My Guy

When my niece Mia was little (she's exceptionally grown up now at 2 1/2) we would ask her who everyone was and when the J came in or we saw a picture of him we'd ask her, "Who's that guy?" She apparently thought "Guy" was his name and that's what she's called him ever since.

When the J comes home from work, or wherever, Mia runs to find me and says, "Oh TeeTee! (her nickname for me) Your guy, your guy is home!! You see him? You say hi to him?" Then she'll find Guy and say, "Dere's your mom, Guy." This is always very exciting to her and makes me laugh!

And speaking of my Guy, he turns 18 this weekend!! Eighteen! Where did the time go? That's 18 years of all the typical parent/child roller coaster emotions and experiences. And 18 years of a happy life with my Guy! I love the J and I'm glad I'm his mom. (Even though he just reminded me that an 18-year old does not want to hang out with his mom on his birthday. Hey?! I'm cool! Oh fine! We'll hang out later.)

Happy Birthday Guy!

Enjoy Fall

The J and I went to the mountains after church today to enjoy the fall colors and just kind of take a break away from our usual routine. We mostly missed the peak of the fall colors but there were still some great scenes. It was so nice and peaceful up there! We were by a little stream and I had to laugh when I realized there is no age limit on throwing rocks and sticks in streams and playing in the water. :) I always want to take my shoes and socks off and play in the water but it really was too chilly for that today. I'll have to go back there next summer.

While we were there the only thing that marred the scene were the random pieces of trash people left behind. I wonder (I often wonder) why smokers think the world is their ash tray. That drives me insane!! But there was plenty of other junk around too. I saw this quote from Pres. Hinckley this evening which expressed my feelings exactly:

“Our society is afflicted by a spirit of thoughtless arrogance unbecoming those who have been so magnificently blessed. How grateful we should be for the bounties we enjoy. Absence of gratitude is the mark of the narrow, uneducated mind. It bespeaks a lack of knowledge and the ignorance of self-sufficiency. It expresses itself in ugly egotism and frequently in wanton mischief. We have seen our beaches, our parks, our forests littered with ugly refuse by those who evidently have no appreciation for their beauty.”

Gordon B. Hinckley, "With All Thy Getting Get Understanding,’” Ensign, Aug. 1988, 2

The J thought I was crazy when I made him pick up some of the trash at the picnic area so I reminded him that we always leave it better than we found it. (And when I read that quote I was glad I did that!) We enjoyed the afternoon and I'm so grateful for the beautiful world Heavenly Father has given us. I'm grateful for the time to sneak out and enjoy it once in a while too! If you haven't had a chance to get out there and enjoy - make some time soon. You won't regret it!

Words, Words, Words

I'm studying for the GRE - mind-numbing business - and some of the words in the Vocabulary Box are just amusing. Here are some of my favorites (See if you know or can guess the meaning before you read the definition):

Cosset - (kah suht) - to pamper; treat with great care.

We would love to cosset you at Enrichment night!

Now, if I said that we'd probably have an empty house because everyone would be scared of what's on the program.

Diaphanous - (die aaf uh nuhs) - allowing light to show through; delicate

"My your curtains are so diaphanous!”

Secretly I've used this word for years.

Panegyric - (paan uh jeer ihk) - elaborate praise; formal hymn of praise

The director’s panegyric for the donor who kept his charity going was heart-warming.

I'm not really sure what this sounds like, but it doesn't sound nice.

Legerdemain - (lehj uhr duh mayn) - trickery

The little boy thought his legerdemain was working on his mother, but she in fact knew about every stolen cookie.

What she really wondered was who the heck taught him to say legerdemain...

Contumacious - (kahn tuh may shuhs) - rebellious

The J is a contumacious teenager.

And if he thinks I used big words before, now he’ll really be confused.

And my favorite:

Pulchritude - (puhl kruh tood) - beauty

The mortals gazed in admiration at Venus, stunned by her incredible pulchritude.

Seriously?? Such an ugly word for a thing of beauty? I think this one should be tucked away in the vocab box and left there forever.

Ok, it's back to my 494 other vocab words for me! You're jealous, I know. I'll send them to you when I'm done if you'd like.

School Breakfasts

School is back in which means we're back to the eternal question - what is quick and filling for a teenage boy for breakfast? "Quick" is a key here for me, but if you ask him, "filling" is the key. I made breakfast burritos, waffles, and french toast and froze them so he can just take out what he wants to eat in the morning and warm it up and that works pretty well but really, that'll only last so long... We do make egg mcmuffins frequently but he's fairly sick of those. (I can't blame him, it's about all he ate last year.)

Do you have any great breakfast ideas?? It really has to be A) something that I can freeze beforehand because I'm not getting up in the 4s to make breakfast or B) really fast if it's made the morning of. I'd love any and all ideas. :D

Travel Treasures

It seems like I've traveled a fair amount this summer - no worries, I haven't made it to any exotic locations, just a lot of back and forth... So, I thought I'd share some of my favorite travel gadgets and thingamajigs.

A couple years ago I read this tip in Real Simple magazine and I loved it! Since we live in such a wired world and we have cords for everything they suggested getting a make up bag that is dedicated to cords. That way everything is in one place and no one is freaking out because they can't charge their iPod and phone (if you don't have teenagers yet, just wait... If you do, you know what I'm talking about...) This bag works so well. And it also holds my little book light, which I love and consider essential for travel.

This next one has revolutionized car travel for us! These are SeaBands. They're basically sweatbands you wear on your wrists. The little white ball you see rests on a pressure point (it's turned inside out in the picture) so that you don't get car sickness. And it works! These have made many car rides much happier! Next time I fly I'm going to wear them and see if it takes away that queasy feeling I get on take off and landing. The J and I both have them and so do several of my nieces and nephews and we all swear by them. If you or your kids get motion sickness you've gotta try these out. They're available at your local pharmacy.

This little gem is for hot curling/flat irons. Seriously, that's always the last thing you pack and you're just waiting for it to cool down enough to put in your suitcase without igniting your clothes and that always seems to take forever... This little bag, made by Baggallini, is available at the Container Store. You just put the hot iron in there, close it up, pop it in your suitcase and you're off. So simple and so nice!

Lastly, I found these toothbrush holders at Bed, Bath and Beyond and I love them! Look! It stands up so your toothbrush isn't lying perilously on the edge of the toothbrush holder while you just hope it doesn't end up on the sink or counter of the hotel (or where ever you are). The other option with traditional holders, of course, is to simply put the toothbrush back in the holder and close it up but then it never dries out. Yuck. With this holder you stand it up, the toothbrush stays off the counter and dries out. So much cleaner and less worrisome. I love it.

I love to travel. Mostly I just dream about fabulous places that I'd like to visit some day but when I do travel these are a few of the things that make life a little easier and the trip more pleasant.

Day in Historic Denver

I'm up to my ears in planning (and pulling off) this event with the Molly Brown House Museum and Historic Denver so I figured I might as well get the word out about it! :) Day in Historic Denver 8/7/10 (Saturday) 2-9pm 9th Street Historic Park, Auraria Campus Day in Historic Denver will take you into Molly Brown's Denver. There will be costumed storytellers, historic games and crafts [That's my gig], food, music, tours, Titanic expo, and lots of fun! [Ever wonder how I'd look in a floofy Victorian dress with *big* leg-o-mutton sleeves? Come see me and you can rest your mind on that account!] Admission is free. Food and some activities require a ticket purchase. There is also a vintage baseball game that morning that will be lots of fun. The Colorado Vintage Base Ball Association & Historic Denver Inc.'s Karle Seydel Memorial Baseball Game will be played from 10am - 1:30pm at the Tivoli field, also located on Auraria's downtown campus. Admission is free. The first 1,000 attendees will receive a vintage style baseball card. [These guys wear 19th century uniforms and play by 19th century rules which can be pretty fun and lively to watch.] Hope to see some of you there! :)

Mia

Can you guess how old my niece is? (I love this picture!)

What're You Reading?

What are you reading this summer? Or what are your favorite books? I'm trying to find a book that I'll love but nothing is pulling me in or holding my interest at all. I'm still at the "fluff" stage after school, meaning I can't, and don't want to, read anything I have to think about just yet. Maybe I should just read Count of Monte Cristo again... hee hee. Really though, I just want a fun, engaging story and I seem to be hitting brick walls. What are some of your favorites?

Summertime

I was looking at the flowers

this morning (yeah!!) and enjoying the comfortable temperature and at the same time realizing that it will clearly be a hot day. Then I did a little weeding in the garden where produce is really starting to grow and I was excited that summer is finally here. After years of mostly hating summer the last four summers have been so much more fun and enjoyable. Here are a few things I love about summer:

Visiting family and meeting my newest niece! Little Ava is so tiny and cute. She made Cameron seem so big which really made Mia seem huge.

Playing with the locals. We're on a mission to try new parks this summer and find a great place for family photos in July. This was at Lair O' the Bear park.

Fresh herbs in the garden - I have parsley, basil, oregano, rosemary, chives, and cilantro. Yum - well, except for the cilantro, that's not so yum... hee hee

Fresh fruit to eat and make yummy things with. Avery and I made this galette that was so yummy. (Unless you ask Avery, she wasn't so thrilled about it.)

Here's to a great summer filled with family, friends, fresh, delicious food, and lots of adventure!

3 Things

School is over! Can I officially say I’m a historian now? Well, maybe not but I’ll pretend. When the whole fam is here in July we’ll have a big party to celebrate my graduation and Jeremy’s graduation and we’re all excited to see the cake Becky is concocting. I hear it’ll combine our nerdiness perfectly! (I’m a history nerd and Jeremy is a math/physics nerd - you might not want to get either of us started...) So, here are a few thoughts about my journey through school:

3 things I will miss about school:

*The learning. Yeah, yeah, I know I can always keep learning but I love the classroom. Crazy, I know. But it’s just different than picking up a book and I’ll miss it.

*Access to knowledge - sounds the same but here I mean that while I was in school I could access databases and books from around the country and had so much information at my fingertips. Now I can still find plenty of info but it’s harder and could sometimes be expensive.

*The light rail. What!? Actually what I liked was listening to talks or stories on my iPod while commuting back and forth.

3 things I’m happy to be done with:

*Deadlines and tests! I’m one of those crazy people who doesn’t mind writing papers, it’s the deadlines I hate or the weird rules some prof’s have.

*Kids who don’t really want to be in school, couldn’t care less about their education and say things like, “I want to get a job w/the government so I don’t have to work hard and I’ll make the big bucks but won’t be pressured.” (Dead serious! A guy in one of my classes said that a few weeks ago. And I’m not sure why he thinks he’ll make big bucks in the gov’t but whatever... Nothing like a drive to succeed.)

*Uber liberal teachers (“I mean, do any of you actually still go to church?” Actual quote! Heard more than once in various forms from many teachers.)

3 ways I’ve been blessed during school:

*I’ve had so much support from my family - from living with me (this is often not easy), to editing my papers, to cheering me on, to eating freezer meals every night for weeks, and so many other ways.

*Support from my friends has also been a huge blessing! How many times have Kathy, Gloria, and Linda canceled meetings or taken me off the visits list so I could focus on my studies? (A lot!) And so many friends that have made me feel loved and appreciated along the way!

*I have a testimony that when we serve the Lord He will make up the time for us. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been amazed that I’ve been able to meet a deadline or pass a test that I was way too tired to study effectively for. There really is no way I should have been able to do all I’ve been able to do and I know that the Lord has blessed me and made up the difference.

3 favorite classes:

*Civil War

*WWII

*Nazi Germany (rise & fall of Nazi Germany, etc. - not b/c I'm psycho or anything)

3 favorite areas of history:

*Revolutionary War

*Civil War

*WWII

3 things I’m looking forward to:

*Reading whatever I want!

*Unwinding and breathing - at least for a little while.

*I’m still a little fuzzy about this idea but I think when I go to work I won’t have hours of homework at night, right? That could be nice. I actually won’t know what to do with myself!

The End is Near

Just a little randomness...

I'm really glad it's raining because it's beautiful and I love rain! AND because I think it's keeping me from going insane while putting together my bibliography - the rain is soothing. I don't especially like writing sociology papers but I really hate doing the bib. And that goes for any paper. I think that's the worst part of the whole process.

And I just remembered I didn't put dinner in the crockpot yet. I guess it'll be plan b tonight.

Only one more book to read (oh, no, make that two), two more big papers to write, one paper to edit one last time and then finals. In only two weeks. Scream with me, you know you want to! I hear there's light at the end of the tunnel I just don't have time to look up and see for myself.

Ok, I think I'm better now. ;)

Holocaust Remembrance

It's Holocaust Remembrance week. This is something I've studied quite a bit and it's just such a heart-wrenching thing that I do hope we never forget.

One of the truly troubling aspects of the Holocaust is that it was a human problem, not a German problem. There is much discussion about what was wrong with the Germans that they could do this, however, the evidence clearly shows that people from all of the European states that were invaded by Germany quickly and easily joined in.

That is not to say that no one resisted or refused to participate but a startling number of people did participate and a much larger number simply looked the other way. Let me also clarify that Germany was clearly responsible for the Holocaust and Hitler and his minions devised and carried out this evil. They simply did not do it alone.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has a good video for remembrance week. It's about 9 minutes but worth a watch.

"The road to Auschwitz was built by hatred, but paved with indifference." -Ian Kershaw

Note in a Bottle

I got the best mail a couple weeks ago (I'm a little behind in my posting - what a shock!) - it was a note in a bottle! The kind you hope to see if you're stranded on an island.

Avery sent me a note and some stickers to share with Mia. That was the most exciting mail I've ever received. And I have to tell you too that I was really impressed with the Post Office because they didn't smash the bottle at all. So, if you're looking to wow someone, send them a note in a bottle.

Sparkly Kleenex?

Have you ever noticed that the really soft Kleenex is sparkly? What's that all about? I mean do you need to draw more attention to your Rudolph nose?

In case you missed my bright red nose, now it's bright red aaand sparkly!

Huh.

sneezing and...

There's a group of blind students who ride the same evening bus home from school that I do. Yesterday I was standing near the shelter waiting for the bus to arrive and there was a blind man in front of me talking to a couple of his friends. He turned around and sneezed and I was really grateful that he didn't turn around enough to sneeze on me! I mean he had no idea I was there so you know I'm fine with it. No problem. Well, I didn't really want to be sneezed on, I'm just saying I'm not placing blame - I mean he couldn't see me.

Well, a minute later he started doing that gross thing guys do - that sort of hacking-ish, coughing-ish deal to gather phlegm in their throat so they can spit a loogie... You know what I mean! Ish!! I very quickly moved a few feet away because I wasn't about to take a chance that the loogie might land on me. Oh sick. Just the thought makes me want to hurl. Of course, if he spit a loogie on me then I hurled on him I guess that would make us even... Right?

Still, the thought makes me shudder.

I was gonna blog today...

but then I decided, school starts next week, why get anyone's hopes up?