Yellow Wallpaper

Yesterday after we came home from church, S-Boogie asked me about something she had heard in a talk. "Mom, why would that girl say you can't be a missionary and a mom?" We had a lovely youth speaker who generally did a great job with her talk. I don't know her well, but her family is one that I admire a lot for many reasons. Her talk was on missionary work, and as part of it she mentioned the fact that her mother had really wanted to serve a mission but chose to get married instead. This confused S-Boogie, since I served a mission before getting married and having children, and so did four of her aunts. I have sometimes heard this dilemma presented in this way before: the woman who sacrifices going on a mission in order to get married and have children. This frustrates me because, as is proved thousands of times each year, it is entirely possible to do both. There is not a dichotomy and girls shouldn't feel like their only two choices at 21 are to get married or t...

The other day I was driving Little Dude home from preschool when he mentioned something about holding a clover in his hand. For some reason that triggered a memory from my life when I was the same age. I can vividly remember sitting on my lawn in March, hunting for clovers. The grass was soft and slightly slippery, the air rich with the scent of dirt. Many of my memories from my early childhood are similarly vivid recollections of my time outside, close to the ground and the plants. Then I looked around remembered that March in Utah means that things are still barren, brown, and cold. In California, March is the greenest month. Winter rains bring a wash of green to the hills and make the grass and flowers lush. I felt a little pang at the fact that my children do not have the same childhood experiences that I had--the same freedom to explore outside year-round. I miss California most in January; it's not the warm, sunshine of summer that I miss, but the cool, green, misty winters I...

I didn't post about it right away, but about two weeks ago I tried out for Jeopardy! Again. This is the third time, and I hope that it does the trick. I've already blogged about my other two tryouts ( here and here ) and this was pretty much the same. I'm not supposed to talk about it so I don't give anyone else a leg up. The bottom line is that I'm back in their contestant pool for next season and so for the next year I get to hope for a phone call inviting me to LA for a taping. One of the things they ask everyone in the interview part of the tryout is what you would do with the money if you won big on the show. Of course the chances of my getting on the show are slim enough that I have tried not to even think about the possibility of winning. On the other hand, I'd love to have some extra money and I'm only human so of course I've thought about what I would do. I would be responsible and pay off my one student loan and pay off our car, since they are...

When the "new" Children's Songbook for Primary came out I had just graduated and moved on to Young Women's. I can still remember when we received a new songbook in the mail and how wonderful it was compared to the old orange book. There were so many new songs, plus the pictures and layout were so pretty. The other day I was playing through the songbook and realized how many songs I used to sing (that are still in the book) that just aren't emphasized in Primary as much as they used to be. Here are some of my favorites from days gone by: Give Said the Little Stream : I always loved both the tune and the words of this song. Although it is still around in LDS culture, I know my kids don't sing it as often as I did while I was growing up, and the two times I've served in Primary we rarely used it at all. I'm not sure why; it's a fun song to sing and it has a great message as well. Children All Over the World : I loved the different languages in this...

We finally finished our geography project! Things didn't always go was well as I had thought they would and the kids didn't respond quite like I had hoped either, but generally it was a lot of fun. They are a lot more aware of other countries and foods and notice when they are talked about in books or on movies. Little Dude still loves the flags too. Now they want to do the 50 states, so watch for that in a few weeks! United Kingdom : We mostly focused on England and Wales for this week, since we had done Ireland and Scotland separately. As I was looking back over my posts, I don't think I ever listed Scotland. When we did Scotland we ate Scotch Broth and oatcakes for dinner. They were both delicious. We also read this fun book about a sheep and shortbread cookies for a treat. When we talked about England we ate roast beef with Yorkshire pudding and gravy. The kids loved it and so did I; I've never had it before and we will definitely be eating it again. We talked ab...

In January I made a list of a bunch of goals I would like to accomplish. Some of them were little, one-time things, like finding a new dentist and getting my sewing machine fixed. Then stuff happened and I didn't get anything on my list done. January slid into February, and February is just too much fun with the baby's birthday and Valentine's Day. Suddenly last weekend I realized that it was already almost March and I had things that really needed to get done. So I made a grand new list and tacked it to my bulletin board. Then last Sunday I started feeling weird. We watched the Oscars last Sunday night and I kept crying about random things, plus my body kept alternating between too hot and too cold. Monday morning I dragged myself to class, which thankfully I didn't have to teach because we were meeting in the library for research instruction. By Monday night I finally accepted that I was sick and not getting any better. Tuesday I spent most of the day lying around; my...