Ok, actually, it wasn't the Mom Getaway we all dream of. I had to go get a spot of skin cancer cut out. The procedure was the stuff needle-phobes like me dread - and I'll just leave it at that.
I came home with a bandage the size of a twinkie on my upper lip. For a super-small job, it was a super-sized bandage! I could hardly breathe, it covered most of my nose. So I spent the day holding my nostrils up, so I could breathe. My lip felt fat and sore, and talking wasn't really desirable. This was the first time I've just been Oh. So. Grateful we can all sign. I mean, I could talk. But it was miserable. And it was comfort to my beat-up soul to just pull out my hands and let my poor lip relax.
But actually, the sign language was impacted by the lip job, too. Yeah, it turns out a lot of sign language is in the facial expressions. It's tough to tell when someone's asking a question or giving a command or making a joke when their face is monotone. So my poor kids.
My lip was so swollen that even after I took the bandage off, I couldn't smile. Literally couldn't move my lips that way. So for 3 days, everyone I met thought I was grumpy or depressed. And truthfully, scaring people in the grocery store is sorta depressing, so everyone was glad when the lip started to return to its normal size!
On Wednesday, I scared the Activity Day kids with my weird face (though, to their credit, they were all polite enough not to bring it up) and we had a Jam Session for our activity. Marriner laughed that the ASL branch was having a Jam Session, but it wasn't my idea - one of the Deaf moms suggested it. Her kids are playing the violin at school, and she wants them to improve and enjoy it. And I think that this was a great activity for enjoying music! First we did some jamming - someone started a groovy beat on the drums, then everyone joined in, one by one, in the key chosen. (D major. Always. Because it's good for beginning violinists.) We made some pretty awesome music. Then we pulled out an easy trio version of "I hope they call me on a mission" that I'd found years ago. The parts were "hard, medium and easy" so everyone picked the one they could play, and we practiced until we could play the whole thing. President Merrill rocked the "hard" part on his trombone. Finally, we practiced the song we are learning for Sacrament meeting next month. Fun night!
On Sunday, Jane was feeling the music. She stood on the pew and waved her hands in grand operatic fashion - clearly imitating the signing, but adding in her own flourishes, too. It was so adorable!
Our last piece of ASL news is that we finished our Winter ASL Challenge. This challenge was to watch 5 min of ASL every day for 2 months. The person who got the most days won either a cool flashlight
or a USB clock fan.
Ellis and Lillian tied for first place. Ellis wanted the light, Lillian wanted the fan. But they both wanted the glory of first place. So we had to figure out how to break the tie. We ended up doing an ASL Bee (spelling bee style) - I pulled up a vocab list and started asking them words. They went for a long time, but finally Ellis won when Lillian missed the word "pet" (as in a pet dog). Ellis got it right, and took home the trophy! Way to go, Ellis!!
Now I'm looking for some fun prizes for our next ASL challenge. They have to be things that anyone in the family would think is SO COOL that they will actually try to win them. So, if you have any prize recommendations, put them in the comments below! Anything to keep us studying!!
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