Joys of Packing

Update on the Utah Move

People have been asking, so I will fill you in here:

• We plan on sticking around in Santa Barbara until December 20th at which time we will hop on through Vegas on the way to Orem where the kids and I will stay.  Steve will come back to SB the first week of January, finish cleaning and be here to greet our moving truck on the 6th and join us in Utah.
• We will be living in the basement of my in-laws home until the end of the schoolyear and then we will be finding our own place in June
• Steve's parents are going on sabbatical to Austria from February-June so we will be co-habitating with them for only a few months prior to their departure
• The basement, for those who do not know, has approximately four times the square footage of our apartment.  That is just the basement.  It includes a full kitchen (with a dishwasher) and a laundry room so we will not have to take up space in his parent's place.
• The kids will be attending a local elementary school in Orem that has a bilingual program--but only 2-6 grades, so Gillian will have to flip back to English for a few months prior to enrolling in the program.  But we couldn't get her in anywhere else because apparently there are a ton of 1st graders trying to get into all of these programs.
• No we do not have appropriate shoes for the winter, we will be purchasing them along with some other items when we move.

The following items are available free for anyone in SB who is interested:

• A loft bed complete with a dresser and a shelving unit. The drawers sometimes don't close all the way, but we have lived with it for two years and it has worked fine
• A king-sized bed and mattresses, only 12 years old.  We will include a foam mattress topper that is only a year old, or you can claim just the mattress topper
• A rolltop desk
• A bunch of stuffed animals
• Several games with missing pieces
• Two broken bookshelves
• A futon that pulls out to make a bed.  Please claim this one immediately before my husband tries to insist we bring it with us.
• Dinner plates and bowls that do not match.  Also a bunch of unmatched silverware.

You can stop drooling now and hit me up on the blog or via email with your request

Melee in the Cafeteria

On a recent site visit (which I usually don't blog about out of respect for my schools but got permission from the director who I totally adore) I heard the following announcement come over the loudspeaker in a panicky voice:

"All teachers immediately report the cafeteria, there is a huge fight happening, all teachers we need your help now!"

As we approached the cafeteria, a multitude of police officers (who btw were using profanity and smoking themselves) came into break up the mob.  A teacher had already attempted to break up one of the three fights by mashing a cream-filled powdered donut into the face of one of the students.  He kept swinging so she broke her collar bone but 7 people ended up with a powdery white substance all over.

The main fight was started by a young lady who was fighting with another girl.  When the police came and attempted to detain the instigator , the perp's mother, who apparently worked in the cafeteria, attempted to knock out one of the police officers to defend her daughter.

Needless to say, her employment was terminated immediately.

As we walked away from the cafeteria, another announcement was made over the intercom system:

"All students immediately report to class, any students found in the hallway will be leaving with the police."

Good times.

Lifestyles of the Rich and Their Servants

If you had enough money to buy five homes and have a set of servants for each home, would one of them be placed with a view like this?

With a swimming pool like this?

In the same 'hood as Oprah?

Would you hire a personal chef who can pop stuff like this out at a minute's notice?

I think I would.


Gillian has a friend in her class whose father is the personal chef of a wealthy family and his wife is the maid.  They live in the "servant's quarters" of the house with their daughter and they live to serve their "patrons" when they are in town.  When not in town, they don't work.  So I guess this person has enough money to keep four servants employed full-time at this particular house.

I didn't take any pictures inside the main house in case the octogenarian owners surf the web and fire their poor servants for letting us in the house, but it was interesting to see how the other half live..

Honesty, it was pretty tacky in the decor department.  They had a bunch of cowboy portraits that were totally uncoordinated and they had spent a lot of money doing it.  The house had expensive carpet and doors (the doors seemed to be covered in some kind of soft suede) and they had a Picasso.  The one thing about the house that really had me impressed was the vast dinnerware sets they had.  There were over 20 complete sets from all over the world: Morocco, Italy, Switzerland, etc. and apparently they insist on having their food served on a different set every night.

They served us up our own four course meal that was truly delectable and we really enjoyed getting to know the couple.  Little French chef and Mexicana hospitality, what more can one ask for?

From what we understood the patroness treats her servants like Lucille Bluth might so it sounded like a demeaning job, but to look at this view every night might be worth it.

You Impress Me

There are a lot of impressive things that people do.  People like you, people that I know and people that inspire me to be better at the things that I do.

Yet I won't be replicating your actions because it is beyond my capacity.  But I want you to know that I really, really admire the things you do and in parallel universe I would do them too.  But I won't for obvious reasons-- that I am not motivated to do them.  But I wish I were.

So here are the things you do of which I am in awe yet will not be copying:

1.  Run marathons (even a half marathon blows me away)
2.  Show up on time to church every single Sunday
3.  Throw themed and fancy birthday parties
4.  Maintain a religious, 5 day weekly exercise routine
5.  Amazing photography (if you own a zoom lens you probably qualify)
6.  Professional cake decoration
7.  Eat small portion sizes on a daily basis
8.  Mop your kitchen floor nightly
9.  Have kids participating on sports teams (the one that I am actually motivated to do but have no idea on how to get accomplished)
10.  Artful decorating of your home

Most of you do more than one of these things which is even more impressive.  Thanks for being a source of inspiration to me and all those you know.

Sweetness

G: Mama I really, really want to make this box to give to my teacher.

Dad: Well, why don't you wait until Christmas and you can put your present in there?

G: I will just put in this magnet I made in preschool. And can I have some granola too?

Dad: Just wait until Christmas...

G: I just want to give it to her now. Because no one listens to her and I feel really sorry for her.

Losing Loved Ones

As I get older I know these kinds of things will happen more and more... but I woke up this morning to some truly tragic news about Megan Smith, a girl that I babysat when I was in high school.  She passed away after a four month battle with Leukemia that was discovered hours before giving birth to her first little baby who was taken away from her to begin immediate treatment. The story of Megan is particularly tragic because of her youth but also because she has always been a joyful soul.  Her siblings are unique and tremendous people, her older brother Nathan being a wonderful friend to me when we were both in the youth program.

Her mom, Pam, has been special to me since the moment I met her.  When I was 15 and went to church for the first time, Pam was there giving a lesson on the importance of journals.  Something about her, the way she talked, the way she laughed, the way she explained things just made me fall in love with her.  I eventually started babysitting her kids, more than anything as an opportunity to just hang out with her family.  Each time I go home to Sonora I get a chance to visit with her and we have developed a special relationship over the years.  I can't tell you enough how much she means to me.

I could also say a lot about her husband Doug --  He is a judge and it suits him perfectly.  He is wise and balanced, kind and loving, and believes in fairness.  Doug would sometimes send me cassette tapes on my mission chatting about this and that-- in Spanish--to encourage me on my mission.  He also wrote me a letter of recommendation that helped me get some scholarships and acceptance into BYU.  He has taken to baking a particular kind of cookies for our family each time we visit Sonora and I will always enjoy his clever thinking and sense of humor. I hope to see them at Thanksgiving.

I love Doug and Pam tremendously and I hope they feel love and peace as they fight the sadness this inevitably brings to them.  They were so proud of their special daughter and truly this will be an lasting pain for them.  My prayer is that their sorrow will be quieted by a hope of a world to come that is without physical pain or sadness.