Oh, remember, remember

I am doing the same job that I did 10 years ago. Every day I am reminded of things I did before that I had forgotten. I do learn a few new things, as we are doing some things differently this time around, but mostly it is a matter of remembering.
It makes me think about how often the scriptures ask us to remember, remember - usually repeated twice. When one stops going to church, or stops living the gospel as they know it, for whatever reason - they quickly begin to forget those things they knew or believed. Very quickly after choosing to ignore God and His ways we no longer remember what those ways were and it becomes easier to ignore more, which makes us forget more. Eventually we can drown out even the basic conscience that belongs to all men. God will do for us those things that we cannot do for ourselves, but we must do those things that we can, such as be good, be kind, follow the commandments, obey God's law. He that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, it is sin. That's a misquote but I'm not looking in my scriptures right now. I feel like I am seeing so much more immorality in the world than I used to. Those of us trying to follow the teachings of Christ must become better in order to keep the balance in the world.
I propose an experiment. Look up in the scriptures how many things we are told to remember. Maybe we can learn something we need from these things?

Having a happy holiday

My daughter was able, at nearly the last minute, come with hubby and baby to visit us for Christmas. So brother from California and his girlfriend came to be sure to see the baby and the two boys in SLC made it down as well. They may be coming to see baby but I got to see them too!! We were rather snowed in, it has snowed many inches many times in the past few days, but we made a fire, shoveled snow and visited a lot. Drank a lot of hot chocolate. We should probably have played more games but talking seems to take up all our time. Watched a few movies, played with my grandpuppy and a grandkitty too. Mostly it was a quiet Christmas as I am toning down the santa stuff and putting up more nativities instead. We sang hymns and read scriptures and ate a lot. One son and his girlfriend made a huge snowman which then proceeded to tilt over the next few days till it finally hit the ground. Hilarious! It was a good time and the only thing that would have made it better would have been if my oldest son and his family could have come. Maybe next time?

Over veg-ing

I am so out of practice at working full time! I get the work done fine, maybe even a little too much (my tendency is to fill out my time card and then later study something I need to, do e-mail to my boss, sort things for the next day. I swore I wouldn't 'give' time away this time but I do that just the same), However, I am having trouble keeping up with my housework. I am tired when I get home. I don't want to start a new cleaning project or renovating project. I will get better as I get used to work (I keep promising myself!), but right now I just want to sit and knit - crochet, and watch Christmas specials. At least I don't have to worry about doing any chores outside. It is too cold, too snowy and I did most of what I needed to in the yard before it became too cold and snowy. I would have liked to move some strawberry plants, but they will wait til next year. No, it is the renovating that needs my time and attention and is just not getting it. I WILL DO BETTER, I WILL DO BETTER. Think affirmations really work?

My word is my bond!

I have gone back to work full time. I'm very torn between wanting to stay home and do all the work that I need to do around here, (I still have move in stuff to do, cleaning stuff to do, and renovating stuff to do) and wanting to work and get out of debt. Renovating was my idea, but my timing was awful. Now I worry every time I hear a new message about preparedness. We had a member of the stake presidency speak to us again last Sunday. I owe money and I want not to!
So, I am back working for the US Census Bureau. I'm recruiting for individuals to work on the 16 operations we will have leading up to and taking the decennial census. Anyone who is interested in temporary work, (some part time, some full time) please call 1-866-861-2010. They will tell you where to apply in your area.

Another reason that I am feeling especially the need to get out of debt is that I have just heard a story of the latest loss of integrity in the world. The newest thing is to buy a new house while you are still in the old one. Prices have fallen so you might find a bargain. Then, after having obtained the new house, you stop making payments on the old one. It is foreclosed upon, your credit is ruined, but you have a house already so you don't care. This is fraud! It is stealing! It is conspiracy to commit fraud! It is totally illegal and completely immoral, yet people are getting away with it. There are too many of these crimes for them to be prosecuted.
Guess who will end up paying for this crime? All of us who want to buy houses in the future. All of us whose hard earned money is going to bail out companies who borrowed their entire working capital. All of us who want to use a bank that used poor business sense and lent to people without checking to see if they would pay back.
Lack of integrity in the world affects all of us. Stealing effects us all. (Obviously I don't know which of those words is correct.) However, I, for one, will pay everything that I have contracted to pay! My integrity is more important to me than any loss of value. (Hey, if I thought it was worth what I paid for it why should what is going on in the market effect my belief?)

Some basic respect, please, for other people and their things.

Spent the day at my husband's place of working doing lunch for them. I saw a lovely rusty orange microfiber sofa that I would love to have, or give to one of my children. It was contemporary, very pretty and warm feeling.
Just happened to notice while I was there that one of the customers had taken off her children's shoes and was letting them jump on the mattresses! These are mattresses that belong to the retail establishment in which she is shopping. Same customer had earlier been letting her children push strollers around into furniture and appliances.
I read an article years ago called "Those Poor People and Their Poor Ways". I'm sure I have bored people to death with discussing parts of that article, but really, how can a person treat anyones property that way? How would you like to be the person who bought a mattress that someone else's children had been playing on? How can you justify treating your own property so poorly that you break it down as soon as you have it?
My church used to have a maxim: "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without." In spite of some recent evidence to the contrary, I do agree with that maxim. We have too many products that cannot be repaired if they break down. We have too many poorly made things. And we treat our property with such casual disregard that things have to be replaced much too often.
I love the clearance store because I love a bargain and can't help but love the idea of buying a leather couch that is brand new for 1/2 off because someone didn't like a little scratch in it. It was going to get a scratch within minutes of being in the house anyway.
However, it wasn't going to get the scratch from the way I treat it. I take care of my things. (and I vow here and now to take better care of my things in the future.)

Family History work

We had a follow up fireside last night regarding the regional conference and temple week we had in September. Some amazing promises were made to us by our Stake President and we heard reports of some of the experiences members of our stake had in trying to follow the word of our priesthood leader. Too sacred to tell, but just let me say, when you are told to do something, and you follow through, fabulous things happen.
Get out of debt. Get food and other emergency storage. Get a financial storage (ie: save money!!!!) and most of all, attend the temple. Be spiritually prepared for the things that may come in the future. Do as the Lord says and trust in Him, and things will be ok.

Time in the woods.

Last week some friends invited us to spend the weekend with them at their cabin near Bear Lake in Idaho. We have a wonderful, relaxing time hiking, playing games, watching movies and of course, visiting with our friends. We have a lot of fun when we travel with friends.
Unfortunately, in this case we met up with a bad traffic accident wherein a propane truck dumped on the freeway. We were stuck in traffic for a good three hours.
Their cabin is very nice. I didn't take the best pictures, lighting was either too bright because of the sunshine or too dark without. Still, I thought I would show you a few. This is the living room.
This is a shot of the exterior.
This is the bedroom we stayed in.
This is a shot of the kitchen.
Here are the stairs up to the loft.
Look how cute the doors to the bathroom cabinets are.
This is the bed in the master bedroom. It is bigger than it looks. I couldn't fit the whole thing onto my screen.
This is a view of the lake from the main floor deck. Views were beautiful even in the late fall. We did wake to find a skiff of snow on this deck Sunday morning.
This is the wrap around seating on the lower deck.
This is a rather poor shot of the lower level bonus room. The cabin has three bedrooms, three bathrooms and a large bonus room, a two car garage, kitchen with dining area and living room area, and three decks - the main deck wrapping around three sides. The Idea of a cabin at the lake is a wonderful one. I'd love to own such a thing. However, these cabins are more homes, with furnaces and electricity, water, sewer, and propane gas. Also they cost as much as a home in town. I couldn't justify that for a recreational property. Still, we had a great time. Their cabin is for sale if anyone is interested. E-mail me and I'll pass on your interest.

It was a great weekend with friends and I am thankful to them for inviting us along.
The futon in the loft.
A too early in the morning view of the lake.