Several years ago when Ryan was 10 years old we enrolled her in a summer acting class at the Hale Centre Theatre. She went every day from 8 to 5 for a couple of weeks. They worked on singing, presentation, acting, and I am sure all sorts of girl giggling as well. She had a really good time. One day I picked her up and she had a “big secret” grin on her face.
“Guess who I talked to on the phone today?!?”
“Who?” I ask without any thought as to who it could be.
“Orlando Bloom!”
I was reduced to a blithering idiot. My voice came out in a strangled rush. “WHAT?!?! What are you talking about? WHAT?" I found I couldn't really remember any other words. "What?!? Do you even know who Orlando Bloom is?”
“Sure, the guy who is in Pirates of the Carribean.”
“How did you talk to him? WHAT?”
It turns out that her teacher was something of a behind the scenes/makeup guru who had worked in Hollywood off and on during the years. She had many friends who were up and coming actors—not to mention hunks of big melting manmeat. She had arranged for Orlando to call her during one of the afternoon sessions for Ryan’s class so they could each have a little telephone treat.
“So what did you say? What did you say to him?”
“Hi.”
“OK, what else did you say? How did the conversation go?”
“He said, Hi.” I said “Hi.”
“OK, what else?”
“He said ‘What is your name?’”
“And you said……?”
“Hi. And then he said ‘Do you like acting class?’”
“And you said……?”
“Hi.”
Soon after that there was talk of Orlando Bloom hooking up with many starry eyed starlets. Needless to say, he was just not wowed enough by Ryan Ali Peterson that he wanted to hold out for her. Almost......not quite. Darn.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Monday, November 28, 2005
Another Cooper and Bart moment
Another store has banned us from their premises. And again it would be because of Cooper, Bart’s child.
Last week my parents went to Korea to interact with their other child, my sister and her kids. Karlee, my sister and her husband went on a trip to China so they paid my mother’s ticket fare to have her come over and babysit while they were away. My father was not about to sit home during that trip so they both flew over there for 2 weeks. I was a LITTLE jealous of the international diversion in their life (see previous Life Changes post) and I was also a little envious that they got to see Jasper, who is Cooper’s counterpart in the Zollinger family. His smile just makes everybody laugh.
I had several weeks of vacation time left so I decided to take a week while they were gone and spend the time with Cooper. I truly have no delusions about the hardest job in the world: Staying at home with beloved children. I bow to all mothers that stay at home.
Cooper and I were getting along fine as long as I followed his schedule. I do realize it was a big change for him to stay home rather than break the day up by going to Grandma’s. Since we were home I was able to spend some wonderful quality time with him and the Lego Star Wars on Playstation II. (I challenge any mom out there to level 2.)
I finally got him to go out shopping with me one day.
“Cooper, we are going to look for Christmas decorations and Clorox bleach and floaties for the pool.”
“OK, I’ll go to the store with you because I want to get something for me too.”
“What do you need?”
“A new toy or something.”
“What new toy?”
“I don’t know. I’ll just look around.”
Red alert! Bart alert! Bart has gotten to this kid. He is going to LOOK AROUND to see if there is ANYTHING he can buy. I try to counteract the spoilage going on all in one day. I drag him through three stores telling him we don’t just buy something at every store we go to. I endure the kicking and screaming and the fake tears. I can’t believe that I actually stop in at Target telling myself this is the last store.
This time he wants to get in the cart. We are walking down the office supply aisles looking for crafts or something. I don’t remember. I don’t remember much of anything except the next few moments of the day.
My blonde, blue eyed, exceptionally cute child morphed into something very much like the adult baby monster from the Quizno’s sandwich commercials. His face puckered up and the light went out his eyes and he said “Mom, if you don’t buy me a toy, I am going to kick-your-ass!”
Neither of us got a toy at the store. But I did look at the other mother's cute 4 year old son and wonder if he was for sale.
Last week my parents went to Korea to interact with their other child, my sister and her kids. Karlee, my sister and her husband went on a trip to China so they paid my mother’s ticket fare to have her come over and babysit while they were away. My father was not about to sit home during that trip so they both flew over there for 2 weeks. I was a LITTLE jealous of the international diversion in their life (see previous Life Changes post) and I was also a little envious that they got to see Jasper, who is Cooper’s counterpart in the Zollinger family. His smile just makes everybody laugh.
I had several weeks of vacation time left so I decided to take a week while they were gone and spend the time with Cooper. I truly have no delusions about the hardest job in the world: Staying at home with beloved children. I bow to all mothers that stay at home.
Cooper and I were getting along fine as long as I followed his schedule. I do realize it was a big change for him to stay home rather than break the day up by going to Grandma’s. Since we were home I was able to spend some wonderful quality time with him and the Lego Star Wars on Playstation II. (I challenge any mom out there to level 2.)
I finally got him to go out shopping with me one day.
“Cooper, we are going to look for Christmas decorations and Clorox bleach and floaties for the pool.”
“OK, I’ll go to the store with you because I want to get something for me too.”
“What do you need?”
“A new toy or something.”
“What new toy?”
“I don’t know. I’ll just look around.”
Red alert! Bart alert! Bart has gotten to this kid. He is going to LOOK AROUND to see if there is ANYTHING he can buy. I try to counteract the spoilage going on all in one day. I drag him through three stores telling him we don’t just buy something at every store we go to. I endure the kicking and screaming and the fake tears. I can’t believe that I actually stop in at Target telling myself this is the last store.
This time he wants to get in the cart. We are walking down the office supply aisles looking for crafts or something. I don’t remember. I don’t remember much of anything except the next few moments of the day.
My blonde, blue eyed, exceptionally cute child morphed into something very much like the adult baby monster from the Quizno’s sandwich commercials. His face puckered up and the light went out his eyes and he said “Mom, if you don’t buy me a toy, I am going to kick-your-ass!”
Neither of us got a toy at the store. But I did look at the other mother's cute 4 year old son and wonder if he was for sale.
Friday, November 25, 2005
Thanks is not enough
Over the past week Saving Private Ryan has been on TNT or something like that where they repeat the same movies every night. We are busy until about 8:30 and then the TV pops on and Bart hits the couch. Walking in and out I have watched the last hour of the movie about three times now this month.
I am not sure if there is truly anybody out there that has not watched this movie at least once. I am a die hard Tom Hanks fan. I was in the theatre to watch this movie the first weekend it came out. It was a little too graphic for me but of course, I had to have it for my complete Tom Hanks collection. However, I don’t think I have voluntarily pulled it out of it’s case to watch at my house. I cried too much the first time and still have shed a tear or two every time it is on television. Bart is a die hard war fan. So we do watch it every time it is on television.
The last hour is quite heart wrenching. As is the first hour that depicts the beaches of Normandy. I am grateful for those soldiers. I am grateful for those mothers that taught their boys to be strong and brave and proud of their country and then let them go. I am grateful I cannot see into the future and have to KNOW that someday it might be my children. Anyways, back to the last hour. They find the last Ryan boy and explain his brothers are dead. He is already worth something when he does not shirk from the fight at hand and does not want to leave his company.
Chase watches with us as he is a big fan of whatever Bart does. He asks why Private Ryan doesn’t want to go home. Bart explains to my innocent little 10 year old who is just on the verge of becoming something more than a child that it is “better to die doing something great than to die of old age.” I understand my husband’s sentiment. I think I do.
We continue to watch and see that Tom Hanks meets his fatal bullet right at the end of the battle but he grabs Private Ryan and tells him to “Earn this. Earn this.” Earn the deaths of the people who came to find you and bring you back alive. Earn the lives that were sacrificed for you to come back and live a life. Bart served in the National Guard until several years after we were married. Currently his old Richfield unit is serving overseas. Several times Bart has mentioned to me how bad he feels that he is not serving his country. That some young 18 year old is standing out there on the front line in his place. Where does he get off sitting here on his ass when others are out dying for our freedom?
You then see Private Ryan, an old man now come with his family to Arlington cemetery. He has found Tom Hanks headstone and he whispers to him “I tried to be the best man I could be. I hope if you are looking down you will think that it was enough to earn what you have done for me.” And it is over for me. I am a-bawling. No, Bart does not cry but he certainly watches the movie the next night.
How come that movie evokes so much emotion? How come Tom Hanks makes me, Private Ryan, certainly Bart and probably the rest of the world feel indebted for sacrificing his life when Jesus Christ did that already for all of us? And we forget that all the time? I can just feel my own horror at having to live up to Tom Hanks saying that to my face. I know Bart takes that to heart. Bart would never ever allow somebody to give his life for him and Bart not make good on trying to repay him.
More and more, I believe that Christ had a wife and a family and so much more of a rich life than the scriptures portray. It just makes sense. He came to earth to live and be one of us. He had to have an intimate relationship in order to understand all that we go through. It makes me more horrified to think he had to give all that up…for me. For all of us. And yet he did. And I cry for Tom Hanks. I hope that at some time I can have the courage to come before my Savior and lay my life down before him for him to see and judge. I hope. I hope that He will then call my life good enough to sacrifice His for. I hope.
I am not sure if there is truly anybody out there that has not watched this movie at least once. I am a die hard Tom Hanks fan. I was in the theatre to watch this movie the first weekend it came out. It was a little too graphic for me but of course, I had to have it for my complete Tom Hanks collection. However, I don’t think I have voluntarily pulled it out of it’s case to watch at my house. I cried too much the first time and still have shed a tear or two every time it is on television. Bart is a die hard war fan. So we do watch it every time it is on television.
The last hour is quite heart wrenching. As is the first hour that depicts the beaches of Normandy. I am grateful for those soldiers. I am grateful for those mothers that taught their boys to be strong and brave and proud of their country and then let them go. I am grateful I cannot see into the future and have to KNOW that someday it might be my children. Anyways, back to the last hour. They find the last Ryan boy and explain his brothers are dead. He is already worth something when he does not shirk from the fight at hand and does not want to leave his company.
Chase watches with us as he is a big fan of whatever Bart does. He asks why Private Ryan doesn’t want to go home. Bart explains to my innocent little 10 year old who is just on the verge of becoming something more than a child that it is “better to die doing something great than to die of old age.” I understand my husband’s sentiment. I think I do.
We continue to watch and see that Tom Hanks meets his fatal bullet right at the end of the battle but he grabs Private Ryan and tells him to “Earn this. Earn this.” Earn the deaths of the people who came to find you and bring you back alive. Earn the lives that were sacrificed for you to come back and live a life. Bart served in the National Guard until several years after we were married. Currently his old Richfield unit is serving overseas. Several times Bart has mentioned to me how bad he feels that he is not serving his country. That some young 18 year old is standing out there on the front line in his place. Where does he get off sitting here on his ass when others are out dying for our freedom?
You then see Private Ryan, an old man now come with his family to Arlington cemetery. He has found Tom Hanks headstone and he whispers to him “I tried to be the best man I could be. I hope if you are looking down you will think that it was enough to earn what you have done for me.” And it is over for me. I am a-bawling. No, Bart does not cry but he certainly watches the movie the next night.
How come that movie evokes so much emotion? How come Tom Hanks makes me, Private Ryan, certainly Bart and probably the rest of the world feel indebted for sacrificing his life when Jesus Christ did that already for all of us? And we forget that all the time? I can just feel my own horror at having to live up to Tom Hanks saying that to my face. I know Bart takes that to heart. Bart would never ever allow somebody to give his life for him and Bart not make good on trying to repay him.
More and more, I believe that Christ had a wife and a family and so much more of a rich life than the scriptures portray. It just makes sense. He came to earth to live and be one of us. He had to have an intimate relationship in order to understand all that we go through. It makes me more horrified to think he had to give all that up…for me. For all of us. And yet he did. And I cry for Tom Hanks. I hope that at some time I can have the courage to come before my Savior and lay my life down before him for him to see and judge. I hope. I hope that He will then call my life good enough to sacrifice His for. I hope.
Monday, November 21, 2005
Diesel $2.77
I look around as the gas prices are coming down hand over fist day after day. All since the front cover of USA TODAY explained that the top 5 largest oil and gas companies had posted 500% over expected third quarter profits. And that the government was calling them in for an investigation.
I just keep thinking about all of this as I am filling up my gas tank and Diesel is still $2.77 at most places. It did get up to $3.47 just last month so it has come down quite a bit. Unleaded is under $2.00 for the first time in at least 6 months. I feel that something has gone a bit awry when gas prices can dramatically FALL down like this over a period of almost hours. It makes me think that Katrina and all these other excuses are no longer the reason that the prices are so astronomical. I think about the billions of people that are dependent on gasoline to make their $8.50 an hour living. I think about every single gas station that has gone to prepay because so many people were stealing gas. Giving up their integrity for $40. I think about how proud I am that I am an American. And how proud I am of this country for making a cliche out of the words "the American dream." I am a believer in capitalism. I like that the supply and demand theory is so logical and works. I like to be able to think that if you work hard and endure, you will make money or be successful. However, I guess I am learning that I am more a believer in another old adage of Socrates "Moderation in all things." Somehow I think that making $16 billion dollars is and should be enough. I don't care that you can (and did apparently) gouge $160 billion dollars out of the working public I don't think you should. At least don't blame it on some weather catastrophe and make it sound like we are all in this together. I know that goes against my self stated belief in capitalism. And I know that we here in America get some of the cheapest gas prices in the world. And people kept driving which according the the law of supply and demand means that the price should continue to go up. I think I just really see greed as one of the main roots of evil. And I see greed in this equation. Greed that is just like a 4 year old that cannot stop eating the candy even if he has a stomachache until his mother comes and takes the bowl away from him. Even then he throws a fit.
I just keep thinking about all of this as I am filling up my gas tank and Diesel is still $2.77 at most places. It did get up to $3.47 just last month so it has come down quite a bit. Unleaded is under $2.00 for the first time in at least 6 months. I feel that something has gone a bit awry when gas prices can dramatically FALL down like this over a period of almost hours. It makes me think that Katrina and all these other excuses are no longer the reason that the prices are so astronomical. I think about the billions of people that are dependent on gasoline to make their $8.50 an hour living. I think about every single gas station that has gone to prepay because so many people were stealing gas. Giving up their integrity for $40. I think about how proud I am that I am an American. And how proud I am of this country for making a cliche out of the words "the American dream." I am a believer in capitalism. I like that the supply and demand theory is so logical and works. I like to be able to think that if you work hard and endure, you will make money or be successful. However, I guess I am learning that I am more a believer in another old adage of Socrates "Moderation in all things." Somehow I think that making $16 billion dollars is and should be enough. I don't care that you can (and did apparently) gouge $160 billion dollars out of the working public I don't think you should. At least don't blame it on some weather catastrophe and make it sound like we are all in this together. I know that goes against my self stated belief in capitalism. And I know that we here in America get some of the cheapest gas prices in the world. And people kept driving which according the the law of supply and demand means that the price should continue to go up. I think I just really see greed as one of the main roots of evil. And I see greed in this equation. Greed that is just like a 4 year old that cannot stop eating the candy even if he has a stomachache until his mother comes and takes the bowl away from him. Even then he throws a fit.
Friday, November 18, 2005
Tsk. Tsk.
Harry Potter #4 movie debuted last night at Midnight. I did not go. And we are going to St. George this weekend so I still don't know if we will make it. Can you ever forgive us, Ron and Hermoine and Harry?
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Tradition be damned!
Fluffy mashed potatoes with garlic and butter. Dripping gravy over a big turkey bird. Stuffing WITHOUT celery pieces. Personally I prefer Stove Top but my mother in law insists on homemade with celery. Gigantic vegetable plate with dip. Homemade rolls with jam or preserves. Mounds of buttered corn and broccoli. There may be yams covered with marshmallows but they must be on the other side of the table. Pumpkin pie with whipping cream and ice cream. Of course, pecan pie heated with ice cream on the side.
Mmmmm. Mmmmm. This is Thanksgiving to me. After the trip to the zoo. Ever since I was young and living in Illinois our family has taken a family outing to the zoo on Thanksgiving day. “Because we are thankful for the animals too.” Technically I think it is because we have always lived away from both parental families and so had to come up with something to do. (Translation: My Dad does not watch football.) Soon we had several families that also could not go over the river and through the woods for the day who would accompany us on our annual zoo outing. It was always a fun time. Now that we live in SLC the home of all mormon parental units including Bart, mine, my mothers, and my fathers it has been a little harder to push this family tradition. (Translation: My husband does watch football.) Mostly through stubbornness on the Solomon children’s part, we have managed to have a lot of “thankful” gatherings right there at the Hogle Zoo. Rain or shine. Snow or sleet. Construction or not.
This year we are going to the zoo. But it is a weird year. For several years we have had Thanksgiving at my house with Bart’s family. This year Karlee and the Zollingers are in Korea and my parents will just be getting back from Korea the day before the bird day. We are combining the two families giving us a healthy number of 17 eaters. We (that means the women who do all the kitchen work) decided to have Thanksgiving at a restaurant. There have been many mutinous stares and murmurings from the men but it is just one year and if it doesn’t seem right and thankful enough we will have another dinner on Saturday. Yes, I know we will not use our little pilgrim place settings and we will not be able to have the homemade stuffing with celery but I promise all who read this that I will still buy a Costco pumpkin and pecan pie and stock up on whipping cream and ice cream……so let the thankfulness begin!
Mmmmm. Mmmmm. This is Thanksgiving to me. After the trip to the zoo. Ever since I was young and living in Illinois our family has taken a family outing to the zoo on Thanksgiving day. “Because we are thankful for the animals too.” Technically I think it is because we have always lived away from both parental families and so had to come up with something to do. (Translation: My Dad does not watch football.) Soon we had several families that also could not go over the river and through the woods for the day who would accompany us on our annual zoo outing. It was always a fun time. Now that we live in SLC the home of all mormon parental units including Bart, mine, my mothers, and my fathers it has been a little harder to push this family tradition. (Translation: My husband does watch football.) Mostly through stubbornness on the Solomon children’s part, we have managed to have a lot of “thankful” gatherings right there at the Hogle Zoo. Rain or shine. Snow or sleet. Construction or not.
This year we are going to the zoo. But it is a weird year. For several years we have had Thanksgiving at my house with Bart’s family. This year Karlee and the Zollingers are in Korea and my parents will just be getting back from Korea the day before the bird day. We are combining the two families giving us a healthy number of 17 eaters. We (that means the women who do all the kitchen work) decided to have Thanksgiving at a restaurant. There have been many mutinous stares and murmurings from the men but it is just one year and if it doesn’t seem right and thankful enough we will have another dinner on Saturday. Yes, I know we will not use our little pilgrim place settings and we will not be able to have the homemade stuffing with celery but I promise all who read this that I will still buy a Costco pumpkin and pecan pie and stock up on whipping cream and ice cream……so let the thankfulness begin!
Monday, November 14, 2005
Mastercard for where you want to go
CD playing in my car CD player: Wicked, the musical
Book I am reading: Wicked by Gregory McQuire
Song that is constantly running through my mind: Dancing through Life from Wicked, the musical
Amount needed to get me and the kids to Broadway to see the musical:$1790
Book I am reading: Wicked by Gregory McQuire
Song that is constantly running through my mind: Dancing through Life from Wicked, the musical
Amount needed to get me and the kids to Broadway to see the musical:$1790
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Nocturnal meanderings
Well, Larae moved in on Saturday. She has already acquired two jobs and is gone from 7 am to 11 pm Monday through Saturday afternoon. Since I am running the open route I am never awake at 11 pm and so have not seen her since Saturday. I am gone from 2 am to 5 am. Sometimes I will cross paths with Carla as she leaves for work between 4:3o am and 5 am. I will just make it home and get nestled in bad when the alarm clock for Bart's workout goes off. He leaves the house for the gym at 5:30 am.
It is amazing that my children sleep through all of this moonlighting going on. On the other hand, it shouldn't be amazing. We bought our house with an existing alarm system. It makes a little "beep beep beep" whenever a window or door is opened or shut. It was a lovely feature when Cooper was 2 and could open the door and toodle out. We now pretty much ignore it. So when all the goings on go on during the night we all don't pay any attention. Every now and then Carla will open her window at 2 am and it will give Bart and I pause upstairs in our bedroom. We might go check on it or we may just talk about the fact that Ryan will hate that alarm when she gets older and tries to sneak out. I can't even imagine what would have happened had my mother had those kind of tools on her side during my teenage years. I started sneaking out in 6th grade.
Several months ago our fire alarm which is connected to this internal house alarm went off in the middle of the night. It was simply a battery malfunction but Bart and I were hard pressed to try and find the actual fire alarm that was causing the alarm. Scurrying was occurring hoping that the children would not wake up. I thought maybe I could shut it down via the main alarm unit on the wall. Bad idea. All of the sudden there was double and triple the alarms going off. It was so loud I had to go outside. I felt like our whole house was a big blinking red light in the middle of our quiet neighborhood. I started freaking out that the neighbors would start waking up. Here Bart was running around in his underwear with brooms trying to get to the vaulted ceiling alarms and the neighbors would be calling the police about noise infractions. The children were all but forgotten. Especially because they were still nestled in their beds with visions of flaming sugarplums dancing in their heads. Bart finally brought in a ladder and ripped the misbehaving alarm out of it's case. The silence was deafening. That was when Chase sleepily walked out of his room and asked what was going on. Ryan and Cooper never woke up.
I think we may be ready to add a puppy that whines all night long right into the mix. What do you think?
It is amazing that my children sleep through all of this moonlighting going on. On the other hand, it shouldn't be amazing. We bought our house with an existing alarm system. It makes a little "beep beep beep" whenever a window or door is opened or shut. It was a lovely feature when Cooper was 2 and could open the door and toodle out. We now pretty much ignore it. So when all the goings on go on during the night we all don't pay any attention. Every now and then Carla will open her window at 2 am and it will give Bart and I pause upstairs in our bedroom. We might go check on it or we may just talk about the fact that Ryan will hate that alarm when she gets older and tries to sneak out. I can't even imagine what would have happened had my mother had those kind of tools on her side during my teenage years. I started sneaking out in 6th grade.
Several months ago our fire alarm which is connected to this internal house alarm went off in the middle of the night. It was simply a battery malfunction but Bart and I were hard pressed to try and find the actual fire alarm that was causing the alarm. Scurrying was occurring hoping that the children would not wake up. I thought maybe I could shut it down via the main alarm unit on the wall. Bad idea. All of the sudden there was double and triple the alarms going off. It was so loud I had to go outside. I felt like our whole house was a big blinking red light in the middle of our quiet neighborhood. I started freaking out that the neighbors would start waking up. Here Bart was running around in his underwear with brooms trying to get to the vaulted ceiling alarms and the neighbors would be calling the police about noise infractions. The children were all but forgotten. Especially because they were still nestled in their beds with visions of flaming sugarplums dancing in their heads. Bart finally brought in a ladder and ripped the misbehaving alarm out of it's case. The silence was deafening. That was when Chase sleepily walked out of his room and asked what was going on. Ryan and Cooper never woke up.
I think we may be ready to add a puppy that whines all night long right into the mix. What do you think?
Monday, November 07, 2005
Weather or not
Whenever I am reading a book and the author begins a paragraph describing the weather it is an immediate blinking light for me to start skimming. I hate descriptions of weather and rather think it is a waste of paper. I can barely get through Walden or Carson where it seems sometimes that the whole book is about weather. Some authors are very pithy about their weather descriptions. I don’t remember skimming too much in any Ayn Rand book. I don’t mind descriptions of Dagny’s dresses. Or Hank Reardon’s chiseled features. I will admit that sometimes I will have to go back to find pertinent info about whether it was snowing when Harry had his last quidditch match and that was why Hermoine had to put a defogging spell on his glasses. I do pay a little more attention to weather in the Outlander series simply because sometimes it is life and death there in colonial America.
However, weather is such an amazing factor in our lives. I am not even going to bring up the major disasters that it has brought on our country currently. That will only make for a “The end of the world is coming” chant. And who wants that no matter how timely it would be? I am just going to stick to my little corner of the world. Yesterday it was mild and warm for a November Sunday and so my little family went out and worked on the fence and planted some trees. The weather was a gift as it enabled us to get in a little unplanned family activity. My glam job allowed me to go out and do a paper route this morning at 2 am but again, the weather was warm and windy and I caught myself enjoying the alone time in the dark. Pleasant is the word that comes to mind. Finally this morning as Cooper and I were driving up to Grandma’s the clouds were breaking over the mountains and the blue sky was making a glorious appearance promising a good day.
Especially with my “fragile” mentality I am a sun worshipper. I no longer make it to the beach……well, ever but I drink in the sun whenever I can. Especially in the winter. I open every single one of the blinds in our house every single day. Yes, I may not be there while the sun is coming in the window but I can know that the sun did come in the window while I was away and the imprint of the rays are still there on the counter, couch, floor. My in-laws believe in and live by the whole “sun fades things” theory. True enough but no sun fades my soul.
Christmas is around the corner and there is nothing more warming than a beautiful snowstorm. I went to High School in Maryland. Not a whole lot of snow every year but a lot of ice. EVERY morning we would wake up and listen to the radio for the inevitable announcement of 1 to 2 hour delay from school. When I was a senior we were off of school for an entire 2 weeks. I still feel the joy of watching the snow stack up on the sidewalk thinking of the glee we all felt and lived in those unplanned days of sledding, skiing and sleeping in. Now living in Utah I don’t think my kids will ever see a day off of school for weather and my job keeps me wishing for mild winters for my night time driving carriers, however, there is still something magical about waking up to a Jack Frost job well done snowstorm.
So, I am going to try and stop skimming so much as I am reading by my window soaking up the sun and looking out on the last leaves of the aspens blowing in the wind. And I might just look into a job as a meteorologist.
However, weather is such an amazing factor in our lives. I am not even going to bring up the major disasters that it has brought on our country currently. That will only make for a “The end of the world is coming” chant. And who wants that no matter how timely it would be? I am just going to stick to my little corner of the world. Yesterday it was mild and warm for a November Sunday and so my little family went out and worked on the fence and planted some trees. The weather was a gift as it enabled us to get in a little unplanned family activity. My glam job allowed me to go out and do a paper route this morning at 2 am but again, the weather was warm and windy and I caught myself enjoying the alone time in the dark. Pleasant is the word that comes to mind. Finally this morning as Cooper and I were driving up to Grandma’s the clouds were breaking over the mountains and the blue sky was making a glorious appearance promising a good day.
Especially with my “fragile” mentality I am a sun worshipper. I no longer make it to the beach……well, ever but I drink in the sun whenever I can. Especially in the winter. I open every single one of the blinds in our house every single day. Yes, I may not be there while the sun is coming in the window but I can know that the sun did come in the window while I was away and the imprint of the rays are still there on the counter, couch, floor. My in-laws believe in and live by the whole “sun fades things” theory. True enough but no sun fades my soul.
Christmas is around the corner and there is nothing more warming than a beautiful snowstorm. I went to High School in Maryland. Not a whole lot of snow every year but a lot of ice. EVERY morning we would wake up and listen to the radio for the inevitable announcement of 1 to 2 hour delay from school. When I was a senior we were off of school for an entire 2 weeks. I still feel the joy of watching the snow stack up on the sidewalk thinking of the glee we all felt and lived in those unplanned days of sledding, skiing and sleeping in. Now living in Utah I don’t think my kids will ever see a day off of school for weather and my job keeps me wishing for mild winters for my night time driving carriers, however, there is still something magical about waking up to a Jack Frost job well done snowstorm.
So, I am going to try and stop skimming so much as I am reading by my window soaking up the sun and looking out on the last leaves of the aspens blowing in the wind. And I might just look into a job as a meteorologist.
Friday, November 04, 2005
Life changes are going on all around me. My good friend’s husband just got laid off. You can look at that as an opportunity. He was at least sitting at home watching 24 with his wife while I was at my office slogging away today. Ryan got her period today. Maybe not life changing but maybe more seeing a landmark in life occurring for her. I really don’t wish it on anyone but it had to happen and she is one of the last ones in her little group. I just got a birth announcement from a good friend who I didn’t even know was pregnant. Not only that. It was mailed from their new home in a different state. Now that is life changing. Another friend just jetted down to South America for a two week vacation. Without her kids or her husband. I haven’t been out of this country since my mission. My neighbor who quit her job at the beginning of this year just got back from South America as well. She hadn’t even unpacked her bag from her trip to Italy just the month before. I am just plain straight up, green as a lima bean, jealous. My mother and pop are going over to Korea for 2 weeks this month to tend my sister’s kids while she goes on a trip to China. Krissy, my youngest sister, is working up to getting engaged. Making fun decisions like going to the Peace Corp and whether she will ever wear a bra again. (Isn’t that one of the requirements?)
I have to admit that the end of soccer and football season is sortof life changing. We only had practice 2 times this week and I……..you see, I am pathetic. I am trying to put football and soccer FOR MY KIDS in the same category as the above. Kill me now.
I have to admit that the end of soccer and football season is sortof life changing. We only had practice 2 times this week and I……..you see, I am pathetic. I am trying to put football and soccer FOR MY KIDS in the same category as the above. Kill me now.
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