Alchemy Workshop

On Christmas day I signed up for an art class online with Suzi Blu.  She does mixed media and the prettiest gypsy girls you've ever seen!  I've already finished one canvas and have started another.  Tonight she has a live art cam and I'm watching her paint another gypsy girl.  This is the link to her blog:  Suzi Blu.  Visit her and see all her wonderful art.

Here's my gypsy girl almost finished.  I'll post the finished canvas when I'm done.

Finals done finally

I just finished my first semester as an online student at BYUI.  I'm very proud of my B in Math and I'm still waiting to find out if I passed WDD.  I struggled with that class!  But I did have a working web site to turn in so that was good.  I'll post my grades as soon as I have them.

Caroline's Hair

I've had so much fun with Caroline's hair this summer.  She has such long, thick, beautiful hair and I've struggled with keeping it looking nice.  Here are some of the styles we've tried and loved.

Which one do you like?  I like the middle one, the braid wrapped pony tails and she loves the first one, the french braid twist.  Can you even imagine having hair that thick and gorgeous?  I wish!

I'm A Graduate!

I am officially a Pathway's graduate!  Now I get to matriculate.  I really don't know what the word matriculate means, but I love saying it!  I need to get my interview with the Bishop and Stake President and then I can register for classes.  I think I will take a light load fall semester and a larger one during winter semester.  I have been looking at the online degrees that are available and I 'm leaning towards Web Design and Development.  It will only take me about 6 years to get a bachelors degree.  Wish me luck!!

This I Believe

This I Believe

I believe that I am my brother’s keeper.  I am responsible for helping others in need.  When I notice an unwashed man holding a hand lettered, cardboard sign on the street corner, I am obligated to share.  

The scriptures are clear concerning charity.  Everything I have is a gift from my Heavenly Father.  My home, my family, my job, even my testimony was given to me and I enjoy the blessings of an abundant life because I chose to follow Christ.  

I keep spare change in the cup holder of my car.  However, if I happen to drive by someone down on their luck, I will give them a portion of my stash.  When I have passengers in the car with me this usually begins a conversation.  They don’t give to beggars because they don’t want them using the money for drugs, cigarettes or alcohol.  They see their donation as a waste and think anyone could get a job if they really wanted to.  I believe I am accountable for my actions alone.  

“And also, ye yourself  will succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need; and ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish.” (Mosiah 4:16)  This scripture is very clear.  We are required to share our blessings of abundance with those less fortunate.   The most important lesson we learn about charity is found in Mosiah 4:21 “And now, if God, who has created you,…doth grant unto you whatsoever ye ask that is right,…O then, how ye ought to impart of the substance that ye have one to another.”  I believe the justice of charity is forgiveness. 

Overlooked Beauty

           I sometimes think I should have been born in another time, another era.  The late 1800’s or early 1900’s hold a special appeal to me.  The Victorian era seems so romantic.  I don’t know what it is about the past that appeals to me.  I’m very fond of indoor plumbing and running water so it’s not the lack of modern conveniences that I desire.  I think it’s the furnishings, the architecture, and the fashions I am drawn to.  I love long lacy dresses and hand carved tables.  Parasols and drawing rooms and horse drawn carriages would adorn my life.  I dream of being an elegant lady who reads Dickens in the library and crochets doilies in the parlor. 

          My husband, on the other hand, is a modern man.  He likes sleek, clean lines in buildings.  He collects watches that look and work like the cockpit of a jet airliner.  He has no desire to live in any century other than the 21^st unless it is sometime in the future.  It’s a miracle we can live together in the same house.

          When I was little I remember the pale green cupboard sitting on my grandma’s back porch.  It had 3 open shelves on the top with glass fronted doors and two shelves behind solid doors on the bottom.  The doors are locked with a skeleton key that has long since disappeared.  It is sturdy and was built to last unlike the furniture we buy today.  She stored her home canned fruits and pickles on the shelves.  She would send me out to fetch a jar of pickles and I loved the look of the jars lined up waiting for me to pick choose one.  Her pickles weren’t like any I had ever had before.  She put green food color in with the water and it turned them a deep, deep green, almost a turquoise green.  It was a color that I’ve never seen in nature and it made her pickles extra special because no one did them like she did.  Because of this they tasted better than any pickles you could buy in the store.  When my grandma passed away and they were dividing up her belongings, no one wanted the old cupboard.  I was thrilled to take it home.

          My husband watched me unload it and was less than overjoyed.  “What are you going to do with it?”  he wanted to know.  “I don’t know, maybe paint it” I answered.  “I’ve got an idea.  Why don’t we use it for firewood” he suggested.  It became a family joke.  If we were going camping and needed kindling he would suggest grandma’s cupboard.  When we ran out of wood for the fireplace he would threaten it with an ax.  If someone admired it he would offer to load it into their car.  He sees an old, peeling piece of junk with doors that are warped and won’t shut right.  He thinks it is ugly and useless.  I see my childhood when I look at it.  I see my grandma in her apron standing at the stove boiling vinegar and sugar for her pickles.  I see a quieter, slower time that reminds me of long lace dresses and summer evenings spent sitting on the veranda sipping lemonade.  My husband and I don’t see eye to eye on grandma’s cupboard but we do agree that family is the most important thing in our life.  And we agree that a modern man and an old fashioned girl can live together happily ever after.

Love Letter

The first assignment in my Pathways English class.  Written May 6th, 2013

My dearest Book of Mormon,

I have never fallen in love at first sight and I don’t know if I even believe in it.  That was certainly the case with you.  When I first laid eyes on you I wasn’t impressed.  You were hard to understand and not very attractive.  Your plain brown cover didn’t do anything for you and I’m drawn more to the crisp, clear colors of cobalt blue and shocking pink.  Your language is old fashioned and you don’t say what you mean all the time. Sometimes I thought you should have come with a dictionary and then I discovered you had one.   If we hadn’t been thrown together every Sunday I don’t know if I would have given you a second look but you slowly started to grow on me.

The first time I realized you were more than you appeared was in early morning Seminary.  Spending time with you every day, not just once a week, I started to believe that you had a message just for me.  Sometimes when I read you, I felt like you were speaking directly into my soul and we were the only two in the room. With my eyes locked on your pages it felt like the sun was shining on us and wrapping is in a warm embrace.   By the end of the year I knew that I never wanted to be without you.

Over the years I have come to appreciate your unique and peculiar style. I’ve grown fond of “therefore”, “nevertheless”, and my favorite “and it came to pass”.   When I am discouraged and down, you raise me up.  When I feel I can’t go on you tell me I can.  And when I start to think I would be better off without you, you say something so profound that I realize my life wouldn’t be worth anything without you. 

And so I need to tell you how much I love you.  You will always be the most important book in my life.  If my house was burning down and I only had time to grab one thing, I would rescue you.  It’s like you have become a part of me and I would cease to breath if I didn’t have you.  You have made me a better person, a better woman, and a better disciple of God.  I can’t wait to spend eternity with you.