Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day

Probably one of my most favorite movies of all time. Just love it. Period.

Just Because it made me Laugh....

Okay, That Wasn't So Bad...

So my current calling is Ward Choir Director. I know. Crazy, huh? I think I about fainted when they called me. And it's been challenging in ways I can't even begin to express.
But...what I wanted to share was one of the joys I get out of the calling. Choosing beautiful music to sing. Now we have a fabulous ward choir. Tons and tons of talent, which makes it easy on the ears.
So I just chose a pair of great pieces to sing for Easter: a great arrangement of "Chirst the Lord is Risen", by David Zabriskie, and Gethsemane, from Sally DeFord's Easter cantata, I Stand All Amazed.
If you're interested, click on the link and listen to this version of Gethsemane. Try any of solo versions. But because it's a solo version, so you won't be able to hear the amazingness of our ward choir, but the emotion behind this is breathtaking.

Family Home Evening and the Mormon Mommy Guilts

So this evening I did one half of a presentation about Family Home Evening for RS Activity Night. I was asked specifically to talk about using lds.org for FHE, and how to do it with older and younger kids.

Now I have to admit, I have never really caught the spirit of FHE. It always seemed labor intensive for not a lot of pay off. That, and because I could never do it perfect, could never have it stay perfect, I didn't do it, or gave a half-hearted effort. The dreaded Mormon Mommy Guilts hit big time, and when it grew overwhelming, I shut down.

But in this case, it really is a situation where the teacher needed the lesson more than anyone else receiving it. I'm watching my family grow, completely without my permission, and realizing that every second is precious. That doesn't mean I just got translated into Perfect Mom, it just means I'm understanding a little better my place in this world and family.

So today I got a peek at what it is the Lord sees in the program of FHE. And I give myself permission to do this FHE in the most simple way, to just be basic, and make sure that my family feels the Spirit and grows in unity so we actually WANT to be together forever because we like each other.

Yay FHE!!!!

A New Year, A New Outlook, and Eternally 39

I've never been a big believer in turning over a new leaf on New Year's Day. Probably because I never once followed all the way through a goal set then. But here it is, the new year, and against my will, a desire for change has come upon me.

I find myself no longer tolerant of my previous habits, destructive desires, or lack of follow through. Maybe, at the beginning of the year where I will turn 39, I have finally accepted adulthood, and all that means. That my life is my responsibility, that if I don't do the best for myself, my husband, and my children, who will?

And so, though I've made nothing concrete, no STATEMENT OF INTENT followed by a workable plan, I am moving forward with the plan to just DO BETTER. I know what I need to do to be a better person, I've just avoided doing it for years because I DIDN'T WANT TO. (How juvenile is that????)

As to being eternally 39, it's a joke in my family that if you ask my parents how old they are, they will say 39. And have been that age for 25 years, give or take. The realization that I am at that age, that I will turn 39 in a couple of months, and though according to the government and my children I will continue to age, if anybody ever asks me after March 15th how old I am, I will always be 39. And my life, such as it is, needs to stand for more than my inborn selfishness. So I will indulge myself in this one last selfishness...I will not age beyond 39.

Happy New Year to All, and may all your nothingconcretewithnostatementofintent goals see the light of day!

And Then There Was December...

So November came and went, with a late Thanksgiving, and early activities, and suddenly it's a month later and I've blogged nothing. Not a thing. And now Christmas is a week away, we're not done, and, well, I'm just sitting around feeling overwhelmed. So my post is this...we're here, we're alive, we're enjoying the holiday, and hope that it's a joyful holiday for all of our friends and loved ones!

(P.S. Here are the two calendar pages I put together as part of a family calendar that will be a gift for my parents this christmas. I'm a total newbie at this, and I'm sure my siblings' will be much better, but it was still fun to put together.)

Specific Instructions

This week has been one where I discovered that in fact my children cannot read my mind, and when I say something (or don't say something that is obvious to me), I will reap the rewards of my lack of proper communication.

Example 1: Benji has started toilet training. But if I do not say to him the right words, the bathroom is sprayed with urine. Yeah. 'Nuff said.

Example 2: On Wednesdays I am gone in the afternoon from 3:30 to 6:30, when I take Peter into Salt Lake for Salt Lake Children's Choir rehearsals. I usually have something already to put in the oven or cooking in the crockpot on these days. Last week I made up a recipe for a breakfast casserole, with a hashbrown base and and egg, cream and cheese mixture poured on top. I left it on the oven, covered in Saran Wrap, and told specific instructions to Sarah on when to put it in the oven, how long to cook it, etc. It was a busy evening, as we were going to attend the wedding reception of my niece, Kacey, and there would be little time to do anything else but stuff down a few bites before running out the door.

When I came home, everyone told me how yummy dinner was, and that saving any for Peter and me was difficult. I ate quickly, thinking that it was odd that it hadn't browned after an hour in the oven, and that the liquid must have over flowed it a bit, because there was a slight film around the edge of the pan.

Eventually I got around to cleaning it, and realized that the egg film was NOT egg, as I had supposed, but Saran Wrap, melted, and eaten, by my entire family, myself included.

It had never occurred to me that I had to specify removing the plastic wrap to my daughter. But I have learned my lesson. If I want something done a specific way, I have to say things like "Please point it into the toilet," or "Remove plastic wrap before putting it in the oven."

Just thought I'd give you all the benefit of my experience so this doesn't happen to you.

November Heebee Geebees

November has always been a fun month for me. I enjoy the anticipation of Christmas, and the yummy food of Thanksgiving.

This year, however, I am adding a big 'ol stress to that...NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. The challenge? Write 50,000 words in one month, or the length of a full novel.

Never done that before. Ever. But need to desperately, if just to prove to myself that I can.

I almost didn't even start, just so I wouldn't be disappointed in myself half way through the month. But what is life, if not a series of attempts and failures along our quest for perfection?

It's still giving me the heebee geebees, though. I'm terrified!

Benji, Ph.D in Daaaaaannnnce

Isn't this a great picture? Sarah is on the yearbook committee and had borrowed the school's camera to take pictures of Red Ribbon Week. She just shot this for fun while we were getting out of the car one day after school. We need a really good camera so we can take more of these.

The reason I posted this pic (other than to show off Sarah's awesome photography skills) is to share the most recent silly Benji moment.

He and Andrew have watched "Monsters vs. Aliens" a hundred times. No exaggeration. He loves to imitate his favorite parts, one of those being the "Dance Dance Revolution" of Dr. Cockroach. (If you haven't seen it, you're missing out.) Benji kind of bounces around, flapping his elbows in his own version of the Funky Chicken.

So this is this morning: He wants to get dressed by himself, including changing his own diaper. He got COMPLETELY undressed, had all his new stuff ready to go, when this part of the movie came on. Naked little boy doing bizarre Funky Chicken dance while giggling insanely.

Need I say more?

LDS General Conference and My Testimony

So we went to East Canyon this weekend for conference. We invited my parents and my youngest brother and his family to come up and enjoy conference and the tradional joys of rice and bacon. But with my dad sounding like a loaded down dump truck (nasty sore throat), my mom having to REALLY rest from her broken hip, and it raining buckets (probably just normal stuff for say, Seattle, but around here, if water comes out of the sky, people start to build arks), we ended up being by ourselves. It was great to be able to just sit and listen, even though the Sunday morning session I barely heard because that was the one I was yelling through, trying to get the kids to "SIT STILL AND BE QUIET BECAUSE THE PROPHETS ARE TALKING!".

Elder Holland's talk during the Sunday afternoon session was impossible to miss, however. Even from the beginning I could tell that this would not be a 'kiss-kiss-nice-nice' kind of talk, but her was revving up to some serious box-breaking. (Italian missionary language, translated from 'rompere le scatole', which means to scold or really get after someone.)

I was so impressed with his statement about going on record for all of the world and heaven to note, that the Book of Mormon is true, both in origins and in translation by the prophet Joseph Smith. We live in a world where we are so PC, trying so hard not to step on anyone's toes that sometimes we don't even stand up for what we really need to shout from the rooftops. It was an amazing talk, and I for one am willing to follow humbly in his very impressive path and say that I, too, know that the Book of Mormon is the true word of God, written by ancient prophets for our day, to give us a path to lead us to Christ. I also know that Joseph Smith was called of God, that he saw, in the flesh, our God and his Son, Jesus Christ, and that all that followed, through the recieving and translation of the Book of Mormon to his last testament given through the shedding of his blood.