Yep, I'm an old-fashioned girl. I love homemaking arts and being at home. My favorite books are the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I can't decide which is my favorite--Little House in the Big Woods or Farmer Boy. I enjoy these two books in particular because they have so many details of farm life--the work of a farm, butchering, making candles, making fabric, making cheese, smoking meat, etc. etc. So I decided I'd do a book review chapter-by-chapter of Farmer Boy.
FARMER BOY, chapter 1
Almanzo's clothes are described. How the wool that made the fabric came from his father's sheep and what his mother used to dye the wool. I bet the only thing that was "store-bought" were the buttons.
They walked a mile and a half to school. In the snow. Deep snow. I can't imagine too many kids doing that these days--either they ride the bus or their moms take them to school. That would be character-building--to walk a total of 3 miles a day in cold weather and not grumble about it.
Apparently bullying knows no time boundaries. Those big boys from Hardscrabble Settlement sound like quite the bullies. I'd be scared too, if I knew they only came to school in the winter and for the express purpose of beating up the teacher. I do wonder, though, why other families in the school didn't do something about it. Like tell those boys they couldn't come to school or something.
Interesting that a term was defined as the length of time it took for the teacher to spend two weeks with each family. Wonder how many families were in the school.
I like the standards of expected behavior: no whispering, no fidgeting, keep your eyes on your book. Students today could take a page from the pioneer school book.
Well, that's it for chapter one. More tomorrow.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
so long, marlee
Well, it was great while it lasted but this week Marlee Matlin got voted off Dancing with the Stars. She had two low scores in two weeks and apparently the fans decided not to keep her. I'm disappointed because I really enjoyed watching her but I'm also proud of her for making it this far and showing the world what she could do.
Thanks for a great ride, Marlee.
Thanks for a great ride, Marlee.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
dancing with the stars
I'll admit it--I wasn't too excited about this show before. Occasionally I'd catch a dance or two on previous seasons but never made a point of watching it.
But for Season Six of DWTS, I'll be watching! Why? Because a Deaf actress--Marlee Matlin--is on it! Tonight (Tuesday, March 18th), the women performed for the first time. Marlee was the last performer and she did an absolutely fantastic job! She was in step with her partner, she had expression, she looked like she was having fun!
On this first show, they filmed footage of the dancers explaining their backgrounds, the first meeting between the star and dance partner, and their practice sessions. Marlee had an interpreter with her and while the background footage didn't show a whole lot of the interaction between Marlee, her interpreter and her dance partner, it was enough to be interesting.
Then after the dance, when they were talking to the judges and later backstage, you could tell Marlee was watching her interpreter--even though he was not shown on camera, her eyes were looking off to the side instead of to the camera. But she still looked at the hosts, her partner and the camera enough that you didn't feel she was ignoring anyone.
I went to vote at tv.com and she already had over 3,000 votes! Go Marlee!
Sorry there's no picture--I can't figure out how to load a picture from the web.
But for Season Six of DWTS, I'll be watching! Why? Because a Deaf actress--Marlee Matlin--is on it! Tonight (Tuesday, March 18th), the women performed for the first time. Marlee was the last performer and she did an absolutely fantastic job! She was in step with her partner, she had expression, she looked like she was having fun!
On this first show, they filmed footage of the dancers explaining their backgrounds, the first meeting between the star and dance partner, and their practice sessions. Marlee had an interpreter with her and while the background footage didn't show a whole lot of the interaction between Marlee, her interpreter and her dance partner, it was enough to be interesting.
Then after the dance, when they were talking to the judges and later backstage, you could tell Marlee was watching her interpreter--even though he was not shown on camera, her eyes were looking off to the side instead of to the camera. But she still looked at the hosts, her partner and the camera enough that you didn't feel she was ignoring anyone.
I went to vote at tv.com and she already had over 3,000 votes! Go Marlee!
Sorry there's no picture--I can't figure out how to load a picture from the web.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
six-year-old logic
Jordan's class had a big 100th day of school celebration not too long ago (sorry, I can't remember the exact day of the 100th day of school).
For his homework he filled in this questionnaire:
M&Ms aren't sweets or candy? What are they, then?
Gotta love 6 year old logic!
For his homework he filled in this questionnaire:
If I had a hundred…
If I had a hundred dollars, I would buy candy
If I had a hundred pencils, I would write with them.
If I had a hundred mosquito bites, I would put ice on them.
If I had a hundred friends, I would play with them.
If I had a hundred legs, I would walk with them.
If I had a hundred eyes, I would see with them.
If I had a hundred Moms, I would play with all of them.
If I had a hundred dads, I would play with them too.
If I had a hundred computers, I would play games
If I had a hundred books, I would read them.
Then in class, the children made a 100th day book. It had cute activities like counting to 100 by 2s, 10s, etc. And the last page was another little questionnaire.
Jordan said,
I could eat 100 M&Ms.
I could eat 100 pizzas.
I could eat 100 spaghettis (he later clarified that to mean "scoops" of spaghetti").
But I could never eat 100 sweets (meaning candies).
M&Ms aren't sweets or candy? What are they, then?
Gotta love 6 year old logic!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
this and that
[ winter: hello, goodbye, hello again ]
The last couple of days we've had some lovely weather. It's still cold in the mornings and evenings but the days have been really pleasant. It's been so warm over the past 2 days, in fact, that most of the snow in the front yard has melted. Today (Feb. 13), another snowstorm moved in. It's blustery and windy and hard to see. The first pictures are from my sister's house. The last one is looking out the window of Jordan's bedroom at the storm today.
This winter has been reminiscent of the winters I remember growing up. A storm every few days, and more than 3 inches of snow in the yard! As far as I am aware, we have not had any inversions so bad that the children have to stay inside during recess time.
My sister and brother-in-law win the award for having the most snow. I went up to visit them about a week after their new daughter was born and I couldn't believe how much snow they had.
[ farewell, president hinckley ]
The media coverage for President Hinckley was incredible. I bought the Deseret News the day after he passed away and plan to make a scrapbook page. He has been the only prophet my children have known thus far. We watched and recorded the funeral and some other programs that Channel 5 ran about him.
[ welcome, president monson ]
It was no real surprise that President Monson is our new prophet. Steven and I were pretty sure that President Eyring would be retained. So the big question was who the other counselor would be. And it is...President Dieter Uchtdorf! Now we get to wonder who the new Apostle will be. April 2008 General Conference should be quite interesting!
[ science fair ]
The science fair was on Feb. 7th. We worked right up until it was time to go to get everything ready. Note to Mommy: do NOT procrastinate next year! Christie's project was research on the relationships between the sun, moon and earth. Jordan's was about the water cycle. They both got participation awards and Jordan got a special participation certificate that was given to K, 1, and 2 students.
[ winter blahs ]
This week Christie, Jordan and I have all come down with colds. Not fun.
[ church ]
Not much new here. I'm still teaching the Deaf Valiant class and assistant music leader and Steven teaches the 2nd/3rd Sunday Priesthood lessons.
[ work ]
Again, not much new here. I'm still working on various projects for Deaf Mentor and Steven's doing his usual at Sorenson.
The last couple of days we've had some lovely weather. It's still cold in the mornings and evenings but the days have been really pleasant. It's been so warm over the past 2 days, in fact, that most of the snow in the front yard has melted. Today (Feb. 13), another snowstorm moved in. It's blustery and windy and hard to see. The first pictures are from my sister's house. The last one is looking out the window of Jordan's bedroom at the storm today.
This winter has been reminiscent of the winters I remember growing up. A storm every few days, and more than 3 inches of snow in the yard! As far as I am aware, we have not had any inversions so bad that the children have to stay inside during recess time.
My sister and brother-in-law win the award for having the most snow. I went up to visit them about a week after their new daughter was born and I couldn't believe how much snow they had.
[ farewell, president hinckley ]
The media coverage for President Hinckley was incredible. I bought the Deseret News the day after he passed away and plan to make a scrapbook page. He has been the only prophet my children have known thus far. We watched and recorded the funeral and some other programs that Channel 5 ran about him.
[ welcome, president monson ]
It was no real surprise that President Monson is our new prophet. Steven and I were pretty sure that President Eyring would be retained. So the big question was who the other counselor would be. And it is...President Dieter Uchtdorf! Now we get to wonder who the new Apostle will be. April 2008 General Conference should be quite interesting!
[ science fair ]
The science fair was on Feb. 7th. We worked right up until it was time to go to get everything ready. Note to Mommy: do NOT procrastinate next year! Christie's project was research on the relationships between the sun, moon and earth. Jordan's was about the water cycle. They both got participation awards and Jordan got a special participation certificate that was given to K, 1, and 2 students.
[ winter blahs ]
This week Christie, Jordan and I have all come down with colds. Not fun.
[ church ]
Not much new here. I'm still teaching the Deaf Valiant class and assistant music leader and Steven teaches the 2nd/3rd Sunday Priesthood lessons.
[ work ]
Again, not much new here. I'm still working on various projects for Deaf Mentor and Steven's doing his usual at Sorenson.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
first home improvement project
Saturday, January 26: We did our first real home improvement project! We installed shelves on the wall above my table to create more storage space. I am so excited! Now most of my scrapbook stuff is off the table, which gives me more room to work--now I will be more likely to scrapbook and do other creative projects because I WILL HAVE SPACE TO WORK!
This is the before: I took the picture after I had already cleared off some stuff but this is is pretty much how it looked:
This is the wall space after everything was removed from the table and the table was taken down:
The mess I made of our office with all my stuff moved:
The shelves installed:
That was quite a project! What we thought would be a 30 minute project turned into about an hour project. The walls in the office are soundproofed so the screws didn't go in all the way with the cordless drill fitted with a screwdriver bit. We screwed in the last quarter-inch or so by hand with a screwdriver. That was rather hard work! We found out our drill COULD screw them in all the way with an adjustment to more power--when there were only 2 more screws to put in. *rolls eyes*. Oh well. We got it done!
And the finished project:
I'd like to do a little more in the way of decorating and I may move things around a bit, but for now, it seems to be working.
Happy crafting to me!
This is the before: I took the picture after I had already cleared off some stuff but this is is pretty much how it looked:
This is the wall space after everything was removed from the table and the table was taken down:
The mess I made of our office with all my stuff moved:
The shelves installed:
That was quite a project! What we thought would be a 30 minute project turned into about an hour project. The walls in the office are soundproofed so the screws didn't go in all the way with the cordless drill fitted with a screwdriver bit. We screwed in the last quarter-inch or so by hand with a screwdriver. That was rather hard work! We found out our drill COULD screw them in all the way with an adjustment to more power--when there were only 2 more screws to put in. *rolls eyes*. Oh well. We got it done!
And the finished project:
I'd like to do a little more in the way of decorating and I may move things around a bit, but for now, it seems to be working.
Happy crafting to me!
jordan's weather book
This is a slideshow of a weather book Jordan worked on in school. I thought it was really cute!
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