Brennan Leaves

 This kid is headed off to college.  In his pajamas.  I give these boys pajamas every Christmas and Brennan lives in his like clothes for a few weeks, then they get lost in the great black hole that is Brennan's life and he's back to walking around in his skivvies.  I asked him, "Brennan, are you leaving in your pajamas?  He says, "Might as well drive in comfort!"  Me:  "What if you break down, or have to stop for gas, or get pulled over."  Bren:  "I've got plenty of clothes I can change in to real quick."  And he does.  

 This is what my house looked like yesterday.  Because this is how Brennan packs.  First, he brings every piece of clothing he owns home to be washed over Christmas break, rewashes everything the day before he leaves, and folds them all into little piles all over the Family Room Floor.

Then he carries them out one pile at a time until his car is full of piles of clothes and everything else he owns in the world.  No boxing things up for Brennan.  Why?  "Because then I have these empty boxes I have to deal with."  I can only imagine what he looks like carrying all that stuff into his apartment in Logan.  And just for the record, I did NOT teach him this.  It's some kind of organizational system that only smart guys who drive back to Logan in their pajamas understand.

Pintrest

So, I'm up late tonight helping Brennan apply for scholarships and I come across a blog where this girl takes things she has pinned on pintrest, does them, and then blogs about it.  I think, "Wow, that's cool.  I think that would be fun to do."  So here is my first I Learned This On Pintrest And Did It blog. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        First, this is the picture of a photography pose I found and pinned on pintrest . . .                                                                          

                                                        And here is MY photo . . .

Pintrest's photo . . .

 

And mine.  

See, what this is supposed to do is to get you to actually DO the things and not just pin them.  We'll see how it works. .. .. 

David Archuleta - I'm Trying To Be Like Jesus - VIP Beaver Creek

I'm sick today, so I thought I would just share this video of David Archuleta singing one of my most favorite songs in the most beautiful way I've ever heard it sung. Brought tears when I listened to it, but then remember, I'm sick.

The Quadrantid Meteor Shower

Brennan has been watching documentaries while he's been home about the physics of how the earth was created, and the astronomy involved - I know, we're pretty boring here! So, when I heard the first meteor shower of the year was going to be late Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, I offered to stay up, go out away from the lights of town, and watch it with him. So at midnight we went up towards Slickrock and set up a tripod with my camera on it so we could be prepared to catch a meteor. Problem is, the moon was so bright we could only see the biggest of them, they were infrequent and all over the sky, so I didn't capture any cool meteor pictures, but I did get some pretty cool pictures of stars!

Although it looks like it was late afternoon, this was taken at about 12:30 am. See the stars? I set my camera to B (bulb) and used my remote to expose the picture for 10 seconds. Yes, I could have done the same thing with a long shutter priority, but I was unsure how long I would have to expose in order for the picture to work. And if there HAD been meteors shooting all over the sky, I would have kept my shutter open until one streaked in front of my lens.
This is Orion's belt. Those three stars at the top right. Brennan had downloaded google stars on his phone and he could point his phone at the sky and google would tell him what constellation he was pointed at. Pretty cool!


Finally at about 1:00 am we called it quits. Although by then the sky was much darker. And even though we didn't see a lot of meteors, it was a fun and adventurous thing for two old people and their college aged smart kid to do.

A Book Review

It seems like I always manage to read the "best book of the year" at the beginning of the year, giving me nothing to look forward to - although I do live in hope all year of finding an even better one. Last year it was Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, this year it just might possibly be this book. And yes, this is my picture for today :)

Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks came about because Ms Brooks, a Middle East news correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, needed a break from her reporting duties in Gaza and Baghdad and took a trip to England. While backpacking she happened across an old sign that said “Plague Village” pointing the way to a small town called Eyam. This town had been infected by the Bubonic Plague back in the 1600's, and so quarantined itself off from the rest of England to keep the plague from spreading. The only recorded history of what actually happened during that quarantine came in the form of three letters from the town minister, one telling the people of England their plan to shut themselves off from the rest of the country, one letting his wife's family know she had died, and one letting the people of England know the plague was over and their town borders were again opened. So the story told in the book Year of Wonders is an historical fiction based on what little was known, filled in with the imagination of Ms. Brooks. She does a wonderful job telling an interesting, tragic, but also heroic story about a group of people coming together for survival and what happens to human nature when they are faced with the possibility of death. This book is a very good adult historical fiction, well worth anyone's reading time.

The Last Gift of Christmas

Back at the first of December I was frantically working on putting together a Christmas party for our ward. I was in charge, and I had asked two of my friends, Rachel and Joan, to help me. I also usually manage to suck Dave into whatever project I'm in charge of, so on a Friday night, the first one of December found the four of us, me, Dave, Rachel and Joan, backstage trying to put scenery and kids on and off stage as part of the program we were doing for the Christmas party. Dave was in charge of opening and shutting the curtains, Rachel and I were in charge of moving scenery, and Joan was on the other side of the stage in charge of getting people on and off stage. At one point the curtains didn't open when they were supposed to, so I looked over at Dave, and there he was sniffing Rachel's neck! I just rolled my eyes, ran over and opened the curtains, and Dave, in defense of himself, came over and said, "I thought Rachel smelled really good, so I was asking her what perfume she was wearing so I could get some for you." At that particular moment I just didn't have time to talk about it, to find out what the name of the perfume was or where he could find it or anything other perfume details, but I did, from that moment on, assume I was getting perfume for Christmas. By Christmas I had forgotten about it, so when I didn't get any perfume, I didn't think anything about it. Saturday I got a text from Rachel: "You didn't happen to get any perfume for Christmas did you?" Me: "No! I thought I would, but I guess Dave couldn't find whatever kind you told him about because I didn't get any" Rachel: "I'm going to have to talk to that man!"

Apparently Rachel told Dave she would get the perfume for him - and she did, but she was waiting for Dave to check with her. She wanted him to be responsible to at least ask her about the gift. To go out of his way a little bit for it. So when I told Dave he was in trouble with Rachel, he looked horrified for a minute, and then disappeared for a while. He came back with this little Christmas bag with a little bottle of perfume inside.
And I got a good laugh out of what the tag said. Rachel wouldn't let Dave pay her for the perfume. She said it was payment enough to know that Dave was smelling MY neck now - not hers :) I really have the best friends!

Happy New Year From A Nice Mormon Mom . . Or A Serial Killer

I had to take a new passport picture in order to renew my concealed weapon's permit and since it IS for a concealed weapon's permit that has already expired, so time is clicking away here, and since the one thing that has been holding me up in renewing it has been getting a passport quality picture taken, I just decided yesterday to have Drew take on. In my pajamas. Without any makeup or even my hair fixed. Because at the moment it just didn't matter to me. But then I looked at it. WOW, I look like I'm being booked into prison - this is what my mug shot would look like.

And I decided they probably wouldn't renew my concealed weapon's permit if I sent in a passport photo where I looked like a serial killer, I might be having a mug shot TAKEN. So I tried again this morning. After I got ready for church. A little bit better, I think.

Preparing my Young Women's lesson today, and waxing philosophical, I came up with a list of 32 things I have learned - or relearned - this year. I'm sure there are more. It's been a learning year. But here are the 32:

Thirty Two Things I learned (or relearned) this year

1. Any T.V. series that starts out good enough to actually watch will degenerate into something too raunchy to watch by the third season.

2. Books are where it's at and there are still a plethora of oh-so-good ones out there

3. Grandchildren make the world go 'round

4. Adult children are pretty fun, too

5. The second Sherlock Holmes movie is every bit as good as the first one.

6. I hope they make a third, as long as Robert Downey Jr is still playing a hot Sherlock Holmes.

7. Whether the new “Twilight” movies are mind numbingly, off the charts stupid is not debatable to me. The midnight premier is a fun night out with friends and makes up for any shortcomings the movie may have.

8. Leggins are not pants.

9. PINTREST! Where have you been all my life :)

10. Scarfs – I love them!

11. Ugg boots are aptly named. Ugg!

12. The Church is true. And so is the Book of Mormon. And Temples. And the prophet . . .

13. Beehives make me laugh.

14. Watching Sponge Bob really DOES make you “stupider” - as Dalen predicted

15. There is always, ALWAYS someone out there worse off that I am

16. People really CAN change

17. A camera is a sentimentalist's best friend.

18. Taking pictures in RAW plus JPEG solves all my photography problems – except the blurry ones

19. Introversion is genetic, and I'm O.K. with that.

20. An hours walk every morning is the best way to start your day

21. Numbers are cold and incomprehensible.

22. Words, on the other hand, are warm and comfortable

23. Added to my bucket list this year is be in a mall to witness to a flash mob. OR, to be IN a flash mob! Now that would be cool ;)

24. The “Ladder To Adventure”, just behind Grandpa's shop, will take you to a magical world of imagination

25. Christmas is best with a house bursting at the seams with people you love

26. The best days are those days in which you never get dressed – just hunker down and wear your pajamas all day.

27. Disappointment is hard, but faith and hope will always see you through

28. It's hard to let go of an old year – even a challenging year – and start a new one

29. Even so, 2011 looks better from my rear view mirror

30. I although I do look older than I did when my concealed weapon's permit was taken five years ago – I look better when I fix my hair and make up. I was never really sure about this before.

31. 9:00 church really is the best!

32. “Behold, my joy if full, yea, my heart is brim with joy” Alma 26:11