Four down, 176 to go

So, this week I started teaching seminary. That's where the high school age kids in our ward all get together and do scripture study - this year, it's the Old Testament. Since we don't live in Utah and don't get school release time to do it, the class meets at 6:00 in the morning. It's not at my house - I never did have to clean up the dead spiders - so I do have to get up a few minutes earlier to drive over to the house where it's being held, but on the other hand the other teacher has a nice finished basement, so that's good. We've had four classes so far and I've covered some of the basic stuff - how to use the footnotes, for one - and it seems to be going well. The kids have actually behaved decently, I think because they are too tired to cause much trouble.



And I am e x h a u s t e d. But I think it will get better.



I got some glasses, so I won't have to put in my contact lenses at 5:30 in the morning (which just seems wrong to me somehow). I haven't worn glasses since I was 20 years old and had no fashion sense. I picked these little beauties up yesterday and aren't they cute?

Thumbs up.

I've been meaning to scrap about my special thumbs for a while now - ever since I read this Wikipedia entry - and there was a Body Parts challenge over at Scrap Etc. so I finally got around to doing it.

That's right people, my freaky thumbs are a sign of royalty.

Fair weather

Okay, I guess there are a few good things about August. Like a bumper crop of ripe red tomatoes in our garden. And... umm... more tomatoes. And the State Fair, of course.

Little Hands on the Farm is always a favorite. The kids get to participate in farming tasks like planting, harvesting, and milking. Porter really got into the milking (I'm sure that says something about his personality but I'm not sure what). Matt and Betsy played mini golf in the FFA building (I can never stop myself from saying, "The defect in this one is bleach") and she really liked it, even if she didn't totally understand that the putter is not a pushing implement.

The kids really liked the goats. You can cheap out and pick up little bits of goat feed off the ground, or you can pay a dollar for a baggie of sliced carrots. This was the first year we picked the non-cheap version, but we got way more than $1 worth of enjoyment. (It was also the first time Porter has voluntarily eaten a vegetable... and of course it would be goat food.)

Naturally, it's not the fair without some sort of deep-fried delicacy. You can choose from deep-fried snickers, deep-fried strawberries, and even deep-fried Pepsi (I can't even wrap my mind around how disgusting that sounds).I had deep-fried vegetables because... well, vegetables are healthy, right??!!

My other favorite thing about the fair (besides those awesome Dairy Barn milkshakes) is the used book sale in the Home & Family Arts building. Matt teases me that I look forward to that the most but it's true that I've had some really good finds there. I got my copy of Hannah Fowler at the fair, actually. This year I came away with a huge stack of books for under five dollars - including A Tree Grows In Brooklyn and a groooovy Simplicity sewing book from the seventies - and I scored these nifty dustjacketed finds as well.
The one on the left is really funny; it's got sewing tips but also 'How to dress' tips, like: When you're buying a hat, be sure and try it on both sitting down and standing up. The one on the right I bought more for the great early sixties line drawings than because I believe I'm ever actually going to prepare and serve, say, a Danish Sandwich Luncheon for Six. (Although if I evere did, luckily I know the dress to wear. With a frilly apron.)

So anyway. We survived the heat, we saw lots of animals - did you know, donkeys are surprisingly cute - and we ate plenty of fried goodness. I think the summer can end now.

Thinking cold thoughts

It is about a million degrees today. Unfortunately it's supposed to get up to a billion by the end of the week, and we are going to the State Fair on Friday. Oh well, it will be good practice for the hot Orlando weather, I guess. In the meantime I am trying just to move as little as possible, except to go to swimming. (But you'd better believe we're going to drive to the pool in our air-conditioned van.)

Betsy likes to play hide-and-seek with me while Porter is napping. Unfortunately, she is not exactly the world's greatest hider. I'll count to 10 and do that whole "oh no, where could Betsy be hiding?" routine and her little voice pipes up, "I in here, Mama!" Plus she tends to use the same 3 hiding spots over and over. But it's always fun when she finds me - she always bursts out laughing.

Betsy put on a pair of my shoes this morning - these awesome 6" wedges that were 75% off at Target - and I told her she looked like a mama. She said, "No, a kid with shoes." Well. Okay then.