Ancient Japanese Secret for Perfect Health

Kinoki Foot pads

Have you seen this? It's 12:59 a.m. and there was a short infomercial on for these? Do they really work? Put a sticker on your feet at night and remove all your "toxins," lower your blood pressure, lose weight, etc. etc. etc. Hmmmm.

If you wanna be happy . . .

Something came up in conversation yesterday between me and James and I thought of this song. He had never heard it before so I went to youtube looking for a video. There were several of them, but this one includes Asian boxing in wedding attire. Take a look!



Oh . . . and I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. Ours was a bit of a whirlwind, but was great!!

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat.
Please do put a penny in the old man's hat . . .

Merry Christmas. I've had lots of fun this year decorating my own house with my own Christmas decorations. There are finally presents under the tree, too.

Merry Christmas everyone!

I Detest Wal-Mart

Yes, I know the rest of the world lives and dies by the Wal-fart. Yes, I know that there are people who may even read my blog that like the Wal-blart, but me? . . . . nooooooo. I can't stand it. I try to avoid this big evil store as much as possible, but I have visited 2 different stores in the last 2 days and that has been more than plenty.

Yesterday, I went to the WM in Tooele (also referred to as the Tooele Mall). I went shopping with James, Melissa the art teacher, and 5 freshman students. We were shopping for a sub-for-santa we've been working on. I had shopping lists to divy up among all of us. We successfully completed our shopping in a very expeditious 45 minutes. It was great. We then took our shopping carts to the shortest checkout line and proceeded to check out . . . um, sure . . . we were in the check-out line for 45 minutes more. I couldn't believe it. I kept looking around, but all of the lines were that long and NOT moving. I thought our slowness was to blame on the two, count them two, different women in our line who were on oxygen. There are at least 20 check out stands and only 6 or so of them were open. Great!

Tonight I needed to go to another WM. I was with my dad and Willie. I needed to pick up two more Christmas gifts, one specifically from the WM and one that I needed for tomorrow that could be purchased there also. The parking lot was out of control, so my Dad just dropped me off. I should have been able to dash in and out, but of course that's impossible. I went directly to what I needed and then to the check out stand. That task took about 2 minutes. I went to the 10 items or less line. This creepy man with a do-rag in front of me kept staring at me. I was trying to pretend he wasn't and was trying not to make eye contact. He was very dirty. When he finally got to the check-out stand, he paid for his things - 3 TV dinners, fruit cups, some kind of Mexican orange soda, and a denim, button-down shirt to match the one he was wearing. He leaned over the little counter and invaded the personal space of the checker. "Can I ask you a small favor? I really need to go to the bathroom. Can I leave all this stuff here while I go." She said, "um sure. Just push your cart around the end." He then told 2 more WM employees that he was leaving his cart there and going to the bathroom. He would come back in a minute.

I hat the Wal-spelunckart.

Willie's Star

Haley and I went to the court of honor to see Willie receive the BSA star award.

Merry Christmas!

It's about time for a more positive post! Here are our Christmas decorations.

I'm Tired

Hello Blog World,

I'm tired. I'm tired of my job. I feel like I'm a sucky teacher lately. I'm behind on my Christmas shopping. I still have a lot to do. I haven't sent out or even written out any Christmas cards. I have difficulty waking up in the morning and for the first time in my career, last week, I had to call a fellow teacher to cover my class for 20 minutes until I got there. (It has happened one other time, but snow was to blame and not my sleeping in.) Three dumb boys had a lighter in my class yesterday during 8th period and wouldn't fess up to the smoke/burning smell. I've yet to hear from the administration on what the consequence was even though I've asked. A student who I haven't seen since September is still on my roles. A student who hasn't come since before Halloween because she had a baby is still on the roles and is failing every class because she isn't there. A girl in 4th period today was so disruptive I asked her to go step out in the hall. She said, "Oh good I have to go potty, anyway," ran out the door and never returned.

I convinced myself to take a half day off tomorrow. It was a great idea. I have 40 sick days to burn. It was a great idea . . . that is until I realized that I have to help the Freshman class officers get their Tree Festival tree set up tomorrow after school, I'll probably have a room full of kids again who don't understand quadratics and they have a test on it next week, and I told another teacher that I would give her a ride into the WVC to meet up with her husband so they can go to St. George for the weekend without him having to go back out to Tooele to get her . . . .ugh . . . is it Friday yet? Oh no. Saturday morning I have to be at the church between 7:30 and 8:00 a.m. to help in the kitchen for the ward breakfast. They asked all the people who "don't have to wrangle kiddles" to help out. James says he is refusing to go with me because he never gets to sleep in. Sorry! You're the EQ pres. now and I think that requires you to go to ward parties at 7:30 in the morning with your wife. Ha! You can wait until next week to sleep in!

Okay, I'm dumb venting now. Good night! Bye the way . . . spell check doesn't like the word "sucky" or "kiddles."

Students say the darndest things

Student: Hey Mrs. Binggeli. You want to hear a joke I heard over the weekend?

Me: Is it appropriate? Sure.

Student: So, a monkey and an elephant were taking a bath. The monkey said, "Will you pass the shampoo?" The elephant replied, "What do I look like, a radio?"

Me: Wait, say that again?

Student: "What do I look like, a radio?"

Me: I don't get it.

Student. You don't?

Me: No, will you please explain it to me?

Student: I can't. That's the joke.

Me: What?

Student: You know, like, it's one of those jokes that doesn't make any sense.

Me: Yeah, I don't get it. It doesn't make any sense.

Student: Yeah, that's why it's so funny.

Me: . . . . ok?!?

THE DANCE!?!

I HAD TO MAKE A COMMENT ON THE PREVIOUS POST. OK FIRST OFF I NOTICE THAT I HAVE BEEN MADE INTO A GIRLISH FIGURE. NOTHING IS WRONG WITH BEING A GIRL,THAT IS UNLESS YOU PREFER BEING VEIWED AS A GUY. I GUESS I JUST NEED TO PLAY ALONG. GO AHEAD AND LAUGH AND TELL THAT I AM A LITTLE TO SENSITIVE. WILLIE I BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE ALONG WITH ME. WHY IS IT THAT I FEEL THAT I GET PULLED INTO THINGS THAT MAKE ME FEEL LIKE A TOTAL FOOL THAT IS WINKING AT EVERYONE?

WELL I SUPPOSE THAT YOU HAVE TO GET SOME HUMOR AT MY EXPENSE. ENJOY!!!!

oK IT REALLY DIDN'T BOTHER ME. i JUST HAD TO MAKE A COMMENT.

The Dance!

Hello. I haven't posted in a while. We've been working really hard lately on the dance. Oh, you haven't heard of the dance? Well, it's pretty top secret, but it's pretty much finished now. I've taken a video of it, but I can't quite figure out how to get it on the internet. Elliott, Willie, James and I have been working on it forever, it seems. I guess I'll just have to say "stay tuned . . ."

* * *

Okay, the commercial break is up. Here it is. It's the moment you've been waiting for. Make sure your volume is turned up. The Dance!

What's your real age?

I am 27.6 years old, but due to my unhealthy, not-so-fit, busy, stressful lifestyle, I am 34.2 in Realage. YIKES!!!

I found this thing the other night. Take the Realage Survey. It's kind of scary (if you don't exercise a lot and aren't so healthy, like me), but it's actually really informative. Within the last year or so, I have seriously fallen away from my exercise regime and have gained some weight. I have also done several stressful "life changers," like oh . . . getting married . . . buying a house . . .

This was sort of a wake up call. If my body is 6 years older than it should be now, imagine what it will be like when I'm 50? Oh dear.

Let me know what your results are after you take the test.

Adendum: So, I'm not sure if this was cheating or not, but I went back and changed some of my answers. I pretended that I've never had chest pains and I realized that I had checked 2 or more of my family having breast cancer instead of one. I honestly didn't change any of the questions about my diet and exercise (that really would have been cheating). My Realage is now 28.3. That makes me feel a little better. James is of course a few months younger that his current age at the Realage of 27.1.

'Tis the Season . . .

... for making SUGAR COOKIES!!!!

Here are my contributions to Thanksgiving! The cookies, I must say, not only look pretty, but they taste yummy, too!

. . . and lil' smokies in a blanket???

I'm also doing lil' smokies wrapped up in bread products.

We've never had these for Thanksgiving before. Maybe they are a new appetizer. Maybe they are meant to supplement the turkey. Um . . . . maybe Grandma just thought I needed to participate . . . (Actually, she said they were a free sample at Sam's Club the other day. I'm sure she went back to that table more than once.)

I was given a package of the lil's and three containers or pillsbury bread products. Grandma explained very carefully how to cut the crescents in half and then wrap them around the lil's. Well, Grandma only gave me one package of crescents and two other packages of non-matching breadsticks. They all taste good, but they don't look very uniform, sorry.

Nerf Nerf

Willie says my blog is boring. He has started his own. Check it out here.

Willie's Nerf Nerf Blog

Happy Turkey day!

NaBloPoMo has gone . . .

. . . down the toilet . . . I guess I have failed at trying to keep up with this November craze. I just can't do it. I'm so ashamed . . . Not really, I don't think it's that big of deal. Please don't be worried about us. We're fine. We just don't seem to manage getting to posting every day. Oh well.

Our house is pretty much back together now. It's dusty and dirty still, but it's pretty much finished! Yippy!

Have a happy thanksgiving.

Only a half day of school on Wednesday.

I love short weeks like short buses!

The Nutcracker!

On Friday, James, Mama Judy, and I went to Weber State to see cousin Jaycee in the Nutcracker. She was a sugar plum ferry! She was cute and did a great job! I have seen the Nutcracker before and can't say I'm a huge fan of ballets, but it was entertaining and I thought the orchestra did a superb job!

My ears have a keen sense for unique juvenile conversation, I guess. Here is the conversation I heard while waiting in line at the drinking fountain during intermission. There were two boys, probably around 13 years old, one with short hair, one with shaggy, one with a button-down shirt, one with a sweater, both in khaki pants. I'm sure their moms made them come. They had apparently noticed the male ballerinas in the performance (do you call them ballerinas if they are men). . .

Boy 1: Hey Collin, did you think those guys had really tight pants.
Boy 2: Yeah, you'd think they'd have a little more room in them.
Boy 1: I know. Were they "tights?"
Boy 2: No (in a Duh! tone of voice). They're "bags."
Boy 1: Oh. I wouldn't want to wear them.
Boy 2: Me neither.
Boy 1: See you later
Boy 2: Bye.

Do you want to print paper cutouts of all of the characters from the Nutcracker?
Click here to do so from a PBS website.

Under Construction!

We've had some problems. It is being fixed, but things are quite messy now. Don't worry, though, we are not actually using the toilet in the hall. There's another one that's actually hooked up downstairs. Hopefully things are fixed in another day or two. Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

I have failed, NaBloPoMo

I didn't write anything yesterday! I can't believe it. I have failed the month of November . . . I'm sorry.

So what has been going on in the last couple of days? James has been called to be the Elders Quorum President. He's feeling a little overwhelmed, but I think it's cool and he'll do a great job! I have to go to Relief Society tonight to talk about the University of Excellence. It's a thing our ward is doing based on the Pursuit of Excellence program that is similar to other church goal setting programs.

My 8th period is still driving me crazy, but today my grafitti artist finally got suspended. His first time graffiti partner got a good talking to and seemed pretty scared today. One of the boys who also causes us all grief every day actually stayed after class to apologize for his behavior on Friday. (I guess his mom got the e-mail I sent her.) They were even well-behaved during the fire drill. Wow! Maybe there is hope after all.

Willie stayed home from school, sick today.

We were supposed to pick up Alicia from the airport tonight, but she decided we weren't good enough and called another sibling. Poo poo on sisters-in-law with broken shoulders who don't think we're good enough.

Christmas is coming. My sister said she is nearly finished with her Christmas shopping. Poo poo on sisters who have to get their shopping done months in advance. Isn't is still November.?

The insurance came through and decided to fix our newest plumbing problem. They decided it was the bathtub that was leaking. They are replacing the whole tub/shower, and patching up two parts of the downstairs ceiling. No poo-pooing on insurance companies today. Things are good!

Have a great day, everyone!

Happy Veterans Day!

It's Veterans Day today - November 11th! James decided to get all dappered up to go to church and to go speak in the care center sacrament meeting in our stake. It went well and was very patriotic. Don't you think he looks nice?

Here is a video that I had to make for my school

project. I hope that you can enjoy.

You made the little boy cry!

Tonight James and I met my Dad and Willie at the U basketball game. This year is the 100th year of Utah Basketball and in celebration of that, fans get to vote for the All-century team! Willie picked up a couple of voting ballots for us to fill out, but there was a minor problem . . . none of the four of us had a pen. Um . . . how are we going to vote in this very important contest?

James had an idea! The little boy in front of us had been coloring during the game in his little notebook. He had a little backpack full of things to keep him entertained during the game. James very politely put on his little kid talking voice and said, "Can we borrow one of your crayons?"

"NO!," he exclaimed as he put his hand on top of the crayons to guard them.

The little boy's dad, then grabbed him and put the boy on his lap and started talking to him. A few minutes later we glanced down at him and the little boy was crying. Did James scare him? Does he jus not have to share a lot at home? Sorry we asked. We thought it would be a simple request.

Anyway . . . to end the story, about 10 minutes later, the boy jumped off his dad's lap and grabbed the black crayon. He walked to James and said, "it's okay, you can borrow it."

What a nice little boy he turned out to be!

Do you want to vote for the All-Century team? Here's your chance! Hurry, though, you only have until Sunday!

Grumpy!

Yep, that's me! And yep, that's James. He is quitting school and I am quitting teaching. I think McDonald's is hiring.

Oh . . . and Happy Birthday, Dad!

My Lockset

Here's an e-mail I just got from the nice night-time custodian at my school. It's been such a great year, this year at school so far . . .

"Hi Haley,

Sorry about the lock problems, one of our illustrious students jammed your lock up with a pencil lead, and when I tried to get it cleared out, it pretty much came apart in my hand, so I had to replace your keyset with another to make sure your room was locked up, but Cory's master is able to open it for you.

We are currently in process of getting your lockset rebuilt, and there should be no need for you to switch keys, but until it is replaced, you'll be needing assistance to get into your room.
Again, I'm sorry about the inconvenience.

Paul, THS Night Shift Head Custodian"

Crazy Tuessday

Super busy today. Sorry NaBloPoMo. No time to write. Here is a picture.

Vote

Tuesday is election day!
Remember to VOTE!!

Students say the darndest things

It is now day 4 of NaBloPoMo. How am I doing? With nothing really to say today, I decided I would relay a story from this week at school. I told Annie the story on Saturday and she said that I should post it on the blog. The story is a little bit icky, though, so I'm just warning you.

If students use a hall pass at my school they, must take a bright orange crossing guard/deer hunting vest with them. Mine was quite disgusting. It had stains on it, a footprint, and one side appeared to have beed drug through the dirt.

Me (to 7th period Geometry): I'm sorry. You will not be able to take the orange vest with you. I took it home to wash it over the break and I forgot to bring it back. It's sitting at home on my dryer.

Student: Why did you do that?

Me: It was looking rather nasty and I thought a trip through the washing machine would do it good.

Student: Yeah, that's probably a good idea Mrs. Binggeli. I accidently peed on Miss Twitchell's once.

I (and probably other students in the class) start to throw up a little in my mouth . . .

Doing my civic duty.

Today I volunteered to make calls as a Volunteer for Utahns for public schools. It's pretty cool! I log into this system online. I put in my phone number and my phone starts ringing. The numbers are all kept private. All I see is a name, their polling location, and a script. I just read the script to them, they respond, and I tell them to have a nice day. It's kind of fun and I feel like I am being proactive to do my civic duty.

Here is my script:

"My name is Haley and I am a volunteer for Utahns for Public Schools. I am calling you today to remind you that election day is Tuesday, November 6th. I have called to remind/ask you to vote AGAINST Referendum 1, the flawed private school voucher law. Your polling location is ______. Please remember to get out and vote on Tuesday, AGAINST Referendum 1. Thank you!"

Poo Poo on NaBloPoMo - Day 2!

La La La. La La La. I have nothing to say. La La La. Oh wait I do . . .

Here is funny picture of James and/or his Dad hanging out inside the trunk.

Poo Poo on NaBloPoMo

Blog Spog. Meatloaf. Beatloaf. I hate meatloaf. Silly contest. Who cares?

Rally! Rally! Rally!

On Saturday we were on a quest to take photographs. James has two photograpy classes this semester and he's taken lots of pictures, but this week's assignment was to photograph your own interpretation of John Lennon's "Imagine." We were kind of struggling with this project until we ran into a Peace Rally at the Salt Lake City and County Building. Here are some pictures.

An Autumn Tale

It is autumn. Some call it fall. Either way, it is a season of leaves. Today, on my way home from work I decided to stop by my G-ma and G-pa's to see how their leaves were doing. They were doing swell . . . all 1,000,000 of them. It was time to rake again. I went in to say hello to G-ma first, but she was not at home. Instead there were two young, strong, able-bodied boys there . . . let's call them Warker and Pillie . . . but names aren't important. These two strapping young chaps were sitting and staring at different TV's. One was eating. One or the other had made a the hallway smell quite potent. There was work to be done outside and by ding dangy these boys were going to help!

I gave them quite the teacher lecture on how they needed to get outside and get to work. They laughed. They mocked me. I threatened them with wet willie's and told them I would call their mother's if I needed to. Finally one guiltily put his shoes on a met me outside holding foam paint brushes and pretended to paint me. "Will these work on the leaves?" he asked.

The next 30-45 minutes were difficult to say the least. "Ok, you hold the bag and I'll shovel. Please hold the bag open. I can't put the leaves in the bag unless you hold it open. Would you like to switch and I'll hold the bag? Ok. When you shovel, please try to actually get the leaves in the bag. Do you think you could pick up more than one leaf at a time."

In the meantime G-ma and cousin Meranda had come home from the store. They had a project of their own inside to work on. Also, the other able-bodied boy had come outside to see what was going on. One was shoveling with me. The other was raking leaves into larger piles on the rest of the lawn. Momentarily, things were going well! Momentarily . . .

"I want the rake."

"I want the shovel."

"You can't have it."

"You can't have it either."

"Boys . . . I'm holding the bag still. Someone needs to come shovel." Stares.

"I want to rake the leaves now." One boy starts to "rake" the leaves with his plastic snow shovel in the territory of the other boy.

"These are my leaves. Leave them alone."

"I want to rake the leaves."

A battle ensues. Plastic shovel and plastic leaf rake are used as medieval swords. Bang. Clang.

"Leave my leaves alone."

"No."

One of the boys goes to the other boys neat piles of leaves and scatters them everywhere.

* * *

Somehow over the course of the next few minutes the able-bodied boys decide to join forces against the mean and awful Haley. They are determined that no one will put these leaves in a bag. They clean up the previous mess and move all the leaves into 2 larger piles. Then what do they do? The big lugs lay down in the leaves and stake their claim to them. "Nobody can touch our leaves."

This was turning more futile by the minute. I went to plan B - the lawnmower. It is the best way to vacuum up the remaining leaves. I thought I could just mow around lugs laying in the leaves. Eventually they would give in and then we'd finish up.

I start up the mower. One boy leaves his leaves and runs to me. "I want to mow."

"Sorry," I say. "You haven't done anything else, so I'll mow."

Boy slaps me on the back. I try to grab him by the arm, but he moves. Boy then tries to grab lawnmower from me. I push him aside. He hits me again. Grrrrrrrrr. I am getting mad. The other boy is still laying in his pile.

By this time the G-ma herself had come outside. "Come here you two." I continue to mow. The boys walk slowly over to G-ma. They then walk back to the leaves. One holds the bag. The other shovels. They frown. They glare at me. But, the leaves are finally being put in the bag!

* * *

Fast forward to the end of the story now . . . The able-bodied boys soon after filling one bag, disappeared. I finished mowing. Meranda had finished helping Grandma with a project inside and then came outside to finish shoveling leaves into the last bag.

It is autumn. Some call it fall. Either way, it is a season of leaves.

Who are you voting for?

You thought your only options were pretty limited . . . Billary or Osama (I mean Obama), Mitt Fit or The Mafia (I mean Guilianni) . . . well now you have a REAL candidate to vote for!



What I'm not sure about is whether the NPCA meant this as a serious advertisement or as a joke. I can't quite tell what it's purpose is. Hmmmmm . . .

Students say the darndest things (part 2 with a new title)

• Call me "Wish" because of my nose.

• Visualization: Walk down the long hallway. Hear a song. Near . . . far . . . wherever you are . .. What is that? You know you've heard it before. It sounds so familiar. My heart will go on . . . Oh, yes! You realize it's the Titanic song. Where is it coming from. Is someone showing the movie? It's getting louder. Oh, you see a large stereo in the hallway. Two girls are sitting on the floor. Suddenly their arms flitter up in the air and then change positions . . . it's the TSP - Tooele Sign Pride (our version of the Happy Hands Club). Breathtaking!

Across the Universe

So you like the Beatles? If you'd like to see a very creative and different perspective on the Beatles and the many dimensions of their music, you should see the movie, Across the Universe.

First of all, the music is excellent! Of course it is . . . the entire score was composed by John, Paul, George, and Ringo. The movie is a musical and all the songs are Beatles songs. The movie chronicles U. S. history through the 1950's, 60's and 70's, through their lyrics. It gives you a totally different visual image of the lyrics we all know well.

Like the Beatles, the movie begins very simply and innocently with a story of young love and little conflict. The middle of the movie goes psychedelic and a little drug induced with a Dead-like LSD bus ride, a cameo by Bono as "the Walrus," and a fairly risque New York lifestyle. In the end, everyone ends up much more sophisticated, mature, and on a rooftop singing, "All you need is love."

Overall, I would give it 5 stars. It was very creative. The voices were strong! The choreography was entertaining and I liked it!

In other news . . . the Red Sox are in the World Series and Louisiana elected its first non-white governor since Reconstruction. (Interestingly, though, his parents were immigrants from India.)

Cricket. Moth.

This morning I was driving to work. All of a sudden a giant moth buzzed in front of me. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. Hurry. Roll down the window. Go away giant fuzzy buzzy moth!

When I got to school, I saw a cricket when I walked into the building. It was sitting on the side of the hallway, between the wall and the rug. One of my students said he was watching a Halloween movie the other night and that the cricket was the sign of death! Aaaaaaahhhhhhh!

Conversations heard . . .

Walking down the hall on Tuesday . . .

Two boys and a girl are walking down the hall. Let's call them B1, B2, and the girlfriend. The two boys are pushing and shoving each other in the hall. It's not a fight, it's just dumb sophomores pushing each other.

Me: Hey, you guys, knock it off. Keep your hands to yourself.

B1: We weren't doing anything.

Me: Just stop the goofing off in the hallway, please.

B2 grabs the girlfriend by the hand and the three continue to walk down the hall.

B1: Hey, Mrs Binggeli, aren't you going to tell them to knock it off. Look! They didn't keep their hands to themselves. Isn't that a public display of infection!

I ignore their "infections" and continue to walk down the hall.

alicia rugby game

I had the opportunity to go to one of the last games that Alicia will be playing for a while. See she has injured herself pretty bad in the area of her shoulder. She will be going to get it fix in awhile. I want to dedicate this post to her.

Time for a new post

Hmmmmm . . . . enough with the cheese grater post. It makes my rear end hurt every time I look at it. Ouch!

It's homecoming week this week at good ol' Tooele High School. Here are our dress up days if you'd like to play along at home. If anyone can explain how participating in this shows your school spirit and isn't just totally strange, I'd like to talk to you.

Monday - PJ's and crazy hair day
Tuesday - Blast from the Past day
Wednesday - Salad Dressing Day
Thursday - Super Star/Super Hero Day
Friday - Purple and White Day. Go Buffs!

Random thoughts

1) I was listening to some talk radio station when I got in the car to go tend Elliott tonight. It wasn't NPR, but some AM station that I'm really not sure how it got there. Anyway, some guy was interviewing Orrin Hatch about the state of our country. I almost wrecked my car when Borrin Orrin said that he doesn't like the Republicans OR the Democrats and that he was once in fact a "liberal democrat." Huh? What planet are you living on Orrin? A Democrat? When?

2) I don't like to iron. I have a pile of school clothes that have been worn once since I last ironed them, but can't really be worn again until I iron them again. The ironing board has been out for a couple of weeks now. I finally put it away tonight. The pile of ironing is still there.

3) I don't usually like forwarded e-mails, but I do like cheese. Ouch. Thanks, Chris!

Do you need to be in the special class?

As a teacher, there is one class every year that is always the dreaded class. This year it is 8th period. It is 9th grade Algebra 1-A. Half of the class is really great kids who try really hard, but the other half . . . .

Yesterday's activities include a drooling contest. How long can you get your spit to be before it drops on your shirt. Disgusting. Are you in kindergarten? Do you need to go across the hall to the class of kids who can't help but do this? Gross.

I HEART GUSTER!

Wednesday night, James, Annie, Willie, and I went to see Guster! It was great! The music was right on and I think Willie and James had a good time although they both seemed a bit nervous about the whole thing.

As usual . . . see Annie's blog for more information!

Obsessed

I was so relieved when Super Saturday was finally over! Yeah! No more crafts. No more being responsible for other people's money. No more making announcements in relief society. No more . . . . stocking caps?!? Aaaaahhhhhhh. . . . I can't stop. Someone please help. This is the 2nd one in 3 days. It's for Elliott. Aaaaaaaahhhhhh! Willie, you're next! Please give me your head circumference!

Sunflowers

project3 1050

Well we just finished a weekend of birthdays and parties. At the party for G-ma Huber I was able to find sometime to take pictures of the sunflower forest.

Friday night we spent time at G-ma's fixing the pool for the party. In the process of cleaning it Haley asked me to take some pictures. The light was not right so I had to wait. Saturday I went over after helping with the SUper Saturday. This is some thing that Haley should comment on.

Short story here is the pictures of the Grandma's sunflower forest.

Lockdown

We had a lockdown incident at school on Wednesday. Guns scare me. I don't like stuff like thise. Luckily this time, it turned out to be nothing. Here is the official letter sent home with parents and students.

"September 12, 2007

Dear Tooele High Students, Faculty and Staff:

This morning at approximately 7:45a.m. administration was notified that a student was seen on campus with a gun. At that time we immediately began pervasive procedures. The student and weapon, which was a plastic toy gun, were identified and there was no immediate threat to anyone at our school. District disciplinary procedures have been implemented.

Thank you so much for your cooperation and for following lock-down procedures. We really appreciate the student who reported the incident.

Safety is a top priority for us at Tooele High School. We appreciate the cooperation and efforts of our students, faculty, and staff during this incident.

Kendall Topham, Principal
Tooele High School"

the first project

Here is some of the pictures that I took for a project at school. I was request of to post them. I hope that they fine you well. enjoy!
http://picasaweb.google.com/haleyq408/Art1375Project1

art 1375 project 1

Thoughts on life.

I've had a lot of thoughts sifting through my brain for the last little while and I'm still not sure I clearly understand what my brain is thinking (forgive me ahead of time for the randomness of this post).

This summer, two of my grandparents have lost a brother. My Uncle Glen died in May and now my Uncle Bevan died just yesterday. I feel sad that they have died, but I don't feel that sad. It's a strange thing. I haven't had a close relative die in my family since my Great grandpa Eccles died in 1999. I remember being very upset about that. I wasn't there, but many others were as he faded in the hospital. I was very sad to think that I no longer had a great grandpa. He was such a great man and meant so much to me. After he died, I read his life's story that he had given each of us, from cover to cover. He wanted each of us to have a copy and there was a personalized note in the front of each book with our name on it. He, of course, was not a perfect man, but he was a good man who left quite a legacy.

When my Uncle Glen died, no one even bothered to tell me. I found out the next day when I just happened to hear my mom mention "Glen's funeral" while I was out mowing Grandma Hubers lawn.

When Bevan died, my dad forget to tell me as I stopped by. He helped me unload the lawnmower and then continued to spray the ants in the driveway. He called later and said, "Oh I forgot to tell you . . ."

Although both of these men led very different lives, the thing they have in common is that the led lives very different from mine. No family. No legacy. Glen had Sharon whom he never married and he had his slot tournament wins. Bevan had his friends and his beautiful paintings.

I guess I'm confused in my own brain. I feel bad because I didn't know either of these men very well. I feel bad that I may have said things overly critical of them when I didn't really know them. I have felt a little guilty over the last day or so. I haven't seen Bevan in over a year and I probably should have stopped by to visit him in the last few months. I have visited him twice over the years with a particular interest in recording family history. Why didn't I do more of that? I feel a little hypocritical in that maybe there was something more I should have done. I also feel bad for them, though, because what I strongly believe to be true, they did not. Family, the gospel, these are the things worth living for. Everything else comes and goes, but family and the church are steadfast. I believe that at some point in their lives, these men knew that, yet chose otherwise. Yes, that is probably extremely judgemental of me, but I feel sad for them. What is their legacy?

My other thoughts over the last day have been how appreciative I am of my own grandparents and the great relationships I have with all three of them. Grandma Petersen is the true matriarch of her family. With Bevan gone now, she is the only "old and wise" one left. She has been through so much in her lifetime yet always seems to overcome any obstacle put in her way. She is essentially confined to her jazzy and relies heavily on other people for many simple tasks She was nearer to death a year or so ago than ever before, but, she FOUGHT! She had 3 weddings and a baby to look forward to. She had birthdays, Christmas parties, Thanksgivings, baptisms, good books, and good movies, friends to "walk" around the block with. She is even driving her jazzy to church now. Although Grandma struggles, no illness is going to take away her quality of life! She still has her legacy!

I don't know if I'm just rambling. I guess I am. I am probably offending some by saying what I have said, but I think that by putting it out there, I may be able to gain a better grasp of my own thoughts and feelings. I just hope that both of these uncles have a better understanding and knowledge now of what their strong-willed siblings have here on Earth. My grandparents are the best! I will truly miss them when at some point they ever decide to leave.

Yellowstone!

This weekend we had the first ever Petersen/Howden/Binggeli Family trip to Yellowstone. It was a lot of fun. There were some stresses - very few animals to see, Haley can't stay in her lanes, James lost a bunch of photos, Elliott apparently turned into a poltergeist, Willie was tired - but, that was about it. The highlights included - Jacob's ladder, buffalo walking in the road, good food, Elliott is cute, Willie was a good boy, everyone pretty much got along and had a good time.

We had a great time and we especially want to thank mother Judy and father Clark for taking us on this great adventure! For a more detailed account of the trip, see Annie's blog:

Click here for some more photos.

Yellowstone 2007

Wedding #5

We have had (including my own) 5 family weddings to attend in 2007. That's crazy!! Here are a couple of photos from the most recent one - Alex and Tara's.

Click on this photo to see the rest of them.

Alex & Tara Wedding

Football has begun!

Here are some pictures from Willies football game on Saturday. Thanks, James, for letting me use your camera.

Willie, the big 7th grader!

Here comes the Bride!

James and I traveled to Smithfield (Cache County, north of Logan) on Friday night to attend his cousin's wedding reception. James is using whatever excuse he can find to try out his new, way cool camera. Here are the most recent pictures. Click to see more!

rachelle's wedding

Southwestern style

South-western Utah

(click on the link)
Here are some of the pictures that we took on our trip. As Haley said, We hit 4 national parks/monumnets, saw lots of beautiful scenery, and had a nice time.
Besides the beautiful scenery, we saw a lot of French people. They were everywhere! Oui Oui! We also had scones at Mom's Cafe in Salina. Yummmmmm! And, we got lost behind the Manti Temple and couldn't find our way out. Ahhhhhh! Sounds strange, I know, but it's true.
It really was a nice getaway!!! I really liked the Capitol Reef Park, I believe that it is my favorite.
James

We Like Tha Moon

Do you remember the Quiznos weird mice thing commercials a few years ago . . . they are back with a new hit and Wille would really like you all to see this video. Please let him know what you think!

Beautiful Scenery

This weekend we decided to take a road trip to Southern Utah. We hit 4 national parks/monumnets, saw lots of beautiful scenery, and had a nice time.

Besides the beautiful scenery, we saw a lot of French people. They were everywhere! Oui Oui! We also had scones at Mom's Cafe in Salina. Yummmmmm! And, we got lost behind the Manti Temple and couldn't find our way out. Ahhhhhh! Sounds strange, I know, but it's true.

James got to try out his new fancy camera, so I'll let him post his pictures later, but here are a few to look at now (these are just from my little camera).

Cedar Breaks

Bryce Canyon

French! Oui! Oui!

Capitol Reef.

trouble at home

Here are some of the things that we are dealing with right now.



It is a pain in the bum. Haley and Karl (Dad) worked late into the night to fix the leak. The hole in the ceiling continues to grow as more things are fixed. I (james) before going to work spilt PVC glue everywhere trying to get to the problem. Haley did not get mad when half of the bottle went all over the new clothes dryer. She was able to clean most of it off. But as you can see there are still places that still have glue.






After all the work that Haley and Carl (dad) put into the pipes we found a leak on the upper pipe. UGHHH!!! If only they would have used copper pipe instead of the breaky, cracking plastic tubing.



We plan on fixing it before leaving the homestead for a last summers trip. Wish us luck!!!!

Bourne Ultimatum

James and I saw the Bourne Ultimatum last night. It was way cool! There's definitely got to be a 4th one now. Very cool. You should see it.

Oy!

Slap, slap, clap, OY!

I wish I had my camera to capture the fun and excitement at G-ma's on Sunday night as she taught us this game. Were you there? If not, you certainly missed out.

SIMPSONIZED!!!!

These are the Binggeli-Simpson pictures

How do we fit in the the Blogging world now?

HALEY

JAMES

Sound Sleeper and Snake

Story #1

This morning I locked myself out and didn't have my car keys to get to work. James was inside asleep, but he is such a sound sleeper it took a solid 15 minutes of yelling, ringing the doorbell, banging on the door, throwing the dustpan at the bedroom window, and finally jumping up to hit the bedroom window with the broom. Grrrrrrrr . . . I finally made enough noise that he stumbled down to let me in. I think it's time to stash a key somewhere.

Story #2

Yesterday when I got home from work I was greeted at the gate by a snake. YUCK!! It was black and yellow and staring me down. It was only about 6-8 inches, but it totally creeped me out. After I weighed the possibilities of how to kill it, I carefully went in the house to get keys to the shed for supplies. James was already awake though, so I enlisted his help in "killing" the snake. I didn't realize, though, that boys from Box Elder County think it's sinful to kill snakes. To solve the problem, he scooted the snake about 3 whole feet away. Thanks James. I really appreciate it. I have now duct taped around the inside of our door.

A Hiking We Will Go!

On Saturday, James and I decided to go hiking. We chose our destination: Dog Lake. We chose our path: Mill D Trailhead, Big Cottonwood Canyon. It was supposed to be about 6 miles round trip. It was a gloriously warm day, very pretty, but warm.

Once we got to Dog Lake, we decided it should really be called Pee Lake or Dead Cow Lake. It was not a pretty site. So, with our dissapointment at Dog Lake we decided to go and extra 1.6 miles to Desolation Lake, hoping that the "desolute" would be more lovely than the "dog." So we went from the car, to the dog, to the desolute, then back to the car. Imagine tracing over each part of a large letter Y. Car, Dog, and Desolation are all at points on the Y. Do you understand?

Anyway, to cut to the end of the story. It was a long hike.
Total miles: almost 10. Total time: about 5 hours.
Water consumed: 3.5 liters
Wildlife seen: 1 deer, 3 chipmunks, 2 dogs, misc. birds.
Bug report: Haley=5 bites, James=0

Our legs were really tired, but it was fun. Here are some pictures.

Dog LakeDesolation Lake - Big cottonwood canyon

'Cause we're a Kissin' Cousins, and that makes it alright, alright.

Monday and Tuesday was the annual Cousin Camp. This event occurs when crazy Aunty Judy and elder aunty Jackie take all the little kiddies to the deep dark woods and we all "camp." It's great fun. My favorite part, of course, was the bacon. Other activities included crafts, hitting wood with other large pieces of wood, small plays, crafts, writing letters to missionaries, singing Kum-ba-yah, "hiking" around the deck, crafts, bacon, hunting for deer poop, fighting the allied forces, fixing all the "gates" in the forest, crafts, and did I mention bacon?

Click on the photo below to see more photos. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera handy to capture the bacon.

Cousin Camp 2007

The Right Stuff

James says I rent strange movies. Yes, I often do. I update my Netflix queue in large quantities and then I don't look at it very often. I do, however, on occasion get a good one as a surprise. The movie of the weekend: The Right Stuff.

It chronicles the early space program from Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier, to Alan Shepard being the first man in space, to John Glenn orbitting the earth. It's meant to show more than just the most famous names and incorporate a lot of the more forgotten people, how they were involved, and how they were all inter-related to the whole story. Although it was really long and required two nights worth of viewing, it was a great movie.

Has anyone ever seen it? You should add it to your rental list if you haven't.

By the way, it also has a very interesting depiction of Lyndon Johnson and would be great for a history teacher to show clips from.

Booger

On Wednesday I was driving along I-80 from Tooele to the Hysterical Society. There was a man driving a blue car who was also traveling on I-80 near the airport. He was picking his nose . . . and eating it. He did this not once, but many times.

I almost threw up, but I didn't.

Boring

Hello, everyone who looks at my blog (oh wait, I think that may be just me . . . and maybe a few others, I don't know)! I've decided that my blog is really boring. Sorry about that. I just lack interesting things to put up here.

I've decided that my sister's blog is much more interesting. If you find that my blog is not fulfilling your blogging needs, take a look at hers!

www.ohhonestly.blogspot.com

Emperor?

Read this article:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/COLORADO_CAPITOL_SHOOTING?SITE=UTSAC&SECTION=US&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Did you hear about this? Scary. Guns. Shooting, I know. We shouldn't make light of it . . . . but "the emperor?" What was this guy thinking? Emperor of what? Can you just declare yourself emperor? Napoleon did I guess.

Was this guy trying to be the emperor of Colorado? That's not exactly how it works.

I'M THE EMPEROR!!! Weird.

Captain Helmet Head

I know, I stole the picture . . . but it's cute and I wanted it on my blog, too!

ohhonestly.blogspot.com

In the HOT sun

So James has now decided to move and only work at the LDSH. Even though the work will be much harder, the move is for the best.

Why does it have to be so HOT. It is so hot that an instant sweat is started the moment your out side. Our Air conditioning is doing all that it can to keep up. But our bedroom is hot enough that covers are a undesireable option.

Well until next issue, in the Bing clan life.

Lazy Sunday

Hello. Today was a pretty slow Sunday. I went to church. Came home. Went to dinner. Came home. Chilled outside on my swing. Caught up on 3 weeks worth of Newsweeks (later realizing that I had actually already read parts of all of them). Wrote letters to missionaries. Took photos of home annoyances.

Disclaimer: I really like my home. Don't get the wrong idea. Here, however, are a few minor annoyances.

#1. Bugs. We have been infested with earwigs since we moved in and started messing around in our small yard. We are slowly killing them all off. Here are some remains.

#2. Wood. Apparently we bought this wood with our home. It's ugly and probably a large eco-system for earwigs. I need to get rid of it.

#3. Mailbox. In the first month of living in our new home, I have never seen anyone else at the mailbox. I thought perhaps it was just a timing issue or maybe because of the golf ball sized wasp nest in the corner that people didn't use it. But, yesterday this lovely red sign appeared. PEOPLE, GET YOUR MAIL!!!!

That's all. have a good day.