A Simple Woman's Daybook~October 10, 2013

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 entry at a time.

Just for today~Sunday, October 6, 2013

 

Outside my window...It is Sunday afternoon and a beautiful day out.  Our gardeners came on Thursday afternoon and blew all the leaves into a big pile.  They put them into plastic bags and took them away.  Not 10 hours later we had a huge wind storm and down they came three times what they cleaned up the day before.  That is autumn at our house.  We have big trees and they drop a little most days and a lot when it's windy.  I do love it.  The cooler air is just so invigorating after a hot summer.  I don't know why autumn should feel like a new beginning but it does.  It is not unlike the autumn of one's life.  Also a favorite life season for us.

I feel I am still trying to get back into being home.  It has taken awhile but I am getting there in the last three days I have done the housework just peppered in here and there between some technical writing and our Church's Semi-Annual Conference.  It was five two hour session between today and yesterday.  It is held in Salt Lake so most people stream it or watch it on TV.  It has been a spiritual feast and we all look forward to it every six months.  So in between this and that I have gotten a lot done.  Just finished cleaning out the frig...my last thing for today in that department.  Sheesh, I do hate that job.  So it's dead last on my list.
 

I am thankful for....All the wonderful and uplifting and hope building talks we heard from our church leaders from the conference.  And the beautiful exhilarating music.  There is just no choir like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The talks centered on finding our refuge in our Savior Jesus Christ it seemed.  By following him and his example of goodness we can rest in his love in difficult and trying times.

The other theme was to never give up on yourself because He never will.  Repentance and retuning is important.  It felt like a gathering in a sense.  Join us in His plan of happiness or come back and be lifted up in his word. There is something so uplifting and unifying and wonderful in knowing we are sharing this time twice of year with 15,000,000 others.  It makes me think of the amazing people that we know and love from all over coming together to be spiritually feed.

From the learning room....I have learned that I love the freedom of narrative writing and really struggle with the technical.  I spent many hours working on some training articles for genealogy last week and it was hard to slice it all up into little understandable bites and to sequence it so people could hopefully just sit down and do it.  But I worked on it with my sweet friend, Carol, and that was really great.  Don't know what I'd do without her.  She made it bearable!

I am reading...just work related stuff and trying to catch up on so many things.  I am also reading The God Who Weeps.

  
From the kitchen..I just need a quick trip to the store towards the end of the week so we are good.  I have been feeling that crockpot kind of thing like comfort foods for the long nights now.  Signal to get back to Weight Watchers very soon.  I have also been stocking up our pantry and that feels good.  I remember when the kids were growing up on the day I'd get the shopping done and all the cleaning I'd love to just relax at the end of a long day and feel the coziness and contentment.  It is kind of miraculous what I could do in a day back then.  Now it takes a lot of time.

Some spiritual thoughts I have been having...that I am so thankful we have so many things in our lives that give us meaning and purpose.  I use to think about retiring one day and how Jim and I would sit out on the porch in our rockers and waste away day after day.  Wow that was something that could not be farther from the truth.  I must have gotten that notion from Ma and Pa Kettle because none of it remotely mirrors anything in our earlier life or now.  And I am grateful it doesn't. It is important to have something to do that helps you feels you are still needed and a contributing member of society. 

I am hearing...early evening familiar sounds outside.  A dog barking here and there, some crickets, car meandering down the street now and again and the muffled voices of a few people outside.  I just turned my playlist on and up came Love Somebody by Maroon 5!....lest you think I am am old biddy!  I bought this tune and put it on my computer.  Here's why! The 1st time I heard this song,  I was car dancing with our teen grandgirls and their mom driving down the street with all of us singing at the top of our lungs.  It was a warm summer night, all the windows were down and it felt good.  It created a heart print memory that comes back in a flash like only associated music can do.  (See why those vacations require a recovery time when I get back!  Hahaha!)

One of my guilty pleasures...Max Raabe singing 30s and 40s music with his orchestra  He is such a character and sings funny songs sometimes.  I have been collecting some of them because they just make me feel like a party.  (That is not a common experience otherwise.)  Check him out on YouTube sometime.  Jen's husband got me hooked on this German singer. Purely delightful.

Pet Peeves...That I have only been done with everything I needed to do once in my entire life and then it only lasted about 30 minutes.  Sheesh!  It was a magical moment though.

I am quoting...Pinterest.  I Just Love This~The Things That Make LDS Families Strong.

If I could change one thing it would be...that people would use more common sense and be filled with more compassion and thoughtfulness where others are concerned.  This especially applies to children.  Hazie's school doesn't understand this concept at all.  This is making a wreck of us all.  Especially her parents who already have enough on their plates.

An enjoyable movie/ TV show we have watched lately...We watched Pelican Brief the other night.  It had been years and it was really good.  It has held up over time, one of Jim's and my criteria for a good movie!  Love Julia Roberts and Denzel in that one.  So sweet together.

I am curious about...how some people sleep at night?

Plans for the rest of the week...Well, I started this Daybook on Sunday afternoon and it is now Thursday morning so I have already lived most of my plans for the week!  I decided I did not have time to go for a re-do on this so am completing it and sending it out a little after the fact.  Today I am going to the Genealogy Library to work on some Swedish genealogy projects. We have actually three Swedish lines and we are at the very beginning of researching in Sweden.  We have two experts that work Thursday mornings so I am going in.  The overriding thing is I can have lunch with my good friend also.  There is a lot of construction going on over here and I need to get away from the loud noise of the tractor going up and down the side of our house for a little while.  On Saturday I will be in the Library also at an all day Swedish Genealogy Seminar being presented by a team of Swedish Genealogists touring the US.  We are privileged to have them come to our library. 

 

One of my favorite things...Seeing Jim and Dave work together.  They are tireless in this workshop project.  I love that they have such a great friendship.  It has been so much work and they are doing an excellent job.  We will all be happy when it is all done even though they are enjoying the process immensely! 

One thing that made me so happy this past week...Our condo we share with Jennifer and Lowell in Utah is in contact again.  It went on the market and had a few offers withing a couple of days.  Sold on day three then the buyers decided on another condo closer to their current location.  Then just a few days later one of the original couples bought it.  So hoping it gets done soon so the kids can move to Salt Lake.

The most surprising thing this past week...getting a letter from a good friend letting me know his mom had passed away suddenly a few days ago.  Val was a very special lady to me and we shared a unique friendship for many years.  She was like a mother figure to me, also a great sister in the Gospel, an example of an elegant, beautiful and virtuous woman, and my literary mentor.  She was a published author, a poet and an avid journalist, a well-educated teacher and a tremendous servant to her family and friends and her community.  She was 88 years old.  Even when you know this is coming it is a hard pill to swallow.  Thoughts of her have been flooding my mind and remembering all of our shared times has been bittersweet.  She was a completely devoted wife and mother to her four sons.  I want to be just like her when I grow up!

Some photos I am sharing this week...There is something about these colors that make my heart sing!  It may have something to do with autumn.

Pinterest Pins

Here is my Pinterest link to my Burnt Orange Crush!

http://www.pinterest.com/onedesigner/burnt-orange-crush/

 

UNTIL THE NEXT DAYBOOK,
 BE HAPPY AND CARRY ON!

❤♡♥♡❤♡♥♡❤♡♥s, Bon