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Capricious!

3/31/2013

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Happy toes at Hidden Valley trailhead (24 degrees F).
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Happy toes at top of Hidden Valley trail (colder than 24 degrees F)
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Happy trails!
Capricious:  (adjective)  Given to sudden and unaccountable changes of mood or behavior.
 
Spring is capricious.   So am I.

First:  Spring.

Most people do not consider spring to be football season; Miles is not most people.    One morning found us ready for school with ten minutes to spare.  “Let’s play catch,” Miles said, in a tone more resembling command than suggestion.    It was snowing outside but that did not stop us from making 118 consecutive catches with his Green Bay football before the carpool came to take him away.    

Spring’s sun shone brightly yesterday and mostly melted the chocolate that was ensconced in plastic bags and “hidden” in our pasture for the Christ-centered neighborhood Easter egg hunt that we sponsor annually.    Before the hunt, we talked to the kids about the meaning of Easter, expressed our gratitude for Christ, identified serving others as a way that we can say “Thank You” to Christ for His Easter gift to us, and challenged the children to serve others by picking up candy and putting it in someone else’s basket instead of stuffing it in their own.    As always, the children accepted the challenge and the results were amazing.  It really is heartwarming (even when the spring sun is not warming) to see children racing around, trying to put candy in each other’s baskets.   Every year the parents thank us for the concept.   This year one of the children thanked me as well; “I like this way [to do Easter egg hunts] better than the other way.”   

[For instructions on how to do a Christ-centered Easter egg hunt, see the “Sing His Praises” tab of my blog.]

I love the number 24; sometimes more than others.   Twenty-four, when used to describe the temperature in degree Fahrenheit, is not the ideal number when one wants to plant a garden.    However, mid-March is the ideal time to plant spinach, carrots, lettuce, peas, Swiss chard, radishes, broccoli, and beets so, last Saturday (3/23), in 24 degree F temperatures, that is what we did.

Twenty-four degrees F is also not ideal for hiking.    However, hiking with one’s teen-age son is an ideal activity so Monday, in 24 degree F temperatures, that is what we did.    Chick and I hiked up 2.5 miles, ascending 2,700 feet (straight up, it seemed at times) into Ogden’s Hidden Valley.  The uphill exertion quickly caused us to shed our coats but the snow kept our toes (happily) in our boots.

Last week was Spring Break for those in the Weber County School District: Chick, Tanah, and Miles.  I taught at OPA two days this week so Chick, talented mathematician that he is, created a story problem.  Here is the problem.  [It has two parts.]

1.      If a given mother must work two days during the five day work week, how many days will she be home?
2.      If she is home three days and has three children, how many days can she spend with each child?

The answer to the first question is “ZERO days at home” because the answer to the second question was “One day with each child”.    Chick and I spent Monday together, hiking.    I thoroughly enjoyed the hike and the time spent with Chick.   Tanah and I spent Wednesday together shopping.  I thoroughly enjoyed the time spent with Tanah.    Miles and I spend Friday together.   We watched “The Croods in 3D”; he thoroughly enjoyed watching the movie and I thoroughly enjoyed
watching him watch the movie.

Second:  Me.

I am capricious.   Tears came to my eyes as I watched Miles watch the movie.    His face nearly invisible behind 3D glasses that were much too big, he let go of my hand long enough to snatch at the sparks he thought he saw drifting toward him (3D is amazing) and then re-intertwined his fingers around mine.     “Thank you SO much Mom for the movie.”  Warm heart tears.

Then cold heart tears threatened me.  I stewed about the money I had to spend to get into the movie because the coupon I
had planned on using was not accepted.    Capricious.    And stupid.   Enjoy the moment with your son Teresa!!!

I enjoyed my moments with Tanah—even the moment when she publically accused me of committing a felony.   On
our day together, after having made a drive-thru deposit at the bank and before we used a gift certificate to get lunch, Tanah noticed that I had failed to return the bank’s plastic cylinder to the drive-thru tube.   She immediately took a picture of the stolen tube and posted it on her Facebook page with a message saying that we had robbed a bank.   [We later returned the tube.   The bank did not press charges.]

I was rejected as a blood donor Thursday because I have been to Costa Rica within the past year.   I hate being rejected, even for something as minor as giving blood.   Addressing my frustration at being turned away, the blood tech said,
speaking about the trip, “It was probably worth it.”  Probably?    CERTAINLY!!  I’ll trade a blood donor opportunity for a trip to Costa Rica any day.  I had a sudden change of mood.

I was rejected by the LearnZillion team too.    I spent over 10 hours filling out an application for a job writing lessons plans for them this summer.   Not hired. Not happy.

However there is a huge pile of organic fertilizer in my garden that makes me very happy.    Chick, by  himself and without supervision, mucked out the sheep corral.   Using a wheelbarrow, a pitchfork, and a wide array of back, leg, arm, and
abdominal muscles, he moved an entire winter’s worth of manure and urine soaked hay stems from the corral to the garden.   The poop pile makes me smile.

Physics fat jokes make me smile too.    Gravity is force of attraction between objects based on their mass; the greater the mass, the greater the attraction.   Lance is more attracted to me than he was when we were first married!!! The joke makes me smile; the additional mass I carry—not so much.

Being wanted also makes me smile.    Tanah texted, telling me that she wanted me to attend a meeting her school was sponsoring for prospective high school students.   Our truck was in the repair shop so I hopped on the bike and cheerfully
rode to the meeting, happy to be fulfilling the wishes of my dear daughter.   As it turns out, she did not really want me at the meeting; what she really wanted was a ride home. Whoops!  

Last year’s Black Widow is still healthy and strong.  Thanks for asking.   
 
This year’s lamb is too.    And, miraculously, so is his mother.   Monday she got out, ate 20 lbs. of grain and came away with nothing worse than a severe case of diarrhea--most of which is now in a pile in my garden, thanks to Chick.  
  
It was Tanah who found the grain-gorging ewe and the wanting-to-reproduce ram out of their respective pastures.  Needing help to restore the animals to their proper places (girl on the south side, boy on the north), Tanah called her friends.  
While herding the sheep, one of her city friends looked into the chicken coop and noticed naked patches on the hens’ backs, areas about the diameter of a small orange where all the feathers had been pulled out, and asked Tanah for anexplanation.  
Tanah refused to explain.  So the unsuspecting friend repeated her question to one of the boys who had come to help herd sheep.   Putting his arm around the girl, the boy said, “When a boy chicken likes a girl chicken……..”   The girl ran off before he could finish.

There are two weather icons on my computer desktop; one for Roy, UT and one for Green Bay, WI.  Guess who learned how to install icons on desktops?

Fifty-seven students want to go on the Yellowstone fieldtrip scheduled for May 13-16.  ?? !!!!  My resting heart rate is 56.   If take 57 kids to Yellowstone, it will not be 56 anymore.

My sister sent me a birthday present.    It should make me happy.    On the outside, in large, bold, black letters, it says “Do NOT open until November 2014.”     2014?  Is that supposed to make me happy?

Bare toes still make me happy.  (Unless there is snow on the ground, then booted toes make me  happy.)   And poems by
friends about happy toes really make me happy.    Thank you BETH ADAMS for the Happy Toes poem.

HappyToes

Happy toes are often seen,
Peeking through the grass so green. 
Happy toes know what to do,
They wriggle round outside of shoes.

Happy toes may sometimes be
Stubbed and marred by unseen things.
Happy toes are often brown
From stepping in some muddy ground.

Happy toes can often find
Rocks and bugs and thorny vines.
But happy toes don't seem to care,
All they need is Spring's sun and air!


Children in church make me happy too.   (TRUE STORY... And, considering the strength of my un-excitement about Primary, the change could certainly be labeled "sudden", even capricious!!)   I had an epiphany last Sunday.   While sitting in Primary, I realized that I love being there; I truly do.   I do not miss being in the adult classes for even an instant.   I truly, truly love being in Primary.

I think it only fitting that, on this Easter Sunday, I end with a Primary thought.   Last Sunday  Dawnie was teaching the children that Jesus Christ is our Savior.   “Who saves us from death and sin?” she asked the children.    A sweet voice from the back said, “Our moms!!”

Yes, our mother’s do save us……sometimes from death and often from sin.   I am so grateful to my mother for saving me from death (several times) and from sin (many times).   I am also so, SO grateful for the opportunity to be a mother.  
 
And I am intensely grateful for my Savior who saves me and mine from eternal death and permanent sin. Christ’s atonement and His resurrection is surely the good news of the gospel.    

Love,
Teresa

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Is Chick really small or is this cairn really big?
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Tanah models her purple duct-taped glasses. (She is my favorite dork.)
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I love finding notes like this on my computer!
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Thinking about Green Bay....(always!!)
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This is the poop pile that makes me so proud.
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This is the view I saw most of the hike up to Hidden Valley
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Happy-to-be-in-boots tracks.
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Tanah models the dress she bought on our day together. (She is my favorite model too.)
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It's all about the proper placement of the hands, feet, and tongue.
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Sharing candy is one way to show Jesus we are thankful for His great gift to us.
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A to Z.............

3/25/2013

3 Comments

 
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Annie
       

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Zorro
Today’s letter starts with two dogs and a tail and a tale.  
 
The tale begins with Annie, our beloved Australian Shepard/Border Collie mix, who did not have a tail but who did have very obedient spirit.    Because she was obedient, we could trust her and, because we could trust her, she had a lot of freedom.

Zorro, our bemoaned Australian Shepard mix, does have a tail but does not have an obedient spirit.   Because he is not obedient, we cannot trust him and, because we cannot trust him, he spends a lot of time locked up.

Though our yard is not fenced, Annie respected the property boundaries and stayed within them, even when we were not home.   As a consequence, Annie was free to roam the place.   We left her outside even when we were gone, confident that she would be there when we returned, which she was.   Her obedience gave her freedom.

Zorro does not respect the property lines and will sneak off to explore the neighborhood when we are not looking. 
As a consequence, he is allowed outside only when we are outside.   He spends most of his life either locked in the house or locked in the dog kennel because we cannot trust him.  His disobedience restricts his freedom.

When I went running, Annie ran beside me, never running further than 10 m in front of me, never straying from the designated path, and always responding with I called.    As a consequence, Annie and I ran without a leash (unless we were nailed by the dog catcher); she was free to sniff trees and leave pee-mails on fire hydrants at will.

In contrast, Zorro does not stay by my side when we jog and does not respond readily when I call.  Therefore, when I run with Zorro, he must be on a leash.    His lack of obedience results in significant restrictions to his freedom; he does not get to sniff anything and he does not get to read or leave pee-mails.

Because Annie was obedient, I took her places with me, exciting places for a dog like soccer games, hiking trails, and beaver ponds.   Because Zorro is not obedient, I do not take him with me anywhere.   When I go exciting places for dogs, like soccer games, hiking trails, and beaver ponds, he stays home, locked in the dog kennel. 
 
So, what do I learn from this A to Z (Annie to Zorro) dog  tale?    Obedience brings freedom.

And so it is with my life. Because I am obedient to the laws of health (D&C 89, called the Word  of Wisdom in LDS culture) I can “run and not be weary and walk and not faint”.   [Okay, I do get a bit weary when I run, especially when I race up and down a basketball court, but I can still run, which I think is the point, and I have not ever fainted when walking.]    I am not
addicted to drugs or alcohol, which addictions are very freedom limiting.  And I am free from diseases caused by cigarette smoking and alcohol abuse.   Obedience brings freedom.   
 
Obedience to the law of chastity (Genesis 2:24; D&C 2:22, God’s commandment for sexual purity; abstinence before marriage and complete fidelity after) gives me freedom from sexually transmitted diseases and freedom from the emotional wreckage caused by broken promises.

Obedience to God’s commandment to keep the Sabbath Day holy (Exodus 20:8, D&C 59:9-14) gives me freedom, for at least one day a week, from the stressful demands of work.   I love this commandment!    I am so grateful that once a week, guaranteed, I can “rest from my labors” and freely enjoy my family and the sweet peace brought by reverent worship.         

And the list continues…..obedience to the prophet’s counsel to have a year’s supply of food frees me from dependence on others in case of  emergency; obedience to Christ’s command to pray always (3 Nephi 18:15) gives  me freedom from feelings of loneliness and isolation; obedience to His  commandments to search and study the scriptures gives me the truths that set me  free from Satan’s traps (John 8:32). 

Obedience brings  freedom.

Obedience also brings  blessings.

I had an insightful experience related to blessings and obedience in the temple last week.    Our priesthood leaders asked us to be in the Bountiful Temple chapel by 4:30 for the 5:00 session.    Thinking that we knew better—“Being there at 4:30 is overkill” were the exact words spoken—we did not arrive in the chapel until 4:40.    We saw the rest of our ward, those who had been obedient to the leader’  counsel, sitting several rows in front of us in the temple chapel.    Among those sitting in
front of us I recognized several beloved friends, people I eagerly anticipated worshipping with in the temple. 

It was busy in the temple that day, so busy that the 5:00 session filled up before our row was called.  Those who had obediently arrived in the chapel by 4:30, as counseled by our leaders, worshipped together.   Those of us who arrived later had to wait.    And then, because the temple was really busy that day, we had to wait again.   Had we been obedient, we
could have worshiped with our friends.   
 
It was a small thing, really.   Ten minutes.   A missed temple session. Sixty minutes longer waiting in the temple chapel; temple chapels are not bad places to be.   We were still able to worship in  the temple that day and we had a good experience.   But the incident provoked a lot of thought for me.    I was not punished for disobedience—I was still able to worship—but I missed the blessing of being able to worship with my friends.   

Obedience brings blessings.   

More thoughts about obedience……

In ward counsel [ward counsel is a meeting where those with  leadership responsibilities in the congregation meet together and discuss how they can best serve the congregation’s members] last Sunday we had a discussion  about reverence in our worship service.   Our stake president [the local leader with direct stewardship over our ward] has asked that we be reverent in the chapel; that we engage in our conversations in the foyer and, upon entering the chapel, that we sit quietly, listening to the sacred music being played, preparing ourselves to worship our Savior, and respecting the rights of others to do the same.

This is a fabulous idea but very hard to apply in real life.  We, as an LDS people (like most groups of like-mined people) are very friendly.   We love to meet and greet each other and it is not a quiet process.   In most cases, we see each other
only at church and want to catch up.    We also want to reach out to each other; if someone looks great or looks sad, if someone has been absent for a while and is returning, if there is a stranger in our midst, we want to reach out to them, to recognize them, to let them know that we notice and that we care.   And we do it when we see them in the chapel.    That is what the Savior would do, wouldn’t He?

I think not.   I think the Savior would do all of those things—He would notice, reach out, validate, greet, perhaps hug and definitely love—but I think He would do them somewhere besides the chapel.   I think the Savior would be obedient to His Father.    And, if we believe that our priesthood leaders are called of God (which we do, Article of Faith 5) and we believe that they are inspired of God to lead,  guide, and direct us according to His will (which we do, D&C 1:38), then we  must believe that the counsel given us by our leaders is the counsel God would give us, if He were here.    And the Savior, who submitted His will perfectly to His Father’s (Matthew 26:39), would follow God’s counsel.   
 
Christ was perfectly obedient.  Though sinless and clearly without need to wash away sin, He was baptized in obedience to His Father’s commandment  (Matthew 3:15, 3 Nephi 31:7).   In obedience He prayed and worshipped in the temple (Luke 2:49).    He told the Nephites  “I came into the world to do the will of the Father, because my Father sent me” (3 Nephi 27:13).    And, ultimately, though it was so painful that it caused blood to seep from His every pore (D&C 19:18), Christ submitted His will to the Father’s (Matthew 26:39) , obediently “drank the bitter cup”, paid the price for our sins, and was lifted up on the cross and crucified.  
    
Christ is our perfect example and He was perfectly  obedience.    His obedience bought us freedom and great blessings, even the greatest of blessings which is life eternal (D&C 14:7).

Our obedience will bring us freedom and great blessings also.    I know that when we obey God we open doors to special blessings that are available only through obedience (D&C 130:21).  I have a firm conviction that there is a power in obedience, that obedience to God in and of itself, brings a tremendous power into our lives that comes as a direct
result of willingly submitting our will to the will of our Father.

There are many who would disagree.   They would say that obedience to God’s commands restricts us, that we are
an oppressed and limited people because we obey the fictional dictates of an imagined being, that we follow blindly and are suppressed by our ignorance but I know that this is not true.   
 
I know that obedience frees us because we obey freely.    We, like all of God’s children, have the freedom to choose and we choose to obey our God because we trust Him.   We know Him, we love Him, and we trust Him.  Because we trust Him, we obey Him and because we obey Him, we are free, we are blessed, and we are powerful.

So, in the spirit of obedience, Lance, Chick, Tanah, and I spent our Saturday afternoon and evening in SLC at a youth family history event.    I could care less about family history.   Really.   I find it mildly interesting that Joseph Smith broke one of my ancestor’s legs in a wrestling match and that one of Lance’s ancestors was a famous “madam” in Park City but only mildly interesting.   I am much more interested in the fact that the Black Widow we kept in a jar all winter is still alive and ate four crickets this week.    The family history “bug” (like the Black Widow) just has not bitten me.  I feel no desire to know about my
ancestors.

However, I have a HUGE desire to have the blessings promised to those who do family history and I have a HUGE testimony of the power of obedience so off we went to SLC, to spend our precious Saturday listening to  presentations on family history.  Blah, blah, blah…...   Obedience can be boring…...but it often gets better and Saturday’s experience kept getting better and better as the evening wore on.   We left the conference totally jazzed about family history and totally committed to
start working on FamilySearch.org today (as in 3/24/2013).

And I fully anticipate we will receive the promised blessings.   Elder Bednar [one of Christ’s  Twelve Apostles on Earth today and certainly a mouthpiece for God, D&C 1:38], in his October 2011 conference address (
http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/the-hearts-of-the-children-shall-turn?lang=eng&query=october+,+elder+(name%3a"David+A.+Bednar") invited the youth to participate in family history and promised some great things to those who do.  He said:

 "I invite the young people of the Church to learn about and experience
the Spirit of Elijah. I encourage you to study, to search out your ancestors,
and to prepare yourselves to perform proxy baptisms in the house of the Lord
for your kindred dead (see
D&C 124:28–36). And I
urge you to help other people identify their family
  histories.


"As you respond in faith to this invitation, your hearts shall turn to
the fathers. The promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will be implanted in
your hearts. Your patriarchal blessing, with its declaration of lineage, will
link you to these fathers and be more meaningful to you. Your love and
gratitude for your ancestors will increase.
Your testimony of and conversion to the
Savior will become deep and abiding.
And
I promise you will be protected against the intensifying influence of the
adversary. As you participate in and love this holy work, you will be
  safeguarded in your youth and throughout your
lives."

I took the liberty of bolding the promises I am most excited  about.   Read those!!!   As we (I am still in my youth
geologically speaking) accept the invitation to do family history work our conversion to the Savior will be DEEP and ABIDING, we will be PROTECTED from Satan, and we will be safeguarded for our WHOLE LIVES!!     Holy promises, Batman!!!   I would do a lot (a lot more than simply doing some family history) to secure those blessings for my children. 
And, who knows, maybe I’ll even learn to like family history work in the process.  :)   

So, there you have it—this week’s letter.   It is LONG and not really very funny but I hope that it will provoke
thought.   I do have a testimony of obedience and felt compelled to share it today.   Consider it my Easter message given a week early.      Next week I will return to a more traditional post.  Click in to learn about Grace’s science fair, the latest on Miles and M----, a poem about happy toes (Beth Adams is amazing!)  and maybe even more about the Black Widow.

Love,
Teresa


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Happy Toes to You!

3/17/2013

6 Comments

 
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Happy toes!!   My toes are happy, OH-SO happy.   They may not look happy but they are.  
It is possible to be both happy and ugly.    Just look at my toes.

To be truly happy, toes need sunlight.   They sit, more or less comfortably, in the dark but, truth be known, they long for light and for the fresh, free air that generally accompanies their exposure to sunlight.     And, I’ve found, my toes are much happier when their exposure to sunlight is not accompanied by an exposure to snow.

Side story:   I hiked a mountain once in sandals in snow.    My  toes, though happy to be free, were not so happy to be frozen.    Graciously, God (well actually, probably not God himself, more likely, one of His children) left a pair of dry socks sitting on a rock at the top of the mountain.  My toes were very happy to complete the hike covered.

Back to main story:  For the first time in months, there is no snow on the ground here.    My toes have been freed from months of confinement their dark, often smelly, and quite cramped quarters and are now free to wiggle at will.   Naked toes are happy toes. 

Toes are not the only happy things in the Roy.

Miles was very happy when I took the lamb (still living, thanks for asking) to his classroom.   He taught his peers about the lamb’s diet, wool, tail and teeth and then opened the forum for questions.   “How do you know if it is a girl or a boy or do you know?” a girl asked.   Miles looked at me.  I looked at the teacher.   Seeing no look of consternation on her face, I let everyone look at the lamb.   Holding him up, legs spreadand underside showing, I said, “See this?  It is his scrotum.   Boys have scrotums so we know he is a boy.”  

I am SO happy to have Chick in the house; so happy, in fact, that I am thinking about postponing his mission until the girls
are gone.    He is THE answer to teenage girls.

Tanah hates math.  It does NOT make her happy.   And, when she is doing math, no one around her is happy either.    Because she hates it so much, she slams the doors of her mind shut when dealing with math; the light of understanding hano chance of entering.   However, because she is determined to get good grades, she feels compelled to ask for help with math.    It is a no win situation.   Lance and I have invested hours of instruction and googols of patience trying to help her with her math.   It is NOT happy.

Enter Chick.   Tuesday Tanah asked Chick for math help and then the doors of her mind slammed shut.  I watched it happen and then braced myself for the worse.    But the worse never came.   I watched in stunned silence as Chick gently opened those slammed-shut-mind-doors of hers.    It was truly miraculous.   He patiently taught and re-taught, gave examples and non-examples, simplified and then extrapolated, until she got it.   Oh Chick, please do not leave me alone with her during her last two years of high school.

That same night Grace was not feeling well.   Instead of going to bed, she lounged around the house.  Mean
Mom—I insisted that she do her dishes.   WEEP!  WAIL!!!!  WEEP, WEEP and WAIL, WAIL!!!  (Did you
hear her?  Think about what you were doing Tuesday night and you will probably remember an atmospheric disturbance about 8:30 p.m. Mountain Savings Time; it was Grace.)

Enter Chick.  “Go to bed,” he told Grace.  “I will do your dishes.”    Chick is the answer to teen-age girls.  And NO—he is not available for loan.  If he is helping your teen-age daughters then he will not be here helping mine.  No, no, NO.

Naked, happy toes are also vulnerable toes.    I was standing innocently in my kitchen when I felt a sharp pain in my toe. 
Tanah’s bird, Bab, bit me.    I was not happy.   (When I was done, Babs was not so happy either.)

Booted toes are not so vulnerable.    The rooster attacked me this week.   He gave me the bird (an angry bird, hurling at me, neck feathers cocked, spurs outstretched) and I gave him the boot—five times.    When I was done, he was not so happy either.   Now he avoids me, which makes me happy.

Tired of reminding and reminding and re-reminding children to do their animal chores, we implemented a new “do or dock”
policy.    “From  henceforth and forever,” we declared, “let it be known that you will be paid  only for the work that is done.” 
[It really is NOT a novel concept, just a new application.]   If they do the chore DAILY, then they will get their full share of the
egg money profits.  For each day they do NOT do the chore, their pay will be docked $2.   Simple really.   And effective, which makes Lance and I very happy.

It is also making Chick happy.    Thursday night Miles was bathed and almost in bed when he realized he still needed to gather the eggs.   Chick offered to gather the eggs for a $1.  Deal done.  Miles was out only $1, instead of the $2 he would lose if the eggs were not gathered, and Chick was up $1.  
 
Tanah went to a junior high dance Thursday evening and came home happy.   She was only asked to dance once, and that by a boy about whom she is definitely not excited, but she had a great time with her friends (YEA!!).   “I feel pretty,” she told
me.  YEA and YEA!!  It is possible to be both happy and ugly but it is much easier to be happy when one feels pretty.

Friday Grace’s basketball team had a scrimmage against their parents.    Longing to play but lacking confidence in my abilities, I vacillated for a long time before “throwing my hat in the pot” so to speak.   [I am not quite old enough to completely disregard what others think of me, though I am rapidly getting there.]      OH MY  LANDS!    I had so much fun…..and not just because we, the aged and aging parents, totally creamed the young whipper-snappers.    I had forgotten how much I love running and competing. For an hour, in a dimly light junior high gym, the world fell away. Gone were my frets about finances, concerns about kids, worries about work; present only was the game, the passing, the rebounding, the defending, and the running, running, running.     Oh how I love to run; it makes me happy.

Teaching also makes me happy, most of the time.    I sat down with an 8th grade student, whom I will call Ann, Friday to help her complete her assignment.   The state core curriculum mandates that students recognize the way their bodies sensspecific types of energy.   It sounds a bit wordy but is really a simple concept:  eyes sense light energy, skin senses heat, ears sense sound.   My task at that moment was to help Ann identify eyes as the way she senses light energy.  The
conversation went  something like this:

Me:  How do you know if it is light outside?
Ann:  I don’t know.
Me:  Is it light outside?
Ann: Yes.
Me: How can you tell that it is light outside?
Ann:  I don’t know.
Me:  Do you stick your big toe out the door to tell if it is light outside?
Ann:  (giggle)  No.
Me:  Then how can you tell?
Ann:  I don’t know.
Me: Let’s say that you go to sleep.   When you wake up, how do you know if you wake up in day or in the middle
of the night?
Ann:  I don’t know.
Me:  If you are sleeping and you wake up, can you tell if it is daytime or nighttime?
Ann:  Yes.
Me:   How can you tell?
Ann:  I don’t know.

I worked for five minutes trying to get her to do her own thinking, trying to lead her to tell me that she sees light with her
eyes.    Did not happen.   Finally I told her what I had tried so hard to get her to say and then had her repeat it several
times.   Will she remember it tomorrow?   I am not taking bets.

Referring to a totally unrelated incident, I said to Lance, “I think I am an idiot.”   He said, “If you are wrong, does that make you smarter or dumber?”      Hum………..

Mucking out the chicken coop makes me happy for several reasons (one of which is not that I am an idiot).  First, I love the sheer physical, organic-ness of the task; nature at its most basic.   Second, when I am pitchforking manure into the wheelbarrow and the children start to complain about whatever job they are doing, I simply ask if they want to trade jobs and
the complaints stop instantly.  Instantly.

And thus the letter ends; naked and happy, pretty and happy, crappy and happy.

Love,
Teresa  




Picture
Miles and Cooper are wet and wild.
Picture
Grace and Zorro and dry and mild.
Picture
Grace prepares to shoot the lamb.
6 Comments

"How to Feel Rich"

3/10/2013

1 Comment

 
Picture
Tanah as "Char" in "Little Shop of Horrors"
Sitting in the window sill of our bathroom (whose ceilings are now free of mildew, I am pleased to report) is a stack of Reader’s Digests.    Somehow, in the evolution of Hislop family culture, Reader’s Digest became our bathroom reading material.    Brief articles make for brief potty stops, which are somewhat of a necessity in a home that houses one bathroom and six people, two of whom are teenage girls.   Because long, leisurely, on-the-pot reading episodes are a luxury we cannot afford, Reader’s Digest articles are  perfect.   

This week, during a short stop in our (porcelain) throne room, the title of a 10/11 Reader’s Digest story caught my attention: “How to Feel Rich”.   If one isn’t rich (we aren’t), feeling rich seemed like a great second place option.   I read the article.   As it turns out, feeling rich may actually be more than a great second option…….  
 
The article begins with the question “Have you ever had an ‘Oh! Now I get it!’ moment?  That wonderful, mind-opening instance when something happens that zooms you up to the sky and gives you a God’s-eye view of your life and you realize how incredibly well off you are?  And, for that moment, you are richer than Bill Gates?”  The article continues with stories about people who discovered surprising riches in memorable moments.   This letter continues with stories about me and the sometimes surprising riches I have discovered recently in memorable moments.   Read on.

Last week, on science fair day, long before school started and quite a bit before our contract time started, my teaching colleague entered the room where I sat frenetically entering last minute updates on the computer, and placed a Starbucks cup beside me.   Herbal tea.   For me.   I love herbal tea though I never drink it at school.   (I do everything possible to avoid school bathrooms; they have no Reader’s Digests.)   Only once has he seen me drink herbal tea and that was in a restaurant on the way home from a very stressful field trip months and months ago.  He is a young, hip, fun, good-looking man with a stunningly good-looking, equally young, hip, and fun wife.   I am a not-young woman who is nice enough but definitely not hip.  The gesture was one of pure friendship and it was purely appreciated.    I felt warm (hot tea does that) and wealthy.

Science fair….Does it ever end?   Maybe but not yet.

There are SO many good people in the world.    One of my students, an incredibly bright boy whose guardians are very supportive but not very academically inclined, produced a science fair project with powerful potential but a primitive poster.   As pretty presentation boards are not my forte, I hooked him up with Dori, an engineer from Hill Air Force Base whose daughter was selected to compete at the International Science Fair several times; she knows her boards.  Dori took Wednesday and Friday afternoon off work  and came to OPA to work with my student.  She has also arranged for her daughter (the one who went to International and who will be home from her university on spring break this week) to meet with
my student, listen to his presentation, and answer his questions. WOW!   What a rich experience for her, for him, and for me (to watch).

Science Fair….still more.   

Grace completed in SAA’s science fair Tuesday.    She did the entire project herself—honest!    (Isn’t it the cobbler’s children who go shoeless?)  She did a good job on her experiment, a great job on her board (made models to represent the petri
dishes), and a fabulous job on her presentation (practiced dozens of times in front of a mirror).    And she won!  Hers was named the top 7th grade  project; she will go to the WSU regional science fair next Monday.   She called me at school to share the news and we both felt rich.   
 
Sand Ridge Junior High performed the play “Little Shop of Horrors” this week.   It was fun to see Tanah on stage as Char.   It was more fun to hear her sing her brief solo flawlessly and to listen as one of her lines drew the largest laugh of the evening.  Most fun of all, though, was hearing her urgent voice on my cell phone Friday afternoon.   “Mom, will you please get a gift for the girl who is doing the sound? I’ll pay you back……”   Last year Tanah ran the sound board for the school play and her accolade-ers were silent; no one recognized her efforts and she was left feeling unappreciated and poor.    Concerned that this year’s sound tech might have a similar experience, Tanah spoke out.   Having a daughter who is sensitive, intuitive, and proactive is better than having money in the bank.

More better-than-money, memorable moments….
**Chick was so excited about the statistics he found on nuclear energy for his English report that he
leapt up and high-fived the kitchen ceiling.
**Chick parallel parks better than I do.
**Miles was VERY excited to have his mother (me) go with him in his field trip to the Nature Center [Thursday], even though she (me) fell asleep during the pika presentation.  (no Reader’s Digest to keep me awake….)
**Miles said “I love my life” which I take to mean that I am doing something right.
**Miles glared at me and spat “W-O-R-K-I-N-G!!”  in an accusing tone which I also take to mean that I am doing something
right.
**Miles learned how to make PowerPoint slides at school and then spent several evenings creating PowerPoint presentations for all his favorite Green Bay players. [This was not a homework assignment, just a young boy with a passion for something besides video games.]
**The living room carpet is clean, the finger prints on the door frames have been wiped away, the stack of things that need to be donated to the thrift store is gone and the yard no longer looks like renters live here.   (There is a reason Miles spat
“W-O-R-K-I-N-G!!”  in an accusing tone.)
**I can see soil!!    Last week my berry bushes were buried under two feet of snow.  Saturday they were revealed.  Spring is
coming!!!!!
**My forget-me-nots are blooming.   Perhaps spring is here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
**The lamb is still alive.
**And my husband loves me.    Friday night found me very sad about the loss of a dream; sometimes it is hard to let go of things even when you know that letting go is the right thing to do. Lance heard and hugged. Priceless.

So, there you have it.  Wealth need not require cash.

Love,
Teresa


Picture
Miles as a pika.
Picture
Approximately 1 lb of dried grasses. Multiply this by 60 and you will have how much dried grass each pika stores in rock cavities for the winter.
Picture
Laser, the Ogden Nature Center's resident Desert Tortise.
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Breakfast is for the birds! (The chickens feast on leftovers from the Young Women's IHOP event.)
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No breakfast for this bird!
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Last spring the Relief Society presidency gave us forget-me-not seeds. This spring their seeds are giving me flowers.
1 Comment

It's coming....

3/10/2013

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Today's entry will be posted later this afternoon.......Thanks for checking this morning.   Please come back this afternoon.
Teresa
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Attracting flies......

3/3/2013

2 Comments

 
Picture

“Are you a resident of Ogden City?”

When the receptionist in the Ogden City municipal building asked  me that question I knew I was in trouble.   

Lance, who owns rentals in Ogden, asked me to swing by the city building and pick up some carbon monoxide (CO) monitors.   City laws require CO monitors in every rental unit and the city has a special program that allows residents to purchase the required monitors at a significantly reduced (less than half)
price.   But, of course, things are never as simple as they seem.

Putting on my best face, I said congenially, “No, I live in Roy but we own rental units in Ogden and I need CO monitors for those units.”

“I am sorry.  We can only sell to Ogden City residents,” she responded.

“Never mind,” I said with a smile.  “I live in Ogden.”

Nope.   

She gave me a tolerant, it-is-the-end-of-the-day-on-a-Friday, sort-of half smile and said, “Then I need to see proof of
address.”
 
“So,” said I, “the city requires me to provide CO monitors for all of my renters but will not allow me to purchase them.”

Yep.

She said, “You can give the money to your renters and have them buy them.   Or you can tell your renters to come buy them, bring you the receipt, and then reimburse them or credit them the money on their next month’s rent.”

Nope.

She does not know our renters.   If we gave them money, it would NEVER make it to the city office building; there are simplytoo many things to spend money on between our rentals and the city building.  There are two problems with asking them to go to the city building to buy a monitor with the idea that we will reimburse them: 1) they do not have money available to buy the monitors (refer to reason why giving them the money will not workand 2) they struggle get to the city utility offices to change the water bill to their names.  If drinking water is not a powerful enough motivator to get them to the city offices, CO monitors never will be.

I knew what would happen if I asked the renters to do either of the suggested options.  Nothing.   Nothing, that is, would happen about getting CO monitors into the rental units.  What would happen is that some disgruntled renter (one who had not paid rent for a couple months and then got mad at Lance because Lance insisted that some payment be made) would contact the city and complain because we did not provide CO monitors.   The city compliance department would nail our butts to the wall and removing the nails would be very  unpleasant.

Flustered and flummoxed, I called Lance and explained the situation.   I wanted (Oh how I wanted!!!) to rant and rave about the ridiculousness of the situation.  For crying out loud Ogden City!!  If you are going to hold us responsible for providing CO monitors, then do not prevent us from being responsible!!

But, I bridled my tongue; no ugly words, only ugly thoughts.   I tersely explained the situation to Lance on the phone.  At the last moment I even said (as I stood in front of the receptionist), “The lady here at the desk is being really nice but she cannot sell me the monitors.”    Lance agreed with me that we were up against a (ridiculous) brick wall so, after ending my conversation with Lance, I thanked the lady and left.

Exiting the building, I pondered the situation.   I knew that our renters would never make it to the second floor cashier’s office to buy CO monitors.  There must be another way……

Idea!  Turning around, I headed back to the receptionist, arriving about 4:55 p.m.   
 
“My renters will never make it in here,” I explained again, “If I gave the money to a friend who lives in Ogden, could she come and purchase the monitors for me?”

“If she did not tell me that she was purchasing them for you then I could sell her two,” came the reply.

Two?   I need five.    I would need three Ogden-residing friends……

“Oh no!    I don’t have three friends!” I exclaimed only semi-melodramatically as I envisioned the logistical nightmares involved in finding, funding, and fetching money and monitors from three different people.

Taking pity on me, the receptionist said that I could go to the fire department and explain my situation to them; maybe they could alter the rules for me.

Grateful to be offered a crumb of hope, I said, “Great!  The fire department is just across from where I work.  I
can slip over during lunch and plead my case.  Thank you very much,” I said as I started to leave.

WAIT!  
 
“Where do you work?” she asked.

Ogden Preparatory Academy.

“I am R---------‘s mom.”

Oh my lands!   OH MY LANDS!!!!!!!!!!!   Never have I been so grateful to have held my tongue.    R------   is one of my
students……and he has a sister in 7th grade who will be in my class next year.   Oh how grateful I was for the last minute “nice lady” comment that rolled off my tongue.  Thank you Jesus for teaching me to “do unto others” as I would have them do unto me and thank you Mom and Dad for teaching me to follow Christ’s teachings.

While I told her how wonderful R-------- is, she found a way for me to get five CO monitors.

The saying “You attract more flies with honey than vinegar”is so true.  Of course, I do not have much need for flies but, in this case, it worked for CO monitors and I have a great need for those.

Using “honey” worked with a student’s parent.  It also works with students.

Wednesday was Science Fair at Ogden Preparatory Academy.   We have been preparing for Science Fair for months and I unequivocally declared that entering the science fair was mandatory for ALL 8th graders.  Period.    However, as anyone who has dealt with fourteen year olds knows, unequivocal mandates are only always heeded.   The fact that science fair makeup 40% of their third term grade just does not matter to some students.    They did not pass last quarter and they will not pass this quarter.   Who cares?

I care.   And, as an educator, I really believe in science fair.  I think that using the processes of science to solve a problem is an invaluable life skill.   I think that  presenting one’s project to compassionate strangers (each science fair  participant had talk to three judges) is a priceless preparatory experience for  many situations that life will give them.  And I know that, after having done the science fair, the students will look back on the experience as a good one. I also know that many of my
students would not participate in science fair simply because I told them to; there had to be some honey involved.

So I found some honey.  “All 8th graders who participate in science fair get to go on an all-day fieldtrip with me to the
Natural History Museum of Utah and to Tracy Aviary the day after science fair.”    I talked up the field trip, telling how cool the new museum is, how neat it is to see the birds at the Aviary, and I emphasized, repeatedly, that only those who participated in science fair would be eligible to attend the field trip.

Further “honey-ing” my situation, I told the students that museums dread junior high school students because they tend to
abandon their assigned groups and run wild but that I had assured the museum people that my students were different; my students are QUALITY people (a theme I stress) and would behave professionally and responsibly in the museum.   I urged the 8th graders to prove me right.

Both “honeys” worked.

Ninety-six percent (all but three) of my eighth graders participated in the science fair.    
 
The first three times we talked about science fair in class, A---- totally shut down.   Not only did she refuse to submit a proposal, she would not even speak to me about it.   But, in the end, she completed a project, spoke with three judges, and
attended the field trip with her friends. 
 
 K---  failed the first two quarters in science; he is not stupid, just apathetic.    Calls home, homework recovery, nagging…… nothing seems to motivate him to perform….until“honey”.   He put a drop of gasoline in a penny, set it on fire, called it a science fair project, made a presentation  board, talked to three judges, and went on the field trip with his friends.    His was
likely the poorest excuse of a science fair project I will ever see but he did something and I am pleased with the start.

Ir-----  did a science fair experiment at home and was present at school Wednesday but was not present at the fair.  I
tracked him down to find out what happened.     The hang-up was the presentation board.    He wasn’t sure what to put on it and, feeling overwhelmed, had given up.   He is a good student and a good kid and I wanted him to have a good experience.  So……..I found a board and a helper and bullied him into completing what he had started.     His board was thrown together and his data records sketchy (he had to pull them from memory) but he finished, presented to three judges, and went on the field trip.

Wednesday’s science fair was a success as was Thursday’s field trip.   The students were truly magnificent; they stayed with their groups, worked on their assignments, were quiet and orderly at lunch, and even pushed their chairs in when they were done.

Perhaps I should put honey on my requisition form for next year’s school supplies…..

Have a great week!
Teresa

P.S.  The remaining  lamb is still alive.   



Picture
One of Grace's science fair subjects
Picture
Some of Grace's science fair results
2 Comments

    Author

    Teresa Hislop
    thislop@msn.com

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