Winn Reeding tha Scripshurs duz pronunciashun cownt?

We're into Day 3

of reading the Scriptures

right after dinner.

It's going well.

We're in the middle of

1 Nephi Chapter 4.

Which is progress because

we're all taking turns

reading 2 scriptures

at a time.

We started out

by reading 4 at a time

but that proved too

laborious

for me...
lotsa big words, ya know?

With new readers

taking turns

things get funny

real quick:

Arianna, reading1 Nephi 3:15--

"As the Lord...livth?

lyv-eth? liv-eth-th? lvth?

th-iv-eth? liv-eth?"

1 Nephi 4:2--

"and they divided

hit-her and thit-her,

and our fathers came through,

out of cap-cav-ity, on dry ground,

and the armies of...

Pa-hair-oh?"

The inside of my cheek

is nearly raw--

to keep from laughing.

Which is more than I can

say for Daisie

who busts up every time

tho Mr W and I give her

a hairy-eyeball look

to NOT LAUGH.

I love listening to my

babies read the scriptures

and if it takes forever

to get thru,

I'm okay with that.

I can still feel the Spirit

when we open the

Book Of Mormon

in our home,

around our table

and read the Prophets words.

Hook-ed

on

P-Honics

Work-ed

for

Me!

Fihr-teen Dorras Fihr-teen Minnas, yes?

I spent the day up North

with Dani,

the mother of my

soon-to-be

Golden grandchild

who has yet to make his

appearance.

He's late.

Like his Momma,

and his Daddy

who are always

always always

late.

I took Dani to Colorado Mills Outlets

where we walked her

around like a show pony

to see if we could get

her into labor.

We stopped at a

 place

where she got a foot massage

from Chinese guys wearing

little white chinese "scrubs"

with red piping on the sleeves

and neckline

and who,

apparently just got off

the boat from China

3 days ago

as they spoke almost as much

English

as I speak Chinese.

They took a look at Dani's

very large pregnant belly

and with eyes wide as pancakes

said:

"You-ah wont mah-sege?"

HUNH?

Then they used Chinese sign language

 which could easily be

Universal

as they pointed to Dani's belly

and practically reached out

and dragged her inside.

"Fihr-teen dorras, fihr-teen minnas, yes?"

I thought, why not?

She's overdue,

reflexology can help,

sure, go ahead,

I say.

Forty minutes

and

forty dollars

later

I am thinking

I  need to learn

Chinese.

Sirry Umelikens.

500th Post!

Wow.
In honor of this somewhat benign occassion,
and in the spirit of all things bloggerville,
I am doing a giveaway!


The giveaway is in the
Spirit
of
Christmas!

Simply leave a comment
and winner will be chosen randomly by 11/30/09!

Thanks to all of you for following,
commenting
and cheering me along!!!

A Willow or an Oak?

Saturday
missionaries over for breakfast--
Breakfast is always fun with the missionaries.

Later that evening was Joseph's bday party at
Art Sports...the perfect place
for a bunch of kids to run around
and get all sweaty and worn out!

Somewhere in the middle of the day,
I had a grand argument
with Nana about her dating habits--
that was more fun than is legal in
some countries.
Not really,
actually it's not fun at all.
Sometimes being THE MOM
forces Me to have conversations
I would rather not have,
set rules I would rather not
have to enforce.
But being accountable for my stewardship
requires that I hold my ground
like an Oak tree
and not bend
even when I'd rather just hang around
and be lazy like a Willow.
And when I have to be THE MOM,
that's just no freaking fun at all.


I've always adhered to the saying:
"A good disciplinarian is a good teacher."
As a Teacher/Mom, I first try the soft approach--
express my love in a cheery-sunshiney way,
using examples of others,
encouraging to Choose The Right,
a soft voice.
"Oh Sugar face, don't touch the stove! That would hurt! And I love you so much, it would just kill me if you got burned!"
When the lesson isn't learned
I press forward
with love & logic--
express my concerns for their well-being
at their choices.
With real consequences.
"Don't TOUCH that stove! It will hurt you so much! You might have to go to the hospital! Please be more careful!"
When I feel taken advantage of,
the lesson is clearly not being learned,
I lay it out like a rug
as plainly as possible
with all the energy of my soul
and it comes out Blunt, Direct, and Sharp.
"Hey YOU! Stay away from the Stove. Period. Since I can't leave the room without wondering if you're going to touch the stove, you will have to stay outta the kitchen, indefinitely!"
Mr W says I use their example/choices
and serve it back to them.
"Remember when you last touched the stove? And it hurt so bad we had to buy bandages and stuff and you couldn't use your hand for a week? I told you to be careful and you didn't listen."
They don't like that.
They take the truth to be hard,
as I have heard.
I like plain-speaking.
Don't sugar coat it for me.
Tell me how it is.
I learn better that way.
SO when I express my expectations
and house rules,
I do not want any misunderstandings.
I want to be as clear as possible.
"The Stove is made to cook food. But you have to know the rules about cooking, before you can use the stove. And until then, you need to be extra careful around the kitchen and are not allowed to use the stove."

And if you know my kids,
that's how they relate to one another
and to their friends.
Speaking frankly
and plainly.

I wonder where they learned it from?

SO Nana isn't happy with me today.
We rarely argue.rarely.
But Satan is a Puke
and he just loves contention
in a family
and that Puke will use whatever
whoever he can
to stir up hard feelings.
Before she left last night,
to go back to her Nanny house,
we had scripture study
and Prayer
(wherein Ari blessed the meal that wasn't there)...
"please bless the food..."

We've been slacking
with this stuff
lately
and it shows,
right?
Whenever the energy of our home
becomes less-loving and more contentious,
I have to look at myself in the mirror
and ask
"Are you doing your part?"
Last night, the answer was "no".
So Mr W and I re-commited ourselves
to lead by example
and rein the family in again.

So before Nana left,
we called everyone to the diningroom table
with the charge to bring their scriptures
and we began at the beginning
1 Nephi.
We had been up to Mosiah,
but we decided to start over.
Because sometimes a clean start is
the best way.

I love my family.
I specifically love my daughter.
And until we are "good" again,
I won't throw my hands up in the air
and say "I'm too tired to care anymore!"
No, that's not Me.
Sometimes I am a soft-flowing Willow
but other times
I have to be an Oak.
Knowing when to be either
is the challenge.
 The only way to know which
is to seek the Spirit.
So we're back to the basics.
BTW, I long for the day when I can
be a Willow
and not an Oak.

Any advice from the masses would be greatly appreciated!

Delicious Cranberry Salsa!

Cranberry Salsa
1 bag of fresh raw cranberries—washed
1 granny smith apple –cored and chunked
½ red pepper
½ red onion
¾ c apple juice
1/3 c sugar
3 T cilantro
3 T fresh jalapeno pepper
1 T grated lime zest
1 T lime juice

Put all ingredients into food processor. Chop just until chunky. Enjoy with chips or topping for baked chicken/salmon, brie cheese or sandwich spread.

I had this at a Christmas Open House recently and it was to-die-for!

*This is a repost from last year 2008. Amy, this is for you!

Happy Thanksgiving, Pass It On!

In the front of my personal journal is the quote:

"We are all like the Fiddler on the Roof:'trying to make beautiful music while balancing our lives and not fall off and break our necks.'"


 I am thankful for the opportunity to be on this earth, at this time, to have all I need to learn to live happily ever after.

I've seen this on other blogs and loved it so much I had to repost it here....
it's beautiful.

What are YOU thankful for?

Repost this on your blog and ask the same question...it's sure to gleen a response!

Fort Hood Teddy Bears!!

Yea! Finally got the information to send your wonderful TLC Teddy Bears!!!
Please let me know if you've participated, so we can keep a count! And I will have a Holiday drawing for those who send a bear!
Just take a picture of you with your bear and send it to me!


Dawn

 Santa's Workshop would love to receive the bears you have collected!!   You can either send them to our P.O. Box 5157 Fort Hood, Texas 76544 or to 512 Gazelle Trail, Harker Heights Texas 76548. We open December 7 for soldiers to come in and start picking toys for their children so we still have plenty of time.

Sherri Visser

SWS President

(254) 702-9041

If You Were Rich, Name One Luxury You Would Indulge In...OR The One Where Kevin Costner Makes My Bed

Clean sheets on my bed
Every Day.

I would pay someone
to make my bed
with clean sheets every day
of the year.

Nothing I can think of,
compares to sliding into
a bed newly made
with mmmm
clean, fresh-smelling
sheets.

And while we're at it,
I'd like the person that's making
that bed to be
Kevin Costner.
(and No, he does not need to know
how to do hospital corners. Have
you seen him?!)

Sahweet!

What About YOU?

The Weekend's Here, Whaddya Gonna Do?

It's the Weekend Before Thanksgiving--
can you believe it?

I'm planning our menu for the big meal.
Appetizer:
Stuffed Mushrooms
Cranberry Salsa & chips
Hot Pizza Dip

Meal:
Turkey
Mashed potatoes
Cauliflower with cheesy-mustard sauce
Fresh Cranberry Sauce
Sausage and Sage Dressing
Waldorf Salad

Dessert:
Pie
Pie
oh and
Pie.

And as a family,
we are going to make a
Gratitude Tree--
Everyday we will write our
blessings
on a slip of paper
and put it on a tree.

Now that sounds all
spirichual and stuff--
but knowing my family
it's going to get completely outta hand
and have ridiculous nonsense on it--

I can't wait.

 p.s. of course, all this is really just a distraction until I get the call
from Dani & Mr. Idaho...she's having lotsa BH ctx, so it could be any.second.

Surviving Teenager Number Five

I knew this day
this moment
would come...
it was
inevitable.

Experience taught me well,
I know what to expect
I have learned how
to not just endure
teenagers;
to build up our relationship
instead of walls.

It ain't easy.
I've read so many books on
teenagers
I could write my own.
Patience is the virtue of the hour
these days.
Humor & wit are essential
and life saving...
for us both.

Which reminds me of my oldest:
I could be hopping mad at him,
and he'd say something hilarious--
I'd be in a fit of laughter
and point a finger at him,
"I'm still mad, you're still grounded,
but that was funny!"

Lately the 14 year old has been
Fourteen Years Old--
and very good at it, as Nan says.
I've wanted to throttle her,
Nanny-shake her,
take her to Nebraska and leave her
there--
she has become mouthy
lazy
forgetful
irresponsible--
in short,
a rotten teenager.

Yesterday I didn't have to go to the clinic
till later in the day,
and she had an eye doctor appointment.
I decided to keep her home all day
to spend time with her.
That was in the morning.
But I swear by 10AM
I was already mad--
her bedroom is in the basement
and when I went down to talk to her
discovered that the entire basement
looked like a scene from
Apocalypse!
Nothing had been cleaned since
the kids' sleepovers last weekend!
Blankets everywhere,
toys everywhere,
popcorn,
plates, cups,
candy wrappers
everywhere.

Why? I wondered outloud--
WHY? hadn't this been cleaned up
Saturday morning
or any day since then?
Surely people (her) had seen
the calamity
Surely they (her) knew
it needed to be cleaned up
Surely Surely they (her) expected
I would not be happy
when I wandered down stairs
at some point!!
All she needed to do was
tell me the kids needed to pick up!

ACK!

I called the 14 year old
outta her room
and demanded answers
to all of these questions--
but all I got was a
"it's not my mess." --response.

We got busy and it was clean in 20 minutes.

The ride there was silent.
I knew that if I got started,
nothing positive would come of it,
so I drove quietly.

When we got to our Dr.'s office,
I filled out the forms for her;
one question at the bottom of the form:
IS there anything else the Doctor needs to know?"
I wrote:
"I am a rotten teenager and my Mom wants to sell me to the circus, fyi."
Instantly, I felt better.
The tech at the desk,
a good friend of ours,
just laughed.
The Dr. chuckled when he came out
and got her chart.

By the time we left
with new glasses on her peepers,
she turned to me and said,
"I'm sorry I've been a rotten teenager.
I can't help it. I'm all hormonal n stuff.
this is how teenagers are, Mom. We're weird
n all that. We're s'posed to drive you guys crazy.
I don't mean to, cuz it's no fun, but I can't help it."

Then we had lunch and the rest of the day
was better.

I learned a long time ago a secret about teenagers:
When you least like them,
when everything they say irritates you
and everything you say to them they respond to
with an upward glance or an eye-roll,
when you want to throw up a wall
between you both--
Don't Do It.
Pull them in closer,
Spend More Time With Them.
On Purpose.
I tried this with Numero Uno child
when he was 12--
we were at each other's throats
for a couple of days
and I hated it,
so one morning I'd had enough
and kept him home from school.
I made him help me clean--
but this is the difference:
I cleaned alongside him
in the bathroom,
hanging up laundry,
cleaning up his room.
Any errands I had that day,
he came with me too.
By sunset,
we were laughing together.

I learned that when 
you most want to pull away
is the perfect time
to pull in.

So I've got a few more years of this
whatwith Daisie being 14
and the youngest two yet to come.
By that time,
I may not even remember my name,
but I do hope I haven't forgotten
how to laugh.

Family...isn't it about time?