We Need a Little Christmas

I am very proud of Dave and myself; by the end of the first week in December, we already have our Christmas tree up and decorated and our outside lights hung! (This is our first year being in our own home, so maybe that explains it.) We went with a real cut tree, and I am enjoying it. (I wish I had taken a picture of when we first bought it because it was tied up like a bundle and frozen so solid we just had to wait for it to defrost into its normal shape.) Every morning we've been sitting under the tree and reading a Christmas thought together; thank you for the book of quotes Dawn Marie! Also thank you Jennie for the beautifully wrapped presents under the tree. As far as our outside lights go, I have voted them the best on the street, which makes me happy, even though it's not such a hard competition to win. I actually have been more in the Christmas spirit than usual this year, so it must be working.

Our Condo

We bought a condo! What a  fun adventure it has been!

Cooking Class at "Kitchen Kneads"

Dave and I had an adventure. We went to a real, live cooking class. It was like watching the cooking channel, but so much better because you could smell and taste all the foods! Plus, there were a bunch of ladies there who weren't afraid to ask all kind of questions- "Will this keep in the fridge?" "Could I use Swiss instead of Gruyere?", and -of course- "Where can I buy that [insert name of fancy cooking device/spice/product]?" -to which the answer was always, "Right here at Kitchen Kneads, of course!" Since the class is taught from a kitchen in the back of a cooking goods store, this is hardly surprising. (We did buy some super-nice, rust-proof mixing bowls while we were there.) I sat by a really cool older lady who kept whispering her "trade secrets" in my ear, and the resident chef there is actually the librarian at the school where I work, and she was characteristically free-flowing with her knowledge and opinions: "Only cook deep-fried food twice a year," "always toast your nuts, "always soak your onions in ice water", "store your garlic oil in the fridge or it could go rancid on you", and many other such gems of wisdom. It was fun -the theme was "everything but the turkey" and I did like her a-gratin potatoes with walnuts and sage, but nothing yet has topped Mom and Dad's cranberry sauce, candied yams, and stuffing. Can you tell I'm excited for Thanksgiving?

Some Music

Music has been a really good friend to me lately. Here are a few CDs that have helped me make it through some rough spots. I am always looking for new good stuff -I wish there was a goodreads equivalent for music -"goodtunes", they could call it.

Johnny Cash -American Recordings Series
I always liked Johnny Cash, but didn't really love him until I started listening to these CDs. -They were produced during the later years of his life -the last one in the series actually released after his death- and include original songs as well as his versions of many country classics and even modern selections. I like his "Rowboat" (Beck) and "Hurt" (9 Inch Nails), and of course the classics like "Sea of Heartbreak" and "Memories are Made of This." But sometimes, there's just nothing that hits the spot as well as his mournful cowboy ballads ("Streets of Laredo", "I Hung my Head") and that voice. Deep, plodding, immovable, jaded, hopeful, genuine, heart-on-your-sleeve country boy honesty.




Cat Stevens/Yusuf's -Roadsinger
This is a recent Yusuf release (2009) that promises to "warm you though the night"; well, it delivers on that promise. This might be my most frequently played CD, and it has brought me home on many a dark and weary night. The track "Thinkin 'bout You" probably has more power to cheer me up than almost any song I've ever heard. "Be What You Must", unabashedly cheesy, has the kind of heart-felt hopefulness that even in my most skeptic, doubting moments, I simply can't resist. What makes this album a stand-out for me is Yusuf's beautiful tone throughout- always pensive, sometimes definite, sometimes questioning, sometimes whimsical, but always grounded in faith and peace; a voice that covers like a salve over the achy parts of my soul.




Rufus Wainwright -
I don't actually have any of his albums; I created a list off itunes, but I would like to get this Poses one sometime. A lot of his songs miss the mark with me, but when he's on... And what a heck of a voice. Lethargic, tremulous, the biggest, roundest, resonant tone, and emotions so real and powerful that they melt off his vocal folds. Sometimes described as "popera" (pop+opera), a lot of his music does have an almost operatic drama, but some of it is also so wonderfully understated (listen to "Poses", "Nobody's off the Hook"). Some of his songs are full of life ("Beautiful Child", "11:11", "Another Believer" -from Meet the Robinsons), but most of the good ones drip with longing and disillusionment ("Oh What a World", "Going to a Town", "Go or Go Ahead", "Chelsea Hotel No. 2" -remake of Leonard Cohen's). It is perfect music for wallowing, for letting someone else really feel your pain for a little while.




She and Him -Volumes 1 and 2This music has been a happy discovery for me. The "She" referred to (Zooey Deschanel -Elf, 500 Days of Summer) writes and performs the songs while I think the "Him" (M. Ward) does instrumentation, recording, back-up singing. The music is generally upbeat, sing-a-long, downright peppy stuff. Sometimes reminiscent of love songs from the rock 'n roll era, sometimes of country -but all completely fresh. I love her melodies, vocal style, and they way everything comes off as sincere. Mostly, I love singing these songs in the shower. Some favorites include "Sweet Darlin'", "Over It Over Again", "Gonna Get Along Without You Now", and "You Really Got a Hold on Me".




Natalie Merchant -Leave Your SleepI've only had this 2-disc set for a couple of weeks, but I'm lovin' it. I don't have any other Natalie Merchant stuff (she was the singer for 10,000 Maniacs and has since done lots of her own stuff -you hear her song "Jealousy" on the radio and others), but oh boy can she sing and write. This album was 5 years in the making, involved 100 musicians, and includes over 2 dozen poems that Merchant set to music. The poems are all over the place (e.e. cummings, Robert Louis Stevenson, Jack Prelutsky, Moother Goose, Christina Rossetti, and many lesser-know poets as well as anonymous selections); the music is as diverse as the poetry -sorrowful, fanciful, comical, sassy, sweet, playful, moving. I love the way each track has a life of its own -how she pulled out the mood -essence- of all the different poems. I love her voice and how it does this. Beyond that, some of these poem-songs have the kind of catchy-ness that has you bobbing your head along to the tune days after listening -sort of like the way a line of poetry can lodge itself in your mind -and heart. My favorites are "Adventures of Isabel", "Equestrienne", "Griselda", "Spring and Fall: to a young child," Calico Pie", "Crying, My Little One", and "Sweet and a Lullaby".

North Logan Pumpkin Walk

I've got to hand it to Cache Valley on this one -it really is a pretty cool local tradition. This was my second year going with Dave, and we were both impressed. -As the sign says as you walk in, hundreds of volunteers spend countless hours working to create all of the pumpkin displays -and it shows. It is just delightful to see what people come up with and how much effort they obviously put into it. These pictures are from last year when the theme must have been advertisements, but this year's theme was "the magic of animation" and we liked it quite a bit better than last year's. It's a pretty big deal up here. -The local bus system carries people back and forth between various parking lots and the pumpkin displays, there's a big power generator thing for the lights, music, and animated displays, and the whole thing is free; I think most of the valley goes, and we must have joined the masses at just the wrong time because we were in line for at least 30 minutes before we got to the displays, but it was very worth it. I think my favorite part is how all the walkways are lined with candle-lit carved pumpkins, and so you can smell that wonderful burning pumpkin smell the whole time. -That really gets me in the fall spirit.

Lovelock

Lovelock is a small town in the Nevada desert. We've been wanting to get out there to visit Dave's grandma since our wedding. She is just a really neat lady. And she loves "her desert." :) We had a wonderful weekend with her, exploring the town and desert in her old white pickup, having picnics, and hearing lots of stories. There was also a snake at one point. It was an adventure!

For me, there is something soul-renewing about being out in the desert, but even more wonderful and soul-renewing about being at grandma's house, and this trip made me remember that. It made me miss my grandparents, but also so happy to have a grandma again. I have definitely "locked my love" in Lovelock (that's the town slogan). The pictures are of some neat rock formations (the bumpy one is called "tufa"), views of the valley, and the Lovelock Cave. We also drove across a long, dirt road to find an old, ghost mining town, we drove out to some areas where they mine diatamacious earth, and we got to spend some time with aunt Dana's family. We just loved being there. Thanks grandma.

Fall Colors

Dave and I made it out on a couple of hikes to see the Logan fall colors. I'm so glad we did. These pictures are from a hike up the mountains on the west end of the valley (just above Mendon -where I work). It was pretty dark when we got back to our car.

26

I had a birthday. I had parent teacher conferences that night, and didn't get home until pretty late, but then Dave and I splurged by going to a fancy restaurant (Elements) where I got some really yummy mahi mahi, and some enormous chipotle onion rings. Dave also made it special by making me a cookie dough cheesecake and getting me flowers and lots of other nice stuff. Thank you sweetheart!

Preschool Moment - "Button, Button"

This week was all about toys, teddy bears and buttons since the book was "Corduroy" by Don Freeman. So yesterday, we played "button, button, who's got the button" with our preschoolers to work on asking questions to peers, increasing sentence length, and answering yes/no questions. (I actually have this memory of being like 4- or 5-years-old and playing "button, button" for a family home evening activity and thinking it was the like best thing ever.) It's funny watching our preschool kids try to figure out simple games like this one -many of them are still confused about who should be closing their eyes when, not peeking, and this whole concept of "keeping it a secret." It was fun to watch as some of the kids caught on to the idea of tricking the other child by making it look like they were holding the button, but, for most of our kiddos, deception is still a pretty foreign thing (also, it was usually painfully obvious to the teachers who had the button, but the kids generally missed these "subtle" clues). Some of the kids could hardly handle the suspense of having the button, and would throw it out of their hands before the other child even had a chance to ask them, which was pretty hilarious. It was also something to play this game with several kiddos who struggle to correctly answer yes/no questions, since the crux of the game is being able to answer a simple yes/no question ("Do you have the button?"). So here's the preschool moment: A darling little blonde waif of a girl who had not yet figured out yes/no questions (her language skills were very delayed)  -but who wanted to participate, had a lot to say, and was very emphatic about it, holding out her empty hands and with a big smile on her face, nodding her head and saying, "yes! button!"

concerning houseplants

If you'd like to try more houseplants, but don't want to read several books just to keep them alive, I thought I'd share what I've learned. (Okay, so the truth is that thinking about this post gave me a wonderful distraction from thinking about all the stressful meetings that were awaiting me this week.) It seems to boil down to this:

1) DON'T WATER PLANTS TOO FREQUENTLY. Most plants do not need to be watered every day or even every couple days. I water most of mine more like every week or even every other week. I'm sure there are exceptions for more "finicky" plants, but the more sturdy, common variety seem to need some time between waterings to let their roots "breathe". I have found that, for most plants, even after getting very dry and wilted-looking (like after a long vacation), they can still make a surprising comeback if just given a good soak. Of course, the more frequently you check on your plants, the better.

2) BUT WHEN YOU DO WATER, WATER WELL. The idea is to give the roots a thorough soak without leaving them sitting in standing water. I've found the best way to do this is setting the entire plant in a shallow dish of water, leaving it there for several minutes to an hour, (until the soil on top feels wet to the touch) and then removing it. This way, you know the roots have gotten a really good drink (sometimes, if you water really dry plants from the top, the water just runs right out the bottom without watering the plant very well), and you know that the plant is not left in standing water. Of course, this only works for plants in containers that have holes in the bottom, like the cheap, plastic containers that most plants come in when you buy them. (I think it's generally much easier -and less traumatic to the plant- to just leave it in the container it came in and then set the whole thing in a cuter, outer "cache" pot.) This watering method still won't be possible for some plants (like ones in really big pots), so you will have to improvise. But watch out for standing water! -It kills plants and also brings gnats, as I have discovered from unfortunate experience on two occasions. You can usually just "tip out" the standing water. I've also tried watering plants in the sink or taking them outside to be watered.

3) MOVE YOUR PLANTS -if they are not doing well in a particular spot. If there's a spot that's not working for any plant you try, put some nice silk flowers there instead. Since I moved our gardenia to one of our smaller bedrooms, where it can get more light and humidity, it is doing much better.

4) FEED YOUR PLANTS. This really isn't too hard. I just bought a liquid fertilizer, and I put a few drops in the water every time or every-other-time I water.

5) AVOID HIGH-MAINTAINANCE PLANTS -if you don't want the hassle. Tropical plants, like my gardenia and sonic impatients, may refuse to bloom just because it is too dry for them. Misting them, I got slightly better results, but have not yet been willing to spring for a humidifier on account of my plants. Hibiscus will bloom, but the flowers drop after 24 hours or so, maybe for the same reason. Despite their reputation, orchids were not that difficult (just put a few ice cubes on top to water them every week) and the blooms lasted for a month! There are some plants that need very little care, like anything in the succulent/cacti family.

Preschool Moment - The Very Hungry Caterpillar

If there's one thing I could talk about endlessly, it would be my job and working with the preschoolers. And...I pretty much do (poor Dave). Maybe it's time to expand my audience, and, for the purposes of blogging, I'll try to keep it light.

Each week we do a different theme/book with the kids. This week's was an especially good one. (Is there a more perfect book for preschooler's than "The Very Hungry Caterpillar?" -I think you could make a pretty strong case for it.) Anyway, for large group language activities, the kids got to follow directions to find various food items and feed them to a paper-bag caterpillar-puppet (which some of the children called "the monster" even though we'd been talking about "caterpillars" all week...pretty typical...well, it really did kind of look like a monster since I'd hand-drawn it).
FACT: as a whole, 4-year-old children love almost nothing so much as feeding pretend food items to a paper-bag puppet; I do not know why this is the case, yet it remains a law of nature. Some of the younger kids though, did try to cheat by putting their food pictures in the bag's opening instead of in the monster's -er, I mean, the caterpillar's mouth.
For our second activity, we tried sorting food vs. nonfood items, during which time many pretend food and other items were taste-tested by the kids -(sometimes you do start to feel like a record on endless repeat, "just pretend, just pretend, just pretend!").
We acted out the story with our bodies for the 3rd activity, by wrapping the kids up in a blanket ("cocoon"); most of the kids could hardly wait for their turn to jump in. And here, finally, we come to the preschool moment of the week: opening up the "cocoon" to see their smiling little faces, so eager to burst out and hop/flap around like crazy butterfly things. And then, that moment when you know you've accomplished something as a teacher -when you know they've made some connections- hearing the kids across the hall saying, "I got to be a butterfly -I came out, and I was a butterfly!!"

Summers

Doesn't it seem like if you could just keep track of all your summers -of where they've taken you from one year to the next- you'd have a pretty good sense of your life's history? Maybe that's why I like to play this game with myself: "What was I doing at about this same time last year? And the year before that? And the year before that?..."
Once, I read a book about a girl who'd been in a motorcycle accident and had a brain injury that made it so she couldn't remember the events of her life from one day to the next -let alone from one year to the next- and how hard that would be to just float through time and space with no "landmarks" to anchor you. Maybe it's sort of like that.

Summer 2010: A busy summer; Summer of buying our condo in Logan, of going to Germany, of working in the preschool at Mountainside Elementary. Houseplants and family vacations (Mount Rushmore, Jackson Hole...)

Summer 2009: A very happy summer; Summer of being newlywed, of Wymount (married student BYU housing), of collecting data for my thesis. Riding my red cruiser bike all around campus, wanting to cook all the time, late nights in the computer lab with Dave. 4th of July in St. George, hiking with Dave's family... Then, Dave moved to Logan in July to start working at SDL (Space Dynamics Lab); I finished up some stuff for my thesis and followed him there in August.





Summer 2008: Another very happy summer; summer of falling completely in love(I met Dave in April), of an absolutely lovely summer term at BYU, of living in Aracadia Apts. with Becky, Katie, Natalie, and Staycee. Started an internship in St. George at a skilled nursing facility in July. Being exhausted from the work. Spending the evenings with family, talking with Dave on the phone every night. Santa Fe road trip with mom and dad, camping with Erica.






Summer 2007: A harder summer; Summer I graduated from Utah State and started graduate school at BYU. A lonely summer, living on Condo Row, half-way dating a guy named Jason for a couple of months. So excited to come home in July as soon as the term was over. And then, things miraculously go oh-so-much better the day Becky called up and said, "hey, I'm moving back to Provo this fall. Want to be my roommate?" A dream come true. Visiting Brian and Karene in El Segudno with mom. Visiting Angie... Mesa Verde/Capitol Reef/Bryce road trip with mom and dad. Dean Hansen family reunion in Colorado???




Summer 2006: Wonderful, carefree summer of play; Summer of Darwin Avenue fun -livin' it up in "Grey Brick # 4" with my completely lovable, flirtatious roommate, Ruth., who dragged me along on all of her adventures -sleeping on the lawn, making a movie, visiting random boys who lived up the street... Summer school at Utah State and Andy Anderson's anatomy, studying with friends in the ward. During the first half of the summer (before summer school started), Calico camping trip, visiting Brian's family in CA, and then flew to Angie's in Vegas where I met up with mom and dad and we left on our American History tour back east.





Summer 2005: Seems surreal looking back on it. Summer I moved to Logan with Cami. Our apartment off 7th north, our stinky DI couch, hot afternoons lying under the ceiling fan and eating endless otter pops, job hunting, taking the bus up to campus to take notes for the DRC (Disability Resource Center). And then, starting some time in June or July, dating Brock almost every evening. At the end of the summer, moving into some student housing and getting ready to start my first semester that fall at Utah State.



Summer 2004: I don't have many pictures from this summer (at least not digital), but it was a memorable one. My freshman summer at Dixie, and I was such a freshman -enjoying my money, car, classes, friends, freedom, almost urgently trying to fit in as much fun as possible. The summer Cami and I were inseparable. When I wasn't working at La De Da Homestore, we were generally off on an adventure with David Hilton, working on our "evil mastermind/vampire" movie. Late nights talking in the Frostop parking lot with Cami, David, Kassie, and JD. I'm sure I went on family trips, maybe Colorado Springs? It's getting pretty hard to remember this far back.


Summer 2003: Summer I graduated from High School, spending lots of time with Becky and other "lunch group" and high school friends. Freshman orientation at Dixie State, starting to work at La De Da late that summer/fall. Brian got married in August. And this is really about as far back as I can go without doing some serious delving, as things are starting to get pretty jumbled up and foggy.