FLUSHING MONEY DOWN THE TOLIET ;0)

Pick-up Sticks blogged about having water problems in his house (saying he had always wanted an indoor pool :0)  ).  We are having water problems too, but not in the house.  We have a septic tank and ever since we got home from Ireland, it's been running sluggish.  We thought maybe it was because we hadn't been putting the bacteria down it to keep the system running right, so my husband has been putting a LOT down it to try to get it going.  Nothing was working.  When we left for Texas to go take care of my husband's mom after her surgery for 10 days, he put some more down it, hoping that while we were gone so long it would have a good chance to get working.  When we got back, it still was not draining fast enough, so we called the pumping company to come pump it out.  It still wouldn't drain.  We called them again and had them come out and pump it AGAIN and then their sister company (or is it brother company? :0D )  came and stuck one of those snake hoses in it with a router on the end to try to rout out any tree roots or clogs.  They did find one clog and got it out, but in the next few days we were right back to it not draining right, so my husband called them AGAIN $$$$$$$$.  Then he started thinking that maybe instead of it not draining right, maybe it was just getting too much water.  By this time I had stopped doing laundry and hadn't done any in quite a few days, and hadn't run the dishwasher, so he couldn't blame that.  Then he started checking the toliets.  We have 4 toliets - 3 in the house and 1 in the shop.  He found out that the one in the shop and the one in the laundry room were leaking.  He fixed the one in the shop with a $10 kit.  He bought a $15 kit for the one in the laundry room, and it didn't fix it, so he's going to go back and get another $10 kit and see if the cheaper one will fix it.  Hopefully that will do it.  In the meantime, he turned the water to that toliet off.  Unfortunately before we figured all this out, he went online and ordered some more expensive bacteria $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ to put in the septic tank to help the leech field work better.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that one of these things will do it.  If not, then the only other answer is to have a new septic system dug.

SUPER

Inkling's been posting about what she's been making her granddaughters, so I thought I'd show you what I made last week for my grandson's 3rd birthday. I got this pattern online and had to cut it out 3 times before I got it right. :0+  The Superman side reverses to Batman.  As you can see, I've updated Batman to the 21st century.  In the old comic books, Batman had a blue cape, but since the movies came out, I decided I needed to go with black.

WHO IS PITTACUS LORE?

I just finished reading a new book called, I Am Number Four.  It was a pretty good book and when I finished I was thinking that I couldn't wait until the next book was published.  I was curious as to who the author was, since it was obvious that he or she was using a psuedo-name:  "Pittacus Lore".  I went to www.authortracker.com/, but they were no help of telling me what the author's real name was.  So since I know that Google is my Friend, I googled "Pittacus Lore".  I found 2 websites.  One, a by Leah Raeder (www.leahraeder.com/ ) which then led me to one called, "The Smoking Gun."  This website said that I Am Number Four was written by two people:  James Frey and Jobie Hughes.  They said that James Frey wrote the book, A Million Little Pieces, which was supposed to be about him and his life as an alchoholic, drug addict and criminal.  Oprah picked it for her book club once.  She thought it was one of the best books she had ever read and even her whole staff was reading it at the same time.  She said she would go into work and everyone would ask each other what page they were on.  Anyway, I guess Frey admitted that he lied.  If you are interested in finding out more about this, go to www.thesmokinggun.com/ and in the search put James Frey or "A Million Little Lies".  You  can also type in google:  Who is Pittacus Lore, and then look for Leah Raeder's blog and click on  it.  I had trouble typing in her address - it took forever and never went to it, but if you google it first and then click on it, you can go right there.  I wondered if her website was too busy?
Now the question is:  Do I really want to keep reading this guy's books?  My immediate reaction is No.

LIFE IN A SMALL TOWN

You know you're in a small town when you can go to the local florist shop to buy Watkins products.  Got a tin of pepper for my mom-in-law but they were out of vanilla.  Told her I get some the next time I'm in town.  Gotta love it.  :0)

HOW COLD IS IT?

It's so cold, we had to chop up the piano for firewood, but we only got 2 chords.

It's so cold, if you open the front door of your house, the inside lights will come on.

It's so cold that instead of yelling "Freeze!"  the cops just yell, "As you were!"

It's so cold, the Democrats have their hands in their own pockets....

It's so cold, Bill Clinton thought he was standing next to Hillary...

It's so cold, maybe Hell really is freezing over. 

(PS. This is a picture from a few years ago. :0) )

THE POWER OF HOPE

After this conversation below with Gilbert Girl, it made me start thinking a lot.  So bear with me while I try to write down and express these thoughts I've had.

The other day I was talking to Gilbert Girl on the phone.  She was telling me about the movie she had just watched the night before with her children, "Neverending Story".  I've never seen this movie, but she said she was struck with this quote she heard towards the end  of the movie:
Atreyu: But why is Fantasia dying, then?
G'mork: Because people have begun to lose their hopes and forget their dreams. So the Nothing grows stronger.
Atreyu: What is the Nothing?
G'mork: It's the emptiness that's left. It's like a despair, destroying this world. And I have been trying to help it.
Atreyu: But why?
G'mork: Because people who have no hopes are easy to control; and whoever has the control... has the power!

I looked up Hope in the dictionary.  Here are some things it says about Hope:
- the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best.
-to look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence
-to believe, desire, or trust
-to feel that something desired may happen
- hope against hope, to continue to hope, although the outlook does not warrant it


I also looked up hopelessness in the dictionary:
-providing no hope; beyond optimism or hope

- impossible to accomplish, solve, resolve
which basically had the same definitions as despair:
- to lose all hope or confidence

- to lose, give up, or be without hope
But here is one more definition under hopelessness:
-not able to learn or act, perform or work as desired; inadequate for the purpose
This last definition makes more sense when you think of the last line of the quote above:
"Because people who have no hopes are easy to control..."

What is it that we hope for?  I can remember as a kid asking my mom what she wanted for Christmas.  She would always reply:  "All I want is for my children to be healthy and happy."  I used to think: "What a lame thing to ask for."  But that was before I had children myself. 

There is a Scottish proverb that says: "Were it not for hope the heart would break."
I think people who are religious have hope.  We hope for a better world.  We hope for a life after this one.  We hope to be with our loved ones in the next life.  We hope to do well in this life. 

That's brings me to another quote I found: "Hope is the parent of faith." (Cyrus A. Bartol)  So if we have hope, and we do hope, then what?  I think it brings us to prayer.  We pray to a higher power and ask for help with our hope.  After we pray, we have faith that our hope will come about. 

What if we have no hope?  Remember the last line of the quote?  "Because people who have no hopes are easy to control."  I think a lack of hope brings despair, depression and a loss of self-worth.  I also think that Satan is real and when we have no hope then he can influence us more to be depressed, which can then lead to a whole lot of other things.  I think that is why we do need both faith and hope.  In the Book of Mormon, Moroni says "Wherefore,  if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope." (Moroni 7:42)

If you want to read a really good talk about hope, click on this link below:
LDS.org - Ensign Article - The Infinite Power of Hope

Well, those are at least some of my thoughts.  Thanks for reading.  I'd also like to hear some of your thoughts on hope.

GIRLY ME

If you're wondering why "Girly Me" hasn't blogged recently, it's because her computer is broken and she is not allowed to get on the internet at work anymore.  She's hoping to get her computer fixed with her tax return.  In the meantime, I told her she could come over and use my computer any time.  Also in the meantime, she won't be blogging.  Now you know! :0)  She appreciates the concern of everyone who was wondering why she hadn't been blogging!