I don't know the author

"You (and your family) are on earth for a very special
purpose. Your responsibility is to find out your gifts,
strengths, and desires. Get rid of the disorganized
lifestyle that is holding you back. Then begin doing
what will fulfill your God given purpose on the earth."

Spoonerisms

The other day Rachael told me that one of her friends had been called to jury duty (which for some reason always seems a little bit funny). He is hoping of course NOT to be selected, as he is very busy with school and doesn't want to get behind. I said that one of the lawyers will probably exclude him if he appears 'cultra unservative'. Rachael, who frequently spoonerizes, didn't even notice until I laughed at myself.

Michael also gets his twords wisted. I wish I could remember all the funny things those two have had pop out of their mouths. One I do remember from Mike is him running upstairs asking me if I had a 60 lot wite bulb.

My problem with it gets worse when I am stressed or tired. My most extreme example was when I was 16, and was starting my first b-ball game as point guard. Our coach, Miss Messman, called me to the bench during the warm up and gave me instructions; I ran back to the floor and yelled at my team: "Mess Missman wants the (f)arting stive to shoot three frows!!" All three terms stuck in our basketball lingo. (To my dismay, may I add that I HATE that one word.)

I love this article about the original Spooner. http://www.lunaeterna.net/popcult/spooner.htm

The Great Art Heist

Over one of the breaks at our ESL school, a company came in to use our classrooms to make a video series. They had some expensive equipment there for several days, and someone must have known about it, because one night the back door was broken into and some of the expensive equipment was taken. It was quite unsettling, but we didn't lose anything of ours....or so we thought at the time. Several days later, I noticed that a Van Gogh print that I had matted and framed and hung in the hallway was gone.... as well as two woodblock prints copies of Mt. Fuji that were matted but not framed. May I emphasize that these were all, um, very inexpensive, and other prints, nicer (but still inexpensive), were untouched. Hmmm. I can't quite figure it out.

Are You a Furniture Re-Arranger, or Not?

Some women love to rearrange their furniture. Not me. I like to figure out what the very best way is to place the furniture in any given room, and then I leave it like that forever. It is a combination of my aesthetic sense and common sense that determines where couches, chairs and the like will leave footprints in my carpet forever. I don't know feng shue, so that at least doesn't complicate things for me, because as it is it sometimes takes me a while to get it all figured out. My livingroom has never been satisfying. It was not built to accommodate a couch, and should have 2 loveseats instead. But we have lots of people in our family, so I'm unwilling to give up the extra seating room, and I don't want to buy new furniture anyway.
There is a major change coming to my living room. On its way on some truck somewhere is several hundred square feet of hardwood flooring. The old carpet is going to make way for it, and it is forcing me to reconsider the arrangement of the furniture, since an area rug will be necessary on the hardwood floor, and the area rug needs to line up with the fireplace and have either the couch or the loveseat anchoring it. I'm going to be feeling a little out of sorts until I get this all figured out.

Sometimes You Just Need a Really Great Costume

I recently got the chance to do something I've always wanted to... costume a show. It was MVHS' choir concert, and featured Disney music. Disney doesn't let you use their images or tell their stories (we heard that a high school got sued by them for infringing), so I had to find other things to do to make the stage colorful and interesting. There were 200 kids to costume, and some of them needed more than one costume, so it was quite involved. But it was so much fun to do. We had a source to rent some ethnic costumes economically, which was very helpful, but I made lot of animal and bird costumes. It was such an interesting process to observe with the kids. Their big finale was a medley from Lion King, and that was where I put in most of my efforts. I loved the costuming and staging for the Broadway Lion King. Of course I didn't have the resources to do anything like that, and wouldn't want to be sued anyway! But it helped me envision what I wanted the stage to look like for that number. Lots of texture with animal prints, lots of warm bright color, and the kids to look like models and rock stars with their hair and makeup suggesting various animals. When I first started working with them, I asked each of them if they would be willing to have their hair, makeup and costume done resembling an animal. I got very few enthusiastic responses. As the performance drew nearer and as they understood what I wanted, more and more of them became supportive and excited, but even the dress rehearsal was quite disappointing to me. The kids had tried to put makeup on each other and ended up looking like a grade school halloween party, and the light techies were struggling with the lighting and it was too dark, cold and gray.
Thankfully, opening night was much better. The mom who was in charge of the hair and makeup had engaged Paul Mitchell students to come and do service hours making up the kids, and they did some amazing things! I was busy most of the night and didn't get to go in and watch until the final number, and when I did, I was blown away. The stage was BEAUTIFUL, with rich warm red and gold light, full of glamourous, cool looking kids in animal prints and bright rich colors, and they were exuding a wonderful energy and singing the walls down. When they finished, the audience popped up all at once and roared for them! And after the show, there were kids everywhere strutting around, showing off, getting their pictures taken, having so much fun with it. I had so many of the kids tell me they never had imagined that doing a show like that could be such a wonderful experience. I knew from helping when Joel and Rachael were in Les Mis how important costume, hair and makeup were to the performers, but doing this concert was an eye opener to me. I see 3 really great benefits to good costuming: The stage looks great; the performers feel wonderful; and they sing, dance and act with energy and enthusiasm that is so engaging. It was a very rewarding experience for me.

Puzzle Brains

I am one of the people who really enjoy doing puzzles. 'Really enjoy' doesn't accurately define how it is for me. It is as though my brain NEEDS them, and finds doing them relaxing and satisfying. I love IQ tests, crosswords, sudoku, kenken, even jigsaw puzzles. I like real life puzzles, too, like figuring out the ideal proportions for furniture details, what the run and rise had to be to make all the stairs consistent for the little staircase in our playhouse, how to take a rectangle of fabric and fashion it into the picture I have in my head.... I actually have a hard time turning my brain off at night if I haven't given it enough exercise during the day. Well, or if it is trying to figure out something that is puzzling it, for that matter. It can be a problem.
In one of my reflective moments, I was thinking about how the Lord teaches and shows us things. We know from reading the New Testament that He used lots of symbol and allegory, word puzzles, to teach. We who don't have Him here talking with us all the time have nevertheless been given a world that teaches and bears testimony in the same way. All around us are clues to decipher, puzzles to unravel, hints too clear to be mistaken, all telling us these types of things: He is there, He is real. We have a Savior who loves us, atoned for us, gives us experiences that teach us in ways that words can't. We are here on earth for a season and with a purpose. This is the most satisfying puzzle I work on as I live my life: Seeing how the pieces fit together so perfectly into the grand scheme.

How Not To Be

One of my favorite funny quotes is: 'If you can't be a good example, you'll just have to be a horrible warning.' (Catharine Aird) No one is perfect, but we can at least hope to be more of an example and less of a warning!
I was thinking about my little grandson Bryce today. Dad and I love him and Alyssa so much, and want to be really good grandparents. I was blessed with wonderful grandparents, and they made a big difference in my life. I knew I wanted to be a grammy like mine were before I ever got any grandchildren. Not only did my grandparents bless my life, but I hope their example will bless the lives of my grandchildren.
Examples...and warnings...have been big influences in my life. Generally I am more affected by the warnings than by the examples around me, I'm afraid. I wish it were the other way around. I'm afraid it both reveals and fosters a more negative view of life. But the warnings have been instructive, if not always entirely effective: Things not to say to, or about my husband, and ways not to treat my children; I've noticed sure-fire ways to alienate in-laws; ways to be needy, boring, or egotistical; good strategies on how to beat others in social competition; how to be a mean girl behind a nice girl facade; and the list could go on for a while. I have lived long enough to note that people who behave unpleasantly towards others end up being avoided by them, and we know that won't be the worst of it. The strongest warnings come from the people who don't try to better themselves as they go along, who ignore the messages along the way from the world and the people around them. (I just saw Don Giovanni.) And some of the best examples are people who have changed for the better: They are inspiring!
We are all mixtures of the sublime and the ridiculous, the charitable and the prideful, of altruism and selfishness. I don't think there is a laundry list of things to do to move myself out of the warning and into the example category. It is more about how, and how not, to be. There is an older couple in our ward who seem practically perfect to me. I don't think that because I know all the things that they do right, and that list is long, but because of the way they seem to do everything out of love of the Lord and charity for their fellowman. When I grow up, I want to be like them.