JAZZ: Utah Jazz Ultimate Christmas Promotion - 2008-09

The commercial we did for the Jazz



JAZZ: Utah Jazz Ultimate Christmas Promotion - 2008-09

What's on my nightstand

I know I'm behind doing this but here is my nightstand


These are little squares we making into boxes with bells inside for the Humanitarian Center to send to children with no toys in other countries. We are using different colored yarn and sewing them together. I need to make three more to make a box.


Mountain Beyond Mountains is what I am currently reading. True story. Excellent so far. (I just finished the Toll Gate by Georgette Heyer) A regency romance. historcally correct. If you can get through the 19th century England slang, it's a funny read.

Planning to read next. I may have already read it, but I can't remember..

Planning to read with Youngest. It's the last of the Alex Rider series that has been published.

The other things in the photo are watch bands and earrings I have made, but need to fix for some reason or another.

I have 2 clocks, one with current time and the other with NY time.

Inside my nightstand are many many books I have either started or intend to read. Can't show you that. It's crammed full and is too embarrassing! To name a few: John Adams (half way), Exodus, A Thousand Slendid Suns, Saving Faith, Oxford English Dictionary, Spanish/English dictionary, Ella Minnow Pea (half way), Excuse Me your life is waiting (half way), I feel bad about my neck, (half way), the Civil War (half way). I even have swiped copies of my son's European History text books. :) At the side of my bed are other books --my scriptures, a yw activity idea book and a journal where I write story ideas.

In my basement are piles and piles of other books I'm planning to read. In my office are other books I want to read.... there's some in the living room too. Yikes, this is starting to sound like true confessions of a bookaholic!

I relate to the part in "These is my words" when Sara finds the wagon full of volume after volume of books and feels that she has found a treasure greater than gold.

I'm on the hunt

In a house full of boys it is difficult to have one little thing to yourself. You know, like your favorite cookies for instance. If I buy a treat, I may or may not get any. I have stashed things in the fruit room for the future and have found them ransacked with only the empty packaging as evidence.

I discovered some years ago that my husband was buying his own cereal and hiding it in an unlikely cupboard. He still does that except the boys know where it is now. He also hides his own cookies.

I've been hiding things too. When one place gets discovered I find another one. Recently the cookie monster told me he had a hidden stash as well. It is somewhere in the living room....

It seems we're all busy trying to find each others hidden stash of snacks. Perhaps putting the tostitos in the pantry in plain view will keep them safe until game time tomorrow...

ramblings

I've applied for a job. I don't know if I'll actually take the job, but I've been through a battery of tests and so far passed them all. Tonight I will know if it's something that will work for me. I know they want me to work for them. It's a great feeling to know that. Especially after lots of years of being treated like I'm not worth much because I'm a housewife.

I've had people ignore me when I'm talking directly to their face, I've been put on hold more times than I can count which is ok once in a while I understand, but my time is as valuable as theirs. Honestly, some times I wonder if they think I'm sitting around eating bon bons and picking my nose with all the time in the world because I am home. One time a woman at a business social came up to me, shook my hand, acted excited to have a great conversation with me, and when she found out I was a housewife, she dropped my hand and walked away. Just like that. I laughed. Her loss.

I connected with the heroine in "These Is My Words" when she walked into the bank to open an account and the clerk sniffed in her face and told her to let her husband handle her money because it was too confusing for her. Her response was, "Oh, how confusing is it? If it makes you confused, I surely don't want this bank holding my five hundred dollars.
Well, he perked right up and said, Five hundred dollars? Mrs. Elliot, I believe we can be of service to you after all.
I doubt it, I told him. I made this money with the sweat of my brow and the labor of my hands and I've got the rawhide to prove it. I don't intend to leave it with any man that thinks money is confusing."

I hope I never assume I'm busier, or better than anyone else--job or no job. I've met sophisticates with degrees up the yingyang who are dumber than a stump when it comes to common sense and wisdom. I've met some financially successful people who have no more depth than the clothes they wear.

I know housewives with little education who have the wisdom of a sage and the humility of a true saint. Women I can spend hours talking to and still not know the depth of their understanding. But I know plenty of working women who are saints and sages and housewives who are shallow and judgemental.

It comes back to that great speech by Martin Luther King when he said something like, "lets not judge each other by the color of our skin, but rather by the content of our heart".

The "color of our skin" could be a symbol of the choices that we make in life. It shows on the surface, but is not necessarily a true indicator of the content and depth of our heart and soul.

Gotta go, now. Somewhere near by there is a bon bon, I mean a brownie, calling my name.

News flash

Soccer boy just made the high school Basketball team!

Life's little tests

We got snow. It was snowing on Tuesday for the vote. We still have snow on the ground. The ski resorts are open already. They'll probably be getting more today.

I went to the doc yesterday. You know, the "EXAM"? Saddle up! Boots in the stirrups! Westward ho!

And you're thinkin' to yourself, "Relax?... That depends on what you're plannin' to do with that cattle prod thingy..." ..."FOR THE LOVE OF ...YEEOOWW!

I toyed with idea of bucking the doc right off that little stool with a square reflex kick to the chops!

Butt in the end, it was over. I survived. And the doc doesn't have bucked teeth.

It's November already?

I finished my one day job as a Poll Manager for the General Election yesterday. It was a very interesting experience and a little nerve racking to feel so responsible for the proper handling of the voting machines as well as taking care of the voters. I had the opportunity to drive to the court house with 2 other poll workers and deliver the votes to be counted. There were security officers there. A press photog was there. Everything we brought was inspected and checked in. We got to watch (for about 10 minutes as our supplies were checked in), the vote count being processed and put up on a big screen. We thought we would have to wait for a hour to get checked in and be able to leave, but it ended up being about 15 minutes. The County is impressively efficient. There are over 1000 precincts delivering the votes last night. We were one of the earlier arrivals I guess. It was a long day, but a great experience.

In previous news, my family was asked to be in a TV ad for a Christmas promotional giveaway in October. It was set up at the front of my house. (We had to remove any Halloween evidence and replace it with Christmas decorations. The Jazz Bear and 4 jazz dancers came along with the camera crew.

It was set up like a sweepstakes with me being the winner. So here are a few pics from that day.

Ringing the doorbell...

2 of my sons are in this pic

My husband the "announcer"

The "Jazz Band" players