THE SIMPLE WOMAN'S DAYBOOK

FOR TODAY...JANUARY 26, 2009

Outside my window...It is overcast with a bit of snow on the ground.

I am thinking...That my paycheck NEEDS to come soon! ;)

I am thankful for...Freedom.

From the learning rooms...Forever trying to learn to fix my shortcomings!

I am wearing...A knit t-shirt with a long-sleeved flannel-type over shirt, comfy bottoms, and long cozy socks.

I am creating...A Valentine's Day garland with pretty crystal hearts.

I am going...To try harder to better myself. :)

I am reading...Country Woman.

I am hoping...To pay off one debt in 2009.

I am hearing...The same thoughts repeating over and over in my head. I wrote them down, so now I won't worry about them. (This is a neat trick that usually works pretty well, as long as you keep reminding yourself that they are written down and are being taken care of. Your mind is then freed up for other things.)

Around the house...Not much today. I am home from work and planning on taking it easy for a day.

One of my favorite things...Barbie Dolls. :)

A few plans for the rest of the week:Not much different than the usual! Going to work, working on class computer issues, looking forward to Friday afternoon!

Here is picture thought I am sharing...A Valentine garland.



Please join us at The Simple Woman's Daybook.

A FUNNY FOR MONDAY

THE SCRIPTURES

I have heard it said that every answer that we ever need is contained in the scriptures. Sometimes we have to search and search to find our answers. Sometimes, they come quickly. There are times when one can pray then randomly flip through the scriptures. The answer is there before our eyes practically jumping off the page at us. I love when that happens. It makes me realize that the Lord loves little old me. He has all of his children to watch over, but he actually cares about me!



Along with the scriptures, our youth have a pamphlet entitled “For the Strength of Youth: Fulfilling Our Duty to God”. They are given this at 12 years of age when they enter the young people’s group. It contains many things, which relate both to them and to the adults as well. The titles for the different sections are Message from the First Presidency, Agency and Accountability, Gratitude, Education, Family, Friends, Dress and appearance, Entertainment and the Media, Music and Dancing, Language, Dating, Sexual Purity, Repentance, Honesty, Sabbath Day Observance, Tithes and Offerings, Physical Health, Service to Others, Go Forward with Faith, The Living Christ, and The Family: A Proclamation to the World.



The section on Gratitude says in part, “The Lord wants you to have a spirit of gratitude in all you do and say. Live with a spirit of thanksgiving and you will have greater happiness and satisfaction in life. Even in your most difficult times, you can find much to be grateful for. Doing so will strengthen and bless you.”



The teenage years are a tough time of life. Many youth go astray because Satan works so powerfully on them. Their hormones are surging, and ties to Mom and Dad are slowly dissolving.

I am so thankful for these tools that the Lord has bestowed upon us. What a world it would be if we have to go it alone.

GOOD AND EVIL

I am so thankful to belong to this blog community. I have found so many wonderful spirits here and such a feeling of togetherness…like we really AREN’T alone in trying to live good lives. The media would have us think very differently. Tonight, my dear boy and I relistened to a story that we had heard before but one that is very eye-opening. As I don’t do well with details, I will paraphrase the gist of the account. Forgive any inconsistencies, miss-spellings, etc.

Elder Boyd K. Packer had told the account of Elder Cook’s chance meeting on an airplane. This story was told, I believe, in 1989. Elder Cook boarded the plane and, as was his custom, introduced himself to the man sitting next to him and asked his name in return. The man stated his name and upon finding that Elder Cook didn’t seem to know who he was, dug out a magazine and showed his picture. It was a magazine with scantily clad women and scary faces, Elder Cook reported. The man sitting next to him was, it turned out, Mick Jaeger. Once finding this out, Elder Cook related to him that in his travels, he met many young people. He said that some of them told him that his (Jagger’s) kind of music didn’t have any effect upon them. Others, he said, were honest in the fact that they felt an evilness while listening to the music. What, he asked Mick Jagger, were his thoughts on how the music affected the youth. His exact words, to the best of my memory were, “Our music is calculated to drive kids to sex.”

The discussion went on for some time. Mick jagger said that now that the availability of music videos was there, these were able to get their message across even better and that he was making even more money because of it. He didn’t care what the kids were doing.

The first time I heard this story, I was astonished, though I should not have been, because I know the influence of bad music. What struck me was that here sat a servant of the Lord next to a servant of the devil. Elder Cook bore his testimony with force to Jagger and told him that if he did not change his ways, he would be held accountable.

We have so much working against us dear women—against our children, against our husbands, against our families. In fact, one of the things that the rock star said was that he wanted the disintegration of the family. May we continue to pray hardily, read our scriptures, and teach our families DAILY of our dear Heavenly Father and the path he wants us on.

RECENT CREATIONS

I've been having fun creating...a source of joy to me. My afghan, apron, candles, soaps, and crystal hearts are some of the things that I have been working on.

My newest creations are some hand-made cards that I did this weekend.

They're in my Etsy shop!

THE SIMPLE WOMAN'S DAYBOOK

FOR TODAY JANUARY 19, 2009…

Outside my window...Dark and warm...darn, I want more snow!

I am thinking...That I need to work a lot more hours to pay down these bills. It's pretty depressing, but I am hopeful.

I am thankful for...My husband and all the hard work he does.

From the learning rooms...Medical Assistant knowledge.

From the kitchen...Poor man's split pea with ham soup. Ham, which I usually put into my soup for both flavoring and meat, was $20 at Wal Mart. I wasn't about to spend that much so substitued hocks for the flavoring and a wee bit of meat. I then used bacon for the rest. It tasted just as good. The only thing different was that it didn't look quite as pretty, and there wasn't as much meat.

I am wearing...Sweat pants, long knee-highs, and a comfy sweat shirt.

I am creating...Valentine cards to sell on Etsy.

I am going...No where special this week.

I am reading...Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen.

I am hoping...To re-make some sound financial goals.

I am hearing...Silence. Hubby has the TV on, so I have my ear plugs in. :)

Around the house...A clean livingroom!...Crafts on the table to put away...A bathroom or two to clean.

One of my favorite things...Good books.

A few plans for the rest of the week:Work, blogging.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...The beginnings of Elliott's afghan.

NEW YEAR'S MUSINGS

I feel quite like an outsider as I read the wonderful blogs that I follow. I am the minority, as it seems, in blog land. I am in the transitional phase between mommy and empty nester. I confess that I hate the term and the very soon occurrence of the same. How I yearn, as I read these blogs, for my own now grown little people. How I desire those times past when I was able to stay at home and be a homeschooling mommy, a homemaker, a wife. Meals were made with love, and the house was cleaned and organized often. There are more remorses that I have that, due to causing undo hurt on others, I may not mention here. But, they are real, and they are very hurtful. They lend to the sadness I carry.

I very much dislike this passageway I find myself in and for the moment at least feel as though it leads only to much loneliness. After this comes old age and aloneness. An empty house is not ok with me. I want my children around. I want my family. I want activity and love. I very much do not want the empty shell that is soon to arrive. Never did I look forward to the day when my children would all be gone. Sure, I dreamed of not being so tied down and did indeed look forward to the days of “freedom”. I do enjoy certain aspects that come with not being a steward of little people. I do enjoy not having all of the tie downs that kids’ activities bring, that teenagers engage in, and others. But, all in all, I am very saddened by it all. By May 1st, my daughter and friend will have moved out. They are adults and need to move on with their lives, but couldn’t it be different? Couldn’t they just stay? Couldn’t we be as those souls in other countries who live together as family…forever…taking care of one another? My boy, too, will leave this Spring. He’ll be gone for two years and then back for a little season. He then will be on with his own life.

There is just something so final about it all. For all of these years, I was someone’s mommy, someone’s caregiver. Now, it will be just my husband and me. He, of course, is quite looking forward to the day. I am quite dreading it. Did I sign up for this when I married and started my family? I suppose I did, but I was so very involved in having those precious babies and caring for their every need that this day was eons away.

As I read these blogs that talk of having new little ones, homeschooling, and mothering, I am touched with a bitter finger on my heart. I do not desire to be here. I do not desire to be at the threshold of old age. While that is yet quite a ways down the road, it too will be here in the blinking of an eye, and I do not want to be the old woman who is but swept to the corner of life, only now to observe what she used to partake of—that of the motherhood she so enjoyed. Yet…I AM here, and I must make the very best of it. I must forge ahead into that cloudy abyss that I wish to shrink from. It is a time of transition, a time to allow this struggle to strengthen me. And so I shall.