Photo of the week

Yoga with Granny

Get a chair and try this. Chair yoga is GREAT!

All ages can do it  - Party Yoga!

All muscles stretched, knots released, and minds calm. We are ready to face the day.

Thanks for the bonding experience ladies.

I would do yoga with you any day.

Thursdays Book

 

Jill Bolte Taylor was a 37-year-old Harvard-trained and published brain scientist when a blood vessel exploded in her brain.  Through the eyes of a curious neuroanatomist, she watched her mind completely deteriorate whereby she could not walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life. Because of her understanding of how the brain works, her respect for the cells composing her human form, and an amazing mother, Jill completely recovered her mind, brain and body.  Dr Bolte shares with us her recovery and the insight she gained into the unique functions of the right and left halves of her brain.  Having lost the categorizing, organizing, describing, judging and critically analyzing skills of her left brain, along with its language centers and thus ego center, Jill’s consciousness shifted away from normal reality.  In the absence of her left brain’s neural circuitry, her consciousness shifted into present moment thinking whereby she experienced herself “at one with the universe.”

This book was fascinating. Dr Bolte packs so much information into this small, easy to understand book. I need to re-read it just to digest more of the information. I am loving learning about how our mind and body are so perfectly put together. All things attest that there is a God. Our minds that work so well without us ever having to pause and think about it testifies to me that there is a God.

“I believe the more time we spend running our deep inner peace circuitry, then the more peace we will project into the world, and ultimately the more peace we will have on the planet.” – Dr Jill Bolte

Visiting Papa

He has had a double whammy.

I never, ever remember my Papa being sick. I’m glad he Is TUFF. 

I’m blessed by his stories of people, places and things gone by, his generosity to everyone he meets, and his curiosity of how things work, and most of all his unconditional love of all of his huge family.

Now you sir – Do what the doctors tell you. Eat right, get enough rest, take your medicine. We need you to get all better.

Next visit I will expect to be out walking 2 miles with you. 

Memories of my Street

The old street I grew up on.

I can see a little barefoot girl whenever I walk down this street. Blonde hair in pigtails, a huge smile on her face and she skipping down the street to the creek, or the school, or her cousins.

I like to think she still running wild and free on this street.

My old home looks so small.

How can one tiny house hold so many precious memories?

Views from my car window

 

8 hours 15 minutes to get there.

8 hours and 45  minutes to get back.

Those are record times.

Photo of the Week

 

Conversation at Sunday Dinner

Married Princess: Did you see the chairs Princess Belle helped me do this week?

Littlest Princess: She helped me get ready for my dance on Saturday.

Hubby: She helped me redecorate the “Yoga Room”

Mookie: She picked me up from school and bought me a jamba.

Me: She made my poster for my primary class and went to the movie with me when I wasn’t feeling well.

Where is she?

Working at her Assisted Living Center.

This is a pretty normal conversation for our family

Look who is all grown up

I will be installing double locks and bolts on all windows and doors today!

Side note: for some reason it has always been hardest on me when this princess grows up. Being the youngest princess it has a little more impact on me like when she went to jr high, or turned 16, or left me for Peru. What is a Mom to do? I tried to stunt her growth, and make her live in a closet. She is tenacious and smart, and she doesn’t seem to mind that her mom is home weeping.

This time I am serious Double bolts and locks are being installed.

Thursday’s Book

My sisters and I are reading this for our book club this month. I recommended it for my friends book club later in the year.

You know what after reading these last two books, I am so heart sickened by the mistreatment of children, aren’t you! I have seriously had it.

This book that was published in 1861. It chronicles the experiences of Harriet Jacobs as a slave, and the various humiliations she had to endure in that unhappy state, it also deals with the particular tortures visited on women at her station.

Linda Brent- The lead protagonist and a pseudonym for Harriet Jacobs. In the story Linda at a young age is unaware of her being a slave due to the fact of her parents not telling her and her parents' masters allowing them to have their own home and raise their family. She faces betrayal and harassment by her many white masters. Linda along the way learns how to defend herself against her masters.Also later on she is torn between her wants of personal freedom and her feeling of personal responsibility to her family, especially her children Benny and Ellen.

A must read to all who really want understand what the life of a slave is like.

Wham

See the Big Blue Vehicle in the back ground. On New Years Eve the drivers side window decided to quit rolling up. Just so you know it is really cold picking up your child at 1 am with a window down please dress warm.

Of course I let my child stay out until 1am - it was New Years

On the same night someone backed into my Rose. I love, love this car and yes she is aging, but she is aging well. I say backed into her,because she was parked on the street and when Princess went to come home she could not open the door or get her to start. We are guessing what happened because someone forgot to leave a number, a note, an insurance card??

DOUBLE WHAMMY!

I did not get a picture of any of the damages.

Rose spent a week in the shop and Walla! She looks young again.

Plus Big Blue window got his window fixed, he is feeling fine.

Is this a bad omen for the year ahead???

Mookie the seamstress

 

What happened to this project that was supposed to be pajama bottoms? The picture does not do them justice.  When he brought these home I literally examined them for fifteen minutes trying to see if they could be saved. I laughed and laughed and could not quite figure out how he put them together so wrong. 

I ran into the sewing teacher who is a friend of mine and we laughed and laughed some more. She added to the story and told me she pinned the pants together right before she sent him to sew them. Laugh some more. Needless to say he got a big fat “F” on the project. Sorry Mookie. You better believe I am saving them.

  

So before you make up your mind that I am a awful Moose that only gets enjoyment laughing at her favorite son. Look at his beautiful functioning next project. Way to go Mookie! Yes, It was an “A” project.

He explained that sewing did not make sense to him at first, but now he gets it. Mookie you make your granny proud! 

I am aware of the very valuable lesson he has learned and not just about sewing. Plus he laughed with us as we got a chuckle out of the best sewing project ever turned in at LJHS.

Dreams do come true!

 

Remember last week when I said this. Some one was listening and I came home from a long day at work to find this.

I am officially spoiled!

Thursday’s book

 

 

Rabbit-Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington. It is a true story concerning the author's mother, as well as two other young mixed-race Aboriginal girls, who ran away from the Moore River Native Settlement, north of Perth, in order to return to their Aboriginal families, after having been placed there in 1931. The book follows the girls as they trek for nine weeks along 1,500 miles (2,400 km) of the Australian rabbit –proof fence to return to their community at Jigalong, while being tracked by a white authority figure and an Aboriginal tracker.

I must add that when you have finished the book you need to watch the DVD. The film might even be a tad better then the book, I cannot believe I just said that. The girls will capture your heart, and it is beautifully filmed.

I believe if you made this film in the future you would call it AVATAR. The question is why do we always believe our ways are better without learning about others way of life and see what we can learn from them.

 

Must See!

Playing at the Mandalay Bay in Vegas if you are close by.

 

 

Just like the sign says  - we all LOVED it and may see it again when in hits SLC.

 

BTW: don’t you love that when our family smiles we all loose our eyes – it is the best family trait we have. BIG smiles Small EYES! just a thought.

What to do with a bored child.

 

Mookie made me promise not to post this picture. See how he turned his head so I couldn’t take his picture.

An all day project to clean up.

Just one way to keep him entertained during the holidays.

The aftermath

 

What no one ever mentions.

I have such ideas for this room!

Goodbye Christmas

Truth: I really was not focused on Christmas this year. You understand why, don’t you?

I felt like everyone brought me Christmas this year.

Lots of joy, gifts, and well wishes, and food! My heart was touched.

My lovely VT-mamma brought me this.

She noticed I love nativity sets. She is thoughtful like that.

Would it be wrong to leave it up all year?

AHhhh! The Joy of after Christmas!

Magical

Hubby grabbed the camera from me when the magic started

My kiddos didn’t even know their was a movie called Puff the magic dragon. Can’t believe I missed one.

He shot these magical photos.

Does it get any better then a smiley face firework?

Never stop believing in the Magic.