I hate Politics

Okay...does John McCain scare anyone else? I've heard stories of his temper that make me wonder if people are really thinking when it comes to voting. These Primaries are so frustrating. I'm just glad Guliani is stepping down. Although, my hubby pointed out he might be better than McCain...

If any one wanted a summary of each candidate, Candace has them on her blog. She's done an excellent job.

On a side note...I am totally jealous that Park City gets to have a snow day. I can't imagine how much snow that would have taken to accomplish, seeing as how we can't seem to get enough down here. How much snow have you gotten over the past week? We are supposed to continue to get some through out this week as well. I've got a little ticker in the corner above my picture. I'm hoping for a snow day...

Another Wonderful Tribute

I know this video clip will probably make the rounds, but it's a neat one and says alot of what I'm sure we wish we could all say.



thanks for the example, President. We love you.

Till We Meet Again...

Perhaps one of the greatest men I've ever known died yesterday. I'm sure the web is being filled to the brim with statements of much the same -- adding my own will be a small dot in the wonderful picture that will be painted of him.

Gordon B. Hinkley was a man with vision. A man who saw the greatness of what we can become, who encouraged us all -- no matter what religion we belonged to, to return to our Father in Heaven, to follow Jesus the Christ and to love our neighbors.

I've known of this man most of my life. He is in my memory from the earliest time I knew about the leaders of this great church. He is a fixation with the presidency, having been a counselor for most of the time I knew of him. I don't know if I'm going to be able to handle it very well at next general conference when he isn't on the stand.

I know he is far happier now! He is back with his wife, he is with the Savior and he is sure to be greeting everyone that went on before that knew him and loved him. I was finally blessed with some peace last night during my prayers -- I don't want to grieve with sorrow. I want to be happy for him.

Right now I can say I am. I just know in a couple of months when we are watching Elder Monson sustained as the President, I'm going to miss the wonderful friendly face smiling at the whole world with love.

I'm going to miss President Gordon B. Hinkley. Till we meet again...

I Need a New Brain

Okay...my sons have this swimming merit badge that they are working on with the ward. They have swimming every Monday and Wednesday. One son has already missed one day because we didn't know it was a do or die thing and he wasn't finished with his homework. It was a consequence issue and we felt it was important. If we'd known that missing one day would jeopardize his whole merit badge, we probably would have sent him since it's already been paid for.

Well, we have since found out that he can still get it, yada yada... So...last night we have tennis that my family plays every Wednesday at 5:30. Same time as the kids are supposed to be up at the church to go swimming. I totally spaced off the swimming, and so did my hubby. So did the two boys. So...we get home from tennis and realize what day it is, what time it is and that --dang! They've missed another night of swimming!

So now what do we do? Keep sending them in the hopes that we can make up the classes they've missed on our own? Does anyone know anything about the scouting program? All I know is that it's a pain in the butt -- sorry if that offends anyone, but I've not been that impressed with a program that costs money for everything they do and pressures kids to be like the other ones. Like they need more peer pressure?

Okay, I'll calm down now. I'm fine. I'm just irritated -- can you tell? grin.

It's another cold morning -- something like 6 degrees, with windchill something like negative 2 and can I get my 17 year old to wear a coat?? Nada. sigh. I told him all the kids I see on my way to work (I work next to the high school)have jackets or coats and stuff. I swear one of these days he's going to catch pneumonia and I'll have to decided if I say 'I told you so' or not.

Obviously I'm in a rotten mood, so I guess I'll end before I spew forth anything else negative.

Try to have a better start than I did! ;)

I Have a New Job...sort of

My job changed a little last week. It was decided that they needed a person to do some tracking and that my position was in the best spot to do that. sigh. They wanted me to up my hours to 26 per week...which is more than I was working last year at Meadowlark. I told them I couldn't do that much, perhaps 25 at the most.

Today was my first real day doing both jobs. I stop at a particular time and move on to the other work. It's weird, and I'm not sure if I'm liking it yet because it means I get home at about the same time as my sons, and there isn't any time of quiet reflection -- or reading...grin. Anyway, it's more money, and the only real loss is time that I could spend writing. Perhaps this will force me to be more organized...we can only hope.

Got my two daughters to read through my editing manuscript yesterday. I need to find someone that isn't related to me and see if they have a different point of view...grin. My kids like my stories. They are avid readers, so I would hope they have a bit of knowledge. sigh. Anyway...need to get working on the contest submission, time is running out on both ends!

Spring is in Two Months!

That announcement was made by my youngest son this morning as he came up shivering from his bedroom. I teased him and reminded him that he'd been the one excited by all the snow and wanting winter. He didn't think it was very funny. I guess, being human, we tend to like change more than anything else. We can put up with anything for a certain amount of time, such as being cold...grin.

It was a gorgeous snow, when I went out to help shovel the driveway after my hubby had already snow blowed, it was all powder. The ski resorts must be loving it.

Well, I've been editing and editing all weekend, and have finally got to the printing stage so that someone else can do some editing. I'm also gearing up for a contest entry to Highlights Magazine, so so far this year, my goals are on track! grin. We'll see how February goes...

Les Misables

I got to see Les Miserables for the at least second time this week. I've seen it professionally, I think, or at least the movie -- I'm not sure. (Do I really have a brain?) But anyway, a local high school was putting it on, and they did such an amazing job! The main characters had voices that were every bit as professional as a Broadway musical, and the sets were excellent. I was very impressed. What impressed me more was that it touched my 16 year old son... I caught him wiping away a tear during a touching part of the play, and I was glad.

I know showing emotion is not typically a 'male' thing, but it's something my sons seem to be able to do rather well. sigh. I don't know if it will be to their benefit or not later, but for now it touches my mother's heart.

It's also snowing again! If I didn't have to drive in it or shovel it, I would be ecstatic! grin. I am very grateful for the moisture we have received. It's been wonderful. Have a good one!

Greetings from the frozen north...

I can't believe how cold it is today...I looked it up online and it said we were a whole 10 degrees...ugh. I'm definitely not used to this. I'm just glad I don't live in South Dakota where it gets to minus degrees regularly...
sigh.

Timing is Everything

Last Friday our fridge died. We didn't know this until Saturday morning when the whole freezer was defrosted and draining onto the floor and the fridge was warm. sigh. We spent the whole morning cleaning it out, getting what was still good out into the snow (thank heavens there was plenty of it) and getting to the back of the fridge to see if my hubby (who is great at repairing things) could fix it. Unfortunately, it was not to be. So...we spent the entire rest of the day shopping for a new fridge.

Now...if any of you have done such a thing in the past year, you know the sticker shock we faced. And...Sears wouldn't give us a larger credit limit, so we went home. We had already looked on KSL.com, and found a set of double ovens that work for only $150, (I already had a double oven, but the top hasn't worked for at least 5 years) so that was a bright spot. We got home after picking them up and looked up fridges again, and found one for $200! We went out and picked it up, came home and installed it and went to bed. Need I say we are now on the early schedule and we didn't get to bed before midnight?

We are also frustrated because we have a smaller space for fridge than we'd like. We've seen so many that we absolutely love, only to find we couldn't fit them in our space. My hubby is about ready to tear out the cabinets and shift everything over. sigh. I'm not sure I'm ready to face that quite yet...

At least we have one that works! We'll just have to figure how to stuff everything in there...

Today's Angels?

I just wrote a whole blog about my son and autism and it didn't save it! ARGH! How am I going to remember everything I wrote???

Okay...deep breath...

Most of you are aware that I have an autistic son. I believe he was one of those affected by a bad inoculation. It was pretty much a normal talkative son one day and then one who could not tell me shapes and colors the next.

Anyway...I was reading an article today at work about autism and how 1 in every 94 boys is diagnosed with it. I thought it was interesting how this has suddenly become an issue and wondered why there would be so many young people now with this problem. I realize that much of it relates to diagnosis abilities, and new scientific information, but I don't think it's all due to that.

Many of us have grown up with the whole Saturdays Warrior story. That was 30 years ago...yeah, we're getting old...and so perhaps, these spirits coming down now are ones that were even more valiant. Ones that need special protections from Satan and the world to help them get back to the Father.

I've heard a story (it could possibly be a urban legend, but I like to think it's true). It's about a young man who was mentally challenged. I think he had Down's Syndrome, but I'm not sure. He went to get a patriarchial blessing, and during the blessing, he was told that he'd been the one to escort Satan out of heaven and the mental challenges he had were to protect him.

I have since, actually, looked it up, and they claim that it's probably not true, because blessings are to be totally private and a patriarch would not share this with anyone.

But, the thought remained with me -- perhaps the reason so many of these youth have this mental challenge is because they were special spirits.

I realize all of our children are special. I am not trying to say my son is better than anyone else's. I just had the thought that perhaps the reason there are so many of them at this time is for that reason. What do you think?

For my part, my son is a teenager with a normal teenage attitude most of the time. Yesterday he was ordained a Teacher, and was pretty proud of it. I was proud of him too, and figure if nothing else, he is trying.

I'm just thankful for his sweet spirit and the gift of him in our lives.

I'm it, and I didn't even know I was tagged...

I'm just teasing! Tristi tagged me and I haven't been able to do the tag until today. She tagged me for her 6 thing meme, and I guess the rules state I'm to tell you six things about myself and then tag six more people.

Tagging the six people will be interesting...coming up with 6 things that I haven't already talked about will be hard.

Lets see:

1. I am a hopeless romantic. I don't like it when someone dies in a movie -- I don't care how good it is, I won't watch it again. The same with a book.

2. If I put a decoration up and it's not even with the rest, or twisted, I have to fix it or it will bug me. My hubby was helping me put some clear glass balls and clear plastic stars up in our front window during December, and they weren't even. The ribbon holding the balls was twisted so that the underside was showing. I had to switch the stars and retie the ribbons...

3. I love watching movies almost as much as I like to read. I'm sure it's a time waster and there are more productive things I could do, but that's what I love.

4. I'm a beatnik at heart...seriously. I was born and raised in California, and while I was raised in the city, I still love tie dye and long skirts..I would wear skirts all the time if they had them my size that didn't cost an arm and a leg. I even used to have a couple of those made out of jeans, where you just cut the seam and sew fabric into it? Yeah...I know that dates me.

5. I used to love Pineapple and ham pizza - really - it was my absolute favorite. Now I can't stand it. I can't even stand the taste of ham on a pizza...ugh. Of course I'm sure it's due to the fact we owned our own pizza place for two years and I ate enough of it to gag a goat, but there it is. The only pizza I can stand to eat now is Pepperoni, or pepperoni with pineapple...you see how the pineapple survived it...grin.

6. I am an excellent procrastinator. I do it really well. It's rubbed off on my children. For example, this particular blog should have come out in November. I couldn't think of 6 things and totally blew it off. So...I have good and bad, huh? Like most of us.

I haven't the slightest idea who to tag, so I'm going to leave it up to whoever reads this first...TAG!

There are 7 of me...

This was both kind of cool and yet disappointing at the same time...sigh.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 7 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

I wouldn't have thought there were that many Gaynell Parkers in the whole US. I wonder how many there are in Utah?

Well...however many there are, they are probably shoveling their driveways too...
If only it were a snow day!!

Glorious Sunrise

I got up and was sitting here at my computer and happened to look out at the sky...it was sooo gorgeous I had to share it with you. My camera doesn't do it justice, but it was beautiful. Hope everyone has a wonderful day.

Birthday Cake

Well, Friday was my son's 14th bday, and he wanted a pirate cake. I wasn't going to buy him one, we did that last year and I decided it wasn't happening this year -- that and the one he wanted was about $30...

So, I decided this was a challenge and I would make one. I thought it turned out pretty good...what do you think? He liked it.



Here are a couple of different angles.





If anyone wants the specs, I'd be happy to tell ya.

Saturday was the swim party, and that turned out fun. Fortunately he even had two of the three he invited come, when he didn't get the invitations out until the day before...sigh.

All in all, he was happy, we were happy, and it was a good weekend.

My Objectives for 2008

You'll notice I didn't say resolution. I didn't even say goal, although that's not a bad word. But I don't like the word resolution, and I don't make them anymore.

So, for this year, I have determined that I am going to be the submission queen. I am going to submit at least one article to a magazine/newspaper each month, and one novel/story. I am going to spend 2 hours writing everyday. This will either be editing or writing -- I'm thinking I'll have to rotate, because I have a hard time doing both in the same day, my brain can't handle it...grin.

I will be attending one writing seminar, (great one -- LDStorymakers conference in March) since I can't afford more than one, and this is the best.

I will be focusing on writing this year, so perhaps next year I'll do a little more with painting (It's been recommended that I look into illustrating more, but I'm not sure I have the time for that right now).

So -- pretty basic. Write two hours a day, submit every month, and we'll see what December brings. I'm an optimist -- I say I'll have a contract by then...

What about your new year?

Happy New Year!!

Well, I hope everyone had a fun New Years Eve! We sure did. We played games, ate enough to make us all sick, watched a movie and toasted in the new year with sparkling apple juice. We lit our luminarios because we didn't do it on Christmas Eve, and that was fun. It was a whole 10 degrees last night, going down into the negative if you were in the wind...ugh!! Cold night. I guess I was glad the cats were in...maybe.

Anyway, it's a wonderful new year, the day is a gorgeous blue sky and we have our whole lives ahead of us! Who could ask for more?

Well...my hubby would like to win the Publishers Clearing house, but that's another matter...grin.

I wish you all the best for the new year!!