I haven't blogged in a few days, I know. Greg and I were asked to speak in church last Sunday, so every time I sat down to blog, I felt guilty--like I should instead work on preparing my remarks for church. So I would dutifully NOT blog.
. . . And instead I would read blogs. And soak up as much free content on the New York Times website before the dreaded paywall went up. And accomplish basically nothing.
This happened over and over again until 10 pm on Saturday night when I realized that I had no blogs posts to show for my time online or, even more shamefully, any coherent thoughts to share in church. That is when I finally opened a Word document.
So had I been blogging over the weekend, instead of dutifully pretending like I was preparing to speak in church, here are a few of the thrilling topics I might have blogged about . . .
1) The clutch in our Forester
I told you these were thrilling topics.
If you have ever driven our Forester, you know that it has (had) a very tight clutch. But that tight, tricky clutch lasted over 180,000 miles! Finally, after years and years of expecting the clutch to go *kaput*, it happened. Even without the miracle clutch, our car still has good karma. (You all had better hope and pray that our Forester keeps running--because the day it dies is the day this blog turns becomes in memorium and records my 67 step grief process.)
2) T.E. Lawrence
Hmmm...what's more exciting? Post-WWI Middle Eastern politics or the clutch in my car? That's a tough one.
A book recommendation may or may not being coming soon.
3) Greg's midterm
If you think the clutch is exciting, wait until you hear about Greg's midterm. It is a take home test with five problems and a week to complete it. The only issue is that each problem, the professor correctly warned, takes 10 hours. Yikes! Now that's some math I can do. 50 hours! That's like a full time job--on top of his normal class routines, homework, and research. Needless to say, we haven't seen much Daddy this week. (David is having Lego Star Wars Wii withdrawals.) Fortunately for you, I am not actually going to tell you about Greg's exam, the problem being he lost me at "take the inverse of the matrices." Actually, he lost me way before that, but that's when my eyes rolled into the back of my head and I fell out of my chair.
4) Mary's South America
Look at this precious continent Mary made at school.
It's South America. Her uncle Daniel is a missionary in South America. We love South America.
Mary has been working with the maps at school, and she did this by punching pins into the paper.
I observed Mary's classroom for an hour or so today. I watched her working with the movable alphabet. She wrote the word "mom" for me.
Anyway, Mary's school is much more interesting than Greg's. Unless you're into big disasters. And lots of numbers. And 50 hour midterms.
5) My breaking heart
Now here's a topic perfect for a mommy blog!
The other day Mrs. Q, David's teacher, commented to me on how David and his BFF are such great friends. She pointed out that she has seen kids really connect like that in kindergarten before--and they go on to be friends forever. She told me how great it would be for each of them to have such a good friend in the other for many, many years to come. Sometimes we meet our very best friend in our kindergarten class.
Except that David is moving in two and a half years.
I want to crumble to the ground in a giant heap every time I think about it. I have a pit the size of Milwaukee in my stomach. My heart is breaking.
I completely underestimated how hard it was going to be to move our children every few years.
6) My fame
Look here. What an honor!
Does this make me more famous than Lawrence of Arabia?
You can find the seller's crafting blog here. Check it out--even though it only demonstrates a tiny fraction of her coolness. Liz is a human being extraordinaire. If T. E. Lawrence is a hero, then Liz is a super hero. Which she will prove by continuing to be my friend even though I put her in the same sentence as Thomas Edward Lawrence. At least, I hope she will.
7) This sweater
It's too small. But it's the last of my items from the Wednesday Ladies' Market in Adana, Turkey. I know there is no shortage of hand knitted sweaters in America. Heck, I think Madison--along with Fort Collins--is the knitting capital of the world. But it's just not the same without the "merhaba," the "teşekkür ederim," and that special Adana smell.
And that concludes all the thrilling topics you missed out on reading about last week while I was busy not thinking about the Word of Wisdom. Yes, Greg and I were asked to speak about the Mormon health code. You can read Joseph Smith's original revelation on the subject here, and a good summary of how Mormons live the law nowadays is here. I spoke about our physical health in terms of the two lines of communication Elder Oaks explained last General Conference (which, by the way, is a really good explanation of how being Mormon works).
Okay, so I might have won the prize for best use of a conference address not at all related to the Word of Wisdom. But Greg won the prize for best stories. Want to hear one?
Okay. But first I have to finish blogging about what I would have been blogging about and then I need to blog about what I should have been blogging about and then maybe I'll squeeze in a story or two.
Good-bye. I'm off to NOT read the New York Times.; I'm saving up my page views. (No comments from my more conservative friends and family, please.)
