2 September 2006, Saturday

Oy! Books cost a lot of money. And I have to read a whole lot of them this semester. That might be because I am taking four classes, but I could be mistaken. For the most part I am enjoying my classes though. A few of them are really going to stretch my mind. One has me excited to some day continue on and get a Doctorate of Education. Learning is just too much fun to ever give it up. Several of the books that have been assigned to me are ones I would've picked up for "pleasure" reading if I would've known about them before. My wish list with Amazon.com looks a bit strange right now, with some CDs, children's literature, and then books about research on teaching and learning theories. I have odd tastes.

This long weekend is going to be spent relaxing, and reading, and maybe reading some more. That's probably what I'm going to be doing every weekend this semester, long or not.

Football has started again. I'm listening to BYU's first game of the season over the internet right now. Unfortunately, the Mountain West started a great deal that you can only get their games on tv if you have cable this year. I'm not thinking that's such a great deal right now. But at least I can get it on the radio. And, thanks to my dad, I can follow a football game without having to see it. I can picture it in my head. It's been too long since I've been to a live game, not since the beginning of the 2003 season. I need to fix that. And I'll probably do that in November. BYU is playing the University of Utah in Salt Lake this year, and because I am paying tuition to the U right now, I should be able to get student prices for that game. It might be a bit dangerous to sit in the student section of that game wearing blue, but I just can't wear Ute red. I can't bring myself to do that. I really do need to follow up and find out when the high school games are and go to one or two of those as well. Football is just such a great sport.

10 September 2006, Sunday

Yesterday was a great day, in every way but homework. I got a nap. I had a picnic with Melissa and her family to celebrate Tyson getting his associates degree. I got my house straightened up and most of the dishes put away. I had dinner and cake and watched movies with Brian. BYU won their football game against Tulsa very soundly. And it rained, with lots of rain and lots of thunder and lots of lightning.

But I didn't get any homework done. Oh well. Ideally, I'd like to be so on top of my homework that Monday night I read my homework for the next Monday, Tuesday night read the homework for the next Tuesday, and the same with Wednesday and Thursday. I'm not quite there yet. The reading isn't too hard, but when you have around 100 pages of research papers to read for each class each week, it takes a bit of time. At least it's stuff I can enjoy reading for the most part.

And today was Stake Conference, for everyone in Utah County. President Monson, Elder Wirthlin, and Elder Samuelson spoke from the Marriott Center and it was broadcast to our building. It was a very good meeting, and reconfirmed a lot of things I already felt.

Now, if I could get over this incredible congestion that is taking over half my head, I'd be doing a lot better.

17 September 2006, Sunday

There is snow on the mountain and a definite chill in the air. It made me smile yesterday to see the snow. It was so beautiful. Below the snow line the trees are changing colors.

I've reorganized my book review pages a bit. You might not even be able to tell the difference. I've noticed my list of "adult" books was getting very long, so I broke it up into seperate pages by author and then added a page by title. It's just like the children's books have been for a long time. There are a few other internal formating changed too, but those shouldn't be noticeable at all, unless you are strange and like to look at the source code for each page. But you know, we've all got to have a hobbie.

21 September 2006, Thursday

I'm getting my neck electrocuted again next Thursday. I thought I wasn't supposed to fall apart till I was old. When did 28 become old? What struck me as funny was that next Thursday is also picture day at school. I was on valium for last year's pictures because I went home right after for the last round of this. And I'll be on valium again for this year's pictures. Something about that is just really funny. I'm not sure what it is yet though. At least this time when I went to the doctor they knew what to look for and it was just a matter of scheduling the procedure. After I'm done being electrocuted, they want to try ASTYM on my neck. That stuff hurts real bad (they did it on my ankle earlier this year), but I love the results, so I'm actually excited about it.

And thus goes my life. At least until I can trade in this body for a better one.

30 September 2006, Saturday

1 October 2006, Sunday

I love General Conference. This is the first time in the last year and a half that I haven't attended two of the sessions in the Conference Center. This year is also the first year in four years that I haven't attended the General Relief Society session at the Conference Center as well. I enjoy attending Conference there, it has a slightly different feel. But it's been nice to watch them all in my pjs as well. While taking notes yesterday I was able to get some quilting done on the bedspread I've been working on sporadically the last two years. It doesn't seem like I got much done, but it's been good to pull it out again and get some work done on it.

I was also able to spend part of this weekend at my mission reunion and with friends. It has been a very nice weekend. Tomorrow I have to get back to work and back to school though. Time keeps marching on.

6 October 2006, Friday

I collect flutes. Ethnic/culture ones, not concert ones. I have for more than ten years now. I've bought several myself over the years. I bought some while I was in Washington DC from the Smithsonian, Mount Vernon, and Colonial Williamsburg. I bought two while I was in Brasil and one while I was in Mexico. And while my brother was wandering the globe, he brought me back several as well, from Spain, Mozambique, and Hong Kong.

I can play all of them too, almost. I can't quite get a sound out of the larger gourd one that my brother brought back for me. Maybe play is too strong a word for some of it. But I can get a noise out of all the rest of them.

I've always wanted the pipe flutes and other ones that I've seen at all of the Indian Reservatiosn we went to when I was growing up. I just never got around to getting any of them.

There is something about the sound of flutes too that I really love. It's very calming and soothing for me. I'd almost say I like them more than any other wind instrument, and definitely more than the reed instruments. Although a well played brass instrument can be very nice as well.

For several years now they've just been lying on my end table in my living room. Very boring. I wanted to display them better, but wasn't sure how or with what. I thought of several different things. I finally just pulled out a package of sewing pins, stuck the pins in my wall, and rested the flutes on the pins. I like it. They are now much more visible, and it adds a nice dimension to my wall.

It was seven years ago today that I entered the Missionary Training Center to begin my eighteen months as a missionary in the Missão Brasil Curitiba. It really doesn't feel like seven years. Yet so much has happened since then. Those eighteen months have found some way to influence everything I've done since in some way or another. That was an amazing experience. But I don't think I'd want to do it again right now. It was hard.

10 October 2006, Tuesday

Happy Columbus Day yesterday. I spent the day vacuuming. It's amazing how dirty my floor gets. I understand a bit why my mom likes her bagless vacuum. It's fascinating how much stuff it sucks up. I also did dishes and laundry and cleaned my house and made me some real cute lady bug flannel pants. My closet is a bit more organized now too, as is all the sewing works-in-progress that I seem to be collecting. I'm trying to keep all the parts to different things together. So far I'm doing pretty good at that. I might need to get another container or two for the random leftover scraps I always end up with.

Today I'm wearing my flannel pants because I felt I deserved them. I had my second radio frequency lesioning today. I have to keep reminding myself that the results will make this all worth while. Next on the list of things to do for my neck are things like massages and ASTYM physical therapy. That's going to hurt a lot too, but it worked great on my ankle so I know that will be worth it.

And I'm now going to spend the rest of the day in a lortab induced sleep and see how many movies I can sleep through. It's always strange to sleep through movies I've seen several times before. When I fall asleep I keep dreaming the movie and then when I wake up I wonder why the movie isn't any further because I've already "seen" that part. It really messes with the timeline of the movie when I do that.

13 October 2006, Friday

I have some great friends. I really am lucky to know them. Melissa hadn't seen my car the last few days so she called me this evening to make sure I hadn't tried to drive myself to the doctor while I was on valium and crashed and was in the hospital. That made me smile. Sally actually drove me. And she organized her coupons while waiting the hour the doctor was electrocuting me. The number of text messages Sally and I send each other each month always amazes me. And Tanya always makes me smile. I love her dearly. My friends are definitely blessings in my life.

I also have a two inch light green bruise on my neck, and still can't stand to have anything, from my pillow to the collar of my shirt even, brush against my neck without it hurting too much.

14 October 2006, Saturday

It has definitely reached that time of year when I shiver uncontrollably every time I get into a car between sunset and about noon. I don't know exactly why, except that maybe I am a cold blooded creature. But until the heater is up and going, it doesn't matter if I'm wearing a coat and a hat and gloves and a scarf and the whole thing, the moment I sit down in a car I shiver - teeth chattering, shaking, the whole thing. I'm usually okay when I'm outside the car, usually. Give me another month or so and I'll just be cold and shivering when I'm outside. I haven't even had to scrape frost off my car yet and I'm already cold.

15 October 2006, Sunday

Earlier this week I went to the craft store to get some craft wire. Completely forgot the craft wire. But I bought some fun fall stuff on sale and I put together some cute small flower arrangements for my "posse." I still need to go back and get the wire.

18 October 2006, Wednesday

Today was the first time for the season that I had to scrape frost off my car before work. It was also Hawaiian day at school for Red Ribbon Week. Something is not quite right with those two things being on the same day. I wore the shirt I made out of fish material over a turtle neck.

20 October 2006, Friday

Today marks the third anniversary of MissGiggles.com. It started as as place for me to just write a few things about what I was doing. I threw in the book reviews so I'd feel useful. It is now more than 100 pages big, has a photo section, a blog, book reviews, a random list of weird holidays, a history of my family over the last three years. It's really grown. I'm so proud of my little web site. Who knows what changes will happen next.

And today marks another milestone as well. I have had 10,000 official visitors. The counter didn't start at the same time as the site, so I'm not sure how many I had in the first six months. Today has been a good day all around for my site.

27 October 2006, Friday

Halloween is such a great excuse to sew. My costumes are getting better and better every year too, and I'm getting quite a few in my closet I can pull out for random things. Sally needed a costume, so I let her borrow my "Eilonwy" dress. That was three years ago I made that dress. A teacher at school needed a cape for her costume, and I happen to have two, a brown wool one and a blue and green cotton one. Last night was my ward's Halloween party, and I barely got home from class in time to run over to the church to get some pizza, but I had to dress up first. So I quickly threw on my biker chick outfit. The things I have in the back of my closet are quite the many splendid things. Last week I finished making a jack-o-lantern costume for Tanya's baby as well. It turned out real cute if I do say so myself. And I'm almost finished with my costume for this year. I have a party tomorrow night I want to have it done for. I have the four main pieces finished, just one piece left to go. I've spent quite a bit of money on this costume, but I know I'll get a lot of use out of it, either with all the parts together, or used seperately. And, all of this sewing is helping me become a much better sewer. I can do fitted things pretty well now. I still haven't done a fly in pants, but I don't mind collars too much, and zippers (as long as they aren't in the side), aren't that big of a deal at all.

Wednesday night was the first snow of the season. It was pretty much melted by the time the sun came up the next day. But I was giggling watching the huge flakes come down. I love snow. I think it is beautiful. I love the way the world sounds during a snow storm, so quiet and peaceful.

31 October 2006, Tuesday

Here are some premliminary photos of my costume. Miriam Latour took them at the Sweeney Todd sing-along party Saturday night. I wanted wings this year. Everything else was just to fit with the wings. I love this costume. I'll take more pictures later.

4 November 2006, Saturday

Just in case you haven't noticed, there are some new photos I've put up. I added a page of pictures of clothes I've made. It does not include costumes though, just my attempts at making things to wear every day. I also took what I think are beautiful pictures of the fall leaves around my place, and I have a new page just for those. I will try to have more pictures from Halloween up soon.

20 November 2006, Monday

I've been busier than busy lately. I'll try to do a blog or two about it in the next few days. But I just had to get on and say that I cannot physically bring myself to cheer, even a little, for the Utes this week, or any week for that matter. Even though I'm paying tuition to the U right now, my blood is Cougar Blue. I even wore my BYU sweatshirt to class tonight, and I plan to tomorrow night as well.

23 November 2006, Thursday

25 November 2006, Saturday

BYU Won!! Yippy! I had to go work at the fabric store just as half time as starting, but thankfully the manager let us turn the normal store music down and turn on a radio back by the cutting table, so I was able to listen to the rest of the game. It was too close and I was getting very scared. BYU got the ball with just over a minute to go, down by 4. With 3 seconds left they were on the 11 yard line. It was so hard to concentrate on cutting fabric for people. Just one final play. And those 3 seconds went on forever. The quarter back had great blockers because he was given plenty of time to find an open receiver, and ...

Caught for the touchdown!

BYU won, 33 to 31. Whaa!! Hoo!!!

28 November 2006, Tuesday

I got to meet one of my favorite celebrities today. Mark Eubank, the KSL weather man for the last 40 years.

Most people think I was born and raised in Texas. They are partly right. I was raised in Texas, but I was born in Utah. And I remember watching the KSL news with my parents. Dick Nourse, Bruce Lindsay, and Nadine Wimmer did the news, and Mark did the weather.

When I came back to Utah to go to BYU, I kept watching KSL, and the same news people were still there. KSL is the only news station I watch, and Mark Eubank is the only meteorologist I trust. It's obvious he loves the weather, and he makes it easy for others to love it too. I love how he incorporates what the American Indians knew about the weather in his forecasts. I've learned all about fonts and air pressure just from watching his forecasts. And in the winter, you don't even have to hear the forecast to know if it is going to snow the next day - if there is going to be an inch or more in the valleys, he wears a white suit coat. One glimpse and I know what's coming.

His last forecast is tomorrow, so they had an open house tonight to honor him at the station. Brian works for KSL now, running cameras and teleprompters for the 4, 5, 6, and 10 o'clock news. So he got me in. And I got a picture with Mark Eubank. It completely made my day.

29 November 2006, Wednesday

My brother would like to offer the following corrections to my web site.

So I went to your web page for the first time in a while
Corrections: 6 Oct - I got you a flute from India as well. The one from Hong Kong is actually from Macau.

Also, Columbus was a lost little boy and doesn't deserve his own holiday so you should not celebrate it or mention it.

Cheers,
Giles