Graceland

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Where Oh Where is Baby Bear?

A couple of weeks ago, I was pretty sick. I got feeling mostly better after a couple of days, but I had a fever that hung on for two weeks. I finally went to the doctor yesterday. When they took my temperature, it was normal. After checking for various infections (sinus, etc), the doctor asked me what type of thermometer I used. I told her the ear kind. She told me those were unreliable and concluded that I never really had a lingering fever.

I have a hard time believing that my thermometer was that off every time I took my temperature. I actually had Rick take his temperature a couple of times over the last two weeks to check our thermometer and his temp was normal. However, I decided to take the doctor's advice and buy a new thermometer. She said the oral kind were most accurate. I came home and took my temp and it came out.... LOWER than normal. What's the deal? One is too high, one is too low. I need the one that is just right!

THEN...

I'm having foot surgery tomorrow. I had the same surgery on my other foot a few weeks ago. I learned from that surgery that my foot will be too sore to put any weight on it for a couple of days. So I decided to borrow some crutches. I have tracked down two pair. It turns out one is for people 5'10" or taller, and one is for people 5'2" and shorter. I am 5'5"!! Too high, too low- I need the one that is just right.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Isaac's Book Report

I take it back. Two posts in one day. I am the best blogger ever. :)

For this month's book report, Isaac had to read a non-fiction book on Egypt and make a diorama for his book report. We have been working on it all week. He is very proud of the end result.

The ground is sand paper. We used a little too much glue, but it turned out to look like ripples in the sand. You can't tell in this light, but the pyramid sparkles in sunlight (just like vampires).

Yes, I know, I have mad photo skills. Sorry it's blurry. The glue is also still wet so you can see it, but all that will be fixed by turn-in time tomorrow. The mummy is my favorite, we wrapped crumpled paper with white tape- very life like. You've probably summoned the curse by looking. Are you scared?

Here is a video of Isaac explaining the project.

We are proud of his hard work.

p.s. I just have to note what a nice kid Isaac is. As we were working tonight to finish, he kept asking if my foot was OK and if I needed to put it up.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

I suck at blogging

It's official. I am a bad blogger. I few weeks ago I had a nice photo-filled blog ready to post including all of our fall fun. Blogger told me it was too big, so I gave up. I had foot surgery last week and figured with all my down time I would catch up, but the drug induced stupor along with not being able to get out of bed foiled that plan. So here's the quick and dirty version.

We carved pumpkins, however I didn't take any photos of the finished product. More proof of my bad-blogginess.

Rick and I attended a Halloween party as vampires (along with about half of the other guests). We dressed up as Egyptians to give out candy- also no photo.

We took monster cupcakes to the party- they turned out cute! (I can't figure out how not to underline here)

The boys all designed their own creepy cupcakes

We also made caramel apples with cookie crumbs and smashed up candy bars. Yum.

I had included an update on my "brown thumb" post. The roses ended up being beautiful this fall until the deer ate them all. I had several pictures but edited down to just this one.

The wildflower seeds I spread throughout the backyard finally bloomed. I loved it. I'm excited to see what blooms next year.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Betsy Brown Thumb

OK all my green-thumbed friends, I need some gardening advice. Here's my backyard:

I have this hill of rocks that I threw wildflowers seeds all over when the snow finally stopped late Spring. Now I have a bunch of things growing, but I don't know if it's weeds or flowers. What seemed like a great idea is not turning out to be such a smart plan. However, I do have a few flowers starting to bloom.

Cute, huh? They are pink, purple and white. I have several patches now in bloom. Fun!

Although, this is how most of the yard looks.

And that's after pulling what I know are weeds. (My mom informed me what I thought were poppies were actually weeds, sad.)

Here's my biggest problem. We planted 4 rose bushes. Two are looking good and two look like this

Help. This rose is called the Ingrid Bergman rose and is a beautiful deep red. I don't know why the leaves are turning brown. Do I need to water more? less? fertilize? pesticide?

This is our other problem area

It's very sandy soil that is eroding away from the rocks. (One rock actually fell and rolled into our house- it may stay there and be landscaped around, as it is extremely heavy.) I heard that day lilies do well in sand and may help with the erosion. Any other ideas?

This is my favorite part of the backyard. This tree was overgrown when we bought the house. (It was a rental and the yard was in bad shape). We trimmed it up and now it hangs perfectly over the lawn to provide a little shaded area. I planted some bright orange flowers beneath it that have done very well.

This is another tree that we have pruned. It had branches growing along the ground and huge thorns on it. Rick and I were scraped up for weeks (worth it). We still have a little pruning to do on it, but it may wait until next year. We now have to figure out what to do with the hillside. I'm thinking a hardy ground-cover.

So there it is. I'm up for any advice/ideas.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

FINALLY

I can finally write another I-love-my-bike post. Last weekend for the first time in probably two years, I loved being out on my bike instead of just being miserable that I was so out of shape. Over the weekend, Rick and I did a loop from our house, to the temple, to downtown Draper and back. Lots of hills, not too far. Last night, we did one of our favorite rides from the East side of the airport out to Saltair. Flat and long. Both were wonderful.

Honestly, I have to say everything in life is wonderful right now. While I was riding last weekend, I was thinking how balanced I feel in my life. I know this is rare so I'm enjoying every second while it's here. Over the weekend we did yard work, errands, biked, took the kids to a carnival, had some down time, and dinner with family. I'm so in love with my husband I can hardly stand it. Work is going really well and business is finally picking up. I have nothing to complain about and everything to be thankful for. How great is that?

My Movie Reviews

Quiet Earth. B-. Another SciFi recommended by Netflix, although this one was actually interesting and enjoyable. A guy wakes up and everyone is gone. Made in New Zealand, it claims to be one of the top ten movies in the US in the year it came out (sometime in the 1970s). After it was over, we agreed that it was good, but the ending was a little confusing, so we watched the ending again with the directors comments. Lame. Apparently the whole movie was supposed to have an anti-nuclear message and the director takes credit for his movie making New Zealand nuclear free. So.... pretend you don't know that and enjoy the movie.
Sunshine. C-. Netflix. That's it. We are not trusting Netflix's rating of sci-fi movies again. The sun is dying so a crew is going with a nuclear missle to "re-start" it. I kept hoping aliens would show up or at least something would happen to draw me in. A lot of things almost happened, but when they did, it did not make much sense.
Warm Bodies. B. Red Box. I was surprised by this movie. I'm a fan of a good zombie flick, but when I heard about the plot, it seemed a bit too much. It turned out to be very entertaining. I'd rate it pretty high on the must see zombie film list and very high on the cheesy teenage romance film list.
Wolverine. B. I'm a fan of the X-Men movies. I'm also a fan of Hugh Jackman. It was hard to go wrong going in with those two biases. The fighting sequences were too long, but that was expected. If you've like the X-Men movies, you should like this one too.
The East. B. I forget how much I love the indie flicks at the Broadway. This also had an environmentalist-based plot, but was written well and I liked how it ended. A women goes under cover in an environmental terrorist group. It goes with the obvious plot of her having sympathies for members of the group and trying to balance that with her personal beliefs. Worth seeing.
World War Z. B. I was in the middle of the book and didn't want to see the movie until I finish, but I couldn't help it and saw it opening weekend. Not a big deal as they are very different. This is a different kind of zombie movie. While most are horror flicks, this was more of a suspense movie. They cut out the gratutious gore associated with most zombie movies and gave it more of a plot. Fun for zombie fans and non-zombie fans.
Silent Running. D. Netflix. I have no idea why this is rated so well on Netflix. Sci-fi movie made in the sixties with blatant environmental message. Forests have died on the earth so they are growing them in a space station orbiting Saturn. Earth decides to abandon the project and for some reason that means they have to blow up the forests. One man understands the impact of losing all our forests so he kills everyone. My description made it seem way better than it is. At one point, he programs his robot helpers to play cards and you watch them play cards for about 10 minutes. Skip this one!

My Book Reviews

The Rent Collector. B. I loved this book while I was reading it. Then the author's comments on the back disappointed me. It was fiction! I was so inspired by the "true" story of this woman living at the dump in Cambodia and learning to read. The whole way through I thought it was true. I was mad when it wasn't. Although toward the end, it started getitng a little unbelievable. It was based on real people which bothers me wondering how much is true and how much is fiction. I still recommend the book, but know what you're getting into.
Divergent. B+. Fun, quick read. YA fiction. Your basic strong female in post-apocolypic world fighting to make change. Even though the story's been told over and over, this one was very engaging. I can't wait to read the next in the series!
World War Z. B+. For staters, this is very different from the movie. It's 10 years after we won the zombie war. The book is a series of interviews with survivors. I was hesitant about the way it was written and that I wouldn't stay involved without a central character. However, the book created a very real world. So much so that when I was getting off the freeway one morning and saw some homeless people waking up under a bridge, for just second, I thought they were zombies. I also wanted to bring it up in conversation. Like when someone was talking about North Korea, I wanted to say, "Did you hear how they handled the Zombie Apocalypse?' It was a fun book. I've never read a zombie book before and I may never again, but I'm glad I read this one. It also was welcome to read a book that isn't a strong female character overcoming incredible odds. I'm seriously weary of that plot line.
Waiting to be Heard. B+. I've followed the Amanda Knox case for several years. I thought, since I knew most details of the case, this might be boring. I was surprised at how engaging and well written it was. She is a quirky girl and, while the complete lack of physical evidence makes me sure she is innocent, I can see why people think she is hiding something. The book was haunting to think the someone who doesn't understand a culture coupled with a corrupt prosecutor could put an innocent person in jail for years.
Girl Gone. C-. Maybe it was called Gone Girl. I don't remember. Book club book. I've never gotten into mysteries. This one took a while to get into, then I couldn't put it down, then it ended and I wished I never picked it up. Ridiculous ending.
The Kitchen House. B-. I have no idea how to rate this book. It was slow to start. Once things started to happen (murder), I found myself sucked in and not wanting to put it down; however, once I did put it down, I didn't look forward to picking it up again. I'm not sure why. Maybe because it's similar to a bunch of other books I've read. I'm just getting weary of the genre and need to mix it up a little. Overall, an interesting read. The story of a young white girl who is indentured when her family dies on the boat from Ireland to America. Her relationship with her new family (the slaves whom she is sent to live and work with) and how her life is different from them because of the color of her skin.
The Happiness Project. D. I'm reviewing the book, but I'm not going to finish it. I knew this wasn't my favorite genre, but it was the book club pick this month so I thought I'd give it a chance. I didn't see the point of reading someone's goals. I sometimes feel like these "self-help" books are an excuse for people to feel like they are doing something to be happier, when really they are an excuse to avoid working on yourself by living through someone else's experience. Instead of reading the book, how about spend that time working on your own "happiness project". As I read, I kept thinking it should have been a workbook for readers to complete their own project while reading hers. I'll be interested to hear how others in book club liked it.