Number One

Number One:  Read the favorite books of all my close friends.

This one I just finished and I was hung up on this one the last couple months so I am pretty excited it is finished.  I wanted to read the favorite book of a few of my friends.   I typically choose biographies of people who have overcome obstacles in their lives or survival books so I thought it would be good to step out of my own choices and read the favorite book of my friends.  Danielle choose a book called Gossie and Gertie.  It was one I got for her at the dollar store a couple of Christmases ago and it was about 2 duck friends who do everything together and then one of them gets destracted....I don't know if it was Gossie or Gertie..... and doesn't do what the other one wants...until it is dinner time.   Obviously it is a children's book but it was her favorite present that year and proudly displayed in her bedroom so that was pretty easy to get through.  If we read a really good book we usually both end up reading it so we have read a lot of the same stuff.

The next was "Same Kind of Different as Me".  This was Amy's favorite book and I read it last summer.  It was about a homeless man who had a horrible life and then someone recognized the good in him and helped him find his own good and self.  It opened my eyes a little of how people do live lives of inadequate education, no family connections, and poverty.  It also showed me that there is good in everyone, even though sometimes you have to be willing to look deeper than the surface for it. 

Then I read "Daughter of the Forest" which was Ambree's.  It was a fun book based around Medieval times in Ireland.  It was fun to review the history of the British Isles and some of the folklore of Ireland.  The story was good too.  The main character lost the ability to speak at the very first of the book so I wondered how that would work throughout the book.  It did.  Even though there was tons of conflict in the story everything worked out in the end.  This is going to sound weird but the brothers were turned into swans and then were turned back into humans but one brother chose to be a swan because he had fallen in love with another swan.  When I finished the book the WJ pool closed by our house and then all the water fowl come and take it over and there were two swans in there until a couple of weeks ago, so every time I pass and see them I think of they are Finbar and his love.  "I suppose they were lovers."

"The Blue Castle" was Naomi's choice.  She had a hard time choosing.  Her favorite is Jane Eyre and no offense but I hate that story so bad, that I don't think I could get through the book, so I asked her to choose another one.   "Blue Castle" was one that I think she read as a teenager so it was about being your true self and then everything works how beautifully in the end.  It was a cute story of how a women breaks out of her tedious life living with her dominating family and follows what she wants to do and ends up marrying the weird guy in the town who ends up being the wealthiest guy ever!   It was fun to read.

Rachel and Jenna both said "Pride and Prejudice".  That was on Naomi's list too so I figured go for it.  I just finished it.  I have seen many different renditions of it in movies and TV but like most stories the book was far better.  It was just so sweet.   Elizabeth did bother me the whole way through because she was just so proud but some lines just really appeal to the romantic in the reader.  I was glad for a couple of things.  First that I did know the story because it was hard to follow who was saying what about who.  Also that I read it on my kindle so all the old English words I could touch and the definition would pop up.  I notice that I speak a little 'old English' after having been engrossed in the book for the last few days.   I did really enjoy it and want to read more of Jane Austen's books in the future.  

So that is Number One.  It was fun and gave me a little insight into what my friends like and more about them.  It also go me to read a few books I never would have otherwise.   Check.  

Number 13

Since I have lived in this house off of Pauline Drive I have wanted to paint the entrance.  It was rusting and paint was peeling off.  I feel like we live in a great neighbor but as you drive through the entrance it resembled less than the people who live there.  So using the work force and good works of the young women, we did it!!!  Mindy needed her good works project and the YW needed an activity of service.  Mindy and I planned it out and Trevor donated the paint.  (He paints for the church and we were going to use Elder Ballard's paint, however he grabbed the wrong one out of his garage, so it isn't as holy as we were planning).  The first night the girls prepared the cement by scrapping the chipped paint off and cleaned up the leaves around the entrances.  PS We expanded it to all four gates to both of the entrances to the neighborhood.  The girls also spray painted the ironworks.

 

The next week the girls painted the concrete white.  I unfortunately had parent-teacher conference so I could be there.  I really felt horrible but couldn't do anything about it.  I trusted that Mindy would be able to carry through the organization of finishing up.  It was a crazy busy night for me at conferences but I hurried home, however the girls were done.  As I drove into the neighbor I was so happy with how the girls had improved the look of our neighborhood.  I drove around the circle between the entrances a few times to look at it.   I am so proud of them for their willingness to do good works and do it with a happy heart.  I still need to go and touch up where white paint got on the iron but overall it looks soooooo dang good.   Number 13.....check.  

Number 3

Again this wasn't on the original list but it was cool as heck so I am adding it in place of learn how to make chocolate mousse.  I did try to make mousse and failed miserably so I didn't try again because it was so gross.  But it's replacement was a lot more fun.  I have a friend who is an ultra-sound specialist and sometimes has long nights in the hospital with no patients.  So one night I went in and she totally ultra-sounded me.  It was the coolest thing ever.  The first thing is I was so impressed with how well my friend knew and did her job.  She knew where every organ was first thing and didn't have to like 'look' for it really, just here it is.  I honestly couldn't pick out a lot of the organs on the screen and she explained what we were looking at.  She did my throat first and I don't even remember the name of the organ there but then showed me a artery valve that would open and close.....it was the coolest!  Then she did my stomach and showed me my uterus, ovaries, and bladder then kidneys.  The absolute best was my heart.  She put the 'wand' under my rib cage and I totally saw my heart beating.  I could see the two chambers as they pulsed.  It was incredible.  What I gained from this was not only a better understanding of my body and the human body in general, but I came away thinking how incredible the body is.  Not only just the body but life.  What makes a person, animal, or plant alive?  Our hearts beat and blood pumps without us even thinking about it.  Why?  It isn't connected to energy or a power source, it just does it's job because it is alive.  I have really thought about 'life' and how marvelous it is and how thankful I am for the miracle of life I have and all the life (people, animals, and plants) in the world. 

Number 20

This wasn't on my original list but I guess needed to happen so I will replace it as #20 because there is no way I am going to catch up on scrapbooking.  As I am getting older I felt I needed to make sure all my parts were healthy.  So in the last month I have had everything checked....I mean everything.  I won't go into detail but it isn't something I plan on doing again soon.  I had blood work done and shots and then all that other stuff.  Today I finished up with a mammogram so if all goes well with that I am healthy.  I was hoping for some weird stuff to happen with my blood work to explain a couple things but all I was told was to cut down on the french fries and eat more fish and nuts.  Probably didn't mean the fish and chips kind.  I was happy because there is a strong presence of diabetes in my family and there was no sign of that either.  So even though it wasn't fun and I hated every minute of it all I did it and can have some peace that I am healthy.  

# 40 Finish My Current Journal

Even though it is #40 it isn't the last one I need to do, but I am getting really close to finishing.  I started this journal January of 2002, so had I finished it on my birthday last year it would be exactly 10 years old.  Honestly I am not a big journal writing person.  I used to be but I don't feel like there is much variation in my daily life so it isn't that interesting to write or read.   When I got this one for Christmas I wanted one without lines so I could be more creative with it.  So I would tape ticket stubs in and the odd drawing or whatever.  It makes it a thousand times more interesting for me to look at and remember than just writing.  Here are some examples of pages.  The first is when I got behind on ticket stubs so I stuck them in and tried to explain what they were and with who.  The second is some of the pictures I did when I dabbled in watercolors.  I got really good at pine trees.  I didn't have anywhere to put them so I just stuck them in the journal.  It is fun to go back and look at these kind of things because it brings back more memories than words. 

#16

This one I have needed to do for 5 years.  My brother Fletcher fell from a constructions site almost 6 years ago.  He is fine and recovered however it was a really hard thing to go through as a family.  It is impossible to describe seeing your baby brother laying there not knowing if he will make it or not.  As a big sister I was supposed to protect him and wasn't able to or even help once it happened.  So #16 is that I wrote up that incident and what my perceptions of it were.  It was hard to write and relive.  It ended up being 6 pages long single spaced.  I will file it away for maybe his kids to read when I am gone.  During Fletcher's accident I came to really know that I love my family.  I came to know our capacity to work together for a common goal and support one another.  I came to know the deep love my parents have for Fletcher and then all of us.  The hardest was to see them go through those events.  In the very beginning when Fletcher fell, I prayed in the back room of my classroom and was let know that he would be alright so during the experience I could focus on caring for my parents as they cared for him.  It is an experience that I base my faith on.  It happens to be Fletcher's birthday today too so even though I didn't plan it, it is a good day to post it.  

#17 Grow a Garden

 Since I have lived in this house 4+ years I have grown tomatoes in a little patch under the kitchen window.  One year I grew peppers that were so hot you couldn't even eat them.  However I have always wanted to grow a garden.  Two years ago I cleared a little patch of land and plant various seeds and nothing grew.  Could be I didn't really water it and I didn't read the directions on the package and put tons of seeds in.  So this summer I was determined to grow something besides tomatoes.  So instead of just throwing seeds into the earth and expected them to grow early in the Spring I planned my garden and read each package of seeds carefully and took notes in a little notebook.  Then tilled the ground and planted.  It worked.  I have squash, onions, radishes, and cucumbers.  The peas didn't really grow or the beets but next year I will try to figure those out.  Not to be cheesy but it really a miracle.  You put a little seed into the ground and cultivate (care for) it and then you have food.  It is amazing.  The first meal I really used stuff was really like a wonder.  We had gone fishing so we ate the fish we caught and the vegetables from the garden.  The only thing we didn't provide for ourselves was the rice.  Included in this years harvest was my lavender.  As with the garden I have planted lavender I bet 4 times, one each year and nothing happens.  Last year I planted two bushes and really cultivated them with water and shade when needed and then year they blossomed.  I clipped the buds and dried them and then removed the flower from the stalk and put the flowers in a little satchel.  From two pants I got 2.5 satchel which I gave to my mom.  So #17 very fulfilling in growing a garden.   

Number 31

This is really random but I have been embarrassed about something I couldn't do for a long time, backing up a vehicle with a trailer hooked onto it.  As a Roberts and a Wyoming raised girl it is an embarrassment.  I have tried numerous times growing up and then a couple times in the last couple of times with my dad's boat but I always jackknife the truck and trailer and then get so dang frustrated and mad that I give up and wouldn't try again.  A couple of years ago....the best backer upper in the Bryce Roberts family....my cousin Shauna gave some good advise.  She said "it sounds really weird and it doesn't make sense as I am saying it but you follow the trailer".  So the other day as I was helping my dad and the opportunity arose for me to try again in a calm circumstance without pressure.  My dad needed the snowmobiles out of the shop and backed in the shed.  So we hooked them up and I drove forward pulling them out of the shop and then I reversed it and started backing up.  I kept saying the mantra in my head "follow the trailer, follow the trailer".  To my astonishment it worked.  Dad was there to guide me into the shed and I backed them in 'good' the first time, but then he needed it 'perfect' so he had equal space all around to walk around the trailer so then he made me pull out, back in, pull out, back in.....like a billions times.  Well if you aren't going very far it is hard to follow the trailer so I lost my confidence but didn't give up like usual.  Eventually he was happy with where they were, which I think was pretty close to where I had them the first time.  We unhooked the trailer and manually moved it over a couple of inches to where it was satisfactory for Dad.  So I did it.  I think the next time I will be able to successfully back up a trailer without jackknifing it.  Kinda a stupid goal to put but it is something that I have struggled with my whole life and was able to accomplish.  Now I can be proud to be a Roberts because I have the skill.  My dad said that my aunts, his sisters, always had to back up the trailer because their 'city' husbands never could.  Just another thing to put on a resume. Check off Number 31!

#33 Write Letters

Number 33 has been a hard one.  I am emotionally exhausted.  I wanted to write to 3 people who have influenced me in my life.  I have finished the letters and will send them on Monday.  Excluding family members the three names that I came up with were Phyllis 'Cleo' Griffiths.  I have thought about my relationship with her and what category it fits in.  She is equal parts friend, mentor, and second mother.  We talked, cry, and laugh.  She gets me and I get her.  Some of my favorite memories are stream testing with her in Logan, when I helped her sign up (just like 2 years ago) for a library card (hers was from the 60's I swear) and then to show her how to the ATM to get money out after she retired she needed access to cash sometimes.  With the ATM we felt like we were robbing the bank, it was hilarious.  The second letter was Veldon Izatt 'VI' who has known me all my life.  My first memory was he was the bishop when I got baptized.  Then he was one of my high school teachers, but taught me I think 4 classes of various subjects.  He influenced a lot of kids with his friendly teasing manner.  He also is from the community where I grew up Freedom Wyoming and I love to see him when I visit my parents and spar back and forth.  The last was Carroll Wood.  He is a man even though he has a girl's name.  He passed away a couple of years ago so I wrote to his wife in DC.  He was just so kind and fun as I worked in Senator Simpsons office.  He made me feel at home in the office and then invited me several times to be with his family as well.  We were soul mates that transcend age, race, or religion.  So through tears of remembering and expressing how these three have influenced me, #33 might have been the hardest of all these to finish.  Check Check!

#32 Have a Liv day!

I try to do stuff with my nieces and nephews in groups but then individually as well.  My niece Liv and I haven't ever done something with just the two of us, so I thought it would be fun to have a Liv day.  Liv is 4 and was all for it.  Liv doesn't talk much in big settings like when all the Roberts' are together.  She is one of the younger ones and sometime the noise and chaos can overpower the best of us.  She is a giggler though.  She loves to hug and sit on your lap and let you comb her hair.  She loves to be involved with what is going on.  She is a sweet girl. 

I picked her up at her house during a February snow storm.  I was planning on driving back to Salt Lake and us walking through the Gateway and going to Build-A-Bear, but Liv is a girlie girl and when I gave her the option of Build-A-Bear or getting her nails painted, she choose the nails.  It was better because it was close by and we didn't have to drive in the storm.  So we went in and she choose two different pinks for every other finger and I choose dark purple.  The guy painted hers first and then painted a flower on.  He asked her which finger and she said her pointer finger but he tried to persuade her to do the fourth finger and she knew what she wanted with the pointer, so it was the pointer.  Then we put our hands under the light to dry.  Check....fingernails painted. 

 Then she chose to go to lunch at McDonalds.  I am not sure why kids love McDonalds so much, but it was her choice so we went.  She ordered chicken nuggets and we ate in the playland.  I had just injured my knee the week before so it was actually nice to put my foot up while she played.  She didn't talk to any of the kids but her and another little girl kinda followed each other around.  She would scream my name when she was in the playland for me to see her.  When we left we got ice cream and headed to our next adventure.  After lunch we went to Barnes and Noble to find a book.  She choose a My Little Pony story with little plastic ponies.  Then we went to buy the boys a treat so they wouldn't feel left out.  I left her choose the treats and we went through each brother and she pointed something out.  She was pointing right in front of her and just in a row so I asked her if that is what they liked or she was just pointing at stuff and she said it was what they liked.  I doubted but when we got back to her house each brother chose out of the bag the one she had chosen for them.  She knows her brothers.  

What I learned about Liv in our day together that she is a girlie girl through and through (I kinda knew that already).  She is a confident girl.  Even though she is shy and doesn't say much she does know what she wants and is willing to speak up for it when she needs to.  She is smart and kind and beautiful and I am glad we had the day together and hope for many more.  

#39 Refinance my House

This is kind of a dumb one, but I hate doing things like this.  These kind of things and buying tires really sometimes wish I was married so I didn't have to deal with it.  I had been given some advice by my brother and then different people to refinance.  I wasn't going to do it until I read an article in a travel magazine about the benefits so then I am was like "oh alright I will do it".  I got a letter from Zions offering special rates, of course, so I finally made the call and it is in progress right now.  I am supposed to be getting the paper work in the next couple of days.  I will sign and send them back and then I hope it is done.  It will make my payments less, so I hope to do some improvements around here and pay off some other things and pay for going back to school.  I got a better interest rate and in the long run it is a good idea.  So I have finished it all the way but it is a few signatures away from being a done deal.

#35 Go back to School

This post kinda goes with 34.  Last spring I got an email from Southern Utah University advertising maters degrees.  We get those all the time so I don't know why I just didn't delete it.  I didn't and over the summer looked into it a little.  A few summers ago there was a geography seminar at SUU and I really enjoyed the seminar and the school and facilities.  I knew that if I continued in teaching then I needed to get a masters to get paid more but then I am half way in my career and felt like I needed a change.  Changing schools is a big change but honestly since our school moved out of Albion, into Cottonwood Heights (me moved into  Butler) and then moved back to our new school, really everything was already packed.  Still is actually.  Boxes in my garage, posters under my bed, it won't be a big deal besides leaving the people.  I regress....so I looked into SUU.  It sounded good and felt right.  So during the process of applying to high schools I also applied for entrance to SUU to get a Masters in Education with an Administrative License.  I was accepted and have started in January.  I am doing my first administrative internship at Albion right now and will start classes in the summer.  I am excited to have a goal to aim toward.  I didn't ever think I would want to be an administrator, but I couldn't see myself teaching for 15-20 more years either.  I hope to be finished in two years from next fall so two and a half years I guess.  I would like to eventually be a principal at an elementary school.  I guess I will see where this all will take me but like I said it is good for me to have a goal to work on.   Go Thunderbirds....I should take a trip to Cedar and buy a sweatshirt or something.   

#34 Get a Job for 2013-14

This is kinda a weird one, but it wasn't really fun or anything but it had to be done.  I have been working at Albion Middle School for 15 years.  Canyons District is realigning and all the 9th grade kids are going to go to high schools now and not middle schools.  I teach mostly 9th grade so had to make a choice if I wanted to stay and teach younger kids or move to a high school.  It was a hard decision because Albion has been my home, and I can't even entertain the thoughts in my mind of not working with those people who have grown to be my family there because I am even tearing up writing this.  However I teach Geography and that is a 9th grade class and if I stayed in middle school it would really limit my options and choices in my career.  Whereas if I went to a high school I could still teach geography but all the high school history classes as well.  So I knew it was right to go to a high school.  So the process was to apply to the high schools that you were interested in.  I applied initially to the new high school as the dept. head for social studies.  It was considered a critical position after all the coaches were hired.  I didn't get the job.  It was offered to a lady with 4 years teaching experience and cheerleading or dance experience to be the advisor for that.  Just a note....I have been dept. head for probably 10 years at Albion but yes my cheerleading probably has suffered development.  I am sure she is a fantastic teacher and person, but I thought at that point, if that is what they are looking for then maybe that is not the school I want to be in.  So then the high school teaching positions opened up and I applied for the new high school, the HS where most of our students go to, and Hillcrest.  My first interview was with the new high school and it was a fine interview but just whatever, the second interview was with Hillcrest and the ss dept. head, who was interviewing me, worked at Albion before and his dad also had worked there when I first started.  The conversation was so easy and we joked back and forth and were on the same page academically.  I knew that it went well.  Then I have one more interview in which I thought went well and actually thought about maybe having that one as my first choice.  So as we left the district offices after the day of interviewing we had to rate which school we would prefer first, second, third, etc...My goal since day one had been the new high school, but I knew that the Hillcrest interview had gone so much better and if any school was to offer me a job it would be them.  But it is hard to decide in 2 minutes as you are filling out the paper, so I tied the two and put the last interviewer as third.  Then the next week got a call from Hillcrest.  I knew it was the right choice for me, so I accepted.  I am so excited to go there.  I think it is going to really fit my personality well.  So I start next school year.  I don't know what I will be teaching because they did hire 3 geography teachers, but I will be happy with teaching whatever they need me to.  In telling this story I do have to say, that I hated the process.  Going through the formalities of applying to jobs from the employer you have been with for 15 years really sucked.  Because of this as well as some other things I had to deal with from the district this year I had felt really insecure and vulnerable about myself and questioned if I am a good teacher or if this is what I want to continue doing.  Honestly those are feelings I haven't really dealt with a lot in my life.  It was really really really stressful.  When Hillcrest offered me the job a huge relief came over me that I didn't have to think or worry about my situation anymore.  And the other issue I am dealing with from the district wasn't so significant because I wasn't looking for a job from them anymore so didn't have to go through the hoops that I felt like I needed to before I was hired.   Now everyone wants to know what 'situation' I am referring to.  In short my AP scores were the lowest in the district and I was reprimanded for it.  But last year I physically was at a whole other school than my colleagues at Albion, while our school was being redone.  My students had to walk 10 minutes to get to my class.  Most days I had 30 minutes to teach the kids what they needed to know for the AP test.  Adding that up on a daily, weekly, and yearly scale it was 2/3 of the time the other teachers had to teach the same subject in the other middle school.  My scores were still above national average and I had close to 70 students where some schools had less than 25 students.  Had I known I wouldn't have taught it last year, but I didn't know and just hoped for the best.  I am hoping that my 85 students this year, yes I picked up a whole other class of it so it couldn't have been so bad, clean up on the test and then I better have some kind of floral arrangement delivered to my house the first week of July as the test scores come out staying Ms. Roberts, you are great and the district appreciates you putting in so much time and effort on behalf of the APHG students at Albion.  So sorry this post was so long but I did get a job for next year so check.  (And I will let you know how my students do on the test).  

#10 Beat Danielle at Ping Pong

Ping Pong with Friends

Table Tennis...Ping Pong or whatever you may call it is one of my families favorite sports.  It is fun for all ages and talent ranges.  We have tournaments where usually in my family it comes down to my dad and Alison, my sister as first place.  I got a ping pong table a few years ago and Danielle and I enjoy a summer evening of challenging each other on our ping pong skills.  Two summers ago she really just cleaned up on me.  I would get frustrated and then not really try because I lost every time, so this year my original goal was to beat her 5 times in a row.  I unfortunately did not beat her 5 times in a row but did beat her 3 times in a row, so I am counting it.  I beat her at least five times if not way more but not in a row.  She really has some mad ping pong skills.   I was happy with the 3 wins in a row.  I had planned to pull the table out again this winter and finish it off, but it has been so cold that I couldn't stand the thought of being in the garage for any length of time.  So I am going to check this one off because I semi-accomplished it.  I look forward to when the sun comes out again and we can set up the ping pong table, I will bring home from school the mini-fridge and find the lawn chairs and once again lounge in the garage with the company of friends, family, and neighbors (they can hear us playing and it tends to gather the hood) and really beat the crap out of her at ping pong.

#9 Zen Garden

Well it is one week until my birthday and I am realizing that I didn't accomoplish my whole list.  But as in this one Build a Zen Garden, I did most of it, just didn't finish before the summer was over.  I had put more summer activities on than I had time for.  So to build a zen garden, I did buy a Buddha and put curbing around the area that is to be the garden.  I shopped all summer for the perfect Buddha.  I wanted a traditional southeast Asia one and not the fat one. I finally found one at Ross I think.  He has been sitting out there since about July.  Then early in the summer I put curbing around all the flower beds in my back yard and where the zen garden will be.  I love it.  I wish I had done it earlier.  I am excited for summer to come so I can plant some flowers in the flower beds.  I did buy a couple of bushes and perrinals and planted them but it will need some more flowers to fill it up.  I kinda like the nature look.  So with the zen garden, I need to dig it out a little and then fill it up with sand and get a wooden rake and maybe a little wooden platform to sit on and zen and it will be done.  So not fully finished but half way there.

Number 23: Read Some Classics

I decided that I wanted to read a couple of classics.  It started with Dracula.  I don't know why.  I think it was around Halloween and it was free on my Kindle so I thought why not.  So I started to read it.  It was alright but I learned a couple of things.  When writers wrote in the 1800's they really take a long time to tell the story.  There are things in the book that you think will be important in the future of the book and then those things don't really come up again.  With Dracula, the first was REALLY scary, when Dracula held the guy in his broken down castle and then the guy saw him climbing up and down the outside walls, that was seriously a little scary.  Then the book travels to England and a couple of women get infected and then there is a crazy guy as part of the story and it takes forever to develop.  When they figure out that it is Dracula and follow him back to Transylvania I am thinking that there will be a big climax and scene where they capture and kill Dracula.  So another endless amount of pages about the journey and following Dracula to his castle, then in about two pages they find Dracula in his coffin asleep and stab him with no problems and Dracula was gone.  I wasn't impressed.  I did learn that Stephanie Meyers did really stay close with the original characteristics of a vampire though. 

The next classic I read was Frankenstein.  I did read this one in high school and remembered feeling really sorry for Frankenstein trying to live and love in a society that abhorred him.  So I was interested again to read that.  I have to say the second time, I still felt really sad for Frankenstein but he was more violent that I remembered against the guy who made him.  I regress, Frankenstein was the guy who created him and he was just a monster without a name.  I did enjoy the book.  It really gives a perspective of a situation that a person can create in which they have no control once they make that initial choice.  Then the monster wanted acceptance and love even from his creator and never being able to obtain that.  Really kinda a tragedy but I liked it.  I am always fascinated that it was written by a women too.  I wonder what inspired her to write it.  

The third was A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.  I have never read this one and actually hated the story.  The only version I can stand to watch is the muppets.  It was a choice of Phyllis at book club for December.  I came to find out later that she wanted it because her other book club was doing it and she wanted to double dip so to speak.  She also compared it to Elder Uchtdorf's talk about no regrets.  I will make the comparison at the end of the post.  Anyway so I though why not.  So I started it and it is really good.  I love the written story about a million times more than any movie version of it.   Dickens is a really fabulous writer.  He just captures the human spirit.   I found myself wanting to highlight and remember certain passages of it and I hardly ever do that anymore.  I am going to read more of his works just because I loved A Christmas Carol and his writing so much.  

Going back to Elder Uchtdorf's talk of No Regrets in comparison to A Christmas Carol.  The three things that Scrooge needed to do were the three things that Elder Uchtdorf said we should do in life.  Scrooge needed to spend time with people who he loved.  He needed to get to know his nephew and nephew's family.  Scrooge needed to live up to his potential.  He had all this money but wasn't doing anything with it.  He wasn't being who he could be.  Third, Scrooge needed to let himself be happy.  He was always just being Scrooge and not allowing himself to enjoy life and the people around him.  So it was a great book to read and start out the Christmas season for me.  I wish I could claim the credit for coming up with the Uchtdorf comparison but I have to give Phyllis the credit for that.  In her other book club she make up book markers and printed off a bound copy of the General Conference with that particular talk.  She really went all out as only Phyllis can do.   Number 23....check!

Number 31 Learn to make Pumpkin Pie

My mom makes really good pumpkin pies and I really have never had to know the skill.  However I figured that I am now old enough to see if I could do it.  So during Thanksgiving I asked for crust making lessons.  My mom has made so many pies that her lesson is to put about 'this much shortening in' and then 'about this much flour' and then cold water.  The cold water is 'hold the bowl under the faucet' and 'one time in, two times in, and a third time in and that is about right'.  So needless to say it is hard to duplicate her crusts.  My home teacher, Bro Ange, said that his wife loves pumpkin pies and they usually just get the frozen ones, which in my mind is as gross as you can get, because pumpkin happens to be my favorite and I can't even eat the Costco ones, just the homemade for me and really just my moms.   So I thought I am going to make him and her a pie.  So I got all the ingredients and went for it.  The crust as I was making it looked about right so put it in the pie pan and put the filling in and started baking it.  I had quite a bit of the crust dough left so make crust, which is the leftover dough flattened out and then butter and sugar and cinnamon and bake it.  So that baked and I pulled it out and to me it didn't taste good so I thought the pie would be a flop to.  So the pie finished baking and I pulled it out but I didn't try it because I was disappointed because I thought that the crust didn't work out.  Then the next day I thought I should try the pie just to see if the filling at least tasted good.  So I cut a small piece out and ate the pie crust included, and miracle of miracles, it tasted good.  The crust even did.  I was so excited.  Now it wasn't as good as my moms but it was tasty and held together and everything.  So I cut two big pieces out and ran it over to Bro Ange and his wife to try.  I told them I am going to keep practicing and give them a better one when I perfect my crusts.  They were fine with that idea.  

The reason that it took me so long to try to learn to make crusts is when I was about 12ish, my mom wanted me to learn to make bread.  I wasn't really into it and she was so insistent about it.  I kept asking why all the sudden I needed to learn.  She would say because someday she wouldn't be there to make bread and it was something I needed to learn.  I will come back to that story in a minute.  

When I was really young and we read in schools  out of the reader books in a group there was a story about a Navajo kid who needed to finish weaving a cloth, however she didn't want to finish because she knew that when the cloth was finished her grandma would die because the girl would have learned the skill of weaving.  Somehow in my mind the day my mom wanted me to learn to make bread and her insisting that I learn in my mind was the same as that story.  So I figure that if I didn't learn how then she would be there forever.  That thinking continued to other skills that my mom had like making pies.  If I couldn't do it then she would always have to and stay around forever.   I am still a little paranoid but am trying to get beyond it.  I think the lesson I take away from this is some stories that teachers make kids read are not healthy and give kids phobias they spend the rest of their lives trying to overcome.  Unfortunately one story that might effect one kid, another kid probably doesn't even remember.   Through all of this I did make a really tasty pumpkin pie.   So Number 31, make a pumpkin pie...check.

Number 24

Number 24 is "Learn how to make Rissoto".  I often watch Chopped and other cooking shows and they always talk about rissoto.  I wanted to know what the big deal was.  I love rice so I thought that it would be fun.  I got the recipe and all the ingredients and just made it.  It turned out really great.  I have become kinda a pro at it now.  I like to cook chicken chunks and then it is an entire meal.  The last time I put too much chicken bouillon in so it was too salty, but other than that Rissoto....check!  I will add a picture later. 

Number 12 Skinny Dip

This was on the original list.  I didn't know when I would get the opportunity.  I knew it had to be soon because it is getting colder and I am not chunky dunking during the ice fishing season.  So we went to visit my parents in Wyoming and my dad took us fishing on Jackson Lake.  It was quite the eventful weekend.  We came late into the valley Friday night and were passing a car head on when there appeared two cows in the road and the oncoming car didn't see them at all and hit them both head on.  Fortunately the cows died instantly but we were seconds away from having one of the cows land on our windshield and seconds later would have hit the car head on as they swerved into our lane.  We were first responders.  Danielle went and helped the people, who were Chinese and couldn't communicate with on-star, as I called 911 and directed traffic coming up south end until the emergency people could get there.   So that was tramatic.  Then fishing on Jackson Lake a big storm came and my dad being more concerned with catching the fish on the line then the huge wave coming up over the boat.  We almost sunk.  So after we caught the fish, pulled the lines in, and found a quiet place out of the storm on the North end of Donohoe Island, I knew my chance to skinny dip had manifest itself.  So I went for it.  I took everything off except my tevas.  I didn't want to have to worry about walking in and out of the water quickly.  I thought the water would be freezing but it wasn't.  I jumped in and then hurried and got out.  But then I didn't feel like I got the most out of the experience because it was so fast so I jumped in again for another few minutes.   Now skinny dipping might not be for everyone, but you feel so one with nature.  It is so liberating.  It is really hard to describe unless you try it, especially in such a beautiful place as Jackson Lake.  I kinda knew that I would accomplish this one in Jackson Lake.  A lot of years ago, my dad and I went camping at Jackson Lake on the South shore.  It was an out of the way spot and we stayed in his gross camper.  I think one of his friends were with us but other than that we were seemingly all alone in nature.  In the early morning I got up early and went down to the shore to wash my face and brush my teeth.  It was just me and the trees and the lake.  It was a spiritually experience.  It was so peaceful.  The lake was like glass and there weren't any noises.  I washed up and it literally felt like I was the only person in the world and one with all that was around me and so apart of the greater whole.  I was at such peace.  I often visualize that as my "happy place", when I need to.   So skinny dippy there just seemed right.  When I returned to the boat my mom said "Did I see Courtney's white bare butt out there".  I guess it is easy to spot. 

The pile of clothes

Nature shots

Nature.  I liked how the rock was caught up in the roots. 

Number 30

Not pretty but enjoying the moment. 

Morning View

 To enjoy a sunrise and sunset in one day is number 30.  I made this one up at Zions.  We were at a friends house in Springdale and we had arrived when it was dark.  It is up a hill where the road really winds around so I wasn't sure which way was east to enjoy the sunrise.  Come to find out the house was designed to see to the east off the balcony and then shielded from the west because of the heat in the afternoon.   It just happened to be the day of the Fall Equinox which made it all the better.  It was fun to get up early to see the sunrise and just bask in the beauty.  As I sat there waiting for the sun to crest over the mountains I thought routine of the earth and how the sun comes up every day and how now after the equinox we will be having less sunlight and get colder.  How perfect really all that is planned out.  In life there is so much craziness and indecision and change that it is nice to know that somethings are constant and unchanging.  

To the North

First peek of the sun. 

Sunset.  It was beautiful, but not as cool as the morning.