My Blessings.

I've had a hard time finding time to blog lately, tis the season I suppose, but I didn't want to let the Thanksgiving season get away from me without giving turkey day the credit it deserves. Poor little holiday, it kinda gets lost between Halloween and Christmas, just stuck in the middle like the white fluff in an oreo, but we all know that's the best part. And the Christmas season just wouldn't be the same if it didn't have Thanksgiving to preceed it. Afterall, the thing I'm most thankful for is...
wait. I'm getting ahead of myself here, let me just back up a minute.

This is my 3rd attempt at writing my Thanksgiving blog. My first started as a list as to all the things I was thankful for, but it sounded so, I don't know, routine. Kinda like the dinner prayer. We're all thankful for the same things. Family, friends, a home, good health, blah blah blah. Not that those things aren't important, they all are, and I'm thankful for everything and everyone in my life. It was just kinda boring, and I have such few readers as it is, I didn't want to lose anyone on blessing #137, the heater that comes on that I occasionally sit on and hog up all the heat when my toes are cold.
So then I attempted to write a silly little poem about my blessings. But got hung up trying to rhyme words with "husband" and "basement" and "family", and I didn't think "shunned" and "replacement" and "absentee" would go over too well with the point I was trying to make.
But then something happened yesterday that gave me a whole new perspective about my blessings. I was fortunate to attend the musical production of "The Savior of the World" with a few of the priests and laurels in the stake. It was a beautiful story that told of the events that led up to the Saviors birth, and the events following his death. The spirit was so strong, and the feeling was one where you wished you could bottle it up and take it out into the world with you. It made me wonder why I don't seek out more opportunities to feel the spirit. Why don't I attend the temple more, why don't I study my scriptures and pray more diligently. Why don't I feel all warm and fuzzy all the time? The feeling lasted for a good 30 minutes, till I came home and had to worry about what to make for dinner, and why did Max Hall throw that pass, and why is my laundry basket overflowing again after only 2 days?
But I put on my happy face, went to the market to buy something for dinner, closed my eyes as I walked past the laundry heap, and cheered with the other shoppers as they announced BYU won the game in overtime over the loud speakers. I came home and turned on my merry christmas music while I prepared french dip sandwiches for the family, and as Donny Osmond sang about Mary, "did you know that your baby boy is heaven's perfect lamb, the sleeping child your holding is the great I Am", those feelings I had felt earlier came back with such force, that I realized, that it doesn't matter how long my list of "Things I'm Grateful For" is, without the Savior, none of those things would even be there. My eternal family, the comforts of my home, the food I eat, the clothes I wear, the very air I breathe, wouldn't exsist if it weren't for the Savior. He created this beautiful world and every bounteous blessing that we receive from this earth comes from Him. He sent me to a wonderful family to be raised by loving parents and wonderful siblings to help me on my journey. He guided me to my wonderful husband and sent me 3 wonderful, beautiful children to help me progress like Him. He took upon himself my sins, my sorrows, my pains, so He could comfort me when sad, hold me when I ache, and save me from my mistakes. He did all that for me, and you, so we could someday be with Him again, and with our families, forever. I am so Thankful for my Savior. I love Him, I want to be like Him. I'm trying, but sometimes, ok, alot of the time, I fall short of the mark. But I know He loves me anyway, and doesn't want me to give up trying.
See, this is why Thanksgiving is so important. If for nothing else, to remind me that all blessings come from Him. And now we get to celebrate His birth and thank Him for all that's he's done for us, by giving back to Him, by giving of ourselves to others.

P.S., in case your wondering what #2 on my most thankful for list is...take a look!



My new storage room is finished! (I love my husband)

#138 on my list is PIE!





Unless it's Pecan Pie, then it's up there in my top 10!

Just a warning...this is not a holly jolly post

I have been neglecting my blog lately. Not because I haven't had anything to say, mostly because I've been avoiding this.

My basement is making me CRAZY! Creative juices just don't flow amid chaos and clutter. I know some people work best in a un-organized, un-structured, un-controlled environment, but I'm not one of those people (although my childhood room would have suggested otherwise, my mom will be happy to know I've outgrown my fear of shag and prefer now to actually see the floor I walk on)


My poor husband is working as hard as his little 50 hour a week job, church meetin', mutual attending, football watchin', softball playin', pipe fixin' hands can go...so I can't really be too upset. It's just that, well, do you know what a inch layer of sheetrock dust can do for ones morale? The dusting alone was about to send me over the edge. I hate dusting.



Obviously I've just given up. I just have to remind myself to keep my eye on the prize, keep a eternal prespective, this too shall pass, opposition in all things, look for the silver lining...blah blah blah. Someone called me a Pollyana the other day because I was able to find the positive in what looked like a dismal situation (Super Saturday craft gone wrong), so I'm trying hard to keep a smiley face and look at the bright side of things. Here's what I came up with:

1) I can more easily locate my husband because his white footprints lead the way.
2) I can feel good about my sons bathroom hygiene because I can see that he washes his hands when he's done by the white dust trail he leaves behind on the bathroom lightswitch, the door, the faucet, and the towel.
3) I can serenade my husband after a long day of sanding sheetrock to the tunes of "Frosty the Snowman"
4) Nothing puts you more in the christmas mood than having that permanent "Jack Frost has been here" look.
5) The forcast in our home looks rather promising for a White Christmas.
6) Someone moved the couch for me, so now I get to vacuum up 6 years worth of breeding dust bunnies.
7) I found my lost silverware, .53 cents in change, my Jane Fonda workout video, and the mystery of the missing yogurt has been solved.
8) My husband's hair is whiter than mine.
9) Can't wash dishes cuz the water is turned off.
10) What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and makes for good blogging material.

As I may have mentioned before, my goal is to have my husband finish my storage room by Thanksgiving, so I can deck the halls, and my basement too. And just as he was making real progress, he informed me that he would be making a hole in the ceiling to fix the broken pipe that started leaking this past spring. My house smelled like the bottom of a laundry hamper filled with damp towels for months! I cleaned, I fa-breezed, I almost hired a hound dog to sniff out the source. But clever little me figured it out by myself when I took the picture off the wall that hides our pipe fixture and noticed the wet cement behind it. The hot summer sun dried up all the wetness, and the smell eventually went away. Did I mention this happened in the spring? Well, he decided now would be a good time to get to it. Why not? Tear everything up at once. No sense in making a mess twice, just get it all over with. What's another hole in the wall. Thanksgiving is still a week away, plenty of time.



Husband just informed me the pipe was the wrong size. Another setback. Another delay. Only one more weekend before black friday...what's that you said? You have a softball/snowball tournament this weekend?

SLAM!

Did you hear that? Pollyana just stormed out of the room, good-bye.

Wow, 2 Posts in one...

Post 1

Tary and Linda are pleased to announce
the arrival of their newest addition to the family:
Ophelia Oven (Opi for short)
delivered on Oct. 4th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Weight: 120 lbs.
Height: 37"
The family loves and adores her as she has already made herself an invaluable member of the family. We are so proud of the things she can already do:

She can bake bread, bake pies, and recently baked this delicious cake!

She fills our home with delicious aromas, graces our table with hearty casseroles,
and satisfies our souls with goodies galore.
We all hope she'll be with us for a very long time (unless that is, I win the $30,000 kitchen makeover from Taste of Home). Welcome to the family Opi!

POST 2

Halloween has come and gone. It was another successful year for the candy conisseure. We went up to Layton again this year to celebrate Cindy's goulish birthday, only she was confined to her home with sick kids, so we celebrated the hallowed night without her. Trey went as Napoleon Dynamite. It was the easiest costume I've ever done. Poor kid, looked just like him with his Dad's old glasses, all I had to do was deface a old t-shirt and call it good.
Chelsea had fun making up her cousins, and herself. And Kayla was, well, we were just happy that Kayla was there. She was a tired Student/Maceys employee/cowgirl. The weather was very cooperative, not too cold, and the streets were alive with little goblins and gouls. It was a fun night, thanks Wendy!
And now that Halloween is out of the way, I was so looking forward to my day off on Monday so I could clean my house to the jolly tunes of 'Jingle Bell Rock' on the radio. Imagine my dismay when I tuned in and only got 'Tears to Fears'. That pretty much sums up how I felt. How could they not be playing christmas music? I admit, 2 years ago when I turned on the radio the day after halloween and I heard those glorious strains of Excelcis Deo that I was a little shocked. I thought it was just a one time song to help us get in the mood, to help us get out the door and do our part to help boost the economy. But when one song turned into 2, then 3, then all day, I was mystified, horrified, and secretly pleased. Last year, I wasn't sure if they would do it again or if it was just a once in a lifetime fluke, but come Nov. 1st, we were 'Rockin around the Christmas Tree' once more. I tried to pace myself, you know, only listen in the car, or while making dinner, but soon found I couldn't resist the merriment and sense of anticipation the music would bring. They didn't tolerate my obsession at work, so I made up lost time at home, decking our halls with hours of jolly, fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la.
So this year, I was mentally prepared. I was ready come Nov. 1st to embrace "Frosty the Snowman". Afterall, "It's the most wonderful time of the year" and once halloween is over, I'm ready to "Let it snow". Well, Nov. 1st was a sunday, so I wasn't too dissappointed that Sounds of the Sabbath was playing, although I was hoping they would throw in Away in the Manger every once in awhile. They didn't. But come monday morning, I just knew my voice would be heard "Up on the Housetop" singing with the "Angels we have heard on High". First thing monday after I 'don'd me now our maid apparel', I reached for the cleaning supplies, cranked up the volume and turned on fm100, expecting "Silver Bells" to see me through dirty sinks and toilets, dishes and dust. "Do you hear what I hear"? "Mr. Grinch" radio announcer is playing his usual monday morning Elton John will-get-you-to-work-on-time crap, while my heart is sinking. No explanation, no excuses, just a whole lotta 'nuttin of christmas'. How dare they! First they get us hooked. They lull us christmas musicholics into a safe environment where we don't have to sneak our Nat King Cole and Amy Grant from their hiding places, because they've made it available to us 24/7. They have forced us closet christmas listeners out into the open, and we're ok with it, because now we know we're not the only ones who like to spread "Joy to the World" before Thanksgiving. And then, they take it all away. Again we are shamed. We who have listened, have been outsted. They know who we are.
We are the ones who pull out the christmas fabric in July to start a new christmas countdown. We are the ones who have our christmas shopping done by December 1st. We are the ones who have a freezer full of christmas candy that we started making in October. We are the ones who go the craft store in September, and while everyone else is grumbling about the Christmas stuff out already, we are holding back a cheer and refrain from shouting 'Finally'! We are the ones who have a closet stuffed with christmas sweaters and proudly wear each one, no matter how old, ugly or dated they may be.
You can repress us Mr. DJ, but you can't keep us down! We will not let the lack of Christmas music diminish the spark of excitement in our hearts. "Oh Come all ye Faithful" listeners of holiday cheer, bring out your music, your Amy and Celine. No more need for "Silent Night"s, "Go tell it on the Mountain", "Christmas time is Here"!

P.S. Yes, I posted this while listening to www.live365.com, where they play christmas music nonstop. Take that cosy and fm100, hah!