MaeLyn's Musings

This bottle has a wide, solid base, so it is well balanced, sturdy, dependable, and isn't easily knocked over. The neck tries to break free of that image a little, and reaches out in an attempt to be graceful and artistic, although it falls a bit short of its aspirations. In looks, it is pretty, but not glamorous. It is fine standing on its own when it has to, but is usually more comfortable when something else shares the stage.

If I were going to make a new quilt... I'm not saying I've completely decided to yet... but if I were to make a new quilt, I think the pattern would be similar to the picture here. I might call it "Stars and Boxes". Can you see the stars? Can you see the boxes? What other patterns or shapes can you find? (Wow, I sound like I'm writing for kindergartners!) My problem is that I haven't sewn a quilt in years. The last one I pieced together was completed sometime before April 2010 (I mentioned it in this blog ) and I never finished it because I'd like it to be machine quilted a certain way, and I can't afford to have it professionally quilted, and I haven't gotten enough practice to feel comfortable quilting it myself that way.  So, if I were to make another quilt, it would be smaller, maybe only wall hanging size or at most twin bed size, so I could practice machine quilting so I might eventually, potentially, finish the other quilt that has...

The golden gourd glowed. His great, goofy grin greeted  greedy gamboling goblins. (Try saying that five times fast!)

Yesterday we went to the library and among other things, checked out a book with some cool pictures in it. This morning I had some fun trying to recreate some of them. Could you build any of these in 3-D?

I have a confession to make. Last Sunday we had Stake Conference, and it was one of those conferences where the stake president speaks, and the remainder of the conference is a broadcast from Salt Lake. I listened to the stake president talk about how we are all in Lehi's dream, and how we need to ignore the mockery of the world so we can enjoy the fruit of the tree of life. I paid attention to the talks about working with the missionaries to hasten the work of the gathering of Israel, and about how families are preparation for eternal life. I was interested in the talk about sacrifice and consecration. But I confess that during the last talk, the one about prayer, I was hearing the words, but I wasn't really paying attention to them. My excuse is that Peter's attention span was shot, and I was trying to help him endure to the end of the meeting, but there was probably a better way for me to do that than playing hangman with him. My notes for that final talk consisted ...

"For a trump shall sound both long and loud, even as upon Mount Sinai, and all the earth shall quake, and they shall come forth—yea, even the dead...  Behold, I say unto you that...  the   sun   shall be   darkened, and the moon shall be turned into blood, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and there shall be greater   signs   in heaven above and in the earth beneath;   And there shall be weeping and   wailing   among the hosts of men;  And there shall be a great   hailstorm   sent forth to destroy the crops   of the earth.   And it shall come to pass, because of the wickedness of the world, that I will take   vengeance   upon the   wicked, for they will not repent; for the   cup   of mine   indignation   is full; for behold, my blood   shall not   cleanse   them if they hear me not.  Wherefore, I the Lord God will send for...

Agatha Christie I've been reading a lot of Agatha Christie lately. Nothing helps me unwind in the evenings like a good old murder mystery. After a certain point, I've come to learn a few things about her mysteries. Here are some of the things I've learned: While the detective (whether Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple or someone else) will know who did it before everyone else because They are privy to inside information They are just plain smarter than everyone else.  The detective won't divulge all the information they have until the very end. This is because They are missing one pertinent fact such as motive and want to divulge everything at once They want to wait until the perfect moment, when all the suspects are gathered together and the police are waiting in the other room to arrest the suspect at the perfect psychological moment. If the detective decides that the murderer deserves mercy, the detective can let them know privately that they are discovere...

Yesterday, I was talking with one of my sisters on the phone, and she told me about an art class that she is taking. It sounded like a lot of fun, and something that I could learn a lot from. She also mentioned that she missed my blogs. So, April, this one's for you: During one of the sessions of General Conference a few weeks ago, I doodled as I listened and took notes. From my doodles, can you figure out which session I was watching? (My doodles are not in any particular order.) (Also, please excuse the horizontal lines from my note paper and the writing that shows through from the other side... I couldn't erase them without taking away from the drawings as well.) Peter helped with this one. He didn't think I added enough wrinkles.

Yesterday I taught lesson 22 of Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Fielding Smith, entitled, Prayer - A Commandment and a Blessing . Here is the outline I prepared to teach this lesson: Opening    Write "What is something I can do to make my prayers more effective?" on the chalkboard.     Read question on board. Ask sisters to think about this question during the lesson. Why we pray    Read Section 1, paragraph 3 (first half) I wonder if we ever stop to think why the Lord has asked us to pray. Did he ask us to pray because he wants us to bow down and worship him? Is that the main reason? I don’t think it is. He is our Heavenly Father, and we have been commanded to worship him and pray to him in the name of his Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. But the Lord can get along without our prayers. His work will go on just the same, whether we pray or whether we do not.    Ask "Why do you think the Lord has asked us to pray? "   ...

Yesterday was parent teacher conferences at the boys' school. We started off with the 6th grade teachers: "Josh is wonderful, such a joy to have in class. He participates, he works well in groups. He is doing great!" "Josh is doing very well, His test grades are high, and he does good quality work. He needs to work on organization... If he turned in these missing assignments, it would help his grades." "He is doing great. He makes connections, and participates in class. He does wonderfully when he works on his own, but when he works in a group, he needs to listen to the other group members, and not tell them they are wrong." Then we talked to Peter's teacher. We discussed how he hasn't wanted to go to school recently, and figured it might be because he really doesn't like the drills. his teacher suggested he could be the "emergency preparedness specialist" so when there is a fire drill, he gets the emergency notebook, and ...

The problem with telling myself that I don't have to blog every day is that I don't. I get into that mind set of, "I don't have to blog today, so I'll write about that some other day..."    and then that other day doesn't come...       and a week later I'm scratching my head, "Did I ever write about that?" Sometimes I put off writing about things because I know that they are going to take a lot of time:    I'd have to do some research.       I'd want to take pictures or find quotes.          I'd have to think about how to say it clearly, so it would make sense. Sometimes, all I have is some nebulous idea that I'd like to write something about, but in order to actually write a blog about it, I'd have to put a lot more thought into it, and I'm not feeling up to that today...     especially if I don't have to write a blog today. Sometimes my brain seems to overflow with thoughts that I could w...

In case anyone was wondering: Yes, the Impostor Cat still comes around for visits. Yes, Ishmael still has a problem with that, and still growls at him when he sees him. No, the three orange cats don't seem to mind the Impostor so much, as long as he stays outside. Yes, the Impostor still sneaks into our house in the middle of the night when we leave a window open. Yes, one night the Impostor really did run full speed into a window that is usually open, but wasn't that night, when he was trying to escape. No, I don't leave cat food outside or do anything else that would encourage him to come around. Yes, the Impostor was just meowing at my back door as though he thought I was going to open it for him and let him in. No, I don't intend to adopt him and add him to our clowder . Four cats is plenty.