I finished this book several days ago and it is pretty forgettable. I was interested enough reading it but can't say that this is a great book. The characters are one-dimensional and the conflicts outrageous.
Basically, there are two feuding families in a small town named Between, Georgia. One family is mixed race, baptist and wealthy (the Fretts) and the other is poor white trash (the Crabtrees). Both hate each other solely for the ignorant and intolerant reasons that those stereotypical descriptions would leave one to expect. Someone from the Crabtree clan has a secret teenage pregnancy and leaves the baby with the Fretts. A few years later, the matriarch of the Crabtree family finds out that the baby is her blood and the feud grows and festers for the next thirty years.
It's not really fluff but it's not book club worthy. I didn't really learn anything about the South so it's not good for that either. I didn't hate it but that doesn't sound like a ringing endorsement.
Take that for what it's worth.
Friday, December 29, 2006
Book Review #26 - Between, Georgia
Thursday, December 28, 2006
An Unwelcome Guest
Murphy moved in today. We listen to Dave Ramsey every once in a while and he has this saying about "Murphy moving into your spare bedroom" when you can least afford him to. (If anyone is confused I'm talking about Murphy's Law - Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time).
For several weeks, my rear left turn signal and break light have been out on the minivan. I still always use my blinker because it works in front so when I push down I hear and see that frantic arrow going about three times as fast as it should letting me know that a light is out. I hate it. I feel. . .messy. Rude. Dangerous. Poor.
Jay fixed it last week by replacing the bulb and it was fixed for all of two days. We knew then that the electrical system had some short in it and I called and made an appointment. My rear windshield wiper was also on the fritz. Whenever I used it, it wouldn't stop at the end of the window and just kept on wiping until it was upside down. I took it into the shop today and left $200 poorer. But everything works now.
Two days ago, I was washing a load of whites when I heard the washing machine make a sort of grinding sound. I haven't had good luck with my whites lately. Not every time, but often enough, several pieces of laundry come out with brown spots on them that match the spacing of the holes in the metal tub. I didn't know if my oxyclean was somehow oxidizing the metal so I stopped using that. Or maybe the bleach was causing some sort of reaction or the temperature of the water was too hot. I was patiently trying to figure out the problem but when it started to rub metal on metal, I finally called a repair man. He came over at 2:00 this afternoon.
Here's how our conversation went:
Me: Thanks for coming. Sorry about the weird location of our washer (it's in a tiny room that you have to walk through our closet to get to...kind of cozy with the repair guy).
Him: Hmph.
Me: So, it sounds like it's rubbing against something when it spins. And it didn't drain all the way last time.
(I manually reach in and turn the drum. I can't hear the sound it was making two days ago)
Me: It was making it. Maybe it has to go fast.
Him: I hear it. Your yada yada yada, blah, blah, blah is yakity yakity yakity and you probably need mumble jumble gobble gobble.
Me: Really? How much will that cost?
Him: It'll be expensive. I'll put the new basket under warranty because it's less than 10 years but the other two parts are way in there and they aren't cheap. We'll have to take the machine apart and it'll take at least two of us here.
Me: Hmmm.
Him: Let me get out my handy dandy electronic notebook and type all of this in. Click here, click here. You'll need this part and this one. But we'll put this on warranty.....it'll cost you about $500.
Me: WHAT?!!!
Let me backtrack a bit to yesterday when I called and made the appointment with Sears. I tell them what the problem is and they explain that it'll be $45 for someone to come look at it. If I decide to go ahead with the repair, then that $45 will go towards the cost of the repair. If not, I will still owe the $45. I agree and we schedule the appointment. Then the guy pulls out the roulette game board and asks me if I want to accept their one time offer of a one-year warranty on my front loading washer for a mere $300. It would cover all costs of a repair. If you're me, $300 is a lot of money to guess with and I declined. I worked at Radio Shack and I know that Extended Warranties are a scam. 90% of the time you don't need them and they are mainly a big money maker for the store. But today...that deal is looking pretty sweet.
Him: This happens when you people (I swear he said that) don't use HE detergent with your front loaders. I see this all the time.
Me: Who uses HE detergent? I don't know anybody who uses HE detergent. No one told us to use HE detergent.
Him: It's in your owners manual.
Me: Oh. Well, then.
Him: The other soap gums up into the washer and corrodes this blah blah part. That's why you're getting those rust marks on your clothes. Your tubing is probably clogged to. People with kids always run crap through their machines. It probably has some coins or toys or something in it.
Me: That's very likely (thinking, "you big jerk")
Him: You have to pay for the parts now. They'll be delivered to you in two big boxes and then we'll call to make sure they're here before we come for the repair.
Me: Ugh. I don't want to do this. This washer is only 4 years old.
Him: You're lucky! I've see this happen to people after one year without using the right detergent.
Me: (thinking...your machines are a piece of crap then.)
Me: talking - Um...I have to call my husband.
(Jay and I talk....this totally stinks...I know....o.k.....bye)
Me: O.K. When will you come fix it.
Him: We can't get here until January 10th.
Me: Swell.
Maybe it's just that it's December and we just had our anniversary, Christmas, paid for a board review course for Jay in San Fransisco in February but this is Murphy at his finest. I have kids. Boys. They are dirty. I do a LOT of laundry. January 10th is two weeks away. *%&^$#%$!!!
Go Away Murphy!
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Chrismtas 2006
How to catch up with all of the festive activities and my moods? They were both vast and frequent. Let's go back, back, back....all the way to December 23rd.
Christmas Eve Eve
Officially the busiest day of shopping the entire year. And who was out in the thick of it? Yours truly, someone who doesn't like crowds, stores or traffic. I started out going to Target, then grocery shopping for all of the holiday meals and onto a few different stores hoping to find that last minute perfect gift. Jay built a snowman with the boys with the perfect sticky snow.
Seth's pose. He always seems to be making this face for the camera.
Curious....I captured the building of it but forgot to go back outside and take a picture of the final product. But they all had fun. I'm not sure Henry loves the snow but perhaps it was his big marshmallow outfit that impeded his movement. Once I got home, Jay realized we had never taken the boys to get gifts for each other. So we all loaded into the truck and drove up to the White Elephant (a junky store that has a lot of toys and games....along with guns, fishing equipment, and a whole lot of other random stuff). Back home for dinner and putting the boys to bed. Seth finished his final draft of his wish list and the number one thing he wanted was a Denver Broncos football jersey. Jay and I were fairly certain that Santa hadn't yet made this particular gift and discussed the pros and cons of Seth not getting his beloved item. Ultimately, we decided that Seth's disappointment was worse than spending money on a jersey he'd most likely grow out of this year, be uninterested in in a few months when march madness starts and which also has the number of a certain quarterback who won't be with the broncos after this year. We called around to several stores and found one out at the valley mall. Jay left on his own Saturday night shopping hell while I read tucked under a blanket.
Christmas Eve
Jay made the boys pancakes with homemade syrup for breakfast. Seth is a pancake monster. He can ingest about 4 whole plate pancakes. Of course, Sammy doesn't really like them so he's always a light eater on pancake mornings. After cleaning up the breakfast dishes, it was already time to get ready for choir and church. The boys took showers and I put Henry down for a catnap to help him cope with the upcoming brutal four hours of restricted movement. Our ward choir performed four numbers during Sacrament meeting including the prelude so I sat up on the stand the entire time and Jay came up after the sacrament. We asked a couple pregnant with their first child to hold Henry and had hoped that Seth and Sam would be happy coloring in our bench the rest of the time. Sammy had different plans, however, and immediately moved up to sit with them and torture Henry. He thinks he's loving him but all of the squeezes and tummy taps irritate Henry and he ends up screaming. Jay and I were in agony watching it all. The meeting went long (of course) by twenty minutes and eventually the young future father had to take Henry out. Merry Christmas Eve!
After church, I made chili for dinner and set about wrapping the traditional Christmas eve jammies.
Seth's Christmas pajamas
Sammy's Christmas pajamas
Henry's Christmas pajamas
Seth on defense
Sammy on defense
Sammy was using Jay's scriptures to sing songs. Whatever works.
Jay and I sitting by the fire
Attempt number 1 for our annual Christmas Eve ornament picture
Attempt #2
After about five more attempts, we just took out the problem:)Christmas Day
Henry is ready to get the party started!
Checking out his new bronco calendar
All about the Broncos
Completely content
He wanted to make sure we had a picture of his jersey...
The pose
Again
Playing with new Star Wars Transformers
Opening up Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's presentSammy was happy and went from toy to toy to toy all day (always conveniently leaving whatever he was already playing with out) and Henry could have cared less about it all. He slept in until 8:30 and all he wanted to do was go up the stairs, play with the paper or get in the fire.
Cleaning up Santa's left over cookies.
Cookie Monster
Henry's obstacle course.I can't say this is my favorite age. He sure is cute but busy.
Henry's one new toy. That's all he needed.
Jay checks out his new office calendarWe had hot chocolate and toast for breakfast and leftover chili for lunch. The day was nice playing with new toys and games and football outside.
Jay running a perfect play
Seth setting up the perfect play...I think it was called "Dippity Do Dah"
Running in a touchdown
Avoiding the linebacker snowman
Future QuarterbackAgain, I felt a bit lonesome for family and the festivity that comes with numbers. After cleaning the kitchen for what seemed like the 20th time that day and trying to get the living room back in order, I longed for more distractions. Cousins for my boys to play with, moms, someone to be in the kitchen with me while I made cheesy potatoes and green bean casserole. I didn't get to talk to my parents in Myanmar because of the weird time difference. It's like 14 hours (I think) and whenever I thought of it, it was an impossible time to call. We talked to most everyone in our family on the phone and it sounds like everyone had nice days.
Once the boys were in bed, Jay hooked up my new Video Karaoke System
Yikes...get that girl some makeup!
Singing "Queen of Hearts" of which I got a dismal score of 65.There is a contest program that comes with the system. It chooses three songs for each "team" at random. I got three songs I've never heard of. One of Jay's "random" songs was piano man! This was after he had already scored the 95! He won and currently reigns as karaoke champ. Because he is the champ, I thought I'd share his Karaoke skills with all of you. We can all learn something from his exquisite technique. (As a disclaimer, he was aware that I had a camera in my hand:))
That's what's been going on in our neck of the woods. Jay is off again today and we are really having a nice day. Not doing much but the rest of the week looks busier so I'm going to enjoy the slow tempo.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Book Review #25 - Dancing at the Rascal Fair
The spine of this book and its companions in Ivan Doig's Montana trilogy have been staring at me in my parent's living room for years. I'd seen the books, have been told many times how good they are and how much I'd enjoy them, but still I never followed the advice.
While scrolling around amazon.com looking for books to read, I came across the review for English Creek by Ivan Doig. Rave reviews - so I decided to take the plunge and check it out. About a quarter way into it, I came across another review that suggested reading the second book in the trilogy (Dancing at the Rascal Fair) first because it is actually written earlier chronologically (a prequel). I returned English Creek and started Dancing at the Rascal Fair. The advisors were right on, this is a wonderful book. It's set in my absolutely favorite corner of the earth, the land around Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness. The time frame is the late 1800s until about 1920. The narrator is Angus McCaskill, a Scottish immigrant, who comes to America and Montana to homestead. He is joined by his best friend, Rob Barclay, who has an uncle in Montana that they are sure will be the key to their success. When they finally connect with Lucas Barclay, the uncle, their saga with Montana weather, women, rivalry, economics, war and school house dances begins.
This is much along the same vein as Angle of Repose, Christy, These Is My Words except more masculine. But the story's theme is about enduring as it seems many of the great ones are.
I am very much looking forward to continuing on with English Creek and Ride With Me Mariah, Montana after that. Ivan Doig has a new fan.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Parenting 101
I don't know exactly when I forgot all of the pearls of wisdom I learned from reading endless books and articles during the first few years of my firstborn's life. That was when I was the most motivated to be a "perfect" parent. Lately, it seems like being a perfect parent has been the last thing on my mind. It's everyone fend for themselves and don't bug me while you're doing it.
For example, I remember leaving Seth with my mother when he was almost a year to go to New York for a week with Jay. I left my mother with his bedtime routine which was a bath with lavender bath wash, three board books, a song, a warm bottle and then to bed (awake but drowsy).
Henry isn't quite so blessed. Most nights, he occasionally sips from a bottle while cruising around. Then I pick him up, put him in his crib and give him the rest of the bottle to finish in bed. No stories, no song, and rarely a bath (he has better hair if he bathes in the morning). And I'm astonished that he's, by far, my worst sleeper.
T.V. requests begin before I'm out of bed. Probably because most mornings I tell them to go watch a cartoon while I groggily get out of bed. Then the whole day its, "can I watch a cartoon? Can I watch football? Can I play a computer game? Can I watch a movie?" I can't stand watching them watch T.V. That sort of behavior is appropriate for thirty year old couch potatoes but not young children. And I'm so mean when I say no. And then comes the follow-up question, "But what can I do?" I usually answer "clean your room, clean downstairs, read, play a game" which brings tears.
I think during the last seven nights, Henry has slept through only three. And I used to consider myself quite a sleep guru. I helped other people solve their child's sleep problems. I don't know why I have such a hard time practicing what I used to preach. It's like the kid just outlasts me. He cries for forever and eventually I just get up and give him that bottle. He's so little, I figure he can use the extra calories but it's getting old. The last two nights I have been determined not to get out of bed to hold him and last night he actually slept through. I would NEVER have been in this situation with my first two. Who am I?
Today, I told my kids NO TV. NO computer. At all. All day. I got a few grunts and whimpers but amazingly, they have played great. They've made maps for treasure hunts, signs for football games, played Sorry together, Hungry Hippos together and all sorts of other games. They haven't bugged me all day. It's like I have some sort of control over their T.V. watching behavior or something. Who'd have figured?
With Seth, I had a membership to the Denver Children's Museum. Or I'd take him to the mall when it's cold and the park when it was warm. Daily walks in his stroller were a ritual. Heck, I even had "playdates" for my one-year old and we all know how pointless that is. But, my six and three year old could sure use a day like that. I need to be that parent again.
Hopefully, I'm not a candidate for SuperNanny quite yet but I realize I need a plan and I need to stick to it. Some day, when I'm spent, I'm going to cave and let them watch Backyardigans for three hours straight again. But I'm going to hope that those days are fewer and farther between.
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
What's the point?
I never blog at night because Jay usually needs the computer but he's gone right now helping someone move so I'm going to bustamove and jot down a few thoughts.
Thanks for all of the well wishes yesterday. While we had great tributes to each other on our blogs, the actual day was very anticlimatic. He had to be at the hospital by 7:00 am and didn't come home until 7:30 pm. He's doing neuroradiology this month and just gets slammed around 4:00 pm with head CTs and MRIs which, I guess, take a long time to read and dictate.
Anyhow, I went ahead and made visiting teaching appointments for last night because I knew he had a big presentation on Thursday that he was going to have to work on anyway. When he wasn't home at 6:00, I called the three ladies I visit teach and my companion to tell them that I'd be late but I didn't know how late. When Jay came home, we kissed, exchanged gifts and then I left. Jay bought me my first pair of diamond earrings and he got a garmin gps running/outdoors watch that he's been wanting. I really didn't want to go but it was the only night I could go for the rest of the month and I knew that each of the women I visit needed a friend, and the acknowledgement of a home visit. By the time I got to our first lady's home at 7:45, I told my companion, "let's just drop these goodies off, say hi and leave pretty quickly." But once inside, we could tell that she needed to talk so that's what we did. We left her house about 45 minutes later and went sheepishly onto our last home (one lady thankfully told us on the phone that we could reschedule). Again, this lady wanted to talk and I didn't get home until 10:30 at night. I was tired but Jay was exhausted. He'd been looking at radiology stuff for 16 hours and he was worn out. Pretty romantic evening.
Today has been a bit chaotic. I had a great start. I threw in a load of laundry, fixed the boys pancakes and cleaned the kitchen (including mopping my floors). My friend, Alisa, dropped her two children off at 9:00 and Seth and Sam merrily played with them for an hour until then we all walked to another boys' house for a clay party at 10:00. Everyone had a blast and this mom was a star for having such an ambitious play date right before Christmas.
Supermom Rebecca helping all of the kids with their clay
Another angle
She even had toys to keep Henry happyAfter their clay making, she fed them lunch and then let them make Christmas trees by using green frosting on an upside down ice cream cone with m&m's, candy canes, gum drops and chocolate chips for decorations. As soon as they were done, they ate them! Seth and his friend, Caleb started chanting that they wanted to continue to play together but Hank's mom (whose house we were at) suggested they just stay longer and play there. I couldn't believe she would want that and after a lot of "are you sure?s" I left him there. Alisa said she'd bring him back when she picked Caleb up which she did about an hour and a half later.
I have been trying all day to finish getting our Christmas cards ready to send out and it just takes forever! I don't know why. The letter was typed. The addresses ready to print out on labels and the pictures in a pile. I'm still not done. Andrea came over to pick up her Christmas gift and her daughter Emma and Seth started chanting that they wanted to play together. I told Andrea she could leave Emma and it seemed everyone else wanted to stay too. Anna eventually was the only other one that stayed (Jack and Lily wanted to work on their gingerbread train) and I took them back home at 4:30. Then I drove to the optical shop to get Sam's glasses fixed (the new lens came in) and to the library to pick up the books I had requested. I called Jay to see what time he'd be home but he was already home! So, I picked up some Mexican food for dinner and he ate and left to go help some people he used to home teach move. I thought I'd write a quick blog but at 7:00 (right after I wrote the first paragraph) my visiting teacher came. I had forgotten she was coming and you should see my house. That clean floor and kitchen? Not so much. And after a day of having kids here, the rest of the house isn't looking so hot either. But my kids were in bed until Kariann rang the doorbell at 7:05 and dropped her three kids off while she went caroling with the Young Women. Her husband was also moving the same people and it is so much harder to carol with kids so I told her if she needed me, to just drop the kids off. So, Seth and Sam got a happy surprise when their three buddies went into their bedroom and turned on the light.
That's what's happening right now. Kariann will be here any minute and Jay will be home and needing the computer for his radpath presentation tomorrow. I should clean but I need to finish these cards and I'm tired!
This sign that I got for KariAnn and Andrea is perfect. I know some of you don't live by its motto (Jen and Jenny!) but its my mantra. There is just no point.
Well said.Tuesday, December 19, 2006
A Love Story. . .
I loved my new apartment, new roommates, new outlook on life. It was the start of winter semester my junior year of BYU. Kathryn and I had both just moved into the apartment but we were instant friends. We were relaxing in our living room when there was a knock on our door. Our home teachers were stopping by to introduce themselves and see how things were going. They introduced themselves as Rob and Jay from Promenade #3 but Kathryn and Rob were old friends from freshman year and immediately began reminiscing through old photo albums at the kitchen table. That left Jay, a cute, shy guy, and me in the living room to find something to talk about. He sat on the floor opposite the couch where I was sitting. He said he recognized me. That we were in Chemistry 106 together. I hadn't seen him there so he explained that he was a back row dweller while I sat pretty close to the front. We continued to talk for probably an hour when Rob and he eventually left. Kathryn was excited about reconnecting with an old friend and I was excited that our ward seemed friendly and nice.
Chemistry 106 was a MWF class so Jay and I had plenty of opportunities to see each other. I sat by my old friend, Doug, who was recently married to Jenny. Jay started talking to me in my seat before the bell rang and at the last moment would leave to go sit in his usual spot in the back. After a few weeks, he finally just plunked himself down beside me after the bell rang and from then on, the three of us sat together making fun of Dr. Bills.
In early March, I signed up to run in the Rex E. Lee fun run, a 5K. I had never run in a race before but had been running up around the temple for about five months and wanted to see how I'd do. I didn't sign up to run with anyone and didn't know anyone else running it but my roommate Kathryn came to see me finish. I huffed my way into the Law School parking lot where the race ended and saw Jay nearby with a group of runners. He came over to congratulate me on my 32 minute time (stellar) and I asked how he did. He said he did o.k....I asked for his time and it was like 15 minutes. My jaw dropped and I asked if he had won. He blushed and said with shame..."no. I came in second."
Now, it must be true that chicks dig guys with skills because his second place finish among the many hundreds in the parking lot impressed me. With the discovery of his impressive speed, I asked him if he wanted to go listen to a band with me that night. Maybe it was me without makeup, my hair in a bandanna and sweat on my brow, but somehow, I seemed alluring enough for him to say yes. Actually, he said he'd try to be back in time. He drove up to Logan to see his younger sister, Kelly, run in a track meet and hoped to be back in time.
I got myself ready but with a half an hour until the band started playing at Mama's Cafe, he still hadn't called. I realized how disappointed I was so when he called about ten minutes later I was very excited. We walked over to the cafe, waited in line and started talking about our families. He paid my cover charge which impressed me. I had asked him and was planning on paying but he was old fashioned and wanted to be a gentleman. He bought me a coke and we hardly listened to the band. We just sat there and talked and talked and I realized I had found someone familiar to me. Really. We were perfect together. We kept exclaiming, "me too!" all night and there was no turning back.
Our love grew listening to Alanis Morrisette, Tracy Chapman, Sting, George Strait and, of course, Bob Dylan. We visited each other's home towns and met each others' families. I decided to postpone my mission to see how this thing worked out. We ignored our friends and wondered if waiting until May was a good idea. December was looking better and better.
On September 21st, about three weeks after we had decided to get married, Jay asked me if I wanted to go for a drive. I knew he had ordered a ring but I had no idea when the asking was to take place. We picked up some Subway sandwiches and drove to the top of the Alpine Loop. We took our sandwiches over to an old log and sat and ate. Jay went back to his car and brought back his guitar. I sat there on the old log while he sat in the leaves and he played a song that he had written for me. It was beautiful and the last line was, "...if you'll be my wife" He pulled out the most beautiful ring that I had told him I wanted but had never seen.
September 21, officially engaged!
December 18th was crazy busy. I had finished my last final the day before and had packed, cleaned and moved all of my stuff to our new apartment on 400 E. He had one final the morning of the 18th so I finished moving his stuff and cleaning for him. My knees hurt from going up and down all of the stairs that exist in those retarded Promenade condos and I limped the rest of the day. We drove over to Logan where most of our family was waiting for us. I went through the temple at 3:00 for the first time and the session was filled with our family and friends. His family stayed at a cute bed and breakfast in Providence and mine were camped out at a Best Western in downtown Logan. We all met for pizza later that night and then said goodnight. I have a video of how the Johnson family spent the rest of the night. Asking Jay the same questions I had been asked at my bridal shower with a piece of gum for each incorrect answer. His family teased him and gave him advice. My family did what we do best....sit around a talk and laugh.
Exiting the Logan Temple with Jon holding the door.
My sealing ceremony is a blur. I can't remember any details...anything the sealer said, or who exactly was in there. I don't remember if I cried or if jay did. I remember being so happy. But married we were on that cold morning in Logan ten years ago today. I can't say I love having our anniversary in December. It always seems to sneak up on us and it's hard to remember to separate the gift giving from Christmas. I love being married to Jay. He's adorable. He's funny. He's capable and true. He's handy and interesting and responsible and passionate. My best times are when he is around.
Our Engagement photo
Our honeymoon in Banff, Alberta was freaky cold. But we didn't spend too much time outside:)
It's been a grand decade. Here's to an infinite more.
Celebrating our anniversary last Saturday night with the Fredericksons and the Hainsworths.
Here's Jay's gift to me - a video story.
I can't believe I'm linking to something that has pictures of me in a swimsuit but it's very sweet. If you have a couple of minutes to spare...
Monday, December 18, 2006
Writing Styles
When Jay and I were dating in the summer of 1996, we took a spring term technical writing class together at BYU. We both needed to fulfill an advanced English writing requirement and English316 was the class most science and engineering majors took. (As Jay was a Spanish major, I'm pretty sure he could have fulfilled the requirement by taking a much more fun class but I think taking a class with me was lure enough). For one project, we were instructed to pair up (happy coincidence for us) and write a paper together as a lot of technical writing is done in teams. We spent a lot of time in the library researching and finding articles in academic journals to copy in the copy center and take home to highlight. Once we were both on the same page, we set about actually writing the paper.
Have you ever tried to write something with another person? I think they should have it be a part of any marriage prep class to truly find out if two people are compatible and can work together. Well, maybe not since we aren't very compatible co-authors but have a great marriage. But it was an excellent exercise for developing patience and flexibility. Jay is a great writer, a better writer than me, but we have vastly different styles. He thinks my writing is a bit frou frou (not to mention wordy) and some of his phrases sounded stuffy and uncomfortable to me. We have different work ethics. I like to procrastinate and then work for hours straight getting something done and he likes to take a lot of breaks throughout the entire process. We didn't actually say those things to each other because we were still in that starry eyed stage of our new love but I remember coming home from a class to see what progress he had made on his part of the paper and finding him playing solitaire on the computer during one of his breaks. I remember being annoyed when he wanted to delete some of my carefully worded sentences. I remember thinking that we should never write anything together again.
I've mentioned before how I love the Christmas letter. Some techniques I enjoy more than others (no offense, but I don't love letters written from the dog's perspective) but I always appreciate some information and a note more than a simple "Love...so and so". I think the best ones include the good times as well as some of the bad. Keep it real, you know?
I always write the Christmas letter. This year, I asked Jay if he wanted to write our letter and he accepted the challenge. Several times since then, he's asked me what I want him to write about but I think that misses the point. If he's going to write it, it should be completely from his perspective.
Weeks passed and no Johnson Christmas letter had been made. About to take over, I asked if he still wanted to do it and he immediately typed out a draft last night. It reminded me of our first exposure to each other's writing. He said I had full editorial power and could change or add anything. I read it.. What about our trips? Projects to the house? It's great...but not how I would have written it. But wasn't that the whole point? It's hard to let go of control over something that I love but I hope everyone enjoys Jay's version of things.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Book Review #24 - Snow Flower and The Secret Fan
Set in 19th Century rural China, this story guides readers through the ancient and sometimes cruel rituals that befall women in both the families they are born into and the families they marry into. Girls are taught from birth that they are worthless and a drain on the family. Lily, the main character, hears her mother say that raising daughters is like "building a road only for others to use." Feet are bound to produce the desired "golden lilies" that make girls attractive and marriageable even while it handicaps them and makes their work so much more difficult to do. As compensation, women are allowed sworn sisterhoods or, in special circumstances, a laotong which means "old same". Lily, the narrator of the story, is allowed one of these laotongs whose name is Snow Flower. They are from different villages but born on the same day, same year, same height, feet bound on the same day etc... They sign a contract and learn a secret women's written language called Nu Shu and write to each other from the age of seven on a fan.
Here, the story becomes timeless as the two women grow, change and struggle through puberty, arranged marriages, childbirth and living with new familes to keep their friendship true. Although these women were taught to believe they are without value, except for pleasing their in-laws, husbands and sons, they display the same hurt and jealousy when they feel ignored, unloved or betrayed. The destinies of these two women are very different and their love for each other is challenged when both feel misunderstood.
You will learn so much about an ancient culture as well as recognizing some of your own weaknesses if you read this book. I sure did.
Friday, December 15, 2006
Running On Empty
Yesterday was a day when I should have been snapping pics all day but at the end of the day, the only picture I have is a pathetic one of me.
First photo op, Sammy's adorable preschool concert. It was low key but cute nonetheless. We were instructed to come inside to pick them up instead of waiting in our cue of minivans outside. Once inside, we were ushered into the church's worship area which was a floor above the classrooms. The kids came in last and immediately I noticed twenty other parents whip out the camcorders and cameras. I had brought Christmas presents for Sam's two teachers, Henry and his bottle and had left the camera at home. As soon as Sammy got to his place at the front, he gave me the biggest, closed mouth smile that produced two big dimples. He just kept looking at me with a shy, proud look until the singing started. His experience around primary programs, last week's ward party etc. prepared him for singing for a crowd. The other three-year olds looked distracted and frightened, but Sammy belted out his words strong and proud. They sang Jingle Bells, Away In A Manger, Up on the Housetop and We Wish You A Merry Christmas complete with actions. Then they brought us presents.
Later, I went to practice with Seth's class at his school for their class play to be performed that evening. I brought Sam and Henry with me and told Sam before going in that he needed to act "like a first grader" and be calm. He took that literally and wanted to be on stage with the rest of the class. Instead, I told him to sit and watch the play which he did until the end when they were practicing their songs for the sing-a-long. Then he went onto the stage and Seth put his arm around him like a protective mother hen. While I was collecting my songbooks and Henry (who was crawling around getting into everything), Sam got into line with Seth and went back to the classroom with him. Sneaky fella.
I had felt fluish all day and all I really wanted to do was crawl into bed. After practice, I went to a grocery store to get some decorations for snowman cookies and some cold medicine. I wanted some TheraFlu but it's behind a locked closet now (like cigarettes). I think it's actually harder to buy a gun than cold medicine with pseudo ephedrine now. No joke, it took about 10 minutes of paperwork to get me checked out. I don't know if they do that nationwide but here in Spocompton, meth abuse is pretty rampant so they are keeping a close watch on the sale of ingredients of crystal meth. I guess I could have been in disguise: two young kids, chocolate chips, frosting, and gum drops. Not to mention an actual hacking cough and squeaky voice. I finally got out of there and home to greet Seth off the bus.
Next photo op....the cute snowman cookies we made. We decorated frosty the snowman cookies for about an hour after school. It was delightful. Both boys said numerous times how much fun they were having. And they did a great job. I bought the white chocolate covered oreo cookies and then put white frosting on the front and sides. Then I cut up a bunch of gumdrops for earmuffs, mini-chocolate chips for eyes and mouth and those candy orange slices for the carrot nose. They were very excited to be involved and showed their cookies off proudly at the play. I really should do stuff like this with them more often.
Dinner was a sad affair with ramen noodles and a side dish of canned peaches. But the boys were oblivious and Jay didn't even seem to mind. Then off to the play. Seth put on his snowman costume and I went to the piano. Jay had his hands full with Sammy and Henry. He recorded with the camcorder but we didn't get any still shots. Oh well. Regardless, the play went great. Seth had a dance solo during Frosty the Snowman and all I can say is have you seen Riverdance? There was much frolicking and hopping. Sammy made his way up to the stage for the sing-a-long and them some mingling afterwards.
Jay took the boys home and put them to bed and I went with Andrea to the end of our Relief Society's Progressive Dinner enrichment activity. They were still at the second house so we went there even though that was the dinner and we had both eaten. We visited for about twenty minutes and then got back into my van to head to the last house for dessert and a program. To my great embarrassment, I ran out of gas on the way there!
Hitchhiking to relief society. We are needing some relief!
True, I had been driving around on empty for a day but it wasn't even that much past E! We hitchhiked with some other ladies onto the last house where I performed once again. (I'm sure to many people's chagrin). I did the spiritual that I had so much fun with a couple of weeks prior but with my cold, I sounded squeaky and powerless. But I'm not a perfectionist so I wasn't too distressed.
Then Andrea and I went to my house to pick up the gas can so I could go rescuemy abandoned van (once again, Andrea's great friendship came in handy). Jay tried to convince me to let him go do it but we convinced him it was all in girl fun. We went to a conoco station and started to fill up the two-gallon container. I didn't ever notice the trigger lock but it must have because when the level of gas was close to the top and I tried to let up on the trigger, the gas continued to pour out of the nozzle full force for several seconds. Andrea limberly leaped away and I frantically tried to turn off the blasted thing. Even seconds of gas flowing from a nozzle produces a large amount of gas and there was a large puddle of gas on the cement by Andrea's car. Not to mention all over the gas can and my shoes! I tried to clean it off with the window washer thing but we both reeked of gasoline. I haven't heard of any explosions at gas stations today so I'm also assuming I'm safe on that front as well. But I had my nightmares...let me tell you.
My hope is that all of the gas evaporated quickly due to gusts of wind we are experiencing. It is so windy that our power was out most of the morning. I've realized without gas and electricity, my life is quite limited. Thankfully, our water is heated by gas so we at least had hot water. It's still windy and dreary outside which has kept me indoors most of the day. I do need to go run a few errands but I'm dreading it. Of all of the elements, wind is my least favorite. I'm sure it serves a purpose in the great grand scheme but none to me personally.
Hope everyone else is enjoying their alternating current!
