Wednesday write-up

On mornings when I can not seem to get going on my story, I open up a new page and just start to write. Sometimes it make sense; other times it's just ranting and raving. Once in a while it ends up being something I can use in my book. I decided to post this one because I did go to all the work to look up scriptures. There is a saying, "If you wrote today, then you are a writer." I hope grocery lists count!

It has been a week and I need to make a post. If I don’t then I might get out of the habit, and since I love reading other peoples blogs I feel I have a duty to keep up mine. At least it is not like having to clean your house when other people come. Why is it that as women, our self-worth is attached to the cleanliness of our homes?
We understand that our homes should be like a temple and that God is orderly. Then how come no matter how hard I work, the laundry and dishes are never done and the messes always seem to magically appear. What is it that we should learn from the polar opposites of what it real (realistic) and perfection.

Our home is like the temple:

After reading nearly 500 pages of neglect, grief and dealing with emotional trauma in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, the book ends happily with the marriage between Jane and her Mr. Rochester. The ending is worth the wait.
She states, “I hold myself supremely blest-blest beyond what language can express, because I am my husband’s life as fully as he is mine…” Our homes are where this happy ending begins.
Not only can marriage last beyond the grave for us as couples, but also for children and siblings brought into this relationship. Home is where eternal families are made, taught and nourished.

God also stated in Eccl 3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
This is a season and time when my house is going to be messy. My focus is on teaching and nourishing little spirits. That takes a lot of time and effort. And when I use the word effort I mean, spiritual, physically and mentally.

D&C 4:2: Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day. Whether we are raising children of our own, as members of a family are we not doing the work of God as we strive to have or continue our forever family?
“Only the home can compare with the temple in sacredness.” Bible dictionary (p.781)
We need to understand that these small mundane tasks are “sacred” and that they do not “get in the way” of the sacredness of our homes.

In an Essay by Kristine Manwaring, she begins expressing her discouragement in the daily routines of motherhood: three meals a day, soccer practice, dirty laundry. The connection between eternal life and daily life…escapes me… When I think of “sacredness” I think of temples…white couches, hushed voices, crystal chandeliers, and uninterrupted worship… Homes, on the other hand, are noisy, messy and often disorganized, and characterized by nothing but interruptions. But when we look on Christ’s life, he also took care of others physical needs along with their spiritual needs. Family work and talking care of life-sustaining tasks helps to bind family member.

When work is done together as a family, it gives a great opportunity for parent and child discussion and great teaching moments. When we realized that mundane tasks, such as like folding laundry, putting away dishes, picking up toys, help the child/parent relationship feel equal. The child feels a sense of family unity, involvement and needed. As an adult it teaches us humility and to not feel above these simple and repetitive tasks.

Matthew 25: 35-40
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

When I think of these scriptures the first thought is of those outside my family, when actually the first people we should be serving are those within our own families. Then as a Mother am I not doing this every single day?! What more could be important and sacred then this?

Spoon to good use

I took this video a while ago, and I'm tired of not posting things. To tell you the truth I have a few posts written out but never "aired." The reason you may ask? is the manly man. When I'm worried about a post-will it make since, does it sound silly or dumb-I have manly man look it over. GLUG! It falls into the ever stagnant pond of perfection. Talk about a lonely place! Manly man is a perfectionist and if he can't say what he wants in three sentences or less, it doesn't get written/sent. It's a great skill to have for memo's and things of work , but what about (do I dare use the word?) art. Or in my case an attempt at art. (I'm still in the crayon and construction paper stage. But hey, since when are crayons boring?).
He will be a tough editor to please. I'm working on thickening my skin in preparation . (If I look larger it is because of this skin thickening workout NOT because of the ice cream, cheese burger, pizza diet.) This short rant has nothing to do with the man child using his spoon, but there it is and I have said it.

When not to sign your name...

The other evening I went into the front room and saw that someone (who could it be?) had colored all over our piano. By then the crayons had been put away and the kids were happily playing in their rooms. Of course I was not very happy with the new color scheme and when looking at the markings on the wall I saw that the artist had signed their work. This is one time when one should not sign their work; at least not until they have a degree to stand behind or when it is done on ones own canvas!
H,H,H,H,H,H.... who could that be?

Yesterday

I am so glad that it is a new day! I also really like Friday's. Yesterday started out not being the best of mornings and I should have known that it was going to only get worse. I don't mean to be a pessimist, but in this case my gut feelings were right.
I was hoping to make breakfast, but instead ended up with cold cereal. Maybe if I had made the planned oatmeal with raisins the rest of the day could have moved happily along.
The man child got into the Frigidaire and decided to satisfy his egg fetish for the day, and painted wonderful yellow and goopy white pictures on the kitchen floor. The yokes clean up pretty easily, but the whites just slide around the floor in it's congealed form. After cleaning that up, I put the man child in his room to play with his toys while I took a shower. I guess that this wasn't necessary seeing that I no longer had eggs in the fridge, but he didn't mind and it made me feel safer. Now for the middle child....
Banana wanted to color a picture. I got her out a nice clean sheet of paper and a pencil. Seems harmless enough so I felt that everything would be ok while I took my shower. I didn't take a long shower but by the time I got out things had gotten black and ugly.
Banana no longer satisfied with the pencil decided that she should change it out for one of those dark black markers I keep up in a cup on the open shelve near the window. Needless to say this kind of black marker smells bad but can sure make beautifully dark art. The cheap paper that Ban was using could not hold this awesome marker and it leaked all over the kitchen table.
When I came into the kitchen she was waving her hand over her nose and grinning up at me. I'm sorry to admit but I did not return this cute smile. Ban was sent to her room while I scrubbed and scrubbed trying to remove the permanent marker of the kitchen table. Most of it came off which was good for Banana's salvation. Now for NJ...
NJ is in kindergarten and therefore I don't have to worry about her, but that didn't protect her from the curse of the day. She got stung from a hornet and cried and milked the situation for all it was worth. The school nurse did call me to let me know and to make sure she was not allergic to a sting. Back to the man child, poor guy.
The man child has this talent for getting into my kitchen drawers and yesterday it happened to be the knife drawer. I don't know how it happened but he sliced open the top of his head. I heard what sounded like he had been in the knife drawer and when I came to check on him I could see blood all over his hand. I thought that he had cut up his hand at first but after cleaning it up I couldn't see anything. Then I noticed blood all over his blanket!!! Apparently he had used his blanket to comfort his wound head. When I saw his blood soaked hair I about died, but knowing that head wounds bleed a lot I was able to stay under control. I cleaned it up and it wasn't too bad, but I wanted to make sure. Lands' End has a little clinic and it being almost 5:00 I didn't have much time to get him there. I called Manly man but he didn't answer so I headed out to Lands' End kids in tow. Needless to say, I got the man child there right before they closed. They cleaned out his cut which didn't feel to good and then they glued it shut. The doctor also sent me home with some antibiotics just in case. Hey! my kitchen knifes are clean!! All in all it cost me $30.00. You can't beat that. When we took MM to the ER for his cut (doing the same procedure) it cost a WHOLE lot more. Well, at least something went well and I am glad that the manly child's cut wasn't bad.
We picked up Manly man from work and I went into my room and read for the rest of the night except for the 6:30 lesson I had forgotten I had. Good thing it is a man so I'm sure he didn't notice my messy house (this is what I keep telling myself so I don't feel embarrassed).
To finish the day I had a bowl of sanity fixing and well deserved ice cream!