Thrillionaries

WOO-HOO!!!
It was a blast. I was amazed how Twilight Zonish the Twilight Zone one was. Even the musical was terrific. These people amaze me! Mel B, you amaze me!

Thrillionaires this weekend!!!

Come celebrate Halloween season with The Thrillionaires. Here's what's coming up:

October 17
Style: 1. Twilight Zone 2. Alien Invasion Musical
***I'm totally going to this one and taking my kids, too. My sister Melissa will be performing. Only $5 with the discount. Anyone want to go with us???
(I'll have to be late for Girls' Night)

October 24
Style: Teen/Modern Vampires

October 31 - Halloween
Style: 1. 80s B-movie Horror 2. Slasher Movie Musical

If you order tickets online at www.coveycenter.org and use the promo code "ghost" you will get in for 1/2 price ($5)!

Is This For Real!!??

Click on this link and tell me what you think.

Crazy Amnesty Bill

I think it's OUTRAGEOUS!!
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Favorites?

There's still one session left and I'll need to read the talks from the Priesthood session, but so far my favorite talk has been President Monson's talk on serving others. All those stories of the children serving others brought tears to my eyes and I felt the Spirit strongly. He is truly an inspired prophet of God. Such a simple principle can cause so much happiness for everyone involved. It's just what the world needs as we go through these ever increasingly difficult times over which we have no control.

What was your favorite talk?
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The Worst and the Best...

The worst and the best of this week can be summarized by two thoughts...

#1
As individuals, first graders are adorable with their little fingers and toes and big eyes and lisps. But, collectively, I'd rather not be in their presence as a leader of any kind. Two groups of twenty-eight of them in a gym for an hour every day uses up my effort and patience quota. I spend the rest of the day glad to be in the presence of 4th-6th graders...or even better no students at all and just a good book for company. :) Thanks for Graceling, Peggy. It saved me this week.

#2
I've rediscovered the essence of pure vanilla. The undeniable rich and creamy aroma (and taste) of it in chocolate chip cookie dough before and after baking. Mmmm. Yummy. Too many years finishing a big bottle of imitation had erased it from my sieve of a mind. Thank goodness for food storage. If I hadn't have had to dip into it, I might have wasted my precious dough on the counterfeit again.
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To sleep or not to sleep...?

Sleep and sleep related subjects are all that seem to inspire me lately. Do you love sleeping in a cozy bed as much as I do? It's the perfect way to escape the daily grind. Night, day or even morning. If I didn't have to get up in the morning, I wouldn't. Not until my back started to hurt from lying down too long. Yes, that has happened more than I'd like to admit.

While working on yet another poetic expression of sleep last night, a pang of sympathy struck me and I thought of how often sleep eludes my husband, Jarid. This short poem was written for him.

For Jarid
(from his wife, Cecilia)

Where can one find sweet peace
When one can't fall asleep?
When e'en without a peep
Consciousness will not retreat?

How disconsolate the one
Who lies awake alone
At night when sleeps the sun
With thoughts that won't be done!

Oh please, my mind entreats,
Please let him fall asleep!
For with each pulsing beat
His heart craves desired sleep.

I understand that many people have a love/hate relationship with sleep or some other relationship that I can't fathom. How do you feel about it???
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If you don't mind...

If you don't paying only 3 bucks for 3 tickets...
Or trying to find 3 seats together 20 minutes before the show starts...
Or sitting down and wondering what the heck that smell is...

If you don't mind wondering how in the world they could possibly have sold out the early show...
Or being distracted from the movie while you scan dark shapes for whatever it is that smells like vomit and desperately hoping your not sitting in it...
Or chewing stick after stick of Doublemint gum and breathing into the collar of your t-shirt attempting to mask the smell...

If you don't mind becoming increasingly hot and sweaty in the crowded, muggy theater...
Or having to riffle through your purse for an item large enough to fan yourself and your kids...
Or noticing how other shiny, sweaty faces are eyeing your large sheet of Ken Garff coupons...

If you don't mind having to promise your kids you'll never bring them here again...
Or listening to your 8 yr old tell you how much the chairs are hurting his back...
Or panicking and sitting on the edge of your chair for half the movie because you realize the vomit might be dried to your chair...

Then the Towne Center Theatre in American Fork might be the perfect theater for you.
I don't consider myself spoiled when it comes to movie theaters, but this was definitely a first and a last for me.

Ode to My Bed

Although you may find the subject of this poem amusing,
I assure you all the emotions are genuine. :)


Ode to My Bed

by Cecilia Carter

I sigh.
You comfort me
In the coolness of crisp sheets.
Assailed by unspoken thoughts,
I find a quiet place to rest.

I drift.
You cradle me
In gentle curves of mattress.
Protected from life’s urgency,
I find a yielding place to berth.

I doze.
You shelter me
In warm bundles of blanket.
Hidden from threat of hazard,
I find a safer place to be.

I dream.
You let me
In cloaking calm of darkness.
Buoyed up by sweet surrender,
I find a peaceful place to be.

I wake.
You renew me
In clear repose of conscience.
Relaxed by restful slumber,
I find kind tranquility.
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My Very Own Lawn Art

This is the back yard at my parents house. I've been keeping their grass trimmed this summer while they're on a mission. It's my first attempt at using different blade heights in the same "mowing session." Simple, but satisfying..

Top 3 Whiny Expostulations

TOP THREE WHINY EXPOSTULATIONS

Expostulation #1

I've come to understand that my brain travels through space more slowly than my body. Multiple times each day I experience the proof of this.

Case in Point: This morning I was standing in the kitchen thinking I needed to do something specific. In response to what I needed I headed downstairs. Once at the bottom of the stairs I became confused, turned left toward the bathroom and paused, unable to remember what it was I needed. During the pause, my brain floated down the stairs, caught up with my body and suddenly I knew I need only turn right toward the computer to complete the errand I had started.

Expostulation #2

BLTs. These tasty little morsels are killing me. Well, they are in a sense, but more accurately, they are killing my goal to eat healthily and regain my former, shapely physique. Bites, Licks and Tastes seem innocent enough, but add them together and they equal a quite appalling mass of unwanted calories.

Expostulation #3

Unconsciously, I must think that if I wish hard enough my wish will come true. No matter how much nonsense it would make for me not to work, I still deeply wish to be a stay-at-home mom. We could never live without the insurance. Medical copays and premiums are already seriously denting our financial freedom. My kids are both in school full-time. I'd be here alone for the most part. Yet I still find myself wishing with 92% of the fibers of my being that I didn't have to work.

It's not even that I don't like my job. It's just that it takes away from so much I could be doing. Like the other two-sevenths of 'homemaking' that never seems to get 'made. ' And, being able to care for my kids when they are ill without worrying about covering my classes at work. And, being able to volunteer at their school and more completely fulfill my calling in church.

"With a wish and with a will
I stood upon that silent hill
And stared into the sky until
My eyes were blind with stars and still
I stared into the sky."

(Adapted from the last stanza of Ralph Hodgson's "The Song of Honour"
http://theotherpages.org/poems/gp2_7.html)

SO, there are my Top Three Whiny Expostulations. (Just using the word expostulation so many times has made me feel a bit better.)

If you have an expostulation to share, by all means, it's welcome here.
EXPOSTULATION = COMPLAINT
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