In A Moment

I needed to go into Wal-Mart the other morning before work. So I was standing in the check out line at 7 am when I looked behind me, there standing in the line was a young woman that I had gotten to know a couple years ago. When I first met her she was a vivacious young woman, so incredibly sweet and full of kindness. I know she came from some difficult circumstances, but she had a large family and a lot of support.

I haven't seen her for a couple years, but as I looked at her standing in that check out line I could see in one moment where she had been, what had become of her, and probably what her future held. She was standing in the checkout line of Wal-Mart at 7am, purchasing a box of diapers, a package of baby wipes and had a thug looking young man standing behind her. She looked beaten, worn down and hollow. The young man she was with looked smug.

My heart ached in that moment. Such a lovely young lady, and now a series of choices has led her down this path. I don't know if there is anything that I could have done but still I was so sad for her, her child, and even the mislead young man behind her.

It’s Christmas Time!!!

Last year I did a series of blogs on Christmas memories, and this year, I have barely been able to get the Internet to let me on, let alone blog!! Such is the life on the edge of nowhere. This year I have seriously scaled back my Christmas activities and have to say I am more in the spirit than ever.  Yes, I did get all nine Christmas Trees and 32 nativities set in my house, but no, I didn’t get any outside decorations up (thanks to an incredible cold snap and about 8 inches of snow in the week right after Thanksgiving). No I didn’t get 10 different kinds of cookies baked for co-workers and friends, I only got a handful of Christmas cards mailed out, some as late as yesterday, no I didn’t get special little gifts for bus drivers and teachers, I finished my shopping about 10 days ago and have had little motivation to get out to the mall since. My house is a disaster and the only activity that I am hosting is a cookie-decorating day for the kids on Monday. Traditional Christmas Eve will be at Aunt Donna & Uncle Rod’s house this year, and Christmas Dinner will consist of a whole 9 of us if my brother in law isn’t called to work.

Yep, I am loving the Christmas spirit this year, and while I haven’t accomplished a whole lot, I’m feeling pretty good about it.

So LIGHTEN UP EVERYONE AND HAVE AN AWESOME
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

Sister Wives vs. Breaking Faith

The other day a co-worker asked me about FLDS vs. LDS. The other LDS guy at work (a returned missionary) was quite content to sit back and allow me a 15-minute dissertation about the plural marriage history and subsequent FLDS situation.  Afterwards he did tell me that I had gone into way more detail than he ever would have….

Anyway, I come from pligs so while I can’t ever imagine being in a plural marriage I don’t harbor ill feelings for my ancestors that practiced it. That being said, I am also the child of a woman and family from Southern Utah, and was well aware of Short Creek and the Polygamous groups well before they became all the rage on cable TV. To me the stories around polygamous groups have always been sinister and it seems a very dark culture. My mother used to talk about some plig girls that came to Kanab and had a good time one weekend and mysteriously drowned shortly thereafter out at “the crick”. My Grandma Smirl would tease that we could go to Short Creek and find me a husband, and I remember driving around with her down there and seeing the children playing in the dirt, with their long dresses and braids. Now when I go visit my niece in St. George, plig watching is a pleasant way to pass the time at Wal-Mart, but trust me there was no appeal to my mind now or ever. 

So now we have the cable channels that want to glorify the polygamous groups as “just another religious group”. Most people can’t tell you the difference between LDS and FLDS thanks in large part to the idiot camera crews that like to feed the ignorant image of Mormons as backward provincials. Truth is told I have watched about 10 minutes of Sister Wives and was disgusted. I believe that culture is evil and if you want to read any books by Caroline Jessup or Irene Spencer I think you will get a much more accurate portrayal of polygamy. 

So when my co-worker brought up the newest polygamy show “Breaking Faith” I’ll admit that I was curious. I watched about half a show and was glad that they are showing a bit of the underbelly of those people.  For a long time people in Southern Utah have known what that group is capable of and I hope that people start showing a little bit of concern for those people that are trapped in the culture.  To say that they are brainwashed is an understatement.  These women are absolutely programmed from the time that they are born.  Is there a cure? I hope so, after all in the 1950’s the government had a chance to clean out that nasty little pocket of disgusting cult mania, they threw all the men in prison and sent the women to Phoenix, but because of the social outcry the government released all the men and allowed the families back.

I don’t know how that pocket of iniquity will ever be cleaned out, but I do know that supporting crap like Sister Wives certainly isn’t going to help. So if “Breaking Faith” starts people realizing the human trafficking that is going on in Southern Utah, then I am all for it and I will happily explain the difference to anyone that wants to know about LDS vs. FLDS.

Primary

So I’m in the Primary right now, which I really like, because some of the kids in Primary actually appreciate my humor and that’s fun. But I was thinking back to my Sundays as a kid and was fortunate enough that while I was in Primary it was held during the week, specifically on Wednesday. Sunday morning was actually Sunday School for all of us, and that meant upstairs in the old Gunnison Avenue building. In the upstairs of that old building we actually had a Sunday School room that had benches, a pulpit and a sacrament table that the Priests Quorum actually came up and blessed and passed the sacrament each week. It was the days of 2 ½ minute talks and seemed even to my young mind a whole lot more reverent than today’s children. 

Now I will admit that when it comes to promoting reverence I perhaps am not the best example. But in my current position, I have been thinking about reverence a lot lately.  I have come to conclusion that the biggest culprit to current reverence issues is actually not the children’s fault.  Yes, back in the day we had benches and I have decided that current stacking chairs in Primary rooms everywhere are to blame for the lack of reverence for children.  Think about how much more peaceful it is when kids can’t whack each other with chairs, move the chairs into each other, and how much calmer kids are when they sit on a bench versus a plastic chair.  Oh how I long for benches in our Primary room, that we don’t have to re-arrange, put up, put down, tell kids to scoot forward or back.  I know that in today’s world we are never going to have benches again, but I can always wish.

Why I Live Where I do….

OK, I live in the house that I grew up in. Kind of weird I know, but when Scott retired, my Mom decided the house was too big and sold it to us. Scott is a good sport, for a lot of reasons. But last Saturday I woke up around 6:30 and looked out the window next to my bed and thought…. what is Diva doing out of the goat pen?  Then my eyes focused a little better and I realized that it wasn’t Diva my goat, it was about 6 does casually strolling in my back yard and helping themselves to my goat hay. I laid there and watched them for about 10 minutes and thought how much I love living right where I do.

Dongel

About three weeks ago, my husband woke up one morning and discovered he had lost his dongel. We looked for it everywhere but to no avail. I asked his where he had last used it and he said our bedroom. I quizzed him if he had used it somewhere else and he assured me he hadn't. I thought maybe it had fallen out of his pants somewhere so we back-tracked every place looking for it. I accused him of losing it at work, he claimed I must have done something with it. Apparently HIS dongel was my responsibility, he eyed me suspiciously and I think harbored a secret opinion that I had mistakenly put it someplace. It was really starting to be a problem, he was having trouble concentrating at work, he was worried about it. Finally he just got it replaced, because they can do that in extreme circumstances.

Then yesterday, while looking a fuzzy  pair of socks I found it hidden in the bottom of one of my sock bins. Apparently it had fallen down in them that night. While he has already replaced it, it's good to at least have found the old one.

By the way...a dongel is a computer key that allows licensed access to Microsoft switches and software. Why-what did you think it was??

Snow Day

Wednesday morning we awoke to a lovely 5-6 inches of fresh snow gracefully laid over a nice coating of ice.  My husband grew up in upstate New York so he had snow days on a regular basis. I had exactly 1 snow day in all 13 years of my public schooling. My children however, in this over safety conscious world have had snow days about once a year. So I woke up nice and early on Wednesday morning, checked the news and sure enough...snow day for District 51. I went upstairs to inform my 14 year old son.

Now, not everyone can have 14 year old like mine, nor can everyone be such an awesome mother like me.

So anyway, I went up, woke him up and told him he had a snow day.
"Are serious? Are you messing with me?"
I assured him that it was indeed a snow day. He laid back on his pillow, and said "Oh good, I needed to get some laundry done."

Yup, that was our snow day!

Catching Up on November Gratitude Posts

Yeah...I know. It's past November and I didn't get all my gratitude in. Well, I live in the real world, have a real job and live in a place where the internet during the winter months is iffy at best.

November 27th - Grateful for petroleum based nylon and plastic products

November 28th - Grateful for fabric steamer, this has seriously improved both my life, anxiety levels and my families appearance. (Unlike my sister who I swear irons 30 pillowcases every day)

November 29th - Interstate highway system. Anyone who reads about travel before the Eisenhower administrations decision to link the states knows what an absolute blessing this is, even when snow packed and stuck on it for 8 hours (Shout out to my Andrus nephews)

November 30th - So grateful for Facebook and the oversharing of family, friends and a few circus freaks that let me know how everything in their lives are so much better than mine!!