Happy Birthday to you...

I have really slacked on my blog Birthday Shout Outs.

I missed Rick,


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.

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***Paige***





And other family and friends. But I'm going to do better starting with a very happy birthday wish to my...

MARLEE!!!

Happy Birthday Marlee.

We love you!

15!

How did that happen?

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I guess we're not traditional cake people...

Rick had banana cream pie,

Paige brownies,

and Marlee a hot fudge cake that was to die for

(I'll post the recipe sometime)

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Are you cake people?
If not, what kind of birthday treats do you have?

Happy Fall...

It's that time of year again...

FALL!

Glorious Fall!

(Paige wrote this Happy Halloween message on her cupcake with little sprinkles, crazy girl)

It's time for gourds under glass

(love this look, thanks bloggers)

Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins

I love pumpkins!

Books wrapped in newspaper take on a whole new look for next to nothing.

And speaking of inexpensive decor, these dollar store vases and dead branches from the yard turned out to be one of my favorite things this year.

Happy, happy Fall

to one and all!

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Do you love fall?

Do you decorate for it?

What are some of your favorite decorations?

Critter Country...

I have never been afraid of snakes. I've never been reluctant to touch or hold them and when I see them in the wild I watch with fascination as they slither by. But today I learned that if I see one in my kitchen...

I SCREAM!

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Then watch helplessly as it finds a hole beneath my cabinets and disappears. Please don't come back little snake. You are a very beautiful creature, but I really never want to see you again.

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And how the heck do you get skunk smell out of a dog's fur?

I'm telling you it's a critterpalooza around here.

She won...

She's the new Vice President!

Vice President Palin?

No...

Vice President Paige,

the new Vice President of the eighth grade class!

CONGRATULATIONS PAIGE!!!

We are so proud of you!

And thank you Landon for helping Paige with her speech. You are the best big brother in the world!

Knock, knock...

Tuesday September 30~

Because of a blogger...

PERSONAL GROWTH

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Well who hasn't grown personally because of a blogger? I certainly have and there are many I could thank for that. But today I will focus on one blogger who posted a quote on her blog right when I needed it most. If you read my early posts on this blog you will find that during that time in my life I was struggling. Our move to a new town was kicking my fanny and the adversary didn't waste any time taking advantage of that fact. He pounced on me with all of his might and worked tirelessly to defeat me, but I fought hard to keep my head above water and one of the things that helped me keep fighting was this quote that I found on Jill's blog at: http://jmsmusings.blogspot.com/

"But the spirit who led the rebellion in the world before still opposes the plan and wants you to be miserable. He wants you never to find your way home again. That enemy of your soul knows you and your goodness. He knows that if he can turn you away from walking in the light, he can both capture you and stop you from helping others along the journey. He knows how good you are and your power to teach and influence hundreds of Heavenly Father's children in this life—and thousands over the generations that will follow your path. If he can get you to wander away from the light on your journey, he can do harm and bring misery to many." (Pres. Henry B. Eyring of the first presidency of the LDS church)

I love this thought and because of it, and other wonderful experiences that I have had, I no longer give Satan's lies place in my heart. I'm through wasting time on all of his nonsense. My life is too precious and there is too much at stake. Of course it's a continuous fight, I can never let my guard down, but I experience far more joy than despair these days. Joy in this glorious journey that was designed just for me. And I thank Jill and others for helping me to get back onto my right path.

I also have to thank Jill for another great post where she talks about the importance of leaving comments on one another's blogs. You can find it on her sidebar where it says to comment or not to comment.

I often compare blogging to driving past a home where the lights are all on and there appears to be something interesting going on inside so we approach the house to get a closer look. Once there we have a decision to make. Do we hide in the bushes and anonymously watch through the window or do we knock on the door and say, "I saw your lights on and wanted to stop by to say hi."

Well I hide in the bushes way too often, but thanks to Jill's wonderful post I'm going to do better at stopping in and saying hi. I'm going to leave more comments to let people know that I was there and that I enjoyed my visit.
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And who knows, I just might make some new friends in the process.

How bout you? Are you a hider?

I did it...

I told you I would make bread this week.

And it's yummy too.

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...Wow Lori I love your story idea but I want You to write it so I can read it.

Dilemma...

Rick and I went to see a movie tonight (we missed our friends Heath and Cedar because apparently we are a trifle deaf and didn't hear them calling our names in the same theater. Sorry guys). I won't say which movie it was because I liked it okay, not loved it, and I don't want anyone to form an opinion based on what I say. The reason I didn't love it is because there were holes in the story and unrealistic moments (like people crawling out of totally demolished cars without a scratch. I mean at least give me a scratch people). Rick liked it better than I did because he said that he tries not to over analyze movies the way I do. He just sits back and enjoys the show for what it is.

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Okay so he's right, I do sometimes over analyze movies. But only when they do something that takes me out of the fictional dream, dropping me right smack back into the cold hard lap of reality. I guess I just need film makers to mind their P's and Q's. Dot those I's and cross those T's and make me believe. That's all I ask.

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I'm not saying that I could do any better. In fact I can't seem to make myself write anything at all these days, good or bad, and it's DRIVING ME CRAZY! I want to write, I need to write, but I can't write. I'm worried that it might be because of blogging. I write on this blog but no where else. Do I need to stop blogging? Maybe, I don't know. What do you think?

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If you don't think that I should give up on blogging maybe you could help me with a little writing exercise to try to cure my writer's block. Here are 5 genres of popular fiction:

Romance
Mystery/Crime Fiction
Science Fiction/Fantasy
Thriller/Suspense
Horror

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Could you please come up with a topic or prompt in any one of these categories for me to write about. Be as serious or off the wall as you want. I just need something to get my writing motor going again.

I'll post the winning story here when I'm done for all to see (yikes, that's scary).

Please put on your thinking caps and help a poor girl out. I would so appreciate it.

If you've never left a comment for me before now's the time to come forward. The fate of this blog depends on it (how's that for a guilt trip).

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P.S. I really don't mind lurkers. I'm a lurker myself. So please don't be shy.

If you normally contact me through email that works too.

And remember this is a G rated blog so take it easy on the romance category (whether or not it would be fun to write something spicy is beside the point).

Zip your lip...

If you can't say somethin' nice, don't say nothin' at all!

This is something that I intend to master before I die for sure! I think it is the worst human frailty that we often speak unkindly of one another. I don't like to do it and it is something that I have worked very hard to avoid, but even so, sometimes I slip and when I do I feel so disappointed in myself.

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Today for instance somebody called me in a bit of a tizzy which made her sound quite tiffy. Well I became quite irritated with Ms. Tiffy Pants which led me to feel quite tiffyish myself. Okay so that's understandable I know, but the problem came when I shared my tiffyish feelings toward Ms. Tiffy Pants with my darling hubby who, after hearing what had transpired, became rather furious (because men don't get tiffyish, they get Mad! Especially when their fair maiden is in distress).

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So now my hubby was fuming about Ms. Tiffy Pants and I began to feel utterly terrible for dragging her name through the mud (so to speak). I hate making other people look bad. It makes me feel like a shmuck.

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Then to make matters worse, another member of our circle called to laugh with me about the behavior of Ms. Tiffy Pants, because it actually was pretty humorous, but because the humor came at Ms. Tiffy Pants' expense it didn't make me feel good about myself at all. Not at all.

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I was humbled, so very humbled as I began to look at the situation from Ms. Tiffy Pants' perspective. As I realized that her heart was in the right place and that it was only stress that had made her freak out, I felt so awful for ever speaking of it to anyone. So I called her and told her thank you for what she had tried to do for me and told her how much I appreciated her and by the end of the conversation I was feeling so warm and fuzzy toward her that I had to call the others involved and sing her praises to them, letting them know that her heart had been in the right place and that I really appreciated her and that they should too, and they said they did, and all was well.

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Then I thought how if I had only stepped back and viewed Ms. Tiffy Pants with compassion in the first place I could have avoided all of the bad feelings of the day. This reminded me of one of my favorite quotes given by Kathleen H. Hughes at the 2006 LDS General Relief Society Meeting, she said:

"Our families (and we could add our friends and acquaintances) need us to speak peace to them, just as the Lord speaks peace to us."

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I love this thought. I can't even tell you how many times the Lord has spoken peace to me and I love the idea of taking my problems to him when I need to "vent" then accepting His peace so that I can speak peace to others.

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So here is yet another thing to add to my list of things I want to master before I die.

1. Let my guard down in public

2. Belt out the hymns at church

3. Only speak peace (be a ray of light in all I do and say).

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And there are plenty of other things too, let me tell ya. I love this life. It is such a glorious time to learn, grow,overcome, and BECOME. I will be better tomorrow than I am today and that makes my heart swell just thinking about it!

~

Have you spoken peace today?

Freeze...

Sometimes you need to just STOP

and take a break from your fight against household GRIME

to have a good old fashioned GUN FIGHT

With the ones you're fighting for.

Don't you think?

Krazy for my Kitchen...

Tuesday September 23 ~ Because of a blogger...

IN THE KITCHEN

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Wow I have "borrowed" so many ideas from so many bloggers when it comes to the kitchen that I'm not quite sure where to begin. So instead of highlighting a particular blogger, I'm dedicating this post to ALL. Because if I haven't stolen one of your ideas yet~ I'm sure to in the future. And here's why...

Because of other bloggers I am now baking all of the time. My KitchenAid has never seen such action.

Because of a blogger I WILL make homemade bread this week. I so, so very much want to.




Because of other bloggers I have jazzed up dinner and added new favorites to my menu.

Because of a blogger I cooked tofu again

And I still HATED it.

But hey, it was fun to try.

Because of other bloggers I have come to appreciate pretty dishes,

The joy of presentation,

And the adorning magic of fresh flowers.

In short, because of the fabulous blogging community my relationship with my kitchen has never been HOTTER!

~

Thank you all.

Breathtaking...

Sometimes at sunset

The temple blazes brilliant gold.

And I say, "I think I like it here."

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What do you like best about where you live?

Beware...

"Lock the door." I heard a little voice say.
"Lock it!" The voice grew more agitated as I headed down the hall.
I paused for a moment to stare at the opened door behind me. "Oh you worry too much." I scoffed. "I'm just grabbing a ladder. I'll be gone one minute- tops."
It was while in the garage, searching for the yellow stepladder, that I first heard them. The sound of footsteps coming from the house above me, traveling- DOWN THE HALL!
"Run Jeanette run!" The little voice had returned and this time it was shouting. "Run!"
And I did run. I ran like the fate of the world, or at least my home, depended on it. I was quick, at least I thought I was quick, but as usual...

HE WAS QUICKER!

Oh so clever...

September 16~ Because of a blogger...

Arts and Crafts

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While speaking of arts and crafts I must first say how excited I have been to see all of the wonderful fall decorations on various blogs. I am quite giddy over them and can't wait to copy, copy, copy everyone's ultra cute ideas. But for this post the first thing that came to my mind were these incredibly fabulous paper fans that I found at: http://www.nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/ (you can also click on the "I read Nie Nie" button on my sidebar to check her out. And the "c me read c jane" for her sister) I know I said that I would try to talk about bloggers other than NieNie this month but I mean just...

LOOK AT THESE!

HAVE YOU EVER?
I just can't stand how cute they are.
I need them in my life.

So I tried my hand at making them and they are as fun to make as they are beautiful. I can't wait to get to the store so I can make many, many more!

If you want to make some of your very own, but aren't quite sure if you have a use for them, they're great for dancing the Flamenco with your best guy too.

But as for me, I put on my little thinking cap and Ooo the idea I came up with! I'm so excited I can barely keep the secret. But I will until I later reveal it here, to you, my bestest blogger friends.

~

Please pray for NieNie today that her surgery and healing will go well.

3 Things I Learned Today...

1. Attempting to season a cast iron dutch oven when you yourself are not well seasoned in such procedures can be hazardous to the air quality of your home, making the fire alarms quite furious.













2. Mountain Spring Ultra Downy is awesome stuff. My shirt didn't smell like smoke at all.
And...
3. Dutch oven chicken rocks. I didn't get a picture of it before we dug in, but here is the pan after we devoured every last drop, each fighting for the last drumstick (Waylon got it because he's the baby and babies always win, which is a subject for an entirely different post... "Why the baby of the family always wins and the repercussions of said triumphs").

Slowly but surely...

My Love tells me that I have a beautiful singing voice. My kids like it too. I on the other hand am not so easily impressed, or kind, so I normally only sing at home or in the car with those who think I am wonderful~ even if they are a bit deaf.
But today at church, in my quest to become less timid in public, I forced myself to actually sing the opening hymn out loud instead of just mouthing it as I usually do. But then I heard myself just a little too well, became self conscious and quit.
So this changing biz is going to take time alright. I can't become socially dynamic in one day. I have layers upon layers of self doubt to crack through. But I'm telling you I'll get 'er done. I don't like to be told that I can't do something, even if (or maybe especially if) it's just me who's saying it.

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This little section of a quote by Elder Franklin D. Richards was my favorite part of our YW lesson today:

"... we grow by having to exceed our past selves”

I love this thought. It is the theme of my whole life. Working everyday to exceed my past self (past meaning yesterday or even 10 minutes ago) is what gives me the greatest joy and excitement!
Knowing that with my Savior's help I can overcome anything gives me warm fuzzy goosebumps that make me want to SING (even if it's not out loud at church)!