Beautiful Easter

Today was Easter. What an awe inspiring day. The day we celebrate the resurrection of the Savior. Today in Relief Society we talked about a talk by Elder Holland from October 2007 General Conference, The Only True God and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent. What a powerful talk! It quickly dispels questions about our belief in Christ. I have been trying to study the talks from last General Conference more, and I am constantly struck with wonder at the power of the words in them.

True doctrines taught. That is the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We can only be truly converted when we accept those doctrines in our hearts and strive to live them. I feel so weak when I think about all the magnificent things that people glean from the scriptures. I need to study them more, to feast more upon the words of Christ.

What a truly beautiful gift we have been given and get to be reminded of each Easter. The gift of Eternal Life if we seek it. One truth that gives me more peace than any bookshelves in the world is knowing that life does not end with death. I will get to see my loved ones again because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. For that I am humbly grateful.

I hope you all had a meaningful Easter Sunday.

"He is Risen! He is risen! Tell it out with Joyful voice!"

Peace

I have been feeling close to panic since Saturday when we went to go look at our house again. For some reason all the colors that we had decided that we were going to paint the walls just felt wrong. Least you imagine a huge headache ahead of us caused by having to change the wall colors, I must explain that the colors we had chosen were still on paint chips in our hands not actually on the walls yet. Something started bugging me while we were there and I didn't realize until later on that day that it was the colors we had been dreaming about. They were all wrong. They were for someone else's house not ours.

That piled on top of dishes, piled on top of boxes (now strewn all over our house), piled on top of laundry, piled on top of my job, piled on top of the dude's job has created the near state of panic in which I now live. Oh, did I mention the hordes of people that seem to be everywhere I go? I am not a crowd person. In fact I'll do just about anything to get out of one. Tonight I told the dude that I wanted to run away to Alaska, and that I would love it if he would come with me. That's where I wanted us to run away to when I almost canceled our wedding, too.

Back to the current state of panic. Tonight we went to the big box hardware mecca and looked at their two walls full of paint swatches (for lack of a better term. It's late!) We didn't even discuss the colors as we were looking at them. We just grabbed ones that we liked and headed out the door. Oh, I forgot, the dude had a lengthy conversation with someone at work. While that was happening, I was wandering the painting supply isle convincing myself that we did NOT need to buy all the supplies this very night. Then when we got home he did more work and I scanned the new colors we had chosen (with my eyeballs, not the computer--give me a break, I live with a geek, I have to clarify. Although as I'm typing this I see all sorts of loop holes and visuals he could take and go running with). We had one of our favorite flicks on in the background. Not a John Wayne this time. (I couldn't help but notice the wall colors all the way through the movie. I think I have a problem. At least there were no dogs in it.)

The result is a completely different color scheme. Wow! I went from wanting a deep dark blue on one wall in our bedroom to wanting all the walls a terra cotta like color. The kitchen went from a mint green to a pale warm yellow. And the dining room may now end up being a leaf green. The only color that didn't really change was the leaf green that I want in the office/studio, which will hopefully change one day into a nursery. Our house went from a strangers to our own version of a warm spring day in 2 hours (of course, this is all still in my mind). And in the process of that happening, a few minutes of peace were granted to my soul.

Do I really have the guts to paint my room a terra cotta? I think I just might. (Now if I can just get the dude to see it. He was the one that picked that color out, though, so who knows.)

Now if we can just settle the question of what kind of dog to get. (We've moved on from the Rat Terrier to at least 5 other breeds, and the dude is now just hoping for a free dog. He doesn't care what kind.)

Perhaps Love

The dude and I decided this weekend that we are in a rut. We wake up, get ready, go to work, work late, are too tired to decide what to eat for dinner, go out to eat (No, I don't want to go there... There's too many people there.... It takes to long there, I'm hungry NOW), then here's were we go crazy: after work we either veg at home, go to meetings, or veg at our friends' home. I know, I know, that's quite the exciting life.

Well, we've decided it's too exciting for us. We don't want to be such wild partiers. We want to focus our energies on things like--cleaning, hobbies, going to bed early. Oh, and cooking our own meals. What are we thinking!!!

So in the spirit of our recent decision to downsize (don't ask me exactly what we are downsizing. I hope it's our stuff, because moving soon with this big a house full of stuff into a smaller house were we don't want stuff could either seriously impair my sanity or give me a heart attack. And frankly, I'd rather avoid both of those options.) I decided that getting stressed out each day at work is one of those things that I'm going to have to give a pink slip to. (Maybe I shouldn't make jokes about downsizing in these times of recession. Hmmm.)

I tried it out today. I'm tired of having my co-workers see me as an eye-bulging lunatic. I took a lot of deep breaths, asked for a lot of help from Heavenly Father, and tried to view everything calmly. I did pretty well, other than a small out burst when I found out one of our employees isn't doing exactly what we hired her for, oh, and when I searched the building for a kid that I thought was missing her ride and I was not going to stand around waiting for the next one to come. But compared to yesterday, when someone decided that spray paint and kids where a good combination, I was very calm today. And so when I picked up the dude it was with joy and love rather than portraying an exhausted snapping turtle.

Read another amazing book today. 'The Landry News' by Andrew Clements. I'm not much on picking favorite authors, but I have yet to read a book of Clements that I didn't like. This one has some great stuff about tired teachers, the first amendment, and kids rebounding.

Amazing!

I just read the most amazing book! Last week I was stressing out completely and the only way I could calm myself down was to browse the library shelves. In doing that I found this thin little book called, "Twenty and Ten." I noticed it was illustrated by William Pene du Bois, who is an author I enjoy. I know that sounds backwards, but it's not. I don't think much of the way he draws humans, but I enjoy his writing. This book's author, however, is Claire Huchet Bishop. It's about twenty French children who hide ten Jewish refugee children during the Nazi occupation of France. The book is less than a hundred pages, but is full of simple inspiration. After all it is about children, who are one of the purest sources of inspiration.

Sit, Boo Boo, Sit!

After much persuading, and countless numbers of 2x4-like subtle hints, the dude gave in this past week and said that indeed yes, we could get a dog. (Hear my like-minded angels rejoice.) Yep, I'm going to christen my brand new home with a brand new dog. My intelligence and foresight astound me. At this point we are hoping to get a rat terrier (oh, I hear your groans and amen to them). If you knew the dude and could read a description of the dog, you would realize they are a match made in heaven. Doggie heaven. So this summer I will be spending my vacation not with a stack of books and a perfectly groomed garden as I had hoped, but hoovering and "NO!"ing and rushing to let the dog out in time and loving most minutes of it. And then if that experiment on my sanity is a success we will shortly thereafter (2months to 10 years) get a second dog (my choice of breed this time) so they are happier while the dude and I go out and make the dough necessary for all their chew toys and vet bills. Why are we going with a pure breed (or partially mixed breed) you may ask? Yes, I do believe that it's better to adopt a dog and get it out of the over crowded shelter. Yes, I do love dogs who's breed is more mixed than my thoughts after a long day of work. The answer to my snobbery is simple. Allergies. Some of my nearest and dearest are allergic to doggies. So to fill my life-long longing for a dog and yet not make my bfs and others avoid my home like the plague, we are going for a "pure" bred dog.

Start thinking of suggestions for names. Although, let's be honest, I probably won't listen to them, just like the dude won't listen to mine. We are a thoroughly original family. Our goldfish's name is Fish, Fishie if the dude is talking to it, which he does amazingly often. I'm sure the dude would have named it a completely incredible name, but by the time the first 3 died (we started out with 5) he was too depressed to think of anything. He didn't want to get too attached. Bless his tender heart. It is one of his true gifts and talents.

I could write a book on our experiences with Fish. Like how we adopted he and his ill-fated compatriots to save them from flushing after they lived in an art piece for a day. (No, the artist did not want to flush them, she just didn't know what to do with them.) Or how we didn't have anyone take care of him while we were gone on Christmas Vacation. We just fed him a lot and hoped for the best for the week ahead. (here I guiltily hang my head in shame, and admit that just an ever so tiny bit of me hoped that Fish would go to the happy swimming ground while we were gone. A thought that I have almost completely repented of.) What did we find when we came back? A bigger Fish than when we left, the little piggy! The dude had a long chat with him after that. Letting him know we were sorry we had abandoned him.

I wonder how Fish and the dog will like each other. Hmm... (distant rumblings of foreboding cloud my mind.)

Elephants above my head

As a disclaimer to the rest of this post, know that I'm very grateful for the amazing home that I live in. We have the best landlords in the world, and I love their children. This post is just a reaction to having been sick for over a week now and not getting much sleep last night. That being said, I will continue.

I believe I have elephants living above me. Young elephants, but elephants none the less. As I've moved throughout my house this week trying to find a quiet spot to take a nap, I've realized that there are none. Because, you see these are talented elephants. They can be everywhere at once, and in fact I'm sure to their sweet mom it seems like they are.

Heaven bless those sweet elephants and help me find my ear plugs.

Sounds you can't control

Today I am at home yet again. I had to go to work yesterday, and that was almost sheer torture. Luckily, I have absolutely wonderful co-workers who were able to do the things that I couldn't. I consider the people I work with some of the tender mercies in my life. Without them and the rugrats, the job would be no fun.

Last night just to add some fun to an already difficult day, we went out to eat with some friends. Again a tender mercy, they were seated right before we got there so I didn't have to stand up and wait with the hordes. I don't think I would have made it. We always have such an extremely good time with our friends and last night was no exception. I did eat way too much, though, which brought lots of grimacing into my life.

The excitement of yesterday was too much for my poor weighted lungs, and so I am at home on our big blue couch again. At times I wonder at my state of mind when we picked out this color of couch. We have so much blue furniture! "I'm bluuuuuuue...."

So as I was sitting here on our big blue couch watching the end of "Ground Hog's Day", I started to hear this noise on the other side of the door that separates our apartment from the rest of the house. Our neighbor's playroom is on the other side of the door. No one was home, and yet I heard a toy. It kept trying to go and go. Trying to get its message out to the world. Finally it finished, but then a few minutes later it started again. So periodically I hear this toy on the other side of the door proclaiming how much fun we will have together. I'm not sure how many toys they have that make noises, but this has happened a couple of times since we've lived here. One time it was a toy cell phone that was out in the sandbox when we got home late one night. Luckily that one we couldn't hear once we got inside.

I'm sure you'll be surprised when I state that I'm excited to get into my own home with nice thick walls. And then when our friends give our imaginary kids noisy toys, I will be able to quietly remove the batteries or at least not replace them when they wear out and act like that was the way they were supposed to be. I learned from the best, my very, very wise mother.

I remember once my sister got a "magic" wand from someone for a birthday present that sang the same song over and over and over again. I don't think the wand made it a week before Mom set some parameters for the use of the wand. I believe once a week was mentioned.

Who invented noisy toys any way? I don't even mean drum sets. I'm talking about the toys that have some sort of recorded voice or song that plays over and over and over.....