MaeLyn's Musings

The kids were at school. My chores were done. What did I want to do today? The last few days I've been working on sewing myself a new blouse. Yesterday I added the collar and sleeves. All that it still needs are buttons and hemming. I didn't have buttons for it yet, and that would require a trip to the store. Was it worth it? On the one hand, it snowed yesterday, and the roads were slushy with snow and ice. It was less than 20 degrees outside. I hate driving in the snow. I could find something else to do today. On the other hand, it wasn't currently snowing, but it might snow later on today, and there is a chance of snow every day for the next week. There might not be a better time to go. And I couldn't finish my blouse until I got buttons. In the end, I decided to go. I gathered some leftover scraps of cloth that I wanted the buttons to match, scrounged up a coupon, recorded some information from a skirt pattern, just in case I came across some fabric for a skirt...

Snow brings adventure. Sleds become rockets, soaring over an igloo. The other side of the jump. Josh could fit entirely inside!

Pepperoni hearts and angel cake with berries made by loving hands. He brings me flowers. I admire their rosy hues And know I am loved.

Joshua gave a talk in Primary last Sunday. As usual, he didn't get around to thinking about what he would say until Sunday morning, when he wrote a few notes before we left for church.  I wasn't able to hear Josh give his talk, but I wish I could have because he has a good understanding of the gospel and an interesting way of expressing his ideas. I wanted him to write down what he actually said because he told me that he didn't just read his notes and that he explained more than that, but I don't think he'll ever get around to writing it down. You can get an idea of his thought processes by his notes though, so here is what he wrote: Jesus Christ is my Savior an Redeemer. Heavenly counsel he wanted to be the savior and redeemer. Lucifer did this also. After a word war, Jesus was chosen. During his life he preached and did many miracles. Near the end of his life, in the Garden of Gethsemane, he suffered for all of our sins, then got sold to the anti-Jesus gro...

In a conversation with a  sister a few weeks ago, she asked me, "Which do you feel like you have less of - time or energy?" My immediate response was, "Energy!" I have all the time in the world. If I ever don't have enough time to get something done, it's because I chose to spend that time doing something else - reading, sleeping, Facebook, whatever. Particularly on days like today when my kids are in school for seven hours or so, I have plenty of time to do anything that I might want to do today. What I don't have is the energy. From the moment I climb out of bed in the morning to when I collapse back into bed at night, I only have a limited supply of energy. I try to get my chores done first thing in the morning because I know that if I save them until later, I won't have the energy left to get them done. Meetings and activities in the evenings are exhausting because I have so little energy left by that time. I find it difficult to get real...

Last night I went to a Relief Society meeting, where the theme was, "What do you love?" We were supposed to bring something that we love to 'show and tell'. It was a great chance to get to know the sisters in the ward a little better. I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to bring. The difficulty was that I couldn't think of anything that I love . (Families and scriptures, etc were a given and so were disqualified.) I love people, but as far as things go, there really isn't anything that I couldn't live without. Sure, there are things that I enjoy and like, but love ? That was tough. For lack of anything else, I brought my frog collection. It has sat in a drawer of my jewelry box collecting dust for the last few years for lack of a good place to display it. It's not something I think about often these days, but I do like it. At the meeting, people shared things they collect, things they have made, things other people have made for them, and ...

I've always loved water. I grew up in southern California, near the beach, and I loved to watch the waves come in and retreat, ebbing and flowing. I like to watch the sunlight reflect off the ripples, forming dancing patterns on the surface. I like how moving water feels on my skin when I wash my hands or dip my toes in a stream. In a conversation recently with one of my sisters in which we were talking about personality types, I told her that I felt that I was like water. Since then, I've been thinking more about this topic. Imagine a river flowing downhill. Water won't flow up a hill; if it needs to get to the other side of the hill, the river will go around it. It will avoid confrontation and conflict as much as possible. Where there are boulders in its path, the river changes course temporarily to go around them before resuming its course. Smaller things, like stones or debris may get picked up and carried for a while if the underlying current is strong enough. ...

The night Momo died, Josh composed a haiku: Death is hard for kids. Hard for adults sometimes, too. We'll miss you Momo. In a way, I think it was a blessing that Momo died when he did, if he had to die. We left on a trip the very next morning, which gave us other things to think about, other things to do. It gave us time to adjust to the idea that Momo wouldn't be around anymore before we had to live normal life without him. Since we've come home, I haven't heard the kids mention him. I miss him at night when there's no one to chase marbles. The other cats aren't particularly interested; they have other toys they prefer. I don't know if the other cats miss Momo or even realize he's gone. They do, however, seem more clingy since our return. I imagine it's because we were gone for six days that they follow me around meowing, climbing on my lap, Ishmael begging to let me bury his face in my hair. Yesterday each of the three cats took a turn...

Where's the line between helping to reach potential and just plain nagging? My dear little boy finally gets up to dress when it's time to leave. If I leave him to natural consequences, will he ever learn?

We're back! Here are the highlights from our trip: Hannah with cousin Alyssa, and a parakeet. Steven and parakeets at Lindy's house. Thursday: Woke up at 5am, finished loading the car with last minute things and were on the road at 6. Stopped at my sister April's home in Green River, WY for a rest stop around noon. Arrived in West Jordan, UT at my sister Lindy's home around 4 in the afternoon. My parents were there, too, and we enjoyed chatting. That evening, my parents, Lindy and her husband Thom, and Steven and I went out to dinner at Golden Coral, leaving the kids to eat macaroni and cheese. Bedded down in Lindy's basement that night. Friday: Woke up in time to read scriptures with Lindy's family and eat breakfast before her kids started heading off to school. Gathered up our stuff and left around 10:30. Drove to Temple Square in Salt Lake City, and toured the Church Office Building, the Lion House, the Tabernacle, a Vistors Center, and the Conf...