The Olympics! (and quilting)

8 August 2008, 11:03 pm by Giggles
Categories: Happy Things, Olympics, Quilting/Sewing/Knitting/Crafting

The Opening Ceremonies were great tonight. The drum segment was amazing. The musicality in their voices and the drums was just captivating.

I loved the HUGE LCD screen. And the painting that all the athletes put their foot prints on, what a great thing!

I want a dress like the one the lady wore when she was standing on top of the platform carried by the guys underneath. It was something about the silk road. The greens and yellows on that were gorgeous.

I love how the Parade of Nations couldn’t be alphabetical simply because there is no alphabet. And actually, I enjoyed the commentary during the Parade of Nations too, that was some fun interesting information. I like finding out what nations have just one or two athletes and cheering for them. I probably won’t see any of those athletes again.

I thought it was real funny that the Cayman Islands all e-mailed NBC and told them not to go to commercial after Canada so that those watching the satellite feed wouldn’t miss their country. But the Cayman Islands came before Canada (a couple of commercial breaks too). So they went to commercial right after the Cayman Islands entered, but you still got to see them.

That is a huge stadium, or there are some real small countries, if there are a couple of nations competing that could fit their entire population in the Birds Nest.

The “running” around the screen up at the top with the torch was beautiful. I love how they used scrolls throughout the whole thing. Those fireworks are the best I have ever seen (and why wouldn’t they be, China invented them).

And I have to say that many of the Olympic themed commercials have me cracking up.

Good luck athletes!

The quilting – I have my spool quilt up on frames again. The idea is to get as much, if not all, of it quilted by the closing ceremonies. I have a lot of quilting to do over the next 17 days. Wish me luck in my large undertaking.

1 Shared thought

Maturity

8 August 2008, 1:29 pm by Giggles
Categories: Education, Life, Venting

Development theories are many. Many of them acknowledge the influence of the social community that surrounds the individual and the large role the community plays in the development of the individual. But those interactions between the individual and the society must be between the individual and experts, adults, people who are further developed than the individual. If the individual is only interacting with others at their own developmental level, they will not progress. They will hold each other more or less in that area and not help each other move forward.

There are also issues now about how we are delaying the entrance into adulthood by our youth through a variety of situations. While we legally say you are an adult at the age of 18, college and other issues are delaying the change from childhood to adulthood. I think that is part of why I think it is cool to be 30 now. There is no doubt that I am not a kid any more. At this point I am definitely a grown up. Yet why is there such a large gap (12 years) between being a legal adult and feeling as if people have no choice but to accept me as an adult now?

I think that part of the delay is the desire to protect people from their own mistakes and struggles. We hold people back from full maturity in an effort to keep them from hurting. But by doing that we are denying them the opportunity to grow from those mistakes and struggles, to take responsibility for what they are doing and own up to their actions. Prolonging childhood and delaying the entrance into the adult world well into the 20s does not benefit the person, and it hinders society as well. We need responsible, mature adults, not irresponsible, immature not-quite adults.

For 5+ years I was part of a group of people that ranged in age from around 20-35, with one or two outliers on both sides of the curve. These people were generally students or had just finished college and were just getting started in the “real world.” The group set up forced the members to take responsibility for themselves. There were no older adults there to take ultimate control and act as a surrogate parent so that the members could continue to play and goof-off well into their late 20s. If the members of the group did not do it, it did not happen. They had to make their own choices about what was right and what was not acceptable without having someone standing over them to guide them.

Now I find myself part of a similar group with a similar age range. The age might be more 18-30 now, with a few outliers on the top of the curve. However, the age is pretty much the same. These people are also generally students and just starting out in the “real world.” Yet the similarities between the two groups end there. This group has those surrogate parent figures standing over them taking responsibility and making all the tough decisions. Therefore, they continue to play and goof-off and appear not to accept responsibility for what they are doing. It is not the real world for them. It is just pretend. This group, rather than help propel the members into adulthood, is delaying their maturation and full inclusion in to the adult world. At a stage in life when they need to finally be stretching their wings and falling at times and realizing the consequences that can come from their decisions, both good and bad, they are being cushioned and allowed to continue acting as teenagers well into their late 20s. The group, rather than providing a service and helping these people, is providing a great disservice.

At least they provide an interesting venue to study human nature.

2 Shared thoughts

Two Words

7 August 2008, 2:13 pm by Giggles
Categories: Meme

Taken from Heidi’s blog because I thought I should do something that didn’t require a whole lot of thought. And because I’m procrastinating doing laundry.

Have fun and try not to use the same answers as the person before you!Remember you can only use 2 words!

1. Where is your cell phone? – mouse pad
2. One tattoo? – never know 😉
3. Your hair? – wonderfully straight
4. Your brother? – smart kid
5. Your sister? – amazing person
6. Your favorite color? – green, blue
7. Your dream last night? – oddly nothing
8. Your favorite beverage? – fun lemonades
9. Your dream/goal? – live life
10. The room you’re in? – front room
11. Your ex? – strange friend
12. Your fear? – moths, loneliness
13. Where do you want to be in 10 years? – somewhere exciting
14. Where were you last night? – hot tub
15. With who? – Shoe Guy
16. Muffins? – I should
17. One of your wish list items? – quilt room
18. Where you grew up? – El Paso
19. The last thing you did? – folded clothes
20. What are you wearing? – lounge clothes
21. Your TV? – works better
22. Your pets? – saguaro cactus
23. Your computer? – works okay
24. Your life? – rarely dull
25. Your mood? – tad confused
26. Missing someone? – missing something
28. Something you’re not wearing? – socks, shoes
29. Favorite Place? – peaceful places
30. Your summer? – storms, quiet
31. Love someone? – of course
32. Your favorite shape? – circle, dodecahedron
33. Last time you laughed? – last night
34. Last time you cried? – can’t remember
35. Who will repost this? – other people

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Confession

6 August 2008, 10:17 am by Giggles
Categories: Education, Family, Questions

I’m a bit confused why this caused such a big fuss, but it did.

A friend asked for one sentence confessions, so I said “I want to be a highly educated mom when I grow up.” What is so controversial about that? I have no idea. What is wrong with the world that it is necessary to defend your choice to stay at home and be a mom? Why is wanting to be a mom such a strange confession? And why is qualifying it by saying I want to be a highly educated mom such a strange qualifier?

I am currently working on a Ph.D. When I finish I would be prepared and qualified to teach at the university level and do educational research. And who knows. I might end up doing that.

But I’d rather be just a mom.

Which then sparked a whole other controversy when one person said there’s no such thing as “just a mom.” Yes, there is. If you take it in context. In this context it means that I don’t want to be doing anything else. I’m not one of those people who wants try to work and have a family at the same time. I don’t need my business card to say “mom, professor, researcher…” I just want it to say one thing, “mom.”

Yes, I want my degrees. Yes, I’m proud of the work I’ve done to get them and with them. Yes, I enjoyed my time teaching elementary school. And yes, I’d enjoy being a professor and researcher.

But if I get the chance to be a mom, I’ll do just that. And I won’t care what other people think about it. But I might stop every now and then and wonder why they think it is such a big deal.


(highly educated and with my mom)

1 Shared thought

Memories

4 August 2008, 8:14 am by Giggles
Categories: Meme

Saturday night I wrote a blog about how memories and lembranças are some of the best gifts. Which is a perfect lead in to another sort-of meme. This one I’m taking from my friend Mikey’s blog.

There are two rules to this one:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn’t matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember! Although if you can think of your first memory of me, I might give you some brownie points.

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you leave a memory on my blog, I’ll go see if you are doing this on your blog and leave a memory for you. If you don’t want to do it on your blog, I’ll get a memory to you some other way, like maybe another comment on my blog. 🙂

I’m interested to see what people remember about me. Just keep it clean, my mom reads my blog. 😉

2 Shared thoughts

The ABCs of Me

2 August 2008, 11:25 pm by Giggles
Categories: Meme

I saw this on my friend Karie’s blog and realized it’s been a while since I did a meme. I even have a category for them now. So here it goes. Her husband has one on his blog I’m going to give a go at here soon too.

A is for age: I’m 30. That still seems weird. But I think I like it.

B is for burger of choice: Lately it’s been bacon burgers.

C is for the car I drive: A Ford Taurus named Squid.

D is for your dog’s name: We have had four dogs in our family. Rusty was definitely Anjuli’s. So I’ll say Fred.

E is for essential item you use every day: I think I’m going to have to say the computer for this one.

F is for favorite TV show at the moment: At the moment I’m watching “So You Think You Can Dance.” But there are several I’m waiting to start again come Fall.

G is for favorite game: I like Nertz. Or Fluxx.

H is for home state: Right now I’m from Arizona. Home is where I live.

I is for instruments you play: I’ve played the flute for many years, but that was many years ago. And I can get through the piano a bit, but I definitely need more practice. I’d really like to practice, I just don’t have a piano available right now.

J is for favorite juice: I like orange juice for just plain juice. But I love all the different varieties of lemonade I’ve found in different places too. I had a pomegranate mint one last week that delicious.

K is for whose bum you’d like to kick: Can’t really think of anyone in particular, so I’ll just say stupid people. Although the person who lives near me and makes my apartment smell like smoke comes to mind as well.

L is for last restaurant at which you ate: We went to Panda Express tonight. But I got to go to Tucanos a week ago. I absolutely love that place.

M is for your favorite Muppet: Must be Kermit.

N is for number of piercings: Just one in each ear. And most people don’t even notice because I rarely use them.

O is for overnight hospital stays: Other than when I was born, nothing yet. Both my tonsils and my wrist were out patient procedures.

P is for people you were with today: Today I spent the afternoon and evening with Brett. He had to pay up on a bet I won. 🙂42D

Q is for what you do with your quiet time: I like to read. Or sleep. Or quilt.

R is for biggest regret: Whenever I think of things like this, there are a few experiences I think I would’ve rather not had, but I can also see a lot of things I learned from them, so I’m not sure I really have any big regrets.

S is for status: Status of what?

T is for time you woke up today: Some time around 9am. I had a party last night.

U is for what you consider unique about yourself: I’m all unique!

V is for vegetable you love: Tomatoes. I love tomatoes. I love the smell of a tomato plant. I love fresh tomatoes from the garden. A sandwich or hamburger or taco is made 100 times better with a tomato.

W is for worst habit: It’s either procrastination or my sleep schedule. But the latter is probably tied in with the former and I just procrastinate going to bed.

X is for x-rays you’ve had: Knee, more than once. Foot, more than once. Ankle, more than once. Back. Neck. Wrist.

Y is for yummy food you ate today: Birthday cupcakes. Orange chicken.

Z is for zodiac: Leo.

Ready? Go. It’s your turn.

1 Shared thought

Gifts

2 August 2008, 12:12 pm by Giggles
Categories: Gospel, Happy Things

I threw myself a birthday party last night and invited a couple of friends over to help me celebrate. It was a lot of fun. I’ll have pictures up later.

I now live about an hour from my best friend from college. She and her family live in Wilcox. Tucson is the big city they have to come to when they want anything. She is 7 months older than me. How we met is a fun story in coincidences for another time.

She left on her LDS mission to Texas in January of 1999. I left on mine to Brasil in October of 1999, half way through hers. We wrote each other weekly for the whole 27 months that at least one of us was serving a mission. For her birthday after I got back I compiled all 100+ letters she had written me into a binder for her to have and gave that to her.

Last night she gave me a binder with all the letters I wrote her. I spent an hour or so flipping through it and reading bits and pieces. There’s the letter I wrote when our dog, Fred, died. I cried again missing him. When I got to the MTC I sent her a quick note telling her what my missionary name tag said, and that I could almost say it. That made me smile. I enjoyed seeing my English get real bad from one end of the binder to the other as I’d been speaking Portuguese for longer and longer. And the letter I sent her when the hurricane hit where she was in Texas, that made me laugh. Talk about funny coincidences.

From the time I was 11 until I started my mission I wrote daily in a journal. Parts of that are lost as I kept my journal on the computer for a while and that computer crashed. But I have a very good record of my life for those 10 years. While I was in Brasil though, I did not do well at all at keeping a journal. The best record I have of my time there is the letters I wrote to my mission president, my family, and my friend. Without those letters, many of the things I did, many of the lessons I learned, would be lost.

There is a word in Portuguese Рlembran̤a. It means a remembrance, a souvenir, a memory. There are objects in my life that act as lembran̤as. They remind me of other things I have done. Gifts that are lembran̤as have thought and meaning to them that serve as a reminder of other things. It is an object that stands in place of the memory.

The best gifts aren’t necessarily things. Memories, lembranças, are the best gifts. And I have some wonderful ones in my life. I’m so glad I recorded so many of them somewhere.

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