Sunday Post

One of the 14 year old girls gave the lesson today on Education.

These were my two favorite quotes she used.

"Too great care cannot be taken in educating our young ladies. Great responsibilities will devolve upon them. To their hands will be mainly committed the formation of the moral and intellectual character of the young. Let the women of our country be made intelligent, and their children will certainly be the same. The proper education of a man decides his welfare; but the interests of a whole family are secured by the correct education of a woman”
------George Q. Cannon


“Education has always been recognized by the Church as the number one obligation of each generation to its successor and of each individual to himself. Each one of us is a divinely endowed, eternal, and intelligent being. It is incumbent upon us, therefore, to encourage and keep alive the questing spirit, to learn and continue to learn everything possible about ourselves, our fellowmen, our universe, and our God”

----Hugh B. Brown

Doing the dishes

I was doing the dishes after breakfast this morning, and I was running the hot water from the tap and rinsing the dishes, then putting them into the dishwasher. And I thought, "I love HOT water" . And then I thought how I'm pretty good at not wasting water--and that made me remember that one time I heard that Jennifer Anniston only takes 3 minute showers to conserve water. Good for her--not for me. So then I thought how I take long hot showers and how I LOVE every minute of it. Then that made me think of the term "carbon footprint". Then that made me think of Leonardo DiCaprio and Al Gore.

I have always wanted a show like 20/20 or something to do a comparison. A TRUE comparison of celebrities versus a family like mine. I don't think anyone would ever do it properly because media is biased. But if someone could, I want them to look REALLY LOOK at the environmental impact that I have compared to any of them. They jet around the world making speeches and creating videos all about what we SHOULD be doing for our planet. The only trips I will make today will be to run my kids 1/4 mile to the bus stop, and possibly 3 miles to the gym. And maybe, if it's a spicy day, I may go 1/2 mile to the grocery store. And that's a big day during the work week.

I recycle, anything and everything I can. I don't let the water run while I brush my teeth. I only wash FULL loads of laundry. And I don't think I'm that environmentally friendly. But I guarantee you that the movies that they are in create quite a footprint.

THINK ABOUT IT. How hypocritical is someone that takes a PRIVATE jet with full crew to different places around the world and tell everyone to "conserve, live GREEN"? Guess what, Dear Al, there is a thing called "Technology". It's called teleconferencing. I'm pretty sure with your connections you could hook up with a local TV crew and stream your round face to the EU or Russia or Madagascar. HMMMM, no jet fuel, no emissions from the limo, etc. etc. Well hell, if that doesn't work, you can come use my MAC with the built in camera and you could ichat away. Or make a video on photobooth and put it on you tube. EVEN CHEAPER! And if that doesn't work, you could at least call up Leo. Maybe you could jet pool to your next summit--they might even let you fly in the fast lane.

So bring it on. Let's compare. I'll take you on with not only me, but add in my husband and four kids. In fact, you could probably factor in most of my neighbors and it wouldn't even come CLOSE. We are too middle class for that.

It's all of us who actually live and do, more than those who talk and front. We are the ones making up for everyone else. But we are used to that--aren't we.

And THAT makes me proud.

Sunday Post

One of the great things about being Mormon is that you start public speaking when you're about 4. About once or twice a year you get assigned to give a talk in front of all of the other kids. Today is Annabelle's. The topic she was assigned was "My family and I can give service." So Hyrum wrote her talk, and I inserted the Veteran story. This is what she will saying in about an hour:

*Good Samaritan Story (she'll tell the story of the Good Samaritan from memory)

In the Bible, John 13:35, it says:

By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples,
if ye have love one to another.

One way that we can show love to other people is by giving

service. It is also a way to act like Jesus acted. He spent

His time giving service to others. He:
healed sick people,
fed the 5000 and
taught anyone who wanted to learn.

My family and I can be like Jesus when we:
help those who are sick or
be friends with someone who needs a friend.

On Wednesday I went to the Veterans Day parade with my family. We saw a veteran sitting all by himself. My sister, my friend and I went up to him and said, “Thank you for serving our country”

Then we stayed and talked to him for 15 more minutes. He told us that he served in the marines a long time ago, and his great grandfather was in the civil war. My mom said that we made his day, because she saw his really big smile while we were talking to him.

I know Heavenly Father wants me to serve others, and it
can be fun, too.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

A Capt peed in my shoes

A cat peed in my shoes. Well not really, at least I don't think so. But I have been randomly smelling cat pee around my house. Not on permanent objects, just illusive air. I hate cats, so it's really pissing me off. There are stupid cats that come in our back yard and poop if I don't throw rocks at them first. If I can catch the little jerks.

So I can smell it--and it's driving me BIZONKERS. So the other day I took off my sneakers, and there it was. THAT SMELL. What the crap? So I took a wiff of my sneaker. There it was. How the? What the? So it's been ME this whole time? What is SERIOUSLY WRONG with my body chemistry that my foot smell is cat urine like? G-R-O-S-S.

Just thought I'd share.

Antidotes are welcome.

Vetans Day

Today I thought it was important to teach the kids that Veterans Day just isn't a day off from school. So off we went to the parade. I went down early to get a spot and the kids were just playing around. I spotted a veteran sitting all by himself just behind us. So I told the kids to go up to him and say "Thank you for serving our country" or something of the like. They were too shy so I sweetened the deal and told them they got 5 mini candy bars each if they did it. They were still a bit shy about it but off they went. They were out of ear shot for me to hear what was going on, but the smile on his face said it all. It was great, they stayed there and talked to him for 15 minute about who knows what. They did come back later and report to me that he was in the marines and his great grandfather fought in the civil war. I was proud of them. It was great to see so many veterans, most of them donning some sort of apparel to identify their service. I wish the kids could have gone to each and every one of them. Next year, we're going to come up with something.

So as the parade started I taught the kids (like my parents taught me) to stand when a flag is being presented. So we stood, with hands over hearts as the initial flag passed. Then each time a flag passed we stood. But since it was Veterans day, about every other parade entry had a flag. That was a lot of standing and sitting. So I told the kids, due to the circumstance, they could sit. Then I noticed, that same gentleman they spoke to. He stood for every flag . . . and saluted. I appreciate our freedom, but I think he does more. Which reminded me of this quote that is coming from memory so it's as close as I can get:

"For those who fought, freedom has a taste the protected will never know"

I think my generation and others only vaguely understand. I kept turning around to check, and sure enough there he stood, saluting EVERY time. And another veteran in a scooter and with a cane struggled each time to stand. And there I sat. I won't ever understand. I can IMAGINE. But I don't know. Before the parade started a WWII plane flew over head a few times. I sat there thinking, how great that must have been to the prisoners, or soldiers who were feeling like they were alone and were fighting or waiting for something and to see those planes fly over head. Then they knew they were free or someone was there to help. I think there is so much to learn from that generation and the others who fought in the following wars. Wars that involved people that others were connected to. I'm not connected to anyone serving right now. I feel so distanced. And the wars seem so separate, so unpersonal. That's the only way I can explain it.

So I'm glad I went to the parade for the lessons I learned today. And hopefully my kids learned a little to.

Sunday Post

I'm Mormon, and for the sacrament we have bread and water. The bread is broken into pieces and placed on a tray that is passed down the aisle.

So today, during the bread passing, Annabelle says "I wish there were whole slices of bread instead of them broken into pieces" And I'm thinking--ok teaching moment here. So I respond, "We have the bread to remind us of Jesus, we just need a little piece to remind us to think about Jesus."

She looked at me and said, "I'd think about Jesus more if I had a WHOLE piece of bread."

She may be onto something.

How to Accesorize

I've mentioned it before. I HAVE TALENTED FRIENDS. My talented friends have businesses. Check these out. These products will be at Blissfest.



WHAT'S YOUR VIRTUE LIPGLOSS

If want the full story on the lipgloss go HERE. It's a result of a mom realizing that lipgloss names are SO TRASHY that she didn't even want to buy them. So her and two other girls (one of which is my uber talented graphic designer friend MOLLY) started a lip gloss company to change that.

What's my virtue? Curiousity. It also happens to be NieNie's as well. Go there. Get some. Support these ladies in changing the tide of sexualized products to teenagers.



And then there is my other friend Cami a.k.a. MIMI. She can do just about anything crafty and cool crafty, not your mom's crafty. She made this headband, which I wore to church and got a BAZILLION comments on. And then the necklace, she made that too. Again, BAZILLION, comments on. And she had tons of other cool necklaces and headbands, and also baby headbands (not your typical) and SUPER DUPER cool binkie clips. Coolest ones I've ever seen.





NECKLACE








So this Saturday, go down to Blissfest Market--Downtown Mesa 10am-5pm. This stuff makes great stocking stuffers. Anyone would love this stuff. I'm in Young Women's and they all loved it. Go get some for them and for everyone and support your local talented peeps. And my peeps.

Not local? You can get the lipgloss online. And as for cool headbands, Mimi is starting an Etsy store soon--I'll keep you posted.

Halloween

Next year remind me that it is expensive and way too time/labor intensive to pursue ANY of my halloween ideas. The witches are cute--and I love it now, but seriously. Next year I'm going the borrowed costume route.

For more pics click HERE.

Sunday Post

I taught the Young Women today and this was the final quote in the lesson. The lesson was "Courage to Try".



“It takes courage and commitment to follow the promptings of the Spirit because they may frighten us as they lead us to walk along new paths, sometimes paths that no one has walked before, paths of the second mile, of acting totally differently from how worldly people act. For instance, we may be prompted to smile when someone offends us, to give love where others give hate, to say thank you where others would not find anything to be thankful for, to accept jobs that others would be too proud to do, to apologize where others would defend themselves, and to do all the seemingly crazy things that the Spirit prompts a righteous, honest, listening heart to do”

Elder F. Enzio Busche: