Update to our BIG FAT Storm

Well, I didn't get a day off , but we did have a late start. School started at 10 instead of 8. So that was kinda cool.
I did my first subbing job today. The teacher I work with had a doctors appointment so I took the last two classes of the day on my own. It went fairly smoothly, but both classes were 5th graders and pretty obedient, or maybe it's that they are easily intimidated.

Big Fat Storm

Let me start with yesterday. It was warm..... Well, warmer than usual, and the snow was melting. The sun was shining and the piles of snow were getting smaller. This morning - same thing. Sunny, warmer than usual, dry roads.
This afternoon: The sun disappeared and snow started falling. By 4 pm I'd say it was a full on blizzard with major wind. And as of now- 8pm- it is white out conditions according to our weatherman. The road to my in-laws in closed. They are holed up in a hotel for the night. Staying in a hotel is fun, but I don't envy the digging they will have to do tomorrow just to find their house.
I am so not looking forward to going out in it tomorrow. According to KSL their are teachers and students stuck at several elementary schools in Alpine, which is the town I work in, but not in my school. We have been assured by the anchor woman that they are warm and have been fed. Ok, so they are living one of my nightmares. I'm really hoping for a snow day tomorrow = school canceled.

Churros! Party of Two.

Becky received a churro mix from a friend at work. So we had a two person churro party. When she told me she had a churro mix I was thinking of the sugary stuff on the outside of a churro, you know, like a special blend of sweetness. No, no, no. This is somewhat like buisquick. All we did was add some boiling water and stir.

Then we put the dough into a frosting bag with an attachment that gives the churros that special texture. We just squeezed it into the hot oil and then turned them with chopsticks. Becky was worried the whole time that she would end up with a skin graft proceedure when it was all said and done. But we stayed safe and it was pretty yummy.

Yummy!

Book Review - Conversations with the Fat Girl by Liza Palmer

This book would have been more appropriately titled, "Conversations with a Foul Mouth". I made it all the way to page 20, and while it felt like it could have been a promising story with good points and throught provoking content I just couldn't take the F bomb, which was dropped about 6 times in those twenty pages. Since I didn't feel invested in the book I decided not to read it. It's not often that I quit reading a book, and I encounter swears in my reading adventures often. But once I am emotionally invested in the story, I don't stop reading it unless it all of a sudden gets pornographic. So far I have only run in to one or two of those. And they are not hard to put down. With this one though I couldn't believe all the swears right from the start. The sad thing is that the author is so obviously an intelligent person who was trying to portray intelligent women in her book, but I'm sorry, even though I sometimes think swears can be comical, mostly I think it makes people sound dumb. I'm sure Liza Palmer is capable of writing a book using words to express ideas that are powerful without foul language, but she was not doing that in this book. So needless to say, I would not recommend this book.
*** Blogger note: I intentionally use the word "Swears" instead of "swear words" or "swearing" because I think it is funny. And it illustrates my point that people who use swears as part of their everyday vocabularly are showing their lack of ability to inteligently express themselves.***

Book Review - The Memory Keepers Daughter by Kim Edwards

The Memory Keepers Daughter is about a doctor who tells a whopping lie and then the aftermath of the lie, the effect it has on the rest of his life and the lives of those involved. It was interesting. I have had the opportunity in my life to reflect on certain choices I've made, big and small, and then wonder how my life and or personality could be different had another choice been made, as well as how my choices have effected the lives of others. Thank heaven for forgiveness and repentance! Which are two themes that do not come up in the book until the very, very end. It's a sad book. I would recommend it though.

The Value Of A Dollar

Yesterday, while I was feeling overwhelmed by the pile of laundry stacked three feet high and six feet long "hiding " behind my couch, I got a brilliant idea. "Hey Sam!", I said in my most enthusiastic voice. "Do you want to earn some money? I'll pay you a dollar to fold all the towels, rags and washcloths in that pile." He is saving up for a Nintendo DS, so I thought this was a win/win situation. He looked at the pile and said,"Two dollars." I said ,"DEAL!" Then once he saw them all gathered into one heaping basket he tried to talk me into three dollars, but there was no way I was going up again. He still folded them and he did a good job. That boy knows the value of a dollar.

About a week and a half ago, during a conversation/Sunday School lesson/ Story time we had that was taught by and elderly gentleman in our ward, we were informed that we - Matt and I, work harder for our money but get less for it than "back in the day". Brother Stoyteller said that he and his wife could go out every Friday night on a date to the temple, pay the girl down the street 25 cents to watch their 8 children (this was before the last two came along) and after the temple they would go get a burger, fries and a drink for 15 cents each! A whole date for 55 cents! Then he told us minimum wage was less than $2/hour. Still! Holy Cow! 55 CENTS! WOW! And here my six year old is saving his money for a TOY that cost $200 once it's all said and done. (DS plus a game or two.)

Many of you know I work in a middle school. Those Tweenagers are full of shenanigans. Someone has super glued a quarter to the bathroom floor. The first time I saw it, I gently, so that no one could tell brushed my foot across the quarter to see if it had been adhered to the floor. When I found out it was I thought, HAHA (evil laugh) you can't fool me into bending over to pick that up. (Did I mention the ladies room was empty except for me?) Now, twice a day, when I'm on my usual visits to the bathroom - one to GO and the other to make sure I don't have any lunch in my teeth - I kick at the quarter with my foot. Because at this point, I am outraged that someone wasted 25 perfectly good cents. What is the point? It's not like they are hanging out in there watching to see who falls for it. If they were then hey, that's some cheap entertainment. But who wants to hang out in the bathroom. Not me. A much better place would have been in the hall or the lunch room where you can sit and watch unsuspiciously.

I have a brother, who shall not be named to protect his "innocence", who got together with a bunch of friends and found some fresh cow poop, rubbed it on a dollar bill, and then set it on the ground in an obvious spot right outside the doors of a grocery store. They then ran to the car, which was strategically parked in a space with a good view, and waited until someone came out and picked up said poo dollar. And then they had a good laugh when the "lucky person" realized there was a smell, or something sticky on it. The person inevitably dropped it and then it sat for it's next unsuspecting victim. Again, cheap entertainment, though this one I do not endorse. EWW!

I have long thought that Matt and I were born in the wrong era. Why weren't we born in the times when money stretched farther and things cost less, or how about the times when people wanted less? Was there ever a time? Then I think about the problems they had and the things they had to go through, and I'm back to being happy about where and when I am. After all, there was no blogging back then, and it's free!

The Dangerous Bug Book

Sam checked out The Dangerous Bug Book from the library. Before we even left the library he was reading it. And as I perused the Young Adult section he said, "Mom, I know what bit you in the leg last summer. See! It was a Deer Tick." He then held up a picture identical to a huge bite I had last summer. Along with the picture is a description of how a deer tick will attach itself to a "host" and drink it's blood for up to four days. Freaky!!

So we have all taken our turns looking through this book which lists the top ten most dangerous bugs. We even spent like half an hour being grossed out as a family by this book. Then after, we had put the book away, Matt was still sitting at the table, looking nervous. And then he said, "Great! Now I have gas because I'm nervous about bugs!" And he was dead serious. So Funny!

For your viewing pleasure here is a picture of my bite.

Also for your viewing pleasure here is a picture that Matt emailed to me. I cried when I saw it.