Communication 101 aid

One of my facebook friends put this online and we laughed and laughed. I have since shown it to my son (who decides to not communicate nor date). Now he lets us know he is understanding without having to say much. "Manslater" Dad. or Nate, you need the manslater. He is so smart, and now he is aware of the nonverbal and context of communication in a way that may help him when he does decide to date or communicate. I am excited about it.

Gardening

We have been attempting a potted garden. One of the reasons was that I don't know where in my yard it would be best to plant a garden. Another reason was that I put off making a decision and was running out of time. I am pleased to say that we have things growing, on purpose, in our pots and the younger boys are delighted with this. They check on the plants at least once a day. They water and comment and notice the buds, flowers, sunshine. It has been unplanned fun time. I am enjoying their enthusiasm. It would be nice to get food from them, but this side benefit is delightful.

Mother's Day

Thinking of my mother on this mother's day inspired me to express my love to her and my family. I have been so blessed.
My wonderful husband and fantastic children showered me with excitement, love and generous gifts, accompanied with background music this morning. Each one did something so sweet and personal, it was blissful and heavenly. To see them be so happy to do something for someone else touched me deeply and was a precious gift itself.

On one of the boxes of the generous gifts I received, it said "Achieve flavorful gromet results with the speed and precision of a professional chef. Its easy with a machine renowned for unlocking every ingredients full potential, as well as yours." As I thought about that and opening the box, it occured to me what a huge statement that is. I have a machine that could unlock my potential. My full potential. Pretty big deal. How much would you pay for that? I have received advice in relation to receiving gifts (from my mother) that I will not worry what he actually paid for it. I will enjoy and be excited about this gift. But the metaphor it gave me was stimulating. Something that could enhance our abilities to achieve amazing results if we but open it. I could have put off opening the box. I had other gifts that required scissors to open and I could've gone to open them. But the idea of my potential being realized was itching my brain and I felt compelled to not put it off. It was awesome in the box, more things than I thought were inside. There were not only recipies that could be created, but they were in a super nice collection in a hard cover binder, with amazing pictures. I actually have too many recipe books, I think I am a kind of collector. I love food. I love herbs and spices. But I am inspired to use this new machine and the results it may bring.
Realistically, most of my kids won't appreciate the delicacies it has- although the smoothies are tasty-looking. So while I type about this metaphor for what I have already been blessed wtih in my life, I feel that I should sieze the moment and open up my scriptures, the delicious spirit and bread of life and find my potential through them.

For Family night, Daddy picked out a puzzle that we could all work on. It has been amazing how much fun we have had with it. So Dad got out a bigger puzzle (1000) and has immersed himself in it. We had a little more time with him being laid off, and with the 2 Snow Days! It is a bit harder for the little ones, so they asked if Dad could find one for them to do. So we have this great Solar system puzzle he put out for them. Luke and Daniel have done it a couple times, and then they started to get competitive and the puzzle pieces ended up all over the place. Daniel got started again and had most of it done and Luke was using a few for skates. We persuaded him to put them with the puzzle and one ended up missing. They started the search and we looked all over for it. Luke was very worried about it and asked 'Did the Holy Ghost take it?'
After finishing the laughing we couldn't restrain, I reminded him that the Holy Ghost is there to help us, not to hide our puzzles. So he seemed to get it 'Oh, He is there to help us? ok'

I find it funny when people are in the grocery store with an earpiece phone in their ear and they have a full disclosure discussion with the invisible friend/whomever. I haven't put my finger on exactly what is so funny about it, but I was amused for the rest of the grocery store trip on Tuesday night. Am I embarrassed for this person? Am I disturbed she doesn't whisper? Am I sympathetic? Am I uncomforable with tmi? Am I hanging on to personal boundaries that no one can know about, but common courtesy would know? Am I encouraged by her ability to overcome her lost time in that horrible marriage? Am I gratified that she survived through the miracle of prayer? (I didn't stand by her, we just went down similar aisles.) Am I amazed at the liberal scattering of our personal lives to the world? I must be okay with it, I am writing a blog. I think it still amazes me though. So my response is an inward giggle, a smile and musings. . .

Amusing an old mom

So, in the car we were listening to an oldie but a goodie from the 80's "Opportunities" from the Pet Shop Boys. Nathan asked why there wasn't anything good on the radio. I said all of the ones I flipped through were good. He then said "These guys don't even sing good." I laughed out loud for a while, and am still giggling inside. I am not sure how to convey the extreme humor in what was said. If you have ever listened to some of my older boys "music", I believe you might glimpse into my mind. Linkin Park, while it has some pretty good songs, pepper most of them with Yelling, rap (even tho this is against the house rules) and anger. Other songs, not coming to mind have a gravelly grunge sound/tenor to them. Look, I am not saying he can't enjoy them, I am not even saying I hate all of it, but the "good quality" of the singing in their selection isn't why they like their music choices. I like being amused by this. I was going to put in a song the boys like, but I don't want to make their grandmother cry. Some of them are intensely angry and unpleasant, but I didn't say it. . .

I've been reading a few books this (now last) summer, and over the vacation, I was able to finish two, that I felt correlated, leaving me feel very disturbed and disquieted. One of the books was 1984 by George Orwell. I actually have wanted to read this for quite a while because of how "Big Brother" is referred to so often with our media and some movies. I felt that once I personally read the whole idea, the reference would mean more to me, and I could be more specifically critical in op ed pieces and news articles I might come across. When I finished the book, I struggled to be able to sleep. Putting my finger on what exactly I was most disturbed about still has had my mind turning in non ending circles. The second book, The Giver, was recommended by my son who loved the book assigned to him in Jr. High. We read it aloud, because he liked it so well, he wanted to read it again. With every page, I kept asking him when it would get good. Honestly, I have heard this to be a great book by many others. It is recommended reading on many lists. And it was poetic. The correllation that really bothered me was the "Utopia" that both books set up. I think that not enough people read these books.