Triggers That Make Me Smile

          Yes, it is unusual to see a bubbled syringe under the title "Smile" as there are so many children who view this as a torturing device.  They run and hide, fidget, scream . . . and why would a mother look upon this reminder of such dramatic uncooperativeness as something that would put a smile on her face?  She wouldn't.  But I was blessed with a child who was more than cooperative.  Jenna enjoyed the bubbled syringe.  Unlike most children, Jenna was amused by this devise.  It must have tickled her nose when I attempted to suck out the snot.  She also laughs about Vick's vapor rub because "it smells funny" - and not "funny" as in questioning the expiration date of a product.  Whenever I try to rub it on her she does squirm - but only because she is laughing so hard claiming that it tickles her.  Weird.  But awesome.  I don't know of any other mother who has shared this same experience.

From Where I Stand

          I try to keep the room cool so I can fall asleep more easily.  Last night it was cold.  I still managed to sleep.  But I felt overly warm at 3:30 this morning.  When the heat kicked on I moved into the bathroom and stood by the window until the heat shut off.  I then wrote the following:

From where I stand

I can hear the traffic

moving over I5

but I cannot see it

Even if the fog wasn't there

From where I stand

I cannot see Old Pacific Highway

I can barely see the street

where I live

From where I stand

I can hear the trains

I know the tracks were not

completely abandoned

But had never seen a train

in Myrtle Creek

until the other day

when I went to meet my friends

for coffee.

I parked between Good Dogs and

the park and I saw the train

passing the tracks where Jenna

and I have explored and

taken several pictures.

From where I stand

I somehow seem to always hear

more than I can see

Journal Entry

          Before school was back in session I had accepted two job assignments - one was for yesterday.  I had worked with the person I was replacing, but had never worked in her place.  Meanwhile, I had received a call from an aide at one of the other schools.  In a way I prefer her schedule over the one I had lined up for myself yesterday. She primarily works with the middle schoolers and does not have an assigned recess.  She is there for breakfast duty but doesn't have lunch duty.  I like that.

         

          After I returned home, I turned on the computer to view at least one missing lecture.  Both had been posted - but once again,  the accounting instructor just read through each slide and problem.  There was no mention of discussion, assignment and so forth.  Like I'm going to purposely sit through that.  The other did go over the expectations, and fortunately there was a read-along, because I was bothered with trying to listen to the recording without going insane as the volume kept fading in and out - which to me is worse than a distorted picture.

          I have not checked the possible work assignments for today, but think I will stay home to work on my assignments so that I can have them turned in by tomorrow morning and not have to worry about either class until next week.  Finals, for the most part, don't seem to require as much time as the other three weeks.  It is a short day.  I am confident that each school will be able to function without my being there today.

Dash HH #4

Home and Health #4:  "In childhood, did you share a bedroom with siblings or have a room to yourself?" 

          I believe it was in 1961 when my parents purchased the three bedroom house in Midvale.  I joined them a year later and had my own room.  I'm certain that I must have started my life in our new house in my parents' bedroom sleeping in a white bassinet.  I don't know how old I was when I was given my own room or why I ended up where I did.  My room was the furthest from mom and dad's room.  I think they put me in there as I was a light sleeper and heard every sound.  That is the first room I remember being mine.

          I don't know how old I was when I requested that my room be painted pink, but I remember I had to take down my posters.  I had three of girls with big eyes.  I don't even remember what each was doing or holding.  I just remember there were three backgrounds: one blue, one yellow and one pink.  

this is a scrapbook page that I created
The pictures are approximations and not actual.

          After my dad had finished painting my room, he took down the masking tape covered in pink paint.  When I went to retrieve my posters I could find two - the yellow and blue backgrounds.  I did not see the "big eyes" with the pink background.  Instead I saw a pile of masking tape surrounded by pink color.  I started crying because I thought it was my missing poster.

          Mom had painted a chair and desktop white with brass colored decals to match my white headboard. 

These aren't exact.  The center shows  the color. 
The bottom design is closest to some that were used

She had also made curtains from a fabric of white background and animals like bears and zebras dressed in pink and blue clothes - I think.  It's been quite a while and so probably not accurate.

The curtains are not the same, but the colors are close

          I was in the fourth grade when Corey was born.  When mom put the crib in my room, I had moved in Patrick's bedroom which was between my room and my mom and dad's room.  I don't know why there were two beds in his room.  The frames weren't always lined up with the mattress and sometimes someone would bump into the frame and hurt shins and below.  I remember one time Patrick was teasing me and dad was about to rescue from his taunting torture when he became a victim of the bed frame.  He left the room just as quickly as he had entered. 

          Neither Patrick nor I understood what had happened until after the fact.  Daddy's foot swelled up and the color made it appear as though he stamped grapes for a living. 

This picture represents one that has stomped
grapes and not my dad's foot.

The most amazing thing about what had taken place was dad's spiritual attitude.  He had been really angry when he had entered the room - angry enough to hurt Patrick (which was rare as my dad was a very mild-mannered man who would never hurt anyone) and considered the "frame bite" a blessing that prevented him from destroying Patrick.  What awesome faith!

          By the time Kayla came along, my parents had hired someone to refinish the basement - or at least half of it.  It was a bitter-sweet moment.  I had spent a many of hours roller skating in our basement.  I used to fasten Dawn dolls to my roller skates and pretend they were driving cars. 

we don't have an actual photo; I had
to improvise to create a illustration

Bitter as I would no longer be able to roller skate in the basement.  Sweet that I'd be getting a brand new room.  Once again I chose pink for my walls.  My curtains were gingham blue and my carpet was green.  Sounds ghastly, but it looked great with the wallpaper.  I had made this and the above page for the scrapbook that Jenna and I started here.  

Just for the record, I do not care for pink.  

Especially pastel.  

I  lived in that same house up until that I got married.  The house was not sold until after my mom needs had changed and we visiting her at assisted living.

It Felt Rushed

          It is the first Sunday of the year and the year of change as we have dropped an hour.  There will now be two Sunday schools per month, two RS (YM/YW, Priesthood) per month.  Apparently all the organizations except for the primary will meet together on the 5th Sunday.  Primary is still its own separate thing.  Whereas, two hours of primary seemed way too long at times, this one hour deal is like blinking your eyes.  At least that is how it felt today.

         

          On the first Sunday last year there were 15 children the valiant class alone.  I don't know how many were in the others.  This year we have only two classes: CTRs and Valiants.  There are no Sunbeams this year, and only three Valiants.  Two instructors are definitely needed in CTRs this year - what a wide assortment of ages.  Perhaps only 20 minutes of lesson time has improved that?  I don't know.  I was with the three.  And there's one who does not attend every week, so mostly it will be just two and two.  That seems weird.  But whatever.

          We have a new chorister recently called to primary - though she had served in the presidency before.  She always has illustrations to go with each song and made a game for one today.  We learned the song and had time for only two more songs to sing after that.  I think she was over prepared - though it was fun.  It seemed that more time was needed.

          We then went to class.  Two of our children took turn being leaders and we each followed them down the hall around the primary doors and back to the classroom - which this year is one that we have never met in before.  Initially when we had gone to our room, we learned that we had been locked out and so that in itself took away time from a 20 minute lesson.

          Danny had prepared a match game after the children had guessed all the letters to "Ways to Follow Christ" - match games can go quickly or drag on.  This may have dragged at a normal level, but as we were running out of time, Danny started matching pairs with numbers the children had not picked - though I believe they still had fun.

          It's funny how different people can look at the same set of guidance and still be on two different paths.  For instance, I did not get the primary outline but had searched for it on the web but felt frustration in not finding a primary outline that seemed to work with our individual outline - which I believed was that entire point of this new program.  Danny said it confused her, too.   She said that is why she taught the lesson from the individual guide rather than the primary outline.  She did?  Wow.  Her understanding of the lesson had been so much different from my own.  The message I got from my individual and family study was on forgiveness and prayer.

          It's great that we are encouraged to share with one another our own perspectives as we do all have different ideas and are able to grow at we feed one another and stay in tune with what the Spirit needs each of us to learn - Roland said his instruction was on "Giving All that We Have"  Wow.  And all of these are valid and teach us values that we need to understand.  I'm grateful for member and family support.

Ghost and Midnight

I have seen two different cats hanging around our house.  Jenna has named the three that she has seen and Roland says he's seen four. None of them appear to be scroungy or "homeless" and I have wondered what it is that attracts them to our yard in the first place.  Perhaps it was when Roland put up the bird feeder - though we haven't seen too many birds this winter.  

I'm pretty sure that the black cat is a tom.  He wants nothing to do with people.  He runs away if we open the door - and he always dashes off as if he is trying to escape whatever he's guilty of.  Jenna calls him Midnight.

I don't recall ever having seen Ghost before we came home from our Christmas vacation.  She is really friendly, well kept.  We're certain that she belongs to somebody, but we don't know who.  She likes attention.  She wants to cuddle.  She has very soft fur.  Jenna loves her.

I took several pictures of Ghost.  These are the ones which turned out the best.

This is Jenna's favorite

I do not have any pictures of Midnight.

Bi-weekly word: Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia

Well, I was going to save this for next week, but might as well post this right now as I have learned one of my assignments for next week is quite time consuming and I'm wondering if I will be able to post at all.  Only two and a half accounting classes to go.  June will be here in no time.

The word " Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia" has 15 syllables.  15!  It's a real word that rolls of Jenna's tongue the way "sunset" or "syllable" might roll off my own tongue.  The word "Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia" means "the fear of long words".  Well, that is just rude to saddle on one who has said phobia.  The origin and breaking apart of the 15 syllable word are found in this post by Jacob Oleson.

Jenna LOVES long words.  The more syllables it contains, the better the word, in her opinion.  Oh, she is not an avid speller of words, not even phonetically (which Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia appears to be for the most part.  Spelling has never been her thing.  But saying words and understanding their definitions.  Hey, if the word contains more than four syllables, she's all over it. It isn't just a recent thing either.  She has always had a fascination for big words.  

When she was two, she would say the words "Hippopotamus" and "Rhinoceros" as though it was perfect acceptable for a two-year-old to adapt 4 and 5 syllable words into their vocabulary.  I told her she could say "Hippo" and "Rhino" in order to shorten and make them easier to say.  She looked at me as though that was such a foreign concept.  Why would anyone ever replace such beautiful words containing four and five syllables with a shortened nickname that was not as fun to say?

Needless to say, I don't understand where Jenna finds her vocabulary words.  My vocabulary goes to 3 and 4 syllable words like: "purify" and "geriatric" but nothing six to eight syllables.  I think doctors have many syllable words in their vocabulary.  They're always sputing off, "it looks like you have a case of nasopharyngitis or rhinopharyngitis"  Say what?  Oh, that's just fancy talk for "You have a common cold" but the words they use leave you believing that it's something more serious. , I wouldn't have even believed a 15 syllable word existed if Jenna hadn't told me. But then again, many a phobea has many syllables.  I had just never heard of 15 before.