10 Things I love about You: Part 2

As I was looking through some of my old blogs I noticed I did a blog about why I love each of my kids. I realized I need to add to that. I need to add why I love Tim. Here we go...and in no specific order

1. He is so creative. He makes me proud and blows me away with the great ideas he has. What is even better is he is creative about so many things, from his art work, to how to motivate our kids to do chores, from decorating the house to our Christmas cards. From how to chose names for our kids to what to have for dinner.

2. He puts up with my many "crushes" . Tim is either totally patient or very secure of how deserving he is of my love and knows that he is at the top of my crush list no matter who else may be on it. He not only puts up with my crushes he humors me about them. For Christmas he got me autographed pictures of three of my favorite actors. This is not uncommon behavior for him. What a stud!

3. He thinks like I do. Not always but in so many ways we think alike. Especially in the things that matter most. I knew it the day I read his article and didn't even know I would meet much less marry the guy. After 10 years I still say we think alike. How can you not help but love someone who agrees with you in so many ways. Sometimes it seems like he is reading my mind and it freaks me out!

4. He makes me laugh. Tim has said many times that one of the reasons he loves me is because I laugh at all his jokes. He has the ability to say something that I know I should be mad about but says it in a way that just cracks me up. We also seem to have the same sense of humor so he doesn't have a hard time guessing what will make me laugh.

5. He is a great dad. Tim has undying patience. He loves to be with the kids and to do fun stuff with them. I love that when I leave the kids with him, I know they are in good hands. Perhaps better hands than mime. He has the same philosophies of parenting as I do so we are almost always in agreement when it comes to how kids are corrected.

6. Tim is a responsible income earner. Tim works hard, he is responsible and I know I can count on him to do whatever he needs to do to take care of us. He is wise about the things he needs to be and is emotionally mature. He is cooperative and considerate so he doesn't tick off his coworkers. He is humble enough that if he ever lost his present job he wouldn't be holding out for a managerial position, although he would probably get one.

7. Tim is a righteous priesthood holder. I won’t say he is perfect because if I did you would know I was lying, no one is, but he sure tries. He knows what is important. He encourages me to choose the right and is always trying to himself. He works hard at his callings and respects his priesthood leaders. He blesses our home with his humble leadership style and honors his Priesthood.

8. He is a Romantic spouse. Tim makes me feel loved and appreciated. He does it in a personal way too. He doesn't just give me flowers and jewelry, THANK GOODNESS! (He knows me well enough to know I don't like that cliché stuff). On my first birthday together he gave me a bouquet of flowers and he gave me a poem explaining the meaning of each flower's color and he tied my engagement ring into that poem when he gave me that. Usually he gives me other things though. He gives me the book I have been wanting or makes me a dress, plans surprises, but most of all he lets me know that he would rather be with me than anyone else.

9. He is always excited about learning something new. He loves to learn new things, and try new things. He is always taking new classes or trying a new hobby. I tease him about his many kits...first aid, photography, art, 72 hour, but wow...how handy is THAT? He knows how to do SO MUCH stuff and he knows so many interesting things. If he doesn't know how to do something, he will learn. He is a jack of many trades and he is one fascinating man. The boy sews and cooks. . . VERY WELL, what more need I say?

10. Ummmm how do I put this...lets just say "I know what he can do with his little finger" (and so much more), and I am impressed.

Movie reviews if you care

I don't get to go to a lot of movies these days and I get to see even fewer movies that I actually like. This last weekend I saw two that were on the good side.
First we saw "Bee Movie" If you liked "Antz" (like we did) than you will probably like this one because it is pretty much the same movie all over again. It had some pretty funny parts but mostly just a repeat of the same plot, somae concept of lots of big names for voices

For me the best part of the movie was that I have 4 little kids under the age of 10 and even though the two little ones (ages 4 and 2) never slept and seemed a little bored they never cried or misbehaved so I got to sit and watch the whole thing without interuptions. GLORY DAY! I think this is the first time since I have had kids and taken them all to a movie that I experienced this joy. I would give this movie a B using a school grading system.

We also watched "Stardust" on video for the first time. That was a very enjoyable movie. Well done. Robert Deniro's Captain Shakespeare was my favorite character. I recomemend it and give it an A which means I would definitely like to own it and I don't say that very frequently.

Keep your "secret" to yourself

I was at Wal-mart last night and happened to see "The Secret" I decided to flip through the pages. I have heard it has changed peoples lives and turned some from the gospel even. I have heard from word of mouth that it is just the gospel, but put differently. There may be some parts that are, but the little parts I read seemed rather aethistic. I wasn't terribly impressed.
The first thing I saw said that we do not have a certain purpose predetermined for our lives. Our purpose is what we decide is our purpose. Because we have free agency this is true. But we all have a purpose greater than any of us could come up for ourselves. We have to turn to our Heavenly Father to find out what it is. It is our choice if we want to live it.

Then it went on to say we will not be judged for how we live our lives. Hmmm. Comforting and scary at the same time. But we do need to be accountable for the decisions we make. Imagine if those people who do horrible things in this life are not judged for them becaue it is the purpose they found in their lives. We cannot recieve the blessings we seek if we do not make the right choices. This is just the way it is. It is a frightening deception that is often fed to us that we will not be held accountable for our actions.

Another thing I read was that this "secret" is like Aladdin's Genie. We just ask the Universe for what we want and we shall receive. How many fables are there about people asking Genies for what they want and realizing how foolish they were for asking. Also, how sad to not acknowledge the true giver of these blessings. The universe doesn't give us the the things we want and need, the creator of the Universe does. We have a loving parent who cares for us and wants us to know him. He knows us very well and he is no secret to us if we seek him.

I am so grateful for the gospel. "The Secret" is a philosophy trying to help lost and unhappy souls. A noble purpose. I believe it has some truth to it. Therefore it will bring people some of the joy this world has to offer. But there is something far better. Something that gives us the things of this world that will give us some happiness, but gives us things this world cannot offer. A peace and comfort this world does not offer.

One of my favorite C.S. Lewis quotes says that we cannot expect to find joy in this world...It cannot be found. The only things that will give us joy in this life are the things of God. Our spirits are created to be fed by the things of its creator.
I know this is true. The things of this world bring no such satisfaction. SO many of the richest people in this world are some of the most unahppy people. They have everything they could ever want, but something is missing still. They think it is bcause they still don't have enough or something is wrong with them becauase it doesn't make them happy. They keep looking in the wrong place.

My mother's pearls

Today I received a great surprise. For Christmas Tim bought me a Jewelry chest. I have a dresser but I always use the master bath instead to do my hair and everything because of better lighting and access to plugs for curling irons and blowdryers. We gave that to Elisabeth. TIm thought a jewelry chest would fit in our closet better and fit my needs more approriately. I finally put this jewelry chest together today. I thought to myself...I really have no jewelry to put in this thing and I am not the type to buy jewelry or really want most of it. It will serve my purpose for other stuff. It has two of those doors, one on each side, that you put necklaces in. I definitely don't have enought of those to fill two. I couldn't even fill the one on my dresser.
I started putting the few items I have into the chest. I then decided to see what was in a bag of my mom's jewelry she had when she was alive. It appeared to have one or two fancy pearl necklaces...not quite my style. I was wrong however. It had 6. Most of them are very simple which is the rare sort of jewelry that I alwasy thought I would like to have. I was touched. It feels good to have something of hers, that reminded me so much of her. Jewelry with sentimental value is far more valuable than jewelry that I just buy to wear. I now have many pearl necklaces in my jewelry chest, more than fits in one side of the necklace hooks. I couldn't have discovered these at a better moment. Thanks Mom. I love them.

Yes, the beauty of men is measurable

I have had the great joy of talking about eye-candy with my friends lately. I think I have regressed about 20 years numerous times this month. It is nice to have girlfriends. In my samplings of everyones favorites I realized men don't fall in an easy category of hot or not for me. There are different ranks for sure. They go up and down in rank depending on the moment too. Ok, stop snickering you pervert.

There is the bottom rank where they repulse me. The guy who plays Sylar is a good example...at least in his role as Sylar. That could change when he is spock but then again, when was Spock EVER hot (not to mention he has the serious problem of not being in touch with his emotions, the stereo typical guy guy :) ) so I doubt it. Unatttractive guys in any way fall in this category. I will refrain from listing many of those as I am sure I am bound to offend someone out there.

Next comes the next rank up. a totally no affect. I don't blame others for thinking they are attractive but they do nothing for me. They may be charismatic in their own right but still..nothing there for me personally. Examples might be Matthew McConaughay, Pierece Brosnan, Christian Bale and Brad Pitt.

Next notch up would be men who are definitely nice on the eyes and ears. They put a smile on my face but not enough where I would seek out pictures of them on the internet or read an article about them. I might be intrigued to see a movie because they are in it however. Examples of this would be Gerrard Butler, Matthew Macfayden, and Hugh Grant

Then there are those that just make me swoon by the very name. You will find downloaded pictures and movie of these men on my computer and cell phone. I will most likely see a movie because they are in it. Unless they are are in nude plays. Right now that means for me Daniel Craig and Daniel Raddcliff. The name thing is just a coencidence. So is the fact they both happen to be in nude plays.

Just because they are in this category doesn't mean I think they are alwasys attractive. Daniel Craig is great as James Bond and I have seen him in a few other things that do him justice but most don't. Same with Daniel Radcliff. So no man is perfect eye candy all the time...but who is?

The Power of Fasting

Ok, I am going to get spiritual now, So deal with it. I know, total whip lash from my last very carnal entry. Same day no less.
I have had two incredible experiences that have stregthened my testimony of fasting in the last few months. I am going to share the one that effected me and my family the most.

Last fallI was feeling like a really lousy mom. I had been feeling like that for a while...I am not sure I ever recovered from the stress of 4 kids. Mostly because I was totally impatient with them Every little thing would set me off. I realized I needed to change. I was more on the side of justice than mercy. It drove me nuts that one of my children had a tendency for hitting that none of my other kids did. It also bothered me that I couldn't tell him we don't hit people in our family because I swatted him on the bum far more times than I am proud to say. Never hard or to hurt..but to get his attention.This doesn't make it ok in my mind however. It wasn't working anyway. It broke my heart that every night I would realize I acted inapropriately and that I had let my emotions get the best of me. I knew my children deserved much better.

I knew I had been a much better parent in the past and I needed to get back to that. I knew I could do better. I fasted about it on Fast Sunday in November. When I went to church I received a lot of inspiration about parenting. The thing that stood out the most was that I needed to read my scriptures more and pray more. I could not make this change alone. Parenting is far too hard and important a job to not need help from Heavenly Father.

I have made a point of reading scriptures and/or a Conference talk every day since then and I am happy to report that I have witnessed a change in myself. I don't yell at my kids any where near as much as I used to. Not because of a great ability to withstand the temptation. The temptation is gone. I feel the spirit is there and it keeps me calm. I feel I have a greater amount of charity towards my kids. It gives me great joy to surprise my children with a hug when I know they think I will be mad. I correct them but quietly and lovingly instead of with anger.

The child who hit then has not hit since, and neither have I. I am very grateful for the spirit that is in our home because of this change. I can feel the differnce in my attitude towards my children in every way. I know I could not have made this black and white change so quickly. I keep asking myself..how come I am not more mad?

I testify that if you want help with changing yourself, Heavenly Father is there and anxious to help. I believe there is nothing he is more excited to help us with.

Post Holiday Depression (aka January)

January has got to be my least favorite month of the year. First of all it is cold and dreary and depressing. The snow that I loved until Christmas day is no longer adding to my festive mood, because after Christmas the festive mood is gone. I want to progress and do other things, get my house cleaned and restock healthy foods after eating so much crud all of December. The cold weather makes it hard to go out and face the outdoors and icy streets. I don't want to get out and exercise and get the little bit of sunlight there is and the fresh air I need. This gives me serious cabin fever. It makes it even harder when me and my children were sick so even if I want to go out, I know I shouldn't.

If cold and dreary weather was not enough there is the Post Holiday Depression. I have to deal with the fact that I no longer have anything to look forward to, until Valentines Day at least. No more fun Christmas Carols, no more pretty lights, no more parties and treats. At the same time you are left with the damage from all the parties and treats you just indulged in. So January depression sets in.

How do I get myself out? I decided first of all not to focus on my faults with my new years resolutions. It is always stuff like exercise more, eat less junk food, write in my journal more. Stuff I end up failing at. This just adds to my depresion next year when I read them and see how well I did or how poorly as the case usually is. This year I have decided to concentrate on others.

No, I don't mean I plan on concentrating on the problems of others or helping them with their resolutions. "Hows that book coming along?" or "Let me eat that ice cream for you so you can keep your resolution to lose weight. That is MY resolution!" Unless people actually want that. Somehow I doubt it.

I mean I want to be more of a blessing to other people. I want to be more thoughtful, less selfish. I want to be quicker to listen and slower to talk. I want to surprise my kids by not yelling at them when they think I am sure to or saying yes to reading or playing a game, even if I have loads of house work to do. I want to make sure Tim knows how interesting he is to me and that he is still my favorite person in the world. I want my friends to know that I think they are awesome and want to be there for them and be with them.

I want them to know this not because I typed it just now but because of my actions and words. When the weather is gray and life is tedious and depressing, a hug still feels warm. A smile still brings sunshine. An "I love you" or "Thank you" from my kids has got to be one of the best gifts I get all year round. Knowing that I made someone happier makes me feel so much better about my day. Even if I didn't mangage to get out of my house for the third day in a row.