Amazingly enough, today there is actually a cool breeze blowing and so I sat outside to write this out by hand and am now typing it in.
It was almost unbearably hot these past two weeks, especially since I spent a lot of my time in the kitchen with the hot stove and oven. I was proud of myself because last week I bravely lit the oven for the first time. It's a gas oven and you have to light it using a flame. So we bought one of those long-handled lighters and I lit it. I am now an old pro and had no trouble lighting it to keep the quesadillas warm that I made for lunch on Wednesday. I think my body has adjusted to the heat though, because this week I haven't noticed it as much. The humidity is really gross - I don't like breathing thick air when it gets really humid. For all you Mommy types reading this, yes I am drinking lots of water, I even caved in to the trend and bought a cheap, purple, Eddie Bauer knockoff of a Nalgene bottle at Target this week. We keep a big cooler filled with water for the kids all the time to make sure they stay hydrated.
We did a week-long pillow making project for crafts this week. The kids decorated fabric using puff paints and then made pillows by cutting a fringe and then knotting it to make seams. It worked ok for some, but others couldn't do it so we bought a cheap little sewing machine (the kind you see on tv) at Target to finish the pillows. Of course, as you would expect from a $25 device, about halfway through the afternoon it would only work by plugging and unplugging it instead of pressing the pedal, and the little hand-held sticher that came with it died as well. I still haven't decided whether or not we should take it back. I am sure all you sewing geniuses out there who are reading this wish you could help! Next week for crafts we'll be tie-dying t-shirts, which should be lots of fun and is a bit easier than pillows.
Today I am resting, which is nice. I could have gone up to Bluewater campground with Bruce, Helen and Jacob, but I decided to stay here and rest instead. I want Jacob to be able to spend time with his girlfriend Rachel (who is at that camp this week as a Graceland University Representative) without me hanging around. There isn't anyone up there right now who I know so I would just be following Bruce & Helen around. Besides, like I've said before, I'm the type of person who needs lots of processing time on my own. Jacob and I also need time apart - lately we've been bickering like brother and sister quite a bit.
Yesterday was a special treat - Troy, a good friend of both Jacob and I from Graceland, came to visit us at the church, hang out for the evening, and stay the night here at Bruce & Helen's before heading out of town today. He also taught our "Gettin' Real With Jesus" time in the afternoon at the church:
He likened the story of Jesus falling asleep in the boat to a Detroit Pistons basketball player falling asleep in the locker room, it was a good story and the kids were very engaged.
I had a good talk with Troy about my time here, he is a good person to reflect with, and it was a much more beneficial conversation than my midterm evaluation was. It was fun to remember our time in university and remember things like the fact that Troy and I are both so competitive that he actually suggested we keep score while we watched Jeopardy and I seriously considered the idea. We didn't keep score, although Helen keeps insisting that I should go on the show since I'm always calling out answers when we watch. We got hooked this summer on watching the Mormon guy, Ken, who has been the returning Jeopardy champion for pretty much the entire summer. We keep making jokes about the bishop back in Salt Lake gleefully keeping a running tally of how much the Mormon church's 10% cut of Ken's winnings is growing each night.
Yesterday the kids finished up their stuff for this week's newspaper (I am still struggling to upload last week's paper to the web, I really want you all to see it!). I have had a really good time working with them in the computer lab:
Some days I feel more like a teacher, especially when I keep getting asked things like Keiron did the other day:
"Shannon! How do you spell pon?"
"What?"
"HOW DO YOU SPELL PON?!"
"What do you mean?"
"You know, like 'once a pon a time'"
"OOhhh!"
And I try to stick with my usual rule for computer teaching: I will tell people how to do something, step by step, but I won't do it for them. It works most of the time, except for the long days when I've been asked umpteen times where the paint program is. I am so happy that they are getting the opportunity to just spend time on the computers and increase their comfort level. I even don't mind if they play games - I just don't tell them that when they play the "Mavis Beacon Typing Tutor" games, they're actually increasing their typing skills. hee hee hee.
