Tales of a Shoebox Princess

Back in Feb when I had just sent EJ off to get some Spanish learnin' for to prepare him to live in Tijuana for 2 years, we were also dealing with Paul's last few months in high school and in the Scouting program. We wanted Paul to get his Eagle rank, but after two years of lackluster nagging on our part, and a few project ideas on Paul's part, nothing had happened yet. I decided that I would leave off the nagging (because it is quite tiring and it makes me angry) about the Eagle project until Paul graduated. And then we got the letter of acceptance from BYU Provo, which said he was to report to school June 15, a week after he graduated. I gave up. I said, "Fine. I'm ok with him not achieving Eagle rank. He's done well in sports, he's been a leader, he's a good kid, blahblahblahblah... rationalize... make excuses..." and let it go. His Scout leader did not let him off so easily. Br G pestered and reminded and met with Paul... And last n...

I've been walkin' these streets so long Singing the same old song, I know every crack in the dirty sidewalks of Savage. Where "suburb" is the name of the game, And fat girls gotta walk their way in the snow and the rain. I got a load of exercisin' on the road to my horizon. But I wanna be where the lakes are all around me... OK enough of that. I took a walk this morning in very pleasant weather and surroundings. The picture about is at a local park where I sat and rested.

Paul is now gone. He's in his own apartment with three other guys. His cupboards are stocked with hand-me-down pots and pans, silverware, and plates. He has a new cheese grater to call his very own. He has college books and some obstacles to meet and clear (getting a job, and proving he has health insurance) on his own. On our way out to Provo, we stopped at Mt Rushmore. It's one of my favorite places in one of my favorite areas (the Black Hills). The last time Paul was at Mt Rushmore (which was about 10 years ago), it was fogged in, but this time, the clouds were kind enough to stay up in the sky and let Paul see the Presidents in stone. Paul didn't say much the entire ride out to UT, and we aren't sure if his reticence was nerves or just Paul being Paul-with-his-parents. Mostly he slept. I don't get how he can sleep so much. Most of the time while we were in Provo, Paul was at orientation activities. They were scheduled from 8:30 to 5 both days and some opti...

Last week I came home from shopping one weeknight and Jim told me that there had been a huge moth on the deck. He added that it might be there still. I dropped everything and went out to have a look. Lucky for me, the moth was still on our deck. I sat and looked at it for a while, and then went for my camera. Look at the legs on that thing. The legs seem tarantula-like The undercarriage, or as close as I dared to get to underneath it without scaring it It's a polyphemus moth. That's Paul's hand as a comparison. Paul got close enough to pet the furry patch on the body, although the moth didn't like that very much and jumped back a few inches--but didn't fly away. What a pretty insect! The moth just sat there for a few hours. It was gone the next morning. I wonder where it went. I would have liked to see it fly.

Cake. It was my week. I baked two cakes and many cupcakes. It ended up being about 1 1/2 cakes too many, but having leftover cake is certainly not a BAD thing. It's not like having leftover okra or leftover roadkill souffle. Anyway, yes, I like to make cakes and decorate them. It may even be a hobby. Or at least a time waster when I have more important things that I really should be doing but don't want to do. I don't decorate my house, but if there is a flour/egg/sugar baked good, you can be sure I'll be right there with my homemade buttercream frosting, Wilton decorating tips and pastry bags, and the appropriate colors of Wilton food coloring paste to fit the occasion, and I will decorate the heck out of that baked good. This was one of the results of my efforts this week: The cross country running cake Normally I hate the word "Congrats," but I had to use it because I started the word "Congratulations" too far to the right. So I had to b...

of my children have graduated high school. It was hot on graduation day. I pitied Paul for having to wear dress pants, a tie, and a heavy graduation robe. But he survived without much complaint. It's quite a sight to see all these young people marching into the stadium wearing the uniform of graduation. During the speech given by the Superintendent of the school district, three industrial-type trucks drove by and honked long and loud. The audience, somewhat grateful for the interruption to the speechifying, clapped and laughed. A little later, during a student speech, a car drove by and made some noise designed to interrupt the proceedings. As he passed by, we watched as a cop car drove out of his assigned position at the entrance of the school with his lights flashing. Again the audience laughed as we watched the noisemaker get pulled over. The student speaker had no idea what was so funny. Lesson learned: don't make noise with your vehicle...

This boy is now this boy who is now done with high school. This boy also was voted Mr 101% by his track team, meaning he gave each race his full effort and all his energy, and his teammates recognized that in him.  It was one of three awards given.  Other mentions Paul received during the track banquet: 3rd all time fastest on the PLHS Millennial Team in the 1600m, 2nd all time fastest on the PLHS Millennial Team in the 3200m, lettered all four years, member of the Sub-5 team since his freshman year, and finally, the track coach said he hasn't planned a meet in the last four years where Paul wasn't listed in either the 1600m or the 3200m.  We are proud of our runner. (photo taken by Julie B because she takes awesome track meet pictures) I will miss watching him run. Graduation is Friday at 7 p.m. 

And another year of seminary is finished. Paul is done with early morning seminary, and Hayley has finished her first year. I did something I don't usually like to do, which is give out rewards for achievement. I made one slip of the tongue, promising whoever memorized all 25 scripture mastery verses would get a pair of "ugly pants" (mismatched pajama pants). I made good on my hasty promise though. The promise came about when Katie was here for Christmas and she wanted to make pj pants but didn't have enough of either kind of fabric she liked to make a pair of pants. I suggested she make a leg out of each kind of fabric. She liked the idea, and so did Paul, who had to find something to give as a white elephant gift the next day in seminary. He ended up sewing a lovely pair of capri pants out of Star Wars villains on one leg and Disney Princess heads on another. The girl who ended up with the capri pants LOVED them and several others in the class coveted them. My...

In order for me not to dwell too much on THE LAST TRACK MEET OF PAUL'S HIGH SCHOOL CAREER, I will share some bad pictures I took last night at PAUL'S LAST HIGH SCHOOL TRACK MEET EVER. (Very few of my pictures are posed. Not that posed pics are bad, but I prefer action or candid shots. However, with action or candid shots, there is a greater risk of getting awful shots. Of course, one could argue that I hardly ever take really good pictures, but I will let those people who think like that have their way because I'd rather look at pictures than argue. Even bad pictures.) Keep in mind, these were all taken in one evening--actually within 4 minutes and 41 seconds, because that's how fast  PAUL RAN HIS LAST MILE IN A HIGH SCHOOL TRACK MEET EVER. It looks like Paul only has one leg, and he's kneeling on it Even more of Paul's legs are gone, and the awarding of medals is in the center of the picture instead of Paul Premature clickage--I cut Paul in half...