Spring Breaking

Just in time, our spring break has arrived.

Not a moment too soon.

I am headed to California for a few days with the kids to enjoy the beach and a day at Sea World, and then spend a couple of days with our wonderful and old friends in Santa Barbara.  (David kindly drove us over and will spend the day with us tomorrow and then fly back for work...we've been married almost 13 years and I still don't like being separated for long, but it can't be helped.)

On the way over today, I looked in the back of the car and saw every one of the kids out cold.  Savannah slept almost the entire 6-hour drive.  We are all worn out and grateful for the rest.  Hopefully we can spend a lot of empty hours enjoying the sun and waves of Southern California and find the vim and vigor we need to "endure to the end" of the school year.  

I  am quite relieved and thoroughly delighted to be spring breaking.

Word of the Week: Ebullient

ebullient  /adj. /  overflowing with enthusiasm and high spirits.  bubbling. boiling with emotion.  full of joyful, unrestrained high spirits.  energetic.  lively.  very positive or happy.

ebullient  /adj./  1.  Caleb won first place in the "Health and Medical Sciences" category in his science fair on Friday night.  Ebullient almost doesn't describe the extent of his joy.  When they called his name his surprise turned to utter joy, his face flushed, and he ran for the stage.  I think all he could hear was the blood rushing in his ears because he couldn't seem to hear or speak for quite some time.

 

ebullient  /adj./  2.  The most ebullient moment for me at the science fair came at this moment:

I was proud-to-bursting watching him explain his project to the interested crowds.  I just stood there wondering how this could be my grown child, so old, so smart, so independent, and how I got to this stage of life without knowing it. 

ebullient  /adj./  3.  Thursday night, in the midst of everything else, Savannah and two of her friends performed a gymnastics number at the school talent show.  (They choreographed it themselves.)  She has never actually taken a gymnastics class, but this was not a deterrent.  She was absolutely ebullient, and out-of-breath, after her performance, and I (chagrined at my former reluctance) told her that she could take gymnastics in the fall.  After begging for years, she was beyond ebullient at this concession. 

ebullient  /adj./  4.  Saturday was the annual Lehi Days Rodeo, held just down the hill from our neighborhood.  My kids look forward to it every year, and they were utterly ebullient to be out in the sunshine, enjoying the rodeo events, the food, the concession stand (!), the petting zoo, and the free-roaming that comes along so rarely in 21st century childhood.

   

ebulliently  /adv./  5.  One of the events of the rodeo is the "Chicken Chase," where they let the kids line up (according to age) and chase chickens.  If you catch the chicken, you get to keep it.  Ethan lined up with the other four-year-olds and ran his legs off chasing down a chick.  He made a one-handed grab and snagged this chick, and then ebulliently raised it in the air in triumph.  My kids have done the chicken chase every year but this is the first year that Ethan competed and the first year we've ever caught a chicken.  When Caleb saw him running all-out, and knowing our little warrior, he said, "I knew he'd be just like that."

ebullient  /adj./  6.  At Lehi Days last year, Olivia talked us into buying a little chick, since no one caught one in the chicken chase.  She raised it for about four months before I decided we were a no-live-chicken house and we found a farm for her.  This year she brought her own money and bought a bunny.  She could not be any more ebullient about her new charge. 

ebullient  /adj./  7.   Lest you think our entire week was one ebullient moment after another, I offer this aggravation as evidence to the contrary.  I am less than ebullient over the spike in our temperatures this week.  This was my thermostat reading on Friday afternoon.  Yeah, that's right...that's how hot it was inside my house because running the air conditioning in February seems just wrong.  I skipped right over the first stage of grief and went straight to "Anger."  Our winter is over.  Argh!!

Word of the Week: Eschew

eschew  /vt./  avoid and stay away from deliberately; to avoid or shun.  abstain.  forego.  renounce.  evade.  refrain.  duck.

eschew /vt./  1.  I eschewed most of my housework this past week in favor of finishing East of Eden.  After about 200 pages I just couldn't leave it alone.  It was an absolute masterpiece.  Brilliant.  And, I hope, life-changing.

eschew /vt./  2.  After my most delightful experience in East of Eden this week and Anna Karenina last month, I am seriously considering eschewing (for a little while) any books not considered " a classic."  There is so much outstanding and remarkable literature out there that I have never read, and I find that these classics have a perspective on the human condition that is true, universal, and timeless.   For me, they provide an impetus for change...as I see myself in Anna, in Cal, in Liza, in Cain.

eschew /vt./  3.  Ethan and I managed to eschew the inside of our four walls, in favor of the outside with three glorious trips to the park this week.  A blanket, lunch, and books.  Heaven.  At least for one more month.

eschew /vt./  4.  At David's prodding, we eschewed all our Saturday chores (yes, the weeds in my front yard continue to flourish) and headed north to find some snow.  We spent the day at Wing Mountain sledding, and building snowmen, and getting sunburned.  It was boiling hot and eventually we eschewed our winter gear and shucked our coats and hats.   Ethan was  a daredevil, and my bottom is complaining today that I am much to old for such fun, but we could not have had a better day.

 Caleb and I even attempted an igloo...harder than it looks.  (I realize I'm eschewing most of my self-respect and dignity by posting this photo.)

eschew  /vt./  5.  I have an absolute hatred of and phobia towards public restrooms.  I will do almost anything to eschew them.  This is not easily done with small children.  My phobia is so intense I have been known to send my children in alone...standing guard outside...because my terror is almost insurmountable.  However I have learned a few tricks along the way to use only in extreme emergencies.  On Saturday, while we were sledding at Wing Mountain Savannah needed to go.  There are only porta-potties on the mountain and after Savannah took at look at them, she could not bring herself to use them.  She was completely desperate.   I taught her my  tricks [much too absurd to share] and she conquered her fear.  I had no idea these were the kind of skills I would pass on to my daughters, but there you are.

eschew /vt./  6.  I swallowed my pride this week, and renounced my dislike of ballroom dancing.  (I have a no exception rule eschewing and banning any kind of dance show on our television.  This has not changed.)  But they are offering free dance lessons at the hospital (random and weird, I know) this month and David and I went and learned the waltz on Wednesday night with some of my young women.  It was surprisingly fun (even though we were still counting "1-2-3" out loud at the end of the night) and made me tempted to come back for the fox trot this week.

I just need to be six inches taller...even four would make a difference, don't you think?

Word of the Week: Piquancy

piquancy  /n./  agreeably pungent or stimulating to the taste;  exciting, agreeably interesting or attractive; an interestingly provocative or lively character.  punch.  spice.  allure.  charisma. 

piquancy  /n./  1.  Our dinner conversation has taken on a delightful piquancy in the last couple of years.  It seems the older my kids get, the more fun these conversations become.  Most nights David and I are all eyes and stifled giggling, secretly sharing the humor and piquancy of our children over our water glasses.  On Tuesday night Caleb announced, "Yesterday was National Corn Chip Day and we didn't do anything to celebrate."  Guess we should have broken out the "picante" salsa.

piquancy  /n./  2.  In desperation today, I cut my bangs too short.  I am trying not to dwell on it too much...I just keep telling myself that it adds a certain piquancy to my face that only increases my charm.

piquancy  /n./  3.  I've had several comments asking how I choose the word of the week.  When I started my blog I started seriously thinking about words again.  Just words.  They would roll around in my head and I found that each one was a kind of little magic.  Amazing all that one word could convey.  Amazing how just one of them could describe a moment, an emotion, an experience, perfectly.  And each carefully chosen word could add the piquancy, the punch, to what I was feeling.   When this all started I was in love with "mollify."  That word rolled around inside me for a few days...I don't know why...and it started me thinking that I would like to celebrate words for just what they are, a perfect idea wrapped in a few letters.   

Most of the words I use for the word of the week, I find while I'm reading something.  Though, I came across "lugubrious" while watching a program on PBS with my husband.  He asked me what it meant and I thought, "Word of the week!"  Most of the words I know, or have a vague idea of what they mean, but I also love finding a word I've never used, like "charily." 

And most of the word choices are not premeditated.  I keep a running list of piquant words that catch my attention, or that I don't know, and then choose them at random.  The post at the end of the week ("Use the word in a sentence and it's yours forever" kind of idea) is just a fun way to wrap up my week and remember random bits of my life.

piquancy  /n./  4.  On Saturday night we went to a production of La Man of La Mancha in St. George, Utah.   Don Quixote's piquancy pulled me in and made me want to leave my own reality for a bit and dream.  Thank heaven for the poets in our lives.  It was a charming play and the music was fantastic!  How can you not get chills when you hear "The Impossible Dream"?

piquancy  /n./  5.  The reason we drove to St. George was to celebrate my Grandma Olga's 94th birthday.   I hope I have as much piquancy as she does when I am her age.  She just barely gave up her driver's license...not without a fight...and it is not unusual to find her mucking out her curb, waxing her garage floor, or hauling dirt to fill flower pots on top of a retaining wall.  She is a witty wonder besides.  She always has humor and a clever comment...when we began singing "Happy Birthday," she started belting out, "Happy Birthday to Me!"  She wears her testimony on her sleeve and has lived a life dedicated to her family and her God.   Plus she is a brilliant writer and an inspired poet, two of my favorite qualities in a person. 

Logging Lots of Miles But Making No Progress

Today was just gorgeous here.  I watched the national news and they talked all about the absolute freezing temperatures across the country.  Just brutal.  But it was beautiful and sunny here in our world.

David took half the day off and we went on a 16-mile bike ride over into another city suburb, and spent a couple of hours at a park.  It was heaven.  My kids pedalled their little legs off and my tailbone is still sore, but we were all proud of our long ride.

But now I'm back in the bowels of hell and trying hard to remember to embrace the entropy because the panic is starting to rise inside me.

My laundry has not been started and my washing machine isn't working, (of course!) my house is filthy, and I have New Beginnings on Wednesday night.  It's hard to know where to start...can I ignore it all until Thursday morning?  I'm going to need some dark glasses and some air freshener.

While we were out at the park David reminded me that he proposed on Martin Luther King Day, 13 years ago...(He was very against proposing on a major holiday so, in an effort to nudge him along, Kelly and Amy made him a list of all the minor holidays from the end of December until the end of March.  He chose this one over Groundhog Day and the U.K. Banking Holiday.  I still have their note.)   I congratulated him on the anniversary of the day he made the best decision of his life.

We hiked up to Delicate Arch (our place) and David proposed under it...it looked remarkably like this picture with snow on the mountains behind it... 

Life has not turned out the way I thought it would.  I don't even have the ring he gave me that day any more.  (It was stolen when our house was broken into a couple of years ago.)  But given the choice, I would say "yes" again, a thousand times over.  (I'm not sure he would ask again, even on a minor holiday, but nevertheless...)  We've logged a lot of miles together since that day, and sometimes I'm not sure we are really making any progress, but there is no one I'd rather be riding with. 

Word of the Week: Lachrymose

lachrymose : /adj./  given to shedding tears easily.  weeping or inclined to weep.  overemotional.  teary.  soppy.

lachrymose  /adj./  1.  I thought I would be lachrymose about everyone leaving the house this week after a long Christmas break, but I was so concerned (freaking out) about the wedding cake I needed to make that I was immensely grateful for an empty house by Thursday morning.

lachrymose  /adj./  2.  My brother's wedding cake and all the subsequent drama took up the bulk of my thoughts and time this week.  On Thursday I spent about four hours baking, frosting and assembling the cake and then about eight hours rolling out fondant, over and over again.  By the end of the day I had only covered one layer and I was completely lachrymose, the tears making streaks through the powdered sugar covering my face.  I told my husband, "I just need to sit down and cry and then I'll feel better."  My son overheard this and questioned my husband about this line of "reasoning."  David just shook his head and said, "It's lethargic for her."  This turned my sobs into choking laughter as I said, "No, it's cathartic."   But even this fit of laughter soon turned lachrymose and the tears rolled again.

lachrymose  /adj./  3.  As I was sobbing into the fondant (talk about "soppy") I kept thinking of that part in Laura Esquivel's book Like Water for Chocolate, when Tita makes the wedding cake and sobs into the batter and then the whole wedding party dissolves into tears of longing after they eat it.  The whole place is wailing and eventually they all cry so hard, everyone becomes sick and the wedding is ruined.  Thankfully no one but the bride and groom ate my lachrymose cake, and they were all smiles.

lachrymose  /adj./  4.  Ethan was asked to be the ring bearer for the wedding.  I am always a bit stressed about having my children be a part of a wedding because they are unpredictable and, well, children.  When it was time for Ethan to make his entrance he became lachrymose and just stood there with tears streaming down his cheeks.  Eventually the groom had to come help the reluctant ring bearer.

lachrymose  /adj./  5.  The most touching part of the whole wedding, for me, came at the wedding luncheon.  My brother, Christian, is deaf and his new bride (Sara) is not.  We had an interpreter there for Christian and his deaf friends, but in an effort to make Christian feel part of their family, Sara's mom had learned all the sign language to a little speech that her dad gave.  She had practiced for hours.  It was one of the sweetest gestures I have ever seen, especially from two people who just gave their precious daughter away.  Both of them had tears in their eyes as he spoke and she earnestly signed their message.  Admittedly I was already lachrymose from the cake, but I couldn't help shedding a few more tears at their generosity. 

lachrymose  /adj./  6.  Last night, instead of scrubbing my kitchen down, I ignored the mess and watched the final installment of Masterpiece Theatre's version of Jane Eyre.  This has long been my favorite book and I found myself lachrymose and sobbing as Jane spoke her feelings aloud to Mr. Rochester.  (Even I have a hard time calling him "Edward.")

"It is a long way off, sir."

"No matter--a girl of your sense will not object to the voyage or
the distance."

"Not the voyage, but the distance:  and then the sea is a barrier--"

"From what, Jane?"

"From England and from Thornfield:  and--"

"Well?"

"From YOU, sir."

I said this almost involuntarily, and, with as little sanction of
free will, my tears gushed out.  I did not cry so as to be heard,
however; I avoided sobbing. 

Jane is a stronger person than I, as I could not help sobbing.  But eventually, even Jane becomes lachrymose.

In listening, I sobbed convulsively; for I could repress what I
endured no longer; I was obliged to yield, and I was shaken from
head to foot with acute distress.  When I did speak, it was only to
express an impetuous wish that I had never been born, or never come
to Thornfield.

I remember the night I read these lines for the first time.  14-years-old, 3-in-the-morning, sobbing uncontrollably in my bed.  I thought my heart would break.  And I stayed up the rest of the night reading, as Jane's fate was as precious and interesting to me as my own. 

All in all, it was a very lachrymose week and, as Jane says, "I was obliged to yield."  Oh, yes.

A Brief Follow-up

Here are just a few things I wanted to follow-up on.

1.  My SPT from from early December showed two empty card ribbons and a bit of anxiety over the lack of holiday mail.  I wanted to show this picture from the day I took the ribbons down...I had to add two extra ribbons before it was all over.  Joy and gladness.

2.  My nephew Luke is doing miraculously well, the last MRI showed no hydrocephalus or permanent damage from the myelomeningocele.  I couldn't resist posting this yummy picture taken before his ride home.  Completely edible.

3.  My girls have the best aunt on the planet.  After seeing the "cucumber post," my sister Emily did "real" facials with the girls on Friday night.  Needless to say, they were thrilled.  It looked so fun, their cousins and even Ethan, decided to get in on the pampering.

 

4.  Apparently I'm not the only one around here that is regretting the end of our hibernation.  Last night as we were tucking in Caleb said, "Mom, I mean I know education is important, but..."  This was his intro to a lament about going back to school.  This was an absolute shock coming from my 4.0 Caleb.  He lives for the 7:18 bus.  On the up side, I didn't shed a single tear when David left for work this morning.  Just turned my cheek for a kiss and tried hard to think about something else.  My kids return to school tomorrow, so Caleb started the campaign for tw0-player Canasta as soon as he saw me up this morning.  I am supposed to be starting a wedding cake for my brother (getting married this Saturday), but perhaps it will wait just one more day. 

The Good Kind of "Listless"

Things have been a bit crazy around here...what with the lists and the Christmasing in full-swing.  My kids and husband have been home for a couple of days and so I've been trying to finish my list on the sly. 

But I finally laid the list to rest last night.  Finished the grocery shopping and the Christmas shopping, the mailing (!), the annual service project, the wrapping (mostly!), the hand-made gifts, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, and all the rest.   I even made gingerbread twice this year...a first for me...I just pulled the last little men from my oven.

Deep breath.

I'm tired.  And at last, "listless."

Today we played monopoly.  I don't know if I've ever finished a whole game of monopoly, but today we did.  I had Park Place and Boardwalk, but I still went bankrupt.   Sounds about right. 

We took the kids to a movie, and then went and saw the lights at the temple.

 

Made me wonder why I think so much of lists in the first place.  

Word of the Week: Dragoon

dragoon /vt./  to force someone to do something. coerce.

dragoon /vt./ 1.  Mostly by guilt and even a few tears, my children finally dragooned me into putting up the Christmas decorations.  I don't know why I detest this job so much, but the deed is done.  My real problem is that I think Christmas decorations look absolutely garish in the light of day, and only really like them twinkling away at me at night.   Also, it really has been too hot to even think about Christmas.  Then Friday, it clouded up and rained (real winter weather for sure) and so I pulled out the boxes.  Honestly, I am a big fan of the old-fashioned English Christmases...where you go gather holly and pine boughs on Christmas eve, light some candles and (voila!)...one magical night to celebrate the birth of the King of Kings.

(my new wool wall...it's supposed to be snowman supplies...minus the snow.)

dragoon /vt./  2.  Our bishop asked the young women to clean the church every Saturday until the end of the year.  I felt put-out, over-worked, and a bit fed-up.  All week, I fussed inside between acknowleding that I was lucky to have a building to clean and worship in, and feeling dragooned into giving up my precious Saturday morning for "more church service."  (Prone to wander, Lord I feel it.  Prone to leave the God I love.  Oh, yes.)  I had a wonderful experience, though, cleaning and scrubbing with "my girls" (who only needed gentle persuasion to show up and help...they are so good.)  I felt lighter and happier as I left that building than I have this whole holiday season.   And wondered, again, why I have to be dragooned into doing anything for the Lord...because, as usual,  any bread I cast upon the water, comes back toasted and buttered.

dragoon /vt./  3.  We went to Amy and Jim's house last night for dinner.  (I know, I know...lucky me.)  This was the first time we've ever really met Jim (he doesn't remember us from the wedding reception...other things on his mind apparently).  He said he was being dragooned into being "demure" for our benefit...but I believe he really is that charming and gracious.  The food was incredible...even cake for dessert.  (I never get to the cake part of hosting...just getting the meal on is a job.)  The conversation and the company were even better than the food (and that is saying something!) and I was again so grateful for the forces that have been at work to bring us back together.   And even better than just back together...together with "our one-and-only's" which somehow made us more complete and whole than I remember.  We had to dragoon the kids into the car when it was time to leave...they begged and begged to stay...and Jim offered the spare room.  I can't wait to have them over this way...we don't have a spare room though, so they'll have to bring sleeping bags. 

Thanksgiving Leftovers

Here is a rather lengthy recap of our Thanksgiving festivities...

WEDNESDAY...

Wednesday was "pie-day," which is really one of my favorite days of the entire year.  I absolutely love the domesticity of it...the apron, the smells, the chopping and stirring, the nurturing feeling of pies cooling on the counter.   Other than my September canning days, nothing compares to the simple joy of this kind of creation for me.   Plus, I have a gift for apple pies.   Really.

Amidst all the cooking, Olivia was afraid I would forget her little Thanksgiving program at school.  And I found a number of these in strategic locations around the house.

I did not forget. 

All of my brothers and their "extensions" were in town this year for Thanksgiving, so we all went bowling on Wednesday night.  I actually tied Dave's score on one of our games!  This is significant only because he is extremely competitive when it comes to bowling scores, tennis games, or scrabble tournaments.  (Even if we are playing strip-scrabble...he hates to lose.)

Here are Olivia and Savannah with their cousin Emma squeezed in between.  They had a big "sleep over" after the bowling.  (Not much sleeping, of course, but lots of cousin-time.)

THURSDAY...

Dave and the kids got up bright and early to run in the Turkey Trot, which is such a big tradition here.  

We did get a picture of everyone together on Thanksgiving afternoon...which was surprisingly painless and long overdue.

(There were three pregnant ladies in the picture this year.  I was secretly thankful I wasn't one of them.)

FRIDAY...

Another bright and early morning.  My brother, Christian, is getting married in January and so we had a bridal shower for his bride-to-be early Friday morning at Crackers and Co.  It was obscenely early, but Jared and Jacob were flying out with their families, so we made it work.  And on the plus side, it wasn't quite as early as Kohl's opened.   (I will never understand that madness.  I am a completely converted online shopper.) 

Most of the rest of the weekend was games and eating, all with family.  My kids were in heaven and we are all tiredly happy.  I did get to go fabric shopping at Zoe's with two of my sisters-in-law and my mom on Saturday afternoon...and we even got in a bit of quilting.  (We were working on our block-of-the-month quilt.  My sister, Emily, said, "So which month is this...November or December?"  We said, "Uh, September."  Oh, well.  Better late than never.)  My quilting was sadly sloppy, but I've decided just to make it work.  I'm tired of cleaning up, even after myself.