MaeLyn's Musings

Two weeks ago, a member of our stake presidency stood in sacrament meeting and announced that they were changing the ward boundaries in our stake. Our ward would retain all the members that it had previously, but it would gain about half of the ward to the south of us, and we would change buildings that we meet in. My first thoughts were of excitement. The last time the ward boundaries changed, about ten years ago, the area to the south had been part of our ward. We were getting our old friends back again! One of my counselors mentioned to me that the closets for storage were bigger there. We would get a full walk in closet for our Relief Society stuff, and not just the half length cupboard we'd had. I cleared out our cupboard that Tuesday after institute, and piled the stuff in the back of my van for the interim. I gathered up keys to the building and turned them in to the bishop to pass on. I met with my visiting teaching coordinator to make sure that was in order before we n

I didn't decorate for Halloween. I kind of decorated for fall by making this wreath, which hung on the front door to greet Trick-or-Treaters... ...along with the jack-o-lantern which we carved on Saturday afternoon, between a funeral and Hannah's last night of the play. Steven wasn't there; he was at a scout thing all day Saturday. During the month of  October, I got a bit crafty making little crochet dolls for Halloween. I thought I'd give them out to Trick-or-Treaters as they came to the door. ghost clown Medusa witch grim reaper zombie Frankenstein Dracula mummy skeleton invisible man werewolf devil Hannah got crafty with her own and Peter's Halloween costumes. (What will I do without her next year?) Hannah was a clockwork droid from Doctor Who. She made her own mask and it turned out awesome! Peter was a five headed dragon named Hirum McDaniels, which is from a podcast called, " Welc

On Friday and Saturday, Hannah performed in her school play, Almost Maine . According to the director's notes,  " Almost, Maine is a series of loosely intertwined scenes about love and loss that take place over one night in a fictional Maine town." Because the play is made up of short scenes, without much to combine them, Hannah only appeared in one scene. In that scene, a young man encounters a woman at a restaurant that he used to date before she dumped him, and tonight she is celebrating her bachelorette party. Hannah plays the part of a waitress at the restaurant. After the young woman left him, the young man got a tattoo on his arm that he had intended to say, "Villain" because he felt like a villain for letting her go... but the tattoo parlor had made a mistake and wrote "Vill ia n" instead. At the end of the scene, after the young woman has returned to her party, the young man learns that the kind and cheerful waitress's name is "Vil

This past weekend has been one to remember. Twenty some-odd years ago, I lived in southern California when the San Diego temple was dedicated. I remember helping with the open house, putting shoe coverings on people's feet. And I remember the dedication itself, sitting in the cafeteria of the actual temple, and President Hinkley passing through on his way to the Celestial Room, and being within a few feet of him. That was an awesome event, and ever since then, the San Diego temple has held a special place in my heart. That was where I received my endowment before I left on my mission. I was able to serve there as an ordinance worker following my mission. That was also where I was married. The San Diego temple will always be "my" temple. I hope that the Fort Collins temple will hold a similar place in my children's hearts. I was able to take them on a tour of the temple during the open house. The oldest three were able to return to help but on shoe coverings for t

I think we first came to our attention almost a week ago. We woke up in the morning, and as usual, Ishmael was lying on our bed. At some point, Steven reached over to pet him and suddenly, "Sssssss!" Ishmael hissed at him. Now, you have to understand that Ishmael doesn't hiss. He doesn't scratch. He doesn't bite. (People anyway, apparently.) We realized that he had a sore on his side that he didn't want people touching. We assumed he'd been out and gotten into a fight with a neighborhood cat. At the time, the injured area was covered in fur so we couldn't get a good look at it, but he was eating and acting normally, so we respected Ishmael's desires and avoided petting the offending side. A few days later, Thursday evening, was when we noticed the balding spot. He had an ugly sore on his side, as though a claw or fangs had sunk deeply into his side. The fur around it was disappearing, although whether it was due to him licking it or the sore

I sometimes wonder what is going on inside my children's heads.  For example: This morning as we were walking to school in a drizzly rain, Peter said, "Do you know what you could do when you are feeling lonely?" Curious, I replied, "No, what?" "You could turn off all the lights and watch a scary movie." He paused, then continued. "After a while, you won't feel like you are alone anymore!" And feeling like there are ghosts or stalkers or creepy clowns or something around would be a good thing? Where does he get these ideas???

Last night, I attended my first high school football game. (That I can remember. I may have been to one before, but I can't remember it if I did.) I haven't even watched football since I was in college and my college was playing - but then I watched it on TV, not in the stadium. I'm not generally a sports fan. But last night's game kept me entertained. She wanted her jersey to say "Hanana Bread" but they got it wrong. When Hannah told me last month that she wanted to play powder puff football, my first response was probably, "Really? Whatever for?" And then when I signed the permission forms that mentioned that there was a risk of serious injury, and possibly even death, I wondered why on earth I was letting her play! But I signed them anyway, grateful that we at least have health insurance. Practices began, and kept her busy after school almost every day. I'm not sure how she juggled football practice with play practices, but somehow