Tonight was Fallon's Dancing with the Stars. Glen and his partner D'Ana West danced the tango to the music of the Assassin's Tango from the movie "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" (and Mr. Smith was played by Brad Pitt, you know). I added the Assassin's Tango to the top of my playlist if you're interested in giving it a listen to. There were 10 teams competing with 2 cha chas, 2 East Coast swings, 2 country swings, 2 tangos, and 2 paso dobles. Plus they had some other dance numbers in between the competitive dances. It really was a fantastic evening...except Glen wasn't with me. Oh, well.
He and D'Ana came in 2nd place! Dr. Carl Robertson (one of our optometrists) danced the cha cha with Dina Cervantes and they came in first. Then a young man from our ward, Jacob Card, came in 3rd with his partner Brenda Ingram for their East Coast Swing (she's the wife of our sheriff...and he had taken 3rd place in last year's competition).
Fun notes: 3 of the other 9 contestants are former students of Glen, plus 1 is the mother of one of Glen's current students. Glen was freaking Hannah out during the week because she kept finding him practicing his dance...by himself. It really was quite amusing. I meant to take a picture of him practicing...
I made a video of his performance with my camera...only Hannah and I can't figure out how to imbed it using my blog (her blog apparently has a better tool bar...). They will be selling DVDs of the performance given at the High School, so I'll be able to see Glen's award winning performance later. He says he missed a few cues at the Junior High venue, where I was, but got it right at the high school. Too much fun.
He's happy to have one more thing on his "To Do" list that he can now cross off.
In other Perazzo news: it was Pinewood Derby this week. Here is a photo of Alex with his car:
When your daughter winds up inviting a friend over for dinner, check to see if her family owns a Mexican restaurant before choosing to serve Mexican food for dinner.
(btw-she was very sweet and didn't say anything about our sorry fare)
So we joined Alan's ESPN's NCAA bracket challenge group called "Drink Milk and Play Ball." Fun. I have 2 entries and Glen has 1. We would've had the kids do it too, but we joined late and the deadline was looming. I hope they forgive us (Ryan may hold a grudge).
Now, there may be some of you out there that don't know that we are the un-sports-orientated family in both our extended families. No exaggeration here--if it weren't for the fact that for some weird reason I often remember to watch the Kentucky Derby once a year, there would be years where we probably hadn't had a single sporting event on for the whole year. Honest, I'm not kidding. Though I must admit that we've seen more since Andrew started going to BYU.
Anyway, so other than the team from St. Mary's winning and really messing me up there, I think I'm doing OK. I did pick Ohio to beat Georgetown, you know...in one of my entries...and I picked Marquette in one as well. Too bad my 2 good picks weren't both on the same entry. My "Beth 2" entry is at 97.7% and my "Barbara" entry is at 89.4%. Whereas Glen's is at 39.1%. I realize it's still mighty early. We'll see what it looks like tomorrow. The only one with 100% is Madison...and I want to know if she really picked her own teams or not. She's good.
I confess, I have not chosen my alma mater BYU to win in either entry. Glen picked BYU. I picked Kansas in one and Kentucky in the other. But I would love it if BYU won. Go Cougars!
FOOD TABOOS
Eric gave his oral report in Anthropology tonight on Food Taboos. The 3 cultures he chose were the Zulus, the Sherpa, and from Rwanda the Tutsis, Hutus, and Twas. For those of you that read "Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwanda Holocaust" by Imaculée Ilibagiza if you had heard Eric's presentation before reading the book you would have better understood the relationship between the tribes. Because the Twas are the lowest of the 3, there's kind of a rule that the Tutsis don't eat certain things mainly because the Twas do.
Which shows one of the interesting things...part of Eric's report talked about 2 of these cultures' creation beliefs. Totally fascinating. Forgive me if there are errors in the details but the basic gist is: In Rwanda the 3 tribes have the cast system they do (Tutsi are best, then Hutus, then Twas) because 3 men were given milk to keep over night. One man (ancestor? of the Twa) drank his milk right away. The Hutu line was next because although he didn't drink any, he fell asleep at night and spilled a little milk. The Tutsi line had all there milk left in the morning, so they are the highest tribe. And I believe they still don't drink milk.
Funny/gross fact: The Tutsis did not even discuss food and eating until about 1990 because if you eat that means you poop; therefore it was not a topic to be discussed. (which brings up that while I was subbing 6th grade today I had to read out loud part of the book "Double Fudge." Of course it was the part where Fudge is talking about broccoli making his friend's pee smell bad and he knew this first hand. Then is got even grosser than that. I'll spare you, but I think I should get a bonus for reading that out loud.)
I know this is getting long, but I want to share one more thing I learned in Eric's report. The Sherpa believe that we used to be gods. But we became impure by eating something that was "dirty" (maybe an apple?) and thus man became polluted and was no longer a god. And certain things we eat now can make us more dirty and we become closer to animals than to gods.
I could say more, but I'll curb my enthusiasm for Eric's report. Great topic and I think he did a great job choosing cultures to go with it. I just hope the teacher agrees.
SWIMMING TEAM MEMBER As mentioned above, we are not a sporting family. Andrew played t-ball one year...I believe he was in kindergarten at the time. I don't think any of us enjoyed it. The other kids didn't play. Then we actually had a few years of soccer...4 kids at the same time. It was more enjoyable than t-ball, but a bit crazy. Eric was great. He'd stand in the middle of the field and watch (or not) the ball and the kids go from one end of the field to the other. Fun. Hannah did 5th and 6th grade girls' volleyball (which is a one month season). Oh, Ryan did play basketball one year (7th grade?). Wow, we have more sports experience than I realized.
But as far as school sports...theatre and debate team are the closest we got. You know, a little stage combat. And remember Andrew and Adam acting out a scene from "The Princess Bride?" Athletic moves involved, you know. And some in slow motion, too.
No school sports until now, that is. Ryan, the one child who doesn't participate in theatre by the way, is now on the swim team (mainly because of his cousin Brent being on the team, but Ryan does really enjoy swimming). This was only the first week. After the first day Ryan wasn't happy. He was the slowest person on the team. Seeing how rarely he swims, I'm not surprised. But we are happy and excited for him. He has some grades to bring up, but hopefully it will all work out well for him.
PS Totally unrelated. You have got to check out Karen's blog and see the adventure she and her friends are having. The link is also on my sidebar. The St. Louis Idiotarod? (no they didn't participate) What a riot.
I love family history and I love computers. On Saturday I was notified that someone had previously posted a message to a genealogy board on Roots Web (and the message was in reply to someone else's message and not even to one of mine). As soon as I read her post, I knew that we were related, so I immediately replied to the message board and Mary Jo emailed me within hours.
We are 2nd cousins...our mothers were 1st cousins. She knew my grandpa Ted (I barely remember meeting him once). Mary Jo sent me some pictures last night. Here is her mom Rita on the left and my mom's senior picture on the right:
Kind of fun. Mary Jo has just started looking into her family tree, so I am able to fill up her chart with info I have (can I praise Catholic records too much? don't think so...though I do have difficulty reading the Latin in some of them). She has a lot of photos to share, which is really nice since I only had a few photos of my grandpa and his parents and none of his siblings.
I also asked if she had any recipes. She hasn't had a chance to look yet. I'm thinking she doesn't, but I would love to have recipes that my great grandma and great-great grandma used, for some reason. I guess it would help me to feel connected to them, even though I haven't met them (or don't remember them).
Here is a photo of Grandpa Ted's parents, Fred and Perle Mominee. I hadn't seen this photo before.
Here is Gideon Vincent, Perle's father (known as Pippi...but then again Fred and Perle were known as Mimi and Pippi, too...I'm guessing it's a French Canadian thing and not an Ohio thing). He fought in the Civil War and was at Appomattax when the treaty was signed to end the war.
Here is Grandpa Ted with Uno (what I am assuming is his dog).
And lastly, here is Mary Jo as a baby with her brother and my Grandpa Ted.
Since Mary Jo lives in Maryland, I doubt we'll be meeting up, but it sure is wonderful to have contact with someone who can share photos and memories.
Glen and Eric were in Reno last night with some of the drama students and a mother of one of the students where they participated in an Improv Everywhere activity. To see what Improv Everywhere is about, click on Improv Everywhere. Have no fear, Glen and his students did not use the "ride public transit pantless" activity idea.
They went to the airport and enthusiastically greeted some passengers arriving in Reno. They said one guy played along and greeted them back like he hadn't seem them in a while. One couple acted how I would have...unsure and probably wishing to get out of there as fast as they could.
They went to a park and had super hero fights...using toy light sabers from Star Wars. As they were leaving someone asked them if there was a Star Wars convention going on.
They also had a birthday party at the food court at the mall. Another thing they did at the mall was the "frozen in Grand Central Station" idea. Glen participated in that one feeling that remaining still was something he could do. Good clean fun.
While they were entertaining themselves in Reno, I was at Church for the annual Relief Society Birthday celebration. It was a 3-ward activity. We had chicken salad in pita pockets for dinner. Yum. Then there was a musical program called "The Ten Virgins." There is a little narration here and there and each woman sings a song and then they all sing together at the end.
On the whole it was very nice and enjoyable...except for the part where I feel jealous? envious? depressed? because I wish I had a voice like theirs. It was beautiful. And totally out of my league. To all those who participated: you did a great job and I applaud your talents and willingness to share them with others.
I sing alto in the ward choir...and that's where I belong. Where other people's better voices can cover mine. As Jennifer pointed out after the program, we all have our talents...and mine isn't singing.
The bright side is I don't like being on stage and if I sang well I'd be asked to participate in such programs. So, by not having a great voice I save myself from the stress of public performances. I can deal with that.
It's been a few weeks since I've done a Glen Biggest Loser update...since I last posted, Glen gained a pound, stayed the same for a few weeks and this past week he had lost .6 pounds. He's trying to get back on the losing streak. As for me, I have been using my treadmill, but my eating is out of whack (but I sure enjoyed eating the $8.88 worth of mini-reese's cups I had bought for Andrew's Easter basket. Don't know if I trust myself to buy any more. Might just have to tell him to buy his own, though I do have a chocolate bunny to send him. He's still around because I don't find him tempting.).
My one good piece of health news is that last summer my cholesterol was up to 244 and I recently had it tested and I am down to 216...that was before all the reese's cups, however.
I have to admit, that even though I have a link to the Meridian Magazine on my blog, I rarely take the time to go there. I am thankful that a good friend had a post on facebook about an article in the Meridian Magazine dealing with the Chilean Earthquake and the whisperings of the Spirit. Thanks Rachel.
I will provide the link to the whole article below, but give a brief synopsis here. The article is about how mission President Larry Laycock and his wife Sister Lisa Laycock of the Santiago Chile East mission were warned by the Spirit 2 1/2 weeks before the earthquake that one was coming and they needed to prepare their missionaries. They tell of their preparations, the earthquake, and the aftermath. Very inspiring. If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear.
Danny Tarkanian, who is in the US Senate Republican Primary (to go up against Senate Majority Leader Harry--may he be voted out of office by a worthy candidate this year--Reid), was going to speak at the high school today during lunch, so I wanted to be there. Therefore, I was very happy to get a job subbing for the music teacher (bonus-I would be next door to Glen!).
The day started out well as I had prep and the dance class (whose 2 teams both took first place last week in the Gem State Competition in Idaho), which meets next door, came over to use the TV/DVD player in my room and I got to see the clips of their winning dances. I just tried (with Hannah's help of course) to steal the clip that was posted to facebook of one of their performances. Let's see if it worked:
However, after that, boredom ranked high. One good point was that I was able to finish a book I've been reading for the last 2 1/2 months..."Digital Photography for Dummies."
The music teacher hasn't been there in over a week and I got to watch the first 90 minutes of "The Music Man" twice (btw, "Marian the Librarian" is my favorite scene and it will be in my head the rest of the evening, but that's OK. If you want to have it in your head too, click on the link and enjoy the blessing of youtube video clips).
Anyway, I also had 90 minutes of guitar where no one ever really accomplishes anything and I feel like I'm just babysitting and not really helping the kids but just trying to keep them out of trouble. Eric was in 2 classes with me today--choir and guitar, but I had him in the library working on an assignment for his credit retrieval math class. But once again, I digress...
Back to the boredom of guitar class. Towards the end of class, the boredom was broken by a few guitar students (Trouble with a capital "T" right there in River City...OK, trouble might be too big of a word as it, thankfully, turned out).
One of these guitar students is the son to a friend of mine. He shall remain nameless, but for those who want to know who it is, the hint is that he has great hair. Mr. Great Hair and another student went into a "cage" where some band equipment is kept. I see the 2nd student putting the padlock on the handle just when I'm saying that the boys can't be up there and need to get out. At which point another boy quickly goes over and pushes the padlock shut. I don't have the key. I'm afraid the teacher has the key. I wonder how long the boys will be locked up.
So another student takes a picture of the boys in the cage and a minute later informs me that he's already posted it on facebook. Sigh. Maybe I should have confiscated his cell phone, but I was still thinking about the boys being locked up.
I go next door and get Glen. I doubted he had a key, but thought I'd check because he can get into a few rooms on the music side of the auditorium. He didn't have a key, but luckily there was a key in the teacher's desk (why didn't I check there before bothering Glen? Don't know. Wish I had). So the 2 students were liberated before the bell for lunch rang and I was able to go listen to Danny Tarkanian speak to the government students.
Danny Tarkanian should be another post (click on his name to go to his site if you're interested). I don't like making long posts, but I seem to write them anyway, so I might as well talk a bit about him.
Now I have to say his father, who used to coach UNLV basketball, drove me NUTS and so I had a negative feeling about Danny going into this (same for Rory Reid who is running for governor but I can't see ever changing my mind about Rory and I think I have about Danny).
Anyway, I thought Danny presented himself well and he mentioned a few ways that he differed from Sue Lowden, who is also in the Primary. Danny seems to line up more with my beliefs...is conservative, doesn't believe the bailout should have ever happened (this is where Sue Lowden differs), is for lowering taxes and growing the job base...
One thing he mentioned that I have to think about. He talked about having Yucca Mountain be a nuclear spent fuel reprocessing plant.
So, it was an interesting day and I'm glad I'm home. No olympics to watch, however.
