MLK

Regardless of how you think about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., he has affected your life. Some of us have a holiday tomorrow in his honor. Some of us will have to work more. Some of us will lose money or make more. Some of us will shop sales, some of us will sleep in. Some will truly honor him, most will ignore him. It doesn't matter what you do, he has already made his mark in history.



Most of us go through life doing what we feel is important and hoping others will do the same. That would be me. I'm not looking for 15 minutes of fame and fortune is not likely. I would be grateful to be able to pay the bills and retire at 70.



How do I affect the lives of others in day to day living? I, too, "Have a Dream". I dream of people taking responsibility for themselves. To teach those in my little corner of the world that respect for God means respect for all. That you do NOT have the right to life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness. You have the priviledge of living in a country that does not restrict you from personal endeavors as long as they don't break laws.



Your priviledge to life on this planet is depenent on your efforts to survive. Even our generous government programs cannot make you compliant to basic health habits. Look at your genetics and get a clue. Look at your lifestyle and make changes.



Liberty is dependent on knowledge and wisdom. The more you know, the more liberty you have. Ignorance is laziness. Laziness is dependence on someone else, which is slavery. Liberty is education, application and hard work. Get off your excuses and get busy.

Fail to plan, plan to fail. What are you doing tomorrow?

Because blogs have fallen due to fb, I don't expect this to be read by anyone. Therefore, if you read it, be advised that it is to me not you.



The pursuit of happiness is easy. Understand that happiness is an attitude that you choose. No one else is responsible for your happiness. Circumstances and other people can make you unhappy, but only you can decide to be happy in spite of everything.

Happy New Year

It has been a longer time than intended for me to blog. My desktop computer wouldn't let me in due to some technical problem that remains unfixed. Now I have a new little laptop. Cool! I am intending to learn a few things this coming new year, and this laptop will be very helpful. One, I can do things with this one and photography that I can't do on the desktop. Two, I can be watching a couple of little boys in the living areas of the house. Freedom of sorts.

I am contemplating two classes one through TCC for photography, one through the Seniors Center of Hurst. I want to think that an exercise class will improve my body. I just have to do it. Ken wants to use the center, too. The cost for exercise classes, personal trainer and equipment for the year is $20. I think that is reasonable. At last, getting old has a benefit or two.

Ammon has discovered me, so I'm done. Now I push the publish button and it doesn't publish.

Job

The events of this last year and a talk last Sunday on Faith and Adversity led me to re-read Job in the Old Testament. I have always liked Job, not particularly his friends, though. As I prepared my talk, I read Job and based the first part of my talk on chapters 1 & 2. I got to the end of the second chapter and Job's wife gave him some poor advice. I started to think about her side of the story. The events were happening to her as much as him. They had been the wealthiest couple in the east, they lost everything in a matter of hours, including all of their children. She had remained faithful until Job got boils from head to toe. It probably dawned on her at that moment that she was suffering all of this because of Job, which was true. I think this story is where the idea "bad things happen to good people" came from. It also reminds me that our circumstances are not always due to our own efforts or lack thereof. Sometimes we are put into situations that don't seem fair (like Job and his wife). Anyway that you look at it, this life is our challenge to learn. I believe that Brigham Young noted that some of us have to learn the same lesson over and over. If you are frustrated with a certain area in your life, maybe you are not learning the lesson. I am learning once again how to deal with chaos, and people who can't do anything for themselves. This time my perspective is different so maybe I will learn the lessons faster. Maybe. I hope so.

I've been observing

I've been observing some weird things lately. Mostly concerning children of various ages. One thing is that parts of childcare is truly disgusting and it can make other parts equally disgusting. Think about peanut butter. Now think about a poopy diaper. PBJ anyone? Why do little boys grab their boy parts the minute the diaper is off? Grandpa says it is because they can. I think they are trying to pull it off so they can be girls.

Why do Walmart and Target carry 1500 different shoes for girls and 2 for boys? In fact, all clothing is marketed more for females than males. Why don't they have a little more creativity?

Why are school emergency cards in triplicate for each child? This seems redundant and inefficient to me.

I probably need to go take a nap.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Ken and I have been married 39 years today. Good for us. I can still remember the events of that day. Good for me.

Choices

I have been asked to give a talk on Choices leading to everlasting light; and, Choices leading to darkness and destruction. It seems pretty self-evident as to which is which. I am looking for scripture references that I can use. lds.org does not have a catagory listed as choices. That means I have to work at this. One thing I am sure of is that sometimes our choices are limited. Sometimes they are taken away by the actions of others. Sometimes circumstances create the limitations, sometimes they remove the limitations. Anything you do is known by Heavenly Father and he will compensate for the limitations, circumstances and actions of others. Your life is well-directed for your benefit through prayer. Like He told Joseph Smith, all these things are for your good, and if you endure them well, you will attain the glory I have reserved for you. I think that sometimes we forget that great promiese. Of course, the enduring to the end is the hard part, enduring them well is a whole other thing!

Swine Flu

I was somewhat amused by the news when it was announced that American pork was being rejected by other countries because of Swine Flu. I must assume their knowledge of medicine is greatly lacking. It reminds me of my father thinking that by drinking alcohol, he was medicating himself against getting a cold. The fact that it was a weekend, he sat around resting and was very relaxed would have done the same thing; but he insisted that the booze helped. He always got better, so how could we argue effectively? The mind is a powerful medication!

My second thought is that this is far more serious in Mexico--are they boycotting their pigs, too? I get the feeling we only get a fraction of the news. How about a nice pork loin for dinner on Sunday? I bet they will be on sale!

Frustrations

I am trying to be more computer savvy, but it seems the more I try the worse it gets. I am frustrated by the fact that after replacing a fan, the speakers suddently don't work. After trying to eliminate a greeting card that didn't work right, I get the greeting card screen for my home page! Sometimes I want to cry, scream and throw the thing out. I am thinking that a virus to the most annoying companies is how they all got started. Revenge!!! We think that they were started by a twisted person--I say it was just a frustrated person who knew how to get back at some annoying company. He just wasn't talented enough to make it work right. Oh, yeah, that would pretty much describe all the computer programs. They just don't usually work right. Then there is the hardware............................

Shopping

I went shopping today to get photograph boxes to help me organize all the photos from 38 years. I inadvertantly saw some awesome art work. I found a wrought iron chicken that is so cute that I have decided to do the kitchen in a farm/chicken motif. The walls are a yellow-cream, so anything rust, yellowish, brown, black (think about the colors of roosters and chickens) will fit in perfectly. Now that I have the basic idea to work with, it is rather exciting to think about getting curtains and accessories. I am glad that I don't have to mess with real birds. They are tasty little beasts, too, but I am glad they come plucked.

Inside Day

The weather this year (2009) has been really weird. It fluctuates daily between sunny and warm and cloudy, wet, and freezing. Today is freezing and rainy. Because of the ice, it is recommended that everyone stay home unless necessary. That always makes me want to go shopping. No one else will be out and the check-out lanes are empty. Cashiers are friendly and glad to see anyone to break up the boredom. I was going to go out, but it really is dangerous. Elizabeth was in an accident on Saturday. Another driver hit her van (she is ok), but it makes me a little wary about venturing out. Her van is probably totaled. Theron spent the night with us last night. He has been wanting to come and Rebecca needed someone to watch him early this morning. This was his first night away from home and tonight will be the second. Mother and child are both doing fine. In fact, Theron said he didn't want to go home yet. Makes it easier not to have to explain why he has to spend another night. I think it would be fun to have all the pre-k kids come spend the night. We can stay up late, tell goofy stories, and Elizabeth will make waffles in the morning!

Fun

A client asked me what I do for fun, and I paused. She laughed and said if I had to think about it, I wasn't having enough fun. This from a lady who's life is a lot more frustrating and disapointing than most people I know! So, what do you do for fun? I think for my New Year's resolution (I don't make a long list anymore), I will have more fun. I must now think of something more fun than being with my family, bouncing babies, and planning ridiculously large parties....... poor me!

Happy New Year

I have been going through boxes and boxes of pictures. How fun it is to see our past lives captured on film. How cute we all were. Now I look in the mirror and see wrinkles more and more each day. Oh, well, I am starting to really feel much better, and a little onerier; so watch out! This year will be very interesting. I can see a lot of changes for us--good and not so good. We will grow as we learn.

Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas

Yesterday was Joseph Smith's birthday anniversary. I made a big chocolate cake and Abby and I frosted it and decorated it. The missionaries came for dinner and my visiting teacher came at the same time, so she stayed for dinner. Then I brought out the cake and everyone wanted to know who's brithday we were celebrating. I was really disappointed that no one knew. We lit the candles, sang happy birthday, and let Abby blow out the candles. The cake was delicious. I am sure that I am not the only one to commemorate the prophet's birthday on his actual birthday (the Church does it earlier in the month), but it seemed like it yesterday. I am grateful for his contribution to the gospel and the blessings that it has brought into my life.

Now it is time to celebrate another birthday--one that no one is allowed to forget--even if you are not Christian. Merry Christmas! to one and all.

Birthday

Happy Birthday to Sariah. The big 30 is now officially hers. For one whole year. Yay!! You made it. Happy Birthday to you!!

How embarassing!

Grandpa started counting. He counts really well. Joshua is #18. Gabe and Laura are bringing #19 and we will have 10 boys and 9 girls. I don't know when I got off count; but I suspect it was when I was on so many drugs last spring. That's my story, and thank you, Grandpa, for setting the record straight and counting for me. Somehow, I am numerically challenged; even though I was really good at accounting for a long time. Surprised?
Boys: Chance, Connor, Branden, Michael, Theron, Kevin, Jacob, Ammon, Joshua, to-be-announced
Girls: Ivy, Sara, Donna, Emelyn, Olivia, Amber, Mary, Abigail, Julie

Amber Lee Haynie

Happy 4th Birthday, Amber! I hope that you have a great day and get to do everything you want to do. That would include, of course, teasing Julie and getting away with it. Poor Julie. Maybe you can just tickle her a bit. :)

#17

Joshua Kelsey Brown was born October 21, 2008, 6:10 pm in Grapevine, Texas. He is 21-1/2" and weighed in at 8.12 pounds. All is well with the Brown family. Joshua looks a lot like big sister Abigail. Abby thinks he should be called Batman. Welcome to mortality, Joshua!

Number 18 on the way

Happy Birthday, Laura!!

I believe that Laura is having THE ultrasound on Thursday. Is it a boy or girl this time?
I say BOY One more boy and we will have 9 girls and 9 boys.

Maintenance

Home ownership is a project-in-the-works (never-ending maintenance). I am hoping to start a habit of putting a certain amount of money into the maintenance or improvement of our house every month. For awhile it will not be very much, and will all be for maintenance. There is a leak under the kitchen sink that has been a problem for a long time. I have fixed it over and over again, which means it has never actually been fixed. Now the board under the leak has rotted and has to be replaced. I bought a board to fix it, but got frustrated because I couldn't get it under the pipes. That has been awhile, I wonder where the board is; I sort of remember giving it away. Maybe I should go look for it...................