CHRISTMAS EVERYDAY

One of my all-time favorite Christmas stories is "Christmas Everyday". I am a collector of Christmas stories and I ran onto this story one day when I was at the library looking for Christmas stories to add to my collection. I can't remember who wrote the story, but it is an old-fashioned story written back in late eighteen hundreds I think. Anyway, it used to be a tradition in our family to read that story every Christmas. Now we didn't read it on Christmas Eve, because for this story to have meaning, you have to wait until Christmas Day Night - when Christmas is over and you are sick to death of all the food, and sweets, and wrapping paper, and gifts, and family, and if one more person skips up to you and says, "Merry Christmas!" you are just going to scream! Been there? Oh yeah.

This story is about a little girl who has a wonderful Christmas. She jumps up and runs to see what Santa has brought her and she opens all her gifts and then goes outside and plays in the snow all day and comes in and eats way too much Christmas dinner and way, way too much candy and sweets and goes to bed in a bad mood (like most everyone does on Christmas). In fact she has such a wonderful Christmas day that she wishes it could go on and on forever. She actually wishes that it could be Christmas everyday forever. Well, it just so happens that the Christmas Fairy (you didn't know there was a Christmas Fairy did you?) hears her and decides to grant her wish. So that night she goes to sleep and the next day she wakes up and it is Christmas again! She can hardly believe it, but it is true! She jumps up and runs to see what Santa has brought her and she opens all her gifts and then goes outside and plays in the snow all day and comes in and eats way too much Christmas dinner and way, way too much candy and sweets and goes to bed in a bad mood. What a wonderful 2nd Christmas day!

The next day it happens again and the next and the next and the next. Pretty soon it's not so fun any more! She gets perfectly sick of eating turkey and she starts to hate candy and sweets and she hates wrapping presents and taking them to people so she just throws them over the fence and yells, "Take it you horrid thing!" People start getting so many presents they have to shovel them off the sidewalk, and turkeys get so expensive that people can hardly afford them. People run out of money because of buying presents everyday and get put in the "Poor House". Everyone starts hating her because the word has gotten out who it was who wished it would be Christmas everyday. Finally she decides she has to do something about it so she writes to the Christmas Fairy and asks her to take back her wish, but the Christmas Fairy doesn't answer her so she has to write everyday for the rest of the year. Anyway, finally the Christmas Fairy grants her wish and puts Christmas back to just once a year.

Which is, thank goodness, just the way it should be.

Fear Factor

Well, I'm about done with all the Christmas concerts. I have one more to go next Sunday. Last Sunday I went to one where several choirs and groups were performing. I was singing with one choir and playing for another choir. I was looking over the program when I got there and saw my name on ANOTHER MUSICAL NUMBER! YIKES! I didn't even know we were doing it there! It was a number we had done at another concert, and I guess she forgot to tell me we were doing it there also. Anyway, thank goodness I had my music with me. That number was "The Coventry Carol" with piano, violin and harp. The number I had to accompany the choir for was "O Holy Night". It was a different piano accompanyment than just the standard "O Holy Night" you always hear. I rate it up with the more difficult numbers I have ever done. In fact, one part I just basically had to memorize, because it was so difficult, I couldn't look at the music and at my hands at the same time. I normally don't look at my hands much, but in this part they are jumping all over the piano so you have to. Anyway, I practiced and practiced and practiced. I played it perfectly at home. I played it perfectly at practiced. And I screwed it up at the performance. I didn't totally screw it, but I did lose my place twice at those two hard spots. I just totally lost where I was for a measure or two. Twice. The choir director said he didn't notice, but that was just because there was a lady playing the organ and a lady playing the violin along with me. Thank goodness for the cover. If I had been playing it alone, it would have been obvious. The thing that gets me though is the "fear factor". I can play it at home and at practice, but when you add the "fear factor" into it, that's why I screw it. I tell myself all the way up there, "You can do this, you can do this." But when I sit down to play it, my evil twin says, "No you can't, you're going to screw it up." And I do. I wish I could learn how to focus and block all that out. Well, I have one more chance. I'm going to play the same song next Sunday. Like I tell my husband whenever I get up to go up to the piano to perform: "Pray for me."

Don't Worry, Be Happy

I haven't posted much lately. This is due to my life being so crazy lately. What with trying to shop and decorate for Christmas I've also had to squeeze in many music practices lately. I've attended one concert already and have one this weekend and one next weekend. Today was our last day of Seminary for the semester - WOOHOO! Besides trying to get the students Christmas gifts ready for the last day, we also did a class picture. But another thing that has kept my mind occupied has been an altercation between some students. It's one of those "he said this" and "he said that" kind of things. But ultimately it caused one boy to come to me last Monday and say he was not going to come to class anymore and wanted to join Home Study. At first he wouldn't tell me what started it, so I have learned bit by bit until finally I have figured the whole thing out, and sadly enough, it actually started about a month ago, maybe more. One of the boys made a comment in class, which another boy took as a racial slur. It was not a racial slur, and was not directed at the second boy, but the second boy took it as a racial slur against him. Now I agree that the first boy should have immediately said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that the way it sounded, please forgive me" but he didn't. I was there and heard the comment and I should have made him appologize. All I did, when the second boy tried to start up an argument was hold up my hand and tell them to stop, knock it off, and get to work on their assignment. Now this has escalated to parents being mad and going to my supervisor and their bishops. Yikes - why did I want to teach one more year? So now my teaching partner and I were informed today that we have to be the ones to fix it. So now, because we are into the Christmas break, we will have to try to get the 3 boys together- yes there is one more boy but I never have figured out how he is involved - and try to work this out. We were informed this morning that we need to get them together more informally and not make a big deal about it, and try not to focus on the problem, but to work it out so all are happy. Maybe we should just get the 3 boys and all sit on the floor and hold hands and sing, "Kumbahyah".

BOOKS

I ran across this poem in a catalog the other day, and I loved it - it described all the many books at my house:

Books to the ceiling, books to the sky.
My pile of books are a mile high.
How I love them!
How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them.

Black Friday

How many of you went shopping on Black Friday? After last year I swore I would never go again. Last year I got up at 4:15, brushed my teeth, threw on some clothes and went to Office Max where they were selling MP3 players cheap. Yes, I got the 2 MP3 players I wanted and for the price I wanted. I was only about the 6th or 7th person in line. As I was happily leaving with my purchases, congratulating myself for not only getting up early, but picking a place that wasn't quite as popular as the Best Buy across the street, I heard a customer comment that they had been across the street and a fight had broken out. As I left the parking lot I saw a couple of police cars making their way, sirens blaring, to Best Buy. So I resolved to never do that again, and felt lucky that I hadn't been at the Best Buy. So this year I didn't get up to join in the craziness, but Friday night about 8pm, after my husband had put up the Christmas tree, I realized I still had enough time to run to Dillards to get that bead garland I wanted, so off I went. There weren't many people there, but I did get the bead garland at 33% off - what a deal!

FOOD

It's Thanksgiving this week, and of course our thoughts turn to food. My family has their favorites that they like every year - in fact every year I ask around if they want something different, but they always want the same things - Turkey (of course), cornbread stuffing, gravy, broccoli-rice casserole, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, pink stuff (do you know what pink stuff is?), black olives, rolls, pumpkin pie, pecan pie.

This made me think about myself as a child and I wondered what the things I remembered as my favorites back then. I think my all-time favorite thing to eat when I was young was a hamburger from Broncos Drive-in Restaurant. We didn't get them often, but I thought they were the best thing I had ever put in my mouth. I also thought the hamburgers at the elementary school cafeteria were great. Some other things that Mom actually made that were favorites of mine: Eggnog, Rice pudding, Steamed Carrot Pudding at Christmas with lemon sauce, hamburgers and hot dogs we used to cook down at Fontenelle Park or in our backyard, oatmeal, macaroni and tomatoes, fresh corn on the cob, chicken soup with homemade noodles, chicken enchilada, cherry cheesecake, Dad's homemade fudge, Mom's homemade peach jam.

Things Mom cooked that I didn't like: Spice cake, Thanksgiving stuffing, pizza, tamale pie, melted cheese sandwiches (she didn't grill them, just put a hunk of cheese on bread and put it in the oven), sour kraut with hot dogs, or beans and hot dogs. I always hated it whenever I would get up in the morning and Mom would tell us we were out of milk. She would cook pancakes but then we had to eat them with no milk to wash them down. Hated that. I hated even worse when dad would go out of town and sometimes we would go 2 or 3 days without milk. Hated that too. I also didn't like the Christmas candy dad would get. He loved hard candy and would buy ribbon candy and different "minty" hard candy, some hard candy with kind of gel filling. I never liked peppermint candy canes we got for Christmas. Mom's mince pie wasn't my favorite either.

Some favorite things at my Grandmothers were: dutch oven mutton, bread and milk with fresh onions and icicle radishes from the garden, Grandma's brown cake, hot cracked wheat cereal, a slice of homemade bread with homemade butter and homemade jam - put in a bowl with fresh cream poured over the top, sprinkled with sugar. My great aunt used to make the best pies in the world! My favorites were rubarb and sour cream raisin. I used to save my money so every year I could go to her cafe and order a piece of sour cream raisin pie on Pioneer Day.

I'm sure I had more favorites and more non-favorites, but these were what I could think of at the moment.

Who do you think you're foolin'?

Okay, Amberlilies started it, and now Delirious has joined in, so I guess I will "hold hands and go bowling with them." I'm talking about this reminiscing about childhood confessions. I've tried and tried to think of another incident when I teased one of my siblings. Can't think of one right away, but here are a few things I remember.

Inside Stories and I used to share the Master Bedroom. For some reason Mom didn't want to be upstairs, so was using one of the bedrooms downstairs. This Master bedroom was really like two rooms in one. It was two distinct rooms, but you had to go through her bedroom to get to mine, and there was no door or wall, it was just open. I had a closet, and Inside Stories got to use the walk-in cedar closet just outside the Master bedroom. Anyway, Inside Stories was the typical teenager that hardly ever cleaned her room. When she did, it was a major event - and an event that I looked forward to with anticipation. She only did it about once or twice a year, and she would go through every drawer, clean out her closet and clean out from her bed. The things that would come out from under her bed were actually kind of gross, because they were usually leftover plates of food that had fossilized. The reason I would look forward to it, was because when I was sure she was done, which at this point she might leave the room - and that meant leave the trash can unattended, then I would go in there and go through the trash to see what wonderful and marvelous things she might be throwing away so that I could rescue them and hide them away in my drawers. I never wanted Inside Stories to see them, because she would get mad that I had got it out of the trash. I felt that if she had thrown it away, then she didn't want it, which made it fair game for anyone who just might be casually passing by her trash can on their way to their room.

The other childhood incident that immediately comes to mind is the time when I skipped school. I don't remember exactly why I didn't want to go to school that day, but I do remember that Inside Stories wasn't going to school either that day, and she looked perfectly healthy to me, so I guess I thought if she could get away with it, so could I. So I refused to go to school. I have no memory of arguing much with my mother, but somehow I found myself dressed for school and riding in the car with my dad taking me to school. I was still refusing to go, but for some reason he thought that if he took me to school, that I would just be obedient and get out when we got there and go on in to class. Wrong. When we got to school, it was obvious that school had already started. There was NO ONE in sight. Every one was in class, I could see all the classes through the windows. Well if Dad thought I was going to go to school LATE he had another think coming. He argued with me. I wouldn't get out. He threatened me. I wouldn't get out. He yelled at me. I wouldn't get out. He came around to my side of the car, opened it and PULLED me out of the car. I hung onto the door and wouldn't let go. He yelled. I cried. I said I wasn't going. Finally he either gave up or realized how stupid he looked trying to pull me off of the door and he got back into the car. He tried the calm reasoning talk. I wouldn't get out (when he got back in, so did I). Finally he gave me an "out" but I don't think he meant to. He said something about me thinking he didn't love me. I thought "Hey, that's a good angle" so I used it and agreed with him. He started the car and drove back home. I thought, "Yeah! I won!" Not so. The minute we got back into the kitchen (I guess he needed to wait to get back where Mom could experience this too,) he turned me around and gave me the hardest spanking I had ever had in my life and then sent me to my room. I remember going up to my room and looking in the full-length mirror in my room to see if I had his hand print on my butt. I didn't, but it was glowing red!) That's all I remember. I don't know if I stayed in my room all day or not. But I went to school the next day.

A tribute to Paul Simon:

When I was a little girl

You know the devil would call my name

He'd say now, "Who do, who do you think you're foolin'?"

Another day in the life of.....

I've been in a funk lately. It seems like all I do is the same thing everyday. Get up at 4am. Teach Seminary. Eat Breakfast. Prepare another lesson....keep preparing.....keep preparing....the reading assignments are really long lately....finish preparing. Do some housework. Eat Lunch. Practice piano....keep practicing (Christmas music - pretty hard). Check email. Check Blog. Run an errand. Fix Dinner. Eat it. Do dishes. Get ready for bed. Go to bed. BOORRRIINNGG!! Problem is - I don't even want to go do anything else. I tell myself, "Self, go Christmas shopping!" Instead I go grocery shopping for Thanksgiving. Yawn. They only have 4 turkeys left. Go to another store....buy turkey there. Go home. A week or so ago my husband and I were going to go away for the weekend. We were looking forward to going to the mountains where we could ride a train up the mountain. The train wasn't running. Even though they say it runs year round, it was on a 2 week break. It will run again starting Nov. 21 for what they call their "Polar Express". We went up to drive the jeep trails. They were closed due to too much snow on the mountain. We drove to another town and ate lunch and went to some tourists shops. Half of them were closed. We came back to the town we were staying in and went to dinner and walked around to some of the tourists shops there. Half of them were also closed. It was nice to get away and it was relaxing. The scenery was beautiful even though most of the fall leaves were already gone in the higher altitudes. Maybe the holidays will help.

Would you like a warranty with that?

I'm having work done on my roof today. Over the latter part of the summer, we began having leaks in our portico roof (the part of the roof that goes over the driveway where it comes up by the front door - circular drive). We had several places in the portico roof where the ceiling had fallen through because of the leaks. We're glad to get this started before we get any more rain, but at the same time it's hard to part with the amount of money that this is going to cost. We have a flat-roofed house, which I would not reccommend to anyone. I don't know who came up with this design, but these kinds of roofs are susceptible to leaks and you constantly have to be doing something on a regular basis to keep your roof from leaking. We are having a kind of plastic covering put on the roof that will guarantee it will not leak for something like 20-30 years. Too bad we can't fix our bodies that good. My one-year-old new knees are only supposed to last me another 7-14 more years. I know a lady who has had 2 knee replacements. She says that is all you can have. You can't have them replaced more than twice. This lady is at least 20 years older than me, but it's still scary to think about. I talked to this one guy who had his knee replaced and there was something wrong with the mechanism and he had to go back into surgery so they could repair it. Talk about bionic! I asked him if they replaced it with a new artificial knee but he said, no that they just repaired it. I wonder if it came with a warranty?

To Sleep, Perchance to Dream...

For the past 4 years I have had insomnia. This may be related to the fact that I get up at 4am during the week days to teach a class at 6am. I know my insomnia is not as bad as Inside Stories', but it is still irritating. I think partly because of my insomnia, I don't dream very much anymore. In a way that is good, because if I ever do dream, I pay attention.

I read an article in the paper about dreams. It was very interesting and I wished I had saved it. In this article it said that sometimes when we dream it does mean something. It told about a dream one woman had where she dreamed that she shrunk to micro-scopic size and she went inside her own body. When she woke up she felt like she should go get a physical and when she did, found she had a tumor in her abdomen. This article also said that when we wake up from the dreams, we should note what our thoughts are about the dream.

I remember a dream I had once when I was a child. It is the only childhood dream I can remember, so I guess it must have made an impact on me. I was in the basement of my home and the house was on fire. Against one wall in our basement we had lots of wooden shelves that had bottles of fruit my mother had canned. I was crouched down behind some boxes in front of those shelves. I was hiding with someone else, but I don't remember who it was. At this point, I think it must have been either the little girl who lived next door, or one of my brothers. We were scared because the house was on fire. I don't remember seeing any flames, just smoke. My dad came down the stairs, and I heard my mother yell to him, "Bring up the freezer!" I then watched as my dad hoisted the freezer (quite a big one) onto his back and proceeded to go up the stairs with it. That is when I woke up. I remember thinking what a stupid dream it was. To this day I have never figured it out but just chalked it up as one of those stupid things your mind does when it is asleep and bored.

I have had some significant dreams in my life also. One night I dreamed that I was at a meeting and someone came in to tell me that my baby son had been accidently killed by my oldest daughter who was babysitting him at the time. When I woke up I remember how real that dream seemed to me. I couldn't shake it. I cannot even put into words how real the dream seemed, and how shattered I was by dreaming it. As I told my husband the next morning, he was shocked at how affected I was by the dream. He even chastised me for even dreaming such a dream. But in the end we decided it was just a dream and to forget about it.

A week later I went to a dinner at our church where I had signed up to be on the clean-up committee. As I was finishing up in the kitchen, the president of this organization came to me and said she wanted to talk to me about something. She told me she had had a dream and felt compelled to tell me about it. She then proceeded to tell me the same dream that I had had. Of course as soon as I realized that we had the same dream, I burst into tears. I knew that this was more than a dream.

My husband and I talked about it and decided that maybe we should treat it as awarning and try to be on guard. Because we are religious people we even prayed about it and prayed that if we were, by chance to avert this danger, that we would know that it had passed so we wouldn't have to worry for the rest of our lives.

I decided that I needed to do everything that I could think of to assure the safety of my baby. He was still in a crib but recently had learned how to pull himself up to a standing position. I also had recently moved his crib out of my bedroom into a room with his older brother. After my friend told me about her dream, I decided that I needed to move his bed back into my room. It was a lot of work to take the crib apart and move it back into my bedroom, but after I got it all put back together and got the sheet back onto the mattress, I reached down to pick up the large plastic sack of disposable diapers, and as I went to hang it on the corner of the crib, all of a sudden I realized - THIS WAS IT!! THIS WAS THE DANGER!! Back in those days they made the bags a lot bigger - in fact they were so big that a child, even a toddler, could get the bag all the way over his head and entire body... and then would probably not be able to get it off. Which is probably why they quit making them so big. All of a sudden I realized that this is what my dream - and my friend's dream - was trying to tell me - not to hang the plastic sack of diapers on my baby's crib anymore because he might pull it into the crib, over his head and suffocate. I even then remembered my oldest daughter's words to me one day, telling me I shouldn't put the diaper sack on the crib, but at that time I had told her that there was no way the baby could reach them because he couldn't even stand up then.

Dreams are weird Sometimes they are just the product of a bored or tired mind. Sometimes they are trying to tell us something. So pay attention.

I Hear You Knockin' But You Can't Come In...

My daughter and I were talking about the evil in the world today and how Satan is always trying to beat down your door. She said: "So when Satan comes knocking at your door you just have to say, 'Lord, will you get that for me?' "

And Now, the Rest of the Story....

My brother recently sent me an email telling me about JK Rowling's announcement that Dumbledore was gay. When I heard this I thought, "Wait a minute! I thought she said she wasn't going to write anymore Harry Potter books!" Either she has finished - or she needs to get busy and write Harry Potter #8. You don't just finish a book and then say, "Oh by the way....." What if every writer did this? Here's a sampling of what you'd get:

- Gone With the Wind - After Rhett left Scarlett, he stalked her the rest of his life because he really did give a damn.

- Les Miserables - Jean Valjean was really a woman, but had to disquise herself as a man when she stole the loaf of bread and got sent to prison.

- Pride and Prejudice - Mr. Darcy was rich because he had married several women for their money and then poisoned them so he could get their money and their life insurance

- Rebecca - Mrs. Danvers came back to haunt Manderley

OCB?

Even though the wedding is over, I can't quit obsessing about it. I keep going over some things that went wrong, and some things that made me mad, and I can't let it go. Is this a kind of Obsessive Compulsive Behavior? Or just delayed mental wedding stress? I was talking to my daughter and one suggestion she gave me was to look in the mirror and tell myself to "just stop it and quit obsessing about it!" I thought that was a bit obsessive myself. I would go into detail and tell you all the things I am obsessing about, but it would be a bit obsessive to write it all down. Do you know how weird a word looks after you write it several times? I've written the word "obsessive" six - wait - seven times and now it looks weird, like I've mispelled it. Maybe I'm obsessing about that now.

Turn Out the Lights, the Party's Over...

Well, the wedding is over. Everything went great. There were a few glitches, but nothing major. All in all it was absolutely beautiful. We had a ton of people, absolutely great food, all of the wedding party looked great, and the decorations were beautiful. Besides watching the bride and groom in the actual wedding/sealing ceremony and then speaking their love to each other in the ring ceremony, I think my favorite part was watching my granddaughters at the dance! It was hilarious! The three little ones danced so hard and so long they were absolutely worn out the next day! I can't wait to see the pictures!

We had 19 people come from out of town for the wedding. Two of them got their own motel room. Twelve stayed at my house. Nine actually got to sleep in a bed and 3 had to sleep on air mattresses. My husband and I got a motel room for us (and our son, the groom for the first night), and another motel room for our daughter and her husband and 3 kids. Our guests thought it was weird that we left our own home to go stay in a motel. I wasn't quite sure whether that meant they wanted to be the ones to go to the motel, or they wanted me to stay at my house and they would sleep on the floor, or they wanted me to sleep on the floor. Anyway,
I didn't worry about it and just left, most nights by 8:30. It was a 30 minute drive to our motel. This was because of our scheduling the wedding during Balloon Fiesta - a time when it is impossible to get a hotel room. We reserved our hotel rooms 2 months in advance and still had to get a motel 30 minutes away because all the ones closer were completely booked.

On Monday after the wedding, I sat eating breakfast with my mother-in-law who was still there. She was leaving that afternoon. All of a sudden I felt this complete emptiness come over me. I commented to her that I was surely feeling my "empty nest". It's funny how just having even one child living with you makes your home feel full.

Joy O' Joy!

I've been trying to loose weight lately. Wait. Let me restate that. I've been trying to lose weight practically all my life. I just don't try very hard. This summer I broke my arm and because I had a lot of problems with it swelling, I had to sit around with it elevated above my heart alot. Regardless, (and this is the best excuse I have come up with in a while for being fat) I gained 10 pounds over the summer. So I've been trying harder since school started to lose. Since I get up at 4 in the morning, I usually am in bed by 8:30 or 9pm. I decided since I go to bed so early, I need to eat earlier, so I usually try to eat at 5pm, and I usually eat a bowl of cereal. Sometimes I might slice up a banana to go in the cereal. I try to watch what I eat during the rest of the day also and usually eat a salad or a tuna sandwich for lunch. Anyway... Halloween is coming and you know what that means. Now normally I don't have a problem with having candy in my house. I always have candy. In fact we don't have a cookie jar, we have a candy jar. But I never eat it. Until now. The past 3 days I have been eating one of those bite-size Almond Joys followed by a bite-size (3 pieces) package of Whoppers. Thank-goodness it's only bite-sized. Because what I really want to do is go through that entire jumbo package of mixed Halloween candy that I bought at Sam's and pick out every single Almond Joy in there and eat it in one sitting. I don't do that - not because of the reason you might think - I don't do it because then I wouldn't have one for tomorrow! :0)

The Circle of Life

Tonight we were moving furniture because I'm having my carpets cleaned at 8am tomorrow morning. My husband was putting some stuff by one of our den doors and all of a sudden he called me to "Hurry and look out the window!" I looked out and saw two young coyotes coming in our backyard. We only have a temporary fence due to some construction going on below us (see post "A Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On".) The coyotes were coming in to get the wild rabbits that we have all over our backyard. You might say, "Ah, poor bunnies!" but I say, "Hooray for the coyotes!" because I'm sick of all the rabbit poop all over our yard. We also have a field hawk that tries to get the rabbits, but he's not big enough to carry them off so he only kills them. All I can say is, "More power to you Mother Nature!"

Woo-Hoo!

Woo-Hoo!! I found my Visa Card!!
Did you look and look real hard?
Yes, I looked and looked real hard
But gave up on finding my Visa Card.

So where did you find your Visa Card?

Did you find it in the chair?
Did you find it on the stair?

I did not find it on the chair,
On the stair or in the air
I did not find it here or there.

Where I found it was the floor!

The floor you say? Behind the door?

Behind the door- it was not there
Just on the floor under the chair.
The chair I sat in just today
The chair I looked in every way
Today I sat there, then I stood
The card must have been stuck real good
When I arose the card fell down
Then when I found it I jumped around!!

Now Visa I do not have to call
For I have never phoned at all.
One lesson learned - wise words for you
When you use your Visa
Put it up when you're through!

...Now I wonder where my Seminary keys might be?.......Hmmmm....

Move Over Dr. Seuss

Epitome of Sweetness has inspired me to write a poem:

I cannot find my Visa card -
I've looked and looked
and looked real hard.

Did you look under the chair?
Did you look up in the air?

Yes, I looked under my chair-
In the air, by the stair,
I looked in boxes, cans, and trash,
I looked in places I like to stash.
My Visa card I find it not
This all makes me so distraught!

Did you look under the sink?
Did you, did you?
Think, think, think!

By the sink I looked and looked
On my dresser, in my book,
In all my purses, pockets, drawers,
Under beds, and closet floors,
I cannot find my Visa card
It hurts my brain to think this hard.

Give up now and you'll be free
Just call Visa, and you'll see
They'll replace it - good as new
And then send it right to you.
When you do this then you'll find
Your lost card and peace of mind.

Where is My Visa Card?

Okay, I finally bit the bullet and asked for new Seminary keys. I still am sure my Visa card is somewhere in my house, because I called Visa and asked what my last transaction was and it was an online transaction I made at home. So where are they? Do you have any ideas? Please leave a comment and give me some more ideas where to look.

A Clothes Horse?

Well I now have 3 dresses being shipped to my house for me to try on to see if they will work for the wedding. Thanks to everyone who sent ideas and links for me to look at. Have you ever watched one of those Sci-Fi movies where it shows the future and everyone is dressed the same? Now whoever wrote that and thought it would be realistic? Because I can tell you right now it's never going to happen - we're all too vain. Even in situations where a people are supposed to dress in the same things, ie: scrubs, uniforms, jumpsuits, etc. - you still see people trying to do different things so they can look better. I had a nurse in the rehab hospital where I spent almost 2 weeks when I had my knees replaced, who wore scrubs everyday, but she would color-coordinate her scrubs with the wig and the clogs she wore. Usually her clogs and wig matched - hot pink, lime green, etc. My mother uses an expression to describe someone who loves clothes. She calls them a "Clothes Horse". I wonder where that expression comes from and how it was coined. I mean, a "Clothes Horse"? Like a horse who wears clothes? Or a horse - like gymnastic equiptment - that someone uses to throw their clothes on because they're too lazy to hang them up? A horse made out of clothes? Clothes made out of horses? What? All I know is we love clothes. One of my daughters used to keep a calendar in her closet when she was in high school so she could write down the clothes she wore to school everyday. She also had a list in her closet of what outfits to wear - what goes with what - so she could work out every possible combination. That way she could go almost a month without wearing the exact same outfit twice. Last Sunday I was trying to remember what I had worn to church the previous Sunday but couldn't remember. I have to wear a dress everyday to teach a class, so it's hard to think a whole week back. I told my husband I needed a calendar in my closet so I could at least write down what I wore to church each week. There used to be a woman at church and it seemed like everytime I saw her she was wearing the same dress. I knew that it wasn't the only dress she had, but figured she couldn't remember what she had worn the week before either. I hope people don't look at me and think, "Yikes, is that all she has to wear - just those 2 dresses she wears every other Sunday?"

LOST

I've lost my Seminary keys. It's been over a month (and maybe more) since I saw them last. I have looked everywhere....and nothing. Someone borrowed them from me but I think he returned them. What I can't remember is if my new supervisor also borrowed them? I've thought of 2 more places to look and then I don't know. Then yesterday, I realized that I didn't have my Visa credit card in my wallet anymore. I have looked everywhere for that too, including 4 bags of trash that were in the garbage cans (that was an especially thrilling experience). While I've been sitting here I've thought of 3 more places to look for it. After that I guess I'll have to call the Visa Center and tell them I'm an idiot. What is really frustrating is that I don't lose things. I am pretty much an organized person. I know where most everything is (except my keys and my Visa). By the day of the wedding, I'll probably have lost my mind also. Hey maybe that is what people will say when they come to the wedding and I am naked because I couldn't find a dress to wear - "Pssst, did you hear she lost her mind? That must be why she is naked!" (See previous post.)

The Emperor's New Clothes

Remember that fairy tale about the Emperor buys some new clothes and they are "magic" and only - is it smart people? - can see them? So in actuality he just walks around naked while everyone tells him how great his new clothes are. Well, I guess that is what I'm going to have to do for my son's wedding, because I can't find a dress anywhere, so I'll just have to go naked! Maybe I'll just tell people my clothes can only be see by people who are what - smart? have class? Maybe they could only be seen by people who don't pick their nose, or only by people who wash their hands after they go to the bathroom, or by people who don't steal towels from hotels. Anyway - BE PREPARED! I'M GOING NAKED TO THE WEDDING BECAUSE I CAN'T FIND ANYTHING TO WEAR!

A Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On...

Our house sits on a cliff and from our backyard you can see the whole city. Recently some new home construction has started down below us. Up until now it has mainly been just noisy as the graders have gone about making the land level, etc. Now they have started on the cliffside. This is mainly due to neighborhood meetings we have had with the developers over our concern about their development and whether it will block our view and whether they will make the cliff stable and able to withstand erosion. What they are doing is digging out the dirt, putting huge cement blocks in to make a wall, then putting some of the dirt back on top of the wall. To look at it, it looks very strong and stable, so I hope it is. But enduring the work process is something else. My house is going through many mini-earthquakes all day long. This has been going on for several weeks. For the past two days they have been next door below my house. It's kind of funny, at first I would think, "Sheesh! I can't stand this any longer!" Now I hardly pay attention anymore and the other morning I was so tired and decided to go back to bed for about an hour (I get up at 4am to teach a class at 6am). When I lay down I could feel the house shaking and could hear the roar of the engine and the beep-beep-beep of the machine (I have no idea why it beeps unless it is backing up?). I guess either I was really tired or the noises and shaking lulled me to sleep because I actually did fall asleep for at least 40 minutes or so. Next week they will probably get to my house. Each of my neighbor's fences have collapsed during the digging. We were going to put up a new fence but decided to wait until this construction was done - thank goodness. My husband and I are laying bets to how much of our backyard will also collapse due to the digging. One of the outcomes of the neighborhood meeting is that this construction company will restore our backyards and our fences. We'll see. All in the name of progress!

I Love You the Purplest

Last Sunday I attended our women's meeting. I honestly can't remember what the lesson was on or why this woman ended the lesson with this, but she told about a children's book she had read once called, "I Love You the Purplest". In the book she says there is a woman who has several children who ask her who she loves the best. Finally one day her child asks her and she asks the child what their favorite color is, and they reply, "Purple". She then says to them, "I love you the purplest." Then her next child comes to her and asks her if she loves them the best, and she asks them what their favorite color is and they say "blue". She says to them, "I love you the bluest". I really want to go buy this book because it is exactly what I feel as a mother and I'm sure what most mothers feel about their children. They don't love one child more than another child, they love each child differently - or in their own way - because each child is different.

This reminded me of a family reunion I went to two years ago. At this reunion, my cousin got up and was talking about our grandfather. In the story she was telling, as a side note she mentioned that she had always felt like she was our Grandfather's favorite grandchild. I had to chuckle when I heard her say that, because I remember that as a teenager I felt like I was my grandfather's favorite grandchild. My family was the only one who lived far away. All the rest of my mother's sisters and her brother lived in the same area as my grandparents. I used to think that maybe the reason my grandfather loved me the most is because he didn't get to see me that often and "absence makes the heart grow fonder." One summer when I was there, my grandfather came to me and made me promise him that I would marry in the temple. Well, when I got married I didn't marry in the temple, and I married a non-member. My mom told me that when Grandpa heard I was getting married he said told my grandmother that he was going to go to the wedding. She told him that their car was too old and he was too old to drive that far, but he kept insisting that he was going to go. Well, he didn't go, but I remember how I felt when I heard that and it added to my feeling of being the favorite. My grandfather never said to me, "You are my favorite grandchild." I guess what he said to me in his actions was, "I love you the purplest!"

More Funny Fridge Magnets

I call these Fridge Magnets, because that is how I first saw them. But they are those funny 50's women - Here's some more:

-We have nothing to fear but our mothers
- You go girl and take those tacky shoes with you
- Wow! I get to give birth and change diapers!
- I used to care but now I take a pill for that
- She had made yet another wise shopping decision
- A career...a family to cook for...gee! I've got it all!
- I'ts better to have loved and lost than to live with a psycho the rest of your life
- She could no longer pretend that he wasn't an idiot
- Never go to bed mad. Stay awake all night and plot horrible revenge
- Of course we're functional, honey...but more important - we're funky
- She was one frozen entree away from a nervous breakdown
- An attitude is a terible thing to waste
- She was comforted by the knowledge that he was helpless without her
- Steal my identity...please!
- He was so cute when he was wrong
- I love not camping
- Medicated and motivated
- It's always fun until someone puts an eye out
- Honey, you couldn't pay me to be twenty
- Was she in love...or was it just allergies?
- He couldn't become a distant memory soon enough to please her
- Gosh, he went well with her drapes
- She kind of enjoyed working for an idiot
- Had she punished him enough? How could she be sure?
- She wasn't always right, but she was always articulate
- I'm not really a bitch - I just play one in your life
- Frugal is such an ugly word
- My greatest fear is that PMS doesn't exist and this is my real personality
- I don't even butter my bread - I consider that cooking
- Some days it's not even worth chewing through the restraints

Happy Birthday to You!

Today is my #2 daughter's birthday! She was born 32 years ago. Yikes. I have a daughter who is 32. I had to do the math twice to make sure I was right. I was in labor for 2 1/2 hours with her. We were at the hospital only about 30 minutes when she was born. When I got to the hospital the nurse checked me and said I was completely dilated. That was the greatest part - when she bent down to check me again, my water broke and hit her in the face! :0) A few minutes later one of the nurses said, "I hope her doctor gets here in time, because I don't want to deliver this baby." The other nurse said, "Well, I sure don't want to deliver it either." I said, "Well then maybe somebody ought to go call the on-call doctor because I don't want to deliver it either." They did go and call him, but before he could do anything my doctor showed up. Turns out that when I called him he said for some reason he knew I was really in labor so just got in his car and he actually made every light. I'll never forget the look on my husband's face when they were rolling me up the hall to recovery. He thought they were taking me to delivery and when he looked down and saw me holding a baby he almost passed out! I guess he expected another 12 hour labor like I had with daughter #1.
By the way, I remedied that with my next child, I made him go into the delivery room with me from then on (3 more times). I'd sure like to high-five the person who decided that like it or not, the fathers needed to be in the delivery room. Back in my time it was an option. :0+

It doesn't seem like that long ago. Now my daughter #2 is married and has 2 girls of her own and is expecting her third. Each of her girls is like a little piece of her personality. So Happy, Happy Birthday Daughter #2!!! We love you very much!

Fridge Magnets...

I saw these sayings on some fridge magnets in a catalog and thought they were funny:

"So much to do, so few people to do it for me."

"I child-proofed my house, but they still get in."

"At first she missed him...then her aim improved."

More Than Words...

My husband and I were talking about body language today. He said he had attended a really great class at work on body language. He said the guy who taught it was really good and taught it in sort of a humorous way, but it really had some good points in it. He said we say so much with our voices, but our bodies go on to say more - either in agreement with what we're saying or in disagreement. My husband and I came to the conclusion that maybe the reason we're drawn to some people is because of their body language. If we like someone, maybe their body language has "told" us that they like us too. Maybe the reason we don't like someone is because we just don't "feel" good around them - maybe their body language is telling us they really don't like us. I think it is an interesting subject. I've heard that there is more to tell about a person's body language than just that they either like or dislike you. You can tell if they're lying or dishonest, if they're nervous or relaxed. If anyone knows anything about this subject, or knows a good book about it, please leave a comment.

Stand

This is the chorus of the song that keeps going through my head this week:

Cause when push comes to shove
You taste what you're made of
You might bend 'till you break
Cause it's all you can take
On your knees you look up
Decide you've had enough
You get mad, you get strong
Wipe your hands, shake it off
Then you stand, then you stand

To the Lady at the Rental Place...

To the lady at the rental place where I went to pick up swatches for tablecloths:

Has anyone actually told you that you are allowed to wear lip liner without any lipstick?
Did you really look in the mirror when you put it on and then stood back and admired yourself and said, "Yeah, that looks good!" ???

These Are My People...

I recently returned from a vacation where I visited with my parents and 5 brothers and sisters and their families and attended a family reunion. My parents live in a small town in the mountains and because there are so many of us, most pitch tents all over their lawn and camp out. I used to do this until it became hard for me to get up off of the floor because I have bad knees, and I started staying in the local motel. A couple of other family members brought camping trailers this year. I actually loved sleeping in a tent - it gets pretty chilly at night - and I loved sleeping in the fresh air. What I didn't love is trying to share 1 1/2 bathrooms - and one shower - with 30+ people, so I continue to pay for the motel.

We all take turns cooking, which is quite a feat to cook for that many people. I always bring my own lawn chair, because if you "move your feet, you lose your seat". I think the first 5 days that I was there, every time I tried to go to the bathroom, it was occupied. Finally I would give up and get in the car and go down to my hotel (2 blocks away) so I could go to the bathroom there.

The amazing thing is that we pretty much all get along. Oh, there might still be some times when things get a little too frazzled. But this year, as I think back on all these vacations I realize that I not only love my family, but I have learned to live with them. I think this is quite an accomlishment. There is a saying that goes, "You can choose your friends, but not your family" or something like that. We look around for people who we enjoy being around so we can call them our friends. We can't do that with family, and sometimes families split up over some thing or another and never have contact with each other again. I think with family, you actually have to work at it. You already know your family's bad characteristics and frailties and they know yours. With friends you are always trying to put your good side forward - at least most of the time. Our family is a forever family. We are sealed together to still be a family in the next life. I don't think this means we all have to live in the same house together, or even on the same block (cloud?). But if we had to, I think it would be a nicer experience because we have spent so many summers together trying to get to know each other better.

The other great thing about families is they are always there for you. My parents know my past - they were there grounding me every step of the way. I'm sure they know - or suspect - every bad thing I've ever done. And I've done a lot. Before I went on vacation, my sister - who lives somewhat near my parents told me of a funny comment my mom made. She was at the 4th of July celebration in town and a man who recently moved back to town who was a teenager at the same time we were, came up to her and put his arm around her. He said, "Are you the rebellious daughter.....(can't remember the rest of his comment)" (I told my sister that he had been referring to me) My mom turned to him and said, "None of my children have ever been rebellious..." I just laughed when I heard that. I knew what she was saying because I am a mother. It doesn't matter what your children have ever done in the past - you still love them - and you really don't care what they have done - you just continually hope they will do better. You want them to be a better person than you were. If I could sit down and tell my kids what I have done in my life, they would be shocked, but they wouldn't benefit from me telling them.
I hope my kids are able to do what my brothers and sisters and I have done - get to know each other better.

It's a Heartache.....

My heart is sad today. Why do we say that? Is my heart really sad, or is it my soul? If told you I had a "soul-ache" would you know what I was meaning? Maybe it's both my heart and my soul. I talked to two people today who asked me about something that makes me sad to think about. Everytime I have to think about it for very long, or talk to someone about it for very long, then I get depressed and it is hard for me to pull out of it for at least a day or so.
Oh, don't worry, I'm not going to go mental or anything, but my heart (and my soul) definitely ache.

This life is all about free agency. We are free to choose to act for ourselves. But do we even stop to think how those choices might affect someone else? Someone who loves and cares about us? But hey, we are adults! How dare anyone ever make a suggestion on how we should live our lives. I have a friend named M___ who jokes and says she wishes people would come to her and ask her how they should live their lives. She says she has a lot of opinions and usually can look at people and see what they are doing wrong in their lives. If they came to her and let her tell them what they should or shouldn't be doing, it would save them a lot of heartache (there's that word again). Another friend and I laugh about this and wonder what M___would say to us. We say we would like someone to look at our lives and tell us what we were doing wrong. But then I look at her and say facetiously that I don't see anything wrong in her life and she says the same thing to me and then we both look at each other and know that we really don't want to hear it.

So we go through this life and we make mistakes. I think that is the only way I can learn. By making mistakes. So I guess I will just keep making them. And hopefully learning from them. Or repeating them. Again and again. And I'll try to keep my mouth shut and not give my opinion so freely. And maybe I'll learn to deal with this heart/soul-ache.

If You Can't Beat Them....

Everybody is blogging these days, I don't get it. I have 2 brothers and 2 sisters who blog. One sister, Delirious (blog name), has really been trying to get me to join in. So here I am - holding hands and goin' bowling with everyone else. I'm really not that much of a journal keeper. I did keep a journal several years ago, and for about a year did really well. After that it added up to about one entry a year, and now my "journal" consists of typing a family letter, printing one copy for my parents who don't have internet (too set in their ways for any new-fangled contraptions) and one copy for me to put in my "journal file". That's it.

I always said that I would never blog, so call me a liar. Maybe I'm just getting more in step with the times, yeah, that's it. What is your occupation? Oh, I'm a blogger. What do you do in your spare time? I blog. What are your hobbies? Blogging. R-i-g-h-t. So here we are, I don't promise anything spectacular, witty or even very interesting, so don't get your hopes up.