Cowgirls and Lamanites

Cowgirls and Lamanites

Kayla and Marisa had their Stake Youth Costume dance yesterday. They went as a cowgirl and a Lamanite. They looked super cute and had a great time.

 

More Apples

So, we had another apple day yesterday. I got creative and made homemade applesauce muffins with our homemade applesauce and they turned out SO YUMMY and moist!

Then I made 8 mini apple pies. How cute are they?? I also made another big pie.

We also made 3 more jars of homemade stewed tomatoes with stuff from our garden.

Books Everywhere

I had another great week at work! I covered tons of new books this week and did about 20 new books at home. I also processed about 150 new books we received and I loved it. I am so weird! But I got 1^st dibs on the new books so I am reading Silence, Power of Six, and Shelter. I also got Son of Neptune for Tyler and he almost jumped through the roof with joy!

I’m debating taking 2 Masters classes in January, but considering I’m so exhausted I can’t stay up much past 8, how will I do that?

Odds and Ends

1. Tyler finished up tennis this week and won his last meet. He received two awards! One was for playing for two years but the other was for being undefeated this entire season! Go Tyler!!

He also was an angel and cleaned the house on Friday when I worked.  He even alphabetized my “beauty” products!  Does he know me well or what??

2. Alayna starts the school choir this week called Grace Notes and she is pretty excited.

3. BYU early admissions applications start tomorrow. Good Luck Marisa!

4. Kayla finally gets to start her Culinary Basics class this week at school and is very excited!

Up to our Eyeballs in Apples

Up to our Eyeballs in Apples

Our apple trees ROCKED this year! We got TONS of apples. Almost more than we know what to do with. So, we made homemade applesauce in the crock-pot (which makes our home smell like heaven) and 4 apple pies. We have plans to make more apple stuff next weekend.

We also chopped up all our jalapenos and onions to freeze them for future use. Sometimes we are so awesome!

(This is where I found Alayna when we finished!)

Student of the week

Thanks to a friend of ours, we found out the Marisa was featured as Student of the Week in the local paper called “Marion Times”. So exciting!

Funny Tyler quote to keep you guessing

“See, dad, I will be on BYUTV someday, just not where you thought I would be”. Bwaahaahaa!

Favorites for Fun

My new fav author: Harlan Coben

My new fav TV show: Terra Nova and Modern Family (I laugh until I cry!)

My new fav reason to be a librarian: 1^st dibs on new books and 1^st preview of bookfairs! (We have our bookfair this week)

My new fav flowers we grew:

*Almost all the kids have started updating their blogs so hop on over and read what they have been up to.  They LOVE comments!

Homecoming and Appreciating Good Health

October 2, 2011

Homecoming

Marisa and Kayla went to LM Homecoming yesterday. They went with a large group of girls. Bob and I bought them corsages to celebrate Marisa’s last HS Homecoming and Kayla’s 1^st HS dance. They went to HuHot Mongolian Grill for dinner and spent the night at a friend’s house. They looked stunningly beautiful as always!

Recognition Night

Alayna had Activity Days Recognition Night this week. It was an indoor family picnic. Their leader shared a neat analogy as she had the girls’ line up like geese in flight and shared these neat ideas.

http://www.hobnobia.net/content/content/leadership-lessons-geese

Tennis

Tyler had another meet this week and he and his partner won 4-2. Go Tyler!

Appreciating Good Health

Ok, so my antibiotics didn’t work, so they had to call me in a new one. For the record, if any of you are with me if I’m ever in the hospital, it is YOUR job to make sure they DO NOT give me Azithromyacin because it will KILL me! I was deathly ill and I don’t ever want to feel like that again. They put me on another one and I am FINALLY feeling better after a month of being very ill. Still not 100%, but I would KILL for perfect health until the day I die. Sickness and germs are for the birds!

Loving the Library

I truly enjoy my job! It is so weird actually being excited to go to work each day. I will start my Field Experiences class in January. I’ll drag through getting this Master’s but it should be worth it. I’ve been working hard on this HUGE series project and I just love it.

(Part of display I helped with for Banned Book Week)

Tell No One

Ok, my new favorite book is called Tell No One by Harlan Coben. I found out there is a movie as well and can’t wait to see it. If you like mystery and suspense, this is a good one. I’m reading another one of his called Gone for Good but I don’t like it as much because of the language and background story.

Being a Trekkie, the Cardboard Dancer, and Guess who got asked to Homecoming?

Being a Trekkie, the Cardboard Dancer, and Guess who got asked to Homecoming?

The Cardboard Dancer

Alayna has an obsession with cardboard lately. She made a cardboard costume and ran around dancing through the house. It was pretty hilarious. She still has her cardboard home set up.

Being a Trekkie

This week at the school I work, it was Homecoming week. On Thursday, it was “nerd day” and all of us teachers dressed up like Trekkies. I got the staff picture (but I wasn’t there). We looked pretty cool! I wore red and we were told that the red guys are always the ones that die. Oh well.

Red and Black Track Attack

Alayna ran in the track attack this week and got a bracelet for every lap she did. She did 12!! So proud! The school is raising money to put in a new track.

Guess who got asked to Homecoming this week?

Nope, not Marisa. Guess again! Nope, not Kayla, try again! Me! Bwaahaahaa! There is the student at school that thinks he is a charmer. He kept showing me this note across the library asking me to homecoming and begging me to go. Dork! When I came back from lunch this sign and his drink cap was on my desk. I bet he was dared to make an old lady’s day…lol!

The girls are planning to go to homecoming next week with a group of friends which should be fun. They started altering dresses for it yesterday.

Stupid Cold

We are still fighting this bad cold and Bob ended up with a respiratory infection which has knocked him flat for a few days. Hope the antibiotics start working faster.

Banned Book Week

Hopefully I will get pics of our display this week, but I thought you all might be interested to know what the 10 most frequently challenged books of 2010 were:

Below is a list of the 10 books that were challenged most often in 2010. Fortunately, few of these books have been removed from schools or libraries, due to the efforts of First Amendment advocates. (Source: ALA Web Site)

1. And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
Reasons: homosexuality, religious viewpoint, and unsuited to age group

2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: offensive language, racism, sex education, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and violence

1. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
   Reasons: insensitivity, offensive language, racism, and sexually explicit
2. Crank, by Ellen Hopkins
   Reasons: drugs, offensive language, and sexually explicit
3. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
   Reasons: sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and violence
4. Lush, by Natasha Friend
   Reasons: drugs, offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group
5. What My Mother Doesn't Know, by Sonya Sones
   Reasons: sexism, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group
6. Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich
   Reasons: drugs, inaccurate, offensive language, political viewpoint, and religious viewpoint
7. Revolutionary Voices, edited by Amy Sonnie
   Reasons:  homosexuality and sexually explicit
8. Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer
   Reasons: religious viewpoint and violence

The Lysol Fairy, the Guardian Angel, and the Sickies

The Lysol Fairy, the Guardian Angel, and the Sickies

The Lysol Fairy and the Sickies

And so the sicknesses have begun. I was very sick last weekend. I’ll admit I blamed it all on stress and worry from a new job. I had a migraine so bad I would have bet money that my head would explode and I was extremely nauseous. Finally after about a week of feeling that way I went to the walk-in clinic where he said I had a massive sinus infection. OH! So, that’s what that was?? So, I got some antibiotics and some hardcore pain meds (which make me happy) and I thought all might be well. Until 2 days later I came down with the cold from heck. Then, Alayna got it and came home early on Thursday and missed school on Friday. Then Tyler got it and missed school Friday. I didn’t take off any work although I should have since I feel hideous. The last 2 nights I have slept 14 hours each. It would have been heaven if I hadn’t been sneezing, coughing, and blowing my brains out through my nose.

My biggest worry this whole time has been what this will all do to Bob. I became the Lysol Fairy this week (I LITERALLY wore wings, ask the kids) and I skipped around spraying everyone and everything with Lysol. But I don’t think it worked. Bob came home early from church with this same dang cold. Dangit! We need to get him in a plastic bubble- anyone have one we can borrow?

The Guardian Angel

My mother and grandmother have always said, “Never drive faster than your guardian angel can fly”. This week all 4 kids were coming home from YW, YM, and AD and Marisa was driving. It was late and dark and as she went to cross an intersection she didn’t see a car come flying. Kayla screamed, Marisa slammed on her brakes, and they missed the car literally by inches. They were all scared to death with adrenaline pumping by the time they got home. Here was Kayla’s summary:

“wow i just saved all my siblings lives. i feel like a hero! well i actually saw the car speeding across the intersection and i was like what the heck why is marisa going into the intersection? so i ran out of the car and pushed the car out of the way. i realized i had time to spare so i went to the nearest mcdonalds and grabbed a smoothie. when i got back in the car we had enough time to brake before she almost hit it.”

I’m just grateful that Marisa didn’t drive faster than their guardian angel could fly!

Lots of odds and ends

*Kayla took the ACT last weekend and we hope to get the results soon.

*So, I missed the Primary Program today where Alayna sang a solo, did sign language with the activity day girls and had a speaking part. I have seen all the rehearsals (thank heavens) but I heard she did a fantastic job!!

*The girls headed up to Cedar Falls for the Stake Youth Activity and dance.

*Tyler won his challenge match in tennis this week as well as his meet in Prairie! Go Tyler!

*Alayna made cookies all by herself for the very first time. The first batch didn’t work so well since she accidentally put in 1/8 cup of salt rather than 1/8 teaspoon( slight difference there). But her 2^nd batch was great and she was so proud she could do it all by herself.

*Bob bought me a new vacuum yesterday which actually sucks! In a good way! Whoohoo!

*Remember how I’ve said that Alayna is one of the most creative people I know? She created a huge “cardboard house” out of the vacuum and misc cardboard. She had a mail slot, a TV, a bed, a thumb printing machine to gain entrance, etc. It was very cool!

(Pancake alayna made of a mom, holding a baby, on a carriage?)

Question of the week- How is work?

I absolutely LOVE my job except for 1 thing (which I’m not exactly ready to talk about). The library is definitely my place of solace. I’m surprised how busy I am the entire time and how much I have learned. I’m a bit bummed I took the semester off of school but I have no idea how I would fit it in this schedule. The commute is lame, but I probably just need to get books on tape to listen to the 25 minutes there and the 25 minutes back. It’s funny, you wouldn’t think a town like Cedar Rapids has any traffic…

I’m pretty sure the library hasn’t been cleaned or organized in about 10 years, so I up totally up my organization and cleaning alley and kicking butt. Sometimes I even impress myself. I’ll have to take pics when I’m all done.

I do love high school students overall, better than middle school. But Jefferson is a rougher school than LM and so sometimes I am surprised by stuff, like the fight that broke out in the library this week. There is no way I will break one of those up when its between 2 football players twice my size. But overall I love working with the kids there. One guy even gave me his business card. My hope is that I can get an actual library job next year. Keep your fingers super crossed for me!

The Reading Fiend

One drawback of being in the library is that I find stuff everyday that I want to read. I have read like 7-8 books since I started. I’m happy to give reviews if anyone is interested. The series I have been really into this week is Streams of Babel and Fire will Fall by Carol Plum-Ucci. Here is a review:

From School Library Journal

Grade 8–11—In 2002, high school outcast Cora Holman's mom dies of a mysterious brain aneurysm, preceded by flulike symptoms. Then Cora, Owen Eberman, and two of their friends gradually come down with a similar ailment. Meanwhile, in Pakistan, 16-year-old computer genius and cyber-spy Shahzad, who is working for the U.S. government, has uncovered information about a terror threat called Red Vinegar, and he is taken to New York in order to follow the terrorist chatter more directly. Through the alternating narratives and interwoven lives of six teens (including the child of a terrorist working on behalf of North Korea), Plum-Ucci offers a compelling tale of bioterror. It is, however, unclear why she chose to depict a group of religious terrorists celebrating by "popping champagne and drinking forties," unless, perhaps, it is to indicate hypocrisy in their ranks. The characters, particularly Shahzad, are well drawn and have unique voices, and the unresolved ending leaves a lot of room for t hought and discussion. Ultimately, this is a tautly paced thriller that will force readers to think about the complexities of living in a post-9/11 world.—Kristin Anderson, Columbus Metropolitan Library System

I loved the stories but the language is bad. If I were to ever buy the books I would go through with permanent marker and block out lots of the language. Just thought I’d warn you if anyone was thinking about reading them.