Music? Nope. Just trash.

Today I heard something that made me sick to my stomach.

Sometimes I like to surf around iTunes and see what cool music is out there. Once in a while I find a gem. Good music with good lyrics and a good melody. There is a lot of really great music. You can find great music in all genres. But, of course, we all know there is also a lot of really bad music.

Today on the iTunes top charts in the singles category coming in at #8 was a song I had never before heard of.  Evidently it came out in October 2011. I clicked on the little "listen to a sample" button.  My mistake.

This is what I heard being sung by Snoop Dogg, Bruno Mars, and Wiz Khalifa to a great little tune with a great little rhythm:

So what we get drink

So what we smoke weed

We're just havin' fun

We don't care who sees

So what we go out

That's how it's supposed to be

Livin' wild and young and free

Nice. Isn't it? This is only the chorus. The whole song is rotten and I will spare you. But I can tell you it is pure rotten stuff.  Just more trash to feed into the minds of young people. By the way, this song is listed as explicit and just so you know, Snoop Dogg is about 40 years old. What's he doing singing/rapping about being young anyway?

What is the world coming to? (You don't have to answer that. It was a rhetorical question.)

Immediately this scripture mastery (2 Nephi 28: 7-9) came to mind:

Yea, and there shall be many which shall say:

Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die;

and it shall be well with us.

And there shall also be many which shall say:

Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God—he

will justify in committing a little sin;

yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one

because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor;

there is no harm in this; and do all these things,

for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty,

God will beat us with a few stripes,

and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God.

Yea, and there shall be many which shall

teach after this manner, false and vain and foolish

doctrines, and shall be puffed up in their hearts,

and shall seek deep to hide their counsels

from the Lord; and their works shall be in the dark.

I love the scriptures. I am so grateful for the direction the Gospel of Jesus Christ gives me. By holding fast to the principles and ordinances of the Gospel I know we can safely navigate our way back to our Heavenly Father. 

For Behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God.

(Alma 34:32)

p.s. I was on iTunes so I could buy John Denver's "The Eagle and the Hawk". I'm trying to learn how to play a bit on the guitar and who better to get me into the mood to practice than John Denver?

good things:

1. google so I can look up lyrics before I buy songs

2. iTunes

3. the iron rod

The Family: A Proclamation to the World

I have wanted to hang "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" in my home for a very long time. Problem is I don't like the look of the official one from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. That sounds like sacrilege but it is the truth. It's a funny size that doesn't quite fit in a standard frame without almost cutting off the top or bottom or sides. Of course, I could have had it custom framed but I don't want to pay the high price for that. I've been meaning to design my own for a while and I finally sat down and did it. Here is what I came up with. I designed it with a 11 x 16 inch frame in mind. I should be able to print it up from some photo place and get a regular old frame. I will wait until I find the perfect frame, on sale, of course, and then I'll post a picture of the final product hanging on my wall.

good things:

1. family
2. fun and free fonts
3. a living prophet

I'm Normal. Average.

Last night I went to a party. I love a good party. The best part about this party was the fact that I made the M. party invitee list. Thank you M! (I've been hoping for that for quite a while.)

While at this party the subject of blogging came up. I admitted that I am a blogger. I did make sure to emphasize the fact that I go through dry spells once in a while. Sometimes it is months between blog posts. Lately I have been pretty consistent. That's good. But it's all besides the point....

It was also mentioned at this party, that I feel pressure to be clever whenever I post something. It doesn't really come across in my posts because I'm not really a clever person but I still feel the pressure. It's heavy. This conversation, the one that occurred at the great party, led me to start thinking. Why do I blog?

I check the list of "My Favorite Blogs", seen on the right side of my blog, often. I like to read about the adventures of friends and family. I like it when someone on my list posts something new on their blog. It makes my day.

It used to be that once in a while I would get caught up in reading a bunch of random blogs about people I had never met. You can go on forever linking blog to blog to blog to blog reading about the lives of strangers. Whenever this would happen, you could bet I'd be starting to feel depressed and sorry for myself. I was bombarding myself with these snapshots into the lives of people who appeared to be perfect. They were clever, smart, beautiful, talented, funny, had perfect families, always seeming to be on vacation, etc. My life never seemed to be as cool as theirs. I don't like to feel sorry for myself. It's a yucky feeling. Strange thing is, I don't ever feel this way when I read the blogs of people I actually know. I guess it's because I know they are real people.

I put a stop to reading random blogs.

I've decided the reason I do this blogging thing is because I am hoping someone out there in the world who has me on their "My Favorite Blogs" list, looks forward to something new coming from me. If it makes my day when someone I know blogs, then maybe I can make some one's day just by posting on mine. Okay, that might be stretching my influence beyond where it realistically reaches, but it is fun to hope. Truthfully, I want to make people feel good when they read something I've posted. I never want them to feel sorry for themselves or depressed. I don't want my blog to be a place where only the really good stuff goes. I don't want it to be a place where I only rant and rave either. I want it to be the plain and simple truth. A place that is safe to be myself.

So today's post is to prove to everyone that reads this, stranger or no, that I am a real person who isn't always on vacation, whose kids aren't always perfect, who really isn't all that smart, or funny. I'm just average. Normal.

This is proof:

I am the kind of person who has "good" days.

I also have "bad" days.

I have "dirty kitchen" days. (Sometimes those lasts more than just a day.)

My kitchen. This morning.

I have "clean kitchen" days.

I have "huge piles of dirty laundry" days.

I have "fold the clothes when they come right out of the dryer" days.

I have "fend for yourself" days.

I have "Sure! I'll make dinner tonight" days.

I have "I'm ready to go by 6 a.m" days. (Kinda far between these ones.)

I have "I haven't had a shower yet" days.

I have "I'm not answering the phone" days,

I have "I'm happy to do that for you today" days.

I have "my house is a wreck" days.

I have "my house has been vacuumed" days.

I have "what is that smell?" days,

I have "I just weeded the garden" days.

I have "who lives at this house with the jungle in the backyard?" days.

I have "dirty car" days.

I have "clean car" days.

I have "I put on make-up" days.

I have "I'm letting my face breath" days.

I have "I think I killed that plant" days.

I have "I made that myself" days.

I have "I bought that and put it on a platter so it looks like I didn't buy it" days.

I have "yummy" days.

I have "I forgot to set the timer so I burned it" days.

I have "I yelled at my kids" days.

I have "my husband just brought me flowers" days.

You get the point. I win some and I lose some.

good things:

1. truth

2. good days

3. friends who still love me even when I have "I forgot your birthday" days.

It Feels Good to Make Stuff

This is what I've been making.

It felt good to make stuff.

A simple skirt with a big bow right in front.

I've seen several of these on Pinterest and I think they are so cute and feminine.

The one from my Pinterest account

She looks so cute.

I love these fabric flowers. I think I've made a million of them.  I have the stuff to make a million more so if you want some give me a call.

12 Things for 2012

I'm going to set 12 goals for 2012. Twelve because it's 2012. Sounds like a good idea to me. I figure I'd better get these goals set before the year is over. If I don't, I might not get anywhere.

1. Read out of (or listen to) my scriptures every single day. No exceptions. 

***The scriptures are way too accessible to not read. There are the regular printed ones and then the digital ones; on my phone, iPod, and computer. I can read them or I can listen to them. So far, so good.

2. Finish the laundry room.

***All I gotta do is paint the doors and get the door knobs on. Shouldn't be too hard.

3. Practice the piano.

***I want to be a regular practicer. Three times a week for at least 30 minutes. That seems reasonable.

4. Play another piano solo in sacrament meeting.

***It just about killed me to do the last one and I swore I wouldn't do it ever again, but I figure if I'm going to be a piano player I must play.

5. Go to the temple at least once every 3 weeks.

***It isn't reasonable for me to say every week (even though that seems practically perfect) because every week a million things come up, but I'm pretty sure I can work it into my schedule to go approximately 17 times this year.

6. Get stronger.

***I'm a wimp. There is no muscle on my body and I'm sick of it. Here comes INSANITY.

Oh man.... I'm half way through and I can only think of these 6 things. Guess I'll have to re-number them...

2. Read out of (or listen to) my scriptures every single day. No exceptions. 

***The scriptures are way too accessible to not read. There are the regular printed ones and then the digital ones; on my phone, iPod, and computer. I can read them or I can listen to them.

4. Finish the laundry room.

***All I gotta do is paint the doors and get the door knobs on. Shouldn't be too hard.

6. Practice the piano.

***I want to be a regular practicer. Three times a week for at least 30 minutes. That seems reasonable.

8. Play another piano solo in sacrament meeting.

***It just about killed me to do the last one and I swore I wouldn't do it ever again, but I figure if I'm going to be a piano player I must play.

10. Go to the temple at least once every 3 weeks.

***It isn't reasonable for me to say every week (even though that seems practically perfect) because every week a million things come up, but I'm pretty sure I can work it into my schedule to go approximately 17 times this year.

12. Get stronger.

***I'm a wimp. There is no muscle on my body and I'm sick of it. Here comes INSANITY.

There they are! 12 new goals for myself. Good job me.

good things:

1. a clean start

2. being able to finally admit my weaknesses

3. lds tools

A Trip to the Magical Kingdom

Bare with me on this one.

I have to post a million pictures. We had such a great time at Disneyland we could hardly contain ourselves. We rode just about every ride in both California Adventure and at Disneyland. (We only skipped things like the carrousel.) We ate a million churros, several dozen Mickey beignets, hot dogs, corn dogs, popcorn, dole whips, ribs, cornbread, strawberry shortcake, mint juleps, cotton candy, turkey legs, and corn on the cob. We saw  "World of Color", "Fantasmic", "Aladdin", and the holiday fireworks. Disneyland is really quite amazing.  We stood in line a lot, walked a gazillion miles everyday, played hard, ate good, and slept good. We hot tubbed it, rode in a stretch limo, splash mountain-ed it, battled grizzly rapids, went to space, turned into bugs, became cartoons, got dizzy, laughed really hard, spun in circles, got sucked into the twilight zone, went diggin' in an ancient ruin, fast pass-ed, soared over California, ran, walked, and sat. We were busy all day long. (One night I even dreamed I was still riding rides at Disneyland.)

And.... We took a bazillion silly pictures. It helped pass the time while waiting. There is no rhyme or reason to them. We did silly faces, sad faces, happy faces, and self-portraits. Even some that were, "Take a picture of this!" pictures. We are weird and we know it.

Adia got WAY scared by Cruella DeVille.

Disneyland is da' bomb!

good things:

1. tummy tickler rides
2. spending time with family
3. sleeping in comfortable beds after a long day