Friday's Fave's

Here are a few favorite quotes from facebook this past week:

When we want to speak to God, We pray.  And when we want him to speak to us, we search the scriptures.    Elder Robert D. Hale

Chop your own wood and it will warm you twice.    Henry Ford

By becoming the answer to someone’s prayer, we often find the answers to our own.  Dieter F. Uchtdorf

If people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, I’ll bet they’d live a lot differently.  Calvin from Calvin and Hobbs.

You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.   Christopher Robin from Winnie the Pooh.

Heaven on Earth can be created at any address.  Greg Olsen (?)

And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, and Great shall be the peace of thy children.  3 Nephi 22:3.

Let us never forget to pray.  God lives.  He is near.  He is real.  He is our Father.  He is accessible to all who will seek Him.  Gordon B. Hinckley.

There is no mistaking a real book when one meets it.  It is like falling in love.  (?)

Prepare and Send missionaries.  I hope that if at this conference I make no other point, I have made this one, that you sen your boys on missions.  The minute the come into your arms, you begin to teach them.  President  Spencer W. Kimball.

Develop mission-mindedness in children. In recent years nearly every time I see a little boy, I say, "You will make a great missionary, won't you?" You plant into his mind a seed. It is just like plants and other vegetation. It grows and grows, and if a father and a mother talk to their little boys, particularly, and their little girls, about going on a mission-when they are infants, almost-that little seed will grow and grow and they won't need to say anything about missionaries when they get a little older. The boys plan it. - Spencer W. Kimball

River Parkway

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Yesterday after I left work DD4 and I had some errands to run . . . eye doctor, library, craft store etc, but afterwards we had a little bit of time before the sun went down to visit one of my favorite places in our area, a hiking and biking trail that runs for miles alongside the river that runs through our metropolitan area.  Back when DD4 was a toddler, DS1, DS2, and DD3 were in Junior High School.  They are all close in age, and were each one grade apart.  They all three had the same 9th grade Biology Teacher who every fall had the tradition of assigning his classes to assemble an insect collection as their first project for the year.  We do have a fairly large backyard where we could find a fair number of insects, but the assignment specifically required that the students find a wide variety of insects, which meant visiting a wide variety of locations in order to collect said insects.  So, every fall we went out in search of insects, usually with all six children in tow.  One of our favorite places to visit was the river parkway trail which has boardwalks over a large swampy area filled with all sorts of interesting wildlife, including insects. 

 DS2 and his friends later starting riding their bikes along the trail on many hot summer afternoons, and sometimes the younger kids and I would also make the trip, at least for a mile or two down the trail.  Sometimes we have taken a picnic along, and I haven even taken cub scouts and young women's groups to the parkway for hikes and activities.  As the older children have grown and moved away from home, DD4 and I have spent many summer evenings searching out parks and other places to hike and take photos and just enjoy the long summer evenings.  The parkway trail has been one of our favorite places to return to time and again, but for some reason we have not visited there yet this summer, until last night.  So as the red sun set in the western sky behind the haze of distant wildfires, we again hiked a part of one of our favorite trails as one of our last hurrahs for the summer, the last summer before my last child leaves for college.  Bittersweet, but beautiful, all the way around. 

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Thrift Stores, Dollar Stores, and Discount Stores

In preparation for her eminent move from home to college dorm, DD4 and I have been doing a bit of shopping the last little while.  She has been quite careful with the money that she has received as gifts and from babysitting, and has been able to purchase quite a few nice things to help her with setting up housekeeping and entering the adult world of the college campus.  Of course much of the credit goes to our choice of shopping locales.   The set of beautiful stoneware plates that we both love came from a thrift store, as well as an almost like new quality saucepan and an awesome old fashioned hand held can opener that I would trade her for in a heartbeat.  (They just don’t seem to make can openers like they used to.  Has anyone else noticed that lately?) 

The dollar stores provide many varied options on basic kitchen needs in a quality that will well serve the college dorm kitchen.  It’s so much fun to shop there and know that you can walk away with quite a bit after paying just a little.  Just think carefully before throwing everything in the cart, because the $$ can add up quickly, and many items can actually be found for less at the grocery store next door. 

Many very nice brand name clothes can be found in the thrift stores, and I think the selection there is much better than at any of the local malls.  And the discount stores are also great places to find bargains on items that you just want to have brand new, like sheets, and other unmentionables.   Just a bit at a time, and we just may have DD4 adequately prepared to face the exciting world of college life on her own!

Thirty Years

Thirty years ago yesterday, DH and I were married, not only for this life, but forever, as long as we keep the covenants and promises that we made to God and to each other.  It has not been an entirely blissful marriage; those belong in fairy tales.  It has been a very good marriage, and has lived up to my hopes, dreams and expectations.  Of course I have not been immune from grumbling and complaining at times, as I will be the first to admit that I have a tendency to do that.  However, while growing up, I hoped and dreamed of a good, kind, faithful and hardworking, intelligent man who would someday love me, marry me,  and be a good father to my children.  DH has been that and more.   He is faithful, fun, hardworking, intelligent, patient, and very good looking!

 We did not have a grand celebration to mark the day, after all, it was a Sunday.  Usually we will go out for dinner or a movie to celebrate, but we don't do that on Sundays in our family, and that's the way we want it.  Besides, we have already taken two family trips this summer and have stretched the budget to its limits.  So, we went to church and had a quiet afternoon and evening resting and eating and visiting with DD1 and DD4.  We received happy wishes from the rest of the children via phone calls and internet, and from many other friends and relatives on facebook and even via US Mail.  Perhaps the greatest compliment was this comment posted by DD3 on her facebook page:  

Happy 30th anniversary to my wonderful parents! They are truly an example to me of what it means to be dedicated to one another through thick and thin, and because of that example I won't settle for anything less. I love you both!

 To top off the day DD1 also presented us with tickets to go and listen to Manheim Steamroller in concert this coming December!  Manheim Steamroller was the music of choice in our courting days whenever we were traveling by car, which was actually quite often the summer that we met and then later the summer that we were engaged.  So it is a very fitting and lovely gift which we will more throughly enjoy come December.

Lunch Breaks

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I've now been working full time for one whole week.  This is my very first full time job, a bit of an adjustment for an old(er) lady like me who has always considered herself and her job title as "Mom" first and foremost, even though I have been working part time in my present job for over eleven years.  It has been a bit of an adjustment in more ways than one, and not so different in my others. 

Perhaps one of the best perks of working full time is my "new" lunch break.  As a part time employee I was officially entitled to one 15 minute break during my work day . . . just enough time to visit the rest room, stretch my legs, and maybe grab a quick snack to eat on my way back to my desk . . .eating at the desk is strongly discouraged as we have quite a bit of public traffic in our work area.   I now have a full thirty minutes of precious personal lunch time.  It has been wonderful to take my lunch outside and sit in the warm summer air (the office is usually a bit too well airconditioned for most of our personal taste, especially for desk work) under the trees, watching mothers bringing their young children to play in the fountain and listening to the sound of flowing water.  I now have an entire half hour to sit in solitude, in the fresh air and sunshine, to stretch, relax, and just think or not think.  This is not a luxury that stay at home mothers have.  They are always on the job, cooking, fixing, serving, cleaning up, refeering, coaxing, etc. etc.   How long has it been since I had a true lunch break?  I may have rewarded myself with a lunch break sometimes while I was in college, but even then I was often eating on the run between classes or on my way to work.

The biggest problem with my wonderful outdoor lunchbreak?  I can't see the time on my cell phone while sitting outside to know how much longer I have left on my precious break.  Perhaps I'll have to learn how to set the alarm . . . . 

A Healthy Glow

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I have been blessed to enjoy a nice little walk to work most days lately, and as a result have also been blessed with a nice healthy glow once I arrive.  (I was informed long long ago that true ladies never sweat nor perspire, but instead, they "glow", just in case you weren't aware of that little fact.)  So while the other sweet ladies are shivering in the early morning air conditioning, I am sitting at my desk, comfortably glowing in the same air, at least for a few minutes until my glow has faded and I am forced to don my sweater.  If I forget to bring my sweater along on my early morning walk, I either must sit and shiver with the other sweet ladies or else borrow a sweater from the collection in our office coat closet.  

The website at MedlinePlus explains that perspiration or sweat is clear, salty liquid produced by glands in your skin.  "Glowing" is how your body cools itself off.  Sweating a lot is normal when it is hot, you exercise, are anxious, or have a fever.  Sweating too little can be life threatening because your body can overheat.  I'm grateful for a body that functions properly.  I'm grateful for a "Healthy Glow."    

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Crown Molding (and issues with blogger)

So, I've been pretty negligent about posting my gratefuls lately.  And then blogger was acting up and the only way I could figure out how to get into the area to compose a new blog post was to upload a photo.  And then I could very carefully write a blog post (such as the previous one about bees and ladybugs and butterflies), as long as I didn't try to navigate using the arrow keys.  

Well, I don't have a very good camera and my phone photos are not acceptable to show off to the general public, but today I broke down and took this phone photo of the beautiful crown molding in the corner of our dining room between our entryway and our living room so that I could have a way to get in and write a blog post.

And then low and behold, I can now get in to the blog creation area of blogger without uploading a photo!  So what's up with that?  And now blogger isn't even liking my inferior phone photos and will not load them onto the blog.  I guess I'll keep trying, so check back later to see the beautiful crown molding that is the subject of this post.   I know that my computer is getting a bit up there in years, but I still like it and want to keep using it for a while still . . . anyway . . .  It still appears that the mouse won't click into the screen, but I can use the arrows.  And so even though I can't load the picture, I can write the post.  So, here it goes: 

A little more than 17 years ago we bought our current home, the first home we have ever purchased in our nearly 30 years of marriage.  We did a lot of striping of wallpaper, pulling out of old carpet, moving off walls, replacing of doors, caulking, sanding, painting etc. etc.  The children and other extended family members helped.  A lot.  Every day after school we all worked on the house.   I believe that we spent Christmas Eve of that year painting.  It was a very busy time. 

One of the things that my DH insisted on was installing crown molding in our entry way, dining room and living room.  He spent a lot of time selecting the molding pieces (three different moldings--two for the base and then another on the top) cutting them just right, installing, and painting them.  Initially I was not as excited as he was about the crown molding, but he wanted to do it so badly, and I must say that he did an excellent job.  Some days when I am tired I just sit down and look up at the beautiful crown molding that represents a labor of love from my dear DH.  It adds a touch of elegance to our otherwise rather ordinary, very lived in home.  I can sit and rest from a busy day, and feel a bit of calmness and peace while gazing at our still elegant and beautiful crown molding.  I love it.  Isn't it great?