Random Ramblings: Get Shorty

Writing: I have struggled greatly what I should blog about. A few years ago I translated my mission journal into a nice formal book and I have debated whether I should publish it here on the blog. There are some things that I wouldn't mind sharing but there are some things that might be better left unsaid. I am running out of ideas here!

Listening: Men Without Hats - Pop Goes the World. My sister's first husband gave me a cassette of this and I really liked it. I tracked down the CD through eBay and that is one of the few CDs that I cannot let go of. It is not available here in the States so you might have to track it down online. I highly recommend it and it certainly takes me back to the days.

So cheesy!

Reading: I only have a few days before the quarter is up and I have not even started my new book! I better get a move on.

Listening Part II: Yesterday I had the pleasure of hearing Elder Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles at a special Stake meeting here in Logan. He was very serious but very funny at the same time. He said a lot of things that I felt I needed to hear. In fact, my mind was wandering a bit (a kid distracted me) and suddenly he said in a very loud voice, "Listen Up!" Could he tell I was not paying attention? I made sure that didn't happen again. His talk made me want to get up and do something. I have been debating back and forth with myself if these promptings I have been getting are for real or just something else. I don't want to get into all the details but I was disqualifying them because they seemed to be "out of my jurisdiction". But he said something that struck me and quickly changed my mind. It was fantastic to hear him speak (Logan even got to meet him) and I will definitely heed his challenge.

Watching: I caught Rise of the Planet of the Apes last week. I went in not expecting anything and I came out quite enthralled and entertained. That may be the best summer movie I have seen. The special effects were unbelievable. It had a lot of heart to it and I was surprised how John Lithgow's character really affected me. It had some very fun nods to the original and it made me eager to see more. That had to be one of the best prequels I have ever seen.

Typing: But than erasing... ...so I guess I don't know what else to say so I will quit.

Redeemed

Boy was it a rough one today.

I was feeling a little disappointed this weekend. I don't want to go into the details so let's just say that there have been some actions by people that I like that have left me a bit disappointed. 

That feeling lingered into today as well. For the last few months I have been asked to assist in the Primary. Now I love the Primary. I love being with those children and I feel that is where I belong.

But today I was losing it. The kids were really rowdy and I was feeling overwhelmed and disappointed. Sure, they are just little kids and I think I would have been able to handle it if I wasn't already feeling the way I was. I just was feeling that I was not reaching the kids. One of the kids that I like called me mean. This ugly feeling didn't leave me even after Church was over.

And then a knock came to my door. 

I opened it and saw one of my Primary girls holding a bag of cookies with a note with her family behind her.

 

Maddie had made a card (with the help of her mom) with a nice fresh batch of cookies and they were just for me. It was exactly what I needed and really redeemed my day. I was ready to tell the Primary leaders that I was finished with my volunteer time but Madelyn convinced me to stay. Well, at least one more week!

The Tie

Yesterday at church one of my friends complimented my tie. It is one of my favorite ties and I wear it most of the time. But what he didn't know if that this particular tie has a long-lived secret.

This pinkish tie is about eighteen years old. This is one of my few surviving mission ties that went to New York with me. This is the same tie that I wore home on the plane from New York. In fact, I was being a real bad missionary because I wore this tie home. Our Mission President (again, this is the guy that I didn't see eye-to-eye with) came up with this idea that all missionaries should wear the same tie in an effort to promote unity amongst us. While I do like and understand the idea, the way it was presented was what I disagreed with. When I left the mission I gave my identical tie to one of my closest friends and wore this tie home. My Mission President was not thrilled at all that I decided this and made sure that I was hidden in all the last pictures that were taken before I took off. He made such a big deal about it and I am very surprised that when I got to Utah that nobody here knew about this horrible mistake I had made.

But that is not what makes this tie special. 

Didja know that this tie has been in the same knot since the mission? I have never untied it (I am not good at tying ties) and my companion made such a great knot that I have kept it since!

What is your Bid?

Last night was the annual Young Men/Young Women Dinner and silent auction. This is a fun activity for the ward (church) that I am in. The youth make and serve a delicious dinner in a nicely decorated gym for the adults and they also provide dinner and babysitting too. At the dinner is a silent auction where the youth auction off services or baked goods.

Last year I assisted at what is called the Money Table since Kristy was helping the youth in the kitchen. I collected the money that is made off the auctions and all the donations that are made for the dinner. I volunteered to do the same job this time around as well since I was already familiar with how to do it and more importantly, I was dateless. Kristy is the Young Women President so she was basically in charge of the whole thing so she was way busy in making sure everything was running well.

I really don't mind working at the Money Table. I get to talk with a lot of people and I don't mind not being part of the main festivities. I get to people watch (one of my favorite things to do) and I get to be around some fun people who also work at the Money Table. But what impresses me the most is the generosity of my neighbors. We do not live in a well-to-do neighborhood, we don't live on a hill with very influential people. But I live among some of the most generous people I have ever met.

Kristy and I were talking about this today and I think we came to a conclusion. I think the reason that this event is so successful is because of the youth and who they are.

The other day I was walking home with Logan from school when I ran into two of the Young Women, Rossy and Taylor. They stopped me (by yelling out Dr. Pepper; my nickname)  and we spoke for a little bit. I asked teased them that one of their assignments for the silent auction was to supply me with Dr. Pepper since I would be at the table the whole night and needed it. Later that evening they dropped by our house to deliver some brownies they had made for the silent auction and they told me that they would definitely get me a Dr. Pepper. I thought it was cute that they wanted to do that for me.

I didn't think about it again until I was sitting at the table and the girls came over and delivered a nice cold Dr. Pepper. I was really thankful for it because I really needed the pick-me-up but I was more touched that they would do that for me. I know a lot of people were jealous that I had a Dr. Pepper!

This is the EXACT reason why this fundraiser works. The youth here are so great. They work hard and they don't complain. They serve with a smile. I want to be around these kids because of who they are. They are great examples for my family and I. It works both ways, the more I am around them, the more I want to serve them. And the more I serve them, the more they want to serve me. I just love these kids and especially the Young Women. I want to be a good example for them since they are a good example to me.

Okay, I am getting close to crossing over the Cheesy Border

I won quite a few things at the silent auction. I won some cheap babysitting from Kara and Brandon. I won an Indian dinner from the Singh Family (I got beat out last year with this one) and I cannot wait to finally eat some authentic Indian food. Mmmmmm.... ....curry and roti! Kristy also bid and won some homemade jewelry. I also purchased an art print from one of the girls.

I don't want to share how much I paid for this Indian dinner. But I am sure it will be worth every penny!

Logan was excited for the silent auction as well. Right before we left he ran upstairs and got some of his own money so he could buy a pie or cookies. I told him I would bid for him and after it was done he was so happy that I scored him some tasty cookies baked by Taylor.

If you ever go to a silent auction like this, make sure you use your kid. No one will want to outbid a child! Although I did have some stiff competition.

See?

Logan knows the girls and looks up to them. So he wanted to show that he loved them by buying some of their stuff. So I am right.

And they were goooood!

I am so thankful; I am so blessed for living here in this neighborhood and being surrounded by fantastic people. I am glad that I have people around me that make me want to be a better person.

2011 Resolutions

YAY! 2011!

I am so glad to see some of my fellow bloggers come back to their blog and I am also glad to see that some of them has used the opportunity to blog to come up with some goals and resolutions. Reading them has motivated me.

I really like the way my cousin Jeremy posted his so I am going to steal it.

I RESOLVE...

• to take the time to write more. I have three unfinished novels that are just sitting around. I also have a children's story that is just sitting in my filing cabinet. My goal is to finish at least two of them and continue the third. I will also so another round of NaNoWriMo this November and I will need to figure out what I should write. And I will participate in another round of Script Frenzy this April. I am not sure what I will do for that competition. I might continue my comic book or try something completely different like a TV episode or a musical.  And this blog will continue 5 days a week.          

                               I RESOLVE...                                 

• to take the time to read more. I really liked reading a novel/book once a month last year and I think I would like to continue that resolution for this year too. One thing I have learned by blogging daily is that I can do anything daily if I just put my mind to it. If I can blog daily, I can read something daily. So I resolve to read my scriptures daily. I also resolve to read the Ensign (a church magazine) from cover to cover every month. I also resolve to read a good book once a quarter. I have a bunch waiting.

I RESOLVE...  

• to take care of myself. I am no spring chicken and I need to watch what I do (and what I don't do) to my body. So yeah, the ugly E-word. Exercise. I have been a slacker the last month and I need to get going again. I resolve to exercise 5 days a week if possible. I have some fun walking programs that I can do (and will do!) during the cold winter months and then get back into running when the weather gets a bit warmer. And speaking of running, I also will run my first 5K race this year. I will run the Top of Utah 5K on September 17th. I will have all spring and summer to train so I have no excuse not to make it. I will also watch what I eat and try to slim down my portions.

I RESOLVE...  

• to pick up a pen and draw. I want to draw and I want to be creative. Last year I wanted to reactivate my Queen blog (Sheer Art Attack) and post some art based on Queen songs. I was going to do it once a month and I think that may have been too lofty a goal. So I will see if I can do something quarterly.

I RESOLVE...  

• to continue to the play the bass guitar. But instead of just playing it by ear, I may borrow some books from the library and really teach myself how to play. And to also continue to sing with the choir and look for some other opportunities to use these talents.

I RESOLVE...  

• I have some other things that I want to do this year but they are private or they are too mundane and boring to list them here.

That should keep my plenty busy for this new year. I will blog monthly how I am doing. I am not a huge fan of such disclosure but I think that really helped me accomplish these goals last year. I also want to wish all my fellow bloggers that have also blogged about some resolutions and goals the best and that I will do my best in supporting them.

Random Ramblings

Day 275

My cousin Jaimee made a comment on my blog that really excited me.

Jaimee said...
Didn't you start November 1st? Then you should just have three months left... August, September, October!! Because I started a month after you and I have four months left! :)

Obviously I cannot count. But math has never been my strong suit so it comes as no surprise. I am pretty excited that I have only three months left. I still have not decided if I want to continue daily blogging. More than likely I will continue to do so even though I might not do it daily. I might skip Sundays especially with football coming up and it seems like my Sundays are steadily filling up with meetings and Church stuff.

I do think that a major celebration is in store for when myself and my fellow bloggers have finished this year-long trek. We should all try to meet up in person and celebrate by going out to dinner with everyone. And if we do it before our blogs officially end, we will have something to blog about. ;)

But for an end there is always a beginning. My cousin Josh has joined the blogging ranks.

Speaking of cousins... my Aunt Margo just sent me this picture. From left to right: Angie, fellow blogger and sister Jennifer, Kati Jo, Wyatt, Misty, Blake, Me and Johnny and fellow bloggers and cousins Josh and Jeremy

I would like to give Josh's funny blog a shout out! You can follow The Original JC by making with the clicky on the link. Glad to have you aboard Josh!

Out of curiosity, I quickly scanned every one's blogs (I checked the blog links on the side of your blogs) and it looks like (unofficially) there are 22 fellow bloggers that have taken the challenge. Some have stopped, some have only done a few entries but at least they tried. Maybe at the end of my blog I will figure out officially how many people are blogging.

It looks like my wish has unfortunately come true. Our camera bit the dust. Kristy tried to use it yesterday and it just wouldn't turn back on. So we are camera shopping tonight. I have one in mind, we are going to BestBuy to test it out and then I will order it from Amazon since they have it $20 cheaper. I am looking forward to having a new camera to play around with. It is not a real fancy camera but it will be quite a step above our current one.

Kristy washing cherries and Logan pitting them

Logan being a ham

Saturday, Kristy and Logan and I spent a few hours canning some cherries. We found a fantastic deal (24 pounds for $26) and they were the good sweet Bing cherries. We kept a bag to eat and we canned the rest. It didn't take too long since all of us were helping but my palm is sore. We borrowed our neighbor's depitter and I spent hours ramming the pits out of the cherries.

The final product. I think they look pretty.

We did 14 bottles worth for our food storage. Canning season has begun. We have beets and beans coming up shortly. We managed to snag some pics of our cherries before the camera died. Hopefully I won't need it until I get a new one.

Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon

Day 219

I had a real nice day yesterday, much better than I thought it was going to be. It was also quite busy which was good since I really didn't have time to even miss Kristy and Logan.

Yesterday, early in the morning I had a meeting at the church which only lasted about an hour. I also got a phone call late the night before to substitute a Primary class. For those that don't know what a Primary class is, it is a class (like Sunday School) for children. We have a lesson, we sing music and have an activity. I used to teach in the Primary for almost two years before they asked me to participate and serve elsewhere in the Church. So I came home and prepared my lesson but had to go out again and collect offerings for the Church as well.

It was great to be with this children again. I taught my old class of kids who are five years old and I realized how much I missed them. I am impressed with how much these kids already know and how well behaved they are. They are so willing to take part and are so sweet. I really wish that I was their teacher again and was thankful and happy that I got to see them again. Our neighbor's daughter was very shy when I first met her and now she is quite talkative; not the shy girl I remember. She remembered me and recounted what I taught her months ago which totally surprised me. And she sat beside me whenever she could. At one point she asked if she could sit with her brother and I told her she could and when she found that he was not there she happily came back over to me and sat down.

After Church, I walked home and was ready to cook me up some dinner when I checked my messages and found that my sister had invited me over for dinner. She grilled up some chicken and made her famous potato salad so I definitely was heading over. It was a nice evening and dinner was fantastic. We talked and looked up some old friends on Facebookand I played around with my cute nephews. I came home after a very nice evening and ate some Bottlecaps and read some comics before heading to bed. Not a bad day at all. And to top it off, the Blackhawks and the Celtics won.

The only bad thing is all the canker sores on my tongue from those Bottlecaps!

Logan's Life: Church Memories

Day 30

I was going to do my final The Write Stuff column to celebrate the NaNoWrMo competition and talk about some comic book writers but I decided to wait until tomorrow when NaNoWrMo officially wraps up its November writing fest.

So instead I present to you some memories of my son Logan. For those that don't know, my family and I are LDS (Mormons) and we go to Church every Sunday. Some of Logan's funniest moments have been at Church. Now the purpose of this blog was so I can write down some memories before I forget them so here is what I remember about Logan in Church.

-A couple of years ago during Sacrament meeting Logan was pretending to cook something in the microwave (they were crayons) and he got mad at me when I tried to eat one that he had not cooked. After he "microwaved" the pink crayon, that I picked out, he being the nice kid he is, he "cut" it in half and shared it with me. Instead I pretended to take it and then I hid behind the Hymn books. He looked over at me madly and jumped over Kristy yelling "OPEN YOUR MOUTH!" Logan thought I had actually ate the crayon. I couldn't stop giggling.

-When he was about two years old he played with these cars that he loved so much. He would carry them all over. One Sunday he took them to Church and unexpectedly yelled out "BEEEEEEEEEP!" at the top of his lungs.



-Another time when he was about two or three, when it was dead silent in Church he found some brown stuff on his fingers. He looked at Kristy and I and announced quite loudly "IT IS NOT POO!"

-One Sunday morning he must have been tired because Kristy and I heard him say his first cuss word. He slept in (cause he was up late last night at Grandpa’s and after his shower) and he was in a strange mood. He uttered his first swear word today, much to my chagrin. He was in his bedroom and his drawer wouldn’t open and he yells out "dammit!" Kristy and I looked at each other, did he really say what we thought he said? Then we hear "dammit!" again. Yup, he definitely was cussing so Kristy and I went in and asked him where he learned that and he replied "Dad says it everyday when he plays Star Wars." BUSTED! It probably was Madden. ;)

-One Sunday one of the members of our Church said "hi" to Logan after church and surprisingly he stopped to talk to him. Logan was probably about 4-5 years old. He asked him what his name is and how old he was and Logan answered. When the member asked him if he wanted to see a trick, Logan panicked and yelled "BYE!" and took off out the door. I grabbed him and we went to see his trick. He asked Logan to blow on his tie and when he did, his tie "melted". Logan said "WHOA!". Then the member put the other part of the tie in his mouth and blew the tie back up. Logan couldn’t believe his eyes. He ran to the door yelling "That is the weirdest tie‚ I have ever seen!" and took off.

-One Sunday, during Sacrament meeting, I found that Logan had a piece of glitter in his ear and Kristy took it out. I pretended that I put it back in and told him. He got mad and made a couple of fists and yelled out "YOU MEAN DADDY!"


Logan combed his own hair for Church in this picture. I really wish you could see it better. I tried so hard not to laugh.

-Every year the Primary (the children) gets to take part of the Sunday Services. This Sunday they were invited up to sing for all the dads for Father's Day. They went up and sang and it was so sweet. When they were done, the kids were supposed to come down and rejoin their parents. Logan didn't. He got up to the podium with a smirk on his face. It looked like he was about to give a sermon or something. The real speaker was standing right behind him and he laughed. He said the same thing when Logan finally decided to come down.

Logan is such a funny kid. I am so glad and happy that he is my son. For some of these experiences, you definitely had to be there.