October General Conference

Monday felt like an entire week! Have you ever had days like that? Gracious. The morning was tame but the afternoon felt like a lifetime. Wednesday is a “short” day with only 30 minutes instead of 45 with each class. I decided to teach Digital Citizenship on Wednesdays. Oh my flippin’ heck, the 4th and 5th graders could not handle that small change. Talk about disrespectful, I finally left the classroom to take a brain break, the kids did not even notice I was gone for 3 minutes. So, I emailed all the parents of those choosing to talk in class. They were not happy with me about that one! That is a good thing. I finished copying, cutting, and laminating a GIANT keyboard to hang on the wall in the classroom. Another project I finished was making a fun bulletin board outside my room. It’s cute with animals “typing.” If an animal can do it why can’t you? Ha ha. Tuesday afternoon I earned the title of Snake Charmer. A 4 ft long bull snake slithered onto the recess yard from the irrigation ditch. Several 5th graders were either screaming or trying to pick it up! Mrs Harp looked at me with heck no shining in her eyes. Sigh, ok…I HATE snakes. Creepers. I tried to pick it up with two sticks, herd it toward the ditch, flip it in the air with the stick, etc. Finally, I grasped it by the tail and flung it in the air. I have a reputation now. One kinder boy asked why my eyebrows are so black, his eyes rounded when I told him my eyebrows are tattoos. Tuesday morning was “Doughnuts with Adults” on the playground before school. That was fun to play with the girls until I had to leave for my front duty.

KUDOS to Evelyn for earning student of the week for Honor! She works hard at school every day. She loves her teachers so very much. What a dedicated sweetheart. 

Everett had his final Cross Country meet on Thursday. He had an asthma complication which made him almost drop out. He finished last place, but HE FINISHED! He is very glad to be done for the season. The best part of Cross Country was running to the ice cream dip place the last day of practice. Ha ha. No he seriously loves and hates it all at the same time. There was a spot of MCO drama oozing in from last week. Heather called me to talk after she avoided other phone calls made by Jenn and Danielle to explain why Danielle was lead and Heather was not. Comes down to the fact that Jenn thought Danielle was leader material and Heather was not quite there. Felt like a moment in Junior High again pitted between warring factions. The parent meeting went well. Brett voiced the 7-8th grade boys at the end of rehearsal. Phillip was moved into Men’s Chorus! Hooray! He is very excited to wear his handsome tux I ordered the previous day in case he made it. Brett did most of the talking about MCO, the mission, the vision, the requirements, et al. Jenn spoke for a few moments on local logistics. I had a few parents corner me after the meeting with attire questions. There are several items (size 10 jumper and the boy’s tie) that are out of stock, like completely out of stock at the French Toast warehouse. 

We had a lovely day off on Friday, even Justin took the day off to enjoy some calm before the proverbial Accounting storm. I went grocery shopping, that was nice not to squeeze that chore between conference sessions. Justin went to the junk yard in search of lug nuts, gas cap and other oddities for our vehicles. Amelia went to work at 3:30, this time at the cookie creamery. Unfortunately, the cookie dough machine broke, so Mia rolled dough for most of her shift Friday and also Saturday. She’s trying to buff her arms out so the unfortunate broken machine was a good turn of events. Ha ha ha. 

By some form of events, after refusing several times, I was gifted 37 dresses and pants to hem for Columbia HS choirs. Yay. Amelia (and I) finally convinced Justin that I should chaperone the HS Choir trip to NY this coming spring. A few months ago, his response was, “heck no, are you crazy?” Yep! I am. The gifted hemming project at least came with a $15 per item hemming monetary incentive. Took me almost two days of measuring, pinning, cutting, serging, and sewing to get that beast completed. Evelyn was very excited to collect the remnants. She looked like a literal widow’s weeds all decked out. Josie and Evelyn made a dog train for Fergus called “the Fergal.” They took turns pulling the line of boxes connected with ribbons up and down the hallway. One box had the dog, the next toys, the last box treats. I am not sure if Fergus was terrified, resigned, or if he enjoyed the attention. The living room was a mess of crochet and legos all weekend. I had my own mess of thread and fabric ends floating about. Everett asked to crochet his own blanket. I found an “easy” afghan mile-a-minute pattern he could manage. He ended up with a 4-5 ft length of crochet! Amelia worked on her cow crochet and even made some earrings for me. Phillip and the girls played with Legos while watching Conference. Conference felt strange with both President Nelson and Elder Holland absent per health issues. President Nelson spoke the last session via broadcast from his own home. He announced 20 more temples, even one in Mongolia. The first session on Saturday morning felt very “last days” with several mentions of how short the time is. We are so blessed to live in these days. Even the music was millennial themed. 

I woke up early to make scones for a fun breakfast Sunday morning. I was greeted with groans and whines, why can’t we have cinnamon rolls or crepes. Gosh dang that green grass on the other side of the fence. Whelp, I made the yummiest doughnuts slash scones. Poo poo on Evelyn and Josie grumplestiltkins. Oh! I forgot! We are reading in Little House that Laura is now wearing hoop skirts and corsets. The girls begged for pettiskirts! Now we need dresses with skirts that wide since the widest dresses in their closet are still too narrow. Still, the girls loved playing dress up with those hoop skirts. So fun.