I finally followed through with something I've been thinking about for a while. Now that our oldest 2 grandkids are in middle school I made each of the families a flash card book. The flashcards are homemade by me, written in a way that I could understand, with information from the textbooks and 7th grade math teacher. The cards were so helpful to me, and then the students, in understanding the math lessons, homework and tests. I hope they will be helpful to my family.
I still laugh at all of this, as math does not come naturally to me. Even now, going months without doing middle school math, I could tell I was starting to forget some of the concepts as I was making the grandkid's flashcards. But the cards jogged my memory and I am so grateful for the experience.
Friday night the Dobbins visited and Hillary, Luke and I went to see the movie WICKED! Loved it! We went to the 10:30 ish show which put us home a bit after 1:30 am, which was worth it.
I was a bit suspect of the 2 lead actresses being able to sing as well as the original broadway performers, but they did a great job.
Sometimes mine & Samantha's schedules match and sometimes they don't. When that means an early start for her it means a working-on-Christmas-projects-start for me, before my shift. It also means watching a beautiful sunrise, and less traffic, on our morning commute.
Monday I was assigned the early shift at work, which was great because it gave me two hours to go to Costco before picking up Samantha from work. After getting home, putting groceries away and eating dinner I couldn't keep my eyes open and went to bed - in my jeans and all - for the next 10 hours. When I got up for work the next morning I felt somewhat stressed that I had gone to bed so early. But within a few minutes I started realizing how good I felt, physically, and started feeling good, mentally.
It's almost like I got that boost you get after being sick and you are grateful to get back to your regular, boring, hard-working, everyday life. But I got to have that boost without really being sick, and I am so grateful.
Interestingly enough Facebook gave me just what I needed: random, positive memes or whatever they're called, advertisements for Christmas movies and such, and even a recipe for fake snow, which I will be making for the preschool kids later this week - it just feels good to be alive. So I'll leave this one here, that randomly popped up on my Facebook, complete with the words that were included, and start getting ready for work!
Maybe the real happy ending is falling in love with the simplest parts of life.
It’s savoring that first sip of coffee in the morning, or losing yourself in the smell of freshly baked bread. It’s driving down familiar roads with the windows down, letting the air mess up your hair while your favorite song fills the car. It’s lingering on a quiet afternoon, reading the pages of a book you’ve put off for too long, letting each word wrap around you like an old friend. These moments — the ones that seem so ordinary — hold a kind of magic that fills the cracks we sometimes forget are there.
And maybe, just maybe, it’s finding a piece of joy in small things we often take for granted. Like the laughter that comes out of nowhere, shared with a stranger in a grocery store aisle. Or the comfort of a cozy night at home, wrapped up in a blanket, watching a show you’ve seen a hundred times but still brings a smile to your face.
It’s these little things that pull us back to life, that remind us of just how blessed we are, not because everything is perfect but because we find beauty in what we already have.
Our 7 year old grandson Bear sent a Marco Polo Video that I just can't get enough of. Julia said he learned this song in school, and remembered that I liked it, so he sang it for us. The fact that he remembered that about me makes me want to cry, happy tears. I just watch it over and over again, especially when I need a pick me up. I'm so glad to be connected to the kids no matter how far we live from each other. (I don't know how to move a video off Marco Polo and onto the blog, so I'm adding these as a way of remembering. But Bear's will always be my favorite version.)
I love our drive home from church these days. The building is in the Sunset District of San Francisco and I like to take the straight shot down Lawton to the Great Highway. Usually we then drive along that beautiful scenery to home. However, I hope we pause more often like we did today. Perhaps the only positive, lasting effect of the Pandemic is the section of The Great Highway that has remained closed to traffic. We easily found parking parallel to the highway, which is parallel to the beach. We took a short walk which felt SO good. I hope to do this more often and stay longer, with a blanket, chairs, picnic lunch and whatever.
We laughed at the fact that the traffic lights were still going - were we supposed to stop and go walking at the changes? Ha ha!
I also, along the drive and the walk, enjoy looking at the old, unique houses. I might just start taking pictures of some every Sunday.
As for church, it was wonderful. We had a good discussion about President Oaks General Conference talk "Following Christ", specifically about how to treat each other and how to communicate with each other peacefully. (see below, starting at 6 minutes in).
So, though I planned on my November scriptural memorization to be from 3 Nephi 11:29 about how dangerous is the spirit of contention, I've decided to switch to something else. I still love that scripture and will think of it to remind me of what not to do (contend, argue, be sarcastic, insulting). But the one I am going to memorize this month will hopefully give me ideas on what TO do to increase feelings of peace for me and all I communicate with.
Matthew 5:9
Ok, well lastly, if Reggie were home from his never-ending business trip it just might be a near perfect Sunday. Guess I'll go do some Christmasing. And leave this post with a song:
This morning, in spite of waking with a raging headache, I realized this song was playing through my mind. So I took some Excedrin and laid down again feeling incredibly peaceful and thankful.
It reminded me of a blogpost I wrote years ago. day by day
So Happy Friday everyone. Hope it is filled with joy. And because I've allowed myself to enter pure holiday mode, I'm going to wear my "JOY" sweatshirt to work and watch Klaus afterwards. I also had a beautifully spooky Christmas present experience last night which I look forward to blogging about this weekend.
I won't allow myself to live in anger or withdraw from the world. I won't allow myself to get into huge debates or completely withhold expressions of my points of view. Therefore, I am turning to the blog to at least record for my posterity how I am feeling after the 2024 presidential election.
After one short conversation with someone I feel it is important for me, again, to make it perfectly clear that you can be devoutly religious AND a democrat. I hope I am living proof of that.
I want to express, at this particular time in history, how impressed and grateful I am for several women who have been in the political spotlight: for their ability to express their views without hate; for the courage to express their views in spite of the dangerous threats and backlash that have come to their way. Because of them I still have feelings of hope in society, our country, and life in general. And I know that they are still here . . . going forward in trying to make a positive difference.
Kamala Harris - I absolutely love her and thank her for her messages of peace.
Liz Cheney, a woman of courage
Nancy Pelosi - I have a great children's book about her that I want to blog about later.
I am also going to continue to avoid contention in my life, as my November scripture says (which I will post later) - because I know contention can bring me dangerously close to ruining relationships. Luckily most people I know - including myself - feel the same. So I will continue to enjoy the friendships I have made and re-connected with on Facebook, etc. and especially continue to enjoy all the positive, seasonal ideas and vibes I find there.
There. I feel better by expressing this without courting online comments and debates that can spin terribly out of control.
I am ready to face the world. Knowing I need to be in a good mood for those beautiful, sweet, innocent children at work helps.
Alright, I'm calling it: time to go into pure holiday mode. There are so many house projects I would like to do around here, and stuff Reggie and I have been working on. But it can go on the back burner for now/they can wait for the new year, which actually seems like something to look forward to.
But for now, I need to concentrate on Christmas - hurray! I haven't done much preparation all year long, like I usually do. So, for what little time there is after work, and a good chunk of time on the weekends, let's get the holidays started!
There is one project, however, that I am so excited that Reggie finished - bookcases. I don't think we've ever bought a bookcase. In fact, I am very happy that we've built our lives around hand-me-down and free furniture. But I really wanted bookcases in the dining room, on each side of the piano (our wonderful 60 something year old piano). So Reggie and I picked some out together before he went on a marathon business trip. I've been filling one with children's books and one will be filled with journals, scrapbooks and other things dear to our hearts.
I knew that, over time, my blogging about how much I miss my parents would lessen, and my tears would turn more to smiles of my wonderful memories. But I still really miss them.
This year my celebrating Day of the Dead was more inward, as I didn't decorate or cook for it. But I've thought a lot of my parents and other ancestors. I've read some of my Dad's autobiography and my Mom's stories again. Since our 2023 heritage project we've continued to embrace our lineage a little bit more - especially Reggie's line from the Philippines and learning so much more about Hawaii. But also mine from Denmark. I've added some decorations to the kitchen that celebrate my Danish roots.
I of course watched COCO, which still makes me cry.
And lastly I've contemplated on how much I love the phrase "We'll pick up where you left off" ever since I heard the song below. I hope I can continue living and spreading the goodness my parents put out into the world - like working hard, offering love and acceptance to all, and living with optimism.
Do you ever sit and wonder why you are in a bad mood? And then other times, wonder why you are in a good mood? I do. I think reflecting and figuring out why in each scenario helps, to get rid of the bad and keep the good. But then also - especially the good mood - sometimes you just have to roll with it/enjoy the ride.
That's how I'm feeling this weekend. I am 5 months into my job, and yesterday was one of the few times that I left feeling at peace. I mean, I really LOVE my job, but - or maybe which is why - I have been so worried about something going wrong. There has been a lot to get used to, and I've had some triumphs and made some mistakes. But yesterday it all seemed to magically turn into contentment and peace. I hope this means I've turned and corner and, though I know there will be more triumphs and more mistakes, I hope this feeling of peace will stay with me.
I guess it's an affirmation of my September scripture, which talks of peace, tribulation and cheer. Looking forward to my November scripture choice, whatever that may be.
In the meantime we are planning some apple activities for next week and this song started running through my mind, and I am grateful. I think I'll go make some apple muffins.
"The Lord is good to me, and so I thank the Lord for giving me the things I need: the sun, the rain and an apple seed. The Lord is good to me."
Well, October was full of lots of joy and some challenges. But the point is, lots of joy, and I am ready (hopefully) for more of both in November. I am still learning how to scale things down. I am trying to convince myself that a to do list is such a handy tool, as long as I remember that it does not all have to be done in one day. Getting anything done in one day is a success. And it is the same with good, fun, wonderful, crafty ideas. I will probably never get to do them all, but it is fun to have the ideas and make some of them happen.
So here's to you November! Most importantly I want to focus on that Thanksgiving feeling as we head into Christmas mode.
