door saying they were understaffed that day and couldn't do VIN inspections. The guy also thought they'd be understaffed for the next indefinite future. They gave me a list of documents and crap I'd need to bring in order to register our vehicle. Joy.

After going through the list of possible documents, I realized that as an unemployed (well, unpaid), uninsured hobo living off my parents for free, there was very little (zero) documentation of my New Mexico residency. And apparently they don't accept library cards or just-opened-that-day bank accounts. I feel for illegal immigrants! I worked at the YMCA for a week this summer-- just long enough to get a paycheck. But that was more than 90 days ago, so it was invalid.

I eventually had to sign an affidavit proving my residence and have the ward membership clerk at church write a letter attesting to my street address.

Armed with all this documentation, plus car title, insurance info, driver's license, etc, etc, etc, I headed to the DMV today during my prep period.

They were understaffed.

Not making eye contact with the guy behind the desk because I was sure I would yell-- or cry-- I asked him if they were planning on being understaffed next week or when they were planning on becoming staffed enough for VIN inspections. He ignored my apparent lack of social skills and eventually told me I could go to the police station and have them conduct one.

I drove over there, and right when I mentioned the DMV, the lady at the desk got my name and phone number, which she would email to a certain officer who would call me to set up an appointment. Seriously?! I asked how long it would take and if there was any possibility I could do it NOW. Well, yes, she informs me. It's actually the guys over at the animal shelter who do VIN inspections, so I could head over there and talk to them directly.

So yes, I did eventually get my VIN number inspected. I did return to the DMV and get a New Mexico license plate. You only need one in NM, did you know that?

So now Kevin and our car are completely ready for the long trip across the US. Well, they're legal. Well, after we actually put on the new license plate. But the hoops have been jumped through, and it was no small feat. I treated myself by eating lunch and helping kids write essays.

*We drove to New Mexico in May with only what we could fit in a car, leaving enough space for a baby, car seat, two cats, and a litter box. Translation: we're already living out of suitcases and have been for 7 months.

Waxing poetic

Our 7th grade class is learning about prepositions, so we gave them the assignment of writing a preposition poem. This is mine, which I wrote during a staff meeting. (Shhh...)

Buried treasure

Off the boat

Onto the island

Up the beach

Past the hollow tree

Over the skull-shaped rock

At high noon

Through the ancient ruins

Down the cliff face

Behind the waterfall

Into the murky cave

Under the X

In the sand

Inside the rotted chest

Buried treasure

I know, I know. Wipe a tear, everyone. You may stop snapping now. If only you could see my final copy-- it is illustrated.

Finally!

Fall is football season. This year I've been following my two favorite teams, the BYU Cougars and the LAHS Hilltoppers. My brother's on the team.

Both teams started strong. BYU beat the Washington Huskies, and the Toppers beat Pojoaque. It was a good start.

But since then, it has been a miserable, lousy season! Penny, Kevin, and have gone to all the home Topper games, and even one away game, and we lost all of those... really badly! We were the first team to lose by the newly-instated mercy rule. If you're behind by 35 points they let the clock run, and if you're behind by 50 points, the game's over. We've used it two or three times now. It give new meaning to the crowd shouting, "No mercy!"

BYU has been equally lousy. Last week we lost to Utah State. Utah State! Come on, we haven't lost to them since like 1993! And we lost by 15 points. It was pathetic!

Then this week, BYU fired their defensive coordinator. They said they had the hardest week of practice they've ever had. I could tell they definitely regrouped and reevaluated their game.

We played San Diego State this week, and I just hoped we'd stay in the game. They were ranked in the top 30 or higher for offense, defense, etc. We were ranked in the 115s in some areas. There are only 120 teams. It didn't look good.

But somehow we got our heads together, made tackles, pulled off a 4th down faked punt-turned-pass, and pushed the ball down the field. We dominated! We had possession for 45 minutes, compared to SDSU's 15. Wahoo! And it came down to the very last minute where we finally won by 3 points! Whew!! What a game!

Now, maybe the Toppers should see about rearranging their coaching staff....

Busy... but mostly just lazy

I would love to write about how busy I have been with my student teaching and how when I get home I'm just so exhausted I grade papers and then crawl into bed. And that's why I haven't been writing much.
That would be true, except that it's not.
I'm doing my student teaching, and it keeps me fairly busy, but I'm just teaching occasionally, and it doesn't involve a lot of grading. That can't be it.
I haven't taken any pictures this month, because our camera has fallen under the couch. I know exactly where it is, and I could reach it if I ever got down on my knees. But then I know the battery's dead, and that would mean I'd have to get then off my knees, run upstairs to charge the battery, and then wait for the battery to be charged before I can use it.
This is also why I haven't used my cell phone in a few days.
Man, something's got to change! I can't keep up this laziness.

Penny walks!

It would be great if she would pose and do it for the camera, but instead, this is a picture of Penny's first s'more a couple weeks ago. Awwwwww!

Penny started pushing around a little toy this week. It looks like a cross between an easel and a shopping cart, and she loves the mobility it brings! She progressed in just a few days from chasing it wildly and out-of-control to using it as a prop to facilitate her walking. Then today after dinner my parents played with her out on the lawn, having her walk 3-4 steps from one to the other. Kevin hollered for me to come out, and when I did, Penny walked about 10 feet across the lawn to me. She was ecstatic, and so were the rest of us! She's officially walking!

And I know everyone is going to pepper my comments with things like, "You just watch out!" and, "You'll wish she never started!" And I don't care. I'm just thrilled that she's finally walking!

Plus, it's not like we haven't already mastered keeping her out of trouble. We're living with my parents, and their house isn't at all baby proof, especially now that they're remodeling their kitchen. We've gotten good at keeping her out of the power tools and insulation that have been within her reach the last couple months. We're so good at it, we're bored. We're ready for a new challenge! Bring on the walking!

I think this is an appropriate time to list all the other amazing things Penny does:

She says "meow," "bye," and "hi." She doesn't consistently say anything else, not even Mama or Dada. However, after I was cheering for Uncle Daniel at the football game last weekend, she yelled, "A-Da! A-Da!" I'm pretty sure she knows more than she lets on. I mean, why call for someone when they are already in front of you, ready to give you anything you want?

She has phone conversations on her cell phone-- or anything else she holds up to her face (TV control, cupboard shim, calculator, etc)

She pats her leg when she wants the dog or cats to come. They don't. ;)

She plays the harmonica, kazoo, and train whistle. And piano. In fact, if I ever hold her on my lap when I play, she rudely and insistently scoots my hands out of the way so SHE can play. Then she climbs up and plays with her feet. That may have to stop at some point....

She cries when I leave. This isn't usually a problem, since I leave before she wakes up.

Penny loves to eat xigua (watermelon), putao (grapes), binggan (graham crackers), and carrots. She likes anything we're eating, but she can't have milk because of allergies.

She can point to her bizi (nose), erduo (ears), yanjing (eyes, which she tries to open and touch with her finger), and we're working on shetou (tongue). She thinks it's really funny to poke at my eyes or stick her foot on my nose while she's nursing. Sometimes it's funny. Sometimes it's stinky. She's always cute.

She points at the sky (or ceiling) whenever she hears a feiji (airplane).

Kevin lets her pick her own clothes. Whenever it's presented as an option, she always picks her rayon shirt with the red flowers. I think it's the cutest one she has right now, and it's nice to know SHE thinks so too.

Sometimes Penny picks her own pants to go with her shirts, which is why today she was wearing some magenta shorts with her red and white flowered shirt. We'll work on that in the future...

Penny started boycotting her second nap, and now she has compromised with an extra-long midday nap. We'll take it!

Penny loves playing with her dad. She always has a special place for me (the giver of milk), but I love that Kevin has this chance to stay home with her for a couple months before he starts his diplomatic career and has to be away for longer. She squeals and throws herself into his arms. I love to see how happy they are together!

Pretty much amazing

When I was in middle and high school, I wrote in my journal every day. Sometimes I would devote a whole entry to a friend, telling my journal all about them: why they were cool, what we did together, what they liked and disliked. There wasn't really a point; I just wrote.

This post is about one of my friends, and today it has a point. For once. ;)

My friend, Rachel, and her husband, Ryan, are in the process of adopting. Actually, they're finished with the paperwork and are in the process of waiting. You can check out their official adoption profile here and Rachel's blog here.

Spread the word, folks!

And here are some of my favorite things about Rachel, in addition to what's on her profile:

- She is super motivated.

- She loves writing, so she started a creative writing club. (That's where we got to know each other.) She loves chocolate brownies and other delectable desserts, so she incorporated that into the creative writing club.

- During college, she placed in the Brimhall Essay Contest-- twice! And one of the essays she literally wrote the night before. Both times, she used a portion of her winnings to take our entire club out to ice cream. Talk about incredibly talented-- and generous!

- She visited an orphanage while she was in El Salvador, so she started up a program sending volunteers down to live there, plan stimulating activities, and generally brighten the lives of the disabled kids and adults who live there. She and Ryan spent a semester down there right when they were first married.

- She moved to New York and wanted to get to know the neighbor kids, so she started a cookie club, teaching all the kiddos to bake.

- She runs. And I'm talking 5k races and stuff like that, not just when something rolls into the street or someone holds a knife to her back, which would be the case for me. ;)

- She goes ALL OUT for holidays. Halloween, Valentine's, Christmas, you name it! This hearkens to both her enthusiasm and her generosity.

- She is the best English teacher I know. Every time I had to interview a teacher for some of my education classes, I'd always call her. She has incredible dedication and enthusiasm for reaching out to her students.

- She sings. Beautifully.

- She's amazing.

That basically sums up Rachel. She's amazing! I know that the child they end up adopting is one lucky kid. I'm keeping my ears open, and I ask you readers to spread the word as well.

If only I weren't too old to be adopted....

Crazy Hair

This week is Homecoming week, and the student council made an announcement on Friday about Spirit Days coming up. On the bus ride home, a whole gaggle of 7th grade girls were discussing how they would do their hair for Crazy Hair and Hat Day. I listened and schemed my own crazy hair plan, including Princess Leia buns and pipe cleaner swizzles.

Fast-forward to this morning. I leave at 7:00, and at 6:58 while I'm blow-drying my hair, I remember my hair plans. But while 2 minutes is plenty of time to put together an intricate hairdo, it doesn't leave me time for pipe cleaner swizzles. So I scrap that idea and grab a can of pink hairspray. (I love living at my parents' house-- so much random stuff I would never have in my own place!) I spray 4 or 5 highlight streaks through my hair and then quickly scrub off my arm, which has somehow turned pink.

I rode the bus with a bunch of school-spiritless kids. How lame!

I got to school, and there were even more spiritless kids. Can it be that there is even less school spirit than when I went to school there? Impossible!

Apparently, there is no problem with the level of school spirit at our school. There is only a problem with my listening to announcements.

I'll be ready with my Leia buns and swizzles on WEDNESDAY. Today I simply added flair to my usual business casual.

Cleaning up the bus

I love the Atomic City Transit! I ride the bus every day to and from work, and I love it for a lot of reasons: A) it's free, B) there's a stop three doors down from my house, and C) that bus goes directly to the middle school without having to transfer. Oh, and D) it's free. That's worth mentioning again.

The one sucky part is that since it goes right to the middle school, via the high school, it's basically like riding the school bus. I mean, there are plenty of adults, but the loudest and most obnoxious bulk of riders is comprised of middle and high school students.

And the adults all sit quietly reading their papers or listening to music, while the students try to outdo each other in how liberally they can sprinkle their conversations with the F-word, or one-up each other in conversational raunchiness.

And it gets old.

Yesterday on the way home, I came up with a plan for what I would do next time it got out of control. Which would be soon. Kevin gave me his old iPod, and I happen to know all the words to the Wicked soundtrack. I also rather enjoy belting along with those Broadway divas, despite my lack of vocal ability.

So the scenario would go like this: After apologizing in advance to any other adults riding the bus, I'd sit in the back with the teenagers. I'd sing my heart out along with a couple songs-- it wouldn't take more than two, I'm sure-- and then I'd get a tap on my shoulder. Or someone would yell something. Either way, someone would communicate the "stop singing" memo.

I'd innocently say, "Did you not like my singing? Was that not something you wanted to hear when you got on the bus this morning?" Then I'd get out my angry eyes. "Maybe that's something you should think about before you start sharing your raunchy, inappropriate conversations with the whole bus! Maybe that's not what we wanted to hear on the bus this morning."

That was my plan as I went out to the bus stop. I even sang a little on my way out there-- to warm up, you know.

Here's how it really went:

The bus was a little emptier than usual. The conversations were quiet and nice-- well below their usual roar. It definitely wasn't loud enough to require singing.

So I just read my book instead.

But about halfway up the hill, I got an earful of [a vulgar, detailed explanation of something I won't write here].

Out came the angry eyes. (They're not that angry-- more like grumpy eyes.)

"Do you realize there are other people on this bus?" I paused for dramatic effect.

Deer-in-the-headlight stares.

I waved my bookmark at them. "Yeah, keep that in mind." I went back to my book.

After a few surprised seconds, the conversation continued-- on a new topic. Occasionally the dialogue was laced with "Oh my gosh," or "freaking." It was awesome.

I'll save my singing for another day.

Clueless no more

I have no idea how I ever got away with not watching the movie, Clueless, until yesterday! Well, that's not true. I know exactly why. It's because when I was in middle school, I didn't go see it in the theatre. Then by the time it came out on video, all my friends had already seen it, and they didn't want to watch it again. Sometimes it would come up as a video choice, and I'd say, "Hey, what about Clueless? I've never seen it." They'd say, "Nah," and we'd watch something else.
So I somehow lived through the whole '90s and '00s without having watched this little beauty.
And you know what? I actually liked it! I can't say I'm a huge fan of Alicia Silverstone's acting talents (Does she have any? She wasn't even believably ditzy! Just boring and pouty), but the movie itself was pretty fun!
I liked the screenplay and the adaptation of Emma. I'd just watched the 2010 BBC version of Emma (which is wonderful-- in a completely different ballpark than Clueless, of course), and it was fun to see this version. I like the characters, and I love how so many of the guys in the movie went on to have very successful acting careers.
I loved the peek into 1994. It didn't try to be a timeless movie, and it now serves as a great little time capsule. I can't believe Beavis and Butthead were ever popular, and Ren and Stimpy are ridiculous. It's sad that 15 years later, boys still wear their pants halfway down their legs, even though now they're tight little skinny jeans.
There's probably a lot more that's now ridiculously out of style, but since that's when I grew up, it's normal to me. And almost homey and comforting. But not quite. ;)
What a fun movie! And if you haven't seen it since 1994, I recommend watching it again for a cute little funny movie.

Two Good People

Back in 2003, my friend Sarah told me about this amazing club I should join. I believe her exact words were, "My sister is starting this creative writing club, and it's just going to be her and a bunch of her friends, so you have to come with me." What wasn't to love?!

We met in a lovely old Provo apartment where we would write something, and then share our writings while eating decadent desserts. With this wholesome mix of creative writing and dessert, our club got its eloquent name: Two Good Things.

Now, before I ramble too much about this awesome club (which did turn out to be awesome, by the way. We kept meeting every week for about 5 years!), I want to mention a few wonderful things about Rachel, our club's founder.

Rachel loves writing. She entered contests in high school, and then in college she placed in the Brimhall essay contest-- twice-- and took our club out for ice cream both times. And since she loves creative writing, she got a bunch of her friends together and started a club for it.

Nourishment

Since I've started curbing my eating in an attempt to take a trip to India, I've noticed a few things about my eating habits.

First of all, I eat when I'm hungry. And I munch when I'm not. It's that second part I've been trying to change. I enjoy doing a lot of things; I have more hobbies than you can shake a stick at. (Pretty much, I love to do everything except scrapbooking, cake decorating, playing the guitar, and jogging.) And I don't have to let eating take over all my free time expenditure.

Second, I've notice the phrase I grew up using all the time in blessings on the food: praying that it will "nourish our bodies." How is it possible? Now, I love the idea of nourishment, and I'm happy to be blessed with plenty of it. But I'm not suffering from malnutrition. It's just the opposite, in fact. So why is it, after a day-- or even a lifetime!-- of nourishment to the point of saturation, that I pray for THIS food to nourish us? It's like saying, "Yes, I know I've been eating all day and have taken in more food than is good for my body, but please, set all that aside and let me get nourishment from this food." I'm going to put more thought into my prayers, rather than just using an old phrase that I don't feel has much applicability to my circumstances.

And finally, I'm happier when I only eat what I need. My clothes are fitting better, my jaw is redefining itself, and I make sure to enjoy the food I do eat. And I still eat everything I would have before; I just only eat enough to fill me up. Then I do something else. Ideally.

Seventh Graders

When I tell people I'm student teaching at the Middle School, I usually get the pity look. Then I hastily explain that it was my first choice, and for whatever reason, I love teaching seventh graders! People smile, nod, and say, "Well, I'm glad there are people like you."

I'm figuring out why it is I love it so much. Part of it must be that I loved middle school. I was really quiet in elementary school, spending most of my free time reading (and most of my class time, come to think of it...). Then I went to middle school and met an amazing group of new friends: Sheri, Leslie, Leslie, Julia, Megan, Aimee, Gloriane, Lydia-- these girls made my years. I put away my books and learned to socialize. Middle school was a blast! I can't say we were always perfectly kind to each other; we loaded every comment with heaps of sarcasm. But we made it through and giggled a lot.

I loved middle school, and I loved high school, but that's not why I love teaching there. In fact, life has just continued its gradual ascent, and I would never go back--even with all the friends, the crushes, the inside jokes, and the camaraderie that I doubt I'll ever have again.

I've finally pinpointed why it is I love this group. It's the same reason I love cheesy teen literature. I'm not just talking about Twilight, although that's definitely on the top of the heap. I'm talking about the cheesy, sappy, crappy teen chick-lit that I choose to read in my free time, like The Princess Diaries, Stargirl, The Princes books, along with countless other dribble I've read not even worth remembering the titles. The plots are hardly original, and no one could call them sophisticated. The characters are similar: girls, their friends, and the boy(s) they like. But I finally realized why I keep reading it: character development. In each book, and in each seventh grader, there is a poignant moment where a character starts to become who she will grow up to be. It's not always pretty. It's sometimes annoying, embarrassing, and even hurtful. But I love to see the adult beginning to emerge and test its legs for the first time. I love to see kids taking responsibility, helping out, learning new things, and occasionally showing their vulnerability when the situation becomes something they're not ready to handle. And then I get to watch it in real life, just like I love to read it in cheesy books, where the child learns to handle a new situation and takes that one step towards becoming a capable, actual, real-life adult.

I love working at the Middle School!

Parent Night

Yesterday I woke up with Penny to nurse her before I went to work. And then I got home after our school open house in time to nurse her and put her to bed. I usually get to see her for at least an hour or two.
I wouldn't do this for more than a couple months.

World's best student teaching

This week was my first one student teaching. If I do say so myself, I am pretty much the best student teacher there's ever been. I mean, I go waaay above and beyond the call of duty. More on that later.

I'm working with Jennifer Holmes at the middle school here, and she is an amazing teacher! I take these education courses about what an ideal teacher, and she is it. She is incredibly positive with these 7th graders, even when she is conferencing with them after class about their general slacker-ness. I've gotten to observe this week, and I wrote down a lot of things that I can be sure to do.

The first week was only for observation, but being the awesome go-getter I am, I actually passed out some papers and made some copies too. I'm sure I'll get a gold star or something!

It's pretty neat being back in my old school. Just about every corner of that building brings back some memory. I remember exactly where my locker was in 7th grade and even my combination. One time we were out in the halls cleaning out our lockers, and somewhere in the depth of papers heaped on the bottom was a nasty old apple starting to mold over. Ew! I just shut my locker and decided not to use it anymore. Fast forward several weeks later, and that entire section of the hallway smelled to high heaven! I think I eventually braved the stench and threw away the apple-- along with a good barrier of papers to protect my hands.

Then there's the time in shop class while we were drafting, I reached across the table to grab an eraser, and another girl stabbed my hand with a compass. It was HER eraser.

In 8th grade, all my friends had 6th lunch, but I had 5th. They had so much fun while I was stuck in stupid French class, so I just stopped going to French! Then after several weeks, I met Madame Gillebaud in the hallway. She asked me what was going on and where I'd been, and I felt so bad that I just started crying right then and there. Then I resumed going to French.

There's the time Lydia and I had been absent for a test, and we had to go sit in the hall while the class reviewed it the next day. Mr. Farley came by and asked us what was up, and we made up a story about how we got in a fight and in all our pushing and shoving, we broke our science teacher's fish tank. He believed us, and we knew we were cool.

It's funny to see some of my old teachers (only like 5 or so). They have no idea who I am, now that I introduce myself with my married name. Mrs. Smith-Ecke, the orchestra teacher, recognized me after a double-take, but it was because I was friends with her daughter, not because I'd had her as a teacher.

It's fun to see my old daycamp kiddos all grown up. There are probably 10 or so that I've recognized so far. I last had them in camp when they were 7-year-olds, so they don't remember me at all. But it's amazing to see the little 2nd-graders peeking out of these sassy, 7th-grade bodies.

This next week we're going to conference about what exactly I'll be teaching. I'm happy to be getting more involved. It's hard to observe the same class 5 times in a row, especially on days where Penny wakes me up earlier than my already-early 6:00 alarm.

Not cheer leading's finest moment

Student teaching

My big plan for the fall has been to do my student teaching. Unfortunately, due to some lapses and delays by many people involved, this has been uncertain until the very last minute. And that minute would be now.

That's right, y'all, as of Monday, I will begin my student teaching! Wahoo!

This doesn't mean all the paperwork and red tape has been finished. But to keep this post on a happy note (because I am very happy to be starting on only the 3rd day of school), I am just happy to be finally starting.

India or New Zealand

We like munching in our family. Since we've been married, Kevin and I have slowly but surely been gaining weight. I remember when we were living in China and I first felt my tummy rolls touching each other while I was curled up on the bed reading. I cried then, but I laugh now, because I would love it if that's all the pudge I had now! We've been talking about it lately, and while it's not a huge deal now, if we can't keep our weight in control during our twenties, there's no way we'll be able to maintain a healthy weight in our thirties, forties, or beyond.

And also, find it hard to find motivation to exercise when it's too hot outside. Or when it's too cold. Basically, there are a couple weeks in the spring and again in the fall where I feel like exercise might be fun. But I don't generally go do it, even then. I also like to eat when I'm bored.

Kevin enjoys eating donuts and ice cream, and these are consistently his (unanswered) requests when I go to the grocery store. I don't want to become the wife who slaps his hand and hands him a celery stalk whenever he reaches for the potato chips or anything, but I do want to encourage him to take better care of his weight.

So Kevin came up with a plan. In about a year from now, we will take a vacation. I want to visit India, and Kevin wants to go to New Zealand. Kevin suggested that whoever loses the most weight gets to choose where we go on our trip. "Okay!" I agreed hastily, before I realized what I'd said. What I should have said was, "Or how about the person who reaches their weight loss goal the soonest gets to choose?"

So we modified our plan. Each of us has made a goal, and as we meet our goals weekly, we will be able to put tickets in a jar. Mine will say India, while Kevin's will say New Zealand. Then after a year we will draw our ticket to determine our destination!

It's been two days, and we're both doing great! I've done better about drinking water and eating substantial food when I'm hungry, rather than just munching every time I visit the kitchen. Kevin has been practicing his self-restraint, and several times I've seen him in the kitchen chanting, "New Zealand, New Zealand, New Zealand," and then leaving without any food.

We'll be waifish before we know it!

Pause for a moment before the craziness resumes

Last night we got home from vacation. I'm not sure what we were vacationing from, but I can tell you where we went vacationing to:

• First, Lake Tahoe. My grandparents live there during the summers, and my family all got together there for a couple weeks. I mean, we all came and went at various times, but I think there was one point where everyone-- except my dad-- was there. We spent the week waterskiing, tubing, and eating fattening food. I gained 7 pounds in the 6 days I was there. Daniel still had to work on his summer school classes, so we spent a few hours a day learning about protists and analyzing characters from novels. Woohoo. On the day before we left, Kevin, Daniel, and I went tubing, and during one of my spectacular falls, I wrenched my shoulder something awful. I really thought I'd ripped it somewhere, as I couldn't move it at all without major pain. But then in a couple days, it was well on the mend. I'm very happy about that!
• After Tahoe, we flew up to Washington state to visit Kevin's family. We had a lot of downtime, and I did a lot of quilting. I had to buy needles and thread there, and the lady at the quilting store was a friend from church. It's nice to know people and take advantage of their expertise.
• We went to Sequim (not pronounced Seck-wimm or See-quee-imm, but Squimm. Who knew?!) and visited the drive-through animal park. You pay your admission and then drive amongst all these exotic animals and feed them bread. I got nuzzled by a yak, who stuck his head in our car to ask us for bread. Did you know that yaks have rectangular pupils? And Penny pushed on his nose and got a hand covered in goo. That was a surprise! (For her...) The bears were behind an electric fence, but Penny waved and said hi to them, and they waved back! We drove by just as the lion roared a bit. That was loud! The buffalo and elk were interested in us, but if we tried to rub their snouts, they were suddenly uninterested. Hmmm.
• We visited Olympic National Park. We drove up there through rain and mist and clouds (think Twilight), but when we got to the visitor's center at the top, we had passed the clouds and saw a beautiful view! The mountains still had snow, and down in the valley right below us the clouds were churning and wafting. The weather was just perfect, we had just eaten lunch, and I thought it was marvelous!
• We did not go to Forks. I really enjoyed reading the Twilight books. What a fun read! But they did not merit a pilgrimage. :)
• In Seattle we met up with another Foreign Service family whose blog I follow. They just finished their first post in Houston (not technically a foreign post, depending on who you ask), and they're in the process of moving to their next one. It was great to talk to them about moving! Some things we'd already thought of and worried about, and others we didn't yet know we should be worrying about. It was also fun to chat with them about their upcoming post in China (!!!).
• Kevin's high school reunion was this past weekend. The first night was just an informal "hey, let's meet at Tides Tavern on Friday night" sort of thing. Unfortunately, the planners forgot to realize that everyone else in town already hosts "hey, let's meet at Tides Tavern on Friday night" nights every week. It was packed! We met up with one friend and then went to Thai food. Saturday night was the actual event. I met some of Kevin's old buds, had some great food, and chatted with some fine, friendly folks. We would have stayed and mingled more, but the hostesses had cranked up the tunes so we could all dance to "Bye Bye Bye" and "Hit Me Baby, One More Time." Now don't get me wrong, those are COOL songs, but we wanted to mingle, not dance. So we went over to Tides Tavern after all. :)

And on Tuesday we came home. Penny has been a perfect traveler for all her airplane trips so far, so we were in for a doozy. She woke up at 2:30 AM and slept fitfully on and off until 7:00. So did we. Then instead of falling asleep for her nap on the plane, she cried and cried while I wrestled with her. She eventually fell asleep, but every time I'd shift at all, she would wake up and holler before drifting back off. I didn't think she was THAT loud, but every time she would make a peep, the woman next to us who glared as we got on would plug her ear with her finger and stare straight ahead. Ugh! It was a long flight.

So after a nap and a night's sleep, we're back at home in New Mexico. I'm still working with my University and the middle school where I want to do student teaching. School starts tomorrow, and it's still not set up. I've been the squeakiest of squeaky wheels, but I'm still not getting any grease. Wish me luck!

Italy in downtown Gig Harbor

Kevin and I are celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary today, and we had so much fun! Penny got to celebrate by going to a real estate open house with A-Ma and A-Gong, and Kevin and I went out for lunch! We went to Il Lucano Ristorante. It was marvelous!

The waiter with the strong Italian accent sat us down and told us the specials. I had to strain to understand, but I'm sure glad I did! I got the last thing, which was a mushroom stuffed pasta.

While we were waiting for our food, the chef came out to visit with us. He was a stocky, boisterous man with a hearty, loud voice. "Are you hungry?" he asked us. We assured him we were. "Well, good! I will take care of you!" He clapped Kevin on the back and headed back into the kitchen.

When our food came, it was incredible! Mine turned out to be homemade stuffed pasta (sort of like tortellini, but shaped more like won tons) filled with mushrooms and cheese, then with fresh marinara sauce and more mushrooms ladled over the top. Kevin got a panini.

We got to talk to the chef again once we'd eaten a few bites. We asked him if it was homemade pasta ("Of course!"), and when he saw that Kevin had only gotten a panini, he said that while his sandwiches are very good, "your husband will be wanting to try a bite of your pasta." We laughed, because I had only eaten one bite before Kevin had already asked for some.

We didn't just talk about food. He told us about his family and his two teenage sons that he was very strict with so they would speak Italian at home, and now they speak perfect Italian and perfect American English. We mentioned we had a one-year-old baby, and he enthusiastically urged us to have another one right away.

We went out to lunch just wanting to try some good food, and we got much more: we got to visit Italy right here in Washington! It was fantastic. The food was the best Italian food I'd ever had (and Kevin's panini was great, for a panini), and the restaurant was marvelous.

All summer we've been drifting around, waiting for Kevin's security clearance. This has been fun to explain to everyone (So, we're waiting for a security clearance. No, he's not working for the lab. No, he doesn't have the job yet. No, we're not sure when he will.)

On the Register

All summer we've been drifting around, waiting for Kevin's security clearance. This has been fun to explain to everyone (So, we're waiting for a security clearance. No, he doesn't have the job yet. No, he's not working for the lab. No, nothing's set in stone...). But then a couple weeks ago, on his fortnightly phone call to the State Department, Kevin found out all his security clearance paperwork was all in and awaiting final review. This was good. First of all, it meant the long process of contacting and interviewing all of Kevin's associates from the last 10 years or so, across the country and several continents had been finished. It also means they figured he wasn't a shady, untrustworthy, Communist spy. That's nice.

And today, we got a letter in the mail telling Kevin that he is now officially on The Register. This means that next time the State Department hires for a training class, Kevin will be on the list of available hires. Kevin passed with a pretty good score (5.4), but it put him in the middle of the pack of amazing applicants that the Foreign Service gets. Fortunately, Kevin held the ace-of-speaking-Chinese up his sleeve, and it bumped his score up 4 points (5.8). We think that this means he'll pretty much be picked for the next training class (in the end of October).

We'll keep you posted, though.

Feeling crafty?

When I was little, we always enjoyed visiting my Aunt Miriam and seeing what she was creating. I remember once sitting down in her basement, and within about 30 minutes, she had made my sister and me a whole tray full of poofy hairbows. (This was the mid-nineties and exactly what I would wear for the next several years.) Some had rosettes that she had just twisted together using plain ribbon. I'm still amazed.

She always made dolls and doll houses, and I just went through our old family pictures and found one of a cupboard that she had painted and papered to become a doll house for her daughter, who could just sit on the floor, open the cupboard, and voila! A doll house. (Someday I hope to make one for Penny.)

Anyway... this isn't a eulogy. This is an advertisement! This woman can-- and does-- make just about everything. She's done designs for all sorts of decorating and crafting magazines, and now she's started a blog. You can visit it here.

Sometimes I like to make things, but I don't really know what to make. Sometimes I know what I want to make, but I don't really know how. Miriam can help! She's up-to-date on the latest ideas, and she also loves the classics. Just recently, she took an oil painting my grandmother had done (see, this creativity definitely runs in the family... to a point ;), and somehow transferred copies of it onto special paper with special stuff and made it look like originals stretched on canvas. She teaches you how to do it here.

Anyway... check it out! And keep it in your sights, as she is posting more and more crafts and ideas.