almost Camelot and dorm life at BYU Ed Week

You know the Camelot song about how it never rains till after sundown...

Monday it rained...during class only.

Wednesday it rained. After lunch I headed out 5 minutes early to my next class...it was raining but the bad part was the wind was really blowing. It even bent my umbrella. But, by the time everyone else was out of their previous class (5 minutes), the wind had stopped and it was gently raining.

Thursday, once again, it rained. As I sat in a class (taught by Lynn Scoresby) I watched through the huge windows as the wind tore at the trees and the rain fell heavily for most of the class. By the time class was over, it was still raining, but once again the wind was gone. And, since I had 2 umbrellas in my trunk, I had exchanged my bent umbrella for a good one, so I was set (it's amazing how many people don't carry umbrellas...then again there was a bit of lightening and I kept picturing myself getting fried...).

As for dorm life, I got up to use the community bathroom at 2 am. There is a light directly across from our dorm door (one of the few that is left on all night), so I had covered my eyes with my hand to avoid that painful first contact of when eyes adjusted to dark see the light. I stepped on something in the hall.

There was an index card with 2 mini-$100,000 candy bars attached to it. Above the candy it read, "Hope your week was worth..." Cute. I go to the restroom and see a sign on the door that says "Merrill Hall Potty Party." It gives me a chuckle.

I go into the bathroom this morning and I head to the stalls which are on the right, and for some reason my head looks to the left. On the wall above the urinals (Merrill Hall is a guys' dorm during the school year) is a sign saying something about welcome to the party. Then underneath are 3 signs: cookies--plunge in--lemonade. It's then that I notice what is in the urinals. The first one has a plunger in the middle and is surrounded my those cheap, fake vanilla/chocolate oreo cookies. In the urinal next to it is a yellow liquid (which I believe was just yellow-colored water and not lemonade...or anything else...). Too much fun.

I would have loved to take a picture of it, but I left my camera at home so Glen could take a photo of the kids on their first day of school...I forgot to remind him, so don't know if that happened. But it does sound like the new year is off to a good start for the kids and for Glen (well, Eric doesn't start at the community college, yet).

Having a great time. I would say this is heaven, but my family's not here with me, so Camelot will do. Been to 33 classes so far and will probably go to 8 today (taking time off to maybe buy a pressure cooker and find some peaches).

Tomorrow will be a long day in the car, but it'll all be so worth it.

changes for Alex

Last Wednesday night I asked Glen if he thought we should switch Alex from Numa to EC Best and he said yes. Thursday I filled out the change-of-school request form. Saturday morning we got the call that said Alex is now at EC Best.

However, Friday night, I realized we hadn't mentioned this to Alex...well, it had come about so suddenly. He can stress a bit in new situations so I was a bit fearful. Sunday night we told him that there were a lot of changes going on in the school district right now and we thought it was a good time to change him. He was a little sad, but I have to say he took it better than I thought he would.

So, Monday I called EC Best to find out who's teaching 4th grade...there's been a lot of rearranging this summer. I was told Lisa Kent, Roxanne White, and Teresa Moon were the teachers...so I called around and heard Lisa Kent was wonderful and spent a lot of her own money on things for the classroom...like Neo keyboard computer thingys and the like. My nephews Michael and Adam had her and Michael said he really hope Alex would get Miss Kent. Michael said he knew the kids really liked Roxanne White, but didn't know what the adults thought. I was also told that Teresa Moon was excellent. So, I wasn't too worried, but I did hope we'd get Lisa Kent.

We were told the class lists would be posting on Wednesday (today). When I went to the school, Teresa Moon isn't a 4th grade teacher and Alex's name wasn't on any of the lists, so I went into the office. The secretary took my to see Patty Daum, the school counselor. She asked me to tell her about Alex. I said he was a GATE student and did very well at school and which point she jumped in and said Lisa Kent. I was thrilled.

I was taken down to Lisa Kent's classroom. She was supposed to be meeting with another parent right then, but the parent hadn't shown up (she always tries to meet with all the parents and students before school starts). Perfect. So she gave me her schpeel (sp?) and I think he will have a great year. I'm hoping some of his friends from Numa might wind up at EC Best...but I kind of doubt it. I do know a few of the parents of the kids in his class and am pleased with those I know. :)

Alex pointed out to us that he's the last Perazzo in elementary school (because his 2 other elementary school-aged cousins have a different last name). Glen pointed out we have a grand-niece who will be attending school in a few years...so when Alex is in 6th grade, Brinley should be starting kindergarten and the next round of Perazzos will hit the school. Smaller batch than this one, of course.

Looking forward to a good year.

Oh, What Do You Do in the Summertime...

There's a Primary song that goes...Oh, what do you do in the summertime when all the world is green...

And that song keeps running through my head. So, what do we do? I've already posted about camping with Glen's family at Lake Almanor. What else do we do? We visit my parents in Brookings, Oregon.

Brookings in on the coast near the California state line...we love the tsunami warning signs...

Me at the beach.

We helped my Dad walk dogs from the local animal shelter. He usually does that several times a week.

We took the dogs to Chetco Point. Here's Eric on a little bridge we crossed over to get to the end of the point.

My Mom is very involved in the local artists group. They have portrait drawing on Thursday nights. We went and while Alex, Hannah, and Ryan took turns as the model, the rest of us drew their portraits. I have to say mine came out better than I thought they would. Here's Alex posing. BTW, they are told not to smile as it's hard to do that for the 20 minutes you sit.

Here's my drawing of Alex...I won't show you my drawing of Hannah as it was the first one we did that evening and it makes her look like George Washington.

Part of the fun of posing is that the artists often let you take home the picture they drew of you. This one was done by Sarah. She's really good.

Of course, we went to the beach. This year we actually had a bit more sun than we usually do, though there was still plenty of fog at other times. Here Glen is enjoying the sun and some peaceful thinking time on the beach.

This picture was taken the day  after the sunny picture above. Plenty of fog for making moody photos.

Depending on when we get to visit my parents, there are wild blackberries to be found. This year we got there just as they were coming on, so we got some, though we wished for more.

Another thing we did was to hit lots of garage sales. Two of the sales were right next to the California-Oregon state line.

Here is Alex enjoying a treadmill at one of the sales.

What's a visit to the Oregon beach without some rock climbing? Ryan and Alex are enjoying the McVay Point tidepools.

Still at McVay.

It's Hannah's turn to sit and contemplate.

I believe this is Ryan. As I said, climbing the rocks at the beach is a must.

This is not a good photo...but I was driving and could only aim my camera in the general direction and hope I got the dragon sculpture in the photo. This was taken just a little bit north of Yreka. It's one of the favorite spots on the trip...like passing the shoe tree or the giant cow in the field just a little bit (1 mile???) south of the dragon and our first glimpse of the ocean.

Love this dragon.




I took the time to play with the photo of the dragon a little, so here's a better view:

OK, so that was a bit from our trip to my parent's house. What else do we do in the summertime?

I put up one batch of peaches...and then taught Eric how and he put up the second batch. I also did a batch of jam.

Hannah and her friend Becky made the water balloons that are in the bird bath. Alex made the one he is holding.

Now, if you're Glen, you've spent most of your summer working on the Boy Scout Jamboree that is currently being held in Fallon. Here is a photo of some of the recycling cans that he made to put up around the fair grounds.

Glen and I take our walk down Perazzo Ln and back just about every morning. Here's a view from the end of the road.

 Eric and Ryan worked together to make some banana bread. (the white stuff on top is sprinkled sugar)










So, we are enjoying our summer and hate to see it end. Only 1 1/2 weeks left!

am I allowed to update my updated update?

My father-in-law called today after reading my blog...after we bought 24 2-qt jars. Seems they have some 2 qt jars I can use! So when I fill up the ones I have, I have a ready source for more. Too bad you can't use the vacuum sealer on dusty things like powdered sugar and cocoa. Oh, well. I'll stick with beans and marshmallows and nuts and the like.

an update on my update

I called Resco this morning and they don't carry the 2 qt canning jars.

Then I had that flash of inspiration and called Big R here in town and they had some for $12 a 6-pack. So it was the same price from online but without the $19 s & h!

I have been looking for 2 qt jars at the second hand stores and hadn't found any, so I'm thrilled.

And, in case you are wondering what I wanted them for, I wasn't planning on canning with them, but using my foodsaver vacuum seal machine with the canning lid attachment so I can use them for vacuum sealing food storage items. I'm very happy.

One batch of peaches down, at least one to go, plus some jam today.  :)

saving money update

Well, the fridge we drove all the way to Genoa to get did not work right. The freezer got cold enough to freeze my chicken, but just barely. The fridge part, after 4 days of trying, never did get cold enough. We will not be out the entire $65 we paid for it since Glen is getting a $30-35 check back from some energy thingy. That makes Glen feel better. Me, too.

We did find another used fridge in Fallon (one of the serendipitous things where someone who had a sister with an extra fridge overheard me talking to someone else about looking for one) and it is huge, clean, and only about 5 years old. I love it...wish it fit in the kitchen as I'd rather have it as my main fridge over the one we bought last fall, but it's just an inch too big.

I tried to sign up online for just Sunday delivery for the RGJ so I could get the coupons. Turns out the smallest subscription they had was a Sunday & Wednesday delivery, so I signed up for that. That next Sunday I didn't get a paper, so I called, they said they'd credit my account and notify my delivery person. Then we were out of town and when we got back they still hadn't delivered any. I called. Told the lady where the mailbox was. She said she'd take care of it.

A few days later I get a phone call. Apparently you can't get just a Sunday/Wednesday subscription in Fernley or Fallon. The smallest for our area was a 4 day subscription. Why didn't the lady I talked to the other day know that? I said never mind and canceled my order. Uncle Jim says he'll share all his stuff with me. I hear that when you buy papers off the newstand that they often are missing their coupons because other people take them or they aren't inserted to begin with. Don't know if that's the case here. Might look into it.

Does anyone know if the LVN paper carries the same coupons as RGJ? I never paid attention before.

The purchase last week that I learned about from my dealstomeals subscription that made me happiest was peaches for 50¢/pound at Smart and Final...I had never even been there before. I now have 50 pounds of peaches waiting to be canned tomorrow (OK, we are eating the peaches, so I have less than 50 pounds but more than 25). I never got a hold of any peaches last year, so I'm excited.

I'm looking into buying a pressure cooker/canner, so if anyone knows anything about them I'd appreciate the input.

I also want 2 qt canning jars...I can get 6 jars from an online source for $12... and then shipping is $19. Does anyone know if there's a place in Reno that sells them? I'll call Resco in Reno tomorrow and see, but from the company's website it looks like they might only carry jelly jars.

Made a batch of yogurt Friday with my new yogurt maker. I saw a site that recommended using Greek yogurt as the starter because it doesn't have pectin in it (and it's gluten-free according to the carton's label). I tried it, but don't know, I might prefer the regular kind. It'll be fun to play with.

For a long time now I've been thinking I needed to do something about the "vampire power" in my house. Then a few weeks ago one of my Netflix choices was Bill Nye's Stuff Happens. I ordered it simply because it was the only Bill Nye they had. Turns out it was a series on conservation of energy. I was afraid he'd come off too drastic as I know he's really into "green," but I really enjoyed the episodes we saw.

One episode dealt with vampire power. He mentioned using power strips. With that little reminder I went out and bought several surge protector/power strips for our 2 TVs and the Wii area. I learned that there are different levels of surge protectors when I went shopping and you need to read the label and make sure you are getting the proper kind. I don't know how long it will take to recoup my costs, but I do feel better shutting off the strips to the TVs when not in use...of course the computers already had them, but I never shut off the power strips at night. Now I do.

Will I be able to tell next power bill? Since we went on vacation for a week, I won't be able to tell if a lower bill reflects that no one was home or that the surge protectors were really saving us money.

Our goal is to have our house paid off by next Independence Day. The plan is to live off Glen's paycheck and have all my subbing money (after tithing) go to the mortgage. Any minor emergencies will disrupt that, but I really think the end is in sight. Any money I can save in the household budget along the way will help. I'm really excited about this.

So, I'm still on my saving money/food storage kick and still learning lots. Hope to get the coupon thing down soon.

It was a first for Glen, too

This cracks me up. Yesterday we took the boys to the county fair and apparently some man (Glen knew him, but I didn't) asked Glen if Alex were his grandson. Ha!