Month: May 2014 (Page 1 of 2)

Ryan is such a geek. He doesn’t even try to hide it. He embraces his geekness. I don’t mind. It’s good to have a little geekiness in the family. Like when my computer isn’t working, or when the neighbor’s computer isn’t working and he calls to see if Ryan can fix it (he had two such calls this weekend).

He’s always got some project going, and since he got the lawn mower fixed (Hooray!) with minimal cost, he’s got to move on to his next project. He’s building a 3-d printer. Since we have this budget thing going on, he has been patient and bought the parts out of his discretionary money a little bit at a time, until he had this whole thing made out of wood and parts that he bought.

He also bought this plastic filament that feeds through the printer, melts, and lays down a thin layer of plastic in the form you have specified, then it goes over it layer by layer, adding height to make the THING that you are printing.

At first, he would bring me his failed or almost succeeded parts.

Finally he got most of the bugs worked out and then he started printing parts. Parts for a 3-d printer. It seems the wooden one he made was just a first draft, and he’ll be using these parts and some aluminum pieces to make the “real” version of the printer.

Kind of like making your own legos. But not really. When asked what he will use this printer for, he doesn’t really know. It could be used to make parts for things that break, to make art, to make clamps, clips, blocks, I don’t know. But it’s cool, whatever it is.

Saturday, as I was painting the kitchen green (turns out I don’t love the green and I’ll be painting it again) and it was wet outside so he couldn’t mow the lawn, Ryan was working on this printer. When these parts take four hours each to print, it’s a long process. Usually he can start it, make sure it’s going correctly, then check it every half hour or so, but he had one that the computer went to sleep halfway through the print and it ended up just goobering out plastic waiting for the instructions to come through. Darn.

But he’s had success, too, and he’s almost ready to build the NEW 3-d printer.

It’s good to have hobbies, right?

Sunday was Megan’s Seminary Graduation.

It was a nice evening with talks from young people. And it was much shorter now that they’ve split our stake (12 wards? Way too many!).

Afterwards, we got a nice picture of our senior girls who are graduating.

I know I have said it already and will say it again, but I’m really proud of these girls. They are each GREAT girls and have been such a good influence and friends to Megan.

Later I wanted to get a picture of Megan with me and Ryan. You know, a picture with the parents, right?

It was a little windy.

—

—

—

But we finally got a semi acceptable shot.

Then we tried the selfie thing with all three of us.

Good enough.

Megan was excited to graduate from seminary because now she can skip and have a long lunch on seminary days.

Hey, she graduated, right?

I’ve been a bit overwhelmed with the senior stuff this year. It seems like there’s so much left to do, and time keeps speeding up. I hate that it’s the last two weeks of school, and everything for Megan is the LAST. She hasn’t been excited for college, either, so things have been up in the air a bit.

She did decide that she’s going to Snow College. With a full tuition academic scholarship and an art scholarship on top of that, that really helps keep the costs down (Hooray!). I hope the smaller class sizes, and smaller campus will be good for her so she won’t feel like a freshman lost in the crowd.

Today we finally figured out the registration thing (why do they make it SO complicated?) and got her registered for classes. She found out who her roommate is, and was pleasantly surprised that it’s a girl named Sarah who is LDS and a music major. That’s about all we know, but at least it’s something.

Tonight was the senior dinner dance. I wanted her to go and was SO glad she agreed to go. I even offered to pay for it. It’s at Thanksgiving Point and she went with her friends. I had to stop them before they left and get just a few pictures.

They are such beautiful girls, and they have been great friends to Megan.

Tomorrow is Seminary Graduation, then there’s a whole bunch more “lasts” for them to enjoy.

I got her graduation announcement ordered, finally. Oh, the things mom must do.

She picked up her honor cords to wear with her cap and gown, she paid for the Lagoon day, paid her $2.00 fee so she can actually graduate, and has taken her AP tests. Now it’s time to turn everything in, and get ready to face the future.

It may be easier for her to do that than for me. I’m not quite ready to let her go.
Luckily for me, she’ll be here the whole summer to annoy me so that when it’s time to move her down to Ephraim, maybe I’ll be ready.

A religious women upon waking up each morning would open her front door stand on the porch and scream, “Praise the lord.” This infuriated her atheist neighbor who would always make sure to counter back, “there is no Lord.” One morning the atheist neighbor overheard his neighbor praying for food, thinking it would be funny, he went and bought her all sorts of groceries and left them on her porch. The next morning the lady screamed, “praise the Lord, who gave me this food.” The neighbor laughing so hard he could barely get the words out screamed “it wasn’t the Lord, it was me.” The lady without missing a beat screamed “praise the Lord for not only giving me food but making the atheist pay for it!!”

I’ve had quite enough rejection, thank you very much. Today I found out I didn’t get cast in a play. Again. That’s three plays I haven’t made it into, in case you are counting. At least I got called back for this one, but getting a call back and not a part is kind of just leading you along, giving you hope, so that when it doesn’t happen, it hurts that much more.

I don’t want to be bitter or feel sorry for myself, but when my theater friends post how excited they are about getting into THAT play that you just tried out for, it’s hard to be happy for them right now. I know the disappointment and sadness are not permanent. It’s not like I lost a loved one, so I need to suck it up and move on. It’s not like I was on the Amazing Race and got eliminated right before the next to last round because someone U-TURNED me, right? I mean, let’s put things into perspective here.

I’m tired of auditioning. I’m tired of putting myself out there only to be tossed aside like someone’s leftovers. I’m tired of being compared to others who are better dancers, better singers, better looking, and more talented. I know I’m not young, skinny or coordinated, but I do have some talent. Or at least I did.

Is this God’s subtle way of telling me I’m too old and too fat to be in any plays? Is this an answer to my mother’s prayer that I would just go to the family camping trip for once?

Or is there some other opportunity waiting for me?

I have a call back tonight for one last show at Alpine’s community theater. I haven’t done a show there for two years. My last experience with them was less than wonderful, but maybe this time they’ll want me for more than just a babysitter of a million little kids.
I went to that callback and it was so much fun. There were tons of people I know from different shows. We all got to sing and read for several different parts, and it didn’t feel like a competition (even though it really is). I had a great time reading Yenta to my friend Michelle’s Golde. I don’t know if they will choose me, or if I’ll be a generic “Woman” in the chorus whose main job it is to herds kids, but I hope it will be a good experience.

Trying to keep up a good attitude.

“Life will knock you down more times than you can possibly imagine. Don’t knock yourself down.”

I was substituting for a junior high English teacher on Friday. One of the assignments was for the kids to write a paragraph about what was one of the BEST memories of this year, and what was one of the worst memories. As the kids were writing, I decided to write my own memories of Butler Middle School.

I really enjoyed Drama in Jr High. I remember how much fun it was to do the play “Scrooge”. I loved being on stage. And that stupid talent show skit we did with the HUGE aspirin. That was SO MUCH fun.

Choir with Miss Ludwig was also fun. She would let students accompany the songs, and I practiced so much so I could accompany the choir on “To the Morning.” I could probably still play that song. I also learned “Do you hear what I hear?”, and that was a hard song. It was great that she let ANYONE try out to play these songs, not just one or two of the really good piano players (like Kimberly Brewster. I think she played for quite a few of the songs). I don’t remember if I played that in a concert or not. Why is it I remember the songs we sang in Junior High but I can’t remember my grocery store rewards card log in and password?

By 9th grade I felt like my friends and I were pretty important. We weren’t.

My worst memory of Middle School….
Oh, so many. Actually hubby and I were recently talking about this. He mentioned how awful it was to be a boy whose personal and private parts got “excited” for no apparent reason and then you had to walk to the next class. I don’t think I ever really noticed that problem, because as a girl, I was pretty preoccupied with my own personal hygiene issues. Periods usually start in Junior high, and after sitting in class, I would be pretty sure that something had bled through and I was absolutely certain everyone in the world KNEW about my problem. That’s when you tie a sweater or sweatshirt around your waist. Yep. That’s what THAT fashion statement is all about. And those stupid boys in metal shop (yes, I took metal shop) didn’t help. It seemed like all they EVER thought about was girls and their reproductive problems, and they were ALWAYS saying rude things that I won’t go into.

But somehow we survive the Junior high years, and hopefully the good memories outweigh the BAD memories.

Megan finally used her stash of old hotel key cards, gift cards, etc. to make an art project. Lucky us, we all got to do some cutting out this week. Ow. But it turned out pretty cool, I think.

She and Ryan were also working on some crazy hand thing. I came home from rehearsal to find them playing with insulation foam, hot glue, tape hands, etc. If you ask me, it’s kind of creepy.

The first attempt didn’t work so well, so she was going at it again this weekend. We’ll post pics when done.

Saturday we purchased a utility trailer for hauling grass, junk, couches, etc. since our truck died. We got lots of work done. The girls had to help with the YW fundraiser. They were making and delivering ready to bake (or freeze) meals. Saturday night Ryan and I went to see the Drowsy Chaperone at the SCERA Theater. It was fun to see people I know both in the show and in the lobby.

I decided to list our two naughty birds on KSL. Just tired of them hiding under things and then running out to bite my toes when I walk by. I have been telling the kids they would have to go if they couldn’t be nice. Six birds is too many, and these ones have been terrorizing us in our own home, so it’s time to go. I priced them quite low, at $75 for two birds and a cage, and I had several inquiries. The one guy came and bought them on Sunday night. We did not tell him about their recent behavior, but are hoping they behave themselves in new surroundings. We did show him how tame and friendly they are, tell him they need lots of attention, and did explain that they do sometimes bite, but that we haven’t been bleeding from their bites. Here’s hoping they like their new family. Our kids will really miss them, but I did say we could decide as a family how to spend that $75.

The highlight of the weekend was going with Megan to the Stake Patriarch’s so she could get her blessing. It was a really special experience and I’m so glad she let us come with us.

May is upon us, full speed ahead. We have concerts, end of the year parties, graduation stuff, musicals to audition for, and subbing jobs. I’m trying to be organized and get everything on the calendar so we don’t double (or triple book) if we can help it. I love May. It’s the most beautiful month here in Utah. And the activities are usually fun. It’s just getting to all of them without losing our sanity.

How was your weekend?