Mirror Mirror

I just made a mirror for Elena. I first started making these mirrors after the one that Terumi gave me finally wore out. Terumi was a Japanese exchange student we had many years ago, and one of the loves of Anthony's life. The blue one is Elena's.

The Secret

How many of you have read or seen the Secret? This is the idea about the Law of Attraction. Our lives our manifestations of our thoughts, so all we have to do is think about what we want--put that intention out to the universe, then it will come to pass. We will attract those things to us. Now, I'm not sure how much of that I believe. Certainly I think it is better to be positive than negative, but I think the idea of the Secret can cause people guilt and frustration if things DON'T manifest. I suppose that people who believe it whole-heartedly would say there's still a lack of faith. I decided to try it a bit today. Before I left my house to do some errands I said I wanted to run into somebody that I really wanted to see. I ran into my friend Jenny Hunt. I worked with her at ELI before she left to have twins. It was so fun seeing her and her children!

So, it worked. But how do I deal with one of the most problematic areas of my life right now--my smoky apartment? If I simply say I want to live in a smoke free environment--put that out into the universe-- how do I keep myself from feeling frustrated and upset when I do smell smoke? Do I keep complaining to the management and working on the solution (which might include forcing them to let me break my contract and move) or do I just trust now that it will all work out? What do you think?

I have a friend who has kind of lived parts of her life by doing the opposite of the Secret--imagining the undesired. I think her life is going pretty well! I'm confused! And I'm kind of turned off by all the mention of wealth and material things that you can get if you figured out the Secret. I need to hear from those of you who've read the book or seen the movie.

July 24

Edie, Addy, Ollie, Elena, and Paolo spent the night on the 23rd. We took Marcie dinner, then played with our silly putty and tried to hunker down for the night. Nena went to sleep at midnight, then Addy and I watched a movie. Then next morning I made pancakes. Go to chiggyzam.blogspot.com if you want to read the full truth. Then I went to This Is the Place State Park with Liz and Adama. Adama is a former ELI student. He actually lives in my apartment complex. He's from Burkina Faso. Stay tuned for my next post: I'm going to write a little bit about my apartment.

It's in the Bag

Okay, I have an obsession

I've been thinking today about how I hardly gave the full story about my love for Sting. Then tonight, I was looking through old teaching files and realized I'd actually composed a paragraph about Sting as an example (I can't say it's the best paragraph, and it STILL left out some of the truth (good thing--I wouldn't want my students to get the completely wrong idea. I wonder what they thought when they read this paragraph and how it fit into my lesson plan.))

Anyway, it goes like this: I think it is safe to say that I have an obsession for the singer Sting. I have all his CDs, and I listen to them regularly. I have been to see Sting in concert at least 5 times. I don't care how much the tickets cost, I always to to see Sting when he is in town. When I was living in Turkey, I was lucky enough to see Sting play in Istanbul. My obsession extends beyond listening to Sting's music. I have actually had several dreams about him. One time, I dreamed that I was in a yoga studio with Sting. In the dream, I asked him if he would make an instructional yoga video. He said he would think about it. Whether I am listening to Sting by day or dreaming about him by night, I definitely have an obsession for him.

Funny, huh? What I didn't tell the student is that I had a dream that Sting was my teacher, and that he was teaching with his shirt off. I don't normally share that much in a blog, but hey--I'm still on the post concert high!

The Police

As you can see, we went to the Police concert on Saturday night. Naui and Addy were there too. We had lawn seats, which was tough, since I've seen Sting several times where I've been close enough to see him without binoculars. And I was teased twice with closer seats (3 if you count trying to call into 103.5 when the sirens sounded). Ah well. I might be the only one there who's actually seen Sting in Istanbul. All that said, we had a really fun time and the concert was great. It brought back so many memories. I had the biggest crush on Craig Hogan when I was 13 or 14, and Every Breath You Take was Our Song. Ha Ha. Thanks to my siblings who turned me on to the Police when I was but a child!!

Pretty Princess

I had to steal this picture of my niece off my sister's blog because it is so cute. Ollie is in the background too!

For Cuteness' Sake

Last night I was with my four-year-old nephew Ollie. I said, "Who loves you?" He replied, "You, and everybody who likes my cuteness."

Please Critique

Riding on the bus and trax train for my 90-mile roundtrip daily commute has given me time to reflect on my ultra-green mother, who seemingly came by it naturally! She was a baby during World War II, thereby not experiencing the Great Depression. Were there enough vestiges of hard times as she grew up to make her the way she is? I’m not sure, because I certainly don’t know anybody quite like her. I can only hope to be half as ecologically friendly as my mother.
As long as I can remember, my parents have had two cars, but they never drove like they had two cars! I distinctly remember my mom consolidating errands, saying, “I’m only going out one time today.” During my childhood, gas was a precious commodity to her. If we were driving downhill, she would shut the engine off, put the vehicle into neutral, and let gravity (physics?) do its trick. She valued every last drop of fuel, even to the point of running out of gas. I remember waiting with several of my brothers and sisters in our vehicle while she walked to the nearest gas station, probably with the youngest of the kids in tow.
We learned very young how to make use of public transportation. One family story claims I actually fell asleep on the lap of a stranger on one of the buses in Salt Lake City in the early 70s.
My mom also conserved energy in our home. I don’t remember ever having a clothes dryer. Hanging clothes out on the clothesline in our basement or backyard was as big a part of my childhood as playing with neighborhood friends. Several winter mornings I would put on not-quite-dry icy jeans, figuring my body heat would dry them out eventually.
My mom kept our thermostat at 58 degrees in the winter, day and night. Our kitchen and family room were the only rooms that had open heater vents, and they were blocked off from the rest of the house with a slatted wooden door and a long, heavy canvas curtain. I remember huddling over the heater vent with a baby blanket every time the heat turn on in order to capture what warmth I could. If any of us complained about the cold, we were promptly given a chore to do, which my mom assured would quickly warm us up. We learned not to complain! Despite one of my brother’s friends declaring that our house was the coldest and darkest one he knew, there was a lot of happiness in that house. Instead of frequently shuttling us to our friends’ houses, we learned how to be each other’s best friends.
We could laugh together when my mom would collect the toilet paper off the trees that we had been T.P.eed with, put it in paper sack, and place it in the bathroom for us to use!
My mom and dad became the owners of my beloved brother’s Cadillac when he passed away of cancer. My mother values this car for many reasons—mainly because it belonged to the baby of our family—and because she knows that although this was a good vehicle for my brother, is it a real gas guzzler. She takes it out on rare occasions, preferring instead to use a combination of bicycle, bus and train.
My dream someday is to be able to show my future children this old relic of a car, which will probably still be running due to its low mileage and say, “This car belonged to your uncle, and then to your grandmother.” It ran on something called gasoline, which you can now only get at gas stations few and far between.” I’ll then point out all the people on bikes, electric buses and trains, and tell them to breathe the fresh air, and to thank people like my mom who paved the way for a greener earth.

Orange

Elena found my mirror and orange lipstick and put it on herself. She already had orange nails, so I told her to put her fingers by her mouth. This was the pose she decided on. What a cutie.

The Fourth

Here are some pictures from our 4th of July. I love the one with Elena's arm around Ollie. She is so affectionate! The lovely ladies are our friends from England: Lucy, Meg, Amy, their mother, and some of their children. They all live here in Utah now!! My mom made a quick visit to the parade before heading up to Midway with Ken to look at my dad's art exhibit there. Addy and his friends sold snowcones.

Right now, all our thoughts are with my beloved cousin Marcie, who lost her baby girl while giving birth this weekend. My heart aches for her and her family. I love you Marcie.