I loved watching General Conference this past weekend. I used to write down notes during every talk, trying to find answers to all my burning questions about the direction of my life. Now, I just listen and feel. It makes it a much more positive experience for me instead of waiting for each talk to be a little compass that is going to point me north south east or west. Mostly this Conference I felt a great appreciation for the Apostles; for the commitment and honor in which they live their lives. And for the testimony they share of Christ and the living gospel.
Sometimes day after day, week after week, I stop thinking about Christ as real and start thinking of him more like an image or statue. Something I'm praying to, not Someone I'm praying with. But watching and listening to the Apostles this weekend I had my testimony renewed through the example and experiences of the Prophet and Apostles that Christ was once a living human on earth, that He is the resurrected Son of God, and that he does visit and teach those of us in our mortal missions on earth.
Just like you can't explain air, I can't really explain this testimony. But I guess that's the great thing about a testimony is that it's in your own heart which understands the temple it beats in.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Friday, October 2, 2009
Helpful Household Hints
Long before being "green" and recycling were cool, I've always been looking for a way to save money and resources. I blame my grandparents who taught me to recycle aluminum foil and bread bags even. I've discovered a "new" way to save water.
My bedtime ritual includes brushing, flossing, taking out my contacts, brushing my hair and washing my face. I also like to wash my feet. The water in my apartment takes forever to warm up and I've hated how much water I've been wasting. Most of the time I've given up and washed my face with cool water. As the colder weather is coming, I've dreaded the cool water face wash.
But I've discovered something. Heating up a pot of water on the stove! Revolutionary! (yeah, I think they did this in the olden days...) So now, I put a small sauce pan on the stove to heat, go brush and floss, take out the contacts, turn down the bed. By this time my water is getting to a simmer. I take the pot of water to the bath room, and blend a little heated water with normal tap water in a basin. (big Target mixing bowl actually) Wash my face in nice hot water.
After I'm finished with washing my face, I take the basin of water and set it down in the bath tub. I take the remaining hot water in the sauce pan, poor it into the basin, sit down on the side of the bath, and stick my feet in for a nice 10 minute soak while I read a magazine, scriptures, or homework.
The cats usually come for a visit as well. They think this is the strangest thing ever.
But now I've only used one basin and one small sauce pan of water, had a thorough face cleaning, a relaxing foot soak, and got my scripture reading in.
My bedtime ritual includes brushing, flossing, taking out my contacts, brushing my hair and washing my face. I also like to wash my feet. The water in my apartment takes forever to warm up and I've hated how much water I've been wasting. Most of the time I've given up and washed my face with cool water. As the colder weather is coming, I've dreaded the cool water face wash.
But I've discovered something. Heating up a pot of water on the stove! Revolutionary! (yeah, I think they did this in the olden days...) So now, I put a small sauce pan on the stove to heat, go brush and floss, take out the contacts, turn down the bed. By this time my water is getting to a simmer. I take the pot of water to the bath room, and blend a little heated water with normal tap water in a basin. (big Target mixing bowl actually) Wash my face in nice hot water.
After I'm finished with washing my face, I take the basin of water and set it down in the bath tub. I take the remaining hot water in the sauce pan, poor it into the basin, sit down on the side of the bath, and stick my feet in for a nice 10 minute soak while I read a magazine, scriptures, or homework.
The cats usually come for a visit as well. They think this is the strangest thing ever.
But now I've only used one basin and one small sauce pan of water, had a thorough face cleaning, a relaxing foot soak, and got my scripture reading in.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
shopping
My top preference for shopping is to support local independent stores
Second in line would be to shop at high-end, well managed chains
My last choice is always the internet. I just prefer my money to support my local community. However, I have searched Barnes & Nobles and Borders for a few cd's. And yes, I still buy whole cd's instead of dowloading. But because everyone is downloading now days, B&N and Borders have NO decent classical and jazz selection. So, for the first time ever, I've orded music cd's off of Amazon.
I'm sorry Barnes & Noble. Maybe if you had something more than Mozart and Bach in your racks I would have remained loyal...
Second in line would be to shop at high-end, well managed chains
My last choice is always the internet. I just prefer my money to support my local community. However, I have searched Barnes & Nobles and Borders for a few cd's. And yes, I still buy whole cd's instead of dowloading. But because everyone is downloading now days, B&N and Borders have NO decent classical and jazz selection. So, for the first time ever, I've orded music cd's off of Amazon.
I'm sorry Barnes & Noble. Maybe if you had something more than Mozart and Bach in your racks I would have remained loyal...
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Moving Day
No, not mine...but almost as happy, my friend Cara moved to DC about a month ago (part of the annual DC-Boston Exchange) and she just moved into her actual apartment today. Just 2 whole miles from me. I am sooooo excited to have her here!!!
Friday, August 21, 2009
With Friends Like These...
So, it's not too often that I rant in my blog. I don't often even rant in my journals. Just not things I like to record I guess. But there is something that has been eating away at me for a while, and seems to be a reoccurring theme for me and I'm just very frustrated.
The few of you who read my blog know I'm not the most socially outgoing person, nor am I the easiest person to be friends with, but you know I try really hard to care about my friends and to help when I can, and just offer prayers when there is nothing left to do. But it seems that most Mormon friends want easy short term friendship and if you expect anything more than that you are going to be left in the dust. The non-Mormon people that I know have a very solid tight-knit, long enduring circle of friends that stick by one another through thick and thin, good traits and bad.
I've been here in D.C. for over a year, and have made very few friends. The closest friend I made was at one time a co-worker and member of my same ward. She is a lot younger than I, and married, so we're not really having the same experiences, but I really cared a lot about her and really valued her as a friend. (and not just because she's the only one I had either. She has a long list of qualities that are really great.) Now, most of her other friends are like her. Young, married, enjoy things like getting together in groups, scrapbooking and arts and crafts. Not my thing. Not my thing on so many levels. I had been invited a couple of times, but really, what am I going to do at one of these functions? I don't scrapbook, I can't afford to start a hobby that I wouldn't keep up, and I have a really difficult time interacting with groups of people. I know those are things that she really enjoy's doing, and I know that friendships are about give and take, but those are just things that are beyond me. So, I've tried to organize other activties that I think we would both enjoy. Racing, hip-hop dance classes (and reader, you know don't you that I don't know ANY hip-hop music...), going to the gym, even shopping, which I kind of hate doing, and other craft classes like soap making. So a mixture of things that I enoy, but also some things that I thought she would enjoy doing.
And I feel like we have both equally been there for one another. I've really struggled with living here in DC and she's listened to me. She's had frustrations about her marriage, and even though I'm not married, I've given her my support. I've tried to be there through her anxiety about her family. When she was laid-off during our reduction in workforce I called her every day to offer a friendly voice, knowing how depressing it can be staying at home everyday, looking for a job.
And we've both flaked out on each other. She offering me rides to church but then not going, or changing the pick-up time by hours, or canceling on the hip-hop class, and I've flaked on her on going to the scrapbooking parties and things of that nature.
So give and take right? But somehow, in the past few months, something has changed, and now I'm considered a 'bad friend'. What exactly? I don't know. I've asked but received no answer, but I will tell you it changed after one particular Saturday. The Friday before we were talking about swimming in her complex's pool while her husband studied for the GRE. I have already mentioned to her that I planned on going to see a matinee and that I had some homework to do. As a planner, I kind of need to have a little bit of a schedule. Since I already knew I had a few things to do, I needed to know in what order to do them. I asked her about what time she thought would work to go swimming. She said she'd have to check with her husband. Friday ended.
My Saturday began. Like every day of the week. I'm up before 6:00 a.m. I went for a 16 mile bike ride, went for a four mile run. Did some homework, planned my weekly menu, walked the mile to the shopping/movie complex, picked up my ticket to a matinee and went to Target to pickup non-perishables. 11:30 am I get a text saying "We're going to play it by ear."...okay, my day started hours ago and since I never heard back from you, my day is now fully scheduled. PLUS, because I can't currently drive, I have to schedule when and where I'm going. You live over 2 miles away from me, so I can't just drop everything and go to your house when your ready, and I've already covered 22 miles, and now I'm supposed to have enough energy to walk anouther 4 and go swimming? I'm sorry that I'm not a play-it-by-ear person and I'm sorry that I wasn't just sitting around my apartment wasting time, waiting for you to call me to maybe go swim sometime during the day.
Aside from her asking me work questions (she was rehired), she hasn't really talked to me too much for the past two months. So I'm a little frustrated that I feel like I'm getting used on the work end of things, and extremely frustrated for being made to feel like I'm a bad person.
Yes! I am an structured, non-scrapbooking, small group, low-key, midly high-maintence kind of person. But am I a bad person who doesn't deserve any friends?
The few of you who read my blog know I'm not the most socially outgoing person, nor am I the easiest person to be friends with, but you know I try really hard to care about my friends and to help when I can, and just offer prayers when there is nothing left to do. But it seems that most Mormon friends want easy short term friendship and if you expect anything more than that you are going to be left in the dust. The non-Mormon people that I know have a very solid tight-knit, long enduring circle of friends that stick by one another through thick and thin, good traits and bad.
I've been here in D.C. for over a year, and have made very few friends. The closest friend I made was at one time a co-worker and member of my same ward. She is a lot younger than I, and married, so we're not really having the same experiences, but I really cared a lot about her and really valued her as a friend. (and not just because she's the only one I had either. She has a long list of qualities that are really great.) Now, most of her other friends are like her. Young, married, enjoy things like getting together in groups, scrapbooking and arts and crafts. Not my thing. Not my thing on so many levels. I had been invited a couple of times, but really, what am I going to do at one of these functions? I don't scrapbook, I can't afford to start a hobby that I wouldn't keep up, and I have a really difficult time interacting with groups of people. I know those are things that she really enjoy's doing, and I know that friendships are about give and take, but those are just things that are beyond me. So, I've tried to organize other activties that I think we would both enjoy. Racing, hip-hop dance classes (and reader, you know don't you that I don't know ANY hip-hop music...), going to the gym, even shopping, which I kind of hate doing, and other craft classes like soap making. So a mixture of things that I enoy, but also some things that I thought she would enjoy doing.
And I feel like we have both equally been there for one another. I've really struggled with living here in DC and she's listened to me. She's had frustrations about her marriage, and even though I'm not married, I've given her my support. I've tried to be there through her anxiety about her family. When she was laid-off during our reduction in workforce I called her every day to offer a friendly voice, knowing how depressing it can be staying at home everyday, looking for a job.
And we've both flaked out on each other. She offering me rides to church but then not going, or changing the pick-up time by hours, or canceling on the hip-hop class, and I've flaked on her on going to the scrapbooking parties and things of that nature.
So give and take right? But somehow, in the past few months, something has changed, and now I'm considered a 'bad friend'. What exactly? I don't know. I've asked but received no answer, but I will tell you it changed after one particular Saturday. The Friday before we were talking about swimming in her complex's pool while her husband studied for the GRE. I have already mentioned to her that I planned on going to see a matinee and that I had some homework to do. As a planner, I kind of need to have a little bit of a schedule. Since I already knew I had a few things to do, I needed to know in what order to do them. I asked her about what time she thought would work to go swimming. She said she'd have to check with her husband. Friday ended.
My Saturday began. Like every day of the week. I'm up before 6:00 a.m. I went for a 16 mile bike ride, went for a four mile run. Did some homework, planned my weekly menu, walked the mile to the shopping/movie complex, picked up my ticket to a matinee and went to Target to pickup non-perishables. 11:30 am I get a text saying "We're going to play it by ear."...okay, my day started hours ago and since I never heard back from you, my day is now fully scheduled. PLUS, because I can't currently drive, I have to schedule when and where I'm going. You live over 2 miles away from me, so I can't just drop everything and go to your house when your ready, and I've already covered 22 miles, and now I'm supposed to have enough energy to walk anouther 4 and go swimming? I'm sorry that I'm not a play-it-by-ear person and I'm sorry that I wasn't just sitting around my apartment wasting time, waiting for you to call me to maybe go swim sometime during the day.
Aside from her asking me work questions (she was rehired), she hasn't really talked to me too much for the past two months. So I'm a little frustrated that I feel like I'm getting used on the work end of things, and extremely frustrated for being made to feel like I'm a bad person.
Yes! I am an structured, non-scrapbooking, small group, low-key, midly high-maintence kind of person. But am I a bad person who doesn't deserve any friends?
Monday, August 17, 2009
Harpers Index
From the August issue:
Estimated percentage of all existing blogs that have not been updated in four months: 94
Estimated percentage of all existing blogs that have not been updated in four months: 94
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
The Weather Report
Folks I've got nothing for you. I am just not exciting enough for blogging. Headlines from my most recent personal journals:
"The frogs are really vocal today."
"The Mimosa trees are still in blossom."
"I exercised my Right to Dry today" (did you know it's illegal to hang your laundry out side?)
"The locust are buzzing at such a fast rate I think they're going to saw down that tree."
Since I was little these are the things I write in my journal. Maybe I should start writing for the Farmers Almanac?
Well, I hope you keep checking my blog in hopes of getting something juicy sometime soon.
"The frogs are really vocal today."
"The Mimosa trees are still in blossom."
"I exercised my Right to Dry today" (did you know it's illegal to hang your laundry out side?)
"The locust are buzzing at such a fast rate I think they're going to saw down that tree."
Since I was little these are the things I write in my journal. Maybe I should start writing for the Farmers Almanac?
Well, I hope you keep checking my blog in hopes of getting something juicy sometime soon.
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