Mask Protection

When Paul and I went to Vietnam it was during the SARS Virus outbreak and we were required to wear masks on some of the planes. This was one of the masks that were handed out on the plane. As I was cleaning some things out, I found a box that these were in. Thank goodness I was keeping it, never know when you might need a mask like this.

Happenings 1/19/09 - 1/25/09

Another week gone by without any news of a baby. It is still a week early, but it is now the longest JJ has gone before having a baby, and she is really feeling tired and pain. (I am grumpy - I have an appointment this next week and I am very hopeful something has happened by then)

Murray State was out on Monday for MLK Jr. Day, so I stayed home with the girls while JJ went to work. It was fun to hang out with them and get some things done around the house. I am trying to finish up a few small projects that I began during the holidays, and Claire is helpful but Rachel is not really so. They went with me to Lowe’s and were very good as we looked at a few things and picked up some caulking.


(Tuesday I took Rachel and Claire to Rachel's storytime and they both had a great time. Rachel was really getting into the songs and the actions which is fun to watch. If I haven't had this baby soon, I am going to have to request a chair to sit in because sitting on the floor is getting uncomfortable and it's taking me awhile to get up off the floor.)


On Wednesday the babysitters (Lauren and Lauren) worked their last day for a few weeks because JJ’s mom arrived this week. I took Claire to storytime and then after JJ came home in the evening I went to the YM/YW joint activity, and joined them in playing volleyball. I like the interaction with the youth that we have in the bishopric.

My classes are going quite well — I really like the discussions that we have as a class, though I’m not sure if all the students are enjoying it as much as I and others are. But this semester has really made me excited for teaching. One of the classes is not a required class, which makes a huge difference, and the other is full of overacheivers, and so far they are fun and not annoying.

Thursday after my classes were over I went home and we all headed for Nashville to pick up Judy. Even the day before I wasn’t planning on going, and then thought of the reality of situation and couldn’t reconcile staying home while a very pregnant wife and kids were on the road by themselves. So I drove. (I was planning on going without him and just figured if something happened, we would try to find the nearest hospital. Mom even brought her GPS system so that we could find a hospital with it if we had to. But my good hubby finally realized that a it may be a little less risky if he came along - Im not sure Claire would be good with delivering a baby.) We made it there just a little after Judy arrived, and then we ate supper at Bob Evans restaurant, then came home without incident.

Friday I put in a long day at work doing some writing and then attending a faculty meeting where I explained to all the faculty the new composition course that is going to be put in place in the Fall. No one had any questions at that point, but I’m sure they will as soon as they find out they will be teaching the course when our Fall schedules are set in the next few weeks. I have a lot of work ahead of me on this course, because along with it, we are creating a custom student handbook that needs to be finished by June. So it is a busy semester. We hung out at home on Friday evening.

Saturday was a busy and productive day for me. I ran in the morning, and then finished painting the toy box I made, cleaned up some more in the garage, and made a shelf for one of our kitchen cabinets. We bought new pots and pans, and wanted to rearrange a few things in the kitchen, and we needed one more shelf. Fortunately, I had a piece of wood that I was able to cut and it fit right in. I also cleaned our bathrooms and had a little time to finish reading one book and start and finish Persepolis, a sort of comic book that JJ is reading for her book club next month. (Mom, Claire and Rachel and I went shopping for a book case that I have been wanting. We went to a few different stores and even the Peddler's Market, but went back to the first place I had looked. I was very excited because I have been wanting this bookcase for quite some time now.) In the evening, we went out to eat at a mexican restaurant, then I took Claire to the Murray State basketball game. We made it just at the end of the women’s game, so Claire was able to play on the kids’ inflatable things until the game started, and then she ate her free popcorn while we watched the first half, and then we went home so she wouldn’t be up to late. I wasn’t in doubt about the Racers winning, although they didn’t start too well. The team they played haven’t won a conference game yet.

On Sunday, I went to the meetings in the morning and then JJ, Rachel, and Judy went home after sacrament because JJ wasn’t feeling really great — she was hoarse with a cough — and so Claire stayed with me after the block was over for a ward potluck and doing tithing. Later I went back for choir practice, but only a few of us showed up and I was the only guy, so we didn’t really sing. We are planning to do an Easter sacrament meeting program, but the organizer is very ambitious. First, she wanted to do a community program, but more realistic ideas prevailed — we don’t have a choir at all now and most of us who want to sing didn’t want to debut to the community or to an empty chapel because no one is interested. Anyway, when I got home the young single adults had just arrived and they stayed for awhile after their lesson playing a game called Apples to Apples, which was fun. They had been talking amongst themselves about next week, because of the Super Bowl, and wondered if they could watch it after a lesson. I said that it would be fine, but if anyone asks, I don’t know anything about it.

Bathtime

Claire and Rachel have such different attitudes toward bathtime.

Rachel loves to get undressed, but doesn't love the water for long, nor does she like bubbles. She then loves to get out, put lotion on and put on pj's.

Clarie on the other hand, takes forever to get undressed, loves the water and the bubbles - she will stay until she is a prune - hates to get out, refuses to put on lotion and takes forever to put on pj's.



It sometimes makes for a long drawn out night. Thank goodness they are both adorable!

Happenings 1/12/09 - 1/18/09

The cold weather this week here made us glad that we don't live farther north; but then again at least there would be snow to make the winter and cold fun once in a while. The first part of the week wasn't too bad, but then on Thursday it was bitter cold and Friday was the same. The high for the days was around 20 degrees, and with the wind chill, they said low felt like -7. That is cold for us here, but we made it through and it has been warmer, though not comfortable, outside.

Classes began on Monday, and I have to be in my office a lot during the first week because anyone who wants to get into a composition class has to go through me. I only had a handful of people to add to full classes early in the week, so I thought it wouldn't be a hectic week, but Tuesday and Wednesday crescendoed, but I was able to "fit" nearly everyone into a class that wanted to get in one. If they wanted to switch classes, they were out of luck though. Thursday and Friday were calmed down, and there were students who dropped out of sections that made everything work out pretty well in the end. I try not to add students into a section that is full but have to if we don't have the demand for another section. Since the composition classes are capped at 25, which is too large for a writing class, we don't want to give the administration or board of regents the idea that we can teach more students than we already are. I spread out the extra across the sections so that no class has more than 26, because generally a student drops after a few weeks or there are scattered absences that solve the problem of not enough computers for 26 students.

Anyway, that was the administrative part of the week, with a few other phone calls and e-mails regarding the composition program. On Tuesday I met with my two classroom classes for the first time, and am excited for the semester. I have a large group for the Literature and the Environment class and it was amazing to hear them say as they introduced themselves that they were excited about the class and looking forward to something different, for the English majors, than British or American "literature." I also have some wildlife management/conservation and biology majors, who are also excited to read and discuss environmental writers. I usually teach required classes, so to have that many people say they were glad to be in a non-required class made me happy.

My other class was also a mood-lifter. It is an honors composition class, and as a group, they are a far cry from the normal composition class. They were also excited to be there and excited to learn, and we had a great discussion about why they and most everyone else doesn't like writing -- they say high school takes all the joy and purpose out of writing. I am looking forward to working with them because I can do more advanced and theoretical things to help them with their writing because they are interested in doing something different. They will write a few formal essays, but all their informal reading responses will be in the form of letters to different people, and on Thursday they reported that writing their response as a letter to me was liberating and fun -- such a reaction is new to me -- and I enjoyed reading their letters as well.

So my two classes went well during the week, and I also began my online class, which kind of goes by itself by design, and then I grade assignments and make a few comments on the discussion board. That sounds like it is easy, but all the prep work was done last summer, and there are several assignments that have to be graded so when those are due I spend more time. I do like that I can leave all the reading, discussing, and quizzes up to them for the most part, though.

I didn't run all week because of the cold weather -- my threshold is 19 degrees -- but ran on Saturday. My legs are finally feeling normal, though I think I lost some lung capacity, if that's what you call breathing harder when I run now than I did before taking a month off.

Thursday evening after the kids went to bed JJ and I watched Pride and Prejudice, the BBC version. We had watched a couple of hours a week ago, and decided to watch some more. Once it got going, I didn't want to stop watching, so JJ went to bed and I stayed up until midnight until it was over. It was a long movie but I liked it. I have never read the book or watched the movie, but I had seen some variations on the basic story, so I could only feign surprise when Mr. Darcy and Ms. Bennett ended up together.:)

Friday night we got a babysitter and went out for sushi. JJ is starting to eat more sushi, and we both had some rolls and then an appetizer of chicken satay. After dinner, we decided to go to the International Cinema movie at the university -- free is a good price -- and watched "Mongol." We didn't really have much of an idea what it was about, but we ran into the organizer of the movies at the restaurant, who teaches at MSU, and he said it was a beautiful movie to watch about Genghis Khan. It was quite a movie, covering the early part of his life and how he came to power. Who knows if it is true, but it was fascinating and did have some amazing views of Mongolia and life in the 12th century.

Saturday morning we all sort of moseyed around the house after breakfast, reading or playing, and then later I did some work on the toy trunk that is taking a long time to finish with all the painting and putting trim on, but I got it put together and caulked, so that now only the final coat of paint needs to go on before I put the lid on. JJ hosted a baby shower for a sister in our ward, and then we all relaxed and went to bed fairly early.

Sunday morning I went to bishopric meeting and then left a few minutes early and went home so that JJ could go to ward council. I think that's how we will do the meetings -- I will go to both meetings two times a month and go to bishopric only the other two Sundays. I attended a primary training meeting after church, and they provided lunch so it wasn't too bad to stay an extra two hours. Later, the young single adults came over for home evening and that was fun. When they all left, Claire went to bed and so did we. Rachel has a little cold, which she has given to all of us, so everyone is trying to fight that away.

My Baby is Getting Big

My little baby Rachel is getting to be such a big girl. One day I turned around and my baby is now a toddler and keeps me running. Though luckily she can't run too fast if she wears boots that are about four sizes too big and backwards!

Ways to Make Laundry Fun

Every time I do laundry, the girls love to play this fun game - putting the laundry basket on their heads. They then run around like this. And no matter how many times I remind them and how many times it has happened, someone always ends up in tears (usually from falling down or bumping into something). What a fun game, huh? At least looking at them makes me giggle.

Happenings 1/5/09 - 1/11/09

Today we finally got a new bishop in our ward and I was called as the 2nd counselor, so that will be a slight change in my church duties. The previous 2nd counselor is now the ward clerk, and the former executive secretary is not the 1st counselor. The former 1st counselor is the new bishop, so we just all switched places. We still need an executive secretary because we did lose our bishop to the stake presidency. But it was interesting that it wasn't really much of a shakeup. (I am glad Paul was not called as Bishop, even though that means I keep my calling as RS President - at least as far as I know. Either way, one of us is gone a lot, having to deal with a lot of the same things, and has lots of meetings to go to.)

This week was more normal than the past few weeks because all of the little kids around went back to school and so Claire was home all day every day. Plus, the library was closed for annual inventory, so there was no storytime for either Rachel or Claire. J.J. worked on Monday and Wednesday and I worked on the other days of the week. All of my days at work were productive -- I did everything I planned on doing for the week, which included getting my course schedules all ready and doing a couple of small projects. Amidst all that, one of our adjuncts e-mailed me on Wednesday and told me that he was hired at a local high school full-time, and couldn't teach the four sections that he was scheduled for this semester. (I just stayed busy at work. I am helping to train a nurse practitioner who is coming in to cover me while I am on maternity leave. They are cutting things a bit close to get someone fully trained, but luckily she has a little experience in orthopaedics. It makes my days a little longer though trying to train and teach someone while seeing patients.)

So on Thursday, along with the department chair, I tried to fill those sections. We were able to fill two with teachers we already have who wanted to teach an extra section, and then I had to find a new teacher. Luckily, and quite luckily, the department chair received a call from another professor on campus saying that he knew a young man in town who had just graduated with a Master's degree in English composition and rhetoric from the University of Missouri and was back living at home deciding what to do next. I called him and asked him to come and talk to me, and after talking to him a little I asked if he wanted to teach two sections of composition. He had taught at Missouri, and was troubled only by the terrible pay that all universities pay adjuncts. He thought about it overnight and then came in on Friday and said he would do it so we went over some things so that he could begin planning for next week. We were fortunate that he was around and that we received that phone call from his acquaintance, because I didn't know anyone else who could teach those sections.

Thursday evening we had the missionaries over for a dinner of slow-cooked roast, (we got a new crock pot a couple months ago and didn't realize how bad our old one was until we started cooking in the new one. We just thought all the meat and everything we got was not top quality. Now we realize how yummy these things can be once again when you have a crock pot that actually works!) and then I went for an interview with the stake president, where he called me to be a counselor -- he thought J.J. would be coming, but the stake clerk hadn't asked her to so he met with her and me before church today. After the interview, I went to the Murray State vs. Tennessee State basketball game. Murray State ended up winning by a smaller margin than they should have, but I didn't watch too much because I was catching up with some people who I know. After the game, I went home and watched the National Championship game. After watching all the games, Utah was definitely the most impressive.

Friday night Claire stayed the night at Katey's house, and so we got to bed really early that night. I was going to run on Saturday morning but it was pouring when I woke up. I spent the morning building a toy trunk for the toy room, getting some of it finished before I took Claire and Katey to Murray State's game against Austin Peay. MSU came out flat and never really got going -- it was close the whole way and Austin Peay went ahead by one with 10 seconds left and we didn't make our last second shot so we lost. Claire and Katey were real good, eating popcorn and sort of watching the game. (I spent my morning getting my toenails and fingernails done. I have been wanting to do this for months now since it is very difficult to reach my toes by myself and actually be able to breathe. So I finally got my time to do it and it was wonderful! Now I really feel like I am prepared if I go into labor soon, because who would want to go to the hospital with unpainted, ugly toenails. Paul was teasing me that now i am ready to face the hospital staff - I seriously agree with him. I have been having some contractions that actually become painful and are pretty regular for a couple to few hours, but then just kind of peter off. So who knows.)

Later, many of the young single adults came over for a pizza and ping pong party here before the semester starts, and that was fun. About 12 of them came. Mostly, we all ate and talked, but a few people played ping pong. They all left around 8:30 and we got the girls in bed and went to bed.

So it was a good week, and we hope all of you had good weeks as well.

Happenings 12/29 - 01/04

Happy New Year to everyone -- we had a quite busy week here.

Between football and projects around the house, we stayed busy throughout the week. J.J. and I both went to work as well -- she on Monday and half of Wednesday,(I have been working during this Christmas and New Year season since I only work two days a week. I am saving up time for maternity leave and in order to take a longer vacation this summer to go see family, but it sure doesn't seem as quite a holiday/vacation season as usual. I miss that feeling since my schedule hasn't been that different. I guess I just need to be thankful that I have a job and get to stay home much of the time also.) and I on Tuesday and Friday. I was able to finish my first draft of the article I was working on, which is what I hoped to do, and also finish most of my reading that I planned for the break. This next week I will work on the syllabuses -- I don't like "syllabi" -- for my classes and get that all ready for when classes start next week. I also have to handle the several requests by students who want to get into full composition classes.

On New Year's Eve I loaded up on some supplies at Lowe's to build some shelves in the toy room and some heavy-duty hangers to hang up our strollers and bike trailer in the garage to make extra room when we don't use them. Then that evening we went to an open house-type party at the Mitchells' house, and there were several people there that had kids so it was perfect. The food was good and we had a good time visiting with friends there, and we came home at 8:30. We put the kids to bed and we went to bed also - I guess we are fuddy-duddies but it's just another day and we had a lot to do the next day. (Here I was complaining about not having much time off at New Year's and I was in bed by about 9:30 on New Year's Eve. We did have fun at our friend's house, but we didn't even have to pretend it was midnight for the girls. I guess I should enjoy that while they are too young to know the difference. I did wake up at about midnight to the loud gun shots and lights from some fireworks, but I quickly went back to sleep. Any sleep I get right now is precious. I can't stay asleep very long due to being uncomfortable, heartburn, baby kicking, etc. so early to bed just means a little more time to get in cat naps. I move from room to room throughout the night trying to find comfortable spots - I am learning from the cats.)

So on New Year's Day I started the year on the good note by going running in the morning, and it went okay even though it feels like all the running I did over the past 6 months has been erased and I'm starting from scratch. My knee hurts slightly and my muscles just seem to say "no" each time I run. But I went again on Saturday and it was better, so I am optimistic and glad I am not training for anything right away. Thursday's weather was nice, though, which was great for our projects. J.J. did some painting of a dresser and a couple of parts for a toy trunk I am going to build, (I had to get the dresser done so we have somewhere to put the baby clothes - of course, after I got everything put away, it just seemed like I filled all the space up and didn't free any. I have only pulled out some gender neutral clothes for the baby and have already filled up what space I did have. I also pulled out the bassinet and other baby stuff we will need. I feel so unprepared for this baby.) and she overdid it some and was really sore later. (My back hurt so bad, I sat down and couldn't get up. I was in tears much of the night. I took a bath, had Paul rub my back and used a vibrating pillow my parents sent me and was able to relax a little, but it took me a few days to get over it. I decided it won't be until after the baby is born that I will be crawling in the attic crawl space to put Christmas totes away.) I built some 8 foot long shelves in the toy room that work really well for holding the toys. (I really like the shelves in the toy room. It makes it look so much better than all the toys and bins sitting on the floor.) I also did some organization in the garage and things are getting better.

After working for most of the day, checking now and again on games, I watched football in the evening and night and rested. Then on Friday I worked for the morning and finished what I needed to do and then came home and watched more football and also played with the kids and did some more work around the house. The weather was nice enough to play outside for a long time, and Claire and Rachel had a great time in the warm weather. Claire thought it was summer already, and she wouldn't believe me two days later when I told her it was still winter. (I went to church and input a bunch of visiting teaching numbers into the computer - I was 4 months behind - an also revised some routes - this is a never ending process which I would like to end sometime. What a wish, huh?)

Friday night we went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant with Bridget and Katey, and that was fun. Claire was able to play with Katey a lot on Friday and Saturday, which was nice because she was going back to school on Monday. I watched the Sugar Bowl on Friday night and was glad that Utah beat Alabama. It's good to see at least one team from Utah that shows up to play and win, and hopefully their wins will eventually help change the dumb BCS system.

It was a nice weekend before it gets mostly back to normal. We enjoyed the holidays, even though it felt sort of weird being home and not being with family for any part of it, but we spent time with friends and that was nice. (It was nice, but something just seemed to be missing the whole time. I miss family!!) One night a couple of the young single adults showed up at the house in the late afternoon before J.J. got back from work and I was just chatting with them and invited them to stay for dinner, and then discovered later that they had already called J.J. and asked if they could come over for dinner and to hang out. (They did call, but I didn't know that until I came home and they were there since I didn't have my cell phone on when they called and hadn't checked any messages. I don't mind them coming over though, especially since they are happy with anything to eat - even boxed mac and cheese if it so be) So we ate leftovers from Christmas, since we had so much, and it worked out great. We are enjoying our association with the YSAs, and the home evenings with them on Sunday nights are also fun and something Claire and Rachel like as well.

Well, that's it for this week.

Name Your Side

I bought letters to make Claire and Rachel's names a long time ago, and finally got around to painting them and putting them up. Claire's went over her bed and Rachel's went over her crib. They both loved them, but Claire was disappointed hers was pink and Rachel's was purple - she wanted purple, though at the time I painted them her favorite color was pink. Oh well, it may change again tomorrow!