back to school...

Well, look who's making a blog post. I'll go slow, so I don't pull a muscle or something.

Here was this year's back to school treat for the young women I serve in our church. I got it from the awesome Sugardoodle website, and just modified it a bit.

(you can click on above picture for a better view of the text)

I love the way they came out. My favorite part of doing this is going to the young women's houses to drop them off. I love to look each girl in the eye and see how her day went. Give her a hug and make sure that when she is at school and feels all alone, she knows that someone loves her and is praying for her to succeed.

On a side note, all of our children are in school all day this year except our son who graduated last year. (he leaves for his mission in January, don't know where to just yet.) Everyone keeps asking me, "Wow!! What are you going to do with all that time??" and I finally came up with an answer. "All the same things I did before, just with less interruptions."

car conversations...

9 year old: "But I don't want to do that!"
me: "It's not about you right now."
9 year old: "Well, I think it should be about me SOMETIMES!!"

He's probably right. Poor kid.

quote of the week...

"Either you are committed or you are not. Either you are moving forward or you are standing still. There’s no halfway."

--Dieter F. Uchtdorf

quote of the week...

"The secret I am finding is this: the more you do the things you know you should, the better you feel about yourself."


--me

quote of the week...

"The principle is competing against yourself. It's about self-improvement, about being better than you were the day before."


--Steve Young

quote of the week...

"While there is a chance of the world getting through its troubles, I hold that a reasonable man has to behave as though he were sure of it. If at the end your cheerfulness was not justified, at any rate you will have been cheerful."


---H.G. Wells

Dear Heavenly Father,

Next time the words, "I'll make sure it gets done, don't worry" are about to come out of my mouth, PLEASE...please...PLEASE stop me from saying it.

Your loving and impulsively acting daughter,

talitha

car conversations...

18 yo son: So, I think I have trouble communicating with my girlfriend.

Me: Really? Why is that?

18 yo son: Well, for starters, she didn't know she was my girlfriend. So.

quote of the week...

"It takes a long time to grow an old friend."


---John Leonard



I am grateful for my old friends, and I hope they can always be grateful for me.

my mother's day present.

About 5 or 6 years ago, I saw in Country Living magazine how someone had put a screen door on their pantry. I pretty much drooled over it. I clipped it and filed it away for a "love to do when we have a chance" project. Over the years, we had looked into getting a pre-made screen door, but it would require special ordering to get the size right, and was ridulously expensive. One day a few months ago, I started breaking down what a screen door was made out of, and after the Hubby and I talked, we I realized--we he could make it! And for far less money.

Before:

                                                                 I know, right? Yawn.

                                                    we tested it for fit and for level swinging.

                                         All painted out. What a difference it makes to this wall!

When she slams shut, I'm reminded of my grandma's house in West Virgina, which is a lovely memory...a bonus is that we can never seem to get our kids to close the pantry door...ta da! No more problem with that. When all was said and done, we spent about $80 on her. By far the most expensive things were the decorative corbels...but they pretty much make the door, don't you think? The rest was simple 1x4s, some trim pieces, extra spindles from Hobby Lobby, and paint.

She's so pretty.

FYI: I named her Shelby.

quote of the week...

"I'd much rather be a woman than a man. Women can cry, they can wear cute clothes, and they are the first to be rescued off of sinking ships."

--Gilda Radner

Saturday is a special day...

What I will do today:

go to the Temple
clean the house
prepare for Sunday
take kids for haircuts
laundry
catch up on emails

What I did today:

went to the Temple...
and nothing on my list seemed to be all that important after that.

quote of the week...

"I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else."

- Winston Churchill

Saturday is a special day...

What I will do today:

visit some of the young women at their Seminary make-up day
Pick up tablecloths from a friend
order son's corsage for his prom date
make about 75 phone calls
set up for and attend our church talent show & young women fundraiser

What I actually did:

visited the young women, had an awesome talk with my bishop
Picked up the tablecloths
ordered the corsage
made about 90% of the phone calls
set up and attended the talent show and fundraiser--which was REALLY good

quote of the week...

"Our goal is not to compete with or imitate anyone on this earth, but to use our unique gifts to serve other people. By focusing on our commission to lift other people, we lose our fear of falling short of them. As we do the work of the Savior, we feel a sense of his approval."

--Mollie H. Sorenson

Happy Easter.

quote of the week...

“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”

--John Adams

small and simple reminders...

This one is from the girls' room. I made the pillows in the feed sack style that is popular right now, and which I love. A friend was kind enough to lend me her stencils, and I just used acrylic paints. I wanted the wording to have meaning (small and simple reminders, right?) so this particular pillow says "Gift of Christmas" and "daughter of God" in French (because the room is decorated with a French feel). The numbers on the bottom are her birth month and date. I did one unique to our other daughter for her bed, as well.

Also, the pillow directly behind the feed sack pillow is actually an old bedspread from The Hubby's grandmother. I made several pillows and throws from it for our house as well as for other family members, as a small and simple reminder of our dear Grandma Peg, who is sorely missed.

quote of the week...

"Why do women do that? Why do we complain about the 10 things we didn't do instead of celebrate the 3 things we did?"

--Wynonna Judd


I have to admit, I love me some Baby Judd. Her song "Is It Over Yet?" is perfection.

Saturday is a special day...

What I will do today:

go to a friend's child's baptism
get caught up on my reading
make the kids do all their chores
act on a prompting to read the YW lesson for Sunday

What I actually did today:

went to friend's child's baptism
ignored the reading I needed to do, and read what I felt like reading
forgot to make the kids do their chores
decided not to act on the prompting to read the YW lesson, lived to regret it on Sunday

quote of the week...

"Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions.”

--Dallin H. Oaks

Saturday is a special day...

What I will do today:

watch all of General Conference

go to the store in between sessions to get laundry soap so I can do laundry

snuggle with my children

finish reading a book

make tin foil dinners


What I actually did:

watched most of general conference, except for when I fell asleep until Elder Oaks' voice woke me up

went to the store, bought laundry soap (and Cadbury eggs because, duh),
did no laundry whatsoever

snuggled with Cooper whenever I could, realized once I finally got him to sit with me,
 he was spiking a HUGE fever

sent The Hubby to the store for children's Tylenol

made tin foil dinners. They SO rocked.

finished reading my book

As the weather warms up and families start traveling...

...I have to ask that you take a moment and read my friend, Anne's, recent experience.

Anne and her family's story at Car Seat Nanny

For all intents and purposes, the crash Anne's family was in could have been a multiple fatal. My husband has covered many crashes just like this, with much different results.



Please, please, please. Never buy used car seats. Have your car seats installed by a law enforcement officer or car seat installing specialist (like Anne herself). Use them. Every single time you are in the car with your children. Be an example and protect your children's parents. Wear your seatbelts. Every single time.

quote of the week...

"In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours."


--Mark Twain


I found this apropos, considering we woke up to snow and the kids are now outside playing with no snow in sight. Hello, Spring.

Saturday is a special day...

My stylish and talented daughter, Bri, has started this Saturday Project over at her blog, The Secret Life of Bee. I've decided it would be fun to participate, so here I go!

What I will do today:

Deep clean my bathroom
Help the kids complete their Dad's "new and improved" chore chart
finish preparing my lesson for church tomorrow
Go out to lunch with nephew for his birthday
Wash our bed sheets
Attend the LDS Young Women's Broadcast & dinner
Find someone to chaperone the youth dance
Get a good night's sleep

What I actually did today:

Deep cleaned my bathroom
Dealt with many, many meltdowns and temper tantrums from kids
completing Dad's "stupid and immpossible" chore chart
Went to Olive Garden with sil, nephew, my hubby, son, and some friends to celebrate nephew's birthday. Yum.
Washed our bed sheets
Attended the LDS Young Women's Broadcast & dinner
Went and chaperoned the youth dance
Came home from dance, remembered wet sheets sitting in the washer
Stayed up preparing my church lesson while waiting for sheets to dry
Dropped into bed at 2:30 am.  Wonderful, warm, clean sheets.

book list...

I decided that this year I wanted to add re-reads to my book list to the right. ----------->

In previous years, I didn't count any books that I had read before, and was (for what ever reason) reading again. So, if you see an "*" next to the title, then you know what that means.

quote of the week...

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson



Don't tell the other quotes, but I think this is my most favorite. EVER.

some of my favorite people...

I had so much fun shooting this family...they are some of our dearest friends.

They kept cracking each other up, which made my job pretty easy!

we can try to blame the drugs, but he's just like that...

18 year old son, after coming out of surgery:

"Wow. The last thing I remember is hearing the word 'buttocks'".

(long pause)

"I do have nice buttocks."

after...

Finally finished! I am happy with the way it all came together.

(Sorry about the heavy angle, I was trying to avoid too much sun glare on the frame glass.)



quote of the week...

"Judge me all you want. Just keep the verdict to yourself."

--unknown

before...

I am working on a project for our living room. I am taking a series of pictures of our children, framing them, and also rearranging the wall of pictures that looks like this now:

I will post the after next week. :)

quote of the week...

"If you want to know how strong your testimony is, ask yourself how well and how willingly you serve when no one will know."

---Joe Evans, Encompassing Charity

quote of the week...

"Let’s be honest; it’s rather easy to be busy. We can all think up a list of tasks that will overwhelm our schedules. Some might even think that their self-worth depends on the length of their to-do list. They flood the open spaces in their time with lists of meetings and and minutia—even during times of stress and fatigue. Because they unnecessarily complicate their lives, they often feel increased frustration, diminished joy, and too little sense of meaning in their lives."

-Dieter F. Uchtdorf

quote of the week...

"Kindness is the essence of greatness and the fundamental characteristic of the noblest men and women I have known...Nothing exposes our true selves more than how we treat one another."

--Joseph B. Wirthlin

Book Review, 2010

I read 24 books this year.

10 biographical
6 fiction/brain candy
4 spiritual/religious
4 educational

Biographies still lead my list, I guess there is no denying that I am interested in people and what makes them who they are.

For my least favorite book of the year, I'm going to have to go with Mean Mothers. I was disappointed that on a topic as complicated and emotional as the relationship between mothers and daughters, in my opinion it spent too much time talking about why what mothers do or don't do effects their daughters (umm...duh?), and very little time on how to learn to grow and thrive even if that relationship wasn't ideal. Ultimately, it wasn't a hopeful book...which maybe wasn't even what the author was trying to write, but I had bought it with the intentions of giving it to someone, and after reading it decided it wouldn't be helpful.

As for my favorite...this is hard. I read several books this year that I really enjoyed. But strictly from a reader's perspective (as in, really well written and engrossing to read) I am going to go with Still Alice by Lisa Genova. When I asked for suggestions for what to read after last year's book review, a friend suggested it and I am SO glad that I listened to her. When I think back on the book I still have a hard time remembering that Alice Howland isn't real, and to me that is the mark of a well written character and story. It manages to be painfully real about what Alzheimer's can look and feel like, and yet I finished the book with a tender, hopeful feeling.


Other books from 2010 that I would recommend:
Every Patient Tells A Story, Marriage and Other Acts of Charity, Mistaken Identity, Burying Our Swords

So, what should I read this year?

quote of the week...

you can see my reflection in the picture...that makes me happy, for some reason.

quote of the week...

"I think the best evenings are when we have messages, things that make us think, but we can also laugh and enjoy other's company."

--Jane Goodall


We had one of these nights last night. What a joy to have good friends.

quote of the week...

"Starting small is still starting."


--Becky Higgins

I've had days like this...

I went to a wonderful meeting today, and the speaker showed us this picture and reminded us that oftentimes we can feel a lot like this poor donkey, like the weights and burdens we carry are too much for us to handle.

I appreciated her gentle reminder: "You don't have to do everything all the time."

I forget that, and find myself spinning my mental wheels in 20 different directions and becoming increasingly more miserable as I calculate just how many people I am letting down in how many different ways. I needed that reminder to be realisitic about what I carry.

So, I share it here. In case someone else might have needed to hear it, too.

quote of the week...

“How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.”

--Henry David Thoreau

quote of the week...

"A consecrated life is filled with work. Sometimes repetitive, sometimes menial, sometimes unappreciated...but always work that improves, orders, sustains, lifts, ministers, aspires."

--D. Todd Christofferson

quote of the week...

"I think you may need to hear something. You may be at odds with God right now. You're not happy with the way your life is turning out. You may be praying and pleading with God...or not. But it is possible that you don't really want God? Is it possible that you just want what you think God can give you?

One of the things I believe God is teaching me in my life these days is that at times we want our dreams more than we want God. We want what God does for us, instead of just God."


--Pete Wilson, Plan B

quote of the week...

"It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it."


--Steven Wright

I do stuff, part 2

I never met a good idea that I didn't want to steal, so when I saw a young women's leader in another ward (congregation) make a treat for her girls with this attached poem, I totally knew I wanted to make them for ours.

I made homemade oreo cookies. over 80. Two things kept me from going completely insane while I made them. 1) I love those girls! and 2) 'Date Night' was on pay per view and kept me entertained while I baked and cooled and frosted.


So, I guess the girls have Steve Carell to thank for these.

I do stuff...

Sometimes I just lay in bed at night and think, "I am exhausted...what the heck did I do all day?"


It's after about a month of saying that when I finally decide to take on an overdue project, or just fix an area of my house that drives me crazy. When you stay at home and work, it feels good to have something concrete to point to that's been accomplished. This time around it was the office shelves.

Before

After

quote of the week...

“When you’re safe at home you wish you were having an adventure; when you’re having an adventure you wish you were safe at home.”

--Thornton Wilder*



*I got this from Andrea Merriman's blog. She has an amazing story, and if you ever find yourself with some time, you should read about her experiences.

quote of the week...

"To forgive is to set a prisoner free, and then discover that the prisoner was you."

--Lewis B. Smedes

I got something pretty...

How fun is this? I have been a fan of these stamped disc necklaces for awhile now, but never could decide what kind I wanted. Kids names, The Hubby and I's names, a scripture or quote...I never could set my heart on one.

Then I saw the above over at The Rusted Chain and fell in love.

quote of the week...

"It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself."

---Ralph Waldo Emerson

tagging...

I have had several people ask me to tag my quote posts so they are easier to find. I finally got around it...so when you click on the "quotes" tag, it should bring up every quote of the week and a few posts that have quotes in them.

Thanks for liking them!

quote of the week...

"When you judge people, you have no time to love them."

--Mother Theresa

love, logic, and a little 70s rock...

Teenager: So...I want to go out with my friends tonight.
Me: Uh huh. That's nice.
Teenager: Sooo...can I?
Me: Here's the thing: if you are going to rock and roll all night, you gotta party every day. And, to me, 'partying every day' does not mean 'sleep on the couch for 6 hours'. Do you see where I am going with this?
Teenager: I...think so. You want me to do more around the house during the day if I am going to stay out late with my friends?
Me: See those brains? You get those from me.
Teenager: Okay. And Mom? That KISS reference? Was. Totally. Awesome.

solid evidence that facebook is not a tool of the Devil...

I had a really, really bad day on Tuesday. I'm not going to elaborate, because it'll just bring back painful memories and I am trying very hard to get out of the bitter barn and play in the hay.

Anyway, i updated my status on facebook to reflect said day of suckage, and guess what happened?

This.

A very sweet, very funny, and entirely too busy to be worried about me woman came to my house and brought me Moose Tracks. EXTREME Moose Tracks, thank you very much.

And I do. Thank her. Very, very much.

quote of the week...

"The easiest way to destroy people is to give them exactly what they want. You might not realize it at the time, but the struggle to achieve something is, in many ways, much more satisfying than actually getting it."

--Patrick Swayze

it's "someday"...

Throughout all of The Hubby and I's parenting years, we have always looked ahead and talked about what life would be like on certain "somedays". You know what I mean. "Someday, this 6 year old will be a teenager, can you even believe it?" or "Someday, we won't have to change diapers anymore!" or 'Someday, the older kids will drive and can take the younger kids and go for little outings together."

One particular someday we have always talked about was the someday that our last child would go into kindergarten. For the last 20 years, I have always had at least 1 child home with me during the day. There were days in these last 20 years that the idea that they would ever NOT be with me seemed a forever away. In the thick of raising all these little people, I couldn't even picture a time when I might have an empty house on a regular basis.

Well, you know what I am going to say. It's here. This past week, The Hubby and I got to experience the bitter sweetness of that little goodbye...goodbye to the toddler years, that we have loved so very much. Goodbye to knowing that even though the bigger kids were gone and we were missing them, we still had a little one to cuddle at home. Goodbye to the little boy, and hello to the big kindergartner!

Hello, Someday. You got here so much faster than I ever thought you would.

small and simple reminders...

I think it's really important to create an atmosphere in our homes that reflects and reminds us of what we believe and what is important to us. I have tried to have items around our home that serve as visual reminders of what matters to me, and to my family.

So, now and then on my blog I am going to share a small and simple thing I have done in my home as a reminder, and maybe it will encourage you to find a way do the same.

This is in a corner of the window seat in our front room, a room I probably pass through 30 times a day. The sign is an old metal gas station pricing sign, and the quote is one of my recent favorites. The 2 of them together remind me of this: I never would have thought in a million years that having 7 children and all that entails would be the path my life would take...but I love it so much. So the number and the quote remind me that even though life will surely continue to have its twists and turns and complications, and it may not happen the way I pictured it would, so far those twists and turns have been pretty amazing and most of all--better than anything I could have come up with on my own.

quote of the week...

"If I keep more of what I have than what I need, then I have taken something that isn't mine."

--Hugh Nibley

why do I have a smile on my face?

Because I spent the week here...

hanging out with these wonderful people!!

I love each one of them SO much. Thanks for a FANTASTIC experience this year, girls!

quote of the week...

"That which we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: 'tis dearness only that gives everything its value."

--Thomas Paine

i've got the blues...

I've been re-thinking my house lately. Up until now, I have pretty much had a simple color palette--red, cream, and black...with a little soft yellow thrown in. My walls are a neutral, creamy tan. I love it, and still do. But then this little pretty came along...

I bought this a while back, and the blue color has really grown on me.

But it was lonely, being the only blue thing in my house.

So sad. Until...

...this little guy, who know keeps the pretty window company in my kitchen/family room area. I like how the two of them together make a lot more sense. And they are a lovely contrast to all the deep reds and blacks. It makes the whole feel more light and clean. Loving this as much as I did, I figured, why not try some more?

I found these in the dollar (!!) section at Target, added the number rub-ons because I am a tad obsessed with numbers right now, and they now hold toys under a bench in the front room.

Then, my talented daughter was kind enough to paint a little beauty for me that had the blue in it...which I gave a place of importance on our bookshelves.

Now that the blue is here, it's like it always belonged.

What color might be missing from your house?

quote of the week...

"It's difficult to think anything other than pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato."

--Lewis Grizzard

kimi & matt...

I had a crazy busy and fun weekend away. Thank you for including me.

I wish both of you a life full of wonderful.

quote of the week...

"Great minds talk about ideas; average minds talk about events; and small minds talk about people."

--unknown

quote of the week...

"It is simply futile to try to change another if we do so in a critical spirit. We influence others most profoundly when we do not seek to change them at all, but simply go about straight-forwardly doing the right and loving thing."


--C. Terry Warner, The Bonds That Make Us Free

quote of the week...

"Our rewards in life will always be in exact proportion to the amount of consideration we show towards others."


--Earl Nightingale

quote of the week...

"The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity."


--Mararget D. Nadauld

that's just good comedy...

Sometimes our dinner table rivals any open mic night at Comedy Works. We have this deal where we pull questions from the "family conversation jar" on Sunday nights during dinner. In the jar are little strips with questions on them that we all take turns answering. It's a lot of fun, and occasionally? Pee your pants funny.


Tonight's question:


"If you could go back to any time period, what time period would it be?"


6 year old: "Hmmmm...I am going to have to say...10:30."




I love my life.

quote of the week...

"What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say."


--attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson

I love this woman...

I have read Stephanie's blog for a long time now. She never ceases to bring a tear to my eye and a smile to my heart.

learning curves...

There have been a lot of changes in my life in the last few months.


And with change, comes learning. So I find myself in the midst of lots of learning curves...and feeling some growing pains as a result. Some changes are sweet, some are bitter, all are necessary and I welcome each one.


The biggest change has been watching our daughter become a wife, and welcoming a son-in-law. This one is solidly in the "sweet" change category. The Hubby's grandmother once told me she preferred the term "in-love" rather than "in-law" and I have to say, I agree with her. This young man is now our son in love. We love him because our daughter does, and we love him because he loves our daughter. A dear friend said to me, "When you see your child loved, the way you always hoped they would be loved, the person who loves them that way becomes irresistible to you." This rings true to me.


Another change has been my calling to head the young women's organization in our church congregation. This means that I am responsible for running a program for 35+ young women from the ages of 12-18. We have Sunday classes, weekly activities, and summer camp...among other things. Since I was called, I have had many moments that I have felt overwhelmed and under qualified. However, in His typical fashion, God let me know several months before I was called to this position that my heart needed to be turned towards the young women, so I have also felt such peace. And an intense love and concern for each of the girls that honestly makes me ache to serve them, and to improve my knowledge so that I can be the leader that they deserve and need me to be.


There have been other changes, some that I don't feel right about sharing the details about. I can say that I have found myself in a learning curve with people that I thought we had good, respectful relationships with and it turns out...we don't. It has caused me to once again look inward to determine how the woman I wish to be would behave. The more I live life, the more clear it becomes to me that the only power I have lies in thoughtfully controlling what I say and do. I cannot EVER hope to change a situation by changing someone else. And I cannot EVER hope to be a person of influence unless I show myself to be "a doer of the word, and not hearer only." Even when I feel wronged and misunderstood, all that matters is that I control what I can--how I respond.


And although all these learning curves stretch my mind, my energy, and my patience...I am grateful.

quote of the week...

“Humility does not mean thinking less of yourself than of other people, nor does it mean having a low opinion of your own gifts. It means freedom from thinking about yourself at all.”
—William Temple

quote of the week...

“Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I will try again tomorrow.”

quote of the week...

"Not being able to govern events, I govern myself."


--Michel de Montaigne

getting out of the bitter barn...

I had a rough week. Could you tell from my quote? Yeah. I'm transparent like that.


More root canals, more abscesses, more allergic reactions...same stuff, different year.


I am feeling better now! What an interesting thing it always is to me...how good it feels to feel better. How much I take waking up pain free and full of energy for granted. Whenever I am sick or in pain, I always think, "What if I always felt this way?"


I am SO glad I don't have to know. So:


3 cheers for antibiotics! (specifically, the ones that do NOT make me break out in hives)


3 cheers for Percocet, Darvocet, and all the lovely "cets"!


3 cheers for the ability to chew!


And 3 cheers for The Hubby, who held it all together while I fell apart.

quote of the week...

"The greatest evil is physical pain."

--Saint Augustine

quote of the week...

"A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle."

--Benjamin Franklin

i bore his fruit 7 times...

...and he builds me stuff.

such a terrific arrangement.

quote of the week...

"Think about your particular assignment at this time in your life. It may be to get an education, it may be to rear children, it may be to be a grandparent, it may be to care for and relieve the suffering of someone you love, it may be to do a job in the most excellent way possible, it may be to support someone who has a difficult assignment of their own. Our assignments are varied and they change from time to time. Don't take them lightly. Give them your full heart and energy. Do them with enthusiasm. Do whatever you have to do this week with your whole heart and soul. To do less than this will leave you with an empty feeling."


--Marjorie Pay Hinckley

tori and chris.

I've known this sweet girl since she was a baby.

It was so fun to be asked to shoot her engagement photos for her.

Congratulations, Tori and Chris!

quote of the week...

"Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still."

--Chinese Proverb

quote of the week...

"You are educated when you have the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or self-confidence."

--Robert Frost

quote of the week...

“I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.”
—Agatha Christie

best thing I ever heard on a talk show:

"What your problem is, is, that you got no self-respect for yourself."

quote of the week...

"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want."

--Bill Watterson

credit where credit is due...

To those of you who asked if I took Bri and Jordan's engagement photos:

I wish.

Two of Bri's roommates at school this past semester were sisters. Their mom is Rebecca Frazier, a very talented photographer, who was kind enough to do their shoot for them while she was in town for her daughter's graduation.

We love her. A lot. As you might guess.

See more of her work HERE.

and so it begins...

These two wonderful young people will be married on April 10th, 2010.

It is a joy to see our daughter so happy and in love.

We are so grateful to be a part of watching them create their own family!

We love you, Jordan and Brianne!

quote of the week...

"People become attached to their burdens. Sometimes more than the burdens are attached to them."

--George Bernard Shaw

books read, 2009

Here's the breakdown:

I read 43 books.

20 were biographies/autobiographies. I used the strictest criteria on this, meaning that if it was non-fiction about a person's life, I counted it as a biography. Some books could have really gone into "humor" or plain "non-fiction" because while they were real stories about a real person's life, they couldn't really be considered a definitive account of the person's entire life.

4 were non-fiction/educational. Which means I supposedly learned something from them. We'll just have to see about that.

10 were non-fiction/brain candy. This is what I call the category of books that really just let me
have a simple, enjoyable little read. I don't expect much from them, and so they never let me down. Like a Twix...only you don't have to brush your teeth afterward.

9 were just plain non-fiction. These are ones that while non-fiction, still would challenge me a bit as a reader.

Most favorite: I pick Three Cups of Tea. I read it early in the year, and still found myself considering the life and work of Greg Mortenson as the year went on. His passion and drive to educate the women of Pakistan and Afganistan is amazing. His conclusion that "if you educate women you can change a culture" resonates with me. Women have a role that is so much more than simply an equality with men...they are the primary educators of their children, and I felt like Greg Mortenson really understands that.

Least favorite: I hate to say this...but I have to go with The Lovely Bones. I absolutely loved Alice Sebold's writing, but I really thought that the ending turned the book into something it hadn't started out to be. It felt like the book had been building up to something completely different...and I felt kind of cheated.

What were the best books you read last year? Any suggestions for what I should read this year?

quote of the week...

"Opportunity is missed by most because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."
--Thomas Edison

happy new year...

I wish for everyone a year full of love and peace. My hope is to accept and embrace all of the year's coming challenges with grace and humor...and I hope that you are able to do the same!

on 300 posts, and blogger's block...

This is the 300th post I have made on this blog.

I haven't been around here much...I haven't written on my blog, and I haven't really kept up on the blogs I normally read. I'm not really sure why. Things in my life have been just as happy/sad and just as over/under whelming as they always are...but I haven't felt the urge to write about it.

I'd love to say that I've been off accomplishing incredible, amazing, life changing things...but I haven't. I've read some books, cooked some meals, gone to some meetings, cleaned some house, loved some kids. I've worked too little and worried too much. I've been pleased with myself in some ways, incredibly annoyed at myself in others. Nothing really new.

I miss the process of thinking of things to write, however. And I miss that small sense of accomplishment in writing a little something that sounds like me. So, I am back.



Quote of the week:

"Come what may, and love it."

--Joseph B. Wirthlin

quote of the week...

“All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.”
—Henry Ellis

wait--so there's a month between September and November?

I have looked high and low...in the back of my kids' closets, behind the 50 pound bags of rice down in the food storage room, and even under the batteries in the junk drawer in my kitchen...but I cannot find October. I've completely misplaced it.

why I am still happily married...

Once The Hubby sent me a text that said, "Sorry, I was wrong."

It was over some insignificant thing, like what we needed at the store or when one of the kids would be ready to be picked up.

I saved that text.

And now, on days when he is...ummm...shall we say...hard to love?

I read that text. And pretend he just sent it.

quote of the week...

"Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, and bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may."

--Mary Jean Iron

quote of the week...

"What do we live for if not to make life less difficult for each other?"

--George Eliot

quote of the week...

"Cynicism is an intellectual cop-out, a crutch for a withered soul, a thin excuse for inaction."

--Jeffery R. Holland

going, going, gone...

It's been so nice having all of these children under one roof for the last few weeks. I've found out that as a mom, a part of you never quite exhales until all of your kids are in the same place.

It went too fast...our girl is heading back to school. And even though it's absolutely where she should be, I'm not looking forward to holding my breath again.