I Don't Want to be An Alien!

This morning as I was preparing a group lesson for church I ran across this great poem that I feel is very poignant. The story goes that a very rich man was lying on his deathbed and not a single member of his family came to be at his side as he was about to leave this mortal life. A stranger was standing near and asked the man, "What have you learned during your life's sojourn?"

This was his reply,"

"I’m an alien, to the faith my mother taught me.
I’m a stranger to the God that heard my mother when she cried.
I’m an alien to the comfort that, “Now I lay me,” brought me.
To the everlasting arms that held my father when he died.
When the great world came and called me, I deserted all to follow.
Never noting in my blindness I had slipped my hand from His.
Never dreaming in my dazedness that the bubble fame is hollow.
That the wealth of gold is tinsel, as I since have learned it is.
I have spent a lifetime seeking things I spurned when I found them,
I have fought and been rewarded in many a winning cause,
But I’d give it all, fame and fortune and the pleasures that surround them,
If I only had the faith that made my mother what she was."

N. Eldon Tanner, “Constancy Amid Change,” Ensign, Nov 1979

I cannot imagine a life without faith and hope in the Savior....what a bleak choice! He is the way, the truth and the life!

Liz Lemon Swindel's beautiful art

Decompression

How has your Saturday been? Ours has been one of "those days!" We had a plan when we got up this morning but the plan has been foiled...repeatedly. Just mishaps and the unexpected...you know how it just goes south sometimes.

Jim had chapel clean-up this morning which takes a couple of hours. I was planning to go and help but had to do some e-mailing and calling neighbors on our irrigation system regarding possible rationing of the water this year. That took longer than expected with minimal results as no one was home so I left a bunch of messages and still have the task of gathering water usage figures from each person. Arrrgh!

Next I ran down to give the final approval on this gorgeous granite we had chosen and when we saw the actual slabs they brought in for us to approve, they were totally different than the one we had chosen in the showroom and from each other. Of course we understand that since it is a natural product there are variations but this went way beyond a slight variation. Like unrecognizable! So back to square one on that and trying to find another one and hoping the same thing will not reoccur.


Jim was planning on getting to work on the remodel right after the church work and discovered he had forgotten to round-up the weeds...so another waylay as he did all of that. Poor guy he just has too much to do all the time. I feel for him.

So anyway, what I was thinking is that in life we just have to expect that if we plan, most days go pretty well, but occasionally no matter what we do we hit roadblocks. I think I am finally learning that this is just life...no need to stress out over it. Just tuck and roll. Readjust your expectations and know "this too shall pass."

As we were beginning to stress out we kept running into each other in the kitchen. You know, food...the great anesthesia, right? Try as we would we just couldn't find any junk food to placate ourselves...thank goodness. (Just as a side thought...how does eating something fix the problem? It doesn't!)


So I then started thinking about what does fix it for me? I thought about something I really love to do to decompress and I have never heard of anyone else doing this...so thought I'd share it.

I like to go to a nursery and just walk around through the aisles and look at the flowers and plants and just breathe! I like how everything looks just misted with little droplets of water and usually there is a little breeze and chirping birds and it does refresh me. I also enjoy listening to the ornamental water pieces where they often have running water. It is a great fix when a day out in nature is unrealistic. Does anyone else find this to be fun and relaxing? Just curious! I have seen hundreds of decompression tips but never that one. Have you?


flickr photos: cookies and flowers

Our Son is 34!

Eat Cake, Baby!

Happy Birthday, Chris! Oh, how we do wish we could share this day with you. Maybe next year and all the years to follow! You have had a wonderful year.

You got your National Science Foundation Grant which doesn't happen to many professors, especially in their first few years. You got to take your graduate class to Europe for three weeks with Missy, you did some major remodeling in your beautiful home. You also passed your tenure boards at BYU with flying colors and made your entire family very proud of you and all your efforts and accomplishments. You traveled a lot for work and got to go to Washington DC for your first time! You have had a chance to see a lot of the world through your mission, ATL and now BYU. Awesome!

Most importantly you have been a great son, husband and father and brother, uncle and friend to many. We all love you and wish you a very happy and prosperous new year. Stay close to our Father in Heaven in all you do and it will be another wonderful year for you! We love you, son!

I have added some photos from this year at the end of the slide show of some of your life highlights! Enjoy!

Pure Gold

Today I was doing the dishes and thinking about things. Do you know what is worth its weight in gold? Making choices that make you feel good about you!


As happy as I am about my recent weight loss, I really think the bigger benefit to me personally has been the way I can feel good about myself and what I am doing. Even though from outward appearances there is very little change in me, what has happened on the inside is huge. Whenever there is a discrepancy between what you know is true and right and what you are doing, it is hard to have self respect. True peace and harmony within comes from living what you believe and believing what you live.

It is also throwing off the shackles of doing what you should do and have to do for doing what you do because you choose it. Choosing to do good is proactive~the shoulds and have tos are reactive.


I want to be proactive and make good choices because I want to take the high road. I want to live the higher law~I don't have to. Isn't that what our agency is all about? Whatever we are doing in life it should be because we chose it. It there are things you simply must do then decide it is what you want to do. As long as you think you should or have to do something your body and spirit are at odds with one another.


President Kimball said simply "Do It." Not You Should Do It, or You Have To Do It! Right? Let it be your choice~it is so liberating. And then, as Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin's mother said..."Come what may and love it!"

Day by Day

Lombard Street (the crookedest street
in the world) in San Francisco, CA

This post is #601 for me on this blog since December 2007. That is kind of mind boggling for me when I realize how much writing I have done in 15 months just on this blog and I will admit to having several a few others.

I couldn't help reflecting upon when in school, sometimes we would get writing assignments and projects that would seem insurmountable. 20 pages on any given subject just seemed huge. I remember when Jim was working on his Master's degree and how "our" thesis seemed nearly impossible. That was back in the day when we had the old manual typewriter and I would sit on our bed typing for hours because we didn't have a proper desk, etc.

I deplored typing and every time I made an error it was whip out the old, round, pink, hard eraser with the stiff little brush on the end and start gently erasing and praying I didn't rip a hole in the paper! I didn't know what PMS was at the time, the phrase had not been coined. But that feeling of sheer frustration is the same as PMS, if ever there were two feelings that could be compared.

Riding the waves of life together!!

Flashing forward~if someone would have told me 15 months ago I would have completed 600 pages on random subjects of my choice, I would have considered them to be absolutely daft. I could not have even comprehended it, even though I have always loved to write. I use to pick up a large book and wonder how anyone could write so much about anything? Now I know. It is day by day, one word at a time that this is accomplished. You start to do it, find the value in it, repeat and then it becomes ingrained. For me it has even become necessary and a big a part of my life. It is the cheapest form of psychotherapy and I love it.

Isn't one day at a time really how we make all of our life changes really? Day by day, plodding along, molding and shaping the person that we eventually become? It is a great example to me of how hard things become easy when taken one day at a time and that to me has amazing value and application with regard to all the varied aspects of our lives. Day by day, we can do whatever we set our minds upon with energy and full purpose of heart.

We are all just enough different to make it all more interesting!

So thus we have another reason why I love to blog~it teaches me that "I can." And one of the fabulous perks~meeting and establishing new friendships and strengthen the tried and true. So I am in it for the long haul and I want to thank those of you who have hung in with me from the get go. It means a lot to me just to know that you are there. Your comments make my day and I love reading your blogs! I have learned so much from each and every one of you! So thank you and know that you are loved!


You are all as beautiful flowers, each with your own unique blogging style and qualities. You make me laugh, you make me cry, you peek my curiosity and inspire me. You make me happy and you make me a better person!

Hugs to all~

A Simple Woman's Daybook~March 23, 2009

To join in focusing on the simple things and pleasures of your daily life or to read other people's entries, click here.

So, For Today...Monday, March 23, 2009

Outside my window... it is very still after a very windy night and it is still dark and cold. It should be a beautiful Spring day once the sun comes up!

I am thinking...That going to dinner with friends tonight will be great if I manage my Weight Watcher points well all day.

From the learning rooms...I am realizing that planning, patience and vigilance are of utmost important in achieving any goal. Life is all about maintenance sometimes. Find what works, repeat.

I am thankful for...The Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life and all the faith, hope and charity that it engenders in those who believe.

From the kitchen...I am relieved to say that since I did a lot of food prep over the weekend, I don't have to worry about it at all this week!

I am wearing...PJ bottoms and a white sweat shirt and I wish a pair of socks. It is cold this morning.

I am reading..The Now Habit by Neil Fiore.

I am hoping...our daughter, Laura, and her husband, Robert, had a wonderful time in Paris this weekend and that she has arrived back in Italy safely and that he has arrived at his current work assignment in a different country. I am also wondering if their boys enjoyed staying with their friends while their parents had a little R&R in the most romantic city in the world.

I am creating...some wishful thinking regarding where I am going to put all the home furnishings we picked up this weekend from a house that has been sold that we staged. Our warehouse is full but I will need to squeeze it in somehow for just a few weeks or until we decorate another house.

I am hearing...Helen Reddy singing, That Ain't No Way To Treat A Lady.

I am going...to wish our son, Chris, a very Happy 34th Birthday this Friday! And try to understand how he got this old so quickly.

My spiritual thoughts include...total gratitude for all our blessings and prayers for family and friends in need of special help right now.

Around the house...some gardening and winter clean-up needs to be happening rather soon! We need to hire a blow and go guy also since we had to fire the last one for coming to work drunk at 9:00 am one morning. That was not OK!

One of my favorite things...new paint on the walls and no wallpaper!

A few plans for the rest of the week...things I never quite got to last week like getting the car in to be serviced and cleaning out the bathroom closet. Taking Jim down to see the granite I picked out for the kitchen, ordering more windows, a baby shower for twins of a very good friend's first grandchildren and a Friday night with my husband.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...

I took this picture of the little farm house last weekend. When I see it it reminds me that even though the world seems crowded sometimes, we can seek our own places of serenity. They do exist and sometimes just visualizing them helps remove some of the chaos of everyday life. It can help us to step back and take a deep breath and say, "With God's help, I can do this!"

Trying To Be Prepared

This is a blog post from my health blog that I decided to include here so you can see the progress on the home renovation projects.

Today something very strange came over me~I felt like preparing food for the week! Actually I do this often but never on Saturday. Jim and our good friend from Utah, Doug Higley, are working on hanging louver doors, setting moldings, etc. It's overcast and kind of dreary out and being in the kitchen just sounded appealing. So since this happens so rarely to me I just did a whole bunch of stuff~striking while the iron was hot.

First I made Jim's soup so he is taken care of for the week. His latest thing is he likes to add in some cooked pasta. Rather than put it in the soup where it seems to keep cooking when being heated up, I just cooked a bunch separately and put it in a gallon size Ziploc bag. That way it is not added into the calorie/carb/point count for the soup and he can add as much as he likes right into his bowl of hot soup.

Then I made the Fiber One cereal haystack cookies which are 1 point for each one. Both Jim and I find these just a perfect little sweet signal that we have finished dinner and are done eating!

Then I cut up all my raw veggies for the week~a one gallon bag full to the brim that is ready for those panic attacks around 3:00 pm every single day.

Lastly I made the "South of the Border Brownies"~1 can of pureed black beans and a brownie mix, bake as directed. I did take a little bite~very deceptively delicious and 2 pts for a 2 x 2 square instead of the normal 5 points. We are having Doug back over for dinner tomorrow so I needed a dessert. He'll never know and neither will our waistlines!

And we have louvers on the utility closet and the pantry, Houston!

So the sun is about to set and I feel I accomplished something in the kitchen as well as selecting our granite and keeping the men happy while they worked by staying out of their way, etc. Good day and the topper is I have a DVD with four episodes of Grey's Anatomy for tonight. What more could a girl want, I ask you? Oh, and one more thing for the week past. I bought some new shirts all one size smaller! Woohoo!