Life Lesson for the Day

I had a Life Lesson

(Not the same as a Tender Mercy)


Last week I arrived a bit early for a school district meeting

Made a bathroom stop, anticipating a long committee meeting

It was one of those handicap bathrooms

which is an actual room - - - not a place with a lot of booths and

NO

counter space

So I balanced my purse on the edge of the sink

during my visit

A clever move, yes,

to avoid sitting the purse on the floor?

After, I went to pick up my purse

so I could wash my hands

I noticed moisture on the outside of the bronze leather bag

OO-oo, must have set it on a wet edge

I reached inside the purse and my hand splashed into the contents!

Holy Moly

My bag was almost filled with water

I groaned in disbelief

I remembered hearing an odd hissing earlier

but I gave it no attention at the time

Ah hah
Evidently the purse leaned and

triggered

the motion sensor

under the faucet

(If you've lifted my purse, you are not surprised that it tipped)

Voila'

Floody floody!

My purse is a not-so-temporary

home for

receipts

tickets

coupons

stamps

notebooks

and

too much more

I emptied the purse of its contents,

pulling out handfulls of dripping papers

stacking them on the edge of the sink

Then I tilted the body of the purse

upside down

and POURED

water out!

No kidding

By then I was moving from

shock

to laughing at the mess

"I can't believe I did this to myself!"

I carried my dripping armload

to the front desk

and

begged a bag

A sympathetic staff women

found a grocery sack

I dumped everything inside

and headed into my meeting

It was another five hours

before I finished meetings and appointments and got home

I imagined all the sodden papers

would be water glued to one another

About 9 pm

I was kneeling on my carpet

peeling heavy wetness apart

and

laying out pieces on the bar

Wedge the wallet open so it will dry

lay out the To Do lists

Leave the purse inside out for drying



Thank goodness the stamps aren't the old fashioned

lick 'em style

Carefully peel apart the theater tickets that hugged one another tight
Salvage my ticket/name badge for the
Provo Women's conference coming up


I can't tell you how long this bag would serve your
thirst on a desert
But I can say with assurance
that it holds water!


That brings us to Life Lesson for the Day:
"Some Hissing Bears Heeding"

The Lunch Bunch

Had a fun visit at my school last week

A post-birthday celebration for me

Amber brought Daisylyn and Sterling

to eat lunch with me

First wave was two crying children

Out of their familiar environment, I guess

Once we settled them down

Amber and I

took kiddos with us to buy our school lunch

Taco salad day- - - not bad

Then we holed up in my office

Shut the door

to create a boundary for curious Daisylyn

Lil Miss ate some

but was more interested

in the Transportation box of toys

Sterling let me comfort his

teary-ness

then had some smiles

Yeah, going to school makes some kids cry!

I've seen that phenomenon before :o)

Sweet grandkids
A fun treat to have a little visit.


Does anyone else think Sterling
kinda looks like Morgan?

The Heritage of a Grateful Heart

I Think My Mom is Amazing

I had a lovely phone chat with Mom.

At first it was hard for her to retrieve words,

then she warmed up.

You know, how she memory-talks,

meandering through what comes to mind?

Well I just wrote down some of her musings

and enjoyed a "walk" through her reflections.

It was familiar territory . . . the story of her being a cook at the logging camp

as a young adult,

the summary of a good life.

All sweet, because she is ever the

gracious appreciative lady.

Here are some of her thoughts today:

I had a good life. . . .I married a good man . . .

He had his own way but he's a good man . . . I wouldn't want anyone else!

How long have we lived here?

(LD: 69 years, Mom.)

I've always been proud of you girls. . . . . I know you weren't perfect but I am proud of all of you.

I picked up some of the things we've written down.

What a great life we've had.

I'm here alone so much of the time . . . .I don't grieve over it . . . .

I'm in my own home and l love it . . .

I really do.

It keeps wearing out and we keep putting it back together.

I have been blessed and I know it!

I'm sitting here looking at my cupboards . . . they are still nice. . . .

the new linoleum in there . . . I'm so pleased with that. . . .

the floor is so nice now

I'm just happy

I really am

(LD: You're an amazing woman, Mom.)

I have an amazing life.

Myself and Joe were born to goodly parents.

That was our background.

They were good people.

We never did get rich.

We didn't need it.

I am not depressed . . . .I can be happy with what I have.

I had a good family . . . . a big one.

I give credit to my mom & my dad, too.

They worked hard, growing vegetables . . .we didn't starve.

I was thinking about when I was cooking way out there at that camp . . .

What would have happened . . .

if I had changed my ways? . . . .those worldly men

I just took care of them when they ate . . . . and didn't flirt.

When they knew what kind of girl I was . . . .they weren't so anxious to find a girl.

I tried to be careful . . .

There were all kinds of men there . . .

I was thinking about that the other day.

A young man came in and wanted something - - -soap or something.

I didn't have my door locked and he just walked in.

I had to go in the back to the storage area

to get him what he asked for.

Then he wouldn't leave.

He wanted me to sit down.

I just stood there

with the storage key in my hand

We chatted a little bit

Then I said----Why don't you leave?

Pretty soon I got him away.

He was a man of the world . . . . and he was there for a purpose.

After that, I made sure I locked my door.

I figured if I had to run . . . . I could run!

Anyway, I survived.

I learned how to take care of myself.

There were a few of the boys you could trust . . . there were some you didn't dare trust.

I guess I'd call it a good experience because I behaved myself.

I wouldn't want MY girls to go there . . . .No way!

This Easter Morn

This Easter Morn

Roll back the stone

tis true today

He lives! He lives!

He leads the way.

Reach out, approach

the temple wall,

Draw near to Him

He beckons all.

These glorious blooms
are symbol, measure

Life renewed, like

that tomb's treasure.

I, too, shall rise

I am His own

With faith full steps

I long for home.

---Lora Dawn McKinley

Standing in a New Postion

Where's the camera when you need it?

Imagine me

standing in a busy street

stopping traffic!

BIG red sign.

I had a little career development experience today

It was a blast

I was the kids' crossing guard at the end of the day

The usual reliable and brave adults

were staffing the track and field events

we hosted

for several elementary schools

A last minute all-call went out for safety assistance

Hey . . . . I'll do that!

Training was included:

Hold the sign high;

Watch out

when you're headed back to the curb!

I listened to my trainer

I complied

with exactness

I lived

to

tell

the

tale

Art Invitation at School Part 2

Above is my finished art project. day 3

A while back I mentioned

I got to sit in on an art lesson in a 6th grade class

(blog entry on 3/20/11)

I was so excited

I've wanted to do this

water color play time

for a year

I am kind of embarrassed

to go public with it

as my rockin' results did not fit my expectations

Bummer . . . .but oh well

Finished project is above, day 3

Above is the start...result of Day 1.

I LOVE . . .

did I tell you I LOVE the colors?

I could have stopped here

and been color happy

But we weren't done yet

Rock on! day 2

The next day the teacher gave

instructions on how to draw in the boulders/pebbles

with a black felt tip (I was not there for that)

My schedule got a little wild and crazy that day

There was no break

for me to go in and get some boulder-drawing tips

So

at home

I

launched into my own rock-drawing version

Lots of fun

Yet something didn't look quite right

When I got back to school and checked out some 6th grade art

I could see what I did and didn't do

I figured out what I want to do differently next time:

*Use a skinnier black pen - - - my rock outlines are too fat

*Use the bubbly-looking parts of the water color as if they are water

rushing over the rock

and make the rocks seem to disappear behind that watery part

Actually, for an artist wannabe

I am tickled that I tried the project

Maybe I can talk my daughters into

coming over to

try something like this again

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Now

let me show you one of my favorites

from a 6th grader

She gave me permission to take a picture and

share it

Here you go below:

This one ----made by a student----

gets oo's and ah's from me

What do you think?

Wanna play?

No chocolate....It's not natural

It may look like dinner out

Yee-e-e-e-e-s

and it's also

pre-girl time

Jana, Jocile and I got some sister time

at Jana's house after this dinner

(No chocolate, no cheetos . . .how sad is that?)

But plenty of chat til after 11

then Jocile hit the road, back to mom's

I bedded down at Jana's

as I had a conference the next morning

only a mile from Jana's house

Yes, I thought

it was an excellent excuse

for an

almost

overnighter

Nourish the Matriarch

We are blessed.

Jocile and Richard are up here

performing

a home rescue.

The original plan was for them to be company for grandma

while a floor repair

was being done

in her home.

Having strangers in the house-----like repairmen----

makes grandma uneasy.

J & R were so kind to come up to help and

keep grandma company.

Once Richard got his tools and experienced eyes in gear,

there was layer after layer of fixin'

that needed attention:

the furnace quit

a repair was made

more water pipe leaks and rust-out was discovered

he got a bid on replacing old pipes and sink

and the floor men began their

rip out.

THANK YOU for coming up, Richard and Jocile!

To celebrate their generous visit

plus

to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of

grandma surviving hip surgery . . .

we took grandma out to dinner.

"Mom, do you want me to get some food for you

or

do want to pick it out yourself?"

Oh . . . choices . . .

she wanted to shuffle over and check it out.

Grandma . . . digging in.

She is always grateful to get to eat someone else's cooking.

Go Grandma!

Look at her . . . .

Isn't she a miracle!

Celebrate a Singer

I had such a privilege.

My niece, Nanette, gave her senior vocal recital Friday night at ISU.

A mezzo soprano power house

with firey red hair

singing for 1 1/2 hour.

I wanted to give her something that

symbolized her leap into the next season of her life.

That called for an art journal, me thought!

I started with a spiral book of blank art pages.

I quite like me some magazine color splashes.

I mod podged on some shimmer you can see if you look very closely

'cause Nanette is a very shimmery girlie girl

I combined some phrases from my recent Soul Restoration class plus some torn out color and pictures from magazines And randomly prepped some pages

Ready for the graduate

to add her thoughts, concerns, ideas, adventures

Who knows what doors are ahead?

May her path be a blessing to her and the world.

When I zoom in on this magazine picture

I think the little girl looks quite like Nanette!

If you google Youtube and enter

angnlsn

three of Angela's recital downloads of Nanette will be there.