CHRISTMAS GIFTS

I was more excited about Christmas this year than I have been in a long time.  The main reason was because of a couple of gifts I was giving to my kids and my husband's family.  I thought I would write about them here.

When my kids were little I decided to keep "baby journals" for each one of them.  I bought blank books and would write down funny things they said, or important times in their lives, when they broke their arm or leg, etc.  With some of my kids I was more diligent than others and I regret that, but what can you do?  As time went by and my kids grew up and these books got older, I realized that I should type them up so that they would be better preserved and also in case they couldn't read my handwriting.  My mother had made me and my brothers and sisters a journal from letters she had written to her mother which had been saved, so I also used that journal to add more things to their books.

Several years ago I began typing these books up, in order to give them to my kids some Christmas.  I have five children, so this was sort of a big job.  I got all 3 girls books done and half of my first son's book and then I went to Ireland for a year and a half.  I took the floppy disks with me to finish them there, not realizing that my laptop didn't have a floppy drive.  So after being home from Ireland for 2 years, I finally decided to get back to typing.  I took the floppy disk to Kinkos and had them transfer it to a cd.  Then about August or September I started typing them again.  I finished them about the first of November.  As I typed, I decided that instead of just giving each one their own book, that they each needed each other's books.  As I had typed, I realized that even though the story was in one person's book, the story was about their other brother's and sister's too.  So I put all their books together and made 6 copies -one for each of them and one for me.

Last March my husband's mother died.  She was one of the best cooks I have ever known.  While we were going through her things, my sisters-in-law and I decided that we needed to take her recipes and type up a cookbook of all her recipes for all of us and for all of her grandkids.  I volunteered to type it up, so in November after I finished typing the baby books, I started typing the cookbooks in earnest.  (I had typed up a few recipes earlier, before I realized that I really needed to be typing the baby books first.)  I typed almost every single night until my hands got tired.  I made 13 copies of that cookbook - one for each of my husband's sisters, one for me, one for each of my mother-in-law's 8 grandchildren and one for her best friend.

With both books, I put the pages in plastic sleeves and put them in 3-ring notebooks.  On my kid's baby book journals, I printed pictures of them and on the cookbook I put a picture of my mother-in-law (probably one of the last pictures taken of her) holding her coconut cream pie that had just come out of the oven.

Both of these projects were very satisfying to do - labors of love, so to speak.  I really enjoyed putting them together, but I enjoyed more the reactions of those receiving them.  It made it a great Christmas....

GOING POSTAL

You can say all you want about the postal service, but I had a great experience today there.  I went to mail a package for Christmas to my sister who lives in China.  Even though I had looked up International Shipping several times on the internet on the USPS site, and had written several things down, I was still not prepared when I got to the post office.  I didn't have a blue or black pen, only purple ink, I had no clue which customs form to fill out - so I got two and filled out both,(after borrowing the USPS pen)  and I didn't even know how to fill out certain parts of the customs form.  No problem.  When I got up to the counter, the postal service employee was more than happy to show me what to fill out, gave me suggestions of what to put down, gave me hints on how to simplify the information, and when I signed in the wrong place pointed out the right place and told me not to worry about it but cross out the other signature.  He even put tape all the way around the package so it wouldn't come open, since it was heavy.  When I left, I thanked him for his help - and - he even wished me a "Merry Christmas!"  Not "Happy Holidays".  Thanks USPS!!  Merry Christmas!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

THANKSGIVING AT THE STOREHOUSE

Our feet are sore and our bodies ache after working at the Storehouse this week.  My husband and I both worked 19 hours in three days and helped 274 families.  We had a lot of volunteers that came in to help and we were glad to have their assistance and their companionship.  We have a lot of fun working with each other as well as with the patrons, and since we also bring a little refreshments, make it a bit of a party.  It's more like a grab and go party since we're grabbing a bite here and there between orders.  It's nice to know so many families will have a nice Thanksgiving next week.

INFLUENCE

I've been reading the Old Testament.  Right now I'm in Isaiah, which since this is about my 3rd or 4th time reading the Old Testament, is not as mysterious as it used to be and I'm understanding it more.  About a week or so ago when I was starting Isaiah, I decided to get some additional reading supplements so I turned to the Old Testament Institute Manual, which is one of my favorite places to turn first when I am wanting explanation on a scripture I'm reading.  After reading several pages I came across this quote.  I can't remember why the quote was inserted where it was, but this quote has stuck with me and caused me to contemplate it a lot.  The quote is by David O. McKay, who was prophet of our church when I was a little girl growing up.

"Every man and every person who lives in this world wields an influence, whether for good or for evil.  It is not what he says alone; it is not alone what he does.  It is what he is.  Every man, every person radiates what he or she really is...It is what we are and what we radiate that affects the people around us.

"As individuals, we must think nobler thoughts.  We must not encourage vile thoughts or low aspirations.  We shall radiate them if we do.  If we think noble thoughts; if we encourage and cherish noble aspirations, there will be that radiation when we meet people, especially when we associate with them."

Think about that...without even saying a word or doing an action of any kind, we radiate who we are.  I guess that's why I really like the quote by Gordon B. Hinckley under the title in my blog: " Try a little harder to be a little better."  I need to give a little more thought to what I am radiating....

Last Monday I got a call from Gilbert Girl telling me she was on her way to the hospital with her almost 5 year old boy and she wanted me to leave immediately to go to her house to be with the rest of her kids.  That afternoon while she was picking up her 8 year old, the almost 5 boy said to his older sister,
He -  "Guess what I did today?"
She - "What?"
 He said, "I swallowed my Hexbug battery."  (Like a watch battery - a lithium battery)
 She - "When did you do this?"
He - "This morning."
She -"Did you tell Mom?"
He - "No."
So the second her mom got home she told her what he'd done and Gilbert Girl called the doctor who told her to go to the emergency room.  In the emergency room they told her it would be a 2-3 hour wait - that is until they asked her what the emergency was - then they took them straight back.

They took an x-ray and could see it in his stomach.  He ended up spending the night in the hospital.  Both his parents stayed with him while I stayed overnight with the rest of the kids.  The doctor told them that they would do another x-ray at 7 am to see if it had moved into his intestines, but if it didn't move then they would have to go in and get it.  At 7 am the x-ray showed that it had moved, so he was released and sent home with stool softeners.  The doctor told them he had until the next night to pass it and if he didn't then they would go in through the other end to retrieve it.

 The next day after lunch, Gilbert Girl texted me a picture of the battery, with the caption, "Got it!"  We were all very relieved that this episode turned out ok.  It was pretty scary for awhile.   Here's a picture of what the hexbugs look like:

SOUTH RIM

On our way home from my parents house a couple of weeks ago, just as we were getting to the turn-off of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, all of a sudden my husband hit the brakes and turned and announced to me, "I think we're going to go to the Grand Canyon!"  Since we had planned on staying in Flagstaff that night and our stop at Lee's Ferry hadn't taken near as long as we thought it would, I thought this was a great idea!
It has been several years since we've been to the South Rim and every time we pass the turn-off, we always mention that we need to go there again.

There were some things that we had not remembered about the South Rim.  For some reason we had not remembered that the road inside the Grand Canyon was actually lined with trees.  Why did we always remember that it was just desert?  When we stopped at the entrance to pay our fee, my husband asked for the senior pass, now that he is 62 (required age).  The ranger told him it would be $10.00.  My husband said, "Ten dollars?  Isn't it like $35.00?"  The guy said, "No, that is what you paid last year for your entrance fee to all the parks for a year, but now you can get the Lifetime Senior Pass for only $10.00."  We had thought that they quit selling them for that and had raised the fee.  Of course our information was from our parents, who always gloated that they had bought their lifetime senior pass for only $10.00 and that they heard that the parks had raised the rates and they were so lucky that they had gotten that pass for only $10.00.  Anyway, we were really glad and realized how smart the national parks are to offer the pass for that low of a price for seniors, since they are their most frequent visitors. :0)  I am not able to use my husbands pass, since he has to show an ID when he uses it, but if I ever am in a situation where I am going into a national park (once I am 62) without him, I'll just buy one for myself!  :0)
Here are some pictures we took:

Lee's Ferry

My husband and I made a quick trip to visit my parents a couple of weeks ago.  On the way home we decided to turn in to Lee's Ferry, since we had never been there.  There's not much there, but here are some pictures from it.  One of my however-many-great grandfathers worked at Lee's Ferry back in pioneer times.

  Back then, Lee's Ferry was heavily used by travelers between Utah an Arizona.  Now it is mainly used for fishing, and to launch boats.  A couple of other things I didn't take pictures of was the bathrooms and a covered picnic area with several picnic tables.  Lee's Ferry is located near the Navajo Bridge in Arizona.

I know I haven't written a post in awhile, but I've been busy!  Here's some of the things I have been doing:
Making American Girl Doll Clothes for one of my granddaughters for Christmas - These 3 are finished and I have 4 more to go.  :0P

Here's something I just barely finished - a scripture tote for another granddaughter who was just baptized last month.  We had gone to the church book store to get her a scripture tote but they didn't have the kind she wanted, which was a tote with an open top, so I just decided to make it after her baptism and give it to her later.  I took it to her today.  She has a compact quad, which fits perfectly!

This is a fun pattern that you can easily expand.  I found this pattern on Pinterest.  I made this a little bit bigger than the pattern specified and it was still a bit too small.  I used fusible fleece instead of quilt batting and instead of hand quilting, I just "stitched in the ditch" with my sewing machine.  I really like that fusible fleece and I have several other projects I want to use it with.  You find it by the interfacing at the cloth store.

I have so many projects I want to do by Christmas that I don't know if I'll be able to get to them all.  Some of the other sewing projects I haven't started, but hope to get to them.  I also have 2 typing projects I've been working furiously on and am determined to get it done by Christmas.  We'll see......

PINTERESTING

I've been wanting to wash my outside windows for along time now and had even bought some of that Windex stuff that you hook the bottle to the hose and spray it on your windows.  Quite some time ago I was on Pinterest and saw a recipe for a solution to wash windows, so this morning I decided that today was the day.  I started about 10:30 am and finished at 3:30 pm, taking about an hour for lunch.  It was a lot harder work than I thought and I also found out that I had to scrub the screens and not just spray them off or they looked horrible.  But now at 5pm, and after a shower, I am sitting here looking out at my sparkling clean windows and thinking it wasn't quite so bad!  Here is a recipe for the solution.  The Glass Magic wasn't in the original recipe, but I thought it would be good to add it.  Glass Magic can be bought in the section that sells dishwasher detergent.  It is either in powder form or liquid.  When you put it in your dishwasher, it will really make your glasses sparkle, and it didn't do too bad of a job on my windows either.  I still have 4 windows upstairs to do, so I'll have to get to them tomorrow.  I thought for sure it was going to rain when I was out there finishing up so I quit for the day.

WINDOW WASHING SOLUTION:  (Makes 2 gallons, but if you have a bigger bucket, double it.)
2 gallons of water
2 teaspoons of Dawn dishwashing liquid
2 teaspoons of Glass Magic (liquid or powder)

I used a squeegee that had a squeegee on one side and a sponge with a netting over it on the other.  The squeegee didn't work that great, so I went in and got the shower squeegee and it worked a lot better, although I wished the handle had been longer.  So before I wash my windows again, maybe I'll get another long-handled squeegee.

Spray the window with a hose and then using the sponge side, dip in solution and scrub window.  Rinse window with hose again and squeegee all the water off.  Use the sponge side to also scrub the screen.  You can lay the screen on the grass to do this, or press it up against the house and do one side then the other, then rinse.

ALL TOGETHER NOW!

We recently had our family all together for the first time in - well, I don't really know how long, but a really long time - years!  So in honor of the occasion we had a family picture taken.  The last family picture we had taken, my sons were still in high school and the oldest is 31 now.  :0+  Last time we had our picture taken, we didn't include the grand kids because there were not that many of them and they were a lot younger and well, including kids makes a photo age a lot faster.

We went to look at the proofs today and wow, have things changed a lot since our last family photo!  This time we were escorted into a living room type area with a comfy couch and on one large white wall they showed a slide presentation of all the photos.  She showed all of them on the wall with music, one at a time first.  I cried through the whole presentation because they were such good pictures and you know I kinda love all those people!  The second time through she showed two at a time so we could decide which of the two we liked best.  The one we didn't like she didn't show again, but if we liked both, she kept both.  We kept doing this on every pose until we had picked one photo for each pose.  There were some poses we didn't like any of. One of these poses was of the grand kids all jumping.  I had really looked forward to that one and was disappointed that it just didn't turn out.

We ended up with 5 different poses:  One of all of us - adults and grandchildren.  The second one was of just all the adults.  The third one was of just my husband and I.  The fourth and fifth one were of the grand kids - one of all of them sitting down posed, and one a little more casual with them just standing.

We were so happy to be able to purchase all five photos on a disk that we can take and have as many photos as we want made up!  We were even more happy to be able to qualify for the "Groupon Special" which, because we had 11 people (smallest amount) we got all of this HALF PRICE!  We also got a 17x24, 8x10, 5x7 and 8 wallets FREE!  This was such a great deal for us.  We have used these people before when we had our other family photo done, and we will certainly use them again and again!

Thanks, Kim Jew Photography!!

HAPPY 4TH - THE MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY

I've been thinking about this story for about a week now, so I thought it would be appropriate to post for this Independence Day:

The Man Without a Country is a short story by Edward Hale.  It's about Army Lieutenant Philip Nolan,
who renounces his country during a trial for treason saying, " Damn the United States!  I wish I may never hear of the United States again!"  The judge grants him his wish:  He is to spend the rest of his life aboard United States Navy warships, in exile, with no right ever again to set foot on US soil and with explicit orders that no one shall ever mention his country to him again.

For the rest of his life, Nolan is transported from ship to ship, living his life as a prisoner at sea.  No one ever speaks to him about the US and his newspapers are censored.  One day, as he is being transferred to another ship, he begs a young sailor to never make the same mistake that he did:  "Remember, boy, that behind all these men...behind officers and government, and people even, there is the Country Herself, your Country, and that you belong to her as you belong to your own mother.  Stand by her, boy, as you would stand by your mother...!"

Deprived of a homeland, Nolan slowly and painfully learns how much his country means to him.  He misses it more than his friends and family.  When he is dying, he shows his room to an officer.  It is a shrine to patriotism to the US.  The Stars and Stripes are draped around a picture of George Washington.  Over his bed, he has painted an eagle with lightening blazing from his beak and claws grasping the globe.  At the foot of his bed is a map of the old territories.  Nolan says, "Here you see, I have a country!"  He dies after the officer tells him all that has happened in the US since he was exiled.

I'm so glad I live in this free country and for the freedoms we enjoy most abundantly here!
Happy Independence Day!

42 YEARS AND COUNTING...

Yesterday was our 42nd wedding anniversary.  I was getting ready to leave the house to go sit with a woman in our ward who was having health problems.  I was checking my phone to see if I had any email or messages and there was an email from Twist and his wife wishing us a happy anniversary.  I had to go look at the calendar to see what the date was, and sure enough it was indeed our anniversary.  I can never remember. :0+  My husband was in his woodshop, so when I got on the intercom to tell him I was leaving, I said, "Oh yeah, and happy anniversary!"  He got back on the intercom and laughed and said that he had actually remembered it while I was in the shower, but by the time I came downstairs had forgotten it already.
So after I did my 3 hours sitting with this sister (and holding her new baby - :0D )  I came back home and picked up my husband and we went across town and picked up our 14 1/2 year old granddaughter and went to see "Snow White and the Huntsman".  It was really good and to me it looked like it was left open for a sequel!   We dropped our granddaughter back home since she had Young Women's that night and then we went to Papadeoux's for dinner.  Don't know if I have that spelled right, but it is a fantastic sea food place.  We usually go to Red Lobster for seafood, but since we were on the other side of town decided to go there instead.  It was a great change and great food!  My husband had the Crawfish Etoufee and I had the stuffed grilled shrimp (bacon wrapped and stuffed with Monterey Jack cheese) - to die for!!  Yum!  Then we decided to get their special dessert sampler which had a mini banana pudding, mini creme broulee, mini piece of sweet potato/pecan pie with ice cream, and a big strawberry.  Finally, about to puke, we went home and both surfed the web while not really watching tv.   :0)

JUST DANCE

Four of my grandkids came over to spend the day with me and play while their mom went to help their dad at his business.  During one activity of "Stand-Up Comic" it was my 4 year old grandson's turn.  He would tell jokes that he made up that were questions and we had to guess an answer. We finally figured out that he really had no answer, but would tell whoever had the best answer that they were right.  So if he said, "How does a rabbit comb his hair?"  and one of us said, "With a chainsaw?", if he liked that answer he'd say yes.  It was so funny that we were cracking up, so he thought he really WAS funny!  :0)  I wish I could remember his joke question that he asked and I answered "A Samurai Sword?"  His face just lit up and he pointed at me and said, "Yes!"  Such a crack-up!

We played Just Dance for at least an hour (or maybe it just seemed like an hour :0+ )  I danced every dance and probably won't be able to even move tomorrow: "Eyes of the Dragon" (twice), "Who Let the Dogs Out), "Cotton-Eyed Joe" (twice - the 4 yr old requested it the second time when he realized it was a "Cowboy" song.  Much to his father's dismay, he eats, sleeps, and drinks "Cowboy"),  "I Like to Move it, Move it" (twice), "U Can't Touch This".....That's all I can remember right now.  I know there were at least 3 or 4 more.

After lunch they went in the back yard.  My 7 yr old granddaughter spotted a lizard, grabbed one of the butterfly nets I bought (I bought 4), and took off running after it.  She and the 4 yr old spent the next 10 minutes or more looking for it so they could catch it.  I felt that the money I spent on those butterfly nets was well spent.  :0)

TO EVERY THING THERE IS A SEASON?

I haven't blogged in awhile because I've just been too busy.  We went to Dallas last weekend to my grandson's graduation and on the way home stopped in my husband's hometown to have lunch with his sisters and pick up some stuff.

I've been sewing a lot lately.  My granddaughter is going on a pioneer trek and so far I've made her a pioneer bonnet and long apron and am in the process of making her pantaloons (yes, she has to have pantaloons to go under her skirt just in case she has to hike it up for some reason.) (??).  I've also been scouring 3 Goodwill stores for blouses.  I found her 3 and will let her pick one of them and give the other 2 to any of her other friends who are going on the trek and need one.  Her mom found a long skirt on Etsy for only $12.00, so once I get her pantaloons done, she's set to go.  The trek is at the end of this month.  I also made a new "Woody" vest for my 4 year old grandson.  His 3 year old brother has started wearing the vest and they are fighting over it, so I made the 4 year old a new one so he can give the other one to his brother.  I also made it a bit bigger.

I am experimenting with plants.  I bought some Calla Lillies to put under one of my trees in the back yard by the house.  They are a beautiful color - yellow with a deep burgundy on the outside.  I planted 3 plants and lost one.  One other plant is doing really well, and the 3rd one is "so-so".  I'm afraid I won't get them to bloom this year, but maybe next year I'll have some blooms and can get pictures.  Unfortunately, as soon as I planted them, the flowers died within a few days, and never bloomed again.  Probably transplant shock.

The other plant I've experimented with is hydrangeas.  I got some blue ones from Gilbert Girl and decided to replant it under my portico in the front driveway.  We have a circular driveway that comes up in front of the front door and the roof of the house extends over it.  It is all shade under there, but I wondered if they would survive and other than the blooms dying, the plant seem to be doing well.  I had to water it like crazy when I first planted it, but it's survived the shock now and is doing ok.  Then the last thing is, my husband planted 2 cherry trees and an apple tree.  I thought for sure we would lose them when we planted them.  They didn't look too good while going through the first planting "shock", but they are doing pretty good now.  The cherry trees are Lupin Cherries and the apple tree is an Arkansas Black.  I have no other info on those, but the apples are red, and the nursery suggested those to us for our area.

Sorry I've been absent for so long.  I need to try to be more diligent in just writing a short post.  We have bigger projects coming up.  My next one is to paint the living room and put up some sheer curtains, and hopefully to get my husband involved by having him replace the baseboards.

Bluebonnets

When we were in Texas in March, the bluebonnets were in bloom.  I thought this little church was so pretty!

BIG WHEELS KEEP ON ROLLING - RIGHT OVER YOU...

We had to make one more trip to settle some estate affairs this weekend.  I dreaded the trip to come home because as soon as we get off of the state highway and join the Interstate (about 2 hours from home) I feel like we are in danger for our lives all the way home.  Our particular state has an incredible amount of semi trucks driving on the Interstate.  Maybe the main reason is because our state has many, many things shipped in from other states.  There's not a lot that doesn't come from other states.  The other dangerous thing about it is that there are a lot of uphill climbs.  The past 3 times we have come home we have had the same thing happen:  We are driving up a hill and have a semi in front of us and are passing more, slower semi's on the right.  The semi in front finally realizes he is slowing down too much so pulls over into the right lane to let us pass him.  Almost as soon as he pulls over, he realizes that the semi in front of him is going a lot slower than he is and he doesn't want to put on his brakes to slow down, so he puts his blinker on and starts to come back over.  Of course by this time I have already started to pass him and have reached the front portion of his back tire.  He starts to come over, realizes that I am there (and that there are also cars behind me in the left lane also wanting to pass him) so he tries to pull back over, but the semi in the right lane is going even slower now (coming to the top portion of the hill) and he doesn't have enough room and so hits his brakes, I hit my brakes, the car(s)  behind me hit their brakes and we all come within less than a foot of each other without (thankfully) causing a wreck (and I am so far to the right that I am on the shoulder driving on the rumble strips - no, I am past the rumble strips!).  Then he continues to pull all the way over into the left lane and finally passes the slow semi, and pulls back into the right lane in front of the slow semi.  After re-starting my heart, I floor it, pass him and pull into the right lane so the cars behind me can re-start their hearts and do the same by passing me.  AAAUUUGGGHHH!!!

Isn't there a better way than having so many semi's on the interstates?  Can't we make them take the state highways?  Or ship everything by rail?

Here's a warning:  If you are driving on the interstate and see a truck either put on his left blinker, or weave a little bit to the left - BACK AWAY FROM HIM!!  Even if you have traffic behind you, don't even think you can pass him.  Let him go ahead and get in the left lane and pass the people he is wanting to, and then you can pass him.  Because he's going to do it anyway, whether you're there or not.  :0+

I wish I had pulled in behind him when he finally got back in the right lane and wrote down his truck license number and reported him.

WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS

I've had computer/internet/blogger withdrawal for the past 10 days.  I had to send my laptop off to Dell so they could fix a broken hinge and it just came back today.  Woo-Hoo!  Not only is my computer hinge fixed, It has a new cover!  I guess part of the "fixing" the hinge was just replacing the cover.  It is the same cover (red) but I can tell it is a new one.  My husband let me use his computer to "chat" with my siblings on Sundays and to pay the bills online, and maybe another time or two, but that's all.  It was nice to be able to still get my email and get on Facebook by using my smartphone, so I didn't have total withdrawal.

So if you've been wondering why I haven't commented on some of your posts, just know it was harder to comment on my smartphone.  Do you ever foresee the time when we will just push a button and dictate our Blogger posts?  It may not be that far off....

THE NEXT GREAT ADVENTURE

"After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure."  - Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, pg. 297

I've thought about this quote a lot in the past month.  My husband's mother recently passed away and we spent 3 weeks sitting with her round the clock in the hospital during that process.  The day we arrived, Hospice had taken charge of her case.  They gave us a couple of booklets on death and the process of dying which had some very profound thoughts.  I thought I would share a few of these and my thoughts with you.

First of all, life is a terminal illness.  From the moment we are born we know that eventually we will die.  Everyone will die - it's a given.  The only difference between a healthy person and a seriously ill person is that the seriously ill person is reminded everyday that they are aren't going to live forever.

Death is scary to most people, because Death is the enemy - to be fought against at all costs.  We don't want to talk about it or even acknowledge that it even happens.  Perhaps if we talk about it too much, it may hasten our own death?  Because of this phobia, not only do people not want to talk about it, they don't want to be around someone who is dying, or even acknowledge that they are going through the process.

Death can be our finest hour or our ultimate challenge. Some people facing death, are terrified to the point where they consider (or even succeed) in taking their own life.  In my opinion, this is the coward's way out.  What is so scary about death?  Can one say that maybe instead of being afraid of death, they are actually afraid of dying?

After being with my mother-in-law while she went through this process, I'm convinced that there were personages from the spirit world that came to "take her home".  I thought it was interesting that the hospice people also believe in this, not because of any religious affiliations, but because they have experienced this too many times to deny it.  I don't know how anyone can watch someone die and not believe in the afterlife.

Another quote from the Harry Potter books that I kept thinking about was in the 5th book (Order of the Phoenix) when Harry goes back to school.  He gets off the train and when he goes to the carriages that take the students from the train station to Hogwarts, he sees the winged Thestrals.  He wonders what they are, because all the years before he had never seen them.  He thinks that no one else can see them but him, but later he finds out that only those people who have seen someone die can see them.

Now that I have experienced this, I know what JK Rowling was trying to say to us.  I feel I can now see the Thestrals...

May the longtime sun shine upon you,

All love surround you,

And the pure light within you

Guide you on your way.

YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND IN ME

Inkling's post about the new little girl in her Primary class reminded me of something that happened around Christmas time at the Storehouse. 

We had a little boy come in with his mother to get their order.  While the mother was shopping for her order, the little boy was looking at and playing with our nativity set.  It was a rather larger nativity set and we had set it up on the table where we have church books, church magazines and newspapers.  The little boy had rearranged all the figurines in the nativity set so that the people were all in the middle in normal fashion, and the animals were facing away from the people.  The animals were facing the little bales of hay that the little boy had put on the outside of the scene.  One of the ladies at the Storehouse walked by and looked at his work and asked if he had put the bales of hay there to "keep the animals in".  I happened to be walking by at the time and said, "No Kathy, can't you see?  It's dinnertime and all the animals are facing that way so they can eat their dinner!"  The little boy looked up at me and nodded and smiled.  :0)

When the mom had finished her shopping and it was time to go, the little boy asked if he could have the nativity set.  This nativity set had been donated to the Storehouse by an ex-Storehouse missionary so we didn't feel like we could give it away (Although if it had been up to me, I would have given it to him).  When I told him that it really wasn't mine to give away and that it belonged to the Storehouse he said, "Do you have a picture of this?"  All of a sudden I remembered that we had a stack of FRIENDS (church children's magazine) on the table to give away.  These were magazines that no one had even colored or written in.  I leafed through the stack and found a December issue.  On the front of the magazine was a picture of a nativity, inside was a nativity that he could COLOR, and there was more nativity pictures inside.  Score!!
When I showed it to him, he was enthralled!  He said (in an excited voice), "Yes!  That's it!"  He was so happy to take that home with him!

Since that day I have had announced in 3 wards for people to bring us their "gently used" FRIEND magazines.  We really don't need anything other than that, because people are always bringing us all the other magazines, newspapers, and even church books to give away, but for some reason we get very few FRIEND magazines.  Probably because the Mormon kids that get them practically wear them out looking at them.  We recently had someone bring in a stack of FRIEND magazines that had no writing or coloring in them either.  Now anytime a child comes in with their mom or dad, we offer them a free FRIEND magazine! 

MORE CONVERSATIONS WITH A 5 YEAR OLD

Remember my 5 year old friend who came into the Storehouse awhile back?  Well, he came back today.  I was in the kitchen finishing the lunch dishes when he came and had just walked out right after they came in.  I wished I would have had a camera to take a picture of his face when he saw me.  He was so excited.  Immediately he said, "Hi!  Come on!  Let's sit down over here and talk!  It's just so nice talking to you!"  What a cute kid!  Unfortunately, the person who was watching the desk had gone off to take care of something and the phone rang a few minutes later, so I had to go answer it, which involved a few minutes of talking, finding out info, and talking some more.  When I finally hung up, there he was standing beside me.  He said, "You need to come back over here so we can talk some more."  Unfortunately his mom had finished getting her order about 5 minutes later so we didn't get to talk long.  When his mom came over to get him, he said to her, "Mom, can she come over to my house sometime so we can talk?  I just love talking to her!"  I told him that I loved talking to him too and I would see him another time.  He said, "Are you always here?"  I said, "Usually, but if I'm not here the next time you come in, just remember I'll be back another time." 

I don't know what it is about this kid, but he sure loves to talk.  He showed me his new CTR ring, and we talked about different video games that he liked to play.  But like I said, we only had less than 10 minutes. 
Part of me wonders:  Is this kid ignored at home?  Is he just drawn to me for some reason?  Is he just a conversationalist? Is it because I ask him a lot of questions about himself?   Whatever it is, he is just one cute kid.

THUFFERING THUCCOTATH!

Inklings had a recent post where she suggested people say the title with a lispy voice like Jan Brady.  I read her post and indeed could have read it with a lispy voice.  I recently had some extensive dental work, which has resulted in a temporary lisp. I was hoping that I would get used to this new condition and be able to overcome this lisp, but as the days go by I am unfortunately seeing that I will not be able to overcome it and that I will have this lisp for the next 4 months, at which point is the final stage of my dental work.  At first I thought about just staying home for 4 months, but now I have consigned myself to accepting it and hope that people have "washed their own windows" sufficiently and will not comment derogatorily to me about it.

In a way it's kind of interesting to me to talk to people and to see the inquizitive look come to their face as they listen to me talk. I really don't worry as much about the lisping as I do about the times when I go to open my mouth to say something and a drool of spit drops out of my mouth. :0+  It's going to be a long 4 months!

DOWNTON ABBEY

In my previous post, I mentioned that I had endured some extensive dental work.  As a result I missed last Thursday at the Storehouse.  So while my husband was gone all day and since I was supposed to be taking it easy, I decided to watch some Netflix.  A friend of mine at the Storehouse has been telling me about "Downton Abbey" and how great it is, so I looked on Netflix hoping to find the first season (2010) and there it was!  Thursday I watched the first 4 episodes, the next day I watched 2 more and today I watched the last one - 7 total for the first season.  Now I am totally hooked on this series!!!!  I love this show!  I love the characters, the costumes, the whole estate and servants, everything!  Problem is:  Netflix doesn't have the 2011 series yet.  Yikes!  So now I have to go buy it!!  "Downton Abbey" is about a family set in pre-WWI.  In the first episode, it opens with the news that the Titanic has sunk.  Problem is, I also saw something on the internet today that said that this is the last season (2012).  But I guess since it's on PBS, that's probably about right.  Maybe I misunderstood and they meant that they had filmed the last episode just for 2012??  (hope)

Here's a great quote from the last episode by Maggie Smith who plays Violet Crawley, The Dowager Countess of Grantham:

"By the way, I was right about my maid.  She is leaving...to get married!  How could she be so selfish!"

I love it!

A WORD OF ADVICE

If you ever have extensive dental work, do not go eat Mexican food 2 days later.  Trust me on this one. :0+

CONVERSATIONS WITH A 5 YEAR OLD

We had a little 5 year old boy come in with his mom today to get an order.  He came over to sit a couple chairs away from me, so I started talking to him.  I found out he has the same name as my grandson. 

Conversation #1:
Me:  Do you spell your name with a C or a K? 
Him:  (spells his name - with a C)
Me:  My grandson spells it with a K
Him:  Why does he do that???

Conversation #2:
Him:  (stretching)  I've got growing pains.
Me: You do?
Him:  Yeah, but I don't think it's serious.  In fact, I'm probably over them already.

Conversation #3:
Mother:  Are you ready to go yet?
Him:  No
Him: (to me) You know, it's really nice just sitting here talking with you. 
:0)

Conversation #4:
Me:  (working on some embroidery)
Him:  When are you going to do the lines?
Me:  I am doing the lines, see I'm doing the stems of these flowers.
Him:  Not those lines, the other ones.
Me:  The flowers?
Him: No the other lines.
Me:  (having no idea what lines he's talking about)  I guess I'll get to them when I'm done with this.
Him:  When I come back here will you show me how you did those lines?
Me:  Sure, I bring this in my bag every day. 

Conversation #5:
Him:  I take Karate
Me:  You do?  Wow?
Him:  Yeah, I'm a white belt.
Me:  That's pretty good.
Him:  Yeah, and I can count in Japanese.
Me:  Cool!  Count for me.
Him:  (counts to 10 in Japanese).
Me:  I'm impressed!

MY V-DAY

My husband is such a sucker for a gadget. If I ever see him answering the door when a salesman is there I have to run to the door and tell them we're not interested or he'll buy whatever they're selling. I'm not saying that this is necessarily a bad thing, although I guess it can be. I'd rather say that, in his case, it's an endearing thing. One night we were watching tv and saw a Hallmark commercial for Valentine's Day. It was a fake flower in a vase and when you push a button, it opens and says "Love You Lots" inside. When he commented that it was pretty cool, I knew I'd be getting it for Valentine's Day. Sure enough, I did. Here is is. This is not the only thing he got me, but I thought it was cute so thought I'd share it:

 One more thing...When I was shopping for a card for him I accidently picked one up that was for a husband to give to his wife.  I went ahead and read it because it was a cute card, and thought, "This is what my husband needs to give to me, this describes him exactly."  He always gets me two cards whether it's my birthday, Mother's Day, anniversary, or Valentine's Day.  He always gets one funny card (and it's usually a card that has a pop-up, or opens up somehow in the middle) and a "lovey" card.  Anyway, his funny card was the exact card that I had read and thought it described him exactly.  On the card he wrote:  "This describes me exactly!"  Do I know my husband or what?  :0)

A PINTEREST VALENTINE'S DAY!

Here's what I made the kids for Valentine's Day.  These are Tootsie Roll Pops.  Thanks to Pinterest for the idea!  I stuck them in plastic bathroom cups so they would stand up. I wish I would have taken a picture of their backs so you could see their capes, but I've already delivered them all so sorry.  I glued the felt capes to cardstock so they would stand out straight like they were flying in the wind.  :0)

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU HOPE FOR.....

On a slow, boring day at the Storehouse:

Me:  I'm really bored, I wish a whole bunch of people would come in so we can DO something!

Mario:  You're telling me you're HOPING people are poor and needy and need food?

Me:  Oh yeah, right.  Sorry.

Case in point. 

A BEAUTIFUL LIFE

Lately I've been thinking about how much I love my life.  I really do.  Sometimes my life can get crazy and busy.  I'm truly never bored.  But quite often in the last month or so I've caught myself smiling and thinking that I really do have a great life.  The words to this song by Darryl Worley (country song)  keep coming to my head (this is the last verse of the song):

I laid in bed that night and thought about the day
And how my life is like a roller coaster ride
The ups and downs and crazy turns along the way
It'll throw you off if you don't hold on tight
You can't really smile until you've shed some tears
I could die today or I might live on for years.


I love this crazy, tragic,
Sometimes almost magic,
Awful, beautiful life

LAPS

Our work at the Bishop's Storehouse has slowed down quite a bit since Christmas.  This is a good thing for one reason because that means that maybe people are working and not needing help.  But it's also a bad thing, because now we are just sitting around getting fatter.  I've been trying to figure out some things we can do to pass the time, and Thursday I came up with the idea that I could walk laps in the warehouse, so I did 6 laps before I had to come back in and help with some orders.  Today I mentioned it to another lady who is a misisonary there and she told me about a pedometer app that I could download on my cell phone.  I downloaded it and we did almost a mile today.  We zig-zag up and down all the aisles to make it longer.  Thursday I was just going around and around and it was making me dizzy.  :0+  My pedometer app counts my steps as well as tells me how far I 've walked and tells me how many calories I've burned, which today was sure not nearly enough.  It beats sitting......

JUST STOP IT, NEWT!

The Republican Party is such a farce right now.  The main goal should be banding together to defeat Obama in the next election.  Instead we have candidates behaving like spoiled children who are mad because they didn't "win the game".  Problem is, instead of taking their marbles and going home, they are trying to stay in the game by stamping their feet and just crying harder. Why, if you were truly concerned about the Republican party beating Obama would you , instead of realizing you can't win because your numbers are too low, attack another fellow Republican?  Shouldn't you do the honorable thing - like Michelle Bachman - and bow out and put your support behind one who does have higher statistics?  The other thing I can't understand is why no one in the Republican party can stop Newt Gingrich from acting like the boy who didn't get picked to play on the team and is throwing a tempter tantrum.  Someone please stop him before he competely destroys the entire Republican Party! 

TOO CRAFTY

I have decided that I will never be bored, and indeed I never am.  I have so many craft projects going and so many more waiting to be done that I will probably never do some of them.  I'm a person that can never just sit and watch tv, so I am usually doing some kind of needlework, or doing something on my laptop, or even doing a crossword puzzle while I'm watching tv. 

I always have big ideas when Christmas is coming, but after the last 2 years of trying to get one idea of a craft project done for Christmas, and failing for 2 years, I have finally come to the conclusion that I can NEVER count on doing a craft at any time after November 1st, and maybe even October 1st.  So one of my New Year's Resolutions is to do these craft projects now and actually finish them!  We'll see if I get them done.  I need to though, because I have many more ideas waiting.....