Cat Fight

Well, here are my two cats, Madison(no tail) and Snickers (calico), fighting over who gets to drink from the faucet first. This ritual happens every morning about 5:45 AM as I am getting ready to go to school. Now, I am not one of those old ladies who dotes on her animals and treats them as children, but I do turn on the faucet for them. The nice thing about the whole situation is that I have two sinks, so I just turn on the other one and then let the cats decide who gets to move.Remember, I am not one to dote on her cats, but I do let them take over my bed at night and turn my king size bed into a single size for me. They have the rest. Now remember, I am not one to dote on my cats, but when Snickers wants to go out at 2:20AM, I get up and let her out. Then at 3:15, when she wants back in, I get up and let her back in. No, No! You can't call me controlled by my cats!!! I wonder why I put their special canned cat food on separate plates for them each morning or buy them special evaproated milk for them to drink? Yikes! The more I reveal the more I do sound like one of those old ladies who spoils her pets.Well, at least I don't have four or five of them like others I know. That's a comforting thought, don't you think?

In With the New and Out With the Old

In my classroom I have one white board and one real blackboard. For the last 10 years I have held on to that blackboard because of what it represents. To me, a school teacher has a blackboard. I never felt I could be a very good teacher if I didn't have the chalkboard to write on. When I was a little girl I always played school. Of course, I had to be the teacher. My parents bought me a blackboard and chalk to use in my pretend classroom.

I am one of only two teachers at Burk who still has a blackboard. So the princpal asked me the other day if I wanted to replace it with a new white board. I told him I had to think about it. The only positive reason to keep it is for the sentimental value. I took a very hard look at that board from a student's persepective. One, you can't read what is written on the blackboard as well as you can on the whiteboard. Two, it way more fun to write on the whiteboard than on the chalkboard. Now from my point of view. One, I am allergic to chalk and so I get to sneezing from the dust. Two, I won't need to have my overhead screen because I can use the white board for that. Three, the white board is smaller than the chalkboard and I will gain some wall space. Four, a white board is much easier to keep clean. No chalk dust.

So, I went back to the principal and told him I would venture into the 21st century and replace the old blackboard with a new white board. Now, I am debating on whether I am going to have to take some days off for grieving when the change is made.

An Address Book?

This week I had a phone call from one of my older cousins who lives in Utah. Dolores is my Aunt Louva's daughter. (my mother's side) She is quite a bit older than I am and I don't remember when the last time was that I saw her. I think it was when I was six or so and had the measles while on vacation visiting her family in Toole,UT. Anyway, she said she was wondering about my Dad and how he was doing. She hadn't heard from him in two Christmases and was concerned. She said she was looking through her address book and came across my name and address. She googled me and got the phone number etc. We had a nice visit and I told her that my Dad was still living in Albuquerque but his short term memory was going, and so he probably had forgotten to send any Xmas cards at all. After our talk, I got to thinking about the status of my family members' addresses. They are on post- its scattered through out the house, or I have torn them off envelopes and they are in a little wooden basket by my desk, or some are on a list in my desk drawer. Bottom line is: they are not in any organized format. So one of my New Year resolutions is to take all those post-its, ripped envelopes, and the list, and compile it into a new address book. I have to admit, going to buy a new book will be fun. Not only do I get a high going into book stores, but I get high going into office supply stores as well. Go figure. I want someone to check on me at a later date to see if I have accomplished this task. If I know I will be accountable to someone, the job will most likely get done!

Shallow and Deep

Today I will write about some very deep thoughts and then some extremely shallow ones. First, the deep.

We had Stake Conference today. Usually I just go to conference out of obligation and/or fear of being struck by lightning. Today was no different. I armed myself with my purse, scriptures, and the new Ensign. All of these I could use if the speakers were boring or their talks were not relevant to me. I sat down in the back (the back meaning; deep in the bowels of the cultural hall). I always sit on an end seat, probably so I can get up and go get a drink or use the restroom and not have to climb over a bunch of legs or kids' toys on the floor. So I sat down and there were about five chairs between myself and the next person. I sat there for a few minutes enjoying being by myself, when I felt a tap on my shoulder and looked up. Standing there was one of my neighbors He is about 65 years old. He asked me if he could sit next to me. I said ok. When he sat down, I asked him where his wife was, and he said she was home sick. Now, I am definitely not in the market for a new companion and so when he sat there and then NO one else came to sit beside him, I panicked. Will strangers think we are together? Will friends think he is hitting on me, or vice versa? Will busybodies run and tell his wife we were together? Will I be receiving a phone call from the Bishop when I get home, wanting to "talk" to me? Will there be a Church Court? How will I explain my excommuniction to my kids? Will I ever see Chuck again? Will we be in different kingdoms? Is it really hot down there?
I'm sure my breathing was labored and my eyes were dilating! Is this what a panic attack is like?

Then the Stake Choir began the opening song, and I woke up! (fooled you, didn't I? ha, ha)

The conference was really wonderful. First of all, one of the speakers was a woman in the Stake YW presidency and a convert. I have had three of her eight kids in my classroom. A few years ago, our stake president challenged each family to write a Family Proclamation. She spoke about how profound her family's was, and how writing it had brought them together and how it had showed love for each other. I started thinking about our family proclamation and what a wonderful experience it was to work together to decide on just what our family stood for and what our eternal goals were. I would like to share it with you.

THE FRENTHEWAY FAMILY PROCLAMATION 1998

Friendly, faithful, followers of Jesus Christ

Repentant, righteous, always remembering Him.

Excellent examples of His love, as we

Nurture one another.

Teachable, thoughtful, thankful for one another.

Humble, helpful, honest, and happy.

Eternally goal seeking.

Willing, warm workers

Accepting, accountable and active,

Yearning for and yielding to the Spirit of God.

I hadn't read it in a long time and it seemed a good thing to review at the beginning of this new year. Another profound thought she presented came from a talk by Dallin Oaks. He said: " At the final judgment, it's not about what we've done in life, but it's about what we've become. Have we become more like the Savior?"

Each and every day, I think back about that day and try to come up with

things that I am grateful for. That thought is on my list for today.

Now for the shallow. I have had a really long three day weekend and I was looking forward to that. It was MLK holiday. But, I have literally wasted the time. I went to get my nails done, went to Target, went to a movie (Atonement- don't spend money on it), bought four tacos at Jack in the Box (they are very greasy and good), watched Pride and Prejudice (1939) on TV, read the People magazine, surfed the Web, watched more TV, slept in until 7AM, ate tons of chocolate, bought a Vanilla Creme at Starbucks (thanks, Rach, for getting me hooked on those), fretted about money and taxes and why my car insurance is so high, killed some weeds in the front yard, transferred photos from my camera into my computer, checked my e-mail 15 times, read the newspaper, washed dishes using the dishwasher, and just enjoyed myself being lazy and doing irresponsible things. I was definitely throwing Chuck's adage about life out the window. You know:" Remember, today is the only day you have." But, what a theraputic and freeing weekend it has been. I will put this frivolity on my list of things to be grateful for, too.

Hoping to fill these boots!

Payday and It's Gone

Well, this was the first week back to school after the Christmas (yes, I'm going to say it) break. My students were very well behaved until Friday. Thank goodness for the weekend.
I got paid on Friday and signed my income over to the air-conditioning guys who just replaced my 15 year old unit. The job took them all week, but I think they did a great job. It seems like each month something comes along which is very expensive and just wrecks the 'ole monthly budget. Now I need to replace my garbage disposal. That may have to wait until next month. I have been trying very hard to not use my credit cards except for travel. It is a personal challenge and so far, two weeks into the new year, I have been doing great.
Many of you know how much I love the movies. In fact, years ago, family members would call me up to give them a movie review. That stopped when Rachael got involved with Sundance and we all know she loves the movies just as much as I. Wonder where that came from? Anyway, here are my movie reviews for this year.

National Treasure- very entertaining, no bad language, no sex, some kissing, a lot of action

The Debaters-great acting, some disturbing lynch scenes, great dialogue, an underdog movie, happy ending, some sex, no bad lang., true story

P.S. I Love You-funny, some sex, bring Kleenex, happy ending, no bad lang. , a chick flick

Juno-funny, great dialogue, great acting, some sex, language is teen age slang and may be offensive if you have forgotten what it was like to be 16 and hormonal, happy ending, probably one of the best I've seen this year (even Zane and Jonathon liked it)

Enchanted- part fairy tale, great music, some kissing, a love story, fun, makes you want to sing and dance, kids will like it

No, I haven't seen Alvin and the Chipmunks. Some one else will have to go and review that one.

I haven't updated you on the Zane man. This week he starts his EMT training. His goal is become a firefighter :) I understand the process is hard in order to get accepted into the fire academy. But, it seems like everyone I talk to has a family member or friend who is doing this job and can help Zane out. He did very well last semester at Chandler-Gilbert Community College. This week he had to be a squeaky wheel and bug the Red Cross to get his CPR card. Apparently, the fax that came through to them didn't print his name out clearly and they just ignored it, instead of trying to find out who it was so they could submit his card to the proper school authorities. He had to drive all the way into north Phoenix (it's like going to Ft. Collins from Cheyenne) to get the card and then had deliver it to the school. But, all is well and he is set to start on Tues.He doesn't live here with me anymore. He lives with a friend not to far away and I see him quite a bit. He gets all of his mail here, does his laundry, and if he wants some food other than Top Ramen or crackers and cheese, he comes here. He is trying to date as many different girls as he can, and so, on Sunday he attends a different singles ward in hope of meeting someone new. When we were in Heber he even went to the singles ward there. Nothing shy about that boy. He has been such a help and support to me. Thanks Zane!

Grandpa Andersen (my Dad) and Buffy

Albuquerque, NM 2008