Segullah

Mormon women blogging about the peculiar and the treasured

Reminders: Book Club and Contests

Hello friends. We’re only a few hours from the end of 2010, and it seems to me that now is a great time to make a resolution for 2011. How about this? Resolved: I will read more classic literature! I’ve actually wanted to do this myself, which is why it seemed like a great idea [...]

Running the Numbers

And the evening and the morning were the first day. I ran 200 fewer miles in 2010 than in 2009.  I read 25 fewer books.  I spent a lot of time doing things I don’t enjoy like moving, volunteering in classrooms, baking (mostly) unsuccessful allergen-free breads and goodies, hosting parties and play-dates, and cleaning.  I [...]

Post-Christmas Reflections

The new clothes and gadgets have all been put away (at least they’ve been moved up to the children’s rooms), wrapping paper and boxes are crammed in the recycling bin, and the sugar cookies and coconut bread and chocolates and the leftovers from Christmas Day have been eaten. After a whirlwind month of decorating and [...]

A Worthy Goal

This spirit rushed into the chapel as a brother from Iran gave the opening prayer Sunday. With all sincerity he prayed, thankful that we were not wet, we were warm, we had a building to be in and that our lives were not in danger. It gave me pause. Currently there are over 300,000 child soldiers [...]

The Holdouts

It started Tuesday, after Cub Scout Pack, at a meeting with the other scout leaders and the Primary President. The president leaned over to me and asked, with a wince on her face, “Hey, could you play the piano again this week in Primary?” In addition to being a Webelos leader, I’m also the backup [...]

Posts of Christmas Past

Merry Christmas! If you’re online and need a Segullah fix, here are some posts from Christmas past. We wish you a joyful day. Merry Christmas. Emily M: Christmas Pain, Christmas Joy Andrea R: And Mary Kept All Things Brooke, also on Mary Justine: on homemade gifts Adri: on Santa Shelah: on enjoying the good things [...]

The Perfect Present

One Christmas, when I was a gappy-toothed, precocious firecracker of a eight year old, I received every single present I asked for. I remember how just weeks from Christmas I told my aunts the list of things I wished for on a family walk, how the day’s summer-heated glare was finally smudging into cooler dusk, [...]

Buried

We’ve been getting a lot of snow. I shoveled three times today to try and stay ahead of the falling, falling, falling snow. The water is wonderful, I said to my aching back. The water will be so nice in the summer. Green grass and flowers wouldn’t be possible without this shoveling. But apparently my [...]

When Joseph Went to Bethlehem

Two weeks ago I taught “When Joseph Went to Bethlehem” to my Primary kids. We sang the first verse: “When Joseph went to Bethlehem I think he took great care/to place his tools and close his shop and leave no shavings there. He urged the donkey forward then/with Mary on its back/and carried bread and [...]

Am I a Donkey?

Q: What is the purpose of life? Typical LDS A: It’s our time to prepare to meet God, to prove ourselves worthy to live again with Heavenly Father. Who am I to quibble with the Abraham 3: 24-26? “And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord [...]

“I Just Don’t Have Time for That”

A caveat: I realize this post is a little grumpy. I’d rather write a Segullah post that’s intelligent, or enlightened, or at least pithy. (Ha! What am I thinking? I’m never pithy.) But no. It seems that today, I must whine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Now, onward! *** There are certain phrases I [...]

Afternoon FAIL

It started out as a reasonably good day. Dh and I got some technical details hammered out with our new scanner, which plays a major role in the christmas gifts I’m frantically trying to finish before the magic free shipping disappears from Shutterfly. I pulled up my laptop, and went to town.

Christmas and Memory

We decorated our Christmas tree a few days ago, with hand-me-down ornaments and candy canes clustering densely toward the bottom of the tree (none of the candy canes hang higher than chest high). The decorations brought back so many memories that I seemed to be seeing a kind of Christmas palimpsest, a double-vision of the [...]

Interview with Featured Artist Maralise Petersen

You may be familiar with the beautiful writing of Maralise Petersen, who worked as Segullah’s intrepid blog editor for several years, but you might not know that she’s also an artist. Maralise, who now works as the Art Editor for the journal, had to have her arm twisted by the entire staff to allow us [...]

coming to terms

I cried the day I found out I was expecting him. Can I say that without sounding callous and unkind? I don’t cry much, but I certainly did that day. Pregnancy is rough around here in the best of times; the edge of sanity was not a good place to start the nine months afresh. [...]

I Esteemed Him Not

“No thank you,” I said. The stranger in front of me was visibly emotional. His chin wrinkled and it looked like he might cry. A grown man, standing in my driveway, about to cry. He was dressed well enough and clean-shaven, but I kept my distance. I was cautious, even skeptical. He asked to wash [...]

Looking up

See that woman in the middle? The one alone With the white hat and broom Head down, sweeping Or digging, maybe. That has been me. Focused on the depth of snow in front of me And my need to dig out. Oblivious To the boisterous gathering over there And to the snow-stuck wagon behind me, [...]

A Simple Wish

I stumbled through the dining room this morning, bleary-eyed and hung-over on last night’s dose of cold medicine.  My vision was cloudy, but I laughed as I passed the wooden box with the word “simplify” written decoratively across the front.  It is overflowing with cords, spare chargers and every unclaimed accessory to random electronic gadgets [...]

Anointed

Cradled in my arms, his little body twists and squirms, searching for comfort that is not there. The back arches, legs thrust into the chair, propelling him deeper into my flesh, then almost out of my grasp. Neither of us is sure which he wants more. The cramping is relentless, his stomach, long ago and [...]

Bemoaning Hormones

Last week I cried about a hamburger. The evening started out pleasantly enough. It was my husband’s birthday — his first since we’ve been married. We decided to try one of Boston’s best burger joints for the celebratory dinner. My mouth was watering at first sight of the menu — more than two dozen varieties [...]

Special to Me

Now that winter, with its dry air, has arrived, my kids and I have added something new to our bedtime routine. After reading stories, I get out my “special lotion,” and I massage their little cracked and bleeding knuckles. Last night, as I was rubbing her hands, my five-year-old daughter asked me, “Why is your [...]

Fount of Many Blessings

My husband was laid off from his job several months ago. He’s gotten a few consulting jobs but we’re still wondering what and when will be coming our way employment-wise. An opportunity to volunteer in the Bishop’s Storehouse came up last month. My husband signed up right away. “I need all the blessings I can [...]

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