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