Left on my board...

"No ever says, hmm, this screwdriver could be a little more sonic."

Also, from my TA who was angling to get on my blog. "I have a story to tell you, but it's awkward for me." "Okay, what is it?" "Well, _____ and I have a bet going to see who can wear a cup nonstop the longest." "Oh, okay." "So, I'm wearing one right now. It's very uncomfortable." "I will take your word for it." "I've been wearing it since Friday." I know better than to ask teenage boys why they do some of the things they do. Smile and nod, that's all you can do, smile and nod.

Inspection Results

Yesterday was the inspection of the house. It was declared a fixer-upper by the inspector. We weren't that surprised by that. The good news is that the roof, while leaking from the swamp cooler, is in pretty good shape. The rafters are fine. Once we remove the swamp cooler in the Spring and patch the hole, we can fix the damaged dry wall. The roof was our biggest concern.

The bad news is that heater doesn't work. The inspector said he hadn't seen one that old and huge that was still working. He believes it is original to the house - so 50 years old. The owner said it was working last Winter. But, it looks like it has finally bit the dust. Also, the water heater is leaking and needs to be replaced before we have a major problem that would flood the basement. Unfortunately, since the price for the house is already at the top of our budget, maybe even over, we just can't afford to make all these repairs ourselves. We still have to buy all the major kitchen appliances. So, now we will see if the seller is able to fix or replace the heater and water heater. That will make or break the deal for us.

We also received the contract from the second mortgage/bank yesterday. Things are falling into place. So, now we shall see. It would be sad to have to start all over again, but it's a possibility.

Congrats to E!

Last week was the annual IB dinner. Last years' graduates come back and get their IB diplomas. The current students report on their CAS projects.

It is always great to see my former students and hear how much they love college. One student, "the boy", is attending BYU. His roommates are boring him to tears. I suggested he find some people to play fugitive with - those kind of games are part of the unique experience that is BYU. I think I forgot to tell him that the fugitives are supposed to go in pairs, and if one person gets caught, their partner is caught too.

One of my other former students, "E" is attending college in SLC. (Same student from this post.) She will be starting an internship at the Governor's office in January. I am SOOO excited and proud of her! She is minoring in History and considering a career in politics. Woohoo!

He can be taught!

"So, look it, I have to write an essay by the 23rd." Student points to his document from juvenile court.
"Okay. What are you going to do?" - me
"How am I going to write an essay. An essay!"
"Uh huh." - me
"You know how you said that we need to know how to write an essay, you know, for other stuff. Yeah." And then he nods and I see that he finally understands that the work I ask him to do in class has a purpose outside of class.
Then I went on to give him advice about how he needs to find out information on the topic before he can write the essay, and he will be coming in tomorrow to write it, and then, and only then, I will edit it for him.

Tabernacle Fire

Many of you are already aware, but for those who have moved away from Utah, our city is in mourning this weekend from the loss of our most cherished landmark. Listed on the US registry of historical buildings, the Provo Tabernacle burned down Thursday night and Friday. BYU broadcasting had been there that night setting up lighting and cameras - new equipment from their new state-of-the-art broadcasting building that sits on the hillside behind the Bean museum. BYU lost $5 million of equipment in the fire. The church also lost an original Teichert painting, the one of JS and OC being given the priesthood, that was hanging in the tabernacle. The tabernacle was built in 1885. With only a shell left, the question will be whether or not the church wants to rebuild it, and whether it will have a similar look to the old one. Last year we took BooBear to see the Nativity show there for Christmas - intending it to be a new tradition. At least no one was hurt.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=13709985

http://www.kansascity.com/2010/12/17/2527546/provo-tabernacle-goes-up-in-flames.html

http://www.provotabernacle.org/

15 Month Check-Up

Weight 25 lbs 2 oz 60%
Length 32.5 in 85%
Head 50 cm 100%

Under Contract

We finally received the contract from the bank for the little house with the big yard. It's a short sale with two mortgages, so we have been waiting and waiting. Now we have the paperwork, we can decide which day to lock in a rate for the loan. The mortgage rate shot up this week to the highest its been in the past 6 months. But, that's life. Now we cross our fingers and hope we can still afford the house. It was a fair price, not a great deal, back in September. Right now, prices have dropped some more, perhaps because it's Winter, so the price we are paying is a little high for the size of the home. However, I am excited about the thought of having more space than we have now. Unless the second mortgage gives us trouble, or we find something in the inspection next week, we could close as early as the end of the holidays.

Hilarious Video

BooBear loves to play 'go through the tunnel' by crawling through our legs. But Werty caught him doing a new trick.

Weekend

It was one of those 'I need a weekend to recover from my weekend' days.
- Two of my ESL students got in a fight, though the original provocation happened in my class, it didn't actually occur in my class. But it turned into one ethnic group pitted against another ethnic group, and a student threatening the lives of other students. I had to give my anti-ignorance anti-racism soap box lecture both Friday and today.
- Two of my siblings were in the hospital. Both are home now. One is on happy drugs, the other will take a few days to physically recover and then longer to fully recover.
- Two days of the NHS charity garage sale, Friday night and Saturday, to raise money for sub for santa gifts. It was a last minute kind of thing, and there were so many other events going on from choir dinner concerts to basketball games, that we only had 3-4 students help set up and clean up, making it take hours longer than it should have. I was at work an extra 8 hours.
- Two sacrament meetings to attend since we had Squeebee's baby blessing, followed by our own ward that we needed to go to so Werty could fulfill his calling. The following baby blessing luncheon was great, btw.
- Two days left until my accreditation report goes to committee and I didn't have time to touch it this weekend.
- Two wonderful reasons to call it a day and head home now to see my family.

My Newest Nephew GLump the younger

My mom just emailed out these pics of her newest grandchild - GLump the younger (until he gets a new nickname). Soyjoy was induced and had him Thursday night. He was a whopping 9 lbs 9 oz and 21.5 inches. That's two inches longer than BooBear! Of course, it would be okay if he grew up taller than his dad, since GLump is average height, same as me. We're happy that baby and mommy are doing well, and that daddy got to be there for the birth.

Random No-No's for House Listings

Werty and I started compiling a list of things that we have seen in listings which probably turn people off to buying those homes. Some of them are too good not to share.

1. Pictures of your children in each shot - besides the obvious safety issue (your address is listed after all), that "lived in" look isn't ideal. Does the child come with the house, or the cat or the dog?
2. Leaving the toilet lid up in those tight bathroom shots, especially when you can see yellow-brown water in the toilet.
3. Your kitchen tile doesn't need it's own close-up shot (look, it's one big tile on my screen) - the same goes for the corner of a room or a closet door (hey, it's the top half of a door, aren't we glad they included doors in this house)
4. If you post 8 photos, and 7 of them are of the front of the property - no matter how pretty it is, people will think that there is something wrong with the inside.
5. "Buyer to verify all information" means that the city owns your whole front lawn and will rip it up when they want to expand the road.
6. If you take a photo of a bathroom mirror, remember that you are mostly just taking a photo of yourself.
7. "Water feature" often means a homemade pile of rocks and cement that breeds mosquitoes and may pose a real danger to your children.
8. "Handyman's dream" = nightmare for regular people, loan officers, real estate agents and insurance adjusters. Putting up a temporary floating wall doesn't mean it counts as an additional bedroom. Just because your ceiling is made up of hanging bedsheets, doesn't mean it's a bedroom.
9. Shag carpet on the floor. Shag carpet on the walls. Shag carpet lining the back of every cabinet, even the bathroom!
10. Crime tape around the exterior of the house, no matter how pretty the house is, detracts from its curb appeal.

Finally, short sales are anything but short.

Dancing BooBear

Great-Grandkids

Werty's extended family was in town for the a double baptism on Saturday - the second from the left in the front was one of those baptized. We didn't know about the baptisms until 12 hours prior, so had to miss the family luncheon because Werty had already agreed to drive my cousin to SLC that day. Us leaving the baptism early also messed up their plan to get a pic of the great-grand kids together, so we gathered briefly Saturday evening to take this pic. The little two month old is Squeebee, my newest nephew.

Time for Winter Coats

or why we need a house with a yard. Werty's sister Dawn is the other person in the video. My bro-in-law took this video on his iPhone. Thanks for the winter coat Grammy!

Left on my board...

Yesterday a student wrote, "There ain't no party like an IB party cause an IB party don't...crap never mind I have homework."

Which House?

We looked at and made an offer on a second house on Saturday. Which would you choose if you were at our stage of life?

Small house with a big yard.
Big house with a small yard.

I will try to post a more in-depth comparison later.

Boo's Friend

There is a little girl at church that likes to share her snacks with the other kids. (She has an older sister.) Today she was sharing her cereal with BooBear. At one point, she even shoved the piece of cereal in his mouth when he wasn't taking it fast enough. So, naturally, he started following her around. Her cereal was a combination of sugar cereals - so much better than the cereal I had for him. At one point, he reached out his arms like he was going to hug her, and he leaned in like he was going to kiss her. Werty and I looked at each other, 'What is he doing?' But he didn't. Maybe he was trying to hug her. Maybe he just wanted her to give him more cereal. After Sunday School, I was told by one observer, "Your son is hilarious."

Some of the cereal must have had rice flour in it, sigh, because his cheeks are now a little splotchy and he was itching one of his ears - but I thought it was worth the risk to help him learn to share. He has been much more interested in interacting with other kids lately. He's growing up so fast! >sniffle<

BooBear has also discovered the Piano. He likes to sit on our lap and play, flipping the pages in the primary song book now and then. Then he plays with the different buttons that change the sound of the keys.

By Request

We have been taking more video than actual photos with our camera lately. Werty's been trying to catch him at his new trick - dancing to music. I will post a video once we're successful.

I woke him up from his nap, so he'd go to bed at a decent hour. Here he is five minutes later.

"Unnecessary"

This post might make Klari cry...but I gave fair warning. A little project I like to do in US Gov't class when learning about political "platforms" is to assign small groups of students to create presidential platforms, and they make a poster with a slogan and everything. They come up with some interesting things, and there's always the group that focuses on what they would change about the school, missing the "how would you change the country" big picture. And I am usually patient about lots of crazy ideas. But one group said, "We would get rid of all the unnecessary stuff they teach in school. We would only learn stuff we need for life. Like no more Math because there is no way that learning how to do an equation will be something I need in life." A simple equation? They can't do a simple equation? I couldn't silently listen, I had to ask, "So, when you want to buy a house, and you want to figure out what the APR is going to cost you, or the ameritization (which I don't really understand, but Werty was talking about it the other day, so I wanted to throw that in to show these kids there is more to Math out there than they know), what are you going to do?" "Whatever. We'll use a calculator." How do you use a calculator if you don't know how to make or solve an equation? Are they going to input random numbers into the calculator? And I remembered the awful fundraising we did two years ago, working BYU football games, and the students that pulled out their cell phones as a calculator every time they needed to add up someone's order because all we had was a cash box, no electronic registers, and how we quickly pulled those kids off the front counter and put them to work in the back making food instead...which was honestly chancey if they could do that right. How are these kids going to figure out a tip when they eat out? Are they going to think the credit card or utility companies are ripping them off because thy don't understand how to compute interest? Are they going to be taken advantage of? I guess it's all "unnecessary."

Same Old, Same Old

We are still waiting on the house we want to buy. Our agent told us that the lack of information is one of the hardest parts of a short sale. Not knowing when, not knowing what the bank is working on, not knowing what will happen. We went and looked at another house last night, one in a nice neighborhood in Provo. Bigger than the Orem one, but needs more work. Bigger lot, but less usable space. There were at least 6 other groups that came and looked at the property while we were there. It was like an unplanned open house. All these people milling around, not making eye contact with each other. Interesting. We put in an offer, but we still want the other house more.

At work, first term ended at the end of October, so last week I was busy grading and updating grades. I am embarrassed to admit that there were some essays I had collected a month previous for my IB class that I hadn't graded. So, I did that. One student wrote like a stream of consciousness, without paragraphs or adequate punctuation or organization. I wrote on his paper that if he wants me to seriously grade something, he must conform to using paragraphs and organization. On Friday, we have an IB teacher meeting, and I will ask his other teachers if they have received anything similar. If he continues in this manner, I will refuse to give him a grade. I think it would be a disservice to him to allow him to pass my assignments, and therefore, my class, with work that clearly won't allow him to pass his IB exams and receive college credit.

Happy Halloween!

BooBear was sick with a cold all week, so we missed our ward Halloween party Friday. So, in a spur of the moment decision, we took our candy and crashed the trunk-or-treat on Saturday for my in-laws' ward. Grandpa got to walk around with BooBear. Rena and Mecedes showed up, presumably also looking for Grandma and Grandpa, at the trunk-or-treat with my tiny nephew. So, we called up BBug and the 6 of us headed back home to watch Mr. Vampire. Considering we weren't sure if we were going to even dress BooBear up and leave the house, we ended up having an eventful evening. Here's a photo of BooBear as Buzz Lightyear. (The hat was the only purple hat I could find that didn't have girly flowers on it - plus it was warm)

New Tricks

BooBear figured out how to unscrew lids this weekend. The big jar of spices he likes to take out of the kitchen drawer...he can bring it back empty for you. And he can reach up to the kitchen counter. He smelled cookies. He knew they were there somewhere. So, I watched him run his fingers along the edge of the counter trying to find them.

BooBear's Curls - I have Proof!

If you can't see the curls clearly, click on the photo and see it up close. This is what his hair looked like before I cut off the curls, I mean, gave him a hair cut. /sniff

Fun with spaghetti! He took a bath after this one.

Here he is post-haircut.

Nice Things to Say FHE

We had a FHE a few months back about showing love to each other. Rena taught the lesson. For the activity we passed around sheets of paper with our names on it, and everyone wrote down something nice about the person. After writing a comment down, we folded the paper so that it wasn't visible to the next person who wrote a comment. At the end of the activity, you had a list of compliments. As I was cleaning off my desk (there you are desk, I found you!) during this fine Fall Break, I found the papers for Werty and I. Here is what Werty's family said about him:

(keep in mind that the authors range in age from 7 years old to older than Werty)
BFF Bro. So glad you are there to save my butt online.
You are so much fun and you are so considerate. Thanks for chatting film/performance practice/art with me.
I like how friendly and easy going you are. I also like how seriously you take your spiritual responsibilities.
You have a great attitude. I appreciate how you take the time to talk to people and see how they are doing, and sincere you are.
I love your laugh. I love being with you. I love having you in our family. Your example helped me go on a mission. The way you served others helped me to know the value of giving.
You are creative and a leader! You have great knowledge of the scriptures.
You are a great dad!
You have a good voice.
My awesome big brother. I admire you so much!
happy, jolly
You gave me a cousin.
You rock.
Great and caring - talented. Loved by the Lord.
You are very cool.
My big brother!
You are great in your humor, in your knowledge, and in your ability to relate to people. Thanks for being a super older brother and example to me!

Here's what Werty's family thinks about me:
Loving, beautiful, cute, funny, cheerful, giving, kind, thoughtful, considerate (that was Werty's comment, can you tell?)
You have a good personality.
I love how you mix the reasonable with the ridiculous: you know how to have fun and when to be serious. You are a cute mom and a good teacher. (that's my favorite comment)
You are great. I'm so glad I can learn so much from you, especially dealing with students. You are so perfect for Werty. You're a great sister-in-law.
Ongoing, never gives up.
Nice, you gave me a cousin. :D
You are helpful and insightful. You can really connect with people and I really feel like you are a sister to me. Thanks.
You rock!
Observant and precise in expressing your thoughts and feelings.
You are a delight and fun.
Yay! You got a monkey! (referring to BooBear)
You are easy to talk to and good at listening.
You are welcoming and have a great attitude. I like how you stand up for your beliefs and ideas.
Your spirit and determination are a good example to everyone in the family. I'm glad you have a place with us in the eternities to be with us forever. It's a great think to look forward to. Thanks, I love you.

I hope no one's upset that I share these. Since most of my readers are family, I thought it would be nice to share. It's a great FHE idea. (Now I can throw away the papers - I know Klari understands what I mean!)

Dead Harry

Werty has been trying to work more hours lately. Stuff keeps getting in the way. On Tuesday he was on his way to SLC to work when our car died. He had just exited the freeway, thankfully. The car threw a rod, so the engine is toast. No more Harry. The sad thing is that we had just renewed our registration last week. We had also just put a new muffler on Harry last month. But that is the way of things. The trickiest part about the situation is having the car dead an hour away from home. Werty will be working on that problem most of tomorrow.

The good news is that we are going to buy SoyJoy's car. Since she's moving to NC, she needed to sell it within the next month anyway. It's a H0nd@ that's only two years younger than our old H0nd@. Yeah, it's that old. Unlike our old car, it's seen some body damage. However, the engine's been reworked some and it runs well. Basically, it's a blessing because we can buy it with cash. Since we are in the middle of trying to buy a house, buying a car any other way would make us ineligible for our home loan. It feels like deja vu driving SoyJoy's car because it looks and feels so much like our old "little car." It will take me a few days to get used to driving a stick shift again. I will miss how smooth a ride and how quiet an engine Harry had. It's funny how you can feel sentimental about a car, when it's just a thing.

WWI Trenches Class Pic

This is what happens when you turn your back in my IB classroom.

We are currently studying WWI. "Hey, I thought we were going to build trenches today." "We can't she's (me, the teacher) right there." "Can you go into your office for a few minutes?" Then a little later: "Teacher, can we build it higher?" "No way." "You're saying 'No,' but I think you really mean 'Yes, but I can't give you permission because it's dangerous.'" "No, I really mean, no!"

Welcome to the World Nephew!

Rena gave birth to a little boy last night, sometime after midnight. He is 20 inches and 8 lbs 3 oz. Congrats Rena! Werty, BooBear and I went to the hospital and met him this evening. He is so darling!

Under Contract

We got the contract. We are one step closer to being homeowners. :D

Nail Biting

For us to qualify to buy this house, we have to get the contract today. Our wonderful real estate agent has been making calls advocating for us. This afternoon we have already signed another addendum and emailed it back. At times like these it comes in handy having a scanner available. Now we are biting our nails and waiting. Our agent thinks that we will get the contract today. We really hope so. The loan officer is leaving the office soon to take care of a closing, but we have told him to expect our contract today. We thought we had until tomorrow, but the loan officer told us this morning that we need it in by today. Werty has had this fear the whole time that it will come down to the wire, we will have everything in place, and then our loan officer will be home sick or on vacation that day. See, a new law is going in to effect on Monday, so we need to get this loan started before that law or we can't buy this house. It seems that purchasing a home is always complicated in one way or another.

Some quotes for your enjoyment:
"I'll be honest, if someone in a van offered me candy, I'd get in." - IB student
"On your blog can I have the nickname 'The hot student'?" - same IB student
No, I did NOT give them the address to this blog. No, that will not be any student's nickname because that sounds so inappropriate coming from a teacher and I want to keep my job, thanks.

Yesterday we started the WWI debate. One girl, very quiet, hadn't said much yet, just busts out with "Well, I just hate Serbia. I think you're evil." It was just enough to flame further discussion. As the teacher, I know it was a cop out for someone not as well prepared. But, knowing how quiet this student is in my class, it was nice to see some personality from her. I think this is one of the best debates we have had so far. I think the key was I cut out GB and F, and just left the other four nations to blame each other. Most of the kids this year also enjoy debating. I still remember being team Russia with JiHo pointing fingers at A-H. JiHo didn't usually get that animated, but he did that day. It's one of my favorite IB lessons all year.

Potpourri

BooBear got his second haircut. It looks pretty good considering the fight it took. Eventually, I read him a book while I cut off his curls in back piece by piece without really being able to see what I was doing. When one of the sisters at church asked me if I had cut his hair yet (Yes, once) and did I know that the more I cut it the thicker it will get (Oh, ok), I realized that she was politely suggesting a haircut was needed. But it was curling! I was letting it grow to see if it would curl and it was! I guess if his hair was as curly as the other little blonde boy that just moved out of our ward was, then it would be okay. His hair is a mop of curls. BooBear's just curls in back whenever it gets wet. I'm not ready to put product in his hair at this age, so I cut those curls off. /sniff. I will post the pic I took as proof that his hair is curly. The nice thing about hair is it keeps growing. Our neighbor's little girl continues to have short hair, even though she is about 16 months old, it just doesn't grow much yet. But it is bright red, so that's pretty cool.

Last Friday I was invited to be a committee chair for the accreditation team by my principal. I say invited, but as another teacher pointed out, since I am not tenured, I don't have the choice to refuse. So, I will be writing the report on how our school is doing in regards to following curriculum standards, and providing statistical data to back it up. How much fun is that? The committees meet tomorrow. It's a little strange to be a chair when I have yet to participate in accreditation before. The administration seems to have confidence in me, at least. The funny part was that I had to fill out an application. Under "strengths that qualify me for the position," I had to come up with something besides "I was told to do it" or "No one else wants to".

We are still waiting to hear about the house. "Please, oh please, oh please, be my prisoner."

Moving Forward

Last night BooBear slept through the night! Unfortunately, I woke up every few hours out of habit. Ha ha. We wore him out by having a busy day on Saturday. We looked at a couple new properties, and revisited the home that is our new top choice. It's the best of anything we have seen, and is in a great location. There is an elementary school, literally, right across the street. My sister came with us to give an objective opinion. It's a short sale, and that often means waiting around to hear from the bank. The bank got back to us in less than a week. The bank's firm response was much higher than we expected. It seems the homeowner had two mortgages, so the bank needs to recoup more. We really want this house, so we are proceeding. It's really exciting to think that we might be moved into a new house by Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, our landlords are going to list the condo for sale. I am not looking forward to having lots of people coming by to look at it while we are still here. I think they are listing it too high, so I am afraid there will be a lot of people "just looking" and inconveniencing us without them getting serious offers.

We went out to dinner with Rena and Mecedes. She is hoping to go into labor any day now, especially since her insurance plan is over at the end of the month. Her doctor stripped her membranes on Wednesday. The parents-to-be are very excited. I remember having the same feelings last year - the desire to finally meet your baby and see what his personality is like.

Werty applied for the job at BYU-H, which took him about 20 hours. It is not a simple process. I imagine that is because every job position at one of the BYUs gets tons of applicants. We weren't sure about moving that far away, but the job position was so perfect for Werty's skill set that we needed to try. In the end, he only received 5 of the 6 letters of recommendation he needed. He had the director of audio/visual for the whole church, who used to be the big boss guy at Werty's old job at BYU, agree to write it. He even had a backup plan for someone else to write it just in case. However, the backup was out of town on vacation all week. And the first guy was too busy preparing for General Conference to finish the letter he has started. Werty heard back from BYU-H. They said they couldn't process his application because he was missing the 6th letter. So, to my friends in Hawaii, this is sad news. To the rest of you who have no idea what I am talking about it, I didn't want to mention it unless Werty actually got an interview or anything. But this week there was talk in our house of whether we were buying a house in Orem or considering a move to Hawaii instead.

Tired, Hungry and Sad

Last night was PT Conferences, which means a 12 hour workday. Tired, very tired. When I got home I found a frazzled Werty (from 12 hours with a BooBear while trying to complete his job application to BYU-H) and no dinner. Hungry. Tired and hungry. BooBear was having mommy withdrawals, so he he did not want to be put down under any circumstances, like when I was rummaging around to find leftovers to eat. Werty fled the house to water the garden and fix a duplicate charge from a restaurant we went to. We got our bank statement, and we paid for dinner twice. By the time he was back, I was putting BooBear to bed. When he went to the restaurant, they said they would rather give him some free takeout rather than fix the error, so he came home with food...but only for himself...and he had eaten most of it by the time I had finished putting BooBear down in bed. Sad. Tired, hungry and sad.

Tonight is NHS inductions, so I will be here at work until past 7pm again. But this time, I am going home for a couple of hours first! Otherwise BooBear will wonder what happened to his mommy. This morning he woke up with me at 5:30am. I'd like to think he wanted to see me before I left for the day. So, I got him dressed and ready for the day before I left this morning. :P

Still Looking

We went looking on Friday at a few properties. One was a definite no, one an okay, one a maybe. Not as thrilled as we were about the last one. And these are short sales, so they could take a while.

Yesterday was Soyjoy's baby shower. Sue and I hosted. There was a lot of running around getting the food and getting ready all week. I decided to create an adaptation of Cr@n1um for the baby shower games. I think it went really well. No baby food tasting or baby diaper smelling when I am in charge. Everything was on schedule until our Realtor called us on Saturday morning so we could put together offers on the two properties we had seen. That was an hour and half that I hadn't scheduled for. I just barely got the food done in time to rush to the shower just before it started. Sue had to set up the decorations without me. :( In the end, I think it went really well. Plenty of food, and when it was over, people stayed for a while chatting. It's fun having my newest sister-in-law Maeby around.

Randomness Online

So, we didn't get the house we wanted. Sniff. Goodbye big kitchen. Goodbye big yard with a view. Back to house hunting again.

Occasionally I get "Do you know this person" emails from the professional networking site I casually use. Usually, I don't know the people, so I just ignore these emails. But I checked my email this evening and the subject line was "Do you know MM or AW..." both of whom are ex-boyfriends of mine. It's not surprising that these two might come up since we did attend the same university, but the random coincidence of both names showing up together in an email made me laugh. What the heck, I invited them both to be in my network.

12 Month Stats

BooBear had his 12 month check up and shots this week.
Weight 23 lbs. 4 oz. - 60%
Length 30.5 inches - 70%
Head 49 cm. - 100%

BooBear at Work

Silly guy. You work AT the desk, not IN the desk. Werty took this picture while I was at work. He came in to check on him, and found him inside the drawer space trying to turn around. Now that he's walking, he is getting braver about climbing into new spaces. Too cute.

Some classroom quotes for your amusement:
A totally innocent classroom discussion took a sinister turn.
"She chose the telephone." - first student
"Did you ask her what she was wearing?" - second student

"Who doesn't love ninjas?" - 8th grader

BooBear is Walking!

The past few days he started taking a couple of tentative steps. There were a few times when we were suspicious he was walking because he moved when we weren't looking and there wasn't anything nearby for him to hold on to. This afternoon he started trying to walk to us. We took him outside where he got some good practice. Now he's walking down the hall like a pro. There's the occasionally pause to catch his balance, and then he keeps going. Here's a brief video I captured of one of his first attempts outside. It's official - he started walking at 12 months old. My baby is getting so big!

BooBear's First Birthday!

Happy Birthday shout outs to my sister FBS, sister-in-law Rena, my FIL, and BooBear! It's a busy week!

We gathered for a cake and ice cream party at a park Tuesday night for BooBear's birthday. Here are some photos for your enjoyment.


No idea why, but whenever we put BooBear on the grass he lifts up his left leg like he is afraid of the grass. Only his left leg, mind you.


King of the Jungle cake. I ran out of time to finish the grass - it was supposed to define actual legs on the lion, so we stuck paws on it instead. It was the paws that BooBear wanted to eat, so it's okay.

His cousin G fed him his birthday cupcake. BooBear really liked the frosting, but he ate the rest of the cupcake too.

Cross your fingers and pray

We put in an offer on a house. Here's a picture of the kitchen. Unfortunately, someone beat us to it and their offer was accepted, but there was some question of whether or not the other buyer will follow through. I am excited by the idea of owning a home with an apricot tree. Werty is psyched about the backyard and the view. Oh yeah, it has a view of the mountains and the valley. We REALLY want it. We moved as quickly as we could, so now we have to just hope. Last week, we had another potential house fall through, but this one is SO much better. We were hoping to buy a house through the GNND program as a teacher, but it seems the program is running out of money. Houses that clearly qualify for the program are not being offered as eligible. It's a way to temporarily cancel the program without officially canceling it. The first week of school is not the ideal time to be starting the house buying process, but everything keeps pointing us in that direction, so we hope something works out.

Breakdancing BooBear

Here is a video of BooBear's newest trick, spinning around on the floor.







This week I went back to work. My contract didn't start until Friday, but I went in Tuesday - Thursday to administer ESL placement tests to new students. I spent 6 hours finding and labeling files from the classroom move. The sad thing is that I didn't quite finish the files for the IB class, and I haven't even touched the other classes yet. I spent another 6 hours on covering my bulletin boards. They are about 85% finished. Next week is going to be crazy busy with district meetings, Back to School Night, and the NHS retreat. I am trying to be upbeat and positive about the retreat. It should be fun for the kids, even though it means not seeing my BooBear for 36 hours. We leave right after school and are gone most of Saturday. With the first week of classes, plus all these after hours events scheduled, I am going to be so tired...and I am going in to it already sick with a cold. Grrr. BooBear has been sick all week, but I think he should be improving soon. Poor kid is still adjusting to mom going back to work. He has been refusing to go down for a nap at his normal time because I'm not there to put him to sleep. But I guess that's the nature of things, as soon as you get him on a schedule, it's time to get used to a new schedule.

School starting is good news for those of my blog readers who enjoy reading the strange and hilarious things my students blurt out.

Friday was Rena's baby shower. Werty's relatives in Idaho came down. I was already fighting off this cold, but it was a lot of fun. A friend of hers did a pregnancy photo spread with lots of cute black and white photos of Rena with her baby belly.

Yesterday Werty, Sue, Enrique, Softserve and Werty's brother Link helped Soyjoy move from Payson to a new apartment in Provo. Soyjoy is going to finish up her massage therapy program at Provo College this Fall, hopefully before her baby shows up. I hope she can do it. I know things get difficult during the last trimester as you get more tired and, well to be blunt, more huge. It must be hard to be pregnant when your husband is away (he's a Marine).

Today we were pleasantly surprised to see an old friend from our old BYU student ward today. She was visiting our ward. She moved back to Hawaii with her daughter, but is in Provo until the end of the month. We should see her next Sunday at our ward again. Werty and I had lost touch with her, and were very excited to reconnect with Jennifer.

Benefits of working?

Well, so what if the district continues to freeze everyone's pay so that I am still being paid as a first year teacher...my 7th year working for them. I don't really miss that they no longer give us a Thanksgiving turkey, they only did that once, after all. And I don't mind that they have been increasing my workload each year. Because at least my family has health benefits...

Then I open the email today that lists all the changes to said benefits. Annoyed that they are canceling our dental option (I pay 100% of it, district pays none), I read on...premiums are only going up slightly, that's good, oh wait! All the deductibles are skyrocketing by at least 50%! I remember back in 2008 when the benefits coordinator at the district (same one that was unable to confirm I was covered or get the company to issue me medical cards for over 6 months that year) explained that having a baby would cost the family maximum deductible of $2k. Well, then I had a baby and discovered that it was actually $4k. And I chalked it up to the lady giving the figures for the year before or something. But wait! This year it has gone up to $6k. So, if we have a baby on my health benefits, we will pay more in premiums and deductible than it cost for my last baby. No, really. Thanks SelectHealth for increasing your deductible by 50% every year!!!

Which brings me back to the problem that I have more responsibilities at work, have higher living expenses due to inflation and rising food prices, higher deductibles, and get paid the same. In reality, I am getting paid less each year that I teach.

Salsa

The official salsa season has begun! (The eating kind, not the dancing kind) We had enough tomatoes from our garden for a half recipe, so 3 quarts of salsa is now processed and sealed. This is just the first wave of tomatoes. We had a late season this year because of the unusually cold Spring. That means that Werty will have to do most of the salsa canning this year since I will be at work. I did manage 13 pints of apricot and apricot-cherry jam earlier this summer as well.

Here's our salsa recipe:
(a variation on the USU extension service recipe, scaled down to fit in my 8 quart pot)

4 1/2 quarts blanched, peeled and chopped tomatoes
3 1/2 cups chopped white onion
3 1/4 cups seeded, finely chopped jalapeno peppers
4 -5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
3/4 tablespoons black pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin

Combine everything except for the cumin, bring to a boil and simmer on low heat for 10 minutes. Add the cumin and simmer for another 20 minutes. Leave a 1/2 inch headspace and process jars for 20 minutes.

Wedding and Stuff

There has been so much family stuff going on the last few weeks. So, here are some pics to share. Let's start with the wedding:


View of the sunburst through the clouds as we were leaving the temple after the wedding.

I think this is a great pic of my mom.

SoyJoy and my cousin, cousin's husband is in the background. Soyjoy has her baby bump now, but that didn't stop her from wearing 4 inch heels.

My sister FBS and the best man, Joe.


The wedding party (mostly their WOW friends) for the ring ceremony.

Softserve and Maeby's first dance, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." The DJ played "Do you Want to Date My Avatar" later when the couple left for their honeymoon. Where did they go? Well, they were already in Vegas...so...Vegas.


Vegas is a beautiful temple, and it was a beautiful sealing. Softserve gave a strong affirmative answer (unlike a certain brother-in-law of mine that answered so quietly, his own bride didn't hear him). Werty and I got to be the witness couple at Maeby's session the day before. It was almost eight years ago that Werty and I went to the LV temple together when we were dating. It was at the end of that trip that he told me he loved me for the first time, and we officially became a couple. So, I have fond memories of that temple already.


While we were in Vegas, and my family was gathered, we celebrated BooBear's birthday a little early with a lunch at R@d Robin.

Photographic evidence that my parents and sisters were there to celebrate his birthday. This will go in his baby book eventually.

A few days before our trip to Vegas, it was our turn to host FHE with Werty's family.


A few days before FHE, Werty's cousin went in to the MTC. His cousin enjoys BooBear, "the last baby he gets to hold for two years."

The proud family.
And you thought your family was big? :P Here's most of the clan, just before we walked him to the MTC and dropped him off.

Back to School Sales

Everywhere I turn there are ads for back to school stuff, and all I can think is "No, I don't want to go back yet! I'm not ready!" I think I am ready to switch places with Werty. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean it will happen. I haven't finished any of my projects this summer (I'm not counting the class I finished and the surgery I had as 'projects.') However, I have spent a lot of time with my son, which was my highest priority. And now with Softserve's wedding and other family stuff, my summer is about done. I am in mourning.

Yesterday I actually got Werty interested in a house for sale in Springville. (The lot was over a 1/3 of an acre!) Then today we had a dose of reality. Ah, well. Maybe next year.

The last few days I have been canning apricot jam from my sister's apricot tree. We ran out of homemade jam a couple of months ago, and it has been sad. I am hoping that 13 pints will last us for at least a year.

Today we took advantage of the overcast weather to do some weeding in our garden. The tomato plants are tall and bushy this year. Because of the colder season this year, the first few tomatoes are just now showing up.

Yesterday in church the family that usually sits on the other end of our pew wasn't there. Since Werty leads the music, I have BooBear to myself during sacrament meeting. BooBear spent the meeting walking along the length of the pew, holding on of course, making lots of friends with the people in the row behind us. Werty found it very amusing to watch from up on the stand. Back and forth, his mommy following after.

Day at the Zoo

We went to the Hogle Zoo last Tuesday. We had to drive to SLC anyway to pick up my mom who flew in for the sealing, so we decided to make a day of it. Here is BooBear in his safari overalls for the occasion. He didn't stay in the stroller very long. I ended up carrying him around most of the time because he got hot and tired quickly.

Seeing the new baby elephant was on my "to-do list" for the summer, and she sure was cute!



This primate climbed out on the branch to stare right at BooBear. Being black, white and fluffy, he got BooBear's attention.


Can you find the animal in this picture?

Here's a closer look:
A snow leopard!
Yay! Tigers!
I sang him the Willy the Whistling Giraffe song when we got to the giraffes. Even the giraffes thought it was hot. They were standing under A/C fans.

Note to Maria: great minds think alike! Some people thought BooBear was too young to take to the zoo, but then I saw that you took your kids to the zoo the same week, and it made me feel better!

Congrats to GLump and Soyjoy

My little brother GLump and his wife Soyjoy were sealed in the Manti temple on Thursday. We made it for the sealing, but not the actual session, because the Manti temple is a decent 1.5-2 hour drive each way, and we didn't want to be away from BooBear that long. Werty and I will have to go back someday to do a session there, it is such a lovely temple! (Werty and I probably would have been married there if we had been married in the Spring instead of Winter. Getting married in the middle of Winter we were concerned about the icy two-lane roads.)

GLump and Soyjoy are expecting their first child in December, which they found out on Wednesday will be a boy! It will be such a blessing that he will be born in the covenant. Looks like BooBear will have only boy cousins close to his age.

Standing

BooBear has been pulling himself up and walking alongside the couch the last couple of weeks. Last weekend he started pulling himself and trying to stand on his own. Here you can see his progress from the video Werty took this morning.

Makes it all worth it....

when you get an email like this one:

Dear Mrs. ____ ,
I don't know if you've heard yet but...I GOT THE IB DIPLOMA!!!! Anyway, I just want to thank you so much for everything you did for me this last school year. I learned so much and I really learned to love history in your class. Thanks for being so supportive, thank you for all your awesome pep talks, thank you for being fun, thank you for being so empathetic and knowing exactly what we were going through, thank you for showing us cute pictures of your baby, thank you for being awesome!!! thank you for everything!!! I hope you know that you had a major impact on my life this last year and that I will never forget you!
With lots of love,
E

I really do love teaching the IB class. I work with phenomenal kids. And the subject matter keeps me researching and learning along with them. Congratulations to E and the other IB diploma recipients!

Softserve and Maeby

We got to meet Softserve's fiancee today. I know FBS requested a pic of the two of them together, so here it is.