Home Dazzle

For approximately the past two weeks I have been abroad, well on a car trip. We braved long hours in the car, stopping in Colorado, New Mexico, and for the most time; Texas.
It was fantastic. And I mean it too. Vacation means a whole lot more when you live on a farm!
But there's something special about home. And right now I'm in what I have decided to call, the Home Dazzle. It's when everything about home is beautiful. Even doing chores to make it look cleaner. (The chickens still don't sound quite that fun to feed but I'll manage.)
It's difficult to explain, and my writing skills are rusty. (Vacation does stuff like that.) But nonetheless I'll try.

Karen Arnold

Upon hopping out of the car a deep blue sky greeted my eyes, the stars shining brilliantly, a sight I had missed dearly. Sadie whimpered till my Mom said hello, and I soon followed, petting her affectionately.When I walked into the house last night (or rather this morning) the lights were dimmed and the air seemed hazy. The floors were mopped and the counters cleared. I blinked a few times to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. I made my way to my room, laughing at myself when I saw the little messes I made in haste to pack and get out the door. I switched my tank light on and watched my fish swim around in the water, enjoying the small current from the filter. My bed was wonderful, crawling into it in clean pajamas and snuggling with my quilt as it still hung lopsided, shorter by the wall and touching the floor where I hop in. But it didn't matter, it felt exactly like my bed feels on a regular basis, and that was what I wanted. Truly "There's no place like home."

Scavenger Hunt for Happiness

In life we all experience different challenges. We all have different family and living situations, different trials, whether physically or spiritually. All of those things can build us up, or break us down. It just depends on what we decide to do with what we have.
Often times it is easy to wish for more. If only we had this, we would be happy. If only this happened, we would be happy. The very thing we want though is right in front of our nose. If we were to only take a step back, a deep breathe, and look, we would see that we can be happy.
I don't have a magical solution to make all  problems go away. I can't give instructions and tell people that everything will be perfect. But I do know this. I know that if someone is unhappy it is because they choose to be, whether consciously or not.

"When life seems just a dreary grind,

And things seem fated to annoy,

Say something nice to someone else

And watch the world light up with joy."

--Anon.

 Last night for a youth activity we put this into action. This is what I wrote about it last night:

 Tonight for mutual we went on a Scavenger Hunt. However it was unique. We had three challenges.
1-Find a youth in our ward who was not at the activity, invite them to come, and bring them along. 

2-Share your testimony with someone. 

3-Invite someone to church. 

Potato Chips by Junior Libby

For each challenge accomplished we earned an item of food afterwards at the campsite for dinner. We went to my neighbors house and invited Mckaylin, a girl my age. She was babysitting so couldn't come. Two of the other young women pushed me right up to the door then and told me to bear my testimony! Mckaylin and I both stood there a little awkwardly so I turned it around and invited her to church. Next we went to the people next door and ended up picking up both of their boys to join us for the activity. Last but not least we went to "Uncle Bob"'s to bear our testimony. We all ended up bearing our testimony. It was a great activity. Then we had a brother in our ward give a ten minute talk about it. It was a very special experience. I am very glad we were able to do that. It was fun, spiritual, and both physically and spiritually fattening. 

Everyone was in high spirits when we reached the camp spot. A young woman in a different car told us this experience, that is just too good to leave out. 

We were driving along and we saw this bicyclist (in our ward boundaries) so I rolled down my window and asked him if I could bear my testimony, and we could keep on rolling along while I do it. He said sure. I bore my testimony, said Amen. He said that it took a lot of courage to do what I did and thanked me. Then we dispersed paths.

I know that these principles work. For that short amount of time I was able to get my mind off of me and my problems and share happiness with others. I invite all people to do the same.

Ideas

An idea is such a magical thing. It is new, intriguing, and holds us captive till we explore it. We yearn to taste it, to see if it is any good.
Sometimes, we let it sit, aging like cheese to enhance it's flavor. Other times it sits and grows moldy, like soggy bread in a bag. Then there are the times when we dip our spoon in, and taste something exquisite we can not rush, savoring the flavor. Those are the amazing ideas, the ones we love because we want it now.
I love the taste of a new idea. When I wake up in the morning, with it dancing in my mind, dangling before my eyes. Like the light at the end of a tunnel, it holds us captivated, longing to reach the light.  It's almost like a persistent child begging for a toy, only the idea begs to be written down, put into action, or told. Finally, giving in, it calms itself slightly, but never fully so long as it lies incomplete.
Every once in a while, we ignore the idea, and it eventually drowns itself in our river of thoughts, lost forever, or just for a very long time if we are extremely lucky, but the river is strong and is difficult to make yield its prey.

Like the light at the end of a tunnel, it holds us captivated, longing to reach the light.

 

Some people think of an idea like a light bulb, a switch turned on, or connected to the electricity. Other people like me feel it creep up on us. Sometimes like the ocean waves lap at the sand, gradually crawling further and further up. Other times like a tingle up my spine, shivering me with delight. There is also the sensation of a buzzing fly by my head. Nearly impossible to swat away, swirling around our head until we get out of bed.
Ideas hold promise. Some hold failure, but in fact it's a lot more like what Thomas Edison said about making a light bulb, he learned many ways how not to do it, and when we look at ideas like that, we realize that we have learned quite a lot.
Ideas are a part of our being, a yearning we feel. We want our idea to be unique, amazing, and wonderful. They promise us possibility, adventure, and a feeling of success.
Yes, ideas are magical.

Summer Come Soon!

This is a strange time of year I've decided, not that I think anything is ever "normal". It is spring time. That means that it is cold one day, warm the next, rainy, cloudy, clear and everything in between. School is finishing up, and the promise of summer is dancing before our eyes.
We can't help but feel bored, ready to move on to summer, forget homework, and "relax". But we seem to forget that in reality we're overwhelmed, end of year testing, spring cleaning, planning for events, and trying to remember that we still have responsibility... even when summer comes.
For all that though, we keep on trudging along, pushing through our tasks, feeling overly burdened, but constantly distracted. All I can say at this point is: Summer come soon!

Summer Time by MALIZ ONG

Charcoal Picture

Recently I decided to pull out my charcoal kit from a couple years back when I took an online class. I looked at a picture I had on my desk, began with the general shape, and ended up with something completely different. You'd probably never guess that I started from this picture.

The picture doesn't really do the art justice, even though the art isn't perfect either.  But I wanted to share it anyway. Perhaps one day I will be better, but for now, I am satisfied with what I have. 

I am still trying to decide on what to call this picture. If you want to share your thoughts, on what this means to you, a good name perhaps, or anything else relating, please do.

Sometimes there just needs to be a filler post

So, I admit, sometimes there just needs to be a filler post. Does it have meaning? Not usually. Is it good? I would say normally not so great. Is it interesting to read? I'll leave that up to the reader to decide.
Sometimes though, we fake ourselves into thinking that a filler post is the best, easiest, thing to write. We may be good at it, make it funny and enjoyable, a nice way to pass the time. But we lose the valuable stuff if we never accept that we can do something better than just fill up the space.

"... it's easiest to just make some white rice and eat it plain."

Often times we do this with our life, we just accept that we need to fill up some time and then fill it up, with little thought of what its worth is. Instead of going on a walk, we plop down in front of the TV or computer. We feel relaxed, and tell ourselves it's just for a bit. All in all, everything goes well. Until we want to do it again the next day. We reason with ourselves that it isn't bad, and that it made us feel good yesterday. While this isn't bad, it begins to distract us from the great things in life. The more we tell ourselves fillers are okay, the less of the real things we get. It's like eating Hawaiian Haystack without the toppings, deciding that it's easiest to just make some white rice and eat it plain.

I would like to end with this quote. Echoing her words is the best I can do.

We live in a world where many people do not know where they would

desire to go. Many end up living years, not knowing where they are

going to end up. Some spend their lifetime going through the motions,

with no vision in mind. What a life void of meaning and purpose these

individuals live. How depressing it must be for these poor spirits who

have no drive or motivation.

--Summer Pulley

World of Shadows?

This world is a sad, sad world. Full of pain and suffering, death and struggle. People commit whores, tease, hurt others, and sometimes even kill. It's scary, knowing that good people who die, or are influenced by these horrendous acts don't plan on any of those bad things happening to them. It's another normal day, or even a special one, but how can they foresee how much their life is about to change?
We could dwell on these things everyday of our life, scared to go out and live it, afraid of what will happen, and not wanting to make a mistake. But that is a mistake, and our fear doesn't go away like, instead we feed it and allow it to thrive on us, slowly tearing us down. Somehow we must move on, but if these things aren't stopping, how are we supposed to stop being afraid of them? Dr J. R. Miller found a way to say this, which I now share with you now.

The Problem of Life

There are so many possibilities in life, in attainment and achievement, and so many opportunities of doing good, that it is a glorious thing to live. Surely, then, we ought to make the most of our life.

The ideal life is one of joy. The face ought to be shining--shining even in darkness. People say this is a sad world, yes, for those who have eyes only for shadows. He who has songs in his heart hears songs wherever he goes.

That is why, even though we are scared, frightened, and afraid. When we see only the shadows and our heart aches with pain. That is why, we must keep walking to the light. We must keep looking for the sunshine and allow it's warmth to fill our souls. 

“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.” – Theodore Roosevelt

I end with these words of hope, to brighten our shadowy world.  Remember there is sunshine, we just need to accustom our eyes to finding it.

Time

Often times we feel like the day drags on endlessly. Seconds feel like minutes and minutes feel like hours. The very thought of an hour for children can make them cry. It used to make me cry. We impatiently wait for the time to pass so that we can move on. However during our waiting we insist on doing nothing. As my old teachers would say: Being a lump of flesh. (It came from an Ulysses poem.)
Other days it feels like there is not enough time. It seems like the more you rush the faster time goes. The harder you try to beat it impatiently, the more time seems lost.
Sometimes we succumb to the time and decide that there is not enough of it to accomplish our goal. We then convert our energies to frivolous and wasteful things that don't really benefit. While willing the time to fly we often find that if we had actually tried we could have accomplish our goal.
The days of wasted time haunt us by presenting the same ordeal the next day, and the next, until we finally decide to do it. There are even times when we can't make it up, just because we did not seize the moment.


 We can never fully make up for the time we have wasted, because no matter what we do, it is gone.
I imagine if I were given back all of the time I wasted that I would gain quite a bit of my life I hadn't realized I'd wasted. It may even extend my life by weeks, months, possibly even years. I imagine a package, wrapped up neatly, arriving on someone's doorstep with a note: Here is all the time wasted given to you as a gift of a baby, who will live a full life with these many wasted seconds, minutes, hours, and days. Take care that this baby does not waste its time as well, because once it wastes its time, it loses time for their life to be given to a worthier baby. I know it sounds ridiculous, but yet I see the picture, and all the time being spent, carefully, and it ticking away like sand in a timer.


So many people say, when they are old or dying, that they wish they hadn't wasted so much time.
The regret of wasted time has already hit me profoundly at a young age. I can not begin to imagine my heartache when I am older when I realize once again the misuse and loss of my time.
I plead with myself, and with you, to realize what could be done with all time spent being "bored." I ask: Is it good, better or best? The next step is to follow through once it's figured out, even if the answer is undesirable. Will I ever be a master of time? Or will it always sift through my fingers, retaining only a few pebbles in my palm... Someday maybe I will be a master. Today, I am an infant. I continue my journey of growth, and I invite all whose hearts this has touched to join me as well, because with all of time going against us, a larger mass will stand stronger against the cascade than one poor soul. Please... time is ticking away.

Kiwi Banana Milkshakes

The other day my mom told us to use up some kiwis. My sister and I had a wonderful idea; Why not make a milkshake? We hastily asked my mom and then set to work. This is what we ended up with:

Recipe:
2 kiwis
1/2 banana
1 cup milk
Fill the rest of the Blendtec up with Breyers Natural Vanilla. ;)
Blend on milkshake setting. Divide into four glasses. Cut the remaining banana half into fourths, dice, put on top of the shake. Cut a third kiwi into fourths, dice, put on top of shake. Distribute to unsuspecting siblings. Enjoy!

We then got a lovely picture all together of our tasty creation distributed to our siblings. We had to take four pictures before we got one where my brother stopped looking skeptical, well mostly... Oh well. Maybe this helped boost his confidence in us.

Utterly, Irrevocably, Bored

Have you ever had the sensation that you have absolutely nothing to do? Even though your room is a disaster, you have piles of homework, and the list doesn't end there! Yet, for some strange reason, the only think that you can think to do is lie down on your bed, sit on a chair, and do nothing but breath.
Is that why you're reading this blog right now? Like the reason I'm writing this entry...
What should I be doing? Perhaps now would be a good time to do it. What do you think?

Update: I recently added a Document you can find to the right of here under "Favorite Website/Documents/Blahs" It is titled: "Bored List" Enjoy!

Stairs

During the weekend I went to a three day conference. It was a great experience and I left with my head swimming every night. A few of my classes were on the third floor. The steps were quite impressive and I decided that even a picture does them little, if any, justice. However, I'll include it anyway. 

Those stairs have a small landing in between to ease your heaving lungs. Imagine walking up two sets of these stairs. Yes, I did that. I could always tell you had taken the stairs because they came into the room heaving, as did I, and furiously trying to slow their breath.
You might wonder if there was an elevator, and if there was why didn't people take it? There was. But in most cases walking up the stairs ended up being quicker, and the elevator left people with a queer feeling because of the way it lurched. Not mentioning the annoying buzz it made while the doors closed because so many people were crammed inside it. Often it was filled with waiters with carts. Though were they were going I didn't really figure out.
Anyhow, I am sure that I could compare this to something profound, like the incredible knowledge I learned that left me heaving at the end of each day, or the amount of chips and snacks I ate. But I think they speak for themselves the best.

Sunrise

Watching the sun rise is an amazing experience. It rises slowly, peeking over a mountain, plain, or sea. Its light begins to erase the darkness.
I still remember last summer when I decided I wanted to watch a sunrise. I looked up the time it would rise, set my alarm carefully, and woke up the next morning full of excitement as I stole out of the house. I climbed the roof of our barn and watched the light emerge. I was awed at how stealthily he climbed upwards. In just a few minutes the sun's shaggy main was over the mountain smiling brightly at all who were awake to see him. Fascinated I managed to pull out my iPod and snap a few pictures, though the lens couldn't capture the glory of it all. The brisk morning air, anticipation, and awe was left with the morning, memories and a few photos are all I've retained. Till another day I watch the sunrise...

Autumn Tree

I know that it is spring now, but the glory of autumn seems to be appropriate to share year round.
I absolutely love the way the sun is shining through this tree. It defines the branches, making them look solid and firm. The leaves glow with the light of the sun, sharing their fiery colors with all who stop and look. I feel like it could be used for so many comparisons, but I'll let you make you're own since that will mean much more for you personally.
If anyone would like to share their thoughts please feel free to. I monitor the comments so they will all be safe to read. :)