Can I just say that I love President Monson???

So, if you missed the Relief Society broadcast, you missed a treat!!

I have to say that I love President Monson!! If you somehow missed it - and somehow missed the word that it was wonderful and not to be missed - be sure to go to LDS.org and watch and listen to him - just reading it will not be enough - you really had to be there!!

And of course, the message was as wonderful as the delivery!!

What I do, where I go, who I work with!!

Another staff photo to add to my collection. The first few years I worked, I would put them all up on a bulletin board - but after awhile, I thought the emphasis was misunderstood by students, as in "You've been here that long!!"

I've been teaching since 1996. I've been at Clifton since the 1997-98 school year. I guess I have been here that long!!

Most days I'm happy to go to work. Lately I haven't been as happy - some "political" issues have "sapped my energy." But I always love the kids - and I have some great kids this year. We are also continuing with a program of collaboration that I spear-headed, and I'm proud of the progress we are making.

So I will stick it out! Retirement probably has some bad days too!

I LOVE this apron!

From the LA Times today - a shot of the stars of the Mark Taper Forum production of

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams.

"A Beggar's Banquet"

For those of you who may be unaware of such information, school teachers, in California anyway, are only paid ten months out of the year. This is not so bad, since we only really work 9 1/2 months out of the year. But it does mean that you go from June 30th to September 30th without a paycheck.

You also may be unaware of the fact that at my school, we have a monthly or maybe every 6 weeks or so potluck lunch in the staff room. My good friend Marcie (who is a member of my ward in addition to being a teacher) usually spearheads things and gets out a flyer. And being the creative woman that she is, she always comes up with a theme. I usually provide the tablecloths and a pretty good main dish - at least it always gets snarfed up first. (That occurrence is more to be attributed to the fact that Marcie and I are the only ones who really "cook" - the rest just "fix food" - than to any superiority of my cooking. But I do have some specialties that are certainly "passing fair.")

So this month we had a "Beggar's Banquet," where we were supposed to come up with whatever we could out of our cupboards and freezers. Marcie made fudge. I made Shepherd's Pie. And there was a lot of chips and salsa too! Some of them must manage their money better, because there were a couple of buckets of chicken - and they hadn't made them themselves! And instead of buying flowers for centerpieces, I wandered around the campus classrooms and offices and borrowed plants !

This little exercise got me thinking, and I decided to see how long I could subsist on what was in my cupboards and freezer. I did go to the store for fresh produce, milk, yogurt, and bread, but I haven't really bought "groceries" for a couple of weeks now. It is somewhat liberating too. I even put on Sunday dinner last Sunday without going to the store (there was a lot of sour cream in the fridge so we had stroganoff.)

We are scraping bottom now though, so I hope I can get out of my meetings in a timely manner tomorrow so I can go to the store before dinner!

A good read -

Eliza has posted about These is My Words, a novel/biography by Nancy Turner. My book group read it some time ago, and I quite enjoyed it. She also noted that there were two sequels, and she recommended them to me. So I dutifully headed off to the new Monrovia Library and discovered that neither one of them was in the system. But they did have The Water and the Blood by the same author, and I needed something to read, so I checked it out.

Frankly, it's almost a better read than her first book. It takes place in East Texas, and the time period is World War II. I can't say much without spoiling it for any who might want to read it, but I will say that it's a compelling read with lots of historical detail that I find fascinating.

It's really a novel about prejudice, small-mindedness, resistance to change, religious fanaticism, and hypocrisy.

And it's a love story.

Let me know what you think!

Errata:

My photo files on the computer are majorly disorganized. Those that have been taken on my digital camera are in chronological order, but they are not labeled, nor are they in folders. Some day I'm going to do that. (I should have done that when I was down with my knee surgery - I read 37 novels instead!!)

But in the last week, I have been looking for certain photos, and the scrolling process just didn't work - I missed them. But today, when I was looking for photos for a post on Harry's birthday, I found some of them!! So I thought I'd post them anyway.

It was Andrew's birthday on the 4th - and I knew I had this photo. And it turns out I did!

I figured after celebrating Eve and Grandma's birthdays 8 times together, there ought to be a photo of just the two of them together - and there was!

I was thinking that I had photo of Ida - but assumed it was in with the ones that still need to be scanned. Turned out my assumption was incorrect - this is from a shower at Kathy Knudsen's house - maybe for Michelle M. or Nora G. - so it would be 2 plus or minus years ago. Try to remember to take photos of people you love - this certainly brought a smile to my face.

And I totally forgot to even blog Sarah N's b-day - it was yesterday - happy day to you Sarah!!

I keep planning to get organized - someday. But maybe I never will - I will maybe just read novels instead!