A Simple Woman's Daybook~November 15, 2012

Just for today~Thursday, November 15, 2012
 

Our lives pass swiftly by! I want to do something to remember

the everyday moments and my thoughts about them.  

That is what this daybook is all about.

Focusing on the little things that become my life.

One week at a time.

 

Outside my window...It is the blue hour and almost totally dark now.  I am going to a Gratitude Dinner at Church tonight for the ladies.  But since we just went on Daylight Savings Time it is only 5:15 pm and it feels like 8:30.  So I have about an hour or so before I need to walk out the door.  It has been a lovely fall day and I think we are now in for about three days of rain.  I like the thoughts of the rain at the beginning of winter as it waters the thirsty earth.  I also like the coziness of being home when I can during this season.

I am thankful for...the election being over.  This one was very hard on me.  I haven't recovered and probably won't for awhile.  I worry too much about the world and how it will affect all of us, especially our grandkids' generation.  I have to just let go of that.  Do my best to do what is right and let God take care of the rest.  I read this week that worrying is like praying for what you don't want!  I am going to stop doing that.  Once and for all!  Faith Conquers Fear and that has to be my daily mantra from now on. 

From the learning room...For a person of my age and experience I am just far too sensitive.  I need to grow a tougher skin.  I could have never been a lawyer!  I hate arguing and fighting and that is what the election felt like for months on end.  I just want peace from all of it.  I was telling one of my friends it is time for me to go back into my "head buried in the sand" stance where I am much happier in my own little world of good family and friends.

I am reading...Scriptures, Church Ensign, and The Emigrants (a four volume saga about Sweden.)  And a billion things on the Internet as always.

From the kitchen... Time to do some cooking ahead again.  It surely is the never-ending story, isn't it?  We are invited to dinner for Thanksgiving so that will be wonderful.  My food assignment...a festive Jello salad concoction of my choice.  I can probably do that!  Yahoo!

I am missing...my sweet little mom today.  She passed from this life nine years ago today.  Not a day goes by without thoughts of her and how empty that part of me now feels.  There is just no one like your mom.  Funny how now I wish I had spent even more time with her...hindsight is always 20/20.  I wish I had asked her a thousand more questions about her life. Added in on the 21st.  My Uncle Joe, my mom's twin brother died this week.  Mom on the 15th of November nine years ago and her brother on the 16th of November this year.  He lived 9 years and 8 hours longer than she did.  He was the last of my aunts and uncles to to pass away.  He was 93.  The end of an era.

Some spiritual thoughts I have been having...Life passes rather quickly.  The things that matter most often get put on the back burner for the things that matter least.  I am so comforted in our belief that families are forever. Heaven would not be heaven if that were not so.   Our Father in Heaven has created the perfect plan.  I am in awe.

I am hearing...absolutely nothing.  I forgot to turn on my playlist.  Hum, I guess I will now.  Peaceful, Kenny Rankin.  Love that man.  His music just lights up my life.  Since he is in heaven...maybe he can go sing a sweet melody to my mom today.

Something you may not know about me...Wow this is hard, I think you know everything about me.  I wanted us to have five children but it just didn't happen.  I am fine with it now as our quiver is full with our great new children and grandkids.  I thought the ideal would be three girls and two boys...funny how things work out.  Now we have three adult girls and three adults boys.  And five each of the little ones.  Sometimes God answers our prayer in ways we do not expect but He gets the job done!

One of my guilty pleasures...Gourmet hot chocolate with various flavors during the winter.  My hubby makes it for me every morning and brings it to my desk.  Yes, I am spoiled, he is a sweetheart.  But don't worry it is not completely one-sided, I like to spoil him too.

Pet Peeves...gift cards that do not specify the amount on the card.  It's annoying when you are trying to decide what to buy with them and you have to check in at the cash register first.  And it is even worse when you have used part of it and then don't know how much is left three months later when you are still carting it around in your wallet.

I am going...to catch up and finish this daybook which is turning into a week book.  It is now Wednesday the 21st.  Sheesh!  Lots going on and many interruptions this week.

 I am quoting...Henry B. Eyring from the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow, my friends!

“Ask yourself, 'How did God bless me today?' If you do that long enough and with faith, you will find yourself remembering blessings. And sometimes, you will have gifts brought to your mind which you failed to notice during the day, but which you will then know were a touch of God’s hand in your life.” –Henry B. Eyring

If I could change one thing it would be...that our dear friend, Stephen's, little grandson did not have a bad accident with a slamming door this week.  He is just around two and we are praying diligently for his full recovery.  They had to reattach part of one of his tiny fingers.  Now it is a waiting game for little Hayden and his parents and grandparents and that is hard. Nothing hurts more than one of your children or grandchildren hurting and when it is a baby it is even worse.  God Bless you little Hayden during this critical week.  And faith and peace to your family.  (Stephen is Jim's distant cousin and the one who has been tirelessly mentoring me in genealogy.) 

An enjoyable movie we have watched lately... Lincoln.  We saw it yesterday and it was very well done.  Jim and I took eight hours of classes about Lincoln a few summers ago.  We love history and this movie did not disappoint.  They spent most of the movie  detailing the passage of 13th amendment to abolish slavery.  It was fascinating.

I am curious about... how much more corrupt our government and politicians can get? I am sure it will never cease to amaze most of us with values and expectations.  I just "love" that the DA in Central New York (just elected to a second term) confessed that he was a porn star in the 1970s.  Gotta love it dontcha?  He was quick to add after his post-election confession that he had no intentions of resigning.  Holy cow, people.  If you have a tawdry past, skip politics will ya?  Oval Office, Generals' Office and now DA's office~three ring circus.  It is too much to take in in a month.

 Plans for the rest of the week... my main focus this week is to finish my Christmas decorating.  I know it is early but we are having guests next week and Jim's birthday and then it will be December.  I just decided to get it done early since we are going to Jim's cousin's for Thanksgiving tomorrow so nothing is going on here...thank heavens!  The decorating usually takes me about 5 days and today is day three.  The first two days were not full days as I had commitments both days that took me out of the house.  So I am hoping everything will be done and cleaned up but Saturday evening.  That will free me up for Jim's birthday and planning menus and activities for our guests at the end of next week.

One of my favorite things...looking through all my boxes of Christmas things and remembering the gifts recieved and the fun shopping trips with family and friends to collect it all, and thinking about all the memories attached to the festive decorations over the years.  My favorite part of the preparing for the holidays is getting the house just so.  I love creating an environment that others can enjoy and that becomes a part of their memories shared with us in our home.  I have noticed though I am losing my touch.  Not enough practice decorating these days.  How many ways can you change it up when you have lived in the same house for 35 years?  It is a test for sure.  I'll add some photos if I ever get it  right.

A photo I am sharing this week...

It is so nice to see this photo of Robert and Laura reunited.  It does a mother's heart good to know that the deployment we had dreaded for so many years is over and ended well.  Thank you all for you prayers for Robert's safe return.  We are all thrilled and thankful, especially Laura and  the boys!   It is so good to see her full smile again. 

 This truly makes it a wonderful Thanksgiving

 for all of us.  

You have a great one too!

❤♡♥♡❤♡♥♡❤♡♥s, Bon

Heading to Cali~Home Sweet Home

Home did look and feel good after our long absence.

No place like home, your own bed and
emptying that suitcase. Yay!

Wow, what a packed couple of weeks. To say we were exhausted after the family reunion would be an understatement. Our day and two nights in Las Vegas were hot and fun and we were ready to come down from it all, as we drove home the next morning. It was hard to imagine how many different things we had done during these past two weeks. It was hard to believe it was nearly July. It is harder to believe it is now August and I am still trying to finish the posts on this vacation. But rest assured this is the end of it. It better be, we are heading back to Utah again at the end of next week. What I haven't already posted for July is going to be skipped over.

The last five days Laura and Robert and the boys were here we did a bit of traveling around the Bay Area. Of course we took them to the City, the Temple, and the guys went to Point Reyes on a day trip hike, we had a BBQ at Jim's mom's and a birthday celebration for Ross and me and we played in our yard.

The boys were dying to drive and ride on Grampa's tractor and they did just that the first day. We had a day or so of just hanging around. We went to our local Farmers' Market one evening and also went to the one in SF. Love love love taking pictures at a Farmer's Market. That was great. The boys enjoyed playing tether ball and basketball in the backyard and reliving the singing frogs around the pond at night. Of course there was a bonfire and s'mores. Laura and I also got a day for girl stuff while the guys hiked. That was the best, so relaxing.

Treasure Island

SF Market

Jim loves this part.

I love this part

And this part.

All time favorites!

Spicy and crunchy and great!

Visiting Fort Point under the Golden Gate Bridge.

Reading about the Fort

Windy, Misty Fun!

These two are so cute together.
Makes our hearts sing!

As does this!

Our little tree hugger, Ross! Aquatic Park!

These guys have no shame.
Just plopped right down for a nap!
Ross and I watched out for them
while they slept!

Sunday before church we went over
to the Temple Grounds
and watched the Joseph Smith film.
It was very inspiring!

Point Reyes Beach ~ the reward for the two mile hike in!

I do so love this photo of Robert and his little men.

Home town Market night!

A little big for this now but what the heck?
One last try at it! Right?

Locally grown healthy stuff! Yay!

Spencer replacing the string net with a chain.
These guys are good players!

Girls day, shopping (check out this fun ring!),
beautiful hair cut for Laura, fancy lunch at home
and a matinee showing
of Eat Pray Love on the big screen,
a foot massage...pure heaven.

Happy #9 to my birthday twin...Rossie!
Have I ever told you he is named after my Dad?

Laura made us a great Birthday dinner!
Thanks Honey!

Their Helping Hands

I know we are in the Christmas Season now but I just need to do a little flashback to last month...Sometimes as a parent your heart is just bursting to share something special that your kids have done. This post was on Laura's blog on Thanksgiving and I just wanted to share it. That's what I love about blogging~you can do whatever you want to and this is one of those times I need to tell you about something wonderful our Laura and her family did.

She writes:

"We decided to spend Thanksgiving this year serving Thanksgiving Dinner to the community through the local Methodist church. It was awesome!

They asked us to show up at 11 am and when we did they put us right to work. Spencer and I worked in the kitchen making casseroles while Ross and Robert worked in the main room preparing tables and gift bags. We worked steadily until 1 pm when the doors were opened and people started to arrive. Spencer and I served food from the main serving line and Robert and Ross served desserts. As the afternoon rolled on and things began to wind down, I joined Robert at the dessert table. And,we all had a chance to do LOTS of dishes (as the food was all served on glass dishes and eaten with real silverware). All in all it was a great experience- one I hope we can continue to do in the future.

Our time serving today reminded me of some truths that I hope to teach my kids not just on the special days in life but in the way we live each day of our life. Here are some of the things I learned and relearned today.

1) In giving to others, we receive. In lifting others, we are lifted up. I don't know how or why this is true. I just know that it is. When I give to others I always feel better- ALWAYS!

2) When people work together toward a common goal they can accomplish great things. There were times today when I felt bad because I didn't feel like I was doing much. But today, I was a part of something bigger than myself and that is a great feeling. We did something remarkable, we gave food and companionship and joy to 100 people that would have otherwise spent the day alone. I could not have done that alone, none of us could have but together we did. Opportunities like these are humbling and empowering at the same time.

3) When we serve others our love for God grows. I just don't think it is possible to show love for, give service to, or truly lift another persons heart without feeling a closeness to God. It is a testimony to me that we are His hands here on earth and that He is a real part of the service we give.

4) Having a job to do (a real job with real significance) builds confidence and brings joy. I have been trying to teach my kids to love work for as long as I can remember and to be perfectly honest, it just hasn't been working. But I learned something today that I hope will help as I try to teach them in the future. Working with purpose, working on something significant, working for something with real value is what makes working worthwhile and joyful. I saw my kids enjoy work today for the first time because they knew that what they were doing was important. They were given real jobs with real significant and they found joy in it! Wow, what a discovery!

5) We have been so blessed. Living in Naples was a very eye-opening, very humbling experience for me. I promised myself, as I watch the people I grew to love there struggle, that I would never forget the blessings I have been given. We have made significant changes in our life style this year as a result of the things that we saw and the experiences we had in Italy all with the hope of remembering our blessings and living in thanksgiving daily. I felt very humbled today as I watched how something as simple as a warm meal brought joy to the lives of others. A warm meal- that was all it took to brighten someones day. I eat three warm meals a day and never think twice about it. It made me wonder what other blessings have I been given that fail to recognize regularly? President Monson said, an attitude of gratitude must be cultivated. I love that word and hope that with significant, conscious effort on my part my attitude of gratitude will grow!"

The kids ate their own Thanksgiving Turkey
{that turned out to be a chicken}
on Friday
but that is a story for another day!

Anyway, I just love that they did this and I truly am so proud of their loving service to those in need. Talk about cultivating an attitude of gratitude and living in Thanksgiving daily!

Have You Ever Been on a Mediterranean Cruise?

Laura and Rossie relaxing on the cruise!

If not come along with our daughter, Laura, for a tour of some of the places they went on their recent cruise. They had been saving their money for quite some time to go to Germany for two weeks this month as they will be returning to the US on July 15th for a new duty station in Rhode Island and they wanted to take full advantage of their remaining time in Europe.

Things happened with Robert's assignments and it turned out that they had to cancel their plans to go there. At the same time they shipped their car to the US and that left 2 weeks of leave and no transportation. So they decided to look for a cruise instead and this is where they went. Excellent serendipity in my opinion!

"We recently got home from a
7 night Mediterranean cruise!It was amazing!!

We sailed on board this ship;

Royal Caribbean's Navigator of the Seas.

We visited Sicily, Italy; Ephesus, Turkey; Athens, Greece and Iraklion on the Island of Crete.

Okay, so I have attempted to write this post at least 48 times in the last two days but every time I sit down to write I get pulled away by someone or something with more immediate needs than my own. In addition to the constant string of interruptions, I am having a really hard time deciding how to write about what we did. Should I write a day by day review? Or should I post by category; places we visited, things we saw, things we did on the ship? Hmm- what to do, what to do? So....this is how it went.
I really didn't know what to expect our state rooms to be like. I had visions a minuscule rooms with tacky decorations and bad circulation but that was simply not the case. Our rooms were perfect. They were much larger than I expected, they were immaculately clean. The room temperature and air flow were great- never once did I feel like I was in as a confined space. Overall the rooms were unbelievably comfortable.

Each night our stateroom attendant Josephine would come in, turn down the covers of our beds, and leave the next days schedule our for us to review. In addition she would leave us fresh towels folded to look like animals. The boys loved that.

In fact, they loved the "towel animals" so much they opted to dry off with washcloths each night after their shower rather than take them apart. Here are pictures of the towel animals Josephine left for us; an elephant, a pig, a chick, and a stingray (with a chick on his back courtesy of Spencer). She also left us a monkey and a bat.

Spencer with His crew of towel animals!

On the last day of the Cruise Spencer and Robert attended a towel animal folding class. Spencer LOVED it! I think he is ready to sign a contract with RC to be a stateroom attendant so he can make towel animals everyday!
The ship we sailed on was beautiful and ginormous! There really is no way to describe it to you so I will let the pictures do the talking.

Our table #49 was on the second level, on the right, nearest to the stair case. The prefect location! Our servers were Sebastiano from Sicily and Tankut from Turkey. They were so kind and so careful. They accommodated our special eating needs beautifully.

Spencer in his glory~no worries!

In addition to the Main dinning hall where breakfast lunch and dinner are served, the ship has 4 individual restaurants and a large buffet that is open to everyone almost all day long. This is a picture of dining area of the large buffet area, the Windjammer Cafe.

One of my favorite things about Cruising is that there is a Theatrical production of some kind each night in the ships theater. I didn't have a chance to attend every show but I did see several and was incredibly impressed with the quality of what I saw.

The Navigator of the Seas also has an ice skating arena where they do live ice skating shows, teach ice staking lessons and have open ice skating times for advanced and beginner skaters. I bet I don't have to tell you which group we skated with!

There are 3 pools on board the ship. The two outdoor pools shown here and an indoor pool. We were all a bit surprised the first time we jumped in and discovered the pools are filled with salt water- yuck! The terrible taste and stingy eyes didn't stop us though, we certainly spend our share of time at the pool.

We spent a lot of time on the sports deck too playing basketball,
climbing the rock wall,

(Ross climbed everyday and "rang the bell" 5 or 6 times.
He is a great climber because he is strong and fast and unstoppably determined.)

Playing ping-pong

Playing mini-golf.

The ship also has an outdoor walking/jogging track, a gym and a full service spa. I spent a bit of time at each. I walked on the outdoor track in the mornings and watched the sun rise. I attended a few health seminars at the gym, and thanks to Robert's encouragement and support, I did indulge in a spa treatment- it was heavenly!

There are 4 youth centers on board the Navigator of the Seas to accommodate the wide age range of its young passengers. Our boys spent their time in the Explorer and Voyager kids clubs. They had a great time.

They also enjoyed the ships arcade. Actually, we all did. We had several family air hockey tournaments (Robert is the reigning champion) and each played a handful of individual games.

One of my favorite parts of the ship was the Royal Promenade. Located in the center of the ship and lined with shops and cafe's- the Royal Promenade was a fun and lively place to stroll around. Each night there was a special sale of some sort on the Promenade and though I didn't do any shopping (I was sorely tempted a few times) I really enjoyed looking. One night they had a watch and diamond sale. The next night they were selling ancient Roman glass jewelry. Another night it was handbags. Another night Murano glass.

I spent one afternoon on the ship watching a movie
in the screening room. I saw Julie and Julia. I loved it!

Of course, there were lots of things to do and places to visit on board that we simply did not get to but everything we did do was first class. It was a very comfortable home away from home. A perfect place to come back to after a day of sightseeing.

"Our ship pulled into port in five different Mediterranean cities-

two in Italy, two in Greece and one in Turkey.

Since we had already been to Rome and Sicily in Italy we originally planned to just enjoy the ship on those days but I got antsy so when the ship docked in Sicily I got off to explore the town and do a little shopping. Unfortunately, I didn't realize until I was off the ship and poised to take my first sightseeing picture, that I had forgotten to replace my camera's memory card before leaving home. So while I did get to see a few things, I spent most of my time looking for a place to buy a new one. When I got back on the ship I bought a new memory card from the ships photo shop and went to the top deck to take this picture. Isn't it lovely?

I love Italy from a distance like this. It is just so... quaint and romantic looking.

Our second port of call, in Turkey. was by far my favorite. I am not sure what I was expecting Turkey to be like but what we saw certainly wasn't it. Turkey was so clean and so organized and so western- it really was surprising. Here are a few pictures of the port town Kusidasi.

We went on a cruise sponsored tour in Turkey and it was awesome. We visited Ancient Ephesus, where the Apostle Paul preached to the Ephesians for more than 2 years. We saw the amphitheater where he taught and where it was decided by the people that he would have to leave Ephesus or be put to death. Here are a few pictures from portion of the tour.

On the bus.

Temple of Hadrian

Ancient Library of Ephesus

Our Turkish Tour Guide.

Oz really made this tour special for us. He was very knowledgeable and considerate of each of his guests. He really loved his job and his country and it was a delight to be around him.

After our tour in Ancient Ephesus we headed into town for a Turkish carpet demonstration. I had heard horror stories about people going to these kinds of things without the least intention of buying a carpet and leaving with a beautiful Turkish rug and $15,000 of debt.

I was a pretty sure I was not going to be one of those people but that is what they all said too. Anyway, it ended up being an amazing experience. I learned that Turkish carpets are all 100% handmade. I learned that it takes 1 woman, 1 year to weave a 1' x 1' square of carpet. I learned that all of the colors in the carpets come from natural vegetable dies. I learned that many Turkish carpet making families only sell 1 carpet a year. It was a very humbling and impressive experience.

One of the weavers.

The carpets.

I fell in love with the red and yellow one in the top right hand corner of this picture. It was a love affair that began and ended in Turkey because as much as I wanted to I didn't bring it home!

Our third Port of Call was Athens, Greece. I had high expectation for Athens but was sorely disappointed. Athens is very large, old, dirty, seedy and crowded. It actually reminded me a lot of Rome- no wonder I didn't like it at first. Perhaps with time it would have grown on me but I really didn't care for it the first time around. We decided to take a Cruise tour to the Acropolis where we saw the Parthenon.

It was an impressive structure
but I didn't care for our tour guide,
it was also very hot and very crowded.

I know that sounds like a lot of complaining but it really does get better. Because of a transportation strike in Athens the day were were there, we did not get to complete the tour we had paid for. So we asked to be dropped off in the down town area to explore a little on our own and do a little shopping. I really enjoyed walking around the city center. The first thing we saw the reconstructed original Olympic center. It was very impressive.

We bought lunch at a local market and
ate on the steps near a church.

We did some people watching and a little shopping and really enjoyed our time together. When we were done we took a taxi to the port and we made it back to the ship just before they pulled up the gangplank.

Our final port day was spent on the Island of Crete. Robert and I decided to leave the boys on the ship and explore the Island on our own. It was such a delightful day. We hired a taxi and saw some beautiful things. Our taxi drive did not speak much English and of course we don't speak any Greek but he was very observant and noticed right away the kinds of things we were and were not interested in. He drove us through some very scenic places and pulled over often to let us take pictures.

Here are a few of my favorites.

We visited some ancient ruins (because what trip to any European city is complete without visiting ruins of some sort?)

We visited the Marina and old Military Fort.

Had a Gyro for lunch.

And then headed to the shopping district.

All in all it was a really delightful day!

There is no end to the amount of shopping one can do on a cruise. In fact, it was kind of ridiculous, even for me, and I love shopping! We came home with several unique souvenirs. Here are a few pictures.

A fantastic glass mosaic lamp from Turkey. I think it will be perfect in our bedroom.

A hanging candle lantern- also from Turkey.

An olive wood chess set from Athens.

A "good luck" charms from Athens. How could I resist- it was decorated with glass pomegranate beads (which represent fertility) and a bird holding a laurel leaf? I figured it was meant for me!

And some Olive Oil and beauty products from Crete.

There certainly was some "non-buyers" remorse on my part (the Ancient Roman Glass Jewelry and the W ring from the ship; The giant red coral necklace and carpet from Turkey; the labyrinth game in Athens; and the antique door knocker in Crete) but we decided ahead of time how much money we would spend each day and I feel really good about the fact that we stuck with our plan.

Well, it is official Robert and I are 100% converted to Cruising. It really is as relaxing and fun as everyone says it is!! I just feel bad it took us so long to get on the bandwagon. We have a few "must take" trips coming up but we are already thinking about and looking forward to our next cruise. Anyone want to join us?

For a few more pictures of the trip visit My Life in Pictures.
Thanks for tuning in!