Whoops--Monday Memory

So, I was sitting in Ward Council meeting (or as Tarzan calls it, the meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) and I took a Wintergreen Ice Breaker mint out of my purse and popped it in my mouth...

Except...

I missed and it went down my blouse...

So, I naturally looked down there to see if I could get it out and it wasn't there...

Thinking no one was looking at me...

I put my hand down between my cleavage to see if I could find it...

I did not find it...

When I looked up, all the brethren in the room had averted their eyes...

I demurely smiled and acted like nothing happened, so did all of them...

When I stood up, it fell out from under my skirt onto the floor...

Once again, I demurely picked it up and put it in the trash.

Don't you wish I had pictures.

Recycling to pay for PhD--Thursday Thought

Since I have become aware of the monetary value of recycling, I have become more "green" conscious. There are many variables to figuring out what, in the environment, can be saved by recycling, but I found one source with calculations on paper alone.



SOME TYPICAL CALCULATIONS
· 1 ton of uncoated virgin (non-recycled) printing and office paper uses 24 trees
· 1 ton of 100% virgin (non-recycled) newsprint uses 12 trees
· A "pallet" of copier paper (20-lb. sheet weight, or 20#) contains 40 cartons and weighs 1 ton. Therefore,
· 1 carton (10 reams) of 100% virgin copier paper uses .6 trees
· 1 tree makes 16.67 reams of copy paper or 8,333.3 sheets
· 1 ream (500 sheets) uses 6% of a tree (and those add up quickly!)
· 1 ton of coated, higher-end virgin magazine paper (used for magazines like National Geographic and many others) uses a little more than 15 trees (15.36)
· 1 ton of coated, lower-end virgin magazine paper (used for newsmagazines and most catalogs) uses nearly 8 trees (7.68)




While there are tradeoffs for lowering your use of paper and raising your use of electronics, think about this—




Any time you do anything new, you have to learn it one step at a time. First, we figure out how to save our trees and then we figure out how to create less electronic junk, and move on to actually increasing our green print.

We have been here for 2,000 years without working to save our mother earth, who groans from her abuse:



1 Ne. 19: 12
And all these things must surely come, saith the prophet Zenos. And the rocks of the earth must rend; and because of the groanings of the earth, many of the kings of the isles of the sea shall be wrought upon by the Spirit of God, to exclaim: The God of nature suffers


If you want to recycle you aluminum cans, plastics, paper, cardboard, electronics and car or boat batteries to help save our earth, let me know, I will pick them up weekly. You see, I am paying for my PhD by recycling.



Recycling is hard work and a large effort sometimes gives a small return, but my determination to pay cash for my PhD and not go into debt for it causes me to work, collect and even pick up cans and bottles I find in the parking lot.



I’m not dumpster diving – yet.
I don’t wear a stocking cap – yet.
I don’t have a shopping cart – yet.

But know this, to reach my goal, I’m game. Call me or email me if you want to contribute to my project.

Monday Memory, Tuesday Tip, What I Saw Wednesday

Don't think ill of me...

I believe that women should be strong and that we can do anything we want to do...

Therein lies the truth "anything we want to do..."

Here is the memory: I remember when my children were small that they wanted to go fishing. We lived in New Mexico. Their father would not take them, so I loaded everyone in the car, bought some fishing rods and worms at K-Mart and off we went.

We stood on the pier and caught several fish. They had a wonderful time. Brian put the worms on the hooks and they all caught fish.

So, here's the tip: If you don't like to clean fish and there is no one at home who will do it for you, go to the place on the pier where you can clean fish. Stand there with you children around you and wait for the first guy to walk by, then say, "My children just caught some fish. Will you show me how to clean them?" He will gladly do so. You put the cleaned fish in your ice chest and then you just wait for the next guy to come along and ask him to show you how and so on until all the fish are clean.

What I saw: Three delighted children who experienced success.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the time has come!!!

Joete's Playground is hosting its Mother's Day auction HERE and it begins Monday, April 19th!!

Joete's was founded a few years ago by my friend Amberly's amazing sister, Lindsay.

You can read all about the non-profit organization HERE.

Here is what Amberly says in her blog:

"We have had fabulous people and companies donate fantastic things to this auction... so please check it out, let your friends know and bid on something great for the women in your lives!
All proceeds from the auction will go directly to new playgrounds that Joete's has in the works, so be generous! Give the mothers in your life a fantastic gift and help impoverished children at the same time. We'll ship the gifts directly to mom, or wherever you'd like them to go, it's so easy!

And... if you'd be so kind, it would be very much appreciated if you'd repost this on YOUR blog to get the word out. Thanks, bloggies... you're the best!! "

This should have been on What I Saw Wednesday

As many of you know, we have been remodeling. We replaced all of the windows in our home with double paned, tinted Milgard windows. They come with a lifetime guarantee on the glass. We have had them for three months and a pebble hit one of the big windows and broke the outside glass.

I called Milgard and they sent two guys out and it was amazing, I'm sorry I didn't grab my camera. They pulled out the plastic strip on the inside, that I didn't even know was there, and with the suction cups pulled both panes out in a unit, then they put up two kinds of glue and went out to get the new window unit. They popped it in, secured it to the glue and replaced the plastic strips, you can't even tell we ever had a problem.

They even washed the windows. Amazing

Spring--What I Saw Wednesday

Old Shower Curtain--Tuesday Tip

Old shower curtain?

Torn holes at the top?

Mold at the bottom?

Getting ready to replace it?

Here's what you can do with it:

After washing it with bleach, take it with you the next time you go on a picnic, put it down first to keep the blanket dry.

And then there is always the idea...

Use it to cover things when you are painting or crafting.

Just a thought.

Anniversary-Monday Memory

I remember 11 years ago, standing next to the man I love and saying "I do."

Saturday we celebrated by going to the Bourbon Steak Restaurant. Wow, what a lovely evening. We sat on the patio and the weather could not have been better. Tarzan had steak, I had lobster pot pie (2 lb lobster in a pot pie) yum. It was expensive, but worth every bite, every minute and every year of celebration. We talked it over and we like being married to each other.

Kinda nice, don't you think?

Just something I wrote in 2002 to accompany a newborn gift.

What is the first thing you remember, Jake?

Being loved?

Soft voices?

Mother’s arms?

Or do you remember more?

Do you remember the heavens,Stars, moon and more?

Did you bring that with you?

To share with me awhile?

You are a prince above all princes.

Your life will always be filled with joy.

You bring happiness to everyone who knows you.

Silver gifts pale in your beauty.

For you, Jake, are the light of our lives.

You, Jake, give purpose…

I've thought about it....Thursday Thought

I really do like pink and polka dots and red, yup, that's me alright, pink, polka dots and red.

Psssssstttt...What I Saw Wednesday

I saw my Hair Spray in the bathroom cabinet right by the hinge that opens and closes the door. I closed the cabinet door and that hinge was just too close to the can...

and I heard this aweful pssssssssttttt noise. I opened the cabinet door and got hair spray all over me and the bathroom. See the little hole right above the words "Ultra Strong"...
Hair spray is real sticky.

2 Second Rule-Tuesday Tip

The two-second rule is a way for a driver to maintain a safe following distance at any speed. The rule is that a driver should ideally stay at least two seconds behind any vehicle that is directly in front of them.

You do it by spotting a landmark, such as a light pole or street sign, then count "one thousand one, one thousand two." If you reach the landmark before you get to two, you are too close. The interesting thing is that the distance shortens and lengthens based on your speed to keep you just 2 seconds away from rear ending someone.

And how do you know that, you may ask. Several sessions of safe driving classes, but I was never there for a rear ender :-). Oh, and if you are over 60, you can get a discount on your car insurance if you take the class (they don't ask you why you took the class, just if you took the class)

Easter-Monday Memory

When I was a child, my mother always made sure my sister and I had new Easter dresses. Mom would dress in her favorite suit of the season and with hat and gloves we all dressed up to pay reverence to the resurrected Christ. Mom made it clear that we were getting new dresses to show our love and respect for the Savior and not because we needed to be cute or well dressed.
I don’t know if I instilled that in my children, but I do remember one Easter dress event with them. Tori was about 3 years old and Celia was about 1 year old. I made matching Easter dresses for the three of us. They were yellow and white (double knit polyester :-)). The girls’ dresses had little orange appliqué carrots on the front.

Saturday night, I had hung the dresses on the door in the kitchen so they would be fresh and ready Sunday morning. When we got ready to go to bed Saturday night, Tori started to cry. When I asked why she said “if you don’t turn the dresses around and hide the carrots the Easter Bunny might eat them and ruin our dresses.”

I love children.

Thursday Thought--Make the World a Better Place

As I drove to work today, I saw four people standing at the bus stop. Interestingly, my first thought was that they were all together because they were all dressed in dark cloths and had on shirts or jackets that, from a distance, looked like they matched.

However

As I got closer to them I noticed they were strategically positioned so they would not make eye contact with each other or have to speak to each other. For some reason this saddened me.

And I thought...
How did we, as a society get so that we don't interact with each other on a casual, friendly basis?
How did we move to a position of self absorption so that we avoid contact with strangers?

Let's change that.
Join me in this movement.

I will:

1. Speak to strangers on the street -- just a simple nod and hello
2. Greet the clerk in the store with a smile and ask how their day is going
3. Smile at little children in public and tell them I appreciate how nice they are acting
4. Get to know my neighbors better
5. Listen carefully when someone talks to me
6. Speak to people on the elevator
7. Speak to people on the bus or at the bus stop

Will you?