Daily Prompt: Life After Blogs

The folks over at WordPress have a Daily Prompt, and this one really caught my interest. What would life be like without computers? While I'm not old enough to remember life before computers were invented (the first machine that could be considered a computer was invented in 1822), I am old enough to remember life before computers became common place in every home. and restaurant and shopping mall and...

First, a little of my history with computers:

When I started college, the university had only what would now be thought of as very, very old Apple computers on campus, so I'm very comfortable with Apple and Macs.

My parents bought their the first computer when I was in high school. I think it was a Texas Instruments machine, and I taught myself some very basic coding in Basic on it.

The first computer I purchased myself was a Hewlett Packard desktop with a screen that was heavier than the tower housing the guts. At the time, my brother was working for HP, so it made a lot of sense to support a company that was making it possible for him support his family. Since then, I've purchased many computers and laptops, the latest is an iMac with a bigger screen than the T.V. I grew up watching. How crazy is that?

I think we would all adapt quickly to a life without computers. Humans are interesting creatures. We are one of the few species on this planet that bend our environment to fit what we think we need instead of adapting to our environment, though not all of us. Looking at native communities in third-world countries, we see that life without computers is completely possible (and was for most of the history of this little, blue ball winging through the cosmos). The U.S. Post Office would probably cheer the loudest as people would need their services for more than junk mail again. I don't know that life would become simpler or slower. We would find other ways of doing the things that computers do for us. Handwriting would suddenly re-emerge as a vital skill taught in schools again. Learning to compute (ha!) complex equations in our heads and on paper would catch on again. And you would probably long for your old analog T.V. and phonograph again. Information and news would come more from your neighbors, friends, and family than from your phone. You might actually get to know your neighbors. A strange concept these days.

I don't think it would be the end of the world. In fact, it might be kind of nice...

Introducing Realize Structural Engineering, Inc.

It's been a crazy summer. Multiple family weddings, including two in different states. Drama Queen performing at the Utah Shakespearean Festival. Planning and saving for our next big adventure across the pond to Europe. And now this.

It's finally here. It's finally happened. After years of dreaming and months of planning, we have started our own structural engineering consulting firm, Realize Structural Engineering, Inc. It's a little surreal, but today is Mr. Perfect's last day working for someone else. We appreciate everything that's happened at the firm he's leaving, but it's time for him to be his own boss. To take control of the future in a way you can't when you work for someone else. To be fully vested in this. It's all so exciting and scary, but mostly exciting.

We just launched the website, so if you feel inclined, please visit it by clicking the link above. It will help us get some traction with search engines in Google and Bing, and it will make us feel special.

Most Happy Girl stats (for today)

**Stolen from Dizzy Dandelion's blog**

Just for fun:

WHAT'S YOURS?
Age: 48 (almost 49)
Relationship status: married
Biggest fear: bad things happening to my family
Dream job: wife (nailed it)
Dream car: Something with heated leather seats
Dream house: 7-10 acres with lots of trees and a house that's not too big to clean easily

FAVORITE*:
Artist: Drama Queen
Movie: It's a Wonderful Life followed closely by Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Song: You mean like picking a favorite child?
TV series: Chuck
Animal: Penguin
Book: The Door in the Hedge by Robin McKinley
Color: Green

THIS OR THAT?
Twitter or Facebook: Facebook
Snapchat or Instagram: Instagram
Pandor or YouTube: YouTube
Coke or Pepsi: Don't really like either
Tea or Coffee: neither
Tacos or Pizza: Tacos, no piz-arrrgggghhh!!!
Winter or summer: winter

WOULD YOU EVER?
Get married: Uh...see relationship status
Have kids: Yes
Swim with sharks: Yes
Daredevil stunts: Not really my thing
Jump out of a helicopter: If it's only about three feet off the ground and I have something soft to land on

How about you?

*Some of the answers in the FAVORITE section change depending on the day and my mood

Man in Plays is leaving the nest

In just a few short weeks, Mr. Perfect and Most Happy Girl will be empty-nesters. I mean, we've always been part-time nesters anyway, but with Man in Plays graduating from high school this year, this era of our lives is coming to a complete end. Soon there will be no more kids' weekends or weekly Tuesday dinner nights. Fortunately, when Lawyer in the Works and Drama Queen are home, they come see us and eat with us and let us know that we are still part of their lives, but this is the time for all of the kids to be creating their own places, even if they are college temporary.

So, to Man in Plays, we say, "We love you! We are so proud of you! And we are excited to see where your next adventure takes you." Right now, it's looking like either Cedar City or Price. And it's wonderful that you have really good options in both places.

Thanks for being so wonderful.

Thoughts about living as a Christian

I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I'm not shy about my religion, but I also don't try to cram it down other people's throats. We recently had a wonderful weekend of instruction from the men and women who have been called as leaders for the church. A friend of mine recently blogged about her feelings after conference weekend, and I posted a response. I decided that I really liked my response (yes, I'm a bit of a narcissist), so I thought I'd share it here. I'd link to my friend's original post, but I think her blog may be private, so you might not be able to see it anyway.

This is a great post. One thing I've always heard is that there is room in the Gospel for both conservative and liberal political thinking. The doctrines of the church sustain ideals from both sides of the political spectrum. There are many blacks and whites in the doctrine: don't murder each other, leave your neighbor's property alone, be faithful to your spouse. Love God and love others, and you should be okay. Seems simple, but people disagree on what "love others" means. For some, it means that you live the way you think God wants you to and leave other people alone to do that as well. For others, it means that although you don't force someone else to do what is right, you can tell them why you don't agree with what they are doing. And for some (and they are minority, thank heavens) it does mean doing what you can to force everyone to live by your idea of what God's laws are. Sometimes they are correct in interpreting God's laws; sometimes they aren't. But the fact is that God will not force any of us into heaven. You're right in stating that's why the war in heaven was fought: agency is the second greatest gift we have received from Heavenly Father. Interestingly, it is completely and wholly intertwined with the first. Without agency, we would have had no need for the Atonement. Without the Atonement, no choice we make will get us home. To me that's a rather simple and beautiful concept. But where are we when it comes to other people? How do we help without forcing? I think that the "every member a missionary" calling has to be handled on a person-by-person basis. Literally. We have to look at each relationship we have to decide how much "force" we put behind our treatment of that person. I have friends I talk about church stuff with all the time (most of them are members of the Church, and so that makes most of these discussions pretty simple, though at times heated); I have friends who love to talk to me about what they do religiously and spiritually, but don't want to hear anything about my spiritual journey. It can feel like "If I talk to Nancy enough about how right what I believe is, she will realize how wrong what she believes is." These friendships both tickle and frustrate me, because these are people who would completely shut you down if you told them they weren't Christians (because to them, their relationship with Christ is very personal), but have no qualms telling someone else that they aren't Christians (because to them, your relationship with Christ should be exactly the same as their, and therefore not personal). And I have friends who I don't talk religion with at all. With these people, I just live the way I believe is correct, and hope that some of the light of Christ will impact them in a positive way. When they have questions, I answer them. When they don't want to talk about religion, we discuss other things.

Sorry this got so long, but I fully understand where you are coming from. I've been on both sides of that ever-moving political line. I've had people tell me I'm not a good member of the church if I don't vote straight Republican. I've had people tell me that I'm trying to force my religion on others if I vote my conscience. But what else can we do? As members of the LDS church, does voting our conscience mean that we will vote exactly the same on everything? Of course not. We are all at differing points on our journey home. The best we can do is pray and follow the promptings we receive, not the promptings others receive.

New adventures and a change of pace

I was reading a friend's blog this morning, and she mentioned that some of her favorite bloggers haven't blogged in a while. It made me realize that I've neglected this blog for some time now (not that I'm assuming that my blog is one of the ones she loves reading (but I hope so, Megan, I really hope so)).

Life has been taking some interesting turns lately. I'm still Young Women's president, but at least I don't feel like I'm drowning in the calling all the time. Just mostly treading water with the occasional wave splashing over me and filling my lungs briefly with water. The girls are wonderful, and my counselors and advisers are amazing. Without them, I would literally be falling apart right now.

Mr. Perfect still works with the Special Needs Mutual for our area. He loves this calling, and I love occasionally going to their activities. Some of the kids will ask were I am when I can't come. They are awesome (as in fill me with awe at their greatness) people, and I love them dearly. When he gets released, I will miss them as much as he will.

Mr. Perfect and I are adjusting to the idea of being empty-nesters and all that it might entail. We still see Man in Plays frequently, but he's 18 now, graduating from high school in a few short months, and then off to parts unknown at this time for college, because it's looking less and less likely that he'll be going to a local school. We see Lawyer-in-the-Works a couple of times a year, and Drama Queen more frequently, but they are both busy building their lives (as they should be) and being in constant contact with the parents becomes less important (as it should).

I'm in the process of morphing my photography hobby into a full-fledged portrait/wedding business. It's fraught with danger and intrigue -- oh, wait. No it isn't. I just wish it were. It is fraught with anxiety hoping that it takes off and that people like the outcome. It also begs the question of can I run two businesses and keep a regular full-time job at the same time. More decisions to contemplate. I suppose that last one will only matter after some time has passed and we see just how this takes off.

Life is very good. In fact, it's fantastic. I love my life.

Man in Plays becomes a man indeed

This past weekend, Man in Plays turned 18. It's quite the milestone in several ways. There is the obvious one of him reaching his majority, being half-way through his final year in high school, and working hard at deciding what he wants to do with his life after graduation and which college will help him get there the best way possible.

Then there is also the fact that our youngest is now 18. It's a new stage in life. While we've always been a bit of empty-nesters, because the kids have spent the majority of their time at their mom's, soon we'll be empty-nesters in the complete sense of the word. No more kids' weekends; no more high school plays and events to attend. The ability to plan a trip or activity without working around someone else's schedule (or lack of communication). It will be fun and sad all at the same time.

Life moves so fast, it's a little scary at times.

First serious snowfall of the season

Yesterday, we had our first serious snowstorm of the season. I can't say it's the first one for the year, because we get serious snowstorms from January until April sometimes. And this morning, it was 13 F driving into work. Brrrr!! Today, I'm very thankful for cars with heaters that work really, really well.

A brief visit

We had so much fun last month visiting Lawyer-in-the-Works that we decided she needed to come home sooner than Christmas. Well, it wasn't just us telling her this. She was also getting this from friends, her mom, other family members ...

So she came home for a very brief (flew in late Thursday evening, flew out Sunday morning) visit, but it was so much fun to see her. Her birthday was on Tuesday, and Mr. Perfect and Most Happy Girl were able to take her and her older half-sister (Super Teacher Woman) out to dinner. It was really nice for Mr. Perfect and Super Teacher Woman to reconnect (he helped raise her from age 2 until she turned 18). We were also able to catch up on what's been happening with Lawyer-in-the-Works for the last five weeks and eat some really good Italian food (excellent restaurant choice, Lawyer-in-the-Works).

Once again, Mr. Perfect earns his name

One of the things I've really been looking forward to in the kitchen remodel was a new faucet for the sink. I know that sounds a bit silly, but it's true. The one we had was old, leaking, and the pull-down for the spray would as often as not come off in your hand, leaving you completely soaked from the suddenly-released force of the water no longer held in check by the filter that's on the end of the faucet. When it stayed in place, it would give you or the wall a gentle misting spray that would soon make everything very wet.

So, yesterday was a state holiday for Utah (Pioneer Day), and Mr. Perfect had the day off. I work for a company based in Minnesota, so I did not have the day off. As part of his "Hmmm...I'm home. What should I do?" thinking, he decided it was time to replace the faucet. Last fall (yes, last fall), we purchased a new faucet for the kitchen. And the box has sat in our kitchen every since...until yesterday. I was truly the Most Happy Girl when he told me at lunch that he was about half way through the process (he'd been able to get the old one off, and putting the new one one shouldn't take as long). And when I got home from work, this is what I found:

It's so lovely, I almost cried. I love my new faucet almost as much as I love Mr. Perfect.

(P.S. Pay no attention to the mess around the sink. Just concentrate on the beautiful stream of water coming from the new fixture.)

Experiment in house plants

I am not good with house plants. Seriously. Over the years, I've had one house plant survive longer than 6 months. It's actually thriving, but that's because it's the type that deals really well with neglect and abuse. Drama Queen and Man in Plays gave me a beautiful azalea for Mother's Day, and it lasted about 2-1/2 weeks. I sure loved it, but obviously didn't know how to take care of it. Now, I'm trying with perhaps one of the hardest-to-keep-alive houseplants of all time: a Gerbera daisy. Wish me luck.

I love a man in booties

Okay, I love this man in booties. Mr. Perfect had some minor surgery this morning, and he was given these booties to wear at the hospital. At 7:00 this evening, I noticed that he was still wearing them. It really made me smile.

We'd like to thank Dr. Scott A. Leckman, Dr. Dennis L. Morris, and all the great folks at St. Mark's Hospital here in Salt Lake City. They really did a great job taking care of Mr. Perfect.

Lawyer-in-the-Works flies the coup

A very new chapter has entered our lives. One of the kids is living in a different state, and there's a very good chance she won't be coming back to Utah to live again. Wild times! It's hard to believe that it's been over four years since I met Lawyer-in-the-Works, Drama Queen, and Game Boy.

Time flies on wings of lightning;

We cannot call it back.

It comes, then passes forward

Along its onward track.

And if we are not mindful,

The chance will fade away,

For life is quick in passing,

'Tis as a single day.

(Improve the Shining Moments, Robert B. Baird)

I'm sure this is not the last time I will post those particular lyrics. The older I get, the more relevant they become.

So, Lawyer-in-the-Works headed off to the great unknown of Spokane, Washington and law school. Okay, so Spokane isn't that unknown, and we are planning a trip up there soon to see her new digs and take in the beauties of the Great American Northwest. Chant with me "Road trip! Road trip! Road trip!" But until then, texting is a blessing. We know that she and her mom made it fine, and she enjoyed her first day of classes (which she said was mostly orientation).

Game Boy's new threads

The Theatre Society Banquet at Cottonwood High School is a formal affair. So Game Boy needed some new threads to wear. He and his mom found this good looking suit, and we were fortunate enough to have him with us the night of the banquet, so we got see him off in all of his new finery. (Notice the purple Converse. Yes, we are the Kings of Style.)

It's so strange to think that he was a shy 12-year-old when I met him. He's grown so much, and not just in height. It's also strange to think that next year we'll only have one child in the public school system. It makes me think of a hymn we sing at church:

Time flies on wings of lightning; We cannot call it back;...life is quick in passing. 'Tis as a single day.

(LDS Hymns #226, Improve the Shining Moments)

Gardening 2012

As any ardent follower of this blog knows, Mr. Perfect and I are devoted gardeners. We love fresh vegetables, and we especially love them if we've put some of our own sweat into growing 'em. This year, we enlarged the garden (yet again), and started the peas and radishes on time! Way to go, us!
We have

• peas
• radishes
• carrots
• beans
• tomatoes
• beets
• pumpkins
• Hubbard squash
• acorn squash

We did go easy on the squash this year. Only one hill of each kind, including the pumpkins.

To help draw the bees to the tomato plants, we also planted marigolds and petunias. The roses have also started blooming, so our yard smells great!

More evidence that Psycho Wunderhund has earned his name

Don't get me wrong. We love our dog. He is very lovable. And even though we have grand plans of the dog we hope to have one day, in the very distant future when Psycho Wunderhund has gone on to his grand doggie reward in the next life, we have no plans to hastening that day. That said, here he is showing why we will not be buying him anymore toys with squeakers in them. No matter how big the manufacturer's promises are about double and triple stitching. I've cleaned up enough fluffy stuffing and completely destroyed squeaker globes for a dog's lifetime. To give you a time frame of his destructive abilities, he's been playing with this toy for about two weeks.

Who couldn't love that face?

Got phone envy?

I don't any more. This is now what I get to make calls on.

Oh, yeah, it also connects to the internet, plays music really well, and keeps texting conversations together so I don't have to switch back and forth between the in and out boxes. That and Angry Birds are probably my favorite things about this phone. Phone. Makes me laugh. It's really a mini computer. Isn't technology amazing, and not a little scary?

Are we human or are we dancer?

 I'm just saying...

I have discovered

I live quite nicely with a more-than-limited exposure to prime time American television. We have streaming NetFlix, and that works just fine for Mr. Perfect and me. We watch older shows (The Dick Van Dyke Show, Bones, and the now-defunct Lie To Me -- why am I always getting addicted to shows that have been cancelled after just a few seasons?) Both kids came for Tuesday night dinner a couple of weeks ago, so decided to let them pick something for us to watch. Drama Queen chose New Girl. We hadn't heard much about it, but it has Zooey Deschanel, who I think is just fun and fabulous, and Joseph Gordon-Leavitt. And the episode had a lot of fun and fabulous moments, but it also had a lot of "I can't believe I'm watching this with kids" moments.

And we used to think M*A*S*H was racy. I miss those days.

Three years and still going strong...

Oh how I love me this man.