It's Like I was 17 Again!

Unfortunately, we've been having sub-freezing temps around here lately, which has caused our garage door keypad to not open our door.

Fortunately, I tried it Saturday afternoon when I went our for a walk, and IT WORKED!

Unfortunately, when I returned an hour later, the keypad was NOT working again.

Fortunately, we have three other doors that I can get in our home with.

Unfortunately, when I tried all of them, they were ALL locked at the moment.

Fortunately, I have a LOUD knock/pound to alert those inside to open the door for me.

Unfortunately, no one answered the door.

Fortunately, I had my cell phone with me and I called the home phone.

Unfortunately, no one answered.

Fortunately, I knew this didn't necessarily mean anything negative (no one answers the phone when it rings!)

Unfortunately, when I called Kyle's cell phone, he said he wasn't inside our home - he was at a friend's house.  It didn't look like I was getting inside any time soon.

Fortunately, I had my coat and gloves.

Unfortunately, I did not have a face mask, hat, thermals or boots on, and the CHILL got through.

Fortunately, I had one chance left - I called Matt.

Unfortunately, he was in Salt Lake City shopping for a table.

Fortunately, he was almost done.

Unfortunately, he did not have our car with him, nor our keys, because he had borrowed his parent's truck to pick up above mentioned table, so he'd have to make an extra stop on his way home to get them.

Fortunately, we did have some neighbors who looked like they were home, if I froze or got desperate, or was desperately frozen, that I could go to and beg for shelter and warmth to wait it out in.

Unfortunately, I did not want to trouble them with my pathetic situation.

Fortunately, I HAD just returned from my walk to the library, and I had a bag full of six new books!  And we have a rocking chair on our porch!  So, I took a seat, opened up a book, and started reading!

And eventually Matt came home and let me into our [warm] home! 

The End.

Total time spent locked outside = approximately 30 minutes.
(But, with temperatures hovering around the high teens, it felt like MUCH longer!)  ;)


*This being locked out hasn't happened to me FOR YEARS - in my teens and college years, it was a regular occurrence, though, so this was quite the trip down Memory Lane!  haha.

A Paranoid is Never Entirely Mistaken

I started reading this new book, Still Alice, this week.  (A movie by the same title was made about this last year).  Before I even started the book, I knew it was going to be about a woman, a 50-yr.-old woman, mind you, with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, thanks to the synopsis written on the back cover.

In just the very beginning parts of the book, I read about how:
The woman (Alice) was on a speaking assignment, and she was mid-sentence when she couldn't find the word she was intending on saying.  She had a loose sense of what she wanted to say, but the word itself eluded her.  It just wouldn't come to her.
THIS HAS HAPPENED TO ME!

A little later, she was leaving a restaurant when the waiter ran out after her, and handed her back her BlackBerry that she had left.  She couldn't comprehend HOW the waiter got a hold of it because she didn't remember ever using it during the meal.  But, she checked her purse, and sure enough, it wasn't in there.
THIS HAS HAPPENED TO ME!

Another time, when she was checking her daily "To Do" list that she had written for herself, she came across a one-word name and she thought, "What does that mean?"  She didn't know if she was suppose to tell, show, or ask that person something.  She tried checking her calendar and email, but nothing rang a bell.  She couldn't figure out what she was suppose to do about that "reminder."  (And then she figured it out a month later when that person contacted her about an assignment!)
THIS HAS HAPPENED TO ME! 

So, now the question is; should I keep reading, or is this book just going to make me think I HAVE (or am developing) Alzheimer's?!? 

Are these actual SIGNS, or just PARANOIA?

It doesn't matter if I'm paranoid, I'm still going to get the disease! ;) 

Bookworm

It's been a while (11 months!) since I did a little book review/rating over here, so, as promised a couple of posts ago, I thought I'd better update y'all on what I've been reading. Similar to what I did last year.....I'll start with the highest rated books. 
I got these book recommendations from a variety of sources.  There ended up being some good recommendations - and some not-so-good ones.

(If it's 3 stars or lower, don't hold me to the quality of it at all  - I can't be responsible for a sub-par reading experience you may have!)
But, YOU may have different feelings/interests, so you may like the ones I didn't, and vice versa - so that's why I'm putting them all out there.

 5 STARS = it was amazing

LOVED Noelle Pikus-Pace and her example in the 2014 Winter Olympics!

I admit, I'm totally biased on this one....MY FRIEND wrote it!!! As in, she's a published author! Good job, Tera! :)

4 STARS = really liked it

These books go on in the series, with the first number in the address increasing
with each consecutive book; from 1 to 2 to 3, but I haven't gone on past the 2nd one.

Unbeknownst to me before reading this book, it takes place in the same geographical location of my son's mission area!
It even mentioned the town of Beckley which is where he was serving at the time I read this book!
   After reading it, I asked my son, in a letter, if the information/problems depicted were fact or fiction...it was accurate - Oh dear..... 

3 STARS = liked it
Follow the Stars Home by Luanne Rice
Chasing Yesterday by Rachel Ann Nunes
Reunion by Ally Condie
Keeping Kate by Lauren Winder Farnsworth
Distant Shores by Kristin Hannah
Sense & Sensibility: A Latter-Day Tale by Rebecca Jamison
Mountains Between Us by Jenny Proctor
Heart of Gold by Jeannette Miller
What Took You so Long by Pamela Williams
For Elise by Sarah Eden

2 STARS = it was OK 
Diamond Rings are Deadly Things

1 STAR = did not like it 
Luckily, there were NONE this time!!! 

(I should do this every 6 months, so it's fewer books to list!)

Happy Reading!

 

Vocabulary 401

Back in 9th grade, I did something that made a lasting impression on my English teacher.  (Wow!  Who knew that was even possible, being the younger sibling of "Mr. Genius," who'd already gone through that same school and completely amazed all the teachers?!?)  Every time I, or someone in my family, have run into her since then, she always mentions this memory she has of me.

This is what I did - and I totally thought it was the perfectly NATURAL thing to do in the situation, so I've never been able to figure out what the big deal was - when I was reading a novel, and I came across a word that I did not know the meaning of, I looked it up in the dictionary, and wrote the word & definition down in my notebook.  (I filled quite a few pages of that notebook!)  
That's it.  So, now you know a "secret" to making your mark with your teacher!  haha.

So, I still read novels these days (I'll have to do another book review on my blog soon), but usually I understand all the words.  It may have something to do with the fact that, admittedly, I prefer what I label, "easy reads."  ;)

Until.....I recently read a book by a different publisher/genre than I most frequently read......and in the first couple of pages, I found myself back in 9th grade!  I didn't know the definitions of all the words, even the context of the sentence didn't help me understand the word's meaning!  They really were "advanced" words, in my defense. ;)  So, I jotted the words down on a post-it note and got out my handy-dandy dictionary again. 
These days, I don't know where that old vocab notebook is, but now I can just document them on this blog!

So, I present to you a vocabulary lesson from the novel, Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler (which happened to be a book I rated 4 STARS!) 


SURREPTITIOUSLY - obtained, done, made, etc. by stealth; secret or unauthorized
 
SLATTERNLY - slovenly and untidy
 
QUERULOUS - full of complaints; complaining
 
BESOTTED - to muddle or stupefy

ABSCONDED - to depart in a sudden and secret manner, especially to avoid capture and legal prosecution

TOREADOR - a bullfighter

LOTHARIOS - a man who obsessively seduces and deceives women, in reference to
the young seducer in Nicholas Rowe's 1703 play, The Fair Penitent 
 
IMPERVIOUS - incapable of being influenced, persuaded, or affected; impenetrable

MAWKISHLY - characterized by sickly sentimentality; weakly emotional

OBSEQUIOUS - compliant, obedient; dutiful; respectful

ABDICATED - to renounce or relinquish a throne, right, power, claim, responsibility, or the like, especially in a formal manner

IMPERIOUS - domineering in a haughty manner; dictatorial; overbearing

APPURTENANCES - something subordinate to another, more important thing

DIRIGIBLES - designed for or capable of being directed, controlled, or steered


How did y'all fare?  Were you besotted by these vocabulary words?

Am I the only one who didn't know all of these words?  I am???  Are you sure you didn't surreptitiously use your dictionary to get all the answers?!?

I've got a favorite from the list: obsequious.  I want obsequious children!!!  ;)

Two Months of Summer - Gone?!?

July is over and done with - gasp! 

Here's how we spent it...

Watermelon smiles

The Logan fireworks show @ USU stadium on the 3rd
that my Uncle (waving from behind, in the red shirt) started clear back when I was a child....and I've loved going ever since!

Summer nights sunsets...

Fireworks...

...and family rounded out our 3rd of July!

Neighborhood party on the 4th of July - shaving cream and cheese puff game!

Summer cockroaches - bleh!

The girls and I went to "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" that my cousin was the Musical Director for!
And then out for shave ice - the BIG Kahuna - afterwards!

Kyle went on a High Adventure Scout Camp in the Tetons July 8-11.

Farmington Festival Days!

Hooray for the full-time missionaries in the Farmington Festival Days parade! 

(Sister missionaries in the red convertible behind the Elders)

Matt caught TWO shirts that they were throwing out at the evening festivities in the park - Brookelle immediately donned it as her new dress!

We {heart} our Farmington Festival Days

Family Night activity - climbing to the top of a neighborhood tree.

Annual read-a-thon and pizza picnic in our family room.

Katelyn got her long locks cut off!

Katelyn fed her obsession got crafty making bracelets

Katelyn & Brookelle were in the Days of '47 Children's Parade in SLC

Fresh Lime treats!

When the school supplies hit the shelves, we jumped on it! 

(Haylee's back pack pick) 

Lagoon

The new ride, Cannibal!

It's description: Cannibal lifts riders 208 feet and plunges them into a 116° beyond vertical free-fall into an underground tunnel

We ALL survived, although there WAS some crying and closed eyes involved. We also rode it while it was raining, so we were privileged to get pelted in the face with rain drops during our ride; the ride that was not open by Lagoon's season opening day because the dummies were falling out on the test runs; the same ride we noticed, as we waited in line, had a swaying/wobbling inverted loop when the coaster went around that section of the track  - Oh, my!

 

Road trip to St. George in the EARLY morning hours, as the sun is just coming up.

Nothing quite like the hot days of Summer, standing by Port-a-Pottys watching a Pioneer Day Parade!

Hooray for the full-time missionaries (again!), singing, "Called to Serve," in this parade in Washington, UT

Kyle got the silver medal running in the 16 yr. old foot race (because he was the only 15 yr. old who wanted to race, he "ran up.") and won In-N-Out Burger coupons, too!

Sparklers & firecrackers in the street to finish off the Pioneer Day weekend.

(including the "grand finale" that sent many of us RUNNING & SCREAMING, like last year!)  ;)

4-Wheeling in the property behind my parents' house

Our Annual Movie Marathon.  This year's titles: "Penguins of Madagascar," "Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb," "Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2," and "The Book of Life"

I attended the first day of this 2-day Women's Conference to close out the month of July.