Fun finds – Page 5 – Letters from Home

Senior Christmas Performances

We have heard a lot of beautiful music at Temple Square and the high school in the past seven days. Here is a sample of Daniel playing piano at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building today.

I love these concerts because they give us time to sit and reflect at Christmas time.

We stopped at the vending machines where you can donate livestock, food, water, and first aid supplies last week. Today my mom came, too. The vending machine had to be restocked as we stood in line. Chickens and goats are very popular items.

A small solution

These coasters make me happy because they are pretty and they will help us not run out of water glasses by 10 am every day this summer. I searched many fine stores over the years for coasters I liked, but finally found these at Walmart this week. I placed a name on each coaster and now we are officially ready for summer. That is all for today.

Confession

I am addicted to this show. It’s my reward and my escape. I almost didn’t watch it because the editing in the first episode created so much tension that I was nauseous. Then I told myself it was just a bunch of people baking breads and cakes, and the drama was just contrived. I haven’t gained any baking knowledge or skills from this show; I watch it for the people. My favorite bakers are the ones who either keep their humor or remain calm under pressure and tough scrutiny. I love watching people be resilient, how about you?

These were fun.

Richard reminds me each year that one gift we give to each child should keep their hands busy on Christmas day. We gave these to the older boys who are no longer asking for Legos. I found these at Deseret Book. They were challenging and fun. They are not Lego brand, so I held my breath and waited for the complaints. There were a few grumbles about the instructions and that they are harder to fit together than Lego brand. Since we don’t plan to use the blocks for other projects, they are fine for building a model to display. I think they are charming.

In a time before texting

We were reading the Bible as a family on Monday night and Mark was using my childhood scriptures. He found this note in the pages, written to my friend Thora when I was his age.

This note is one of the earliest surviving documents of the first time I decided to change my name to Angela. Back and forth, Angie and Angela have taken turns my whole life.

It also shows how I had an early interest in animals, which promptly disappeared after I finished a degree in Biology with a Zoology emphasis.

It shows the development of my handwriting style. I think I was imitating someone popular, who was actually very mean.

When Mark found this note he just laughed and handed it to Richard. I cringed and laughed and sent a picture of it to my friend Thora, who still has cute hair, while I still wonder if anyone likes mine. It awakened all sorts of preadolescent demons in my mind.

Be careful what you leave in your scriptures. You never know who will find it.

😉

September favorites

This (edited) movie:

I watched it twice. And liked it both times.

These books:

It’s about aging and dying, medicine and home. It is an important and good read.

This was good because it shatters the idea that we need to build powerful friendships before we can invite people to come to Christ.

This audiobook:

We actually listened to this in August but I keep remembering outrageous quotes. Some sentences you just need to hear to believe. The narrator also has a great Han Solo voice. This is actually not worth your time…unless you are on a long road trip with a preteen, in which case, it is gold.

A good movie

Richard was going to work a few hours from home today, and I just finished reading the book, Far From the Madding Crowd. I decided to watch the movie by myself on Vid Angel. He sat down to watch the first scene with me and immediately liked what he saw. Work was forgotten and we spent the afternoon watching this beautiful adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s novel together.

It’s good, good, good. It is certainly not as rich as the book, but the cinematography is as beautiful as Thomas Hardy’s descriptions. Most of the lead actors are just right, especially Gabriel Oak and Bathsheba Everdeen.

Favorite Things July 2016

(Bad phone photo quality; good things)

World Market is a new frontier for me. I go there to sniff the soaps, admire the vibrant colors on textiles, and handle pretty dishes that I do not need. This is my favorite soap which they sell there. I just keep it in my room for its scent.

My boys collect little things and want to display them. This shelf is a good compromise between Mark’s desire to have a long display over flat surfaces and my desire to put the collections in boxes under the bed.

For 25 years I have wanted pinking shears. I found these at Ikea in the fabric section and they are sturdy, sharp, and only cost about $8!

Mom, there’s a stuffed rooster in the drawer.

My dad hid this for laughs in a chest of drawers we inherited. And we did laugh, until we realized one of us was going to have to get it out of there.

Do you see the dismembered talon? I picked that up with a Kleenex. And I call myself a zoology major…

The Spencer and Stewart tradition of hanging stuffed pheasants over doorways will likely end with this generation.

(Whuuuurghaaaack)

Aquarium

IMG_20151113_122903 — The jellyfish were my favorites

Mark and I had another Friday of wonder together. I love aquariums, so I can’t believe it took us this long to see the aquarium down the street. I found myself on the floor in my dress, trying to spy new creatures and I also inadvertently dipped my coat sleeve in the water in an attempt to touch a ray as it swam past me. How childish to forget my coat for such an opportunity. How fun.

Mark and I have been working on having adventures this year as part of our study of Utah. I never went to 4th grade, so I missed out on Utah studies. I’ve felt this loss of a proper Utah education every time someone mentions a county in Utah and I have no idea where it is. Well, we are fixing this, one field trip at a time. The past two weeks we have focused on things closer to home. However, we have traveled to some interesting places this year. Mark has a map that we populate with photos in the shapes of the counties he has visited in 4th grade. We have more pictures to put on the map, but you get the idea.