Recovering Book Addict

The book that stole my Saturday
afternoon and evening.

So what is it about a good book that is so thoroughly addicting?

Why is it some books thrill you so much it becomes impossible to lay them down?

I love the urgency of learning detail after detail until the plot comes to its breathless crescendo and then folds itself up neatly and softly fades away. A book like this is the best way to forget about personal troubles and lose yourself in a far away dream land.

The only problem to this comes in consequence to being a mother, an employee, and (at times) a wife. Only when I read a book of this caliber do I find it perfectly acceptable to let my 5-year old Sweetie Peach make her own lunch of peanut and jelly sandwich, applesauce, and chips. I could care less about the sticky (not to mention crunchy) counter and floor left after this culinary accomplishment was achieved. I must read!

Only when reading addicted books do I find myself able to rationalize the delay of working on my reports expected by my boss. Certainly I can stay up a few extra hours, or get up earlier than usual, to take care of the work assignments due tomorrow. I must read!

Only when engrossed it this kind of literary delight am I able to ignore my spouse's evil eye as he comes home from work to find the children and house in a shambles. "Marriage is a partnership," I think to myself. "Today it is his turn to do the cleaning and caring. He'll appreciate me more for having to do it himself." I must read!

Saturday was like this after I made the decision to purchase a book that looked interesting. I got home from shopping and sat down to read. At six o'clock pm (after three hours of reading) when Kitty complained she was starving I reluctantly put the book down and started a pot of rice to cook (so I would have a reason to get back to reading). I read until five minutes before the rice was done and then threw together the ingredients for haystacks. Fifteen minutes later I had served dinner, eaten my own, and was back to my lovely book where I stayed until finishing it at 10 pm.

I did feel a bit guilty after I finished: I had sent the kids to bed with a call of affection and a reminder for them to say their prayers as they shuffled down the hallway. No tucking in. No bedtime kisses. What kind of mother am I? I blame it all on the book. It was too addictive.

Do you have another one I can read?

Scripture of the Day: #3 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain -- Lev. 18:21

Year of Miracles #20

For the past three months I have not had any consulting jobs to do. This is fairly typical of summertime, but this summer it has been particularly hard. I think it is due to the higher grocery prices and gas prices... the higher expenses just make it harder to make ends meet. I still have had some work to do for WG, but again the income has been lower than usual. A lot lower.

The first part of this miracle is that I have actually been tracking our expenses. You see, I am not a budgeting kinda gal. I don't like to be told what I can spend and where and when. I just want to be able to spend it.

Now, dear reader, don't jump to conclusions here; I am a responsible spender {i.e., live within my means and have refrained from going into any debt except for the mortgage}, but still I don't like budgeting. Oh, to live budget free! Maybe I should have married for money ;).

But getting back to my miracle, this past spring our wise bishop counseled the ward members to work on their budgeting skills. So in the beginning of June (note I did not start in the spring when the actual counsel was given; maybe I should have...) I started a spread sheet and started tracking our spending to get a good feel for what would work for a budget. Thank heaven I did this because after three months of it I can really see what the impact of my lack of earning (or shortage thereof) truly is! Maybe bishops really are called through the power of revelation!

The second part of this miracle is that as a result of seeing the negative impact of my lack of earning is that I started praying for more work opportunities. To be honest I have been hesitant to do this because I hate to have the clash of working and being a mom. But what's necessary is necessary.

On Thursday I had a call from a previous client asking for bids on two projects--which I attribute as a direct answer to prayer. Granted the bids have not yet received actual project approval, but I will exercise my faith in their behalf. I mean, tomorrow is fast Sunday, right? I'll let ya know what happens...

Scripture of the Day: (for commandment #2) Leviticus 26:1

Police Beat #5

It's hard to believe some of these were actually reported to the police at BYU. It seems some local residents up there are a bit paranoid... or at least have no sense of humor:-).

Someone stripped the left front turn signal off a 1987 Dodge Raider in the 2nd level parking lot in the JFSB. The estimate damage is $25.

Someone cemented ceramic animals on rocks of the waterfall near the Bell Tower Sept. 5. The officer took down 14 different ceramic animal figures that were half-cemented to the rocks.

A female student reported that someone was tapping at her window at John Hall in Helaman Halls Sept. 3 and she saw a mannequin head on a pole. There were 15 people in the area with two heads on poles. The case is closed and there are no suspects.

A father was trying to play Cupid between a Bookstore employee and his son. He tried to pressure her to go out with him but she told him that she didn’t want anything to do with her son.

An older male was reported for suspicious activity after someone noticed him opening all the washers and dryers in the laundry at Wyview Park. When he was confronted it was learned that he had personal items in each of the washers and dryers.

Scripture of the Day: (still on #2) Exodus 32:8

Just a reminder: be sure to enter Pike's Pickles giveaways this week! You can enter for all five days, or just those you are interested in. Today's giveaway is the game Blink.

This and That

I am always on the lookout for scripture study ideas to post. This morning I stumbled across this nice booklet on the Creation you can print out. It has good photos and drawings that children would enjoy. And in addition to using it for a scripture study session, it would likely work nicely as something for kids to look at during the sacrament. So throw it in your church bag and pull it out when needed.

Speaking of church bags, why is it they are always a big mess? Here is a list of what I found in mine when cleaning it out this morning:

6 used sacrament cups (my kids think it's fun to keep them)
3 fliers for a ward activity that took place two weeks ago
3 nearly completely used pads of paper
2 clear mint wrappers
2 rulers (one purple one with tracing shape cut outs)
2 folder games
1 coloring book (found in foyer and adopted)
1 Go-Fish game
1 quad
1 mini hymnal
1 green pencil sharpener with shavings catcher
1 travel package of Kleenex (half used)
1 photo of me and Sweetie Peach removed from bulletin board at church
1 used Kleenex
1 hair clip with pearls
1 princess-themed charm bracelet (child size)
1 black permanent marker
1 pink pencil case full of crayons (+2 crayons found stray in the bag)
1 blue pencil case full of colored pencils (+2 colored pencils found stray in the bag)
1 #2 pencil
1 Kotex light days pad (just in case ;)
1 bookmark with photo of my niece on it
1 travel size Magna Doodle (or as my kids call it, "magnet noodle")
1 VT interview reminder card from last year
1 safety pin
1 car key
1 beaded necklace crafted by Kitty
1 Barbie lipgloss
My missionary lessons flip chart
various other unidentifiable trash items

You may note that all of this is just to make it through sacrament meeting; none of it is for my calling in the nursery. Just to give you a picture of me on Sunday mornings going from the car to the building, envision this: me carrying this bag of sacrament meeting survival needs, my 4-inch thick nursery lesson binder, usually one of my kid's scripture totes, and a lunchbox with the nursery snack items (granted this is only every other week). I am beginning to think I need a shopping cart to get it all into the church building.

So what is in your church bag? What survival items do you have in your bag that keep you from getting kicked off the island? I think I will tag Shazbraz and Kim with the challenge of this post. I want to see, photo included!

Scripture of the Day: #2: Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images -- 2 Kings 17:12

Labor Day Fun

Labor day was lots of fun.
We spent the afternoon with my parents (Mimi and Papa).

First there was swimming:

Including Papa's famous tsunami (which the kids adore!):

Then there was delicious BBQ ribs, corn, fruit, and baked beans to eat:

And finally, a movie to attend
(which I would not highly recommend, in case you might wonder):

I hope your labor day was fun too!

Scripture of the Day: (Still on the 1st commandment) Micah 5:13

PS, Don't forget to check out Pike's Pickles Week of Giveaways (link in yesterday's post)--today's giveaway is a car first-aid kit.

CD-rom Giveaway

If you are interested in possibly winning a free copy of my book on CD-rom, Pikes Pickles is holding a contest on her blog. In fact, she is having a WEEK of GIVEAWAYS (how fun is that!!). All you have to do is leave a comment on her blog--plus you can get extra entries if you mention it in a post on your own blog. So what are you doing still reading this?!? Get on over there and leave a comment! And be sure to visit her site every day this week to see the other great things she will be offering for her Giveaway Week... I know I will be!

New Month, New Theme

This month's new family scripture study theme is based on the 10 Commandments. During this theme we will spend three days reading Old Testament scriptures that corroborate and help clarify the teachings for each of the 10 Commandments. The scriptures are placed each day on Moses' tablet. For this set all of the scriptures are magnetized. I am hoping by the end of the month my kids will have the 10 Commandments memorized. We will do this by repeating them out loud together each morning.

Scripture of the Day: #1 Thou shalt have no other gods before me -- Joshua 24:15