My Birthday In Portland

(Not my picture)

Not much new going on here. I had a nice birthday. My good friend Leta called to wish me a happy birthday and asked if I had any plans for the weekend. I told her that we had celebrated my birthday the day before (we had gone out to dinner and a movie) because J had to work all weekend. She asked that if I did not have anything going on would it be okay for her to come for a visit. I was thrilled! I love it when friends come! She drove down that night (Friday) and spent the night. Saturday we had a lazy morning, then the fun began. We stopped in to visit Stan and Samira, then drove southwest of Portland so Leta could meet her new 3 week old niece. We then headed back into the city so I could stop by Powell's City of Books and pick up something I had been wanting. We got lost (just as I promised her we would) and enjoyed seeing some of downtown Portland. We finally found Powell's and good parking. We ate at a noodle place right across the street from it and where we parked. After the bookstore we decided to try to find a little chocolate shop that a gal at work had told me about. We walked a round the block the wrong way and got to see more of Portland, but finally found Cacao's.

(inside Cacao's, also not my picture)

They sell very expensive fancy chocolate, which I did not buy, but they also sell drinking chocolate. The lady there said that most US hot chocolate is about 30% chocolate and 70% dairy, where as European drinking chocolate is half and half chocolate to dairy. We each got a tiny little mug of it (shot size) and were both pleasantly surprised by how rich and good it was. We then walked back to the car. So here are 2 ways we knew we were in Portland. That day we saw two tandem bikes. Also there were 4 guys standing on the street corner, right by where we parked, that were passing around a bong. As I walked by them I could not help but smile a little because a cop just drove by and they did not seem at all concerned. Also, as I passed by them one of the guys, they were all surprisingly well dressed might I add, said, "don't worry, it is for medicinal purposes only." I just nodded and got in the car where Leta locked the door and we immediately drove off. It doesn't get much more Portland than that! Anyway, that evening J brought home a cheesecake and strawberries for my birthday. What a great guy! We had a nice evening and Leta went home the next morning. So besides work, scouts, and church/sunbeams, that is pretty much what has been going on.

Help This Digital Pack Rat

I have been trying to do a little digital house cleaning. My computer is only 74 GB and I am down to 6 GB available. Does anyone have any suggestions on ways to keep from becoming a digital pack rat?

Also, does anyone have any ideas on having a blog printed as a book? I have heard of people doing it, but wondered if any of you have actually had it done. If you have, got any suggestions? Like who did you have it printed through, or any layout ideas? I think it might be a good way to keep the last years ramblings as a journal, since I stink at actually keeping a real journal.

I would love to get some feedback on this, so if you have anything to say, please comment!

A beautiful poem sent to me by a friend. It espressed my sentiments so exact that I just had to share.

The name "Sunbeam" fits 'em. They can scatter quicker than light particles!

Today was my first day back at my ward. Not only have I been out of town, but because of J's crazy schedule, for the last year (or rather on and off the last 3 years) we have had to attend a different ward. Now with the start of the new year our ward is meeting at 9:00 so we can go to it again. (By the way this has all be cleared with the bishop, we are not completely apostate... yet.) Well since we are back and I will be there on Sundays, they decided that I could have another calling. So today was my first day teaching the sunbeam class. When they asked me to do this calling I said I would of course, but what I really wanted to say was, "You do know you already have me over the 9 year old cub scouts right? And you do know that I don't have kids so I have NO idea what I am doing right? Are you sure you want me to be in a position where I can corrupt so many young minds all at once?" Like I said, I did not say that, but was sure thinking it. So today I got to meet the little darlings that I will get to help learn the gospel for the next year. And darling they are. I must admit that I am headed into unknown territory for me. These are the issues that came up today.
1) Age: I thought sunbeams were 4... I have taught the 4 year olds before.... I can do 4 year olds... my sunbeams are just out of nursery and one just turned 3 this week. There is a BIG difference between just-turned-3 and a 4 year old. When did sunbeams get so young?!?
2) Language: There is one little girl that I can't understand a word she says. We played a getting to know you game and I asked her what her favorite animal was and she said, "EEeerrR!" I said, "Oh! A bear?" Then she said, "Uh.... hu" and gave me a look like I was the one speaking another language. I still don't know what her favorite animal is, but I can tell from her facial expressions when I am not interpreting her right. I guess I will have to start learning the language of the 3 year old. Too bad that is not part of the manual.
3) Social: So something we all know: a 3 year old has different social skills than other people. The problem is that I don't have kids and am not around them much, so when they do things that are socially not acceptable I tend to want to just fall on the floor laughing. I forget that I am the one that is supposed to be taking care of the situation. So today when we were sitting in opening exercises and the 5th child away from me on the pew starts loudly and repeatedly kissing the 6th child away from me I was at a bit of a loss. First the rapid fire kissing was so loud that I am sure the entire primary could hear it. Second we are in pews and there was no way I could climb over children 1-4 to get to child 5 to defend the now yelling #6. I quickly learned why they tend to call two people as leaders to this class. This again was reinforced during class when one child announced that she had to go to the bathroom and then they all started yelling that they did too, and stampeded for the door. It is amazing how quickly things can go from orderly (all sitting in their chairs with arms folded and listening) to complete chaos!
I am really looking forward to this calling. There are moments between the language issues and the social issues that are very precious. Like during singing time the chorister asked the children to close their eyes while they sang the song about Christ so they could just listen to the words. To see a whole row of children squinting just as hard as they can rocking back and forth and peaking at each other while singing a song that they only knew a few of the words to was just so sweet.
So to conclude this post, that has wildly gotten out of hand in length, can I ask one thing?
If anyone out there has ideas on appropriate ways to fill extra time during a church lesson directed toward a 3 year old, could you PLEASE•PLEASE•PLEASE send them my way???

65 Books In 2009

Last January I decided to set a goal to read 50 book in 2009. I am happy to say I not only met it, but surpassed my goal by 15 books! I know this is a lot of books and you are all wondering how I could have done it... well I cheated. I have become best friends with my iPod and the audio book section at my local library. I have also warn out three pairs of ear buds this year. I have never been a good listener, and auditory learning has never been my preference. I wanted to improve on my listening skills, and boy-oh-boy, have I ever! I can't say I will ever set a reading goal like this again, (besides, I will probably never have the time to read like this again anyway) but that is one of the reasons I did this now. I am looking forward to this year of taking it slow and enjoying my literary endeavors a little more. Sometimes this goal has been like eating cheesecake without chewing it. Some of the books I literally just choked down and did not enjoy at all. Reading really is something wonderful, but rather than just enjoying it I have been gulping it down.
I also want to say how awesome it was experiencing the Lilly Library while vising IN, and being able to hold some amazing first addition classics. What a perfect way to finish this goal and to start off the new year.

So here are my top five new favorite books of the year:
Sense and Sensibility- Jane Austen
Emma- Jane Austen
The Hunger Games- Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire- Suzanne Collins
Sick Girl Speaks- Tiffany Christensen
(I've read all the Jane Austen books before but never liked these two much. I always preferred Pride and Prejudice, but my taste has changed, and now I can't stand P&P and love S&S.)

Also, I really want to thank all of you who have mailed, loaned, or suggested good books for me to read! I have learned not to waste my time on books that have not been suggested to me by people I know and trust, and who know my taste. Also, if you are not on goodreads.com, you should be. This is where I got many of my suggestions from friends on what to read.
And Mae, I still have a bunch of your books that I will send back soon. Just let me know if I have kept them too long. I know I have had A Tangled Web (by L.M. Montgomery) for over a year... It is just SO dang boring I keep it by my bed and just read it to put me to sleep. It has helped with many a night when I thought I would be plagued with insomnia! I am on page 162 of 256... I WILL finish it this year... perhaps that should be my new goal.... just finish that book and get it back to you.

Highlights

Today Ryan showed us some more of the treasures here in Bloomington. And despite the temperatures being anywhere from 5-27º we had a good time.This gargoyle is holding a shield that has I•U on it.To start out he took us to the Indiana University campus where both he and Juls have studied. He showed us some of the highlights and here are pictures from those.One of our stops (my favorite by far) was at the Lilly Library. They have a collection of rare books that I think could probably even impress an literate person, and for someone like me who loves books it is one of the closest things I have felt to living out a real dream. We started out looking at an amazing display of puzzles. And by that I mean all kinds of puzzles, from all over the world. This ball really amazed me. There were also lots of boxes with hidden ways to open them and many other unique things. There were even a few rubik's cubes from different cultures. It was very interesting. We kind of hurried through this room though so we could move on to the rare books.We started out being able to hold a real Oscar award won for a film in the 40's. It was surprisingly heavy. We were then shown a collection of 25 of the world's smallest books. I wish I had had a magnifying glass with me! We next looked at a document signed by Queen Isabella of Spain. It was in Spanish, so of course I could not read it, but we were told it was about buying and selling cloth. We then got to hold a first addition printing of the Book of Mormon. Next they brought out a first addition of Persuasion and Northanger Abby. Next I held a first addition of Sense and Sensibility. As I opened it I was filled with complete wonder of where these books had come from, who had bought them, who all had read them, and how the library ended up with them. I also have to admit that as I read the Jane Austen books I was instantly sucked into that time period. They begged to be read in a horse drawn carriage with a British accent. I did not have the horses or carriage, but I did fake a little accent as I read some of the lines. Next we got to see a copy of the Merchant of Venice that was printed in 1600... that is when Mr. Shakespeare himself was still alive!!! And yes, if that was not cool enough we did go on. We saw a book that was all printed on velum in 1482. All the embellishments were hand painted. It was a Ptolemy geography book, and in Latin I think so I could not read it, but it was still WAY cool! I had never touched something that old before.

We continued around campus enjoying the sights. I have to say that the squirrels there are ginormous! They look more like marmots.

Ryan also took me to a Tibetan monetary. We just drove around, but I have never seen a Tibetan monastery before.... have you?Next we drove to Lake Monroe to skate around on the ice. I think the worst way I could die (besides slow torture) would be falling through thick ice and freezing and drowning to death, so even though it was very solid, I did not go out far. It was very neat though, I have never been on such thick ice before. The rocks you see are ones people have thrown out on the ice. It is such a neat sound when something hits the ice, it reverberates all across the lake like a drum.

And of course here are today's shots of my favorite little man.

I am blogging while I am waiting up to give him his 2am feeding so I hope what I wrote all makes sense. With the time difference and how late it is here, I hope I am remembering everything!

I know, I am totally picture happy with Barec, but he is just so darn cute can my blame me?!
Well, this is not all that we did today. We also reorganized and cleaned out Jul's pantry, and ate an amazing dinner. Last nights feast was Puerto Rican made by Juls and tonight was Ryan's pork, polenta, and Swiss chard. In the evenings we have been playing games until we are all too tired to continue. What a fabulous day!

In I.N.

I am just going to post pictures because I want to go enjoy being here and not waste time blogging!

McCormic Creek