Just random

1. I have new respect for ladies who can play the piano for primary or any other sort of chorister and make it look easy. I've been practicing songs and trying all the little tricks for figuring out how to make the music flow along with the metronome that I've picked up over the years but... -sigh- It is nice to have primary music filling the house now, and the kids love to sing along with it. That's been nice.

2. General conference was awesome. Talks that touched me the most: Elder Bednar Saturday afternoon, Elder Uchtdorf Sat morning, Elder Wirthlin Sat afternoon (fantastic talk), Pres Eyring Sun morning... oh, wow. I'm just going to download all the sessions and listen to them while I clean my van tomorrow. It's been a really great weekend. Loved Faith in Every Footstep Sunday afternoon. MoTab hasn't been as irritating lately. I've never been a fan but they're not bad nowadays.

3. I weaned Freida (who we call Bean sometimes) because she bit me hard enough to drip blood the other day, and that's the LAST TIME that will ever happen. The only bummer is that the formula gives her a diaper rash, so we're concentrating on solids to keep her little body full without too much of the fake milk. It's been nice to wear some clothes I got in anticipation of this day, including a very comfy kaftan.

4. Man has been referred to yet another orthopedic surgeon. He sees him in a couple of weeks, so keep your fingers crossed that this one will help. At the very least, we're hoping he'll be willing to take off a bone spur that we think is the real problem. If not, Man may claw it out himself. No, not really, the Army would have cow. Good news is that the results of a bone scan are negative for osteoarthritis. Yay!

5. Way to go, greater Kansas City Area for the announcement of your very own temple!!!! I did a "squeee!!" when I heard that and I'm thrilled to pieces for you.

6. Princess is in some sort of "good reader" club at school, consisting of four kids out of the 17 in her class who are cruising along in the reading department. It's interesting how the culture of comparing people based on their merits starts at such a young age. I know that it's good to offer some incentive for excelling at reading, but how do you do that without making an accomplishment exclusionary? Now they've got the "kids who are good at reading" vs "the kids who are average at reading" and now they're labeled. Now they know what level of talent they have. Now their expectations and the expectations of those who are working with them have been defined. PB's teacher works very hard with each child to help them along at their own pace. Each of these children has their own reading portfolio so Mrs. R can keep track of their strengths, weaknesses, and generally build each individual mind in the ways that it needs to succeed. But I still don't like the club, even if my kid is in it.

7. The Office. I'm an addict. Season 4 is pretty cool. It's isn't as side-splittingly funny but it's still darn engrossing and I'm starting to like Michael Scott more as a person, and Dwight is even more my hero. Dwight is an embodiment of all of the quirks that I, my siblings, and many of my friends in high school used to have (except for the gross assumption of authority. we were all intellect/knowledge snobs, but not authority snobs. and light sabers are still cool no matter how lame episodes 1-3 turned out to be. oh, and I've always disliked guns. I've never shot one, and never intend to.) Am I the only person in America who thinks that Jim is a bit of a jerk? I hope I don't lose friends for saying that.

8. It's raining. I love it.

9. I'm a knitting coward but I may just have to buckle down and get over it for the sake of this pattern at the top. Must. Have. Spidey. Blanky.

10. I have some ideas for making a scrap book for Princess, since that's the next project the Daisy's will be working on. I'm thinking of just using a small photo album and then getting index cards of the right size for her to customize. Any further ideas? I'm hoping to start pretty small on this so we can set the project up for success. Plenty of time for the classy, gorgeous stuff friend K has accomplished (friend K, I covet your scrap books. I don't know if I've ever told you that.) after we master the basics. Either index cards, or some size that's exceptionally easy to cut out of those square pieces of scrapbooking paper. I'll have to check WallyWorld and Michael's out tomorrow because darn it, I have a coupon that I really want to use. As dumb as that sounds.

Well, congrats on reading to the end. This got a lot longer than I thought it would but I've been waiting for Bean to fall asleep this whole time. Until my next infrequent update, be well and good, my fair readers.