Saturday, March 21, 2015

Saturday workout

I think a good way to start a workout is to sleep in.  So I did. Till almost 8 a.m. That was my favorite part of the day.
*I got some laundry sorted.
*I ate breakfast. Yummy granola from WINCO. We really like that stuff (Mike and I bought granola while we were in Salt Lake, too)
*I fielded a couple of long phone calls.  {You can see how much I'm getting done, huh? And it is nearly 11 a.m. by now}
THEN, after putting in some laundry and doing dishes, I met my students whose guinea pig I am for their upper division PE class on Exercise Prescription. I meet with them a couple of times a week. Really nice kids, very sweet, extremely encouraging and up beat.
And they beat me up. At least, that's what it feels like when  we are done.
Today:
 * two mile walk
* four sets of 10  crunches
* four sets of twelve (modified) pushups
* three sets of 20-second butterfly kick leg lifts
* three 1-minute planks
* four sets of ten body squats
* four sets of 8 lunges
* twenty minute cool down stroll around the track
* major stretches
* Bike ride home

Then,
* I ran some errands--Picked up Primary lesson materials from my substitute last week, bought a pruning saw, stopped in to see how Mike was doing on the rock wall he was working on.
*Ate lunch
*More laundry
*Went to Berenice's to rake up a corner of her lawn because it had snow residue trash left behind. That and a few other yard tasks only took me 20 minutes.
*Then I went inside and spent 1 1/2 hours hauling stuff from the tops of closets. I filled the garbage can, AND my back seat.
*Had a major allergy attack.  Lots of dust and some ancient mice droppings. I may get haunta virus.  But I took a load of stuff to D.I. that is great progress, believe me!
*Showered
*Finished laundry
*Typed my talk for Sunday
*Prepared my Primary lesson

****AND  BLOGGED****

Pretty good day!😉

March Weekend with some of the kids

Nick was nice and invited Mike to come to Salt Lake for the Outdoors Expo, or some sportsman thing in Salt Lake, and Seth was coming with Jonny, so then us Girls decided to get into the act because Britnee's baby shower/open house in Provo was the same weekend! How convenient!  Nick got some help with his gardening grow boxes... yes we are just standing around, watching him  work, while seth holds it steady with his foot.ha. We are SUCH good help!  We mostly just came and played with baby Rachel and ate their food.  Kaylee is a great cook.



I think Nick did get some help digging out the crab-grassy area at the end of this concrete pad (by the little storage shed) which is shere the garden boxes are going. I think they are excited to have a little garden. And he got some great-looking dirt to put in it. Good Luck to them.

I think the guys had fun at the outdoors show, and Nick found a really cool camp kitchen that was his Christmas gift this year from  Kaylee. She gave him a cute camping-themed picture frame with an IOU in it  for camping equipment, and he found what he wanted at the expo.
Britnee, Gail and Kaylee at the baby shower. Can you tell from
 All the pink that Britnee and Eric are expecting a girl?
Amanda and Caroline

Lots of great gifts!

Lori, Amanda, Sarah, Gail, Caroline

Digital Natives. 


My view of the kids while walking up the stairs at Nick's.



Yummy green beans. She is getting the hang of this solid food stuff and enjoys it.
And we enjoy watching her!

Gail and family were only there for Saturday, so after the expo and after the shower, and after a little shopping,  Gail, Caroline and I went to the theater and saw "Cinderella". I really enjoyed it!

Kayee and Nick fed us a great dinner of Chicken enchiladas, then the Owens' headed back to Rock Springs that evening.

Mike and I spent the night and went to church the next morning with Nick and Kaylee, had a nice lunch, a short  nap, packed up and headed back to Cedar City. We were home by six p.m.

Three grandkids to spend time with for a day or so, and it was really nice!

We were also supposed to have Cousin Bob join js for dinner on Sunday, but he cancelled on us. Again.

I think we get to have another fun gathering for Easter. Robert's family should be here, and Gail, Caroline and Jonathan will be spending their spring break down here, too!! Yay for family fun times.

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Goin' Digital

Well, a little bit, anyway. It's so HARD!!


Above is a picture of my February Calendar. It's pretty dang full.  March looks much like that, too. January was not quite. And this calendar is the one I use on my tablet. (My tablet that is very dificult for me to type accurately on. I must have corrected a couple of dozen typos on this litle page!)

BUT--there's practically nothing on my paper planner calendars. Two items. That's it. It did take me a while to get my new planner refill this year... maybe that's what spurred me on.

I'm telling you, I am going with reluctance and great trepidation, and much dragging of my feet.  I debated long and hard whether or not to bring it (my planner) with me this past weekend while we went to Sal Lake. It is scarey to part ways with what has been my "brain" for, lo, these many years.

Either way, I still miss stuff. For instance, tomorow is Music Arts. I had no idea till Mike told me this evening. It didn't make it to my calendar. Either of them. ANY of them!

Paper or digital, it is tricky for me to stay on top of things.  It's a  balancing act and I get the feeling that it's hard to keep your balance while dragging your feet.

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Icicles

We have had quite a lot of snow over  the past couple of weeks. The past few days have brought some warmer and thawing temperatures and these magnificient icicles. Icy jaws, indeed!

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Teaching Four Year Olds

More specifically, Teaching 4 yr olds the Gospel.

I have been a Mom and a Grandma for most of my life (do the math--it's true). Yet most Sunday's I really struggle with feeling successful as a Primary teacher in my ward. I only have four or five little ones in my class. They are comfortable enough with me, meaning they don't get sad or cry when we are in class.  But most days I just go home and wonder what, if anything, got through.  I know they come from wonderful homes where their parents are diligently teaching them the Gospel. One of these little guys just kept talking and talking and TALKING one day while I was trying to talk. You want to know what he was saying?  His testimony. Yes, that is way more important than whatever the teacher is blathering on  about.

One day we were trying to talk about serving and "being Jesus' hands" so I told the story of the statue of Jesus in  the German town during WWII and the town was bombed. The statue was damaged, and most of it could be repaired except the hands. A sign was placed below the statue stating that WE are His hands.  I am pretty sure that when asked about what they learned in Primary that day, they probably said something about bombs. They kept bringing that up, again and again in class.  It's not nice to bomb towns and people. Bombs are bad. Bombs, bombs, bombs. That was what stuck.

Some lessons in the  manual are better than others. Sometimes I am better prepared than others. Sometimes  it doesn't matter how prepared I am  if I forget to pick kp my coloring page when I leave the house. Which is what I did today.  It was a fun little maze, but it was home and we were in class.

I really thought we were in for an extra trying day this Sabbath when it started off with boy number one crying because boy number two ran ahead of him in the hallway on the way to our class room.  Boy number one did NOT want number two to beat him to our room!  Such competition.

There were four little ones in class today. Cute kids , all. Wonderful families. We wanted to talk about prophets. The Lord calls prophets. Prophets help guide us, and we have a prophet today.

Three to five minutes into a typical class period (which is about 35 to 45 minutes long), one will usually ask, "How much longer till this is over?"  A little alarming and disarming to the teacher, I must admit.  But we forge ahead.  MANY weeks I will be told in no uncertain terms, "I want to play a game! Don't you have any games?"  Well, yeah. But not a lot, and not for every minute of every lesson.  We sing, I sing,  they listen. We color, sometimes there's a game. There are pictures, stories, a little activity. Sometimes some treats!

Today I would consider one of the more successful days. I was asked once at the beginning "WHEN are we going to  be done with this?" But I did  not take it personally and forged ahead after giving my answer.

No one asked to play a game.
No one asked for food.
No one fell off their chair or got hurt.
No one fought over saying prayers or not saying a prayer.
Most of the competition ended with the first and only hallway racing incident.
No one was bleeding (it happens when they are "pickers").
No one had  boogger problems (close, but not quite).
No one had to leave to go potty or get a drink.

And the bell rang to signal the end at just the right time. I was so pleased, so relieved. Parents or siblings came in a timely manner to claim their little ones, and I went home feeling not quite as defeated or exhausted as in previous weeks.
Yes, prayer works.