Grateful Friday

It was a rare treat that Emma stopped by briefly yesterday.  She sat down and played the piano and I loved listening to her.  I told her I liked the lyrics of the song she was singing and playing and she said, off-handedly, that she had written the song. 

I don't know how to do that.  I don't even know how to start that. I'm grateful every time I get to hear my little songbird though.

I got to meet one of my future students at the school yesterday.  He has type 1 diabetes and I chatted with him and his mom for awhile.  I showed him a picture of Mark and told him that Mark also has type 1 diabetes.  He wants Mark to come over to his house and play legos with him.  He was very busy and wanted to know about everything in my classroom and wanted to help me set up the classroom and he told me where he wanted to sit and that he likes green. He wondered if he really needed a coin for the skittle machine or if he could just twist the handle.  He wondered what his class job would be.  Then he sat down and started reading one of my books.

I think I love that kid.

I talked to Camie about my class list.  There are some children with sort of rough situations in my class.  She told me they needed love.

And that, I can do.  Love + skittles + books.  I've got all three to spare.

I'm grateful for my job.

The thing I'm most grateful about:  Adam came home a day early!  I was so happy to see him.  Life is better with him around.  We went to Iceberg for milkshakes (we do, after all, have a quest) and found hands down, the best one so far.  It was Nutella.  Everyone likes Nutella, of course they do, but in a milkshake?  It was magic.  10/10.

A few days ago, when I talked to Jamie, she asked me if I'd done anything fun this summer, and I haven't really, but it hasn't been too terrible.  There have been the milkshakes.

And Nola and I hit the $5 movie on Tuesday (Where the Crawdads Sing).  We had both read the book and we enjoyed the movie.  Life this summer has been a lot more pleasant little things than big grandiose fun.

I'm grateful for the little things.

Let's do this!

Yesterday I had a fresh faced young SUU student come and help me in my classroom.  She needed volunteer hours for a summer class she was taking and she attended Bonneville!  She is studying elementary education and I was completely charmed by her.  Also, she was super helpful.  She took down bulletin boards and hung up new ones.

She said, "I know there's a lot more to it than just decorating a classroom, but I love this part!"

Me too!

Then we talked about children's books and I showed her a new acquisition I had and she told me about some her favorites. 

Kindred spirit.

We set the desks up in no particular order (they had been shoved against one wall for carpet cleaning).  Then we distributed stuff for students who are still nameless.  

It makes me so happy!  I will get the class list later this week and then I will be the mayor of label city.

We tried to hang the light covers back on the lights that the custodians had removed for cleaning.  We were both too short, but that's what Mark is for.

Also, I learned this week that the custodian, who always just calls me Davis, didn't know my first name.  I teased him about it and he said, "To be fair, sometimes I don't know my own name."  I told him it was fine if he didn't know my name.  The other custodian, a cute girl who just graduated from high school and this is her summer job, piped up, "I know your name because you taught my brother."

All my students know my name.  Otherwise why would we make such a big deal out of Thelma The Unicorn?

On my way out the door, I saw that Jamie's door was open.  I went in her office and sat on a comfy chair and we talked about all the things.

I love that place.

Rainbows forever

My classroom has the potential to be a colossal chaotic mess.  There is dark brick on one wall, dingy metal panels that aren't really walls (you can pass pencils and all the sounds through the gaps) on the two sides.  On the fourth wall, there are the ugliest jankiest (the doors don't close) cupboards in the world.  The countertop is bowed from water damage.  There is also so much stuff in the room and (usually) so many children who are basically wild animals and destroy and clutter.  It's a real prize.

(And I love it and won't ever change my mind.)

My new principal paid me the best compliment she could.  She said, "Now is your classroom the one with the blue file cabinets?"

I said yes.

She said, "That classroom is beautiful!  It is so welcoming."

I work really hard to make it that way; I was grateful to her for noticing my efforts.  It is an uphill battle always to tame the beast that is all the books and papers and pencils and detritus.  

My modus operandi of late is to make a rainbow.  Who doesn't love a rainbow?

Yesterday I was organizing this bookshelf which is made up of the books I read aloud, the books we use for writing, their volume two math books use we won't start using until after Christmas and a lot of random other stuff.  It was chaotic, so I just made a rainbow.  It always makes me happy.

Connections

Adam went on another business trip on Sunday and I'm over it.  I wish he was home.  Mark went to work in Salt Lake so I was rattling around here alone.  Which is fine, I don't mind being alone.  But also, sometimes I mind being alone.

I went to my school and worked in my classroom for a few hours.  The place was a ghost town because it was, after all, a state holiday.  Janelle was in Michigan and Miriam went to Lagoon.

It is not an easy summer for me and the angst was starting to get the best of me and then I finally got ahold of Olivia.  (Marianne was among the missing, which is quite audacious of her if you must know.  She needs to answer the phone when I call her.  That is all.)

Olivia was the balm I needed.  

I don't know how I got such wise and good and kind sisters.  

We had a ward/neighborhood party (they are the same thing).  We could sign up for either a salad or a dessert.  When I sign up for a salad, I bring home a salad.  When I sign up for a dessert, I bring home an empty plate. 

I know my lane and I stay in it.  I made some scotcheroos which are gluten free and that is my lane too.

The theme of the party was Music and the Smokin' Word.  (We had smoked meat and it was good.) 

Mark and Emma and Sara and Jack sang Flowers on the Wall by the Statler Brothers.  Before they sang, while Emma was tuning her guitar, Sara said, "We are Jack and the Box.  We started this group...last night.  I hope you enjoy our debut performance."

I enjoyed Jack and the Box (And they really did rehearse for the first time on Sunday night).  Nola and I decided we would be their roadies.

There were some other performances and it was fun to enjoy the talented people.  Greg, our across the street and down one house neighbor, played the banjo and the harmonica at the same time and that feels impossible.

I talked to my friend Sue and I told her about a book I'm reading and she told me about a book she's reading and she said to drop off the book at her house when I'm done and we'll switch.

I talked to my friend Julia.  We talked about the travails of motherhood and I felt understood.

It is reassuring to be surrounded by people who make my life better.  Connection is important, even for this introvert.

I even connected with my chiropractor.  We compared notes on granddaughters.  I think our granddaughters just might save us all.

I mean, just look at her.

Pioneer day

It's a Utah thing, and it's also a thing I love.  July 24th is the day the first company of Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley.  I've known that and it has mattered to me for as long as I can remember.  A lot of my ancestors crossed the plains.  I don't know the privations they dealt with, but I know I love not camping so I don't think it was a very fun time.

I appreciate the sacrifices they made and the faith they held onto and passed on.

When I feel like things are hard or hopeless, thinking of them helps me.  I sit up straighter when I remember the hard things they endured.  They probably didn't realize their lives would bolster their several great granddaughter many years later.

A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.                            Greek Proverb

Grateful Friday

Yesterday I helped serve lunch after a funeral.  We fed about 125 people and there were seven women there with food dropped off by many many other women.

We chatted and plated pieces of pie and refilled the rolls and made sure the water was filled.  Family members attending the funeral stopped in to thank us, but it really felt like no trouble at all.  Many hands make light work.

As sisters in Zion we all work together.  

I'm so grateful to be a member of Relief Society.  These women are superb and the sisters in every ward where I've ever lived have been superb.  I feel honored to be in their ranks.

Quick trip

Yesterday we took one of our one day quick trips to Nevada.

We took the last of the lighting (having given up on Home Depot, we went to a lighting store). 

We had lunch with my parents and Olivia, my dad took part of my sliver out, but it was from a railroad tie and those are the worst.  I put ichthammol on it and a bandaid and ichthammol is a very familiar scent of my childhood (I guess I had a lot of slivers growing up) and Adam had never heard of it (I guess you don't get a lot of slivers if you grow up where the wood is always wet).

Flooring was being installed at our house and I finally remembered to take some pictures of the progress. (Which would be more effective with before pictures, but here we are.)

Here is the guest bathroom.  There will be a black vanity (and a not black toilet) eventually.

I love the floor.

This is where the tub will be in the master bathroom.  They put tile on the wall to cover the notches in the wall where the old walls used to be. (You can see the notches inside the tub cavern.)

This is the shower in the master bathroom:

I know pictures of tile aren't all that exciting but if you were there when we spent a week to ten days in the tile aisle (that rhymes!) at Home Depot, you'd be proud of us for finally making a decision.

This is the end of the master bedroom where it used to be logs, but we had them build closets. (There used to be a walk in closet, but it is now the guest bathroom.)

Oh, and that's the tub which will eventually be in its place.

This is the hallway that makes me happy because the floor is pretty.

This is the transition from the family room part to the kitchen (although it's one big room). The wood floor is hickory and the kitchen floor is vinyl plank.  Again, such a decision.

The lawnmower was in the garage on a big steel pallet type thing.  We needed it pivoted so there would be room to get it off the pallet.  It said on the monstrosity that it weighed 571 pounds.  I tried to no avail to help move it.  Adam had me step aside and he just muscled it over.  He reminds me of my dad's draft horses.  That kid is strong.

We unscrewed bolts and I found a pair of nail clippers that worked well to cut the many zip ties.  My parents and Marianne stopped by to see progress and Robert came by and started helping Adam assemble the lawn mower.  I was happy to relinquish my role as helper.  Then Adam and Robert each took it for a spin like it was a new toy.  

I took pictures of the trees and bushes on my plant identification app so I would know what everything is.  Robert told me that he remembered when my grandma had planted the weeping willow.

I love everything about that.

Olivia came over with a watering can.  The water is shut off because all the plumbing is undone, so I found a cup in the car and filled up her watering can and mine from the ditch and we watered the bushes and plants around the house.  

It was all sort of exhausting but also nice.  I like sitting next to Adam in the car.  I like seeing the progress on the house.  I like the neighborhood; I love the neighbors.

Girls' camp

Yesterday, Terri and I went to girls' camp.  Girls' camp without staying overnight?  Chef's kiss!  It was an almost two hour drive to the camp and I enjoyed it.  Terri is one of the funniest people I know, with the quickest wit and laugh, but she is also deeply wise and empathetic and a great listener.  Sometimes the ride was like a therapy session for me and sometimes it felt like a comedy routine.

We were at the camp to deliver bags to each girl from Relief Society sisters.  Twenty three bags for twenty three girls.  It was pretty amazing.  Weeks ago, they passed around a sign up sheet for people to fill one of the bags for one of the girls.  By the time the sign up got to me, the slots were filled.  There were about twice as many women who wanted to participate than could.

On Sunday, Jalynn, who is the camp leader, was collecting bags and filling gaps and it turned out Terri and I both were able to do a bag.  I prepared a gift for Amelia.  I don't know her, except by sight, but they had given us a copy of the secret sister form that the girls had filled out.  Armed with the list, I'd gone shopping for her favorite treats, but I'd also put in some random things like a crazy straw and scented gel pens.  Who doesn't like that kind of stuff?  No one.  

They had Terri and me each give a little talk and then we passed out the bags.  It was Christmas morning level excitement.  The girls exclaimed over the things they received and showed each other and I felt like it was such an honor to be there to see it.  I hope those girls felt the arc of sisterhood that was intended for them.  The YW president just stood there and cried as she watched the girls she loves receive love.  All the YW leaders thanked us.  I said to Terri, "We can't take credit for this."

She said, "Oh, we're totally taking credit for this," because she's Terri and always has a quick retort.  Earlier, when we'd been eating dinner, Jalynn regaled us with stories of when she was in YW and Terri was the camp leader.  Terri was the queen of pranks (not surprising) and had put brownie mix on the toilet seat and 12-year-old Jalynn had been the hapless victim and had been traumatized.  Also, Terri told the girls there was a serial killer on the loose and they needed to be careful.  She said, "He has a sign he leaves:  body parts."

This was all build up to her leaving the deer leg in camp that she'd found.  (Terri!)  She put the deer leg where they'd see it and one of the girls threw up because she was so scared.

I told Terri she was awful and I was glad I didn't go to camp with her.  (I love Terri. Still glad I didn't go to camp with her.)

The bishop was there and he was walking around and having the girls show what they'd received in their bags.  They kept saying things like, "How did they know I love this?"  A lot of them had letters and cards to read.  A few of them said, "I can't read cursive!" and I thought they need to come to Mrs. Davis's 3rd grade.

Amelia showed the bishop her card and she said, "Who is this?"  He pointed to me.  She held up the gold spiral straw I gave her and said, "How did you know these straws are my favorite thing?"

I said, "That was just a guess, but who doesn't love those?"  She smiled a big smile.  

It was a happy job to deliver the bags that had been so lovingly created.  Sisterhood is pretty great.

Summer Monday

It's a busy Relief Society week.  We are involved with Girls' Camp (but don't have to camp, so I'm not mad about that) + we have a funeral lunch.  I went to Walmart for stuff for both occasions (as well as a plant stand for my monstera because she is outgrowing her current digs.

Sometimes I feel like an educated, mostly well functioning person and sometimes I can't find my car after shopping at Walmart.  I stopped short of calling, "Joan! Joan? Joan Joan Joan Joan..."  I finally found her.

***

I had a meeting with my new principal.  It was a good meeting.  I have felt some trepidation because change isn't always easy, but we talked about school a lot and our children and grandchildren (she has a grandson two months older than Eleanor).  We also talked about Come Follow Me.

So yeah, I live and work in Utah County.

***

I've invented a new breakfast.  It is so terrific.  (And maybe I didn't invent it.)  I pureed fresh strawberries and poured them over plain Greek yogurt and granola.  It kind of makes a soup and I can't even explain how good it is.

***

I have prayed many prayers for the health of my mom.  She had a good doctor visit yesterday.  I feel grateful.  Also I know many times the prayers we pray aren't always answered in the way we want.  Life is such a learning curve.

***

Last night we had dinner at Culver's.  (And yes, we sampled some milkshakes.)  It was a fundraiser for a family at our school whose little one has leukemia.  Some of the proceeds for the night were going to their family and the place was hopping.  I saw a boy who will be in 6th grade.  He wasn't in my class as a third grader, but I had him for reading.  He is hilarious.  He would read in different "accents."  He often read in a "Chinese accent" and he's Hispanic so has a tiny accent anyway and his approximation of a Chinese accent was incomprehensible.  One time he read in a regular voice and he said he was reading "like Barak Obama."  After that I tried to get him to read like Barak Obama all the time.  He was there with his parents and his dad asked me how they could donate money.  I explained that just by ordering food, it would help the family.  He said that they'd already eaten, but his son had some money to donate.  The boy held up a little roll of bills.  My heart melted and I love being a teacher so much!  You can't top being around children.  But, I didn't know how he could donate besides ordering food.  Courtney was there and she is always and forever my go to if I have a question so I walked over to where she was eating with her husband.  She dropped everything to figure it out and helped them Venmo the family.  

Janelle came and sat by us and then Courtney and her husband came over and the husbands (and Mark) were very patient (it helped that it was the home run derby and Julio Rodriguez was in the finals and they were watching it on Adam's phone) while we talked about ALL THE SCHOOL THINGS.  It was so fun to see my friends!  

***

After dinner, we stopped by Home Depot to try to get our lights.  We ordered them and according to the website, they've been at the store since July 11.  They are just among the missing.  The lady told us that we can reorder them.  I said, "When will they arrive?"  

She said, "In 8-10 days."

I ordered a first aid kit from Amazon at 4:30 pm yesterday and it was delivered at 8:00 pm.  So, one of these kids is not like the other.

***

We repotted my monstera when we got home.  It was a three person job.  If Felicia (the fiddle leaf fig) ever needs to be repotted, I think we'll need reinforcements.  She's big.

What did they do to Anne Elliot?!?

Here's a movie review for you:

Friday, Emma came over and we watched Persuasion on Netflix.  We saw ahead of time that it didn't have great reviews.  We saw it had a rating of 33% on Rotten Tomatoes.

We were actually a little excited for a really terrible movie, kind of like how we love watching sappy Christmas movies.  The cheesier the better. 

Sadly, it was not bad enough to be good, but not good enough to be good either.

Anne Elliot is one of my favorite Jane Austen characters.  I aspire to, but will probably never be like her.  She is calm (always) and kind and patient.  She is long-suffering.  She is great in any crisis.  She isn't perfect like Jane Bennett is, she did take bad advice and broke it off with Captain Wentworth after all.

This adaptation made her like a Great Value Elizabeth Bennett.  She was sort of sassy and quirky and kept breaking the fourth wall to give the audience a smirk or a saucy retort.

I am fine with people remaking Jane Austen stories over and over again.  Just don't mess with Anne Elliot.  

Grateful Friday

Adam is traveling a lot this summer and I'm...not.  Last trip he was on, I felt a little angsty.  I decided that I have choices.  It has made a difference.

I've purposely scheduled things.  A few nights ago the sister missionaries came over to share a message; last night I had ministering interviews.  I went to lunch with Nola yesterday.  I've been getting ahead on school stuff.  I've been reading.

I have choices and I'm grateful.

Another choice, I decided Mark and I needed a "thing."

Most of the things that interest him, don't interest me and vice versa.  I tried to think of what we could have as our thing.  I thought about Mark and his love languages.  I came up with an idea:  The Great Shake Out. (Mark came up with the name.)

We are going to figure out the best milkshake in Utah County.  We selected 20 restaurants through a somewhat random and wonky set of requirements.  The parameters of the survey only made sense to us, but just barely.

This week we tried a raspberry shake at JCW's.  We decided to have the person taking the orders tell us the best shake to try.  Again, that is very subjective; it depends on who is working.  Still, that's the rule.

The girl behind the counter said either brownie or raspberry shakes were best.  I said, "You decide for us." She said, "OK, brownie raspberry."  

I said, "OK, we'll order that."

Then I remembered Mark has celiac disease.  "Just raspberry," I said.

It was good and Mark recorded our ratings on his phone.  If you've been around here long enough, you'll know that years ago when we lived in Washington, we did a pizza challenge to determine the best pizza.  Adam created graphics and we took it all very seriously.

Mark and I are taking this very seriously too.

It's just, I don't know how to graphics.  Or remember all of the ratings....

I do, however, know I like milkshakes.  And Mark.

Books!

Email from my principal:  

We are getting rid of the guided reading books.  Come and get what you want before I take the rest to surplus.

Me:

I did not let a small detail like I-don't-have-any-bookshelf-space stop me.

There are some good books there.  I'll find a way.

My mom and both sisters think I'm crazy being excited about school supplies at Walmart.  But, packages of pens and pencils!  Erasers!  Fresh notebooks!  School supplies are my love language!  

(I like school.)

Today I'll get stuff done (hoping)

Yesterday I went to Salt Lake twice and shopped Amazon prime day deals.  It wasn't my most productive day ever.

(I also did laundry and errands and some school stuff, but I wasn't too productive.)

Also, I possibly found some Christmas presents for Eleanor.

It's never too early.

One of my SLC trips was a hair appointment.  Joelyn is my hairdresser and she is also a new grandma.  She sees her granddaughter about every day, which made me a little jealous.  We talked about books like we usually do, and gave each other recommendations (and also what not to read).  I asked her if she had pictures of her granddaughter.

She said, "Of course, why didn't we start with that?"

My second trip was going to the temple with Morgan.  Before the temple, we met at a Mexican restaurant. My dad ordered a hamburger because that is all he ever wants.  The tiny spunky waitress told him he was in the wrong restaurant.

I got a little teary when I saw Morgan inside the temple.  It was approximately 15 years ago that he joined the family as a tiny five-year-old.  He has flourished under Marianne and Robert's love and care.  Once, when it was one of their daughter's weddings, I can't remember which one, Marianne was lying on the floor and I was rubbing her back and she was lifting her head from time to time to give directions because wedding receptions don't just happen.  One of the people she was giving directions to was Morgan.  He gently put his foot on her back and said, "Shhhhh.  Relax.  Just relax."

I need him around here to do that to me on a daily basis.

Being in the temple with family is an amazing experience.  I love it (and them).

Identity

I've gone from wife to stay-at-home mom to homeschooler to teacher to empty nester to grandma.  As my identity has shifted and expanded and contracted, I still want to hang onto mother.  It's the identity that feels the most fulfilling to me.

It's hard to have whole months pass when I don't see my children.  I remember fondly our routines and rhythms.  I remember silent reading time and snuggling on the couch while I read aloud to them.  I remember swim lessons and monitoring screen time and chores and having their friends over and calling them to dinner.  I remember nagging them to empty the dishwasher and pick up their socks and whose lego is that?  It wasn't always sunshine and roses, but I loved it.

Yesterday, Mark, who is training online in financial services at WGU, had his first real live call.  He was carefully mentored by someone on the phone who was there to make sure he succeeded.  The problem was complex and the mentor hadn't ever dealt with it before.  The student was upset.  It all lasted an hour and was stressful.  I was just merrily going about my day, unaware of it all.  After the call, Mark came and found me.  He said, "I just had my first call," and hugged me and I hugged him back because I could see he needed bolstering.  He turned on his heel and went back to work.

When it was his break, he came and told me all about it.

It's nice to know that they still occasionally need mothering.

I'm here for it.

P.S.  I am also fond of my teacher identity.  I was starry eyed over the school supplies in Walmart yesterday!

Weekend

Friday:

We had such a good time having the Carlsons over.  Like parents do, we talked about our children.  We talked a lot about Mark and Owen; we talked a lot about Braeden and Anna.  We talked about Eleanor and can all agree that she is the best baby ever born.  We barely mentioned Emma and Natalie and I guess that is just what it is like to be the middle child....

I love getting to be better friends with them.  They are our kind of people.  We sat around the dinner table and then we went outside and sat around the fire pit, but we never did fire it up.  It was just nice to sit in the dusky light and visit.

Saturday:

Mark stayed home, but Adam and I made a quick trip to Nevada.  The foreman at our house was there, so it was good to talk to him and ask questions and give opinions.  We delivered some fixtures we had picked out.  We had lunch with my parents, then they went back over with us and surveyed the progress.  We needed to clear out the store room and there was a mismatch of random stuff there of an indeterminate background.  We saved a bit of it and got rid of the rest.  (I did save a bag full of rubber duckies labeled For Dahl Reunions.)

Someday Eleanor can chase them down the little stream that runs through the yard.

Marianne was sick so we didn't see her, but we went to Olivia and Edgar's.  I kicked off my shoes and got comfortable on their couch in a way you can only do when you're visiting family.  We talked about all the things and I am ready to just move there if it weren't for the small detail of us both having jobs in Utah.

On the way home, we saw the first wildfire of the season (at least around here).  I hate wildfire season.

This is as we were at the Point of the Mountain, looking west

It made for a spectacular sunset, but for all the wrong reasons.

Sunday:

We had our regularly scheduled round of meetings.  We did a FaceTime call with Braeden and Anna and Eleanor.  She is growing and changing and splendid.

Emma came for dinner and we had an OK dinner (all the vegetarian gluten free recipes I find are not necessarily winners) but a pleasant time together.  Later, we had some banana splits.  We had some bananas and strawberries that both needed to be eaten.  Such a delightful way to eat the fruit! Much like Amelia Bedelia, I can salvage things with dessert.

This morning as I'm typing, a bluebird has been on the window sill, looking in the screen at me.  I was too slow with my camera, but it's always nice to have visitors.

Grateful Friday

Yesterday was my Grandma and Grandpa Dahl's birthday.  They share a birthday, just like Adam and I do. (Theirs are five years apart, but Adam and I are the same year too.)

I always think of my grandparents on July 7 because more often than not, it seemed like a holiday when we were growing up.  We'd always have a family party sometime around July 4-July 7.  Often there would be two birthday cakes, one for each grandparent.

I thought about my grandparents yesterday.  I think about them a lot since we bought their house and are renovating it.

Yesterday I was cleaning the laundry room and eyeing a vase that is in the basement.  I wondered how it would look in the house in Starr Valley.  (I seem to mentally parse our belongings into which I want to keep here and which I want to take there.) 

I had the thought, which I often do, wondering what they would think of it all.  Do they approve of us buying the house?  Making it our own?

It could not have been any clearer to me if someone stood next to me and spoke the words:  They don't care.  They just want you to be good.

I felt like crying from the joy of that statement.  Because I knew it was true.

  

It's true about my children and grandchild.  I don't care about much else.  I'm grateful to remember that some things matter more than others.

Book talk

Yesterday I talked to my mom on the phone.  She is working on writing her life story.  We talked about how being an adult is hard.  Also being a parent. You think your parents know everything and feel safe that they are at the helm and at the same time, your parents don't think they know anything and they are making it up as they go along.

My mom said a particular year of her life story, "read like a trashy novel."

I think that is a lot more hyperbole than reality, but if my mom wants her children and grandchildren to read her life story, I think she should stick with that description!

***

I was at the library and a young woman who I didn't recognize at all practically fell out of her chair leaning over to wave enthusiastically at me.  I often recognize people who don't recognize me, not the other way around, so it was strange.

She was too old to be a former student and too young to be a former classmate, or even a former classmate of my children.

No idea.

Adam said, since it was at the library, that maybe "book game knows book game."

***

I feel like I'm living in a dystopian novel where the totalitarian thermostat is trying to control me.  Our Nest thermostats, in an effort to promote "energy savings" keep edging up the temperature.  

I would like the Nest thermostat people to know that in July, I'm more interested in not being miserable than in energy savings.  If that is wrong, I don't want to be right.

***

Finally, Anna told me Persuasion is coming to Netflix.  I marked my calendar.

Get yourself a daughter-in-law who knows Persuasion is coming to Netflix!

Thelma's moment of high anxiety

Yesterday I went to find my charger because my computer was dying.  I plugged it in, but it didn't start charging.  

I fiddled with it.

I tried a different outlet.

And a different one.

I took off the extension part and tried the shorter cord.

It wasn't charging and my battery on this well loved nine year old computer was falling fast.

Imagine every TV medical drama you've ever seen, except I wasn't the hero doctor.  I was the orderly they grabbed out of the hall because no one else was available.

I hurried and grabbed the external hard drive that Adam bought for me with instructions to back it up often.  I plugged it into the computer.  It told me the last time I'd backed up was January (!) and it also told me it couldn't find the external hard drive.  I wanted to yell, "It's right here!" like the inexperienced orderly I am, but I just helplessly watched the computer die.

I decided to make a terrarium instead with my air plant.

It was a good distraction from my dead computer.

When Adam got home, he asked, "Did you back it up?"

I explained that I'd tried.

He asked, "When is the last time you backed it up?"

"January."

"Because it wouldn't work?"

"Because I forgot."

Adam seemed concerned.  Don't we just need a new charger?  Maybe, he said.  With Braeden's old computer, it wasn't the charging cord that failed but the part of the computer that received the charge.  Not fixable.

By then Simply Mac and Bad Apple were closing.  We went to Best Buy and bought a new charging cord.

And it worked!

And I backed up my computer!  This time that worked too.  I won't forget!  (I said that in January too.)

P.S.  I finished Gone with the Wind.  It was depressing and maddening because the characters are so misguided at times, but it also felt nostalgic because Olivia and I used to watch the movie.  A lot.

Independence weekend

I watched the enormous flag in the canyon unfurl.  I sat on our front porch.

I took a picture from my office window--through the screen.  (I am not really a good photographer.  Oh, you noticed?)

The flag makes me happy.

So do pictures of Eleanor:

 

On Friday, when I was stressed about Emma making it to her hotel in San Francisco, I painted my nails, so Eleanor wasn't the only one looking festive:

Emma went to San Francisco to visit Freja, and Braeden and Anna and Eleanor went to see them too.  I got pictures from the Golden Gate Bridge (and fingernails I stress painted).

I thought they were cute and everything, but where was Eleanor?

She's the main event.

Adam and Mark and I went to Top Gun Maverick.  It was just as good the second time.

We had burgers (found gluten free buns at Trader Joe's) and pavlova (gluten free strawberry shortcake!) and strawberry lemonade.  

I think it's what the Founding Fathers would have wanted.

We got situated on the deck for firework viewing.  Marek came over briefly and watched fireworks, then he went to watch more fireworks with his parents.  (I guess we have to share Marek with his parents.)

It looked like the valley was a roiling boiling pot with fireworks popping on the surface.  Pictures can't capture it (at least pictures taken by me).  Adam took this picture which I liked.

I'm still reading Gone with the Wind.  The messy state of our country back then is depressing but also gives me hope.  Even though we're still struggling with some of the fallout of slavery, things are better.  The country was able to get past the worst polarization we've ever had and everyone gets to vote, so that's something!

Despite the troubling headlines I scroll through, things are going pretty well.  I can live, worship, vote, drive, be educated, participate in educating children, disagree, write my senator and feel pretty safe.  

Also, I can watch an entire valley explode beautiful fireworks I didn't have to pay for.  How's that for freedom? 

Legacy

Yesterday at church a man in our ward, Kevin, bore his testimony.  In it, he talked about a time he had met Stephen Covey.  Stephen Covey asked Kevin what his legacy would be.  Then Kevin talked about a recent fishing trip he'd taken with his grandson.  He'd taken the opportunity to bear his testimony to the grandson.  He asked the grandson to repeat back what he had said.  After the grandson repeated it back, Kevin said, "Good.  Now you can speak at my funeral."

I love Kevin by association because he is my dear friend Marie-Louise's husband.

Also yesterday, I went on Family Search which is my usual Sunday custom.  I started reading my grandma Dahl's life story.  It is in actual book form on my bookshelf, but I read it online anyway.  I love that I can hear her voice when I read it.

My whole life, I have been like the army of Helaman.  I doubt not that my mother (and grandmothers) knew it.  What a blessing that is to me!

This is a picture of a picture of a picture of a picture, but I love it despite the graininess! That's me in the front, between cousins, at my grandma's feet, probably feeling so lucky to be surrounded by all these people where I belonged.  My grandparents lived in Florida then and whenever they came (this time for my aunt Jennifer's wedding reception), it was an exciting time.  

I've been thinking about legacies.  I'm grateful for the legacy of my grandparents who taught my mom and dad to have faith and be good.  I'm grateful for my parents who shared their faith with me.

I think about my own children and our darling Eleanor.

I want them to know, like I know about my mother, grandmothers, great-grandmothers, that their mother knew it.

If anyone doubts that there are prophets, they'd better talk to us.

Grateful Friday

It's July and I don't really like summer.

It's July and Adam was gone last week and this week and he will be gone an indeterminate time in July.

I think it would be easier if I was busy with school while Adam was traveling so much, because I feel adrift.  If I had school, I would be nose to the grindstone and then thanking my lucky stars for evenings to stare into nothing.

There are things I'm grateful about though.

Mark is being very sweet to me.  He realizes I'm in a ratty mood (and both my sisters have been at girls' camp) and I miss Adam.  He texted Adam that he should call me because it "seems like she misses you."

Also, Mark went to Emma's last night to swim and there was a thunderstorm here and I hate thunderstorms (but not rain!).

I think I equate lightning with fires and it isn't a winning combination.

I'm grateful Adam will be home sometime in the next two days (he's not sure).  That man is living a vagabond life.  He is cut out for that sort of thing though.  He can be spontaneous.

I'm grateful that I have finished some of my LETRS training.  We are supposed to do it during the next school year and I'm pre-crastinating because it makes me happy to pre-crastinate.  I like to not procrastinate like I like to not camp.

I'm grateful this is the lock screen of my work computer:

It's brings me more joy than a lock screen probably usually does.

Eleanor is dreamy and I'm her biggest fan (maybe--I have a lot of competition for biggest fan).

Braeden called her their "librarian baby" when he sent this.

I'm grateful that I can get pictures (and videos!) of her daily.  What a great time to be alive!

I'm grateful for good books and Netflix and that the gluten free pasta-pesto-grape tomato-garlic-spinach-chicken-parmesan cheese situation I made for dinner last night was well received.  I told Mark I'd kind of made it up.  He proceeded to tell me how I could have improved it.

I should have left well enough alone.

I'm grateful for air conditioning and ice and diet coke and cold water.  I'm grateful for grapes (and grape tomatoes) and a few rain storms in the past few days.  I'm grateful for grapefruit body butter from Trader Joe's.  I love that stuff!  

I'm grateful for text messages from Emma.  She sent this this morning:

Getting texts from Emma always make me happy.

I'm grateful that my flowers on the deck are living their best life and the ferns on the front porch are happy.  The chrysanthemums are thriving.  Felicia (the fiddle leaf fig) has never been happier.  

My plants love summer.

And I'm grateful.