Announcement

I promised an announcement, but haven't posted one, because life has been busy. Life is always busy. There are always other things I should be doing first. And maybe there will be a better time to make an announcement.

But meanwhile, while I'm not making an announcement, it's hard to post other random stuff, because why post something random when there is a big Announcement to post instead?

So without further ado....

We are moving to Australia.

I've taken a job at a large public university in Australia, starting in August.

Starting in August, stopping in September for a four month leave while the family will be in New Jersey, and then starting again in January 2016.

Why?

Because Australia is a very nice place to live.

Because the job looks like a lot of fun, and completely different. And I needed something fun and completely different.

Because Tim and Jonathan wanted to go to Australia, if we were going to move.

Because if you're going to have a midlife crisis, why not move to Australia?

Because Australia!

So now what?

Organizing, cleaning, selling stuff, moving stuff, visas, paperwork.

Australia!

Lessons from stake conference

Twice a year, several of the local church congregations get together for a meeting called "stake conference," which name I wish referred to something having to do with vampire slaying, but the "stake" just refers to a big tent, and alas, we don't even really get the tent these days. Stake conference just means we spend two hours listening to people talk.

One of our speakers was a woman who spoke about trials. One of the biggest trials in her life, she said to us, her voice bordering on tears, was trying to home school her eight children.

Um.

Um?

The people in the congregations who attend my stake conference consist of people who all live within a couple of miles of me. And this woman was from one of these congregations, in my neighborhood. And the schools in my neighborhood are great, with opportunities that this woman will never ever ever be able to give her kids at home, like language immersion and AP classes. What a waste of a trial to stress out about something as pointless as teaching kids at home when the local schools are good and the teachers strong. Why in the world would you home school your kids when it is so hard and there are such good people who would teach them better than you can? Why why why?

And then, before I got too judgey judgey (well, ok, after), I realized that my own hardest "trials" right now are also completely self-inflicted and must seem stupid to many of my peers.

Reader, I have a continuing, very secure job that pays very well and a beautiful home in this nice neighborhood with good schools.

But I am moving.

There. I said it publicly.

I do not want to work for G.O.D. University anymore. I feel like a hypocrite working for them. They are a very conservative religious institution, and I have opinions that do not match theirs. And lately, there has been a culture of oppression and fear amongst the natives. I have strong opinions, opinions that I am mostly good at keeping to myself. But sometimes the morally correct thing to do is to share the light and knowledge you have found. I do not want my opinions on something irrelevant (beards?) to get me in trouble with my job. So I'm leaving. I have taken a job somewhere else, where my opinions and questions and concerns on religion are irrelevant.

(And also where the ghost of Lucy Walker won't keep me up at night. But you will have to learn about Lucy on your own.)

One of the reasons I've been traveling so much is that I've had job interviews. And one of the reasons I've been sick is that I've been stressed out. Crazy stressed out up late at night heart pounding crying stressed out.

But we've made a decision -- the craziest decision we possibly could have made -- and it is a good decision and a happy decision and I will post it here soon for those of you who haven't already heard it.

The lady who home schools has reasons to home school that are very important to her, I am sure. And the lady who uproots her whole family from a very good job has very good reasons, too. Or at least reasons that are important to her, even though they may seem pretty stupid to others. And stupid to you. They are stupid reasons. But that doesn't make them any less important to me.

So there.

Resolved

Since this is my first post of the new year, I think it would be appropriate to list new year's resolutions. Typically, I like to resolve to do things that I know I can accomplish, to make myself feel better at the end of the year. For example, "do laundry when necessary this year." Note the vague wording allows some flexibility even on how frequently I change Jonathan's sheets, in case I decide I need that flexibility later.

However, this year will be different.

Why will this year be different? Because I know something about this year that you don't know. I know that this year, the Apocalypse will happen. Around August 2nd, in fact.

In preparation for the upcoming apocalypse, I have a single new year's resolution this year, which can be summed up into a single word: "Organize."

That's it. That's my resolution for the new year. If the Apocalypse is coming in August, then the very most important thing I can do to prepare for it is to organize.

And when I say organize, I do not mean that term to be vaguely worded so I can sneak around it when I need to. I will, indeed, look through every dark corner in every closet in my house. I will dig through all the drawers and make Final Decisions on whether or not to keep my treasures-of-truth from 4th grade. I will purge the pantry. The garage. The side of the house where we stash the old pots we aren't using but might use someday. All these things must be organized by August and the Apocalypse.

And not just house. I will organize my office at work. I will organize my research into a new, exciting grant proposal. And finished papers, sparkly and bright. I will organize my teaching into scanned folders containing notes and assignments and exams from semester to semester, that can fit onto a single hard drive.

Too much? You say. Yes, I have indeed cut off a large amount of work for myself with this resolution.

But ... Apocalypse.

It must be done before then.

Merry Christmas

I blame Craig.

My brother, Craig, who lives in Wyoming, traveled here with his family for Christmas. Two days ago, he asked, "why is it so warm here?"

True, there was no snow, but when the wind blew down out of the canyons after sunset, it was very cold. Icy cold.

"Isn't this a little too cold for an evening outdoor excursion?" we asked.

"Whatever," said Craig. "This is nothing. You realize you're complaining about the cold to the people from Wyoming?"

So we sat through the traffic to walk through the the crowds to see the lights, trying to keep things positive for the sake of our pre-teen, who was more negative than all of the rest of them. Including Craig's three pre-teens all put together.

"It's cold! My toe hurts! Whose stupid idea was this again?"

I didn't take any pictures. But I thought about all the facebook posts I've seen with those lights in them, the hashtag "share goodness", and then wondered about adding our own soundtrack to go with that hashtag....

"Can we leave yet? There are too many people. I'm never doing this again!"

But instead, I didn't take any pictures.

I took pictures earlier.

Kim had the great idea to decorate Ugly Christmas Sweater Sugar Cookies. And we made some winners. 

Tim's sweater.

Kim's sweater.

Mine. That's a reindeer, not a dog.

Kendrick decorating carefully.

The final product.

Only Brent and Grace decided to do their own thing, and somehow Grace's hand got decorated instead of a cookie. Fail, Brent. Fail.

Christmas Eve at my sister Cynthia's house was lovely. Hence I took no pictures.

But the drive home was cold and windy. The wind fought back against the little electric car, and the car barely made it over the foot of the mountain, through the valley, up the last hill to roll into our driveway. Very low battery charge.

Cold, Craig. Cold and windy. 

And then this morning? Christmas morning?

I blame Craig.

I blame the snow on Craig, who wondered why it wasn't cold like Wyoming. Seriously, Craig?

We made the most of it, going sledding at Rock Canyon.

If you die, it is your fault.

Tim.

Jonathan and Tim.

Jonathan.

Boring old scenery.

I don't know what Craig and his family did with the snow. They were 50 miles north, staying with Brent and Grace. We'll call and find out tomorrow. And probably join them again.

Meanwhile, it was a lovely quiet Christmas day with just the three of us.

Tree.

Dinner.

Goodness. Share it, guys.

Since last time

Last time I wrote, I had been here:

Then, over Thanksgiving, we went here:

And then the following week, I was here:

Flying back from that last place, I had a bit of a cough. The next day, my voice was a little scratchy. And then the day after that, chills and aches and fever and I was out. I don't know if it was the same virus that I took with me to Texas -- maybe the work and travel meant I didn't ever get to recover properly. Or maybe it was something entirely new, picked up in one of the different time zones I visited. But whatever it was, it wiped me out for over two weeks. I had to cancel the major trip, the one to South America that I had been planning the longest. And I have only recently been able to stop coughing. Mostly.

Just in time to attend this, yesterday:

Elementary school band. The kids are learning, and getting better. But don't tell anyone -- the performance was about what you would expect of 5th and 6th grade students. Can I say, I am glad that my child did not choose to learn the trumpet? Or any sort of string instrument? Can I say that? Probably not. So I won't.

November

I've been meaning to post for a while, but haven't gotten around to it. I blame it on a combination of travel, being ill, busy, too much thinking, and just downright laziness. Oh, and maybe sleeping well. I only write now because of the insomnia....

I have a few pictures I can share. Woo pictures!

When we lived in England, we found out that November 5th is a big holiday there. Bonfire night! In a large park near the University of Oxford, they held fireworks and then lit a huge bonfire. There was food, and carnival rides for the kids. Here, we are all about adapting other holidays for our own purposes.

So on November 5th this year, we built our own fire for bonfire night.

That's Jonathan basking in the warmth of our backyard fire. The fire pit has been a fun thing to have in the fall.

Although admittedly we've only used it twice.

Those two times have been fun!

As we were watching the fire, I realized my throat was a little scratchy. And then within a few days, I had the full-blown man-cold that I posted about earlier. So these pictures did not get posted earlier.

The following weekend, I was in Austin, Texas, at the University of Texas.

Our family lived in Austin for three years, starting when Jonathan was a baby, and this was the first time I've been back since we sold our house there.

Our second year in Austin, Jonathan's name came up on a wait list, and he entered the UTCDC -- the campus child development center. That place was so wonderful! I would put Jonathan on the bus with me, and we'd travel to campus together in the morning, where he would get to play with friends and toys and teachers who loved him all day (except for that 2 hour nap), and I would teach math and write papers. And then we would both come back together after a few hours, so happy to see each other, and ride the bus home.

Anyway, it turns out that the campus of the University of Texas is not as big as I remembered.

If you don't have a 2-year-old in tow, you can walk from the bus stop, past the fountain, to the turtle pond,

down the 25 steps to the statue, past the rocks at the geology building, over the bridge, to the stadium bus stop -- all in about 5 or 10 minutes! My friends, it is not really a 30-45 minute walk when you do not have the 2-year-old.

I found that to be both happy, and sad. *Sniff*

And the other news is that, here at home, my 12-year-old commuter bike broke. Broken broke. Kaput. The frame is cracked. While I have been traveling, and sick, and busy, and thinking too much, and just plain lazy, I have not figured out what to replace it with. So I have had to drive the car to and from work and school and other places I go for weeks. It makes me feel like such a slob!

On the other hand, we bought an all electric car in August. That means it costs only pennies to "fill up". There is very little wear and tear when I drive to work and park. No belts, no fluids. We paid almost all the costs for that car up front. And so I have been reminding myself that I do not have to feel guilty about driving. No guilt! No emissions! Sure, no exercise, either. But Reader, I have been sick. With a terrible Man Cold.

Here I am looking happy with my little electric car. (In September. The trees don't look like that anymore. Nor am I wearing T-shirts in the freezing temperatures. But I am equally happy with my car. I am.)

Anyway, I think I have found my new commuter bike, to purchase maybe even Today! So the electric car will stay in the garage more in December. Maybe.

That, Reader, is Some of the Exciting News from November. Stay tuned for more.

Man Cold

I've got a cold. A nasty cold. The kind of cold that trails cough drop wrappers and used tissues around the house, and requires a fuzzy robe and slippers. And soup. Lots of chicken soup.

And someone needs to rub my head and tell me "poor little bunny". Someone.

And the worst part is, I have to go back to work tomorrow. Or at least, I can't see a way out of it. I have to get a batch of tests back, because tomorrow is the drop deadline. And I'm traveling on Friday, so I already need to find substitutes. And I rescheduled all my Thursday meetings for tomorrow when the cold knocked me over first thing Thursday morning. It was supposed to be gone by tomorrow.

Why is it Sunday night and my cold is not yet gone??!! I have rested! I have slept! I stayed indoors trailing tissues and cough drop wrappers around the house all weekend. Does this body not understand that I am on a tight schedule here? 

"Poor little bunny."

Say it.

"Poor little bunny."