She's got a ticket to ride, but she don't care

Blake and I love how much we can use technology to communicate and stay in touch with our families, even though we're spread all over the country. We're big fans of texting, calling, Skype, and FaceTime. We have set up private Facebook groups for each side of our family for even more communication options.

Another favorite things of ours is playing games online. Online games are really nothing new, but we've found a couple we particularly enjoy.

Our competitive game of choice is Ticket to Ride. We can set up a private table on Steam and up to five can play at a time. When I was in Utah in September, we played with most of my family. Blake played on his phone in Virginia. I was on my computer in Utah. My parents were a team on Dad's iPad. Mr. and Mrs. Brotherface were a team on Mom's desktop. Sadly, Mr. and Mrs. Sisterpants weren't able to join us that time, but we've played with them since. Since we had Blake on Skype on my dad's laptop, it was more like we were all together physically. Now that we've shown  my side of the family how to play online, we're hoping to do it more often.

Blake sent me a copy of the map, since it doesn't give me the right colors on my computer - lame

We often get to play with Blake's brother and sister-in-law, and those games can get mean. We played two rounds last Saturday and I won the first one. Blake, very kindly, helped me find an alternate route when my plan A failed and I paid him back by winning by one point because of the Longest Train card. He had been up by 9 until the last second. Sorry, sweetie!

I came in third on the second game because a certain brother-in-law purposefully disrupted my route just because he could and I never fully recovered. Fortunately, he came in 4th, which was my only consolation.

Cooperatively, we like playing Pandemic via Skype. Each side sets up a board, so you do have to have an actual copy of the game to be most effective. One side runs the master board and the other follows it so everyone can still see what's going on and still work together. We've lost more than we've won, but it's still fun to play together. We'd love to see how other cooperative games like Forbidden Island or Forbidden Desert work on Skype sometime. Cooperative games work well because you don't have to hide anything from the other players, so you can be fully transparent will running the two boards simultaneously.

If you're non-local and want to try one of these games with us, just let us know! If you are local, we'd love to set up an in person game time. We have a lot more options than just those two . . .

What are your favorite ways to keep in touch with your families and friends?

The distant scene--one step enough for me

I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormons. When possible on Sundays, I discuss some things related to my faith and what I believe. With respect to your own beliefs, I hope this gives you a chance to get to know me and my religion a little better. For previous installments, click here.

There are lot of things about the gospel that I don't know or understand. The wonderful thing about that is that's perfectly acceptable. The point of studying the scriptures, attending our church meetings, going to the temple, and just about everything else we do is to embark on our eternal progression and personal development. We are expected to ask questions and seek out answers for ourselves.

In Alma chapter 32, we can find the method for exercising our faith -

26 Now, as I said concerning faith—that it was not a perfect knowledge—even so it is with my words. Ye cannot know of their surety at first, unto perfection, any more than faith is a perfect knowledge.
 27 But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.

The full text can be found in Alma 32:26-43. There is no timeline. We don't have to come to answers or understanding in anyone's time but our own.

When there is something I don't understand in the gospel or the church, I rely on and focus on things I do. I find comfort in those things and work and pray to understand what I don't. In short, I use the promises found in Proverbs 3:5-6.

5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

We are not expected to blindly follow the things we are taught without question, but to learn and discover and understand truths for ourselves and to build our own personal testimony. For that, I am grateful. I hope to continue learning and growing in my knowledge of the gospel and in all other aspects of my life for as long as possible.


The video is of one of my favorite hymns, sung by one of my favorite groups. Enjoy. And if you have any questions about the gospel, whether you are a member of my faith or not, I would be happy to discuss them with you, because I don't think any of us should be traveling these paths alone.

I said that's life (that's life)

I post somewhat regularly to Instagram, which cross-posts to Twitter and Facebook, but here are some little snippets of life lately that did not make it there.

While I was in Utah, The Shops at Riverwoods we're hosting a Chalk the Block. Participants were given a parking spot to decorate using sidewalk chalk. Here are some of my favorites.

I love James Christiansen - We have two of his pieces in our house

Each beam represents an operating temple in the world

Shadow me!

In my library last year, I numbered the tables so that I could manage my students by table if needed. This year, we are doing it by color. I put the colors in sheet protectors and then taped them to the tables. It solved some of the problems I was having with the numbers, but I'll probably argue all year with some kids about whether it's the pink table or the red table. It's red, for the record. 

This did make the Instagram, but we are also doing library centers this year, again for management reasons. Generally, we have a reading center, a skills practice center related to the mini-lesson I taught  that day, and a book checkout center. It's going pretty well. 

Blake and I really like a new donut shop about fifteen minutes from our place, called Sugar Shack. The best part for our budget is that they offer a daily free house donut in exchange for something. We've brought in pictures of UFOs, ordered like old curmudgeons, and traded school supplies for free donuts. Tonight, we had to act like dogs. 

One day was wear crazy socks. Blake wore a pair of my socks with monkeys and bananas all over on his hands because, as his lawyer self reasoned, they didn't say where you had to be wearing the socks. And yes, I wore these with capris and flip flops, because the point was to show them off, not be fashionable. 

Finally, a Malcolm story. A few months ago, there was an exceptionally loud thunderstorm. Malcolm is largely unbothered by thunder, but a really loud and close thunder clap sent him running behind the couch for safety. He discovered that's where we stash our blankets and has added it to his napping repertoire, sometimes during loud or bothersome times, sometimes just because. This was earlier today while Blake was vacuuming. Sorry about the laser eyes. 

Life is good. 

Like a bridge over troubled water

Sundays are great days for family walks. We don't have church until 3 in the afternoon (not our favorite time), and Malcolm needs walks everyday, so Sunday mornings are perfect for the three of us to head out and enjoy some fresh air. Blake and I use some of the time for our weekly family business meetings - schedules and other things on the horizon.

This last Sunday, we had a stake conference (a meeting of several congregations together) and were done with church at noon. With the afternoon free and the weather surprisingly warm for November, we took a walk we've had our eyes on for months - crossing the Potomac to Maryland via the Woodrow Wilson bridge. 

We started at Jones Point Park in Old Town Alexandria, site of an original DC boundary stone, and headed out. 

DC as seen from the Wilson Bridge - The Capitol dome and Washington Monument are foggy and faint, but we could see them

We didn't realize we'd cross though DC as well! Three states/districts in one walk!

My walking buddies

Maryland!

Back in Virginia

Jones Point Park - The oblong shape is the size and shape of the warships built on this site during World War I

We could have walked all the way down into National Harbor in Maryland, and sometime we will. Still, it was a good 4.5 miles round trip, which is about average for us these days. 

Capitol dome as seen through one of the telescopes on the bridge, photo courtesy of Blake

Hooray for historical and interesting family walks!

Living like we're renegades

Sometimes, being an adult is lame. You have to pay boring bills like electricity or water. You might get stuck in traffic at midnight. You have to buy things like shower curtains. You have to go to work, even on really nice days. We get snow days at my job, and that's great, but just once I would love for the higher ups to say "It's just going to be too nice outside today - everyone get out and play."

But sometimes adulthood is pretty rad. You, hopefully, get to work at a job you like. You get to decide what you're having for dinner. You can stay up as late as you want to, or go to bed as early as you like. You can dye your hair blue. 

And sometimes you can replace your moldy, hand-me-down, 10+ years old shower curtain with a new one with monsters, just because you can. 

Adulthood is actually pretty cool sometimes. 

A three headed dog! A three headed dog!

For Halloween this year, I turned Malcolm into Cerberus. Or, for those less familiar with Greek mythology, Fluffy from Harry Potter.

Finished product!

I bought two plush toy dogs and cut slits into their sides to thread a collar through. I tacked those slits down a bit for security. Then, I severed all the plush limbs and tacked the stumps down to the bodies, so instead of full bodies, they were supposed to be necks. Then, attached the new collar to the non-plush dog!

Sadly, Malcolm didn't win anything at the Howl-o-ween dog costume contest we attended, but he's still number one to us! We enjoyed parading him around and receiving compliments and chuckles, and he enjoyed hunting through the boneyard for Milk Bones.

Test run of the costume-in-progress OR Malcolm's face when you have a cookie for him

Malcolm is a great sport and a very cute Cerberus. 

Hi! My name is Melville Dewey!

WAY back in 2009, I made my reading goal for that year to read 26 non-fiction books, in alphabetical order by subject. Eilonwy did the same.

Well, in May of 2015, I finally finished that challenge.

Non-fiction can be hard, yo.

Truth be told, I could have picked some better books. Some of my books were fast reads. Some were enjoyable reads. Many were both! Some of them, however, were neither, so I'd slog through them slowly, getting distracted by other, more enjoyable books during and in between.

It's also really hard sometimes to figure out what to read for a certain letter, especially when you can't skip it. K gave me trouble, for example. I had no topic in mind, so even me, the librarian, couldn't find anything. Eventually, I settled on a book about Kristallnacht. I remember it being really challenging to follow and read, and it took me awhile and then I definitely needed something lighter and less serious to follow. My L book was that, but I'm sure I read some fiction in there too to break it up.

Y also took me forever. It was actually enjoyable, but it was NOT a fast read. I finally just powered through it on a plane ride in March of this year, because I just needed to be done.

I don't think I understood anything in my Q book.

Also, life happened. I finished grad school the first time in 2009 and returned again from 2011-2013. Plenty of non-fiction reading happening in there, and you can't always break up all that reading for homework with non-fiction.

I changed jobs - a few times. I got married, for heaven's sake.

But I finished and it doesn't really matter how long it took me. So there.

Here's what I read:

26 BOOKS FROM A-Z

• A (Anthropology) - Death's Acre
• B (Buddhism) - Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha
• C (Confucius) - Analects of Confucius
• D (Dating) - A Single Voice
• E (English) - Alphabet Juice: The Energies, Gists, and Spirits of Letters, Words, and Combinations Thereof; Their Roots, Bones, Innards, Piths, Pips, and Secret Parts, ... With Examples of Their Usage Foul and Savory
• F (Freemasonry) - The Complete Idiot's Guide to Freemasonry
• G (Grammar) - Eats Shoots and Leaves
• H (Heaven) - Odds Are You're Going to Be Exalted
• I (Introversion) - The Introvert's Advantage
• J (Judaism) - The Year of Living Biblically
• K (Kristallnacht) - Kristallnacht-Prelude to Destruction
• L (Life/Philosophy) - The Fat Girl's Guide to Life
• M (Marriage) - The Beloved Bridegroom
• N (Neurology) - The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat
• O (Ovulation) - Taking Care of Your Fertility
• P (Philosophy) - Pooh and the Philosophers
• Q (Quantum Computing) - A Shortcut Through Time
• R (Rock Music) - Mystery Train: Images of America in Rock and Roll
• S (Spies) - The Spy Who Spent The War in Bed
• T (Temple) - The House of the Lord
• U (United States) - The Mental_Floss History of the United States of America
• V (Vietnam) - Carried to the Wall
• W (Wedding) - A Practical Wedding
• X (Xenon) - Obsessive Genius
• Y (Year) - 1776
• Z (Zion) - We Walked to Zion

What's next?

Not sure. Right now, I mostly get my daily reading in at lunch, and I'm reading from the collection of my school library so that I know what we have. It's given me good things to talk about with my students when they're checking out or looking for something. It's very satisfying to have a student love something you loved too.

I'm trying to read as many books as I read last year (48), or more. But, I'm on book 33, and there are only two months left. We'll see how it goes.

There are also a number of books I own, or married into, that I haven't read yet, but would like to. So, I think that my next challenge, if any, should go back to being a numbers challenge and not a content challenge.

Who's up for Reading Challenge 2016? What should it be?

I leave you with the Dewey Decimal Rap, which I show to my elementary students every year.  Enjoy!

Oh, here we are together in our family

I was named for my maternal grandfather's eldest sister, Ella Amanda. She went by Amanda, sometimes Mandie when she was younger.

She never had the opportunity to marry or have children, so she made the most of the opportunities she was given. She served an LDS mission, went to college, and worked as a teacher or a variety of other jobs, and I think even worked in a library for awhile. When she was older, she served as a temple worker. 

She loved her family. With 8 younger siblings and all their families, there was a lot of them to love. She remembered birthdays and set up a trust fund to help any descendant of her parents to serve missions of their own. 

Because I was her namesake, we had a special connection. The whole family called her Aunt Amanda, and I was Little Amanda. Though, for at least a little while, I thought she was just "Aunt" because when my mom introduced us, I thought she was saying, "This is Aunt, Amanda." 

When she died, I was asked to write her obituary and deliver her eulogy. It was an unusual request for a 16-year-old, but I was honored. 

Due to her wonderful example, I've long considered the title of Aunt Amanda to have a mantle of responsibility attached to it. She left a lot to live up to, and I hope I can live up to it. 

Fortunately, Sisterpants has finally given me my official chance! I have nothing against my honorary niblings, or Blake's brother's daughters, all of whom I love completely. But I finally have a blood nephew of my own and I'm thrilled!

Meet Gabriel, whom I like to call Gabey-Baby. 

I got to go home and meet him during my school's fall Eid break. My job was to snuggle him and help Sisterpants around the house. Gabey-Baby is an excellent snuggler. 

Thanks for letting me love on him so much! I hope he loves his Aunt Amanda as much as I love mine!

Disclaimer: This was posted with permission of Gabriel's parents. Not all parents want their children's pictures on the internet, and I recommend Eilonwy's excellent blog on the subject. Be sure you know your friends' and family's social media policies!

Tells me I've a mother there

I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormons. When possible on Sundays, I discuss some things related to my faith and what I believe. With respect to your own beliefs, I hope this gives you a chance to get to know me and my religion a little better. For previous installments, click here.

Recently, the Church posted an essay on our belief in a Heavenly Mother. As the article points out, this is a unique belief held by our faith. I highly suggest reading the essay, as it's more eloquent on the topic than I'll ever be. That article can be found here:https://www.lds.org/topics/mother-in-heaven?lang=eng

The existence of a Heavenly Mother is a comforting thought for me. We're often told to be more like our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, but I also like having the attributes of a divine woman to aspire  to. We aren't taught of Her specific attributes, but I imagine they are a lot like those of the Father and Jesus, with an added measure of divine femininity. 

Some speculate that we don't teach much about Her because Heavenly Father has seen what people do with and in His name, and He wants Her to be protected from that. 

I suppose that's a possibility, but I've also heard another reason that I, personally, feel might be closer to the truth. That is that within the bonds of Their own eternal marriage, that Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother are so completely one in heart, might, mind, and purpose that what the Father does, the Mother does also. What He says, She says. What He wants, She wants. 

If we are taught to be like our Father in Heaven and that includes being part of a celestial marriage, as well as the doctrine that as man is God once was, it stands to reason that women are included in that plan. We are not forgotten and will also receive our own exaltation with our husbands, just as the Heavenly Mother has. 

I know that this is the kind of marriage I want with Blake. That we each bring our own unique personalities, strengths, interests, and talents into our relationship, but we are completely in harmony in our goals for our marriage, children, and future. Everything we do individually benefits the whole. It doesn't mean that we have to agree on everything and lose our individuality in the process, but we are such a complete team that we support each other 100% and whether I do or say something or Blake does or says something, it is the same. 

Does that answer every question one might have about our Heavenly Mother? Of course not. But I trust in God's plan as summarized in the 9th Article of Faith.  

"We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God."

I trust in our Heavenly Parents and look forward to being reunited with Them someday. 

Come sing to the Lord

I'm a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormons. When possible on Sundays, I discuss some things related to my faith and what I believe. With respect to your own beliefs, I hope this gives you a chance to get to know me and my religion a little better. For previous installments, click here.

Serving in the temple usually means participating in worship and religious instruction through certain rites and ordinances that can only be performed in the temple, whether for ourselves or for the dead. By doing work for the dead via proxy, we simply offer the completed ordinances to those who have passed on and it us up to them to accept it or not. Blake and I try to attend and serve in the temple once a month, and it's been tradition for me, and now us, to go on the day after Thanksgiving. Sadly, I was sick this week, so we postponed this year's trip until Saturday, which was still wonderful.

We also got to go again today, but for a different purpose. This evening was the annual Christmas devotional for temple workers and officiators and their families and I was privileged to sing in the choir - Mormon Choir of Washington, DC. This is my sixth season with this choir and the temple devotional is always one of my favorite annual events.

We meet in the assembly room on the seventh floor, which is modeled after the Kirtland Temple. Speakers are chosen from the temple presidency and their wives as well as other church authorities. It's always a beautiful meeting and a rare honor to sing in the temple, which is usually a much more quiet place. 

I am grateful for the temple and the lovely way I get to kick off the Christmas season. This week, the choir will be participating in the lighting ceremonies for the Christmas lights on the temple grounds. Next week, on Saturday evening, we'll be singing our annual Christmas concert, which is open to the public. If you're in the area, you should come! If you are in the area and can't make it that night, there are events every night throughout December. You can find out more at dctemplelights.lds.org. 

How do you kick off your holiday season?

Some of the lights out this year! Please pardon the fuzz.