This is a fun tag! I got this from my sister. Just copy and paste the entire list below and put the ones you have done/experienced in bold. Hopefully, your list will have a little more bold than mine!
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (does Rock Band count?)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain-King's Peak. It nearly killed me!
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping - in Grandpa's pool when we were little
27. Run a Marathon (I ran in a marathon - but it was only a 5K at the end)
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class - karate in college
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (I tried once and passed out. Mary, we're not pathetic, just sensitive!)
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy - I have my cabbage patch kid still
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone - a pinky toe hardly counts but it is a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle - I'm sure I've been on Scott's when he's been speeding
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House - (does outside the gates count? I suppose not)
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous - I've talked to Eddy and Jim from BNL - actually have a picture of me and Rachel and Jim in Las Vegas.
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby - (ask me again in three months)
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Seen Mount Rushmore in person
101. Learned to play an instrument
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Progress
Furniture has been ordered . . . Wahoo! Am I giving away the surprise by posting pictures of some samples?
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Heartsick
I wrote this post in Word and read it, and re-read it, and re-read it. I hate to accidentally offend someone but thought, "hey, it's my blog", I can write what I feel. I hope that you read it (sorry, it's long) in the spirit it was meant.
.
I read a blog post from a friend today that made me feel sad. It was an issue that troubled her and prompted her to write. I have way too much going through my head to comment shortly on her blog so I thought that I’d comment on mine and perhaps she may read my response.
Russell M. Nelson wrote an article in the October Ensign titled “Abortion: An Assault on the Defenseless”. After reading this article, she writes to her daughter the following:
“I hope you are never in a situation to even have to question an abortion. I hope you never have an abusive partner. I hope you never face having a child with severe abnormalities. I hope you don't have to go through fertility treatments that accidentally leave you with more embryos than your body can handle. I hope you never face poverty so severe you have to choose between having another child or being able to feed the ones you've already got. I hope you don't get pregnant at 48 after your husband’s vasectomy doesn't take (oops says the doctor). I hope you never find out you are expecting soon after you find out your husband has been sexually abusing your kids.
But the truth is, I've known women in all of these situations and whether they chose to have an abortion or not (and some of them didn't), I stand 100 percent behind the idea that they needed that option to be available. The fact that an apostle is questioning that right is deeply upsetting to me. . . What happens in your and my uterus is our own business and nothing about his opinions would be helpful in a very difficult situation.”
I agree that women should have this option available. I agree that they are still able to choose. I heartily agree that I hope neither of our daughters ever have to wrestle with this decision. However, I believe that the counsel from the Church is that we should not make this choice so lightly. I don’t think that the examples mentioned above are totally out of our control. They aren’t necessarily some bad thing given to us by happenstance. Sometimes, the consequences of earlier choices leave us with an abusive partner or a multiple birth pregnancy or an unexpected baby at 48. Conversely, things do happen to us that aren’t the result of a choice we made. In either case, there are always choices to be made afterwards. Abortion is not the only one. We can always choose to leave an abusive spouse or to change our lives to fit in a handicapped child or multiples – we can always choose adoption. The Lord is not taking away our agency when he asks us to please not lightly consider abortion.
.
In my opinion, women choose abortion for two reasons. Either, to make their life easier or because they think the life of the child would be less than perfect. In the first case, I agree 100% with Elder Nelson that I don’t have the right to put my ease above the life of a child when I did chose to conceive them. Where is the accountability for the choice that was made to create the child? A vasectomy gone wrong may not seem a choice but we could have chosen a different or a second method of birth control. An abusive partner may not seem our choice but we could have chosen to not bring a child into the world with that type of partner through birth control or we could have chosen to leave that situation before the child is born.
In the second case, who are we to decide that we know best whether the life ahead for our child will be good or not? We have been counseled in the scriptures to “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6. If we choose abortion, aren’t we telling the Lord that we don’t trust his judgment to send the child to us?
There are always extenuating circumstances. There are always situations that I cannot fathom and we all are able to make our own decisions. I certainly can’t make a decision for anyone else and I don't think that I judge others when they make a decision I wouldn’t as I don't know all their reasons.
As I read the article from Elder Nelson, I was most impressed that he wanted us to be sure we didn’t choose abortion for the wrong reasons – as an escape from things that might make our lives difficult. He said:
.
“So it is with people who choose to embark on a journey that leads to parenthood. They have freedom of choice – to begin or not to begin that course. . . Yes, a woman is free to choose what she will do with her body. Whether her choice leads to an astronaut’s mission or to a baby, her choice to begin the journey binds her to the consequences of that choice. She cannot ‘unchoose’ . . . A woman’s choice for her own body does not include the right to deprive her baby of life-and a lifetime of choices that her child would make. As Latter-day Saints, we should stand up for choice – the right choice – not simply for choice as a method”.
I believe with 100% certainty that the words from Elder Nelson in the article are not his “opinion” alone, but that they are the opinion of the Lord. He speaks to us through his apostles and I personally will take the article as not a political attack on women’s choices, but as a plea from a loving Heavenly Father not to make a choice that may detrimentally affect us in our futures through regret and wondering. I think it is a plea from a Father for the lives of his children who with the advent of abortion never get a chance to make a choice.
To my friend, I love you. I hope that you can read my comments with an open heart and without feeling offense that was not meant. I feel strongly in my heart about how I see this issue as I know that you do about how you see the other side. You are tenderhearted and love others and want them to be happy and I am pleased to see that you are on the side of the weak. That shows a Christ-like love that is admirable. Regardless of which of us is “right”, I hope that we both find comfort as we wrestle with this issue and that we each can come to our own conclusion through study and prayer that will leave us with peace in our hearts about what the Lord wants from us and our own families.
.
I read a blog post from a friend today that made me feel sad. It was an issue that troubled her and prompted her to write. I have way too much going through my head to comment shortly on her blog so I thought that I’d comment on mine and perhaps she may read my response.
Russell M. Nelson wrote an article in the October Ensign titled “Abortion: An Assault on the Defenseless”. After reading this article, she writes to her daughter the following:
“I hope you are never in a situation to even have to question an abortion. I hope you never have an abusive partner. I hope you never face having a child with severe abnormalities. I hope you don't have to go through fertility treatments that accidentally leave you with more embryos than your body can handle. I hope you never face poverty so severe you have to choose between having another child or being able to feed the ones you've already got. I hope you don't get pregnant at 48 after your husband’s vasectomy doesn't take (oops says the doctor). I hope you never find out you are expecting soon after you find out your husband has been sexually abusing your kids.
But the truth is, I've known women in all of these situations and whether they chose to have an abortion or not (and some of them didn't), I stand 100 percent behind the idea that they needed that option to be available. The fact that an apostle is questioning that right is deeply upsetting to me. . . What happens in your and my uterus is our own business and nothing about his opinions would be helpful in a very difficult situation.”
I agree that women should have this option available. I agree that they are still able to choose. I heartily agree that I hope neither of our daughters ever have to wrestle with this decision. However, I believe that the counsel from the Church is that we should not make this choice so lightly. I don’t think that the examples mentioned above are totally out of our control. They aren’t necessarily some bad thing given to us by happenstance. Sometimes, the consequences of earlier choices leave us with an abusive partner or a multiple birth pregnancy or an unexpected baby at 48. Conversely, things do happen to us that aren’t the result of a choice we made. In either case, there are always choices to be made afterwards. Abortion is not the only one. We can always choose to leave an abusive spouse or to change our lives to fit in a handicapped child or multiples – we can always choose adoption. The Lord is not taking away our agency when he asks us to please not lightly consider abortion.
.
In my opinion, women choose abortion for two reasons. Either, to make their life easier or because they think the life of the child would be less than perfect. In the first case, I agree 100% with Elder Nelson that I don’t have the right to put my ease above the life of a child when I did chose to conceive them. Where is the accountability for the choice that was made to create the child? A vasectomy gone wrong may not seem a choice but we could have chosen a different or a second method of birth control. An abusive partner may not seem our choice but we could have chosen to not bring a child into the world with that type of partner through birth control or we could have chosen to leave that situation before the child is born.
In the second case, who are we to decide that we know best whether the life ahead for our child will be good or not? We have been counseled in the scriptures to “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6. If we choose abortion, aren’t we telling the Lord that we don’t trust his judgment to send the child to us?
There are always extenuating circumstances. There are always situations that I cannot fathom and we all are able to make our own decisions. I certainly can’t make a decision for anyone else and I don't think that I judge others when they make a decision I wouldn’t as I don't know all their reasons.
As I read the article from Elder Nelson, I was most impressed that he wanted us to be sure we didn’t choose abortion for the wrong reasons – as an escape from things that might make our lives difficult. He said:
.
“So it is with people who choose to embark on a journey that leads to parenthood. They have freedom of choice – to begin or not to begin that course. . . Yes, a woman is free to choose what she will do with her body. Whether her choice leads to an astronaut’s mission or to a baby, her choice to begin the journey binds her to the consequences of that choice. She cannot ‘unchoose’ . . . A woman’s choice for her own body does not include the right to deprive her baby of life-and a lifetime of choices that her child would make. As Latter-day Saints, we should stand up for choice – the right choice – not simply for choice as a method”.
I believe with 100% certainty that the words from Elder Nelson in the article are not his “opinion” alone, but that they are the opinion of the Lord. He speaks to us through his apostles and I personally will take the article as not a political attack on women’s choices, but as a plea from a loving Heavenly Father not to make a choice that may detrimentally affect us in our futures through regret and wondering. I think it is a plea from a Father for the lives of his children who with the advent of abortion never get a chance to make a choice.
To my friend, I love you. I hope that you can read my comments with an open heart and without feeling offense that was not meant. I feel strongly in my heart about how I see this issue as I know that you do about how you see the other side. You are tenderhearted and love others and want them to be happy and I am pleased to see that you are on the side of the weak. That shows a Christ-like love that is admirable. Regardless of which of us is “right”, I hope that we both find comfort as we wrestle with this issue and that we each can come to our own conclusion through study and prayer that will leave us with peace in our hearts about what the Lord wants from us and our own families.
Decor
On a total side note from the main point of this blog, we were at a YW Pres. meeting and were giggling that the Pres. wrote on the agenda "Decor" with regard to Young Women in Excellence (YWIE). It was interesting that she didn't write "decorations". Why is it that we n ow use decor in regard to our holiday things? Has this become an art? Normal people decorate but true artists create "decor"?
I went to JoAnn's last night in search of little party favor boxes for YWIE (I found these cute boxes that looked like flip flops - perfect for our "Worth of a Sole" theme). I was happy to find that their fall things were 70% off. I have been following the Joys of Home and Thrifty Decor Chick blogs and wanting to be better at decorating my house for the holidays.
I've not done much decorating yet because I don't have much of a finished house to decorate but I thought that by this time next year my living room would be set up and so I would buy stuff for next year. Of course, once I got it home I had to set it up to see what I thought. I'll have to take it all down Saturday when we touch up paint and do the moldings but it looks nice for now. There are things that I'd add next year since it needs a little height. Maybe next year when a picture lives above, this low "decor" will look nice.
The glass pumpkins were $17.99 and $19.99 regularly so were less than $5.50 and $6.00. I got two garlands for $3 a piece and then a few holiday picks for .60 each. A whole mantel set for less than $35. I feel pleased.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Crafty
I wanted to show you that I can be crafty! Normally, I don't really go in on all the artsy/craftsy home decor but I found this idea on Joys of Home and thought it might be a cute decoration for the baby room. I'm not sure how I'll mount the little plaques on the wall. I was thinking that maybe I'd attach some ribbon behind each one and hang them. We'll see. I think they are pretty cute!
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