Streams of Conciousness

So a couple days ago I was putting my daughter in bed for her nap when she looks up at me and says, “Cut me, daddy!”

?… So of course I try to think of words that sound similar to “cut” that might make sense…

“What?”

“Cut me.”

“Did you mean Talk?”

“No. Cut me!”

“…Um, I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”

“Cut me! Like this,” whereupon she puts both hands under her armpits, then her sides, then her legs.

“Are you sure you mean ‘cut’?”

“Yes!”

I spent about five minutes trying to figure out what she meant and getting worried that Mommy was right when she said our girl was starting to understand violence. I had her repeat it several times, tried repeating other words back; she also demonstrated what she meant a couple more times as well.

Finally Mommy came and saved the day–”She means tuck.”

Thank heavens.

So I’m starting to get a little more settled in at my job (programming for the LDS Church). Recently we had a company meeting and activity. The activity was very interesting–It was a “spudwood derby.” We divided up into teams, and each team was given a set of pinewood derby wheels and axles… and a potato. We had a half hour to make a usable car.

On another front, I am trying to play with music (the mood has struck again)… I’ve got one of my older computers hooked up to the digital piano and I’m trying to figure out how I can get various sound fonts working (The digital piano is pretty good, but it’s french horn is horrible and it doesn’t have a cymbal roll)… For composing I’m using Noteworthy editor. Several years ago I looked around for some notation software, and virtually everything out there was $300 or more with all the bells and whistles, but Noteworthy cost $30, which was about right considering the fact that I really don’t know what I’m doing…

I also got a new phone (LG env touch), and have really enjoyed it. I’ve started looking into apps/sites that I can create that would be useful. What I’ve got so far is a scripture lookup page–you type in the book and chapter, and it will open up that chapter on the online version of the scriptures. It’s a work in progress, but coming along nicely. If you are really that bored you can check it out at lds.jersdesk.com/scriptures

The kids are doing OK, but they’ve had colds for a good while now. My youngest has gone from happy cheerful baby to whiny clingy baby—not so fun. We still manage to enjoy them nevertheless.

OK, my daughter is the sweetest ever (except when she isn’t, but that’s another post).

Today, while everyone else was napping, she and I had some chocolate milk together. We just sat on the floor next to each other, me with my mug and her with her sippie-cup; and out of the blue she turns to me, and with a big smile, says, “Daddy, I yuv yoo,” and gives me a big hug and kiss.

I almost cried.

She’s definitely getting more chocolate milk.

P.S. I realize it’s not terribly manly to use words like “Sweet” and “Cute”, but I defy any man to have a daughter and continue to keep those words out of their vocabulary.

So, at the end of November I was laid off from my job–just in time for the holidays. Needless to say, it was a fairly stressful, rough time, but at the same time, we were really taken care of very well, by our extended families, my local ward, and even some of the government programs.

I was able to find some short-term work, and have now got a one-year position with the LDS Church, so at the moment we are doing very well. The job is about a half hour away, so we’ve been getting used to having a commute, but it really isn’t bad, especially considering having no work at all.

I wanted to say thank you very much to everyone who helped us out while we were in need. We were able to have a very enjoyable time during the holidays, and we were able to keep up with our bills and everything else because of your help. Thank you!

I’ve been meaning to write about a good day I had a while back…

Every now and then I like to take a couple hours to relax with something other than video games or books.  I put on some good music and make a treat. It’s usually bread, hot chocolate, or… some other chocolate treat (and in case you were wondering, yes, a good loaf of homemade bread is definitely a treat).

Now, I really enjoy a good novel or video game, but there’s something more satisfying about taking my time to make a good treat while listening to some Beethoven. It sounds cheesy, but to me it is something that “feeds the soul” (or at least, that’s how I think of it, and everyone should take some time out every so often and do something that feeds their soul).

A little while ago, I was making a treat while listening to a new CD I had recently purchased. It was nice, relaxing music (the album name is Porcelain by Helen Jane Long, FYI), and I was quite enjoying myself.

Then my little daughter came in and proceeded to dance to the music (she’s been taking lessons from June on “Little Einsteins”, so she awkwardly twirls round and round in place). She was so cute to watch!

I was touched by what a wonderful family I have. They are so good to me; not just a wonderful blessing, but the reason and purpose in my life. That afternoon is one of the sweet moments of my life. Far beyond just a nice relaxing afternoon, it is one of the more precious memories that I have, and I hope I always remember it. I felt that God was happy with me, and that I was beginning to realize some of the great joys of life.

So Rossanne is the one who does the finances in our family (I’m not sure why, but that seems to be pretty universal that the wife ends up with that chore–I guess us guys are just too lazy).

Anyway, when I changed jobs to DigitalBridge, I got a significant raise, and so I thought we would have more money. I was really surprised to find that instead we were struggling more than ever.

It turns out Rosanne has been putting all the extra money into getting us out of debt. She had told me she was working on paying off our loans, but I had not realized how much. It is amazing how much we have paid off! We just recently paid off my car, and we are making a ton of progress on my student loans. Her goal is to have all our debts paid off except the mortgage by the end of the year.

I really did not think that would be possible, but so far it looks like we’re going to be able to do it (and now that I’m not spending lots of money on extra stuff, we might be able to live within our means). I am really blessed to have such a wonderful wife.

So apparently Ada really likes peas (oh well, nobody’s perfect).

Ada was in her chair and Rosanne put a bunch of peas on her tray, and she kept eating them as best she could, with only moderate success:

• Take a fistful of peas.
• Bring fist approximatley close to the mouth.
• Open fist fully and press the palm to the lips.
• Repeat.

She has also discovered that even though she only has one mouth she does have two hands, so she can perform the above process twice as fast. Needless to say there were a lot of peas to clean up when she was done.

So, having a yard is both a blessing and a curse (as everyone who has a yard knows). We’ve spent a fair amount of time and money on ours recently, what with the usual fixing sprinklers (a new tradition in my life that makes me wonder about whether sprinklers or irrigation is better), fertilizing, planting flowers, etc.

One of the big projects we just finished was to take out a bunch of ivy in the back corner of our yard, and then to grind down the three or four stumps in the yard (as well as the 5 or 6 stumps we found in the ivy patch). Rosanne’s parents rented the grinder for their house, and then brought it up to ours and helped us grind ours down as well.

And, our fence is in really poor condition, so replacing one side of it is another project coming up really soon. I’m looking forward to that one.

On top of that, there is the weeding, the mowing, the weed-wipping, the trimming, the spraying, etc. etc. that takes tons of time and effort.

However…

Then you look out at your yard, and it actually looks really nice, and it is so neat! Earlier this year a couple decorative trees that we have were in full bloom–two of them had white blossoms, and two had purple (flowering plum trees, I think). They looked really pretty! (sorry, I didn’t think to take a picture). And then you see how much better your yard looks because of your efforts. For me I have to say that having a yard is worth the effort (so far–that could change).

I had a rather neat experience yesterday. We had a ton of yardwork that we wanted to accomplish, but Ada was being very clingy and wouldn’t let Rosanne put her down, so Rosanne kept Ada happy while I fixed the sprinklers and started working on the back corner of the yard (we are trying to get that cleaned out and all the vines removed–this upcoming Saturday we’ll be removing the stumps).

By dinner time, I saw that there was no way I was going to get it done before dark working alone, but I was sure if Rosanne were helping we could finish it. so I said a quick prayer that Ada would calm down enough so that Rosanne would be able to help. I was impressed that Ada would not calm down, but that Rosanne and I needed to learn how to deal with that.

Nuts.

Oh well, I thought, I’ll just get as much done as I can on my own and finish it up later. A couple minutes later Rosanne came down saying that Janelle had just called, and wanted to play with Ada, so she was on her way over. She showed up in a few minutes, Rosanne was able to come out, and between the two of us we were able to get the job completed.

Now, God didn’t have to do that. I don’t think it really mattered, but it was just a reminder to me that He is concerned about us and He is very involved in our lives. I love seeing the little insignificant things that He does for us, not because it is so important on a grand scale, but because we are His children and He loves us (which is not such a little thing after all).

Here’s a quick update of what’s going on with my family:

Jeremy: I’m being kept pretty busy with work, but so far it has been (mostly) enjoyable. Our boss is wanting us to be able to work from home at least a couple days/week, so hopefully that will pan out.

 I’m also trying to work on my own website, jersdesk.com. I’ve got several ideas that I want to do with it, mostly a picture gallery for Rosanne and me.

I had a LAN party the other day (Every so often I have some friends over and we play computer games together). This one was fairly well atteneded, and I think everyone had fun. James and Becca came (Becca even played for a while!). Unfortunately, their computer seemed to break down–the ‘on’ button was stuck and so they couldn’t turn on their computer. I looked online to see how to take the front cover off, and stumbled across a forum where someone else had the same problem with the same computer. The solution? Hit the front of the computer (but no too hard). James tried it and it worked.

Also, John just showed me a site about API’s that have been released from familysearch.org, that allow other programs to saerch their ancestral data, add capabilities to PAF, etc. and I want to do something with that. John and I each have some genealogy programming ideas, and we haven’t decided yet if we’re going to try and work together on something or each do what we want to do. I would be interested to know what others would like to see as far as a genealogy program (besides “something that will do it for me”).

Rosanne: Rosanne is kept very busy with her work and taking care of Ada. She does a very good job with that, as well as taking care of the house. She is the office manager, shipping manager, and on-call support (tech and otherwise) for mightyauthors.com. Fortunately (for us), the business is still rather small. As it grows, other people are supposed to be hired to take care of most of these assignments, leaving Rosanne to be mostly a seceretary.

She’s also been crocheting a baby blanket–ever since Ada was given one and she enjoyed it so much. Rosanne figured we’d better have another one on hand for when the current one gets worn out.

 Ada: Ada is just getting over either a bad cold or a mild case of RSV (we hope the former, but suspect the latter). Either way, she seems to be getting better, which we are very grateful for. She’s stil teething, so life has been a little more interesting than usual for us. Rosanne has been amazing at taking care of her and being patient with Ada’s progressivly getting up earlier… and earlier…

Despite that Ada is still largely a fun happy baby. She obviously enjoys being with Mom and/or Dad the most, and will smile and giggle at our antics. But she is also OK with playing with her toys by herself, though one of us usually needs to at least be in the same roon–if we leave for a few minutes and she notices… we’ll just say that life is a little less happy for a while.