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We Are Peaches!

9/17/2013

2 Comments

 
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It has been said “You are what you eat”.   If this is true, then we are peaches and cream.   
This week we ate two bushels of peaches.   I picked two bushels of tomatoes, a bushel of squash, a half bushel of cucumbers, a gallon of raspberries, and two bushels of peaches.  
The peaches are gone; not frozen, not bottled, not dried.  Gone. Eaten.  With cream and sugar.   YUM!!!!

It has also been said “You are what you think. 
        Sow a thought, and you reap an act, Sow an act, and you reap a habit; Sow a habit, and you reap a character; Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.    (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

If this is true, then Miles is destined to play in the National Football League.     Do you know what the Green Bay Packer’s 2013 season record is?   He does.   He also knows Weber State’s (WSU) season record, and Roy High School’s season record.    He read 1000 pages this summer, partially to get a football ticket to a WSU football game.   He coerced Lance into taking him to Roy High’s football game Friday night and, after his soccer game Saturday morning, he begged me to let him watch a random little league football game, played by children he did not know, that just happened to be occurring nearby.   
 
Every morning that I do not have to go into Ogden Prep to work, Miles pressures me into playing catch with him in the front yard.    It does not matter if he is ready for school 2 minutes or 20 minutes early, if it is raining or sunny, or  if I want to play or not, he plans on tossing the football back and forth.    Monday, after I managed to catch the ball several times in a row Miles said, “Mom, you are GOOD!    If you would have played football in college, you could have been a star in the NFL!”    If……..

Miles thinks and acts football.    Friday, eighth graders at Ogden Prep thought about and acted out kinetic and potential energy.   
 
Bowling balls bounce.   Bouncing bowling balls catch  students’ attention……and administrator’s attention.    I dropped a bowling ball in class to demonstrate the difference between potential energy (energy of position; object is not moving but has potential to move because of its position) and kinetic energy (energy of motion).     Bouncing bowling balls make a big noise in my classroom on the second floor.   Apparently they make a bigger noise in the office on the main floor that lies directly under my second floor classroom.   After the first couple bounces, a voice came over the intercom, “Mrs. Hislop??  Are you alright?”

The bouncing bowling ball initiated the thinking about energy types; kicking chairs was the action piece.  All of us took our chairs outside, stood on them, put our arms above our heads in an inverted V, pretended we were positioned on a PEAK and chanted “PEAK….P….POTENTIAL”.   Then we leapt from our “peaks”, kicked our chairs and chanted “KICK….K….KINETIC”.    Kinetic and potential energy….come to think about it, that pretty much  sums up eighth graders!

If Zorro is what he thinks then he does not exist; he is so stupid it is hard to believe he thinks at all.    He was in the girls’ room and wanted out.  The door was partially closed so he nosed it open, which would have been a smart thing had his paw not been in the way.   But his paw was in the way.   When he pushed the door, he pinched his paw and, yelping loudly, ran to
Tanah.   “Help me,” his look to her said, “I am too stupid to let myself out of this room.” 
 
We are thinking a lot about singing however I do not believe we are destined to be singers, at least not good ones.   It seems, however, that we are destined to sing in a choir in General Conference.    The vocal parts for all the songs we are to sing have been posted on a blog and Lance downloaded them to our various electronic devises.    Lance sang the bass part to several of the songs all the way to Provo when he drove down to deliver honey to Tammy.    I echo the soprano part as
I drive to OPA and back.  Grace sings as she cleans her room.   We passed last week’s clothing inspection; all the girls have appropriately jewel-colored blouses and we found a black jacket for Lance.    We have been given seating assignments—very back row on the left side as you face the choir seats.   And, apparently, we passed the background check; no one called telling us we otherwise.  
 
“On this day of joy and gladness, Lord we praise thy holy name…….”  Words to our choir songs frequently flow through my head.  I love having them there.   It is a welcome respite to the monkey-mind, mist-lists I wrote about last week; almost, ALMOST they drown out the constant need-to-do agenda items that frequently harass me.

I am pleased (VERY PLEASED) to report that some things have dropped off that omnipresent list.   Jeanna and Chris drove all the way from Provo to deliver 150 rolls of toilet paper!    The toilet paper is terrific; the knowledge that they cared enough to connect is priceless. I have also washed towels and bought bread.  Dawnie read about my gratitude on the blog so no need to send that card.  And I figured out when Tanah’s cross country meets are.  

Early this morning (1:20 a.m.; don’t ask!) I read the following questions in Sean Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens “What is the driving force in my life? What do I spend my time thinking about?”     Good questions.

What is the driving force in my life?   I would hope that it is a love of God and all mankind; a desire to do what is right for me, my family, and my God.   
 
What do I spend most of my time thinking about?   Lately the answer to this question is much more clear and much less noble.   I spend most of my time thinking about how much time I don’t have.    I think about the things I need to do and fret about how and when I am going to do them.   They are good things, most of the things that haunt me.   In fact, I have asked God why He gives me impulses to do good things without giving me time to yield to the impulses.   [He hasn’t answered me yet.]  Good things or no, the fixation on time is not good.    
 
Sow a stressed thought, reap a stressed act; sow a stressed act, reap a stressed habit; sow a stressed habit, reap a stressed character, sow a stressed character, reap a stressed destiny.

I don’t know exactly what my destiny is but I am certain it is NOT to be stressed by my lack of time.   I probably should to find out  what my destiny is…… I guess I’ll add that to my list…………..    JUST KIDDING!!!

Love,
Teresa


Picture
Cucumbers....still in the bucket
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Tomatoes.....still in the buckets
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Squash....still in the bucket
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Raspberries.....still in the frig
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Peaches....now in our tummies!
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Tonio the Duck (see last week's letter)
2 Comments
Jeanna
9/17/2013 01:41:59 am

OK Tess, love that name! What kind of a camera do you use?
Wonderful, beautiful pictures. They capture the wonder of your adventures.

Reply
Teresa Hislop
9/18/2013 04:04:31 pm

A dear friend gave me the name "Tess". I love it too. My camera is a Canon EOS Rebel T3. Thanks for your kind words.

Reply



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    Teresa Hislop
    thislop@msn.com

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