Hypocrisy and You
The topic of hypocrisy has been coming up in conversations again and again lately. In particular I spoke to an old college roommate about four months ago. She is a single mom and not all that interested in taking her two kids to church; too many hypocrites, she says. Oh, how we all hate hypocrites: [...]
I may or may not have spanked my children
Do you look at your children and pat yourself on the back? Or perhaps blame yourself for the issues that they have? I have six children, including three teenagers, and they are all pretty good, easy kids. For a long, long time I thought they were all great due to my exemplary parenting skills. But [...]
Jennie, the Not-so-Powerful
I kind of don’t like the start of a New Year. It seems so open, so white, so overwhelming. I’m more of a baby step person. I like the idea of taking things a bit at a time. Which is why I dislike New Year’s resolutions. Most years I don’t even bother because I flop [...]
Curing Christmas Craziness
December 1st: to me it’s the day that the Christmas season really gets under way. Today I am regretting buying the Advent Calendar with all sorts of little cubbies that require filling every year. Why didn’t I just stick with the chocolate advent calendars? They’re so easy! My social calendar is already filling up with [...]
Silky shorts and other horrors
My 14-year-old son has a pair of bright orange silky shorts. I loathe silky basketball shorts. I’m sure I must have bought them for him because I buy all his clothes. But what was I thinking? Was I so exasperated with clothes shopping that I just said “fine” when he waved them in front of [...]
Pictures of the Dead
Even though I feel comfortable blogging about almost anything, there is one thing I have never written about: I had a stillborn baby. It was many years ago and it was very sad and really, what is there to say? One day I was happily six months pregnant and the next day I was having [...]
Burning in Hell
In my Primary class (7-8 year-olds) we’ve been reading the Gospels (as has everyone else in the Church, I assume). In Matthew there are a few verses that talk about burning in everlasting fire if we live lives of sin. Since all kids have had a painful burn at some point, I figured they would [...]
I’d like a sure thing, with a side order of easy
In this gaming era of Ninjas that slice up flying fruit and plants that fight against zombies, I have to say that I’m still partial to the game of Solitaire. I love the way it’s done or not done. It doesn’t continue for hours on end, level after level. It’s just a nice, tidy little [...]
This summer is going to be great, if it’s the last thing I do!
Tomorrow is the last day of school. This was a grueling year with my children in preschool, elementary, middle and high school. I’m worn out and looking forward to accomplishing not much over the summer. We haven’t even got a family reunion on our agenda. Over the last couple of years we have done “Texas [...]
Oh snap, I’m turning into my mother!
I’ve always joked that one of my talents is sleeping. I can fall asleep at any time, any place as long as I’ve got a decent pillow. Until lately that is. My long hair has been wrapping around my neck at night and making me sweat up a storm now that our Texas temperatures have [...]
I’d like to bear my testimony of . . . satan
The Devil is true. This is what I have wanted to say many times in Testimony Meeting. But I’m sure before I got the sentence out of my mouth the Bishop would be dragging me away from the podium. Even though we believe in Satan, he is usually just a footnote added to most talks [...]
Afternoons of Nothing, part. 2
Last summer I noticed that nobody in my neighborhood actually mows their own lawns anymore. We don’t live in the kind of fancy neighborhood where it’s standard for landscaping companies to do all the work. But my son was regularly the only boy I ever saw pushing the mower. His friends told him that they [...]
If I say this is about food storage you won’t read it.
“We need a real firecracker for this calling,” My bishop said as I sat across the desk from him. “You’d be perfect. We’d like to call you as Ward Preparedness Specialist.” Huh? Since when does Ward Preparedness Specialist requires firecrackerish skills? I could only guess that the Bishop thinks of preparedness differently than I do. [...]
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 [...]
My Drabbest Self
Last week for Mutual (if it’s still called that) I was asked to show up at the local mall disguised somehow. The idea was that the kids would go on a scavenger hunt for ward members. I pondered my costume choices and decided to go with “Frumpy and Plain Middle-Aged Woman”. Three towels were wrapped [...]
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