MaeLyn's Musings

(Peter gave this talk in Primary last Sunday. I thought it was awesome!) In 5 days, we will be celebrating Jesus's birth. On Christmas Eve, my family reads and acts out the story of the first Christmas. We sing Christmas songs and think about his love, which helps us remember that he still lives. My topic is I Know My Redeemer Lives. A few small stories I like about Jesus are when he healed the 10 and when he walked on the water without falling. If someone asks you, "What would Jesus do?" consider the option of pushing over tables and chasing people with a whip. I like that story, too. But the story I would like to talk about is when he suffered in Gethsemane. When Jesus went to Gethsemane, he brought Peter, James and John as guards. While Jesus prayed, the guards were tired, so they fell asleep. That's all I'm going to say about them. In the garden, Jesus atoned for our sins and felt all of our pains. He felt the pain of everyone  from the creation of life ...

John and Josh's snow fort We awoke yesterday morning to snow. There was already a few inches on the ground, and it was still coming down hard. From about 5:00am on, we were inundated with texts and phone calls to inform us that there was no school, no seminary, no institute class. Hannah was disappointed about the snow day but I think it had something to do with it being finals week. No one else seemed to mind. Steven bravely set out to go to work, and by all reports managed to get there and back just fine. Steven's path to the sidewalk.  With nowhere to go, the rest of us spent a quiet day at home. Hannah baked cookies. John and Josh built a snow cave reminiscent of the one they built last year. Peter stayed in his pajamas and played with LEGOs. Some time in the afternoon the snow stopped falling. The snow on our front lawn is now about 6 inches deep. When Steven got home, he spent almost an hour shoveling a path out to the sidewalk, shoveling the sidewalk, and dig...

Washing dishes has never been one of my favorite things to do. As I child, I would procrastinate and play for ever because I didn't want to do it. I hated the scalding hot water. I hated that I never seemed to be able to get the dishes clean enough, so I would spend forever scrubbing at them only to have them come back... not clean enough. It was incredibly frustrating. I was grateful when our family moved to a house with a dishwasher when I was twelve. It was still a pain to have to load the dishwasher, but at least I wasn't responsible for how clean they got. Dishwashers are wonderful things - when they work. Our dishwasher now is almost five years old. (See here for how I know.) A few months or so ago, I realized that it wasn't getting the dishes very clean. The dishes on the top rack especially came out dirty. I wondered if the water was reaching the top sprayer. The door of the dishwasher began to get spots on it that wouldn't disappear in the wash cycle. The de...

As I was taking my morning walk, I came across an unusual sight. On a street near my home, there are concrete traffic barriers, which are intended to slow traffic, making them weave between these barriers. Each barrier is about a foot or 18 inches high. Today, perched on top of one of these barriers was a mail truck. (photo by Google Maps) My first thought was that the postman had parked there deliberately so as to not block traffic as he parked on the side of the road to deliver a package. Sure enough, I saw him leave his truck with a package and deliver it to a house nearby. Then he returned to the truck. As I passed the mail truck on my way up the street, the mailman said, "Pretty stupid, isn't it? I was busy looking for an address and didn't notice the barrier." He had gotten up there by accident! As I looked closer, I realized that the rear driver side tire was the only one touching the road. All the other tires were in the air, and the vehicle appeared to...

I don't like going to the doctor. I don't like being poked and prodded. I don't like being given things to worry about. About a month ago I went to a doctor (an OB, and no, I'm not pregnant) and as usual one of the first things they did was measure my blood pressure. Then they took it again. And again. I watched the little red needle swing around the dial past 140 or so, and then slowly creep back down. "Has anyone ever told you that you have high blood pressure? No? Hmmm. Well, are you feeling stressed right now?" "Some. I don't like going to the doctor." "Well, it's often high when people first come in. We'll take it again before you leave. It usually goes down after the visit." They did take it again before I left, and it had gone down... a little. But I was told that I need to watch that, and make a few lifestyle changes. If it continues to be high, I should see a regular doctor about it. So I went home and researched...

Way back in January of this year, I set a goal to index 25,000 names this year. At the time it seemed reasonable, but a bit of a stretch. At the time I was mostly indexing obituaries, which usually have at least 30 names, and sometimes have more than a hundred. I calculated that if I did 100 names per week day, that made 500 names per week. I figured there would be holidays and vacations when I wouldn't have time or opportunity to index, so I estimated about two weeks of "vacation" time. 500 names x 50 weeks = 25,000 names. Simple, right? Over the course of the year, I have plugged away at my goal. Some days I got a record to index that had more than 100 names. I would go ahead and finish the entire record that day. It never hurts to be ahead of my goal, I thought.  As the days when I did more than I needed to added up, the number of names I had to do each day to complete my goal decreased. The indexing program would tell me that I have to do x names a day in...

I've probably mentioned before that I'm the Webelos Den Leader for Peter and his friend Brian. Last summer, both Peter and Brian earned most of the Camper requirements as they were on family vacations. There were, however, just a few requirements that they couldn't complete on their own. One of those was to organize a campfire program for their pack. In LDS scout troops, the Webelos don't go camping as a den, so we had to be a little creative to help them pass off this requirement. As a result, the Webelos were in charge of pack meeting on Tuesday, and it was a "campfire". Peter and Brian came up with a theme (Christmas), decided on skits, a game, and songs, gave the Bear den assignments to help with a skit, and asked the Cub Master to supply a Cub Master Minute. Our evening went something like this: 6:30 We swung by the house of our cub committee chairperson to pick up the awards that were to be awarded that evening because she wasn't feeling well an...

This week, I have had about fifty bazillion things to write about, and NO TIME to write anything!!!!! Isn't that frustrating? I figure I should really try to get back in the habit of trying to write something every day so I don't feel so behind when I do write. But I have an hour to write before I need to pick up Peter from school today, so I guess you get the highlights: Sunday, November 22nd was a great day. First of all, it was Steven's birthday. He's finally caught up with me age-wise, for a few months anyway. :) Also that day, Josh gave his first talk in Sacrament Meeting. It was on the 7th Article of Faith and he did an awesome job. You can read his talk here . Tradition says that good things come in threes, and on that day, they certainly did. Steven found my camera !  It was in the van, somehow wedged between the side of my seat and the little tray thing in the middle between the two front seats. I would have sworn I looked there, but I guess it nee...

My project for the last month or so, since General Conference really, has been knitting. In October I knit myself a sweater of soft grey baby yarn. Now I'm working on a cable knit sweater vest for one of the boys. I'm discovering that I like knitting cables. I like the texture and the patterns, creating illusions of twining vines. Who knew it could be so fun?

It was Veteran's Day so there was no school. Steven had already left for work and I laid in bed, wrapped in my blankets with my eyes closed, reveling in the joy of not having to get up and get the boys to school.  Eventually my stomach complained. Normal feeding time had passed and it was hungry. I got up and made my way to the kitchen. As I entered the living room, I caught a glimpse out the window of a beautiful winter wonderland. This was the first snow of the season! I spent a moment just looking. There is something about a clean white blanket of snow, untouched by footprints, leaves and mud that appeals to my soul - especially on a day when I don't have to be out in it. Later, Josh and Peter pulled on snow pants and boots and warm coats and mittens (It seemed overkill to me because it really wasn't all that cold) and headed out to play. Peter built a snowman, complete with a carrot nose. Hannah made apple cider. John spent the day coding on his computer. And I watche...

It's been a week, and the camera still hasn't shown up... so.... Saturday, October 24th was a busy day. John and Josh were busy putting finishing touches on the costumes they had been working so hard to create. Steven raked the leaves from the ground below the two huge trees in front of our home. I took Josh on a walk down to the park for a photo shoot. (One of the homework assignments from my photography class was to take a portrait of someone.) Hannah and Peter carved pumpkins. Steven baked cinnamon rolls. Hannah and I dug through our Halloween decorations to find some with which to decorate the back of our van. A little before 3:30 in the afternoon, I loaded the three older kids and their costumes into the car and dropped them off at the church to help set up for the ward Trunk-or-Treat. I returned home to don my costume, collect the carved pumpkins, cinnamon rolls, camera, candy, candy bags and whatever else we would need for that evening of fun. Then Steven and Peter a...

The greatest pictures From a fantastic weekend... Now where's the camera? {Insert picture of me scratching my head in consternation.} Trunk-or-Treat, costumes No pictures to help me boast 'bout all our awards! I did my homework, But now I can't turn it in. Where is that camera? I know I had it all the way to the end of the Trunk-or-Treat... Did I leave it in the car?  In the parking lot?  Is it in a pocket?  Is it in one of the kids' rooms? Where on earth could it be????? I'm going to be really, really upset if it doesn't turn up in the next day or two.

As Peter and I huddled under my big blue and white umbrella on our way through the pouring rain to school this morning, a long suppressed memory surfaced in my mind. Thirty years or so ago, when I was a little girl growing up in Goleta, California, it seemed like when it rained, it really poured. I remembered my mom dropping my older sister and me off at school on rainy days. (Most days, we walked to school.) We rushed through the crowded parking lot, dodging cars, people, and raindrops as we hurried to the entrance to the multipurpose room (Cafeteria/ Gym/ Auditorium) where we were to wait until school would begin. The multipurpose room was always crowded and humid. The hard floor would be wet, slippery and often muddy. The room would be packed with hundreds of children of all ages clustered together, talking and laughing, playing games, sometimes throwing balls or paper airplanes. It was incredibly loud and chaotic. With so many people, the room soon became sweltering hot and...

Leaves carpet the lawn; A cool breeze brings gentle rain. Fall enters stage left. I've been taking a photography class over the last month or so. It's an online course through the local community college, with classes twice a week for six weeks. I've learned a lot about how to use my little point-and-shoot camera in ways I hadn't realized it was capable of. Hopefully some of the pictures I post here will be improved in some ways as I practice the skills I've been learning. The class has also greatly increased my desire to acquire an SLR camera sometime in the future. It's frustrating to finally have some understanding of what f-stops and shutter speeds are supposed to do and have no way to get experience using them.  Meanwhile, I do have a camera, and it works fine for now. I am grateful that I have it, and that I have the chance to take this class which has taught me how to better use it.

Saturday afternoon we attended a court of honor during which both John and Josh received awards.  John received his Star rank advancement, and a whole bunch of merit badges.  Joshua received his Tenderfoot, Second Class and First Class Rank advancements. He also received nine merit badges. Good job boys!

This summer, the Boy Scouts of America changed the Cub Scouting program . They got new books, new requirements, new awards. This was about the same time that Peter turned 10 and joined the Webelos Den of which I'm the Den Master. We currently only have two boys, Peter, and his friend Brian. Since June, we've completed Cast Iron Chef (cooking), First Responder (1st Aid), Stronger Faster Higher (Fitness), and this past month our project was Webelos Walkabout (Hiking). To complete this achievement, we went on a 3 mile hike on Saturday. We met at our house and packed lunches and trail mix. Then we piled into the car and drove to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge . Peter was the trail leader, so he had the papers with the trail map. We parked in the parking lot by the Visitor's Center, then hiked the Legacy Trail around Lake Mary and back. We ate our lunch at a picnic table near Lake Mary, and picked up some trash around the picnic area. The boys ta...

Can you taste numbers? Are sevens bold and brassy? Are eights soft and warm? Shower realization the other day... to me, numbers have different flavors. Individually it isn't as noticeable, but when they get piled together in phone numbers, each phone number ends up with a distinctive taste, a compilation of all the numbers in it, like a recipe being the sum of all its ingredients.  For example, my home phone number has lots of 2s, 7s and 6s. These numbers all have somewhat sharp tastes to me. My cell phone number, on the other hand, has 3s, 4s, 5s and an 8, which are all kind of homey or cozy numbers, that result in a "comfort food" kind of flavor.  Does any one else feel this way about numbers? Or am I just weird?

I just dropped Peter off at school, loaded down with a pile of gear, including clothes for two days, rain gear, and a sleeping bag. He's off to Cal-Wood , an environmental education program. He'll return home on Friday. I remember that Josh went to the same place a couple years ago when he was in 5th grade. ( See here for what I wrote about it. ) It's kind of hard to let my youngest go on an overnight adventure without his parents to watch over him. At the same time, I'm confident that this is a good opportunity for him, that he'll learn a lot, that he'll have fun, that it will be a good opportunity to strengthen friendships with his classmates.  I look forward to hearing about his adventures when he returns.

I had a dream this morning that someone had broken into our playroom/patio and stolen all the toys, tools, bikes, camping supplies, etc. that are stored out there. I was torn between being upset that all our stuff was gone, and being overjoyed because the space actually looked really nice and clean!

Something you might not know about Hannah is that she really likes Phantom of the Opera. For her birthday, one of the things she asked for was the Phantom movie on DVD, and not just any version, but it had to be the 25th Anniversary version at the Royal Albert Hall. She's probably watched it over a dozen times on YouTube already. Sometime in the last couple months, she developed a hankering for a " Wishing Dress " (the dress Christine wears when she sings, "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again") and her talented grandmother came through for her. (The photo below doesn't really do it justice, it looks beautiful.) It still seems weird to think that my little girl is sixteen years old. There were A LOT of candles on her birthday cake last night!