Perspective

Went to bed with the very sad news about the death of Ryan Greathouse. Being a mother my heart just aches for Russ and Cindy and the trials they have had to go through lately. Woke up to the extremely sad news about the death of our 16 year old neighbor boy. A parents/grandparents worst nightmare - to lose children or grandchildren before you are on the other side of the veil to greet them. My heart aches for all. Such a sad scene playing out at the house next door. What a wonderful little family and great neighbors they are. How thankful I am that we have had the opportunity to become friends. And all of a sudden a whole new twist is put on my own problems, difficulties, trials, or stresses I may be experiencing. Oh, that I may always keep in mind that which is truly important to me in mortality. Family and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I tend to forget that as I keep busy with life.

Scott and Claudia in the garden of Eden?

Some things a husband and wife should just not do together. For Scott and I it is gardening. We planted potatos Saturday. He does not garden like my dad use to nor does he garden like I want him to. After finishing up the potatos he asked me if I wanted to do the tomatoes. I politely said no. But my brain was thinking: "I will plant my tomatoes (yes mine, Scott hates tomatoes) Monday after work when you are not anywhere near me!" Then I 'politely' informed him the rest of the garden was all his. I would just be in charge of tomatoes. Yes, some territories are better off divided between husband and wife. For Scott and I one of those territories is gardening.

All in a Days Work

Monday through Thursday,from 11:00 to 11:30, I help in one of the kindergarten classes with the reading/writing center. On Monday I have above average students, Tuesday is average, Wednesday they have a little tougher time, and Thursdays students struggle. This week we have been writing a newspaper article for the end of the year yearbook. They are to write about themselves, beginning with telling their name. So today (Thursday) I have my five little pupils gathered round the table trying to show and explain what we will be doing. "Teacher, look at my crooked finger." "Teacher, George (all names have been changed to protect the innocent) hit me." "Well, that is because you poked him," I tell Sam. "I have a dog Teacher." And on and on it goes while I am reminding them to focus. "One, two, three, eyes on me," I tell them. Yeah, right. I take a paper and I write on it: "My name is Claudia." Then I tell them they need to write on their blank paper: My name is George, My name is Beth, etc. When they are finished (I left my paper in the middle of the table to help them out) I have: "I Sam." "My Steve." "My George is name." And, of course..."My name is Claudia!" "Sweetie is your name Claudia, no it is Beth so you need to write Beth," I tell her. "Steve read your sentence to me." "My Steve," he reads. "Where is the sentence 'My name is Steve.' You left out the words name and is," I remind him as I hand him a new blank paper. All the while Sam is poking George, George is hitting Sam and Sam is whining that George hit him. Finally, in frustration I turn to Sam, who is sitting right next to me, and I say: "If you poke George one more time you will be kicked off this island and you will have to go sit at that island all by yourself!" He chuckles and says: "This is an island." "Yes, this table is our island and if you can not keep your hands to your self you will go sit at that island (pointing to an empty table) all by yourself!" That worked. No more poking, hitting, or whining! I went to lunch and on the way stopped and grabbed a Pepsi out of the fridge! No, I have not kicked the Pepsi habit yet and probably won't as long as I have this job.

HI YA!

After working 17 years for the Elementary School I have learned the fact that spring weather raises testosterone levels in the male gender. But surely, with just 5 and 6 years old this spring we would see less or no little guys in the office? That was a false judgement on my part. I am here to tell you spring weather raises those hormones in even the littlest of guys! I will share with you my favorite Friday happening. It is 12:25 p.m., time to go home (early out on Fridays.) The children are lining up for busses. A little girl comes to the office in need of an ice pack and to inform us that 'so and so' needs to visit with Mr. Chappell. The little guy is wearing very pointed cowboy boots. The innocent victim is not wearing shin guards. The little 'cowboy' says it was an accident, he did not mean to kick her. He has already been in the office that morning, do we believe him? You decide. When asked if she knew why he would kick her the little girl replies: "I don't know, I just heard him say 'HI YAH!' and then it happened." I vote he is innocent, but needs to practice his karate elsewhere , someplace where he has more freedom of movement. It did make his teacher and two secretaries laugh. Love those little ones!

Yes, Marion the Librarian was correct. "Silas Marner" was milk toast after 15 minutes of Toni Morrison's "Beloved." What was difficult at the beginning were the long sentences and paragraphs! Remember I work with Kindergartners therefore I am use to 5 word sentences or less! I probably found the bio on Elliot more interesting than the book. That was fascinating! I did not know she was the author of "Daniel Deronda." One of my most favorite movies. I am going to have to see if our library has that book, but for the moment I am reading, "Anna Karenina" by Tolstoy. All 800 some pages of it!!!! I loved the first third, but did find a lull in the middle. Am looking forward to the last third. I have decided I need to read Spark Notes as I go along. I took a quiz on "Silas Marner" and I refuse to divulge my score! Perhaps I should have taken the quiz immediately after I read the novel instead of waiting a month. Between my age and A.D.D. I must admit I had forgotten some details. Does that surprise any of you?!?

Once upon a time my mother-in-law had a gorgeous yard. Beautiful it was! Then old age and poor health crept in and she did not even have the energy or desire to water it. Neither did we. Needless to say after a few years of neglect when we took over the place it was in pretty bad shape. Last summer with all the construction going on our goal was to just keep what grass was left alive. This spring we have our work cut out for us. Scott has been busy the last week creating a 'desert plant flower bed' in the northeast corner. Now we just need to make a trip to Great Basin Natives for some of our favorite plants. We are putting a garden in the southeast corner. I purchased a handy dandy mantis and Scott tilled from east to west. I put fertilizer on and tilled north to south. Won't be long till we put some seeds in the ground. Hired our neighbor to aerate and he also thatched while we were in Nebraska. Fertilized twice and are hoping we can get it somewhat going this summer. Have lots of places where we need to plant grass seed. Hopefully someday we will have the gorgeous yard that Beulah P. had. Though I am not a huge fan of tulips and have dug quite a few bulbs up. Each time I do I can just hear her cussing me. Sorry Beulah our tastes are just not the same!

Bunny 'Tails'

It was 11:00 a.m. -time once more for Kindergarten Centers. The little guy sitting next to me yesterday was writing "This is my dad." Then he began to do his illustrations of dad and what dad likes to do. All the while telling me the story. "Mrs. Bassett this is my dad and this is my big brother. This is a golf club and these are two rabbits." No, his dad does not like to use the golf club to golf, but rather to go bunny bashing! This is quite a favorite Delta pastime. One my brain can not wrap itself around. But I gotta love the innocence and honesty of children! Watch out folks all of your secrets will be revealed by these little ones! Wonder what tales I shall hear of today!

Tales from the crib....

It was 11:00 a.m.-time for Kindergarten Centers. Three little girls and two little boys, all top notch students, would be at my table today. They were to write and illustrate their very own "My Book." "This is my______________." They had to sound out, spell, and write the fill in word and then draw a picture to correspond with it. "This is my cuzn" etc. One little guy wrote: "This is my howze." As he drew he would visit with me elaborating on the details of his house. This is always the fun part. "Our house has a lot of roofs" he said, explaining the peaks on the top. Then he drew a small triangle in front of one of the peaks. "This is our man cave and only men are allowed in the man cave. Just me and my dad," he informed me. "What is in your man cave?" Inquiring mind wanted to know. "A pool table." he replied. "Well, what if your mom and big sis want to play pool?" I questioned him.
"Oh, they can't. It is a man cave. I am the guard of the man cave so I have to make sure they don't go in. But my mom goes in to clean it!" he tells me. This was where I burst out laughing! Then I told him to go home and tell his dad Mrs. Bassett said he needs to clean his own man cave!

Happy Spring!

Wishing I were in D.C. with my Ben and Liz enjoying the cherry blossoms! Thanks for photo kids.

Welcome to....

Welcome to Wyoming! Home of Kickin Country Music all the way. Auuugh! The sounds weren't much to listen to but did see some sights I enjoyed.

Oil wells! I have a fondness for oil wells, thanks to my growing up years in Rangley, Colorado. Going through Rock Springs and Rawlins I was definitely reminded of Rangely countryside. Beauty would be in the eye of the beholder. Rangely, was beautiful country to me.

Welcome to Nebraska! Home of the Cornhuskers. Though it was too early in the season to see much of that. We did see some tractors out in the fields. Also saw a large flock of wild Turkeys.

Nebraska was where I decided I was a prairie type woman. I have been from east coast to west and love and enjoy the beautiful scenery of it all, but have to admit mountains and trees tend to give me claustophobia. I prefer the wide open spaces. Sidney, Nebraska was an absolutely beautiful town to me!



Welcome to Bellevue, Nebraska and it truly was a 'Bellevue' (beautiful sight). Check out the following beautiful sights!


Beautiful sight #1: Little Miss Sofia. She is such a sweetheart! And, it was so fun to rock, cuddle, and have a baby sleep on Grandma!

Beautiful sight #2: Sofia's big brother Jaedon and big sis Livy. We had so much fun with these 3 little ones. Grandpa was a great sport entertaining Jaedon and Livy... playing games, swimming, entertaining them on the playground while Grandma enjoyed taking care of Sofia.




Welcome to Delta, Utah! As Dorothy would say: "There is no place like home!"