Josh's Birthday

Josh turned ten years old last month.  How weird.  And sad.  He's getting too big.  He had a good day at school.  He said he got to stand on his desk while his class sang to him.  He chose Subway for dinner and a giant doughnut for a birthday cake.

Musing

Not a-musing... just musing.

Just another post where I talk about boring things, post weird pictures of myself, and maybe piss off people with my perhaps over simplistic take on Christianity and on politics.

Lexi was sick all weekend.  She's doing much better, but still not up to going to school, so we're home.  I tried Zofran for Lexi for the first time, and I'm not sure if I liked that.  Her doctor always gives me a prescription for it, and last week when I was in I was telling her that Lexi had gotten really sick a while back and her doctor was like, "And you handled that on your own?"  And it didn't sound like a compliment.  She was like, she probably could have used some IV fluids.  Yeah, whatever, suck it, I handled it.  I know everyone loves Primary (or as her doctor calls it, Children's) but I have had some less-than-stellar experiences there.  I hate calling the after hours diabetes nurse hotline up there, which is what you're supposed to do, and I refuse to call it anymore.  I can figure it out on my own.  If I can't, I will come in to the ER.  Anywayyyy, so I tried the Zofran, and basically it made her stop throwing up... but she still heaved and gagged.  For about 24 hours.  So I mean, it helped her to not get dehydrated or whatever, but she was still miserable until the next day when she could finally throw up again.  Anywayyyyyy.... no one cares.  But sometimes I just feel like writing about things.

I wish Brittney would ditch her stupid internship (it really, really is stupid) and come home, bearing a delicious lunch.

Two weekends ago we had a debate tournament at Ogden High.  What a beautiful school!  We didn't do spectacularly, but we did OK. It was the novices' first tournament debating against JVs, so the competition stepped up a notch. We (the former coach at my school and I) are hosting a tournament the first weekend in December, and that is quite the undertaking.  We host one of the biggest tournaments in the state, and it's talked about and looked forward to all year.  Other tournaments are compared to it.  It's crazy and it's exhausting and it's fun.  And it's just a wee bit of pressure to live up to the reputation, but since I have help from the expert, it will be fine.  In fact, that was one of my requirements if I took over the job... he had to help me host this tournament because I wasn't going to be the coach that killed it.  We only have 2 tournaments this whole month because one was rescheduled and nothing else worked out in its place, and I was feeling a bit guilty about that, but now I think it was a good thing.  Give them a little calm before the storm, because things gear up again in December and go pretty strong for a few months.

One of the joys of teaching Honors:  We are reading Julius Caesar, and one of the characters made a joke, and kids in my 6th period actually laughed!  Without me explaining that they were supposed to!  It was beautiful.

So here's something weird... I woke up a few mornings ago with scratches on my neck that I have no idea where they came from.  It was really... unsettling.  I didn't feel them at all.  I first knew they were there when I took off my bathrobe and saw them.  When I touched them they stung.  I tried to figure out if maybe I had done it in the shower somehow... but how would I scratch myself in that pattern, and how would I not feel it?  I thought maybe I did it while blow drying my hair... like maybe the brush scraped me?  But I was wearing my thick terrycloth bathrobe which has a collar, so that's two layers of terrycloth right there.

Really weird.  It's hard to tell from the pictures, but they were bright red.  Honestly, the first thing I thought is that my house is haunted by evil spirits and that I need an exorcist.  If it happens again, I'm moving.

Something I've been thinking about for a while... I guess I've been thinking a lot lately about what it means to be a Christian, or rather, if it really means anything anymore.  How many people now days are actually followers of Christ's teachings?  Not nearly as many as claim to be Christians.  I'm not a religious person, so I'm not an expert, but I do know something about Christ.  And I listen to people every day who identify themselves as Christians say things that Christ would never condone. And do things that He would not condone.  And hold beliefs that are in direct opposition to what He taught. And I just wonder... what does it even mean anymore to be a Christian?  I think it's almost more a political ideology than it is a religion or a follower of a set of teachings.  Sometimes when people who I know to identify themselves as Christian talk about shunning certain groups of people, or mock the poor, or treat others with condescension and disrespect, or justify lying and cheating and being less than honest in business, I just want to quote The Princess Bride... You keep saying that word [Christian].  I don't think it means what you think it means.  I mean, I know that nobody's perfect.   I'm saying that I think there is a large population of people who don't spend a whole lot of time thinking about what Christ taught and what He stood for and then trying to model their lives after that as His followers.  Like, at all.

On a somewhat related note, I'm baffled by people who support things that are not in their own best interests... and then are shocked by the outcome.  I have spent so many lunch hours talking to teachers who are die hard Republicans who lament the anti-public education Republican legislators in Utah.  Yet they will still vote for them every election because they couldn't possibly vote for one of those dirty, Godless Democrat baby killers.  Right after No Child Left Behind was enacted, I was teaching special education, and the law had some unsavory implications for us.  I sat around the table with all of the other sped teachers in my school, and our department head shook her head and said, "Well, we all voted for him so I guess we can't complain."  I didn't want to be a jerk, but I wasn't going to agree with that, so I said, "Not me.  I didn't vote for that guy."  And there was silence and then we moved on.  But I've had shades of that conversation many times.  Lately it's been tea party supporters (or very conservative Republicans) who work for the federal government or have jobs dependent on federal dollars flowing into their business or the local economy.  They support people who want to shrink the federal government, yet somehow don't realize that this would... eliminate their jobs?  This last go-round with the government shut down...  All year my facebook feed contained tea party rhetoric posted by people who then turned around and lamented the government shut down.  I don't understand that!  If you support the tea party, shouldn't you be fine with a government shut down?  Shouldn't you believe that only the most essential government services should be funded anyway?  I'm so tired of people complaining about the debt, complaining about the deficit, complaining about how much the government spends, complaining about how much they pay in taxes... but then any time spending cuts are proposed that would affect them and their own livelihood, President Obama sucks and it's all his fault. That happened with the sequester.  All these people who support people like Cruz and Lee start talking about how Obama sucks for letting the sequestration budget cuts happen.  I do not get it.  Another example: before our scandal-ridden crook of an attorney general was elected, the Democrats were saying, "Hey!  This guy is not to be trusted!  He's a lobbyist for payday loan companies, which are pretty much just modern day legalized loan sharks!  Our candidate is the Weber County prosecutor!   Why would you vote for a payday loan company lobbyist for attorney general when you could vote for a good upstanding county prosecutor?"  But it didn't matter.  The Republican won in a landslide because this is Utah.  I've talked to several people since all of these scandals started coming to light who have said, "It's a shame, but there's no way we could have known he was going to turn out to be dirty."  Um, some of us had an idea. And as taxpayers, we now get to pick up the bill for a $3 million investigation of the guy, which may or may not lead to his impeachment.

Having said that, I realize that politics is complex.  Just because a person registers with a party, or votes for a candidate, it does not mean they have to agree with everything that party or candidate does.  But that's not what I'm talking about here.   I mean, I don't agree completely with any party.  I'm fiscally conservative and socially liberal.  If the Republicans ran a Jon Huntsman, a fiscal conservative and businessman who doesn't seem to hate poor people and is also pro-gay rights and pro-choice... man I could totally go for that. Anyway, enough of that.

Brittney's Birthday

We needed two days to celebrate Britt's 18th birthday.  Sunday night we went out to dinner, then Monday night we had dinner at home with cupcakes and presents.  Katie and mom baked and decorated a really cute cake for her, too.  

Halloween

Carving jack-o-lanterns:

Trick-or-treating:

Song Of the Day

I need to have some non-country songs of the day, but this is my favorite song right now.  I love it.  It's been a discouraging day.  Listening to this smooths out the rough spots, just a little.

October, Redneck Style

Reading over this, I think this may be the most redneck post I've ever written.  It's got deer hunting, target practice, 4wheeler riding, moonshine, barns...  Oh well.  I like rednecks. Whatever.

We had a debate tournament two weekends ago at the University of Utah.  Over the course of Friday and Saturday, I spent about 21 hours at the University of Utah.  I  got about 3 hours of sleep Friday night before I had to be up and ready to meet the bus.  It was pretty brutal.  By the time it was all said and done, I didn't want to be a debate coach anymore.   But I recovered and am back at it.  I'm really proud of how well my students did.  Out of the 19 students I took, I think I had 12 in finalist rounds. These kids are so sharp and talented.  None of it has anything to do with me, sadly.  I love watching them develop their talents and have success.  They love it, even the ones who aren't doing so well.  They asked the other day if there are more tournaments we can go to than the 10 or whatever that are already on our calendar.  Yes, there are, but no.  Heaven help me.  One of my administrators asked me if we were doing a trip to a tournament in another state this year, and I said no, I'm too overwhelmed.  I hope the students don't hear that this is actually an option because these kids would LOVE to do that.

Today after school we had a little novice tournament in Bountiful, and it was short and sweet.  Not too bad, and the kids did pretty well. They liked the shorter rounds and getting home at a decent time.  

While I was at the UofU, Sean and Dennis took the kids on a road trip to scout out potential deer hunting areas.  They stopped here and there to get out and walk around or shoot Josh's pellet gun.  Then they stopped at Cabela's on the way home, where Josh bought a BB pistol and Lexi bought a Barbie fishing pole. She is really good at casting that sucker, too.  I didn't think a Barbie fishing pole would actually work, but I think she's going to catch a tiger muskie with that thing.

Testing out the ice fishing shacks for dad

When Lexi gets older, she is going to ask me why I never combed her hair.  In my defense, I wasn't home this day.  But in general, she hates getting her hair put into pony tails or barrettes and will only do it if I fight/cajole/bribe her.  And even then it still is just crazy looking.  Most of the time I just comb it and pray for people to not know who her mother is.

I was off work Thursday and Friday for the UEA conference, which I never attend.  Don't care.  I pay a crap ton in dues.  That's enough.  It wasn't really a vacation so much, because I spent about 12 hours+ grading papers and entering scores and other school-related business.  And then cleaned the house and grocery shopped and the usual type chores.  But I didn't have to wake up early for 4 days in a row, and any day that I don't have to wake up before 8:00 is the best day ever.

Sean took a few days off, and he and Josh and Dennis went deer hunting last weekend.  They came home with the truck and trailer in one piece, lots of crazy stories, and no dead animals.  Win!

I think riding his 4 wheeler all over the campsite was Josh's favorite part of the trip. 

In other random news:

Sean's been building a shed in the backyard, and I told him that when it's finished I'm going to use it to make moonshine in.  I'm going to turn it into a still.  He asked me if I would drink the moonshine I make.  I said probably not.  He asked me why, then, did I want to make it?  I don't really know.  It's just something I've been wanting to do for a while now.  I found a recipe for homemade rum.  It just seems like a cool science project.  I don't know.  I don't want to blow myself up, however, and I also don't want to go to jail. Perhaps I need to think this all through. Do a little research.

I'm in the mood to have a dance party. I was trying to think of a good venue, like a Footloose-style warehouse, and then I decided a barn. When we were planning Courtney's wedding we were looking for a barn. I can never find a barn when I need one. And then it hit me. I should just buy myself a barn! Then I can rent it out for weddings and dance parties and make money and get to use it whenever I want.

I have been looking for a good concert to go to, but I can't find anything I want to see/can afford.  I looked into buying some tickets to Pink, which would be totally fun, but for tickets for my girls and me it was $250. That's a little too steep for me. Maybe Joan Jett down in Wendover, I guess. She's fun, but just not really what I'm looking for.  I really, really want to see Eric Church.  Hopefully he'll come next year.

Sometimes I read what I write and decide that it's all too random and weird to publish, even on a blog that no one reads, so I delete stuff.  Today I just said screw it.  This is what I was thinking about today, unedited. Done.

Camping and Debate

We went camping at East Canyon last weekend.  It was chilly, but it's actually a nice to time to get out and go camping.  It's cooler, so you don't get all sweaty and nasty during the day.  The only bad part was that it was really windy, so it was harder to enjoy the cooler weather. Also, I had problems with my contact lenses, so I had a hard time seeing.  Oh, and there's the little thing where the starter on our Suburban went out.  We had to have Dennis come get us and take us to the auto parts store and then run back up, just in time to get there before they locked down the campground for the night.  Other than that, it was a good time!

Josh and Lexi had fun scootering down this hill.  It doesn't look like much in the picture, but it was steep enough for them to get going pretty fast.  

Lots of deer come down to the campground to feed and drink.  Lots of wildlife around this area.  They have signs posted at the bathroom that say there have been mountain lions spotted in the area.  

The view from under my awning:

I spent a lot of time hanging out under the awning Saturday morning.  I pulled up a chair, propped my feet up, and fell asleep.  It was glorious.

Josh had fun catching a fish.

I had Parent Teacher Conferences Monday night.  That made for a long day.  There has been something going every night this week.  I can't seem to ever get caught up.

Thursday night was our first debate tournament.  I love debate.  I love all those little debate nerds.  They are so adorable.  I was pushing and collecting ballots outside the tab room, and I love how they would come find me to tell me when it went well or when it didn't.

September

The Luke Bryan concert was a party and a half.  I thought Tim McGraw would be my favorite concert this summer, but now I'm just not sure.  Luke Bryan was every bit as fun.  I think the tie breaker would have to be that even Sean was dancing by the end of Luke Bryan, and Sean doesn't dance.  I don't know.  It's a close call.  We saw some great shows this summer.  I wish I had another one to look forward to.

Courtney and Curtis came over for dinner on Sunday.  It was really fun to visit with them.  As they were walking out the door to leave, Brittney and Anthony came walking in after work.  They both got off at the same time, so they met up here afterward for dinner.

Josh and Lexi had parent-teacher conferences Tuesday afternoon.  I really like Josh's teacher and I have a lot of respect for her, and she has some good ideas... but at the same time, it's hard when she's telling me what I need to do with him, and I'm thinking... I've tried that.  We've done that.  Or I've considered that and am not going to do that.  I have three other kids.  I'm not new at this game.  Each of my kids is different, but Josh is way different than all of his sisters.  He struggles with school, and it's not really clear what exactly the hang up is.  His teacher was asking me what motivates him, and telling me I need to use whatever that is as an incentive to get him to do his work.  Ya think?  Well, to be honest, nothing motivates Josh, really.  I mean, he has things he really, really likes.  But he hates schoolwork so much, and it's enough of a struggle for him, that he'd rather just not earn the reward.  He will start out trying, but it's just so hard for him.  Anyway, then there's Lexi's conference.  According to her teacher she can do no wrong and is pretty much a genius.  I love all my kids so much.  It's so hard to watch Josh struggle.

I have so much to do at work and I can never even get close to caught up.  It's overwhelming and keeps me in a constant state of agitation.  I had my students read this article about the brain, and among the different things, it said that lack of exercise, lack of sleep, and stress are all really bad for cognitive function. I told my students I'm lucky I'm not just drooling and wandering around aimlessly in the parking lot then, because I am batting 0 for 3 on that one.

Tuesday I did something I've never done in all my years of teaching... I cleaned up puke.  One of my sweet, quiet boys barfed at his desk and then I sent him off to the bathroom.  My students were all so sweet... worrying about him and if he was OK.  One offered to go get a custodian, but that just felt really... wimpy I guess.  Like, it's not like they have some specialized skills that I don't have.  If it were on the floor I would have got someone.  But it was just on his desk and not that much.  They were all so impressed that I was going to do it, and I'm like... Guys, I'm a mom.  I got this.  One girl was all... Yeah, but my mom would be gagging.  So I just got like half a roll of paper towels and desk cleaner and swished it all into the trash. Threw away his notebook and declared he would get credit for whatever was in there.  Squirted a ton of hand sanitizer on the desk and cleaned it off.  Voila.  Good as new.  I have a super glamorous job.  That's why they pay me the big bucks.

So then today, Lexi wasn't feeling well when she woke up.  Her blood sugar was really high, and I couldn't figure out if that was making her not feel well, if her pump site was bad, if she had a virus, or what.  So I took her to school with me, where she proceeded to lay on the floor and sleep, wake up and puke in the trash can, and go back to sleep.  There wasn't anything in her stomach, so it wasn't that big a deal, but high blood sugar makes her super thirsty.  So long about 3rd period, same class as the kid threw up in last time, she drank a whole bunch of water and then immediately barfed it up.  These poor kids were wondering what was up with my classroom.  And they were all taking a quiz at the time, so it was silent other than her.  Ha!  Oh my. Courtney was all set to come get her from me, but she just wanted to stay there with me and I needed to keep an eye on her glucose levels anyway, so I just kept her there.  Most of the time no one even knew she was there, until that little episode.  She's feeling slightly better tonight, but still not very good.  Her ketones are high, so I need to get those cleared.  I don't know what to do with her tomorrow.  I could get a sub, but I have too much work to do.  I've got to register my kids for a debate tournament by tomorrow and I have to talk to several of them.  Blarg.

So we're going camping this weekend.  Which is really stupid, because it's cold.  And will probably be rainy or snowy.  We wanted to get out one more time, and I wasn't really thinking clearly I guess.  So I've got to pack up the kids' clothes and get ready.  I don't feel like doing that.  This was a really bad idea, but I guess I should just make the best of it.

I just really wish someone would stop the roller coaster and let me get off for a few minutes.  Catch my breath.

That is all.

Song of the Day

Squee!!  Luke Bryan concert tonight!  So excited.

September

I really want to sit down and write, but I never make the time.  And then by the time I sit down to write, I've forgotten everything.  Or someone else has already said it, and said it better.

I spent a good portion of Saturday in a debate coach's meeting, which included two hours of Congressional Debate clinic, followed by another two hours of Public Forum clinic.  I got lots of good information, but my brain cells got a bit fried.  It's so overwhelming. Some of these schools are Serious, which makes me feel even more inadequate. I love debate and would love to develop this kickass program... but I'm just not sure if I have what it takes right now.  I guess we'll see how it all goes this year and then look towards next year to see what's what.  One thing though... being a debate coach can simultaneously make me feel like a freaking genius and a freaking idiot.  And I think I love that just a little bit. The challenge of it and the possibility of it all.

Yesterday in my English 10 Honors class we were having a discussion about Syria... and oh how lovely honors kids are!  Instead of, "Why do we have to read about this stuff?"  and "I hate politics because I don't understand it and it's scary and I don't want to know anything that is scary or makes me think," I get so much discussion that I have to cut it off or that's all we would do all day.  Not one single person complained or asked why they had to read an article about Syria.  So glorious.  There are things I love about teaching the regular class too... this just happens to be a perk of Honors.

Brittney is at work tonight for an awards ceremony.  She got an award for being Super Awesome or something, and she went with her boyfriend, who is receiving the Supervisor Scholarship.  Pretty cool.  She started an internship today through school at a cupcake bakery.  She said she got to make frosting today.  I hope she learns some interesting things about owning a bakery and about baking itself.

We finally bought another car after our Mazda died.  It needs a few parts and then hopefully it will run smoothly for a little while.  I hate care repairs.  We had a 1997, a 2000, and a 2001.  The 2001 Mazda was the first to die.  The 2000 Suburban will be next.  The 1997 F-250 runs the best of the bunch.  Funny.

Our dishwasher has been broken, so we've been washing dishes by hand.  That sucks.  Sean tried all kinds of things and it just wasn't working.  We had decided we finally needed a new one, but he tried a couple more things last night and thinks he has it working.  We still need a new one because this is a cheap contractor model and has outlived its life expectancy by like 8 years, but hopefully this can get us by a little longer.  I hate spending money on things like that.

My mom and I went out to lunch for my birthday last week, and it was so fun!  I feel like we haven't had a good visit like that forever.  We totally pigged out on pasta and chatted.

Brittney and I went shopping for Homecoming dresses last week.  She found a pretty black and red dress. Afterward, we were passing the movie theater and smelled the popcorn, so we decided to just go buy some. We went to the tables in the food court to sit and pig out on our movie popcorn, and one of my former students saw me and came over to visit.  His girlfriend was like... oh, did you guys just go see a movie?  Um... no, we just go buy the popcorn.  Ha!  It was embarrassing.  But I don't regret it.

Hopefully we are going camping this weekend.  Should be fun!

Lagoon, Fair, and Pineview

Courtney and I took Josh and Lexi to Lagoon last week.  We did the water park and a few rides.

The Davis County Fair was this week, and I do love the fair.  Sean, me, Josh, and Lexi, Heather and her kids, Scott and Wendy and their kids, Courtney and Curtis, Brittney and Anthony, Katie and her date Chris, all met up at the fair.  Good times.

We went camping up at Pineview this weekend with Scott and Wendy's family and Katie.  It was so much fun!  We need to make sure we do that every year.  It's been too long.

Josh and Lisa

Courtney took her chair to the edge of the water to sit with her feet in, and then gradually kept taking her chair farther out, until that's where she was.  And eventually she fell over.

And now, for the best part of any camping post, the soon-to-be-critically acclaimed feature, "The View From Under My Awning," in which I show... the view from under my awning.

We have this corner of our house that is crazy good for tomato growing.  I don't know what it is, but they pretty much turn into like shrubbery.  Like tomato shrubs.  I'm sure it's because I put too many plants in one small spot, but still.  It's pretty awesome to behold.  Tomatoes and potatoes are all we are going to get this year, pretty much.  Well, turnips and beets, but who likes those?  And radishes.  Blech.

Back to work this week.  So not ready.  Blarg.

Courtney's Wedding

The wedding went well, no major catastrophes, I had fun, so I call it a success.  We started out at about 9:00 am, picking up her bouquet, the boutonnieres, and the loose flowers for the cake.  The florist was giving us this big spiel on how fragile the bouquet was, and how she shouldn't leave it sitting outside during pictures, and should have someone run it in to the refrigerator between pictures, and I was all... um, do we just need to plan to take the pictures in the refrigerator? and Courtney was all... mom, shut up.  Turned out it was all fine, whatever.  We got to the building and decorated and got all ready.  We had to make a billion flower centerpieces and we hung pictures up and put some things up on the mantle.  That's mostly it.  Courtney had a couple of hair and makeup pros come in to do her all up.  The procession walked to a couple of songs from Lord of the Rings performed by the London Symphony Orchestra.  It was such beautiful music.  Curtis' cousin Colby performed the ceremony, and it was lovely.  I wish I had thought to have a video recording of it.  They had a sand ceremony and recited vows that they had written.  Then we had a family dinner catered by a company that brought out a big grill and made beef and chicken kabobs, au gratin potatoes, fruit salad, pasta shrimp salad, green salad, rolls, and brownie ice cream sundaes.  Once that was finished, we started the reception.  She had a first dance with Curtis to "I Love the Way You Love Me," and then after the first verse opened the dance floor to everyone.  Then she had a daddy-daughter dance to "God Must Have Spent a Little More Time On You," and opened the dance floor up to any other parent-child combos who wanted to dance with them.  I was able to force Josh into dancing with me for about 20 seconds.  They smashed cake into each others' faces.  We did some dancing and visiting, and I had Kneaders bring in fruit tarts and some different kinds of brownies for the reception.  All-in-all, I really enjoyed the evening.