It really is challenging to learn new tasks the older you get. My first thought is to get my son, Jacob, to rescue me. Because he is so adept at computer/website/publishing things, I automatically think of him when I get stuck at any technical project. At one point he set it up so that he could get on-line with me remotely so that he didn’t have to struggle to understand my non-technical attempts to explain my problems. That has shortened the diagnostic time drastically. But there are times when it isn’t a good time to call him for assistance…like 3 o’clock in the morning when I can’t go back to sleep! Just after shutting down my computer last night, a thought came to me of how to get an image header on this blog. As you can see, I was successful! Jake will be so proud! Not to say it was easy. Nothing wrong with the typepad program, just the ineptitude of the user! But one thing I have learned. When you figure it out for yourself, it gives you confidence to try and solve more problems by yourself. That is how the learning process goes. I remember when Jacob got the first computer in the house. All I wanted to use it for was making invitations and fliers. It was easier for Jacob to do it for me than to
We had a busy day yesterday. We actually CLEANED the house. Scott and I operated tag team style, and with all the kids out of the house, it was much easier to clean. Having made our weekly trip to Costco on Friday night, all the groceries got put away before the morning cleaning. We traditionally go on Saturday…that’s when they have most of the samples out – you get to try all those things that look so yummy before you just purchase them. But have you ever noticed how long it takes to shop there, get gas, get home and then put everything away? To make it even better, Friday is so much quieter than Saturday. No problem fighting to get a parking spot or the crowds of crazed shoppers. Shopping there on Saturday just seems to take half the day. Anyway, without that to add to our weekend to-do list, we did some major cleaning and after we were done, we went to visit some friends and I came home with some delicious cookies…Monique, they were incredible! All Saturday morning I was humming that Primary song, “Saturday is a special day, it’s the day we get ready for Sunday. We clean the house and we shop at the stores, so we won’t have to work until Monday.” I was remembering my children when they were little and a
Years ago I saw one of those painted wood plaques that read: An Immaculate House is a Sign of a Dull Woman. Never before has a woman ever so totally embraced a new mantra. I was determined to make it my life goal…to never be a dull woman. If you have been to my home, you know that it is just tidy enough…most of the time. I have relinquished control of cleaning up after every one else. I have other things to do. The result is sometimes embarrassing. Periodically, I get the urge to clean. Sometimes out of necessity, other times because I feel like it. Today was one of those days. I needed to take a grocery inventory. I opened up my "big" cupboard to empty partially opened cases of staples onto the shelves. But I couldn't just do it…things had definitely gotten out of hand. Nothing was really in order and I needed to rotate things…do a little purging. There were little baggies of leftover graham crackers from camp-outs, empty boxes (I don't know how to teach the "men" to get rid of the exterior packaging when they take out the last packet of something!), small things that had gotten pushed to the back that needed to be brought forward…you know, messy cupboards. So today, I tackled the big food cupboard…not to be confused with the outside storage. There is
Gone to Disneyland yesterday…just girlfriends. What a difference no kids makes! A fun, leisure day that we kept at just our pace. No fighting over who got to choose what ride we went on next, no picnic lunch…we only lost temporary sight of each other on a rare occasion and it was never that frantic, fearful “I’ve lost my child at Disneyland” moment. I only took a purse and my little Sony Cyber-shot 12.1 megapixel camera. I window-shopped to my heart’s content. I love the transformation of all things being magical, to all things nightmarish. Hooray…Jack is back! The Jack hats… The Jack shirts…none of which are my size! All the Jack merchandise! Of course, there’s more about the trip. I’ll get to that a different day! Lunchtime Lunchtime usually consists of a packed lunch or a burger or bowl of chili. We decided to do something different this time. One of my most memorable moments was the Monte Cristo sandwich at the restaurant across from the Blue Bayou…the name escapes me right now. We were going to do the BB, but then we read the menu across the way and decided to try the Monte Cristo there. All I can say is that no one person should ever try and eat the whole thing by themselves! Next time we are going to just buy one sandwich and share it
Last Wednesday, my #5 child passed his behind the wheel driving test on his first try! As you can see, he’s happy. Funny thing about taking a picture of your 17-year-old successfully passing the driver’s exam…you do it really quickly. The young lady before didn’t pass (she and her parents are standing right there, I’m sure being sad) and there is a long line of cars going around the corner waiting for us to get out the way. Besides, Mike needed to get to play practice. I am so grateful for my little Sony that the kids gave me for my birthday that tucks nicely into my purse and always travels with me for just such occasions. I am having a hard time coming the the realization that Michael finally has his driver’s license. The traumas of the teaching the first four are a distant memory…this last one? Not quite so gone! Not to mention that just last week I was responsible for doing the driving – well, at least I had to be the one to go along. Not that there wasn’t help from the other adults in the house, but just getting them to early morning seminary, waiting and then getting them to school took HOURS! Okay, just a couple of hours, but when you get up at 5am and can’t start working on YOUR projects until 7:30 or 8:00am, it does eat up a big part of your
It has been a wonderful past few days. Starting with the General Relief Society broadcast on September 26th, and General Conference this weekend, I feel totally inspired and ready to face the new week. Powerful testimonies were shared and new light brought to constant principles that have touched my heart and given me new determination to be a better person. I have a new favorite cable station…the BYU channel. After the closing session of conference I was able to watch the movie “The Errand of Angels”. It was a funny and touching story of a Sister missionary’s mission experience, of lessons learned through the Spirit of not only how we can be missionaries, but how we can better learn to become closer to those that we don’t necessarily like at first. It would be ideal if we could actually love everyone that we meet and work with from the start – ideal, maybe, but not realistic. We all have a personality…I think much of that comes with us when we enter this earth-life. But life doesn’t deal equally with everyone. Our life experiences will affect our personalities and not always positively. But when we commit ourselves to serve, we have the blessing of the Holy Ghost to guide us to be sensitive to those we serve. In the Doctrine and Covenants, Section 12 verse 8 we read: “And no
This delicious home-made granola makes a great snack, even without the milk!