Chill

The semester just ended and I gave my seminary classes time to bear testimonies or just share what they learned this semester. One of my students got up and told the class how he and some of his buddies were talking about how Sister Johnson (me) is "so chill."

I guess "chill" is the new "cool." I love high school kids.

Christmas Wreath for Valentines

Taking down my Christmas decorations makes me a little sad. The season always seems too short to me. But what makes it better are the after-Christmas sales. I LOVE to go and get something(s) fun for next year and when I open my Christmas decoration boxes I surprise myself with my on-sale treasures from the year before.

But this year I found a red Christmas wreath ($5) and a bird ornament ($2.50) that I combined with a fake flower thing (craft-language illiterate) to create Valentines wreath!

Now I'm not missing my Christmas stuff at all.

Food Storage

It was our goal this year to get our year's food storage supply and we did it! We bought long-term storage stuff like rice, oats, sugar, flour, etc. we went to the dry-pack cannery in Ogden where we met this wonderful missionary:

who helped us can our food storage.

We were mild-moderately intimidated by getting our food storage. We didn't know what to do really but it was so easy! I'll take you through it step by step.

Step 1: Find hidden location of dry-pack cannery.
Step 2: Sign in and put on funny hat.
Step 3: Shake hands with service missionaries and do what they say.

Step 3.1: They told us to get a cart and put bags of rice on it. So we did (well, Whit did).

Step 3.2: They told us to open the bags and pour the rice into the cans. So we did. Well, Whit did.

Step 3.3: Seal the cans. (They helped). You can see the stacks of empty cans behind Whit - we didn't have to bring anything!

Step 3.4: Put labels on cans. So we did. This is something I can do.

Step 3.5: Then they told us to clean up. And we did! Well...

And after 3 simple steps and 5 mini sub-steps that even people who can't walk can take (when they have their own "Whit"), we took home boxes of long-term storage food that now live in our office closet!

Now I just need to master rotating through it...

Merry 2011 Christmas

I can’t believe it’s Christmas eve! I knew this day would come way, way, way too soon and it did! I taught seminary up until Thursday and it feels like this beautiful holiday is going to be over so quickly. I wish I could just lengthen out this night indefinitely. I love the lights and the unwrapped gifts and the anticipation the best.

I’ve done quite a lot of painting this month, which has been super fun. My family (mom, dad, sister, brothers) are in tradition transition because people have gotten married recently and we’re not sure what to do so this year we tried doing a homemade white elephant gift exchange. I think it’s a keeper. So fun. I have the most creative family. Ever. Here’s a run-down on the gifts:

Mom – hand-sculpted ornament

Dad – hand-crafted water tower for a model-A railroad

Sister Kat – hand-knit gloves and matching hat

Brother Blake – hand-made tool shelf

Brother Tom – hand-crafted mobile with beads and hemp

Brother John – hand-carved, hand-painted Santa Claus

Sister Mindy – hand-crafted Cowboy Cookie jar (doubly homemade because the recipient gets to bake them)

Husband Whit – hand-made juggling balls with homemade “how-to juggle” book

Nephew Cael – Hand-made, hand-carved, and hand-painted bird house

Me – Hand-painted ornament Nativity set

I’ve been really wanting a Nativity but I can’t seem to find one that really speaks to me. So it was my first thought to make one of my own when this family party came up and we decided to create hand-made gifts. I thought I’d make use of some white ornaments I’ve held onto for a number of years (I never have put them on the tree, I just thought they’d come in handy one of these days. I guess this is one of the small advantages of not throwing things away…). I had many ornaments, so I made 2 Nativity sets and gave one away at our family party but kept the other one for us.

There are 7 ornaments all tied together with twine (but spaced apart so as not to hit each other). The idea was that they could be hung on a wall or between a couple stocking hangers, but we just put ours on our tree and I like it.

It starts with the shepherds...

who bring their sheep...


and find Mary...


and baby Jesus...


and Joseph in the stable...


The star shines...

and leads the way for the wise men...


Here's our tree (with 3-year-old popcorn strings Whit made our first year). The Nativity ornaments are strung across the middle.

When we first got married, our tree was a little barren and the only ornaments we had were from my little stash I had collected through my life. My parents gave each of us kids an ornament or two each year so we'd have our own little collection to decorate our tree when we got married. I like my old ornaments, but they're mine, not ours, so we've come up with our own little tradition of making each other ornaments every year.

Our first year we each sculpted each other a giraffe (weird, I know). We didn't know what the other was doing. Our second year (last year), Whit was graduating with his MBA and so I got us both ornaments - an owl for him with a little graduation cap and purple tassel (Weber State, Weber State - great! Great! Great!) and a lion for me with a purple bow (I just liked it and I was feeling, well, rawr!).

We're trying to morph the tradition into the idea that we each give an ornament that symbolizes an accomplishment of the other person from that year. So this year, Whit sculpted me a book because I got a book published (it's being released next spring at Deseret Book and Seagull) -

He was so funny as we decorated our tree this year because he was making fun of the fact that my family writes the year each ornament was received (how else would you remember?).But it does kind of get out of hand when there are giant years written all over a beautiful glass ornament ALREADY engraved with "Baby's first Christmas 1982."

So he put a "2011" on my ornament.

I think I may write 2011 on the other side in Sharpie just to make sure future generations know that it really WAS received in the 2011 year...

My ornament I made for him recognizes his halftime entertainment business he started this year. Yes, my super smart, money-managing hubby has traded in his Excel spreadsheets and calculator for three basketballs and a unicycle. To watch the video, just go to www.unihoops.com - he's quite awesome.

Yes, those charms are a unicycle, a basketball, a music note (his song is, appropriately, "Play that funky music, white boy"), and (drum roll, please) a 2011.

Merry 2011 Christmas!

Essay

I love to get emails and letters from people who've enjoyed my talks but this is the first essay I've ever received. It's written by a sixth grader. I love the description of how I was paralyzed the best.

Meg Johnson Speaks by A. W.

The students from (school name removed) walked over to our school to hear a speech by Meg Johnson. Meg was very funny, and her story was very touching.

She was hiking in a place she thought was very pretty it had red rocks, red sand, and red dirt. When she came across some boulders that were squished together she decided to jump from one to the other. She got to the last boulder and when she went to jump for it she miscalculated the distance and fell. What she didn’t realize was that she was actually jumping from one small mountain top to the next, so when she slipped she fell thirty-five feet to the ground. She had to have a helicopter take her to the hospital, and now is paralyzed from the chest down.

That didn’t stop her for long though. She then showed us a crisp clean dollar bill, and got an assistant from the audience. Meg then asked how much it was worth, after that she had her assistant crumple up the dollar bill, spit on it, stomp on it, and jump on it. Then she asked what it was worth again. This demonstration was to show us no matter how down you feel, no matter how beat up you are, just like that crumpled, spit on, jumped on dirty old dollar bill you are still worth a whole dollar.

Then she goes on to tell us a ton of funny stories about being paralyzed, and how friends, family, and even strangers helped the best they could. I loved the assembly and I think most everyone else did too.

This story was written by A. W., a sixth grader.

No More Music

I am unsure how exactly to phrase my words for this blog. Most of you might know that Weber State University had a concert on Sunday where the director, Michael Palumbo, got angry and asked a noisy audience member to leave. He thought someone had brought in a child.

I understand his frustrations - when I give a talk, it's monstrously annoying when people talk or whisper. But I would never say anything. And never ask anyone to leave the room, that would totally kill the mood of any message given anywhere.

Anyway, Michael Palumbo stopped the music and turned around and asked the noisy audience member to leave...but the noisy audience member was a severely disabled girl who was reacting favorably to the music (though it sounded like a howling cry).

Michael Palumbo is a jerk but the real story isn't with him. I'm really kind of sure that he would have had a little more patience had he known she was disabled.

What's had me in tears today is the poll I read in the Salt Lake Tribune which shows that almost 81% of voters think that disabled people shouldn't be allowed to come to live music events.


Really? Is a quiet music hall so important that you're going to tell someone that they can't see it? I know that this poll doesn't really affect me - I mean after all, I'm not brain damaged. I can see any live music event I want.

But I'm finding now that I really don't want.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=18110746&title=group-calls-wsu-concert-ejection-a-big-misunderstanding

Temple in Rome

I met with Elder Walker from the First Quorum of the Seventy for a seminary teacher interview (they check us out before we get hired). His office had really neat stuff - I guess traveling everywhere for temple dedications can create quite the cool office museum. But the coolest was the shovel (THE shovel) that broke the ground for the soon-to-be temple in Rome, Italy.

Very cool.