Diapers

If you meet a dirty diape
Do not let it stay!
Quickly change the diaper out
and throw the mess away!

No one likes a stinky diape-
Change it for a fresh!
Make the world a better place
by throwing out the mess!

Naptime Reflections

I'm so glad when Emma takes naps!
Glad as I can be!

Clap my hands and shout for joy
then hurry and tidy

Get my scripture study done
Practice piano, too

Curl up and read a book . . .
then I nap too!

My Second Claim to Fame

Today during my family history missionary shift, I found this article in the Daily Universe:

(Source: Daily Universe, July 23, 1998, page 3)

What a fun trip back down memory lane!  I can't believe I looked so young.  (I also can't believe anyone would actually think we traveled to 10 cities a day and had time to teach music lessons at each one.  So much for the accuracy of the press!)  

Accurate or not, I'm glad I found it and can preserve it as part of my history.  Guatemala was a valuable learning experience, and I'm glad my parents chose to give me such a unique opportunity to serve those who are less fortunate than me.

Once and For All

This is the paper you wanted to write
Well tonight is the night that you can
Just get this done and by dawn's early light
you can finish the fight you began

This time I'm in it to stay!
Think about seizing the day!
Think about Micah who's longing for me to come play.
Tell him I'm on my way!

Jeff if you're still counting pages
Wake up and read 'em and weep
You got your deadlines and papers and grades
Yeah, but I've got a bed-- I need sleep!

Once and for all something tells me the tide will be turning!
Once and for all there's a fire inside me that won't stop burning
Now that the choice is so clear
Now that tomorrow is here
Watch how the mighty will fall
For once . . . once and for all!

This is to even the score
This ain't 490 no more
This ain't just me with some pie in the sky
This is do it or die!  This is war!

Once and for all I will finish this dumb hist'ry paper
Once and for all I'll be ending this Alcott themed caper
Five thousand pages to write.
Five thousand reasons to try.
Better to die than to crawl
Either I stand or I fall
For once . . . once and for all!!!

Sounds like fun!

I just discovered a cool new tool (thanks to my Computers and Family History program).

It's called Audacity.

For those of you that don't know, it's a program that allows you to create sound files and edit them yourself.

Check out what I made:

Powered by Podbean.com

It's a duet between me and myself!  Pretty sweet, huh?
(I admit, I've always wanted to sing a duet with myself.  That's one dream to check off my list!)

Anyway, I hope this post works (I haven't tried embedding a sound file in my post before, so hopefully it works alright).  And I encourage you to try out Audacity (you can Google it and download it for free if you want) to have some fun with audio recordings.

Yippee!

Childhood Memories

My nieces are obsessed with Dora the explorer. Eliza, who is almost 2, could say "Dora" almost as soon as she could say "Mama." Ouch. Eliza and Sage both have Dora cups, dolls, games, and coloring books. They couldn't get enough of her. But, the Dora movies are the WORST. At least they are extremely painful for adults. The Dora shows are so repetetive and boring that they make you want to scream after 2 straight minutes of hearing "I'm the map! I'm the map! I'm the map! I'm the map! I'm the map! I'm the map! I'm the map!" Pretty original screenwriting, huh?

While the Dora shows drive me crazy, I have to admit I had my own favorite cheesy movies when I was young. Fortunately for my parents, at that point Dora had not yet cursed the earth with her presence; however, there were other alternatives that were at least as cheesy (although notably better in musical quality).

One of the most notorious of these was the Sleeping Beauty Ballet on Ice. For those of my friends and blog readers that were unlucky enough (or was it lucky enough?) to be deprived of such pleasures, let me explain.

Sometime a long long LONG time ago my mom taped a ballet version of Sleeping Beauty on Ice from TV for us. It must have been done in the 1980s because the costumes were very . . . um . . . unique? Maybe scary is a better word. Picture a bunch of twenty and thirty-year old men in really tight white tights. Yuck. Most of them wore poofy tunics, but the prince (who we all thought was so handsome) wore a sleek, shiny vest that looked like it was made from fish scales. Who couldn't resist such glamour? The girls, on the other hand, were all in really really short dresses. And then there were the fairies. All four-- the yellow, green, blue, and purple fairies-- wore spiky headresses that looked slightly reminiscent of a pineapple. Basically the only redeeming quality was the beautiful music it was set to (let's be honest, you can't really go wrong with Tchaikovsky, can you?)

Spiky headresses notwithstanding, we LOVED Sleeping Beauty Ballet on Ice. We used to beg mom to let us watch it. Watching SBBI involved a lot more than just sitting in front of the TV in a glazed-over stupor. Each time we watched the beloved ballet, we chose a part in the ballet to play. Since Suzy was the littlest, she always got to be Sleeping Beauty (the good fortune of being the youngest, but at least we were comforted by the fact that Sleeping Beauty was asleep for most of the ballet and didn't have that prominent of a part). Being second youngest, Becca got next pick, and she ALWAYS picked the purple fairy. The purple fairy was by far the coolest of the fairies because she was the one that saved the prince. I think I wasted years of my life being jealous that I never got to be the purple fairy (maybe this was why I always took out my frustration by forcing Becca to be the boy whenever we played house!) Danielle always chose to be the bad fairy because she had such an interesting part. (Good thing she didn't know then that "she" was actually played by a man!) With all the exciting parts claimed, I always got stuck as the queen. Boring. The queen was old (well, compared to the fairies and Sleeping Beauty, anyway!), and she only had about 2 scenes in the whole movie.

Once the parts were assigned, we had to move all the furniture in the living room out of the way. (I'm sure Mom disliked having her living room rearranged, but she was always a good sport.) With the living room "stage" cleared, we were ready to perform. Each of us in turn got to dance along with our character as she appeared on the screen. The Wilson dancing troup was ready to perform!

I think there's a reason Mom never took any of us to dance lessons. Our family seems to have been granted a generous dose of musical talent, but when it comes to dance, we definitely linger in the shallow end of the gene pool. Our "dancing" mainly consisted of a jumble of random gymnastics moves (somersaults, cartwheels, etc.), running around the room, and twirling until we were too dizzy to stand up. Nevertheless, Mom was always supportive, even after watching us peform for the 5th (or 10th or 20th) time. It's a good thing she was, because we made a lot of memories, just from that one cheesy video tape.

I have yet to decide if I will introduce my children to Sleeping Beauty Ballet on Ice. I'm not sure I could handle seeing it that often. However, it did leave us with a lot of fun memories. And at least the music is better than Dora.

I Could Have Danced All Night

Saturday night my ward had a formal dance. I was surprised because I thought my days of formal dress shopping were long since over. (Believe me I do not miss those days. I can remember spending hours at different stores trying on different dresses and crying to my mom in frustration when nothing fit right. Oh the joys of being only 5 feet tall and very petite. Unfortunately most stores don't carry formal dresses in the girls' department.) But, I finally decided on my old prom dress. It took about eight hours to find it when we originally bought it, so I felt justified in getting all the use out of it I could.
I think every girl deserves to get dressed up and feel like a princess every once in a while. Every girl needs to see how beautfiul she is. I was lucky that my sister, Becca, was nice enough to fix my hair and loan me earrings (even though I accidentally wore earrings from 2 different parirs that night). So, complete with earrings and beautiful hairdo, I felt like a princess. It was a great night. In the words of one of my favorite songs,

I could have danced all night
I could have danced all night
And still had begged for more
I could have spread my wings
And done a thousand things
I'd never done before
I'll never know
What made it so exciting
Why all at once
My heart took flight
I only know when he
Began to dance with me
I could have danced danced, danced
all night!

It was definitely a night to be remembered. We'll have to have another dance soon!
(For pictures, see http://wilsonwatch.blogspot.com/2008/02/dancing-queen.html)

A Missionary's Dream

As I was pondering what to write next, I had a flashback to my mission. The area was Sheboygan. My companion was Sister Thomas. The day was a preparation day, and I was bored, waiting for Sister Thomas to finish cleaning. In a moment of inspiration I picked up my pencil and this song was the result. It goes to the tune of 'Part of That World' from The Little Mermaid.

A Missionary's Dream

Look at this quad

Isn't it neat?

Wouldn't you say the marking's complete?

Wouldn't you say I'm prepared?

Prepared to start BAPTIZING!

Look at these talks . . .

Marked all in red

Got lots of scriptures all down in my head

Look through my backpack and see!

I've got everything!

I've got spare Book-of-Mormons a plenty

I've got pamphlets and pass-along cards galore

You want Proclamations on the Family?

I've got twenty!

But who cares?

No big deal!

I want more . . .

I want to be where the families are!

I want to see them reading their scriptures,

Praying sincerely and coming to church with their friends.

Knocking on doors doesn't get too far . . .

Members are required for lasting conversion

If only they knew what a difference their friendship could make!

When they reach out

And help their friends

And share the gospel with those close to them!

Watch and you'll see

Some day we'll be

The ones helping them!

What would I give if I could teach like Ammon or Aaron?

What would I pay to see new converts firm in the faith?

Wouldn't it be great if we could work

Hand in hand with our members.

No more tracting!

Sick of Sickles!

Where's the combine?

I'm ready to teach in the members' homes!

Ask them my questions and get some answers

Where did we come from before we came to this earth?

Then we could teach

And we could preach

And we could baptize all the day long!

Wouldn't it be great?

Oh, I can't wait!

It's a missionary's dream!