Monday, November 26, 2007

Because I Haven't Blogged For a Week . . .

This will be another random collection of musings. But what juicy tidbit is compelling me the very most to stay to stay up past my bedtime to blog?

I was in my car tonight listening to NPR for the first time in a week and nearly swerved off the road for joy at this bit of news I only learned of today. I called my husband immediately to tell him. He had, of course, known for days. Then I thought, "Who else can I call?" The answer was a resounding NOBODY. I am sure that I only know a handful of people who think Gore's Peace Prize is as fantastically ironic as I do. I am sure that most people I know and love and regularly associate with not only didn't see his movie, but had no desire to on some kind of moral high ground. (Explain THAT to me, will you?)

I have to admit: I'm a big fan of Al Gore. I hated the way he ran the last few weeks of his presidential campaign, which probably cost him the election, but even in ultra-red Texas I voted for him, fully knowing it was an irrelevant vote. Oh, he is probably a hypocrite. I guess in that respect we all are, but I think he has been able to accomplish so much more not being president. Even if not Iraq, he would have no doubt been mired in a slough of Mid-east issues, and while he would not have declared war on the environment or appointed an oil (wo)man to be head of the EPA , there is no question that all issues green would have been put on the back burner. Love him or leave him, there is no doubt that he has influenced the thinking of a lot of powerful people (Dubya, naturally, excepted. His influence requires that powerful people also be thinking people . . . .)

Okay, onto my holiday news.

Interesting Thanksgiving. We spent it with a family who have all boys like us--but they have FIVE of them. The two wildest are the same age as my little guys and by the time we left, their two had my two so stirred up that all they wanted was to go to bed early, sleep late, stay home and get along with one another all day. Still, we were grateful for a place to go and the couple is very cool; they would be fun to hang out with. If, and I really stress "if" the kids are not in the mix. I promise, I was really missing my favorite Thanksgiving--when Forecast cooked the turkey upside down. I think on.the.run was there, and maybe Desmama?



Here are my pies: Chocolate cream, coconut cream and apple. This was not the lead story because I did not make my own crust this time. Still, they were delicious and my homemade custardy cream filling in the chocolate and the coconut was a.thing.of.beauty.



In my last post I listed some of my favorite toys and I said "IPod." I had to post a picture of it because it is so cute. If you have an IPod, you have to go to IFrogz.com, and check out their selection of covers. (Good gifty idea too.) Not only are they adorable, custom, and selling through the coolest website I've ever seen, they are also made right in good old L****, so you are buying local.



Over the long weekend, the baby got fatter, Scallywag practiced letters with Q-Tips, and Plantboy built a fort that the kids loved, but prevented me from getting into my dresser. My mom used to always say with this really hilarious sigh, "It is good enough for a mother." I'm starting to see what she meant. Scallywag also loved his cowboy-Indian vest (his term; he calls the Ewoks from Star Wars "Indian-bears."), but I couldn't get Pirate to wear his long enough to get his picture taken. Hmm . . . sounds like Halloween.

I rounded off the weekend by doing a fireside for the YM and YW in our ward. This was very nerve-wracking. I committed to do it before I found out the topic, which, of course, turned out to be chastity. Nice. That is the last time I agree before I hear the topic. I was bold and blunt, but I think I spoke with a lot of love and encouragement also. My talk was 45 minutes, so much too lengthy to include here, but Plantboy said I had to save it to read to our children one day. After I read one especially specific section to him, he said, "I wish somebody had said this to me as a teenager, but I have to tell you, there is nothing you could offer me that would compel me to stand in front of a group of young men and young women and say that." I guess I know who is giving our boys the sex talk.
Oh, and Poopy Pirate is hilarious.


Tuesday, November 20, 2007

I Feel Loved

Kim Blue tagged me the other day. I 've never been tagged before and, well, it is a really good ego stroke. So here goes . . . . Oh, and I added one of my own at the end. The other disclaimer is that my lists are certainly not prioritized.

Five things I Was Doing Ten Years Ago
1. I was stagnating (and getting really comfortable) in an area on my mission that I'd been in for five months, but only had a month to go on my mission so I didn't think I'd get into the last transfer. So, of course, I was transferred almost exactly ten years ago this week.
2. Tracting
3. Tracting
4. Sweating
5. And more tracting. (2, 3, and 5 could describe the way I spent a good chunk of every day--up to ten hours--for about 16 months.)

Five things on my To Do List
(I took this to mean my life time to do list--much more exciting than my daily, which I'm sure is hardly different than your own.)

1. Skydive
2. Zipline across part of the rainforest in Central America
3. Get (at least) a master's degree
4. Spend an extended holiday in New Zealand
5. Serve a mission with my husband

Five things I'd do if I was a Millionaire
(A million doesn't buy what it used to; I probably should say, I'd retire to Montana and build a fallout shelter on my family farm. . . after I'd paid my tithing, of course)

1. Pay cash for a house with four bedrooms, a small living room and den, a laundry room, a garden tub in the master bathroom, towel racks, built in book shelves, and LOTS of closet space. 2. Spend three months touring the South Pacific--Fiji, Samoa, New Zealand
3. Go back to school
4. Have or adopt another baby
5. Buy a brand new mini-van

I like to say I'd donate bunch, too, like everyone else always says. I like to think I'd donate what was left over . . . maybe I should donate first. Of course, if I didn't have a house or a car payment, then I could afford to donate every month. Hmm. . .

Five Things I'd Never Do Again
(This is tricky. Never is a long time. There are things I'd LIKE to say I'd never do again, but I just have to be honest with myself, so here is the list of things that are easier to commit to.)

1. Move before my house was sold (I hope I never have to do this again)
2. Leave a rude comment on somebody's blog (don't ask)
3. Have a white kitchen
4. Peg my jeans, or wear skinny jeans (since I'll never be skinny again)
5. Collect anothers year's worth of National Geographic (Plantboy and I have had to have a very serious conversation about this.)

Five Favorite Toys
1. IPod
2. Skis
3. Rollerblades and jogging stroller (especially my single jogger, which I don't use much these days; and this counts as one item because I use them together)
4. Computer
5. Baby backpack

Five Things I've Read Recently
(I added this one; I couldn't resist)

1. The New Yorker
2. Northanger Abbey
3. Eats, Shoots and Leaves
4. Child of the Prophecy
5. November Ensign

Five People I'm Tagging

1. Amy Jane

2. Karate Mommy

3. Desmama

4. on.the.run

5. Zippity-do-dah

Thursday, November 15, 2007

The Wealth Gap

A couple of weeks back I posted about an radio broadcast I heard by Dr. Stephen Bezruschka. I haven't been able to get some of his ideas out of my head, but the last comment on the post, by Christie, really got me thinking. Then, today, I read this story about Warren Buffet, whom I have enormous respect for. I think that he and Bill and Melinda Gates have done as much for Africa as the rest of our country combined. Anyway, my recent thoughts and the article I read today have prompted this post.

Years ago President Benson gave a very (now) famous quote about howChrist takes the slums out of the people and then the people take themselves out of the slums. This quote was given in a First Presidency message in the 1989 Ensign. I have always really loved this idea. I think this is why Bezrushka's essays/broadcasts are so appealling to me. For all of his policy arguments, underneath it all he emphasized that, as Americans in particular, we have gotten so good at trying to accumulate wealth that we have completely forgotten one another. As I listened/read to more of Dr. Bezruchka's work, what he is saying at the heart of it is that many social ills are effectively a product of our poor treatment of others and the breakdown of the family. He says that we need to strive more to love others and desire true equality. He follows up by saying that true equality can only happen if young children are given all the love and the support they need by a caregiver who is consistent and is available to them later in life.

So, in a philisophical sense, his ideas are not too far from President Benson's. They are both supporting the idea that true social change needs to take place in the heart and the mind before it can be affected on a grand scale.

The difference, of course, is that President Benson is right when he says that only Christ can affect this change in our hearts for good. Dr. Bezruchka advocates government intervention. I don't think the good doctor is suggesting any kind of an anarchist overthrow, but I think he wants people to change their mindset about the way they vote. Now he isn't necessarily saying we have to give all we have to the government (though he cites historically much higher taxes as a time in our country when healthcare wasn't so complicated and the division of assets was more equitable), but he is saying that if the government reallocated resources to be good for children--as much as a year paid time off for one or both parents of new babies, schools, pre-natal care and education for single mothers, etc. . . then we wouldn't spend so much on the other end--health care (especially mental health), prisons, welfare, etc. Because, he maintains, the foundation for our lives is so fundamentally laid in those years before we ever attend school, that there are very few who break the cycle of poverty and violence and lack of nurturing. These things lead to all kinds of health issues . . . and so on.

I'm not suggesting expensive government programs to take care of all of its citizens. Really. Our government shows, generation after generation, that few government programs are succesful at accomplishing what they were designed to do. But there are scriputral lessons from history that are illustrative here. Let's look at the hallmarks of a Zion Society. All things in common. No poor among them. And while I'm not anxious for the government to be big brother (too many countries have shown the ineffectiveness of THATsocial policy), we do need to remember that one day the Lord will expect us to cheerfully consecrate all we have to the church and then use our talents to bless others. Isn't the best government really a socialist theocracy? This is so the opposite of capitalist democracy that it isn't even funny.

I read an article once put out by FARMS written by Hugh Nibley some years back. He was talking about lessons learned from the Book of Mormon, even after forty years of the initial Book of Mormon class he taught at BYU. I'm going to quote it liberally here,

"Less than a month ago I gave students in the Book of Mormon class the choice of writing a term paper on either a religious or economic theme. Ninety-four percent of the class chose the theme, "Discuss the problem of riches in the Book of Mormon. " Almost every scholar began by evoking the sacred cliche; there is nothing wrong with wealth itself; wealth as such is good. It is only how you use it that may be bad. They insisted that a free market was the perfect and flawless order of things, the ordained sanction of free agency. It is only when the system is abused that things go wrong and that in itself proves that it is good in itself.

"How do we escape abuses . . . In the Book of Mormon, the destructive power of wealth is pervasive and inespacable, since, as Helaman discovered, we can always count on humanity to do foolish things. The question is, what economic system would suit such people? The Book of Mormon answer is clear; None that they could devise. . . have we any assurance that we, whom the book is designed to warn against that very folly, are doing any better? Christ gave them the economic system by which they lived happily for a far longer peroid than any of the brief boom-cycles enjoyed by the Nephites. And we know what he taught; should that not suffice? Should not 4th Nephi put an end to all argument and sophistry? If we want answers, here they are. Yet, strangely, for Momons this is off limits and out of bounds--so long ago and far away. But the purpose of the Book of Mormon is to make all things present to us; it has been edited to delete anything not relevant to our condition. It makes no difference where or in which dispensation we live, all are tested equally. And now the Book of Mormon is holding up the mirror up to our ugliness--no wonder we look the other way as it pleads with us, "O be wise! What more can [we]say?'

"The two pasages which the student choose to score their point are anything but a brief for riches if we read them with care. They were highly favored by the class because out of more than sixty statments on the seeking of wealth in the Book of Mormon, there are virtually the only ones that can be interpreted as giving countenance to the profit motive. The first of these is in Jacob 2:18-19: 'But before yeseek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God. And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ, ye shall obtain riches if ye seek them. 'That is great favorite.
"It is standard practice to stop there and leave it at that, but even if we go no further, the plain lesson of this injunction is to seek the kingom of God first of all. And how do we build up the kingdom of God and establish Zion? By obeserving and keeping the law of consecration. What does that mean? The preceding verse, routinely overlooked, explains: 'Think of your brethren like unto yourselves,and be familar with all and free with our substance that they may be rich like unto you.' That looks suspiciously like equalizing thewealth--this is with reference to 'substance'; you cannot get out of it by saying you will make them 'spiritually rich.' We give to the poor enough to make us feel virtuous and keep them on the the leash, but the order here is for a basic redistrubition of wealth . . . ."

Okay, that is enough, and Nibley was certainly no prophet or even general authority, but his scholarship raises some interesting questions. He goes on at length about equality and the scriptural ideas espoused in the Lord's prayer ('thy kingdom come . . .') and cancellation of debt, one man not 'possessing' above another, not opressing the hireling in his wages, etc. He is critical of the students' citing of wealthy Mormons who have made large donations. Why? Because don't they have their reward when their giving is public? And have they given away so much that they are equal? Again, I'm not saying that Dr. Bezrushka necessarily has it all figured out, but I don't know if the modern manifestation of the "American Dream" necessarily fits in perfectly with God's plan either. It is easy to feel poor and desirous to have more and more when we live in such a consumer driven society. Maybe what Nibley and Benson and Bezrushka are saying is impossible, at least before the Savior comes, a Utopia out of step with the level our society has fallen to, but how can we give up? Maybe it isn't just enough to be good to our own families or neighborhoods . . . I don't know anymore.

I had a friend once whose political ideas differed widely from mine. (Okay, I've had MANY friends like this, but I'm thinking of a particular incident.) She said that if the government would give more money back the people, then she would be able to be freer with her substance in giving to the poor. While that may have been true for her, she had a very good heart, what about the rest of us? I don't know if I would. Like most families out there, I feel like we are working really hard to make ends meet, and not always succeeding. As two income families ravenously try to accumulate more of the world's goods, home prices skyrocket and it becomes harder and harder to stay at home and afford a home in a neighborhood where your kids are safe. To me, more money in my pocket would mean less debt. It wouldn't mean an extra handout to the homeless shelter or more fast offering or checks to the humanitarian fund or United Way.

And so, if citizens have failed one another, perhaps government does have a role here? Just this week a very telling thing happened in our nation. President Bush vetoed the first bill of his administration, though it passed Congress with more than just Democratic support. It was a Health and Human Services funding bill aimed primarily at healthcare for poor Americans, particularly children. He called the bill, with is 4.5 billion dollar pricetag, "wasteful." The same day, his part was pushing a 40 billion plus spending bill for the Pentagon for 2008.

When we cease to care for the poorest and most downtrodden among us, no amount of money or weapons or homage to gods of stone and steel can save us.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

57 Things I'm Grateful For

Why 57? You'll have to ask one of my old college buddies. In no particular order and with little respect to punctuation . . .

1. Healthy kids
2. Trials that are more temporal than eternal
3. A good night’s rest
4. Sunny November days
5. Maple leaf mulch
6. Blogger buddies
7. The crunchy sound leaves make when you rake them
8. A husband who spent his whole day off working
9. Last Saturday’s temple trip
10. Feeling needed in my calling
11. Good mail
12. Being caught up on the laundry
13. The ability to work
14. The desire to work
15. Knowing I'm a child of God
16. Goodly parents
17. A sister
18. Diego and Thomas and Curious George and Clifford and Bob the Builder and any others who have positively entertained or taught my kids over the years
19. Memories (so that I might have “June roses in the December of my life”)
20. Jane Austen
21. Books (books and more books, duh)
22. Indoor plumbing
23. Hair dye
24. Glacier National Park on that glorious July day I'll never forget
25. Nursery Leaders
26. Friends in many places
27. Freshly vacuumed carpet
28. Atonement
29. Love
30. Chocolate
31. Cello music
32. Two perfect days--one when I was 18, the next when I was 20; each time with a boy I loved dearly.
33. Photographs
34. A fresh pedicure
35. Chili in the crockpot on a cold day
36. A sleeping baby
37. Good teachers
38. The smell of apple pie
39. Serving a mission in a such a wonderful place with such wonderful people
40. Kindergarten and a bus to get Scallywag there every day
41. Joseph Smith's courage
42. The miracle of the IPod and being surrounded by the music I love
43. Temple marriage
44. Cookies
45. Goodwill so Scallywag could have "new" school clothes and I could have the most fabulously fitted boots (oh, and pants) ever.
46. My computer
47. “All I Want Is You” and Plantboy playing it on his guitar during our 1st date (yes, really; he said it was the only song he knew, but I'm not so sure. . . .)
48. Gregor Mendel for persevering even when everyone thought he was totally nuts
49. L O S T and Life so there is a Wednesday night date every week
50. Poopy Pirate’s freckle-nose
51. Dancing in the kitchen with my kids
52. My baby’s smile and his two adorable teeth just popping through
53. Straightening iron
54. Fresh, white hot rolls (Dr. Atkins can take his diet and . . . well, you know.)
55. Changing seasons
56. Cars that keep running to matter how many miles and abuse are heaped on them.
57. A world full of sensory wonders

Okay, you're turn. Pick a magic number and make your own list. I feel remarkably cheerful right now.

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

The Traveling Pants Exist

And I found them at my Goodwill last weekend. $4.50 of denim perfection. Perfect length, perfect rise, perfect flare. . . I do not have enough good things to say about these wondrous pants. But we'll never know if they fit you, because I am not sending these babies on. I always make the mistake of buying pants within six months of the time I have had a baby and I nearly ALWAYS regret it. My last pair of jeans is especially heinous, though I tried on probably 20 pairs before buying them.


But these pants spoke to me. Really.


I picked them up on a whim thinking, "If I get them home and they don't fit, there is a seven day return policy." But all the while I was fingering the blue goodness and willing them to be the magic fit. I got home and tried them on within about three minutes. The mantra was going in my head, "Pleasefitpleasefitpleasefit. . . " over and over and then. . . . oh, is there anything more sublime than trying on clothes that are perfect? Clothes that whisper lovingly to your curves, "Yes . . . THIS is who you are."


Unfortunately, my magic pants will not go to Greece this year, or soccer camp in Mexico or anywhere else interesting, but we'll see. A girl can't help but feel lucky in such incredible pants.








Nemesis is guest blogging this week for a friend on her honeymoon. As only Nem can, of course, she has made everything hilarious. The fuzzy black slippers to the temple bit was my favorite. Because, of course, on a day as wonderful as a best friend's temple wedding, you don't expect to see something quite so. . . . incongruous. She asked if anybody had any interesting clothing stories to tell and my comment was too long, so the second half of this post is a reply.

Some years ago, a good friend of mine got married in the L**** temple. It is a nice temple to be married in because if you pick your time just right (in other words, not the day after a semester ends or during spring break), there aren't a lot of weddings there and you get a lot of personal attention, including a bride's room all to yourself. Besides, the temple is beautiful and historic and all that jazz. Anyway, my friend Pammy was about 29 when she got married. Her husband was a few years younger, but both had been endowed for several years and really knew what they were getting into . The ceremony, done by Elder Featherstone, was touching and really special. The maturity of the couple was evident and you just knew they had waited a long time for the right thing.

While we waited for the resplendent and buxom Pammy to come out of the temple, a very flamboyant couple came out. The bride was probably a size 2 and looked about 15. The lucky groom was somewhat older and already a little light in the hairline. Without even so much as a how-do-you-do to her family, she beelined for a herd of giggling bridesmaids and flirting groomsman, all totally decked out in reception wear. I've never seen such weird dresses.

First of all they were red. Mind-numbing, bright beyond all reason red. The dresses trailed all the way to the wrist and ankle, but were nearly off the shoulder. There were ten of them. The waists were really tightly fitted, but the sleeves flared out in large points like wings or . . . I don't know, like a medieval sorceress. I realized that said teenager-bride's dress was exactly the same style, though pulled up slightly higher on her shoulders. The groomsmen were fully outfitted with vest, red cravats, and the works.

This isn't even the worst part. At their best, bridesmaid dresses are generally ugly. So, while her taste isn't fabulous, what do you expect if your colors are red and . . . well, red?

The worst part is that she and the gaggle of demons proceded to pose all over the temple grounds. And.I. Mean.Pose. The girls' preferred look seemed to be Charlie's Angels classic pose wtih the hands shaped like guns and everything.

There was another pose where the girl's stood with their arms stretched straight out at their sides in a V-formation, bride-girl at the front. It was slightly breezy that day so the sleeves flared out slightly behind them. Like a flock of seagulls. (Not the band; their hair actually looked quite nice.) This went on for a long time. My friend came out got her pictures, all the while dodging this group, and was finished before they were done. Her older family members seemed to be a slight state of shock.

I know, I'm sure some charitable person is going to comment, "Well, STM, would you rather they weren't married in the temple at all?" OF COURSE NOT. I just wish somebody older and wiser, if not able to influence her unfortunate fashion choice, could have at least told her what was and was (absolutely) NOT appropriate at the temple. I've wondered about that girl from time to time. If her marriage worked out. If she understands better now (as I hope we all do) the nature of the covenants made that day. If she cringes when she looks at those pictures. If she still has her sense of humor without a sense of diva thrown in. . . .

The world will never know.

Because this post has been a series of barely related items, isn't the baby cute? And of course our jack-o-lantern is a pirate.