Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Back on the Farm
We had a whirlwind week of family visiting and even a party, and then packing and lots of driving to make it out to Washington for the next six weeks. The girls are liking it, Evelyn started talking about jumping on the trampoline 10 days ago. She also likes having Heather and Ryan around, especially the latter who is playing hide-and-seek with her this very moment. I'm typing this right before dinner, so I will add some pictures from the last little while soon. I'm excited to see the green landscape here, Utah is still trying to get growing from the hard winter and cold spring. It's going to be a fun six weeks!
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Finally
We found a website that was actually helpful as far as changing the blog template. I even goofed off with the html and got rid of the Pyzam bar (though two little arrows remain). The background picture is a photo I took at Mt. Ranier National Park when Shaunie and I were on our way back from Seattle. We'll change it from time to time.
Only one more paper to go (due monday) and then I just need to grade my classes final exams and enter grades. It's been a wild semester. After the summer term it should all be down hill, no more all-nighters at the office or here at home haunted by these two ghosts. I'm writing my thesis using a lot of the ideas of the one the right (Jacques Derrida) and my last paper is about the enigmatic writings of the one on the left (Jorge Luís Borges). They are both constantly running around somewhere in my head. I'm excited to get out to the farm for a few weeks and escape what some call the ivory tower of academia. But I'll be working on my reading list so I'm not leaving it all behind.
Only one more paper to go (due monday) and then I just need to grade my classes final exams and enter grades. It's been a wild semester. After the summer term it should all be down hill, no more all-nighters at the office or here at home haunted by these two ghosts. I'm writing my thesis using a lot of the ideas of the one the right (Jacques Derrida) and my last paper is about the enigmatic writings of the one on the left (Jorge Luís Borges). They are both constantly running around somewhere in my head. I'm excited to get out to the farm for a few weeks and escape what some call the ivory tower of academia. But I'll be working on my reading list so I'm not leaving it all behind.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Highlights from day 1 without Daddy
I took Ben to the airport at 4:30 this morning. Evelyn and Jill came along and were both a little bewildered to be up so early. And they didn't stay asleep once we got home at 6 am. I was a little sad about that, but what can you do?Evelyn was pretty ticked off that Daddy went on an airplane without her. They keep asking where he is, and I tell them Kentucky. They try to repeat it, but it comes out as 'te-to-de.' These are the highlights of the day:
Question and Answer session between Evelyn and herself:
"What Saunie's name? Saunie. What Jilly's name? Jill one. What O-lyn's name? O-lyn two. What Daddy's name? Daddy Ben. " We've been teaching Evelyn these questions, what's so-and-so's name, how old are they, in case she was ever lost. The last one was the only question she got right, but someone could put the pieces together hopefully. What made me smile was when I asked Evelyn what her name was again, and she said, "I not O-lyn. My name Lulan." I think she means Mulan.
Face-painting
I was fixing my hair and not paying attention to what two little girls were doing. Evelyn found my color stick, a purplish-pink tube of sparkley stuff and held it while Jilly stuck her little finger down the center of it, making all the make-up squish out the sides. They both then proceeded to smear it all over their faces, exclaiming, "I pretty! I pretty!" Pretty messy is what it was. Then Jilly ate my chapstick. And then Evelyn opened a container of lavender body butter, and they both started digging out clumps of it, the stuff is pretty thick, and tried to smooth it on their skin. The whole time Jilly was saying, "pretty. pretty." You'd think a person (mainly me) would learn.
Brownies
We made brownies because Jilly was asking for cookies and chocolate this afternoon. I went over to check on the baking process, and without a word from me, Jilly said, "Check the brownies. I want up." It was the most complete sentencing I've heard from her yet.
Potty-training
I haven't had to change a messy Jill diaper for almost a week now. She only wears one at night and when we're out and about for extended periods of time. I'm so proud of her. She loves to sit on the toilet, and her and Evelyn actually started fighting about who was going to sit on it first at one point today. Now I just need to convince Evelyn that pooping in diapers is a lot worse than the toilet. I was talking to her about it, and she flatly told me, "I don't wanna poop in toilet," and walked away. End of that discussion.
Child-proof caps
Why do some containers say they are child-proof, when an 18 month old can open it? Jilly got a hold of a bottle of baby oil, with a supposedly child-proof cap. I was on the phone, turned around, and saw her dribbling the oil all over the cushion of my rocking glider. I guess it will always smell nice now. Any suggestions for getting the oil out?
Work party
It was the GASP party at Daddy's office (I can't remember what the acronym stands for, but it's for all the Spanish/Portuguese students). It was a lot of good food, and Ev and Jill were able to play the office chair game where I push them up and down the halls, and down the ramps in an office chair. Then Evelyn gets off and spins Jilly around in the chair forever. I haven't seen any signs of motion sickness out of her yet. Another little girl about Evelyn's age joined the game and sat in the chair with Jilly. Jilly started pointing to the little girl's nose and said, "Booger. Ewwww." (There were no boogers). Then she would point at her own nose and say the same thing. The little girl just looked at her like she had no idea what Jilly was talking about. I told Jill to stop it, but she did it a few more times anyway. Ev and Jill both had snotty colds this week, so Jill apparently learned about boogers.
The sad part about the party is that the girls expected to see Daddy there and were sad when we left without him. They did get to see Cody though, a good friend of Ben's and fellow student. Cody is like Jill and Ev's uncle. They love him. He's moving out of the country in a few weeks, and we'll all miss him. I'm glad I can go to a party at Ben's work and feel comfortable enough with all his friends to be there without him. Ben won the following awards:
(They are submitted by the grad students)
Most likely to be a farmer
Most likely to tell a ghost story (his Master's thesis is about ghosts, among other things)
Most likely to turn into a rabbit (he eats fresh fruits and veggies for lunch everyday)
First student to present a theatrical framework on Lacan (a theorist I believe)
Loudest and funniest student (a 3-way tie)
Most likely to change your computer desktop background when you're not there (he did this a few weeks ago to a fellow grad student, and while everyone else thought it was funny, she DID NOT.
Most likely to offend somebody (this is in reference to a student he had this semester, that whenever something didn't suit their political fancy, they would walk out of class, mid-discussion. So there are stories of 'the walk-out student' whom he repeatedly offended without meaning to).
Sorry some of these are inside jokes, but they are now forever recorded in our family history. I'm compiling my past posts into a book (through blurb.com) so I don't have as much info on the blog. It's going to be cool, I'm really excited to put it together.
*It's Thursday, and I've been working on my book for the past few hours. It's easy, and so fun. I could get addicted to making books. It's a lot easier and faster than scrapbooking in my opinion.
Question and Answer session between Evelyn and herself:
"What Saunie's name? Saunie. What Jilly's name? Jill one. What O-lyn's name? O-lyn two. What Daddy's name? Daddy Ben. " We've been teaching Evelyn these questions, what's so-and-so's name, how old are they, in case she was ever lost. The last one was the only question she got right, but someone could put the pieces together hopefully. What made me smile was when I asked Evelyn what her name was again, and she said, "I not O-lyn. My name Lulan." I think she means Mulan.
Face-painting
I was fixing my hair and not paying attention to what two little girls were doing. Evelyn found my color stick, a purplish-pink tube of sparkley stuff and held it while Jilly stuck her little finger down the center of it, making all the make-up squish out the sides. They both then proceeded to smear it all over their faces, exclaiming, "I pretty! I pretty!" Pretty messy is what it was. Then Jilly ate my chapstick. And then Evelyn opened a container of lavender body butter, and they both started digging out clumps of it, the stuff is pretty thick, and tried to smooth it on their skin. The whole time Jilly was saying, "pretty. pretty." You'd think a person (mainly me) would learn.
Brownies
We made brownies because Jilly was asking for cookies and chocolate this afternoon. I went over to check on the baking process, and without a word from me, Jilly said, "Check the brownies. I want up." It was the most complete sentencing I've heard from her yet.
Potty-training
I haven't had to change a messy Jill diaper for almost a week now. She only wears one at night and when we're out and about for extended periods of time. I'm so proud of her. She loves to sit on the toilet, and her and Evelyn actually started fighting about who was going to sit on it first at one point today. Now I just need to convince Evelyn that pooping in diapers is a lot worse than the toilet. I was talking to her about it, and she flatly told me, "I don't wanna poop in toilet," and walked away. End of that discussion.
Child-proof caps
Why do some containers say they are child-proof, when an 18 month old can open it? Jilly got a hold of a bottle of baby oil, with a supposedly child-proof cap. I was on the phone, turned around, and saw her dribbling the oil all over the cushion of my rocking glider. I guess it will always smell nice now. Any suggestions for getting the oil out?
Work party
It was the GASP party at Daddy's office (I can't remember what the acronym stands for, but it's for all the Spanish/Portuguese students). It was a lot of good food, and Ev and Jill were able to play the office chair game where I push them up and down the halls, and down the ramps in an office chair. Then Evelyn gets off and spins Jilly around in the chair forever. I haven't seen any signs of motion sickness out of her yet. Another little girl about Evelyn's age joined the game and sat in the chair with Jilly. Jilly started pointing to the little girl's nose and said, "Booger. Ewwww." (There were no boogers). Then she would point at her own nose and say the same thing. The little girl just looked at her like she had no idea what Jilly was talking about. I told Jill to stop it, but she did it a few more times anyway. Ev and Jill both had snotty colds this week, so Jill apparently learned about boogers.
The sad part about the party is that the girls expected to see Daddy there and were sad when we left without him. They did get to see Cody though, a good friend of Ben's and fellow student. Cody is like Jill and Ev's uncle. They love him. He's moving out of the country in a few weeks, and we'll all miss him. I'm glad I can go to a party at Ben's work and feel comfortable enough with all his friends to be there without him. Ben won the following awards:
(They are submitted by the grad students)
Most likely to be a farmer
Most likely to tell a ghost story (his Master's thesis is about ghosts, among other things)
Most likely to turn into a rabbit (he eats fresh fruits and veggies for lunch everyday)
First student to present a theatrical framework on Lacan (a theorist I believe)
Loudest and funniest student (a 3-way tie)
Most likely to change your computer desktop background when you're not there (he did this a few weeks ago to a fellow grad student, and while everyone else thought it was funny, she DID NOT.
Most likely to offend somebody (this is in reference to a student he had this semester, that whenever something didn't suit their political fancy, they would walk out of class, mid-discussion. So there are stories of 'the walk-out student' whom he repeatedly offended without meaning to).
Sorry some of these are inside jokes, but they are now forever recorded in our family history. I'm compiling my past posts into a book (through blurb.com) so I don't have as much info on the blog. It's going to be cool, I'm really excited to put it together.
*It's Thursday, and I've been working on my book for the past few hours. It's easy, and so fun. I could get addicted to making books. It's a lot easier and faster than scrapbooking in my opinion.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Awaiting spring....
and the craziness of having a husband who's gone nearly 12 hours a day. Ben flies out next Wednesday for his conference, and will be gone until Saturday night. Hopefully he'll finally catch up on sleep he's been missing out on for the last 3 weeks.
I have pictures to load up, but I'm too tired right now to do it. I'll do it, sometime next week. Keeping up with two kids by yourself is hard work. How one handles more children is lost on me at this moment. How single moms do it is completely lost on me. I have new sympathy for them. It really isn't all that bad for me. It's actually pretty good. The hardest part of all of this has been not having my best friend around, to have a stimulating adult conversation with. Instead of, "Do you need to go potty?" for the 80th time that day. And just doing grown-up stuff together. We barely remember what a date is. Luckily for us, we are headed to Washington for six weeks starting next month and will have some live-in babysitters (love you guys!) so we can have a date.
My hobbies have kept me sane for the last few weeks, I've enjoyed sewing, getting outside (before the weather reverted to mid-February this last week), piano playing, and I started reading again. I did that because I feel like my I.Q. is dropping to the level of a 3 year-old, and we have a few hundred books. Unfortunately, a lot of them are in Spanish. So I will be heading to the library anyway.
A highlight of the last week was seeing family. Thank you Clemente and Trudy for hosting a pizza party. It was a welcomed break! And I loved seeing everybody.
I will now end my rambling post. Sorry it isn't anything more exciting. But life can't always be exciting, and that's okay. Sometimes it's the ordinary stuff we will remember and cherish most.
I have pictures to load up, but I'm too tired right now to do it. I'll do it, sometime next week. Keeping up with two kids by yourself is hard work. How one handles more children is lost on me at this moment. How single moms do it is completely lost on me. I have new sympathy for them. It really isn't all that bad for me. It's actually pretty good. The hardest part of all of this has been not having my best friend around, to have a stimulating adult conversation with. Instead of, "Do you need to go potty?" for the 80th time that day. And just doing grown-up stuff together. We barely remember what a date is. Luckily for us, we are headed to Washington for six weeks starting next month and will have some live-in babysitters (love you guys!) so we can have a date.
My hobbies have kept me sane for the last few weeks, I've enjoyed sewing, getting outside (before the weather reverted to mid-February this last week), piano playing, and I started reading again. I did that because I feel like my I.Q. is dropping to the level of a 3 year-old, and we have a few hundred books. Unfortunately, a lot of them are in Spanish. So I will be heading to the library anyway.
A highlight of the last week was seeing family. Thank you Clemente and Trudy for hosting a pizza party. It was a welcomed break! And I loved seeing everybody.
I will now end my rambling post. Sorry it isn't anything more exciting. But life can't always be exciting, and that's okay. Sometimes it's the ordinary stuff we will remember and cherish most.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Let's go fly a kite,......
These days the girls and I are pretty Ben-less. He's in major crunch-time to turn out 4 term papers in the next two weeks, plus an academic conference he's to present at University of Kentucky on April 17th. He's spending a lot of time at the office, today's the first day he's been home and awake for most of the day since last Sunday. Evelyn and Jilly are like, "Whoa, Dad's home. What are we supposed to do?" So our social life is somewhat on hold, and the girls and I are finding other adventures to pursue while Ben temporarily lives in the world of word-processing and reading. That should end by the 23rd or something this month when the last paper is due. Actual finals will be a breeze compared to all this. It really isn't terrible hanging out with two girly toddlers all the time. I just have to find new things to do. Which explains the kite.
One of Ev and Jill's favorite Disney movies is Mary Poppins, and Evelyn can kind of sing all the songs in the movie. We were at the park a few weeks ago, and she saw someone flying a kite. She got all excited, and started singing, "Let's go fy a kite, up to highest height....". I planned on getting one for Easter, but couldn't find one until last week, a $2.88 'My Little Pony' kite at Wal-Mart. We took it out the next day to a large park a few blocks away, got it up in the air and promptly stuck in a tree. I felt like a dork, and Evelyn was screaming that her kite was forever stuck up a tree. I was able to get it out, but the streamer stayed there for a while until the wind blew it out.
I thought this picture was kind of cool. I didn't think I'd be able to get far away enough to get Ev and the kite in the same frame.
She thought it was cool to hold it for while, but then though swinging would be more fun. I was paranoid the whole time she would let it fly away.
Jilly was the official camera bag packer, a job she enjoyed.
I let Jill hold the kite, and she wanted to run with it. I think they both enjoyed watching me run around the park getting it up in the air and keeping it out of trees. That's why Jill wouldn't hold still for this picture.
There are some steep hills at this park, and Evelyn didn't want to go home and decided to run up one to get away from me. I ran up after her, and she thought it would be a good idea to run down the hill, which gave me visions of falling, breaking an arm, etc. So I taught her to roll down it instead.
Jill liked picking the dead grass and throwing it, with Evelyn covered in it.
She didn't enjoy being rolled into as much as Evelyn enjoyed rolling into her.
Jill likes to pick out her outfits, this was the most recent/funny one. She's wearing her panties on top of the PJs, but under the skirt. She started potty-training herself 2 weeks ago. We've had some messes, but she's a lot more willing than Evelyn was to go in the potty.
Sorry for all the pictures recently, but the Grandparents love them. There are a few more below. We're feast and famine posters.
One of Ev and Jill's favorite Disney movies is Mary Poppins, and Evelyn can kind of sing all the songs in the movie. We were at the park a few weeks ago, and she saw someone flying a kite. She got all excited, and started singing, "Let's go fy a kite, up to highest height....". I planned on getting one for Easter, but couldn't find one until last week, a $2.88 'My Little Pony' kite at Wal-Mart. We took it out the next day to a large park a few blocks away, got it up in the air and promptly stuck in a tree. I felt like a dork, and Evelyn was screaming that her kite was forever stuck up a tree. I was able to get it out, but the streamer stayed there for a while until the wind blew it out.
I thought this picture was kind of cool. I didn't think I'd be able to get far away enough to get Ev and the kite in the same frame.
She thought it was cool to hold it for while, but then though swinging would be more fun. I was paranoid the whole time she would let it fly away.
Jilly was the official camera bag packer, a job she enjoyed.
I let Jill hold the kite, and she wanted to run with it. I think they both enjoyed watching me run around the park getting it up in the air and keeping it out of trees. That's why Jill wouldn't hold still for this picture.
There are some steep hills at this park, and Evelyn didn't want to go home and decided to run up one to get away from me. I ran up after her, and she thought it would be a good idea to run down the hill, which gave me visions of falling, breaking an arm, etc. So I taught her to roll down it instead.
Jill liked picking the dead grass and throwing it, with Evelyn covered in it.
She didn't enjoy being rolled into as much as Evelyn enjoyed rolling into her.
Jill likes to pick out her outfits, this was the most recent/funny one. She's wearing her panties on top of the PJs, but under the skirt. She started potty-training herself 2 weeks ago. We've had some messes, but she's a lot more willing than Evelyn was to go in the potty.Sorry for all the pictures recently, but the Grandparents love them. There are a few more below. We're feast and famine posters.
Friday, March 28, 2008
So here I am, another late Friday/early Saturday morning at the office, writing another paper. I’m really excited about a book I’m reading right now and I’m using it for a paper I’m currently working on. It is called Remembering by Edward Casey. It’s a philosophy book but I think it’s pretty accessible if you’re interested. He introduces the history of memory and remembering in the introduction and writes about how for the Greeks it was almost a divine act. I bet most of you know who Zeus is, the father of the gods, but you probably don’t know that his wife was Mnemosyne, (which means memory). Casey goes on to address how memory and remembering has lost its prestige not only in our contemporary education system but in our society. It’s something we’ve relegated to computers, yet the human remembering and the computer version are different. I’m writing my paper on remembering as an ethical act, or as Casey puts it, “a way of getting (and staying) in touch with a past that would otherwise be consigned to oblivion; a fateful fending off of forgetfulness (Casey, 12). It’s a topic I’ve been interested in for some time now, and I made a good effort to read this book…
Bergson’s Matter and Memory, but it uses very opaque language. I’ll give it a go again this spring. One of the reasons I’m so fascinated with memory, aside from the fact that I’ve noticed that mine is starting to fade, is how often it is mentioned in the scriptures…Old/New Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants…it’s an integral part of how we are to worship and approach God the Father and His Son. Give your scriptures a whirl and see how important it is. And if you want to read an incredible study on memory, I recommend Casey’s book. Unfortunately it’s $34.
Gosh dang technology!
So I tried downloading a new background from pyzam and completely messed up my blog. Probably user error, I have been having a lot of these lately. Somehow in the process my links list was deleted. So if you would all be so kind and leave me your blog address, I would appreciate it.
Update: As you can see, I was able to find many of the addresses through my computer history and other subversive methods. (Just kidding). Because my memory is not 100% accurate, I'm sure someone's link is not on my list. If that's you, please leave a note for me and I will fix it!
Update: As you can see, I was able to find many of the addresses through my computer history and other subversive methods. (Just kidding). Because my memory is not 100% accurate, I'm sure someone's link is not on my list. If that's you, please leave a note for me and I will fix it!
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