Blog Stalking

I'm trying not to spend too much time daily hooked up to this IV line, but today, I blogstalked.

I perused a site without purpose. This person was a total stranger, with no affinity to me, no club in common, no kid in common, no agenda or cause in common. Just a complete stranger who happened to surf to the top on a google search for a product.

From this glimpse of her life, I found myself enjoying her writing, her joy in life with her baby and freakily, I found commonality... I also recognized someone in one of her photos as my first cousin once removed and now, now, I remember, I know her. From my past, from one of my distant moves, I remember. The rush of memories will give me happy thoughts all day.

That's what's nice about blogstalk.

THE PINNACLE

Okay, I've outdone myself this time. This year, I've accomplished the epitome, the absolute best of the best that I have every achieved.

Every year I made a goal that I will not overdo the halloween thing, but every year there I go again... if I had a scanner, I'd show you. I am addicted to the drama and craze of creating Halloween costumes. It's always been a three month long plan and revision until we have the best costumes ever!!!!

Handmade!! Personally designed and created!

Aidan was once a gargoyle... no kidding, with wings. I wish I had a scanner--you would see.

And again this year, I am again, struggling with the natural me to rise above the best myself that I have been striving for over and over.

I think I've done it!

THE 2008 halloween costume for Aidan In... get it?

Come Thou Fount

I can't tell you hou much I love "Come thou Fount" I have heard it in so many versions and I never tire of it.

I'm living now in bluegrass country and love the new version I heard done by HA ! THE DOWNING FAMILY>>>>>>>>>>> I'll have to call my brain and ask her (I keep an off site version that I call to reference when my brain leaves me.) I REMEMBERED WITHOUT THE BRAIN.

thedowningfamily.net/products.htm (I also recommend Jesus is coming soon).


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Anyway, this is the best is the best I've seen on youtube thus far. (Thanks Lisa)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oteno81QzzQ

Halloween 2008

"Thank the Lord that yours are not Normal"

That's the sign that I have pasted by post-in on the mirror in my bathroom. I was reminded the other night when I was bemoaning my life and the burden of childrearing to my daughter. She emphasized this truth.

"Mom, what would a typical 16 year old be doing right now? If he were a "good" and relatively easy specimen, he would be roaring by in his car, and talking on the telephone to what's-her-name and planning the next big social shindig this weekend, and heaven help you if he were a "normal one!"

"Your son is in his room frantically working on his Eagle project so you will make him his Legend of Zelda costume by Halloween." "You go right now and just praise the Lord that none of your children thus far have been anywhere near normal."

And she's right, normal would be a lot harder.

And as a side note, when one prays, mini-miracles do happen. No pattern, no fitting, no muss, no fuss, one hour and voila, we have Link, from his boots to his hood. I'm blessed all the way around.

2008 Tulsa Run

The family spent this weekend enjoying the cool weather and making the tulsa run. The boys ran the fun run, got the t'shirt and pretended that there were actual health benefits in candy (eating far more than their share of the End-of-race offerings.)

We're becoming Tulsans, beer and candybars instead of yogurt, fruit and gatoraid are no longer weirdness at the end of a long race.

I wish they had gotten a photo of me, huddled in the sunlight, layered and freezing, fighting a bug that stuck and sucked all the life from me. BUT I WAS THERE!

Further concerns on Religious Freedom

The group of new Atheists are disrespectful and insulting to believers, purposefully, says the author of author of God is not great. He goes on to call religion ridiculous, sinister and dangerous. He believes religion must be stopped and to attract the young to the movement, the more outrageous the behavior, the better.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113889251

Here are highlights from Dallin Oaks recent article that Dia put on her blog (and got slammed.) You Go GRILL!

His hints for those of us who will soon be lambasted by the adversary against religion.

://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/apostle-says-religious-freedom-is-being-threatened

• Speak with love and show patience, understanding and compassion to those with differing viewpoints.
• Do not be deterred or coerced into silence by intimidation from opponents, insist that churches and their members be able to speak out on issues without retaliation.
• Insist on the freedom to preach the doctrines of faith.
• Be wise in political participation, remaining respectful of those who do not share their religious beliefs and contributing to reasonable discussion.
• Be careful to never support or act on the idea that a person must subscribe to a specific set of religious beliefs in order to qualify for public office

New Biblical definition for meat? Vegetables?

today I discovered a whole new justification for my newest fancy. I was just reading the Word of Wisdom and reviewing it and I found an interesting point that Heavenly Father seems to be directing me to today:

W of W says in D&C 89

10 And again, verily I say unto you, all wholesome ^aherbs God hath ordained for the constitution, nature, and use of man—

11 Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof; all these to be used with prudence and thanksgiving.

Today the word herb stood out to me. So clicked on herb's cross reference (I know, I'm speed studying the scriptures online) (Hey, it counts!)

Gen. 1: 29.

29 ¶ And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for ^ameat.

Again speed cross referencing for meat:

Moses 2: 29 (29-30)

29 And I, God, said unto man: Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in the which shall be the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for ^ameat.

Abr. 4: 29 (29-30)

29 And the Gods said: Behold, we will give them every herb bearing seed that shall come upon the face of all the earth, and every tree which shall have fruit upon it; yea, the fruit of the tree yielding seed to them we will give it; it shall be for their ^ameat

Three interesting new definitions for Meat in the scriptures,

What da ya think?

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Now then, my mind goes to the argument that is typically used to refute the eating of beast or fowl?

D&C 49:

18 And whoso ^aforbiddeth to ^babstain from ^cmeats, that man should not eat the same, is not ordained of God;

MEAT?

and it takes on a whole other meaning for me now.

Again, D&C

16 All grain is good for the ^afood of man; as also the ^bfruit of the vine; that which yieldeth fruit, whether in the ground or above the ground—

And I want to run to the fridge again, fling open the door, embrace my healthfulness and take another slurp of my green smoothie!

YUM!

Roofies

Men working on the house is very tranqualizing. I'm happily serene that it's not me 50 feet up on a 45 degree slope, and grateful as they climb the ladder with heavy loads that my quads aren't directly involved.

But sometimes I wonder if it's more calming to do the work, rather than think about it. Irony is having the roof shingled with 50 year rated asphalts, when you know Oklahoma weather will toast them in 10. If they aren't busted up by hail or torn off by a tornado, then I'm sure the heat or varmits will do them in. From what I hear, I should feel lucky that my thirty-year shakes lasted ten.

I guess I should be figuring this into the insurance bill. Let's see twenty grand divided by...Yuck! Math--more thinking!

I'm not pitying the insurance company, they upped the car insurance $800 because my teen had a (not her fault) wreck that totaled the car. Silly me, thought I was paying insurance for such an event! They do have a responsiblity to their stockholders...after all.

As a mere customer, we should just plan for those eventualities--good planning means good insurance, I'm reminded.

And it's okay that the roofers smashed a solartube, because they assure me that it's covered by insurance.

Wonder how much that's gonna cost?

And this is what results when the yearning wins and Dave watches the men on the roof too long. Our own ladder, our own death-defying stunts. Spare me!

Happy Birthdays

This is the portrait of one happy birthday boy. I have gone out and flung money right and left in an attempt to provide a happy day to him and all he wanted was a burger on the grill.
In lieu of the college daughters skilled wrapping, there was this. Hey, it worked.
Just what he wanted! The means by which he can finish another of my projects long begun. I sense some chagrin in the happy expression. Thanks so much for nothing, honey.

Privacy Blogged

Worry not about what your country knows about you, but what your parents can find out via Facebook.

It’s a whole new world out there. Parents no longer have to spend time frequenting small-town coffee shops or calling their neighbors to keep tabs on their children, they just climb up their child’s wall. It takes a little more brain power, but difficult has always been inherent to parenting and we can best this challenge. (The hacking services of the tattle-tale tween sibling can be bought cheap.)

Teens have always felt impervious to everything and that hasn’t changed. They are the untouchables, invincible and indestructible like Superman, and like that superhero, they are most vulnerable to the patently obvious. I hear stories of teen after teen who have been shutdown, cut off, timed out—deleted for infractions that they, themselves memorialized for posterity on their personal wall space. (FYI, Underage biting of beer cans online will get your wall deleted and you grounded until the warmth of spring comes.)

Parents have the ace in the hole, the kryptonite, a one-up on the teen game. This is something teens can never wrap their minds around, something they can never hope to understand, because it cuts right to the heart and cannot be circumvented. We were once them and that means they can't win.

However, they are not left totally bereft, without hope or abandoned, we offer them the same tools our parents offered us—the best was a gift of advice, “Choose your friends wisely.” (Smart friends don’t post photos of friend’s transgressions or discuss last night’s illegal party antics online to invite peer review.)

Such is the power of the net to teach lessons. This generation has redefined the basic right of privacy as they revel in public forum of their lives. They offer it up to be previewed by the masses. Now, every public place is monitored and every act in schools, malls, and offices is scrutinized and it’s a great preparer for the future.

Worry not about what your parents find out on your wall, but what your employer knows about your eclectic collections and choice in bath fixtures.

As I Lay Dying

October 2004 and 2008

Have you ever read the book As I lay Dying by William Faulkner? Yeah, Faulkner, the great literary giant. Get it sometime from the library to peruse, if to do nothing more than open your eyes about the books that college bound high schoolers are required to read.

It's written in the vernacular of 1930's back woodsese. I think it was such a literary success because persons who wrote literature back then could not imagine a literarri, literariarian, literachi (a writer) who was educated could create such an indiscipherable dialogue in four differing voices of hick.

I wrote like that long before anyone thought it was cool and I did it without even trying! This book is even more backwoods hick than I am, and it's written without commas, periods or even subject and predicates in sentences. I thought the lingo was character driven, (total and complete idiot) but in his next book I reviewed, (The Bear) Faulkner wrote the same--and it's a bear.

The back cover gives the clue that it's about the trek of a family who wants their beloved mother to be buried in another county, but they have to wait... first for her to die and then to ride across country with the ever-ripening corpse. It's all about their comedic antics.

Maybe? But, I couldn't understand even one page. It's sad and I'm heartbroken that it's so apparent that I am so obviously not a college bound individual.

----------------------the real meat of the story-------------------------------

I'm not feeling well, so that book came to mind.. (but, not that sick) and it's time to go to Utah for our annual marathon. I traditionally put in a marathon right before we go, cleaning, cooking, packing, and arranging, etc... I try to make it easier by keeping a record (jottings) of what I did last year so I can just make revisions, reprint, then reprimand and reprove the children for what happened last year in my absence.

I looked back to my 2004 blog and I was sick that night before too and here is the will I wrote in Faulkner note format:

"the real reazn I'm ritin, 'ncase thes is ma laest pistle... keep'n treazur dalways... it'd be albout potties but it seems that rottin' corpses are beder subjecs...

aaneeyway,

If us two, (Dave and I) perish, (Oun't think I'm at sick, but Aidan is and last minute I'm a trian to arrange alternate rangemnts for im.) (Dia's insulted ta think she'd stay to tend... (“In't it illegal fer yer kid to do that,” she asks?) I swear, I didn't birth that one.

aaneeyway,

If we perish, not by illness, but by plane crash, (“ats not a bad way to go overall”...said Grandma Hansen),

aaneeyway,

...thays a will in ma drawrer here in OK. It's a holographic... at maens riten n signed by hand (complete b.s., but these are legal in OK., because so many of us are kicking off and being hauled cross country to be buried by total inane idiots who can't speak or write legibly...)

aaneeyway, just sos ya know.


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And you thought I wasn't a great writer. After this epistle, judging purely by the inane writing style, doesn't it make you think Faulkner?

It's midnight and seminary starts at 5 at my house, so I'll be going now.

By the way, does anyone know where my black bag is with the brown stripe that I take everywhere on every vacation with me? It's lost. I can't begin to pack without it.

Another Relaxing Vacation

"Vacations can't be too good or you won't want to go home."
Me, Terina, I said that first.

In keeping with the aforementioned vacation truth, this one was again, a meandering trip to perdition. We enjoyed:

The two-hour drive to OKC (which once flew out of Tulsa) to board a

Six hour flight to Utah (which once was two hours) ...

That laid over in Denver (which used to be a direct flight)

So we could spend the rest of the vacation

Cleaning and winterizing the accommodations (which used to be somebody else's job).

The next part of our vacation was driving five hours to St. George (still the same, long, five hours).

Where we would wake the next morning at 6 a.m. (to a light drizzle),

To walk and watch the Mayor's Walk at 7 a.m., (a dampening drizzle)

To stand six hours in the down pour (15 previous years of sunshine, what?)

To watch Dave run in at 4:09 (the highlight of the trip)

Battling nasty spectators who felt that marathons should be mimed events (Idiot)!

After allowing Dave a slight breath of recovery, and accepting the well-deserved apology from the guilt-ridden Marseau admirer, we dashed off to lunch where we encountered some strange strain of food bug that left three of us fighting waves of nausea (and waves of vomit)

for the next two days as we jaunted backward on the five hour drive back to Salt Lake.

Where we dropped off Dia at the caring cousins to recuperate and boarded the plane which hovered tremulously over lightning-striking Denver until all of the panic-stricken connecting flights had fled the airport.

We then were given a hospitality pack (which once was a hotel and food coupon)

and told to find our way back to the airport,

not for the next morning's flight,

not the next afternoons flight,

but for certain on the next evenings flight to OKC.

Where we could again sweat over whether our baggage would join us

As we again embarked on our two hour long drive to Tulsa.

Happiness is vacations.

When they end.

Aidan Awarded

Aidan got his Bear! What a great job!

Can blogs be proof that we did once have the awards? I'm just thinking ahead to the Eagle paperwork.