I did it again

After finishing the last bandage I decided to make another one, this one knitted. I finished it tonight. Making these has 2 main benefits; I'm making something useful, and I'm not eating while watching TV.

Big Accomplishment

Today I accomplished something I've wanted to do for years. I've wanted to do it, but it seemed too daunting. At our ward Super Saturday I finally got inspired to start. And tonight I finished it. A leprosy bandage. All by myself.

The Nacirema

Today in my class we analyzed a paper about a group of people. I thought it was very interesting and thought others might enjoy reading it. If you're interested you can read it at http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~thompsoc/Body.html
Tomorrow I'll give you some of the insights we discussed in class.

Decisions, stupid and otherwise

I am constantly amazed at the decisions people make. Even when I think it would be hard for someone to make decisions that are worse than those they have already made, somehow they do.
I have a relative who lives in Draper, Utah, and for the last 5 years has lived either there or in Gunnison, Utah. For the last 3 years he has "decided" to keep living there, even though his life is somewhat restricted. We were really hopeful that he would decide to move down to Mapleton, and that decision happened yesterday. He decided to stay in Draper for another year.
I was kind of expecting this to happen, for a few simple reasons, but thought I might be wrong. The decision was made, but not for the reasons I thought. I thought it would be because he didn't complete a program he was supposed to complete. That would have been an issue, but he broke a pretty big rule, so he won't get to move until at least next year. (Maybe a little self-sabotage?)

On the other hand I have another relative who has been making changes in his life. 6 years ago he decided to quit doing drugs, and has stayed clean since then. 3 months ago he decided he wanted to be more involved in his daughter's life and she moved in with him. She started going to seminary and looks better than I've ever seen her look. Also earlier this year he joined AA and has now stayed sober for 101 days.
So while I'm sad at the stupidity of one person's decisions, I'm very happy about the other one.

Keys

One of my friends lost her keys this weekend, with the help of her daughter. And it made me think about my keys. If I lost them what else would I lose? I only have 5 keys on my key ring, and I have duplicates for all of them, so that wouldn't be too big of a deal.
I do have 3 other things on my ring though. One is my caribeaner (sp). When I first got keys when I turned 16 I lost them 3 times the first week I had them. Then my Dad gave me a caribeaner to hook them onto my pants or purse. I've only lost them 2 or 3 times since then. I have used at least 3 different caribeaners till they broke, but I still love having one.
The other two things on my keychain are awards I received as a teenager. One is The Liahona which is an award you can earn at Girls camp. It's a metal circle about an inch and a half diameter that says "The Liahona 1996" on one side and "Carrie Ann Hugo Campfire" on the other.
The third thing is an award I got at a Boy Scout Court of Honor. I went to many courts of honor growing up, and didn't enjoy them. One night my parents were going to one and made all of us go. None of us wanted to. At one point my siblings and I were called up and given an award for "putting up with scouting". I thought it was really cool. The award has the fleur de lie on one side and says "Scouter's Daughter Carrie Ann Hugo" on the other.
What do you have on your key ring?

Apples

Last Saturday I was at the grocery store and wanted to get some Red Delicious apples. One of the produce guys had his cart in front of them, and he moved it so I could get to them. As I was picking out my apples I told him I felt bad that with all the apples to choose from I wanted the ones behind his cart. He said it was fine. From there this is what our conversation went like:
What kind of apples are you getting?
Red Delicious.
Why those?
They're the best ones.
Are you serious? No WAY, Cameos are much better.
I've tried those, and I wasn't very impressed.
Did you know to get the dark colored ones instead of the light ones?
No.
That explains it, let me show you how good they are. (at this point he pulled a knife out of his pocket and cut a slice out of a Cameo apple for me, and one for Von. As we were trying them he explained that Red Delicious used to be the best apples, but now they're bred for color instead of flavor, and the only ones that are good are homestead Red Delicous or something like that. But the Cameos have been bred for flavor, and crispness, and last much longer before getting soft. After this explanation I had eated the slice and he said: What do you think?)
That is good. I guess I'm getting Cameos.
Would you like me to pick out the good ones for you?
Sure.

What kind of apples do you like?

Math Skills

Last week Karl and I went to a conference on how to help your kids succeed in school. One of the classes was on teaching your kids skills that will help them in doing math.
One of the things the teacher said was best to do was teach your children how to count by sets of numbers. For example: 2's, 5's, 10's, 15's, 25's, 100's. She suggested singing them in the car when you're driving somewhere. When you have those sets down do the same with all the numbers, especially 1-12. It will help when they are learning their multiplication tables.
Her second suggestion was to teach your children how to do word problems. Things like: the Jazz's score is 72 and the Clippers are 60. How many points ahead are the Jazz? Or: I have 5 apples and you give me 2. How many do I have now? How many do you have?
The third suggestion was to practice simple math in the car. Start with:
1+1=?, 1+2=? 1+3=?
Then progress and do all combinations of numbers below 10, then below 20. Then do subtraction of the same numbers. The goal is to help your child understand how numbers work together, and to help them memorize simple numbers.
BTW- These are things to do after your child knows how to count by ones. That comes first.