The dog ate my homework...

Yikes, I am behind. I will never get a 4.0 with this kind of effort...

Assignment:
~ Someone found your blog and emailed you saying they're visiting the city where you grew up. Write an itinerary for a one-day tour of your hometown. Prompt: "When you're there, you can't miss____. There's a great view from____. My favorite place for lunch is_____, and the kids would love____."


Some of the best advice I have ever been given comes from Abuelita. When she came to America there was a period of time where she moved a lot. A Lot. Once, when I was feeling like it was futile to create a home she told me that I needed to always unpack. Every box. Even if I was going to repack a few months later. Because every person needs a home. There is a Billy Joel song with lyrics that say "I need you in my life because you are my home." And that is what I try to remember when I hear that we are moving again, that we can't go places for holidays, and when I feel like a resident alien in my own life. My family is my home. My house is my home. Wherever we are, we are home because we are together.

I haven't lived in my home town for fifteen years, and when I return I feel more like a visitor than a resident. And I have been away from my second home for five, and find myself missing out on all sorts of important developments that a permanent citizen would know all about. I live in EP, but certainly don't know enough about the city to make more than a few cursory recommendations (always get tamales from the trunk of some old lady's car). But I have a home. And you are welcome to visit it anytime you want. I promise it will be unpacked. And there will be a bed for you. And I will make some waffles. And (if you are lucky) we can have trunk tamales.

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Class assignment

Homework: Do any or all, or be inspired.

~Choose a type of book from the list above, and make your own list of five titles that fit the category.

~Describe the perfect bookstore. Prompt: "It looked so inviting. There were_____, with lots of _____. . . "

~Suggest or review a book we might not have heard about.

Oh, how timely this post is, as I am staring at two overflowing bookcases right now. W and I have a giant problem with books--we own way too many. (I know someone is saying "you can't own too many books" but you can. When you have to move all the time and you only have a few book shelves and you have to unpack them, you can own too many books. )

So here is my list of categories in the La Yen Ye Olde House of Juggery and Books, and a sample few of the selection:

Books that make me cry
The Awakening
Harry Potter series
The Continuous Atonement

Books that make me laugh
The Eyre Affair
Freddie and Fredericka
Dave Barry Does Japan

Books I must reread at least once a year
The Westing Game
The Parenting Breakthrough
Anne of Green Gables

Books with stupid names in the title and some sort of "fantasy" (also known as W's books)
Something Something Something Shanarra
Dune
Something Something Something Shanarra 2: Electric Crapaloo

Books I will require Jooj to read
Ribsy
Betsy-Tacy
Pippi in the South Seas

Random books from college that I need to get rid of
Art Through the Ages
Old Testament Manual
Mormon Country

Why do I have this book? Books
Is There Life After Housework?
Tuck Everlasting
All Books in the "W" section

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This is my job? Really? THIS?

Assignment: ~Write a paragraph about a job you would do for free. Prompt: "If money were no object, I'd like to be a ______, and work in_______."


I have all sorts of dreams about what I would love to be. They all involve different ways of serving people--nursing, counseling, treating, helping, changing lives. I would love to be able to travel to far-off lands and help orphaned children, teach illiterate mothers to read and write, build houses for the homeless and just all-around share love.

I am a believer in the concept of seasons. Turn, turn, turn and all that. But more Biblical and less dirty hippie. And right now is not my season to travel and help. The planting I am doing is at home, not in exotic, spicy countries, and let me tell you--the sowing is not very glamorous. Mostly monotonous. Generally frustrating and sass-filled. Boo to that, I say.

But it is my season to be at home. I suppose I could put the kid in day care and go out and help. But who would help her? Who would teach nurture and counsel and treat and help and change her? Someone has to teach her to read and write, and someone has to make her home and fill it with love.

The flowery Hallmark card in me says I should end this with "So I am doing what I love!" But am I? I often wonder at a Heavenly Father who would give me a soul filled with so many aspirations and then "just" make me be a mother. Aren't I capable of more? Probably. Is there any better thing I could be doing? Absolutely not. Does that mean I fill totally fulfilled and like I am doing all that I was meant to do? Again, Absolutely not. But I know that one day this season will end and it will be time to do something else. Maybe something different. Maybe something more Me. And I bet that when I get to that season I will miss this one. The sassy one.

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Assignment 2

I am catching up. First the computer broke for a few days. Then I got sick. So bear with me. I don't want to start having those panicked dreams about being so far behind and then I find out there is a final for a class I never even knew I had...

Ten Places I'd Like to Go

London
Hawaii
Fiji
Costa Rica
Austria
Finland
Iceland
Belize
Japan

When I vacation I like to have a solid itinerary. I do not like to wing it. Winging it is for people that have a far larger Zanax prescription that I. I also do not like to just sit. Sitting is for my in-laws. And their children. And their children's children. I also like to be in charge. This does not sit well with my in-laws. Or their children. Or their children's children. So, to sum up, I should vacation by myself.

School Days Seminar Assignment 1

Assignment for the day: Write a blog about why you have a blog

I am not good at making friends. Not even a little. Mostly I have W make friends for me, and then take over from there. My best friend is no exception. She and W went to EFY together, and she has the honorable distinction of being the only girl at the camp that did not make out with my husband-to-be, who was a notorious man-whore. I think God knew that I needed her more than his lips did.

We met randomly, when he introduced me to her at UVCC/SC/U as she happened to pass by. We were in the dining hall, which was the only place he frequented during his first year there. I was visiting from The Lord's University (slumming) as the introductions were made. I didn't think too much about it.

Then, randomly (but not really, I think) she and her husband moved in next door. And after a few weeks I left my husband for her. And her Hawaiian Haystacks.

Later, after I moved from West Pro to EP she sent an email saying that she had started a blog. So I started one, too, because I thought hers was awesome. And I am a copier ALL THE WAY.

And from there, ran into another friend from college that W made for me. And another friend that ~J made for me. And another. And another. More and more and more and more and more friends. More than I have ever had.

And I found myself surrounded by these women on the internet. And when I visit I am surrounded by these women in person. And I love them more than most things in my life. And I want them to love me. And know about me. And that is why I have a blog.

Also, because I sometimes like to post letters to children's characters. (Stay tuned for that collaborative gem...)