Food in the Forties

The other day I was remembering what eating was like for us 70 years or so ago.  It is obvious Moms spent most of their time with food preparation.  And as a prenote it is important to know that even though we ate three carb filled meals all of my friends and I had 23-24 inch waists as teenagers.  Of course, we did a lot of walking and outdoor exercise, we were not couch potatoes at any time.  It was great, you could eat lots of comfort foods and still look great.  It is only since I started dieting after having babies that I have had to be concerned about my weight...interesting.

Dry Cereal--Wheaties, Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies.

Cooked Cereal which I did not like--Cream of wheat or oatmeal.

Other breakfast foods--Swedish pancakes, oven pancake, french toast, (syrup was often homemade), cinnamon toast, biscuits, eggs.  My dad loved fried mush (cooked cereal) with syrup.

Home canned--peaches, cherries, pears, yummm.  And we did eat a lot of store bought canned goods, fruits and vegetables. 

Bread--Lots of homemade and I loved plain soft white bread and bologna, salami or cheese sandwiches.

Jam--homemade chokecherry--store bought strawberry.

Homemade goodies--cinnamon and butterscotch rolls, doughnuts, raisen filled cookies, oatmeal cookies, pineapple upside down cake, apple pie, date cake, date bars, raisen bars, prune whip, ice box desserts, pink jello, apple crisp, peach pie, vanilla ice cream, root beer, tapioca pudding, rice pudding, bread pudding, lemon pie, rhubarb pie.  
We always had dessert at night.  Even if it was only frosted graham crackers and apple sauce or pink jello.  There was always a dessert and dinner was always on time at 6 pm.  It was something you could count on and you did not want to be late at our house with eight hungry people.

Sunday dinner was usually roast, mashed potatoes and peas, green beans, or corn, fruit salad with whipped cream and yes, there was always a grand dessert, often cake with delicious frosting or pie.  If we had missionaries in town, they were usually at dinner.

The big dinner at noon were things like scalloped potatoes and ham, meat loaf and potatoes, creamed spinach with hard boiled eggs on top, pot roast with carrots and potatoes, tuna casserole, spaghetti, macaroni and cheese.

Supper at night was like creamed chipped beef on toast, toasted cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, chicken noodle soup, chili, goulash, vegetable and beef soup, hot dogs and beans, hot beef sandwhich (beef and gravy on toast).

After school snacks were usually homemade cookies or graham crackers and butter (stacked four or five high).

I don't remember potato chips except at picnics till we were older and then I felt that if I ate one greasy chip I would break out with a new pimple.

We did not have chinese or mexican food at all.  I was in college before I had either and I didn't have pizza until I was teaching school in San Diego.

The drink of choice was a big glass of milk, which we generally had with each meal.

Store bought fruit like oranges was a big treat.  We grew our own crab apples and apricots.  We had victory gardens of lettuce, carrots, squash, potatos, corn, green beans, tomatoes and melons.  A great treat was fresh lettuce rolled up with sugar or rhubarb stalks eaten with salt.

Treats at teenage parties--home made taffy, fudge, popcorn, brownies, divinity, rootbeer floats, potato chips, hot dogs, ice cream sundaes.

We had three good meals a day.  Some snacks but no fast food.

Update on the Twins

Sage is so serious and Raina always has a smile but what a fun pair.  It will be increasingly fun to see them as twins with such individual personalities.

Indian Fry Bread

I must be feeling more energetic.  I actually bought the ingredients and made Indian Fry Bread for the children after school.  They liked them but I didn't think the texture was as good as I remember.

I remember well finding the recipe in the Sunset magazine and trying them out because Bobby, the Navajo boy living with us, kept asking for them.  He showed us how to pat them out and said they tasted right.  I don't think we ever got him the mutton he wanted though.

When John was in high school he would bring his surfing friends home and we would make Indian Fry Bread and whipped honey butter.  I will have to find out from Meagan again how she made her honey butter at Christmas.  Hers was much higher whipped.

I thought the Fry Bread was much heavier than it should have been.  I found this note in a recipe--I kneaded it too much apparently!!

Sift together the flour, salt, powdered milk, and baking powder into a large bowl. Pour the water over the flour mixture all at once and stir the dough with a fork until it starts to form one big clump.


Flour your hands. Using your hands, begin to mix the dough, trying to get all the flour into the mixture to form a ball. NOTE: You want to mix this well, but you do NOT want to knead it. Kneading it will make for a heavy Fry Bread when cooked. The inside of the dough ball should still be sticky after it is formed, while the outside will be well floured. 

Victoria

The last time I went to Victoria, I remember well. I had just finished a year of teaching in Billings, Mt, broken up for the final time with my boyfriend of over 7 years and traveled on a bus to Washington to meet my college roommate Colleen who had taught her first year in Port Angeles. 

The bus experience I will never forget.  I was the only one on the bus with all these soldiers and I was shy.  Each time I passed one with an empty seat he would encourage me to sit down.  I finally sat near the back next to a sweet, shy, looking guy.  It was so cold on the bus I shared my blanket or coat or something with him.  Innocent me, he tried to get fresh...but he was so nice it only took a word from me to put him in place.

Colleen and I took the ferry which was so exciting to me and I loved Victoria--this was in 1956.  Port Angeles was very rainy and I thought then that I could never live in Washington.

Colleen and I then started on a month long trip down the west coast to find a place to teach.  I thought Oregon was beautiful but we kept moving south.  The San Francisco area was very interesting.  We both wanted to tour a Navy ship and naively approached a sailor at the bus stop and asked him if he had any friends who would take us on a tour.  He called a buddy from a pay phone and let us talk to him.  He said he would be there in a minute and would love to take us on the ship.  I asked how we would know which one he was and he said he would be wearing a white hat!!

Well, I guess he liked how we looked because he actually brought a friend and we had a wonderful tour of a huge ship.  They even invited us to a tour of San Francisco that night.  Honestly, I know you could not do that in this day but they treated us royally and we had the grand tour, something to eat and nothing but gentlemanly attention.

San Francisco and San Jose were not hiring any new teachers so we moved on.  We toured the Hearst Castle and various other side trips and our next place to interview was Santa Barbara.  We loved that place but they were not hiring either.  We spent a lot of time in Los Angeles at Muscle Beach, the Lawrence Welk Show, etc. and eventually drove in to San Diego.

It was gorgeous.  We immediately knew "This was the Place"--coincidentally it was the Last Place, too.  We had had a roommate from San Diego named Gerry.  She was married and we called her and asked her why she never told us what a great city this was.  We stayed at the Ocean Beach motel and started touring the town.  At that time Mission Valley was mostly farm and dairy and Mission Bay was mud flats.  We loved to go to Ocean and Mission Beach and thought the perfect place to live would be La Jolla but it was very expensive.

Oh, yes, we applied right away at the Education Center.  They told us the man who did the hiring was out of town but he loved BYU students and he needed teachers and he knew he would hire us.  Just go have fun and we would received contracts in the mail.  (We did!)

The funniest thing was driving around San Diego.  We kept running in to dead ends but finally decided that North Park/Hillcrest would be in our price range and a good central place to live if we got the teaching jobs.   The big department stores were all downtown so we would shop and then go to the movies down there.  It was so funny.  You would be surrounded by oceans of sailors in the movie house.  San Diego was a good place for single girls at that time.

We went home after our month long trip and I took the train from Utah back to Glendive and then in August took the train again to San Diego for my newest adventure.  Coincidentally my boyfriend was on the train with the National Guard so we said Goodbye again but I spent most of my trip in Montana with my childhood friend George--they were all on their way to NG camp.

John, one of returned missionaries doing time in San Diego--Fall 1956.

In San Diego we rented a darling place not too far from the zoo with a big orange tree on the patio.  We attended 4th Ward where there were 17 new school teachers, even more returned missionaries who were now doing their Navy time plus lots of locals.  It was a great ward. 

We soon moved from our Zoo area place to a bigger place with 4 other teachers. We were just a block from the ward.  Our place became a second home for all the sailors.  We had lots of dances, mutual activities and the older people loved to follow our social life.  It was a great time for young people in San Diego.

Chuck, one of our Navy Officers in the ward, brought his friend Bill to do a demonstration  with him in my school class.  That started a whole other new adventure in my life.  So what was I talking about?  Oh yes, Victoria, looking forward to going there again with Maria and Linda on March 25th.

Moving Forward

It was nice to have my daughter take me to my colonoscopy--if I had had it done at home, I would have had to have someone drive me to Chico and wait!!!!  Which is why I am pursuing my medical list down here.  Thanks, Maria, for taking the day for me.  And the good news, my colon is in perfect shape.  That really surprised me, I had envisioned the worst scenario.  I thought the medical staff was great.  On the table they kept asking all kinds of questions about Lake Almanor--before they put me out that is.  That whole part of it was a very pleasant experience.  They were surprised I wasn't on any medication for anything!

So now my quest for getting myself in good physical shape is moving on.  I started in November with a total physical which was perfect except for the right artery.   In December I had a chipped tooth fixed and my teeth cleaned.  In January I had a new vision test resulting in new driving and reading glasses.  In January I also checked out having my heavy eyelids fixed and my varicose veins done again.  I passed on both of those.  I also had the doppler test and found my right artery is 70-80% narrowed.

This week I checked out the pain in my right foot plaguing me for some time and the colonoscopy.  The last thing to be done is the visit to the thoracic surgeon to see if surgery is needed on my artery or just a 'wait and see'.  I suppose I should see if my right wrist pain is something that can be cured--it has only been a year since I fell and of course, the nagging neck pain from the weird accident at Christmas.  I did buy a neck brace and neck comforter to see if treating it myself works.

And of course, there is the continual search for which foods are giving me these bouts of indigestion.  Gluten? Dairy? Veggies? Fat? Sugar? Each time I think I have it--something gives me doubt.  Now I am on the 'sole' for more energy.  That is a spoonful of water each day from the crystal salt.  No biggy.  I will pursue a green smoothie each day and go from there.  Right now I am to stay off my feet but once I can get going, I will pursue my walking fulltime again.

All I want is more (lots more) energy, a happy tummy and sleeping well.  Not much to ask at 77 I don't think.

Once I get feeling 100% again I will start living a more exciting life I think and write about something other than me.  I want to be ready for our little trip to Victoria.  I was so tired on our Scandinavia trip and feet hurt that I often skipped too much walking.  I don't want that again.

Valentine's Day

I had such a nice Valentine Day with Maria and Melissa.  Maria always has such interesting stories to tell and Melissa is so caring.  She watches over my purse and jacket and me. 

We went to the Whaley House--the haunted house.  We always took our Cub Scouts there when we visited Old Town and our children, of course.  The thing I noticed is how small the old furniture was and how small their shoes were.  We have come a BIG way with all the food we eat.

And you have to buy some candy at Old Town, which I did.  The street tacos were very good and the churros are the best.  The thing I miss most in Lake Almanor is all the good Mexican food down here.

After Old Town Maria took us to Hillcrest for some yummy $3 cupcakes but they really were better than homemade from a  cake package.  I had the Red Velvet and it was so delicious.  Thank you beautiful Maria and beautiful Melissa for such a nice day.

One of my happiest memories of Valentines's Day were the beautiful Valentine boxes our Primary School teachers made.  They were so beautiful with paper lace and hearts and ruffles and in the top of a box a slit so we could put our valentines in it.  And then we always had a party with goodies and drink on our desk and of course, the passing out of the valentines and you always analyzed what your current crush had sent you.  It was so simple and fun, kind of like street tacos with people you love.

Getting Through the Night

So many times we just have to get through it--no enjoying the moment, just get through it.  That is how I would describe the night before a colonoscopy.  I think I know the perfect strategy for surviving though, if anyone ever needs to know.  But what is this being cold business?  I have heat on, sweatshirt over my flannels, quilt wrapped around me.  Is it the dehydration of your body that makes you cold??? Hmmm.

On with my medical saga.  I don't write these things because they are interesting.  I write them so I will remember.  Today I talked to a Medicare person to do a little questioning and complaining.  Surprise, surprise, he was available, caring, and helpful.  Who knew?  Anyway he couldn't give his opinion about things I asked but gave me a number of someone who could.  And lo and behold a quick call back to me.  Honestly--our Tax Dollars at work.

Seems for where I live I have chosen correctly with Medicare Primary and a Supplement rather than a PPO or HMO.  She also said I should have gotten the under $20 a month Medicare D that was offered in December.  Never heard.  But she said the $24 deal I have is a close second.  She said on some iffy kind of procedures it can be difficult to get good answers up front from Medicare but to try and find doctors that are Medicare friendly and experienced.  It helps.

I had a nice visit with my podiatrist today who also is in the same place as my skin surgeon Dr. Barbara.  She looked at my nose and said it will heal just as well as it would have if it hadn't separated (really?) but it will just take a little longer.  Do not use Mederma on it yet (used it too soon again and it kept getting red and ugly).  Anyway it is a lot better today.

I have, according to the Dr. Walter, a beautiful foot (looking at my ex-rays) no arthritis or other problems.  But my second metatarsal is currently lower than the others and taking the brunt of my steps so it is inflamed.  He put a pad on the bottom to wear for four days, not get wet, and stay off of it and take ibprofen and see how it is Tuesday.  He looked at the Dr Scholl foot pads I bought yesterday and said they were good and would help a lot (they have).  CVS Pharmacy has a Dr. Scholl contraption that analyzes your foot problem by having you stand on it.  Very interesting.  He asked how much I paid for it and said that was not bad at all.  If  I had gotten it at the Good Foot store they would have charged about 4 times more and it still would not be custom made.  Hmm.  I wonder if that is what is coming next.  Something custom made for me.  Anyway it already feels better as he leveled the playing field with the other metatarsals.  He also said our skin gets much thinner as we get older so we feel the pain more.  Marjorie can't stand to go barefoot--maybe I need to think that way.

Sherry

Sherry's daughter Caitland.

    

      Sherry's son Zach and Beleca.  They are buying a condo and having a baby, working and finishing college, all at the same time.

Sherry's sister Debbie, husband Tom and daughter.  Debbie has been such a support and friend to Sherry and her family in this

past few years of sickness

.

Sherry and Wes Smith

I

Sherry's daughter Carole and Debbie's Antowne

I didn't have a picture of Sherry's son Steven but here is one of her dogs.

I have been thinking of Sherry, my sister's daughter today.  She passed away Tuesday night--much too young.  I was remembering when she lived with us, her eagerness to help, her always wanting to bake us something, her love of taking Zach to the Padres games.  She had such a beautiful smile and lovely eyes and spoke with such a soft voice.

I can remember well when Zach would take off running at the mall, when none of us were expecting it.  What did he hope to see?  Where did he want to go?  Just curious I guess and Sherry in pursuit.  She and John spoke the same language and were good friends but she also spent a lot of time alone, writing, thinking.   She responded well to Richard and whatever he thought she should learn.  She worked well in the business.  I remember one of our 80's Christmas cards and we did a spoof of what we were all doing.  She was touted as the hot real estate lady who was selling millions.

For Richard's and my Silver Wedding Anniversary she carved the watermelon for the salad.  I think without a doubt we all enjoyed having Sherry with us.  When she had crafted the trade of being able to process loans she wanted to leave and be with her friends in Austin and that is where she has been since.

But she soon left the boring loan business and pursued her love of cooking.  I hope she found some answers to the questions she was always pursuing.  She certainly had some beautiful children.  And she was always creative and had such great love for people and animals and plants and books.  Sherry, a very loving daughter of God.  May she find peace in heaven.

The Medical Saga Goes On

It's been awhile since I have written.  On with my problems with Medicare.  I kept my appointment with the vein doctor and she said my legs need to be done but Medicare is being run by Palmetto and they are slow in paying and it is uncertain what they will pay.  She cannot get approval up front.  I think it would be better if I had Medicare Advantage but it had appeared that where I am living that would not be as good.  I may need to revisit that decision.  Anyway she wanted $2500 up front and then I would get reimbursed from Medicare and Healthnet.  That is not going to happen.

Next Dr appointments is with a podiatrist on Wednesday to see if I can resolve this pain in the ball of my left foot.  I can't wear heels or my high boots at all anymore without terrible pain in my foot.

Next Friday I have my Colonscopy Screening.  I know I should have had one years ago and it was scheduled, at least three times.  But every time it would get near I would get called out to work and so I cancelled my appointment.  This time it will happen.

On March 2 I have an appointment with the Cardio Surgeon.  I am hoping he reviews the tests and my health and makes it just a "wait and see" but I am thinking with the poor economy Drs need all the work they can get and he may opt to do the surgery anyway.  Is that a really 'badditude'?  I will check and see what he says about my legs as well.

I had thought I would have all my medical 'list' completed long before the snow was melted up north but at the rate I am going I can see that is not true.  I just hope I am finished by the time the snow melts!

The Senior Decisions of Life

Thursday I had a consultation with an eye surgeon about my drooopy, heavy eyelids.  After he gave me all my options--three, in fact, and the information that some cost money and some were not as desirable as they used to be because Obama meddled with Medicare and changed some things, I decided just to live with the heavy, droopy eyelids. 

After all, as Maria said, why put a new chair in with all the other old furniture.  One way to look at.  She also reminded me at lunch on Friday that Meryl Streep had had the same reaction in the movie, "It's Complicated".  I had forgotten that.  The decisions we seniors have to make--- and maybe some are just as well to run away from, as Meryl Streep...and I did.

Express Your Love

"They've got to be taught to love and hate, by the time they are six or seven or eight, they've got to be carefully taught..."  This is a song in "South Pacific" and I thought about it today.  I had walked into the kitchen and Jacob asked me how long it would take my nose to get better.  I commented that I didn't know but I hoped there wasn't too big of a scar and added "not that anyone cares."  Camber said, "We care" and immediately Kelsi spoke up and said, "Grandma, can I whisper something in your ear?"  And she came over and whispered, "You're the best Grandma ever."  And I have heard her tell her Grampa Greg how much she loves him.  She is very open with her accolades.  In fact, all of the grandchildren are very kind and loving and tell me they love me.  I am so glad their parents have taught them to love and express that love.

We had love and peace in our home  when I was a child but we never expressed it and I did not like to be hugged at all.  I was talking later today to my friend Connie and she said it was the same in her home.  People just did not talk about their feelings or show that kind of emotion much in their families.   Maybe some cultures did, ours did not.  I am so glad that has changed.  Of course, there was my Dad dancing at lunch with my Mom and always giving her a big kiss.  But I don't remember throwing my arms around my parents and telling them how much I loved them.

 Maybe that is why it impressed me so much, because it was unusual to be so demonstrative.

Sugartime

For some reason I have been on a sugar kick.  I have been eating candy--my favorite candy, nonstop but why?  I have said it before and I will say it again.  It is a good thing that sugar is my vice and not wine. 

My thing is not chocolate, it is more like jelly beans.  If I can go off of sugar for 30 days I can be very happy without it unless something triggers me back on.  Sugarholic is what it is...Woe is me.  But what is missing that I must fill my life with sugar?  Hmm, several things come to mind.

When I am thinking about things, being creative, or making something, I always like to have a some candy to
cheer me on...why is that???  When I was working SBA in Texas and we were working such long tedious hours, I always had to have a Peanuts M&M break around 3 in the afternoon.  Especially with Diet Dr. Pepper.

Justice--A Harvard Course

My brain is being challenged as I sit in a class at Harvard everyday at my computer.  The class is "Justice" by Michael Sandel and there are 12 lectures, each with two parts.  I am on Lecture 7.

The books the students have had to read I know nothing about.  Many of the words are totally unfamiliar to me.  But I love the way the teacher teaches.  He talks about what certain philosophers have written and then challenges the students to give their opinions.  I am totally impressed with their ability to express themselves.  I could not have done that at 18.  I could not have thought so deeply as they do.  Of course, they are at Harvard!!

He is a master at getting them to participate and never lets the discussion get out of hand.  I love the way the teacher interjects real life stories for purposes of illustration and analyzing.  He obviously has collected this material over the years and knows just when to introduce it.  For the most part he speaks off the cuff, occasionally referring to his notes.  He illustrates certain points (after they have discussed them) on an overhead projector.  He is a master teacher and never hesitates with an uh, or extra words but speaks deliberately and in a manner easy to understand and follow.  He always repeats what the students have said in a clear, concise way, asks them their name and repeats it, and makes every contribution appear to be meaningful.  He never dictates what is truth but has them challenge and debate the information and leads them to certain conclusions.  They hang on his every word and take copious notes on paper and computer.  The room is a huge auditorium, three stories high, completely filled!  You could hear a pin drop.  It is better than sitcoms!!!

I am looking forward to watching other classes from other universities.  The site is academicearth.org--a feature of Public Television funded by private sources.  As they roll the credits to those private contributers I always wish that was something I was able to do--donate huge amounts of money for something important.

Stress Sets In Big Time

This morning I started out for a Doctor's appointment on Carmel Mountain Road.  Since I cross Carmel Mountain Road everytime I go to Walmart or Costco, I assumed I could go by Walmart and buy Bandido's dog food before going to the Doctor's office.  However, when I plugged in the address to my GPS (after finishing at Walmart) it took me 15 miles away!!  It appears Carmel Mountain Road goes from beyond I-15 to over by I-5.  Since I was low on gas, this was stressing me out.  Then I realized I had forgotten my cell phone and I began to feel more stress.  As I drove I was also thinking about the various problems facing so many family members and I stressed even more!

How is it that I drove for over sixty years without a cell phone and got along just fine and now I panic without one.  After finally arriving at the Dr's office I began filling out the paper work and I read--'No Medicare Insurance will be accepted.'  What??  Now I am really stressing out.  The receptionist tries to convince me to see the Dr anyway but I say, 'No Way, I cannot afford to not use my insurance.'

On the way out I ask someone where is the closest gas station--I was just about on 0 when I pulled in.  She tells me how to go and when I finally get there I can see a station but the freeway is in the way and I panic as to which road to take.  Thank heaven behind the bridge is another station I can pull into.  However, I cannot decipher how to pay for the gas!!  More stress.

As I leave the station I am in totally unfamiliar territory, thank heaven for my GPS and I get on my way, now so totally stressed out I just head for James' home.

Why do I get so stressed?  True, I don't know San Diego anymore but I think it is my age.  I just can't handle anything anymore.

When I get home I tell Camber I need to de-stress so I was taking Kelsi and Bandido for a walk.  We went to the park, dallied at the swings and then sat in the sand and made castles with balconies and windows and people and then scattered snow over them all.  It was very calming...  I can't handle this old age.  I want to be a child again.

Collage Fun

Before I left I took all the calendars I have gathered and threw them in with my books. What has resulted with the time on my hands is collage pictures and boxes. Jacob, Jimmy, Lea and Kelsi each did large collage pictures that turned out nicely, mostly of animals. Lea and Kelsi also did collage boxes which look great. These are the collage boxes I have created. The nice thing about it is I have no expectation of perfection in my lifetime any more and so it is just fun cutting and pasting.

I still have a lot of calendars and only a few boxes left so I am on the outlook for boxes of all shapes and sizes. What will I do with all the boxes? I am giving the nautical one to Jacob for his birthday, keeping the large Carl Larsson box, and the others, well ,if you see something you like and have room for another dust gatherer, let me know. It is a shame to throw away all those calendar pictures so I will keep pasting as long as I have modge podge and boxes.

I remember hours of cutting and pasting from catalogs and magazines when I was a child. My mother made a glue of flour and water and it worked very well. No smell, no bad taste and it does stick. Tooth picks and popsicle sticks were used for spreading the glue.   What did we paste on? Anything we could find and if we were lucky, occasionally some store bought colored construction paper.

Kurt Warner

I have always admired Kurt Warner, quarterback of the Cardinals, and felt so badly watching him get hurt so much in Sunday's game.  Can't they play good football without so much damage?  It often looks so deliberate to cause injury--not just to stop a player.  Every time he was hit the tv would shift to his mother and wife to see how they were reacting.

At any rate I was listening to an ESPN station on the way to the doctor yesterday and they were reporting that he will probably be announcing his retirement today.  The announcer reported his wife as saying, "It was up to Kurt and God."  The announcer said he couldn't understand this at all (asking God for guidance in making decisions).  Although it did not surprise me that people think this way, it did surprise me that someone would admit it on the radio to the whole world and God.

As much as I will miss watching Kurt Warner, I know that with his character and commitment to God and family he will find a way to serve in a much greater way than just entertaining the masses in football.  Do what your heart tells you, Kurt, we are with you.

Another fun day.

Today I had a basal cell removed from the right side of my nose.  It was a year ago when I had the same procedure on the side of my nostril but it was much more serious and skin from my cheek was grafted on to the area. 

This time there are just stitches from the top of my nose to the bottom but no grafting.  Dr. Martin is very encouraging about how nicely the face heals and works very hard to have a pleasing conclusion.  I trust her.  She said the nose is very vulnerable to basal cell sarcoma and said she hoped this was the last of it on me.  Me, too.

She asked me how I was coming with my other doctor appointments I have lined up and she said the carotid surgery is the most important so I better keep pursuing that appointment.  I'll be glad when summer comes.

OK, Now I'm Feeling Vulnerable

After a lot of back and forth calling, I finally heard the results of my Carotid Doppler.  The right side is 70-80% narrowed and the left side is 16-49% narrowed.  Dr. Natali told me I need to be referred to a Vascular Surgeon.  I gave him two names but I think they were heart specialists and the vascular surgeon is in the same building but on the fourth floor.  Oh, well, I guess he will find who to refer me to down here.

As I read about the surgery, which I had convinced myself I wouldn't need, I realized it was a bigger deal than I thought.  I also read that the plaque is a mixture of cholesterol, calcium, and fibrous tissue.  I have never had high blood pressure or diabetes.  My cholesterol has been high forever but my HDL has always been high which is a plus.

I never smoked but my exercise is only walking or working in the yard anymore.  And my weight should be lower.  So next step is to see what a doctor says.  Yes, I feel very vulnerable.

Kelsi

These are some cute pictures of Kelsi I wanted to share.

More Birthday

I adopted this chic pix taken on my birthday as my official birthday picture.  It was taken after granddaughter Kelsi brought me the birthday glasses and before I had taken my curlers

 out.  I think it is so appropriate at this stage and age of life (77)--Looking at life through rose colored glasses and yet never being quite ready for whatever comes.

 I still haven't had my little cancerous spot removed from my nose.  It was so stormy this Thrusday it was postponed till next Thursday.  Now I read the storm coming may be worse this week--of bibilical proportions, whatever that means.

This is Kelsi, looking at her strange grandma.

On my real birthday, my son James and I had lunch at the Olive Garden.  It was delicious as always and we topped it off with a wonderful lemon cake.  In the evening Melissa and I went to the movie "The Book of Eli".  I keep wondering who wanted to push the importance of the Holy Bible so much that they would do it by enticing people in with the promise of violence (of which there was a lot).  Whoever wrote the script has not really studied the bible well enough to glean all of the truth of prophecy but it was a message worth getting.  The message is that we are putting too much value in the material things in life and not realizing what is most important.  At least that is what I got out of it.  The message was good but it was a strange, dark movie and I am not recommending it.

Saturday I picked up my new glasses at Costco and yea, the world is a little clearer and I can read without squinting so much.  Maria and I also saw "To Save A Life" which I would definitely recommend.  The theme was suggested by a Christian Church in Oceanside and the filming was done with non-Hollywood type actors.  The theme is teen suicides.  It was extremely well done, very entertaining and believable and the message was loud and clear.  We need to love and care about everyone and show it.  We get so busy with out own little lives we just don't see those around us.  Even if we think we are good Christians we are not doing what Jesus would do.  We are not being inclusive and we are not serving others.

Which reminds me of the darling child joke that Carole told me once and I have never forgotten.

"The teacher was telling all the children that they were here to serve others.  And one child raised his hand and asked, "What are the others here for?"  I love it.

Oh, yes, I missed two days of power outtages this past week at home and 4 feet of snow--way to go, Janet!  This has been some birthday, I never had so many birthday greetings.  Our lives are so different with cell phones, emails and facebook, it seems like we have so many more friends, but I wonder, do we really???  Something to think about.

Rain in Southern California and Snow at Home

My home teacher Ron took these pictures at my house today.  Thank heaven there was not a power outage at my house although there had been one all day in Chester and Almanor West.  Notice Ron plowed my driveway--what a guy, thank you so much!!!  Wow, this makes me homesick.

Happy 77th!

We all gathered at the Hardy home to celebrate my birthday.   There was my daughter Maria,  her friend Dave, and her children Melissa and Matt--my daughter Linda, her husband Gary,  and their children Tanner, Sarah and Kelly and Kelly's friend Matt--my son James, his wife Camber, and their children Jacob, Lea, Jimmy and Kelsi--my granddaughter Kristi, her husband Mike and their children Kate and Ryan.

Cute Granddaughters Kristi and Melissa.

Linda had prepared enchiladas and mole sauce with rice and beans and Camber prepared the salad and lemonades, James made the guacamole, and they provided chips and other dips and Maria brought the Red Velvet birthday cake and there was also ice cream.

Sarah and Kate

 

 

Kristi's husband Mike with Ryan and Kate

After eating at three separate tables, the girls were in one room doing karaoke and the guys were in another room doing Wii while some were just watching...Fun party.

Cute picture of the sisters!

The White Lie, the Squib, the Untruth

When I was in junior high, I was in a play "The White Lie".  It left an impression on me but still it is hard not to lie sometimes.  I do not like to be put in the position of telling a social lie which makes me come off as rude or stand offish.  I do not like to act "as if" I feel a certain way when I don't so I can appear very rude sometimes, so which is worse rudeness or lying?  I am sure there is a happy medium there that I have not found.  When I was dating, I never had a problem being pursued by someone I didn't like, it was always very obvious exactly how I felt. 

Still lying is fascinating to me. 

Yesterday Kelsi (3) told me at least 3 squibs (as we used to call them).  When I said we needed to ask her Mom about going to the library, she told me she was gone, when I said we needed to ask her Dad if she could go to the library with me, she said he had gone away on the plane, she then contributed that her Mom had gone on the plane, too.  When we went in the house, they were both in the kitchen.  Later she walked across the courtyard to ask me if I would get her some cereal and milk.  I asked her where her Mom was.  She said she was gone to (?) some one's house.  When we went to the kitchen Camber was standing in the kitchen and the cereal and milk was on the eating counter.  Later when she was crying in the house and I asked her what was the matter she said her Mom had left her alone in the house. (Camber spoke up and said,"Kelsi, that is not true." ) I remembered that Kristi said that Kate was always telling lies, too.  Well, mothers, listen up, you have very intelligent 3 year olds!  According to an article by Po Bronson, she says this about lying.

"It starts very young. Indeed, bright kids—those who do better on other academic indicators—are able to start lying at 2 or 3. “Lying is related to intelligence,” explains Dr. Victoria Talwar, an assistant professor at Montreal’s McGill University and a leading expert on children’s lying behavior.

Although we think of truthfulness as a young child’s paramount virtue, it turns out that lying is the more advanced skill. A child who is going to lie must recognize the truth, intellectually conceive of an alternate reality, and be able to convincingly sell that new reality to someone else. Therefore, lying demands both advanced cognitive development and social skills that honesty simply doesn’t require. “It’s a developmental milestone,” Talwar has concluded.

This puts parents in the position of being either damned or blessed, depending on how they choose to look at it. If your 4-year-old is a good liar, it’s a strong sign she’s got brains. And it’s the smart, savvy kid who’s most at risk of becoming a habitual liar."

When we had a teenage niece staying with us I was very concerned about her outrageous lying.  I asked my psycholigist neighbor about how to stop it.  She said it was a very difficult thing to stop.  They needed to have something really horrible happen because of a lie they told, before they would try and change their behavior.

My fellow kindergarten teacher reminded me never to ask a child directly if he had taken something.  He will say "No" and that ends it.

I still laugh at how convincing Johnny was at 5 when he told us the nurseryman told him we needed to water our dying tree more.  We soon had waterlog under the grass.  The nurseryman said he had never told Johnny any such thing and that Johnny had never even shown him the twig we had given him.  (The nursery was in back of our house and we were frequent visitors there).  Strange we would give Johnny such a responsibility in the first place...talk about dumb parents.   Which reminds me, I think we all think of ourselves as poor parents from time to time but after meeting Vanessa in "The Darkest Evening of the Year" by Dean Koontz, I will never think of myself as a bad Mom again.  I don't know where he comes up with these evil characters he writes about but they are unforgettable.

I Can't Believe I Did It Again!!!

After Melissa and I had a birthday movie (Leap Year) popcorn and then a Mexican lunch I went to Walmart.  On the way home I stopped for gas and couldn't find my purse!  Not knowing whether I had enough gas to get back and right in the midst of evening traffic I headed back to Walmart.  Yes, I was praying my purse was turned in but could it really be safe for the SECOND TIME??? (When I was working in Sacramento a few years ago I had left my wallet in a Walmart cart.  The wallet was filled with cash and charge cards worth over $50K.  When I arrived back at the hotel I didn't have my card key and then realized my wallet was gone.  When I retrieved it from the Walmart Customer Service they told me it was not unusual to have the purse returned with all cards and cash intact.  "We have good people here," she said.  Could I really be that blessed a second time???

There was a long line but when I got to the Customer Service rep a call was made and the determination was that no purse had been turned in.  I asked if I could use a phone as I needed someone to come as I had no money or phone with me (yes, I had my keys but my gas tank was almost empty).  She asked for the number and I gave her Maria's cell.  She said she couldn't phone a long distance number.  I gave her James' cell number.  Same problem--she couldn't call a long distance number.  I couldn't remember their 760 number which she wanted.  She called for someone to come and help me and explained my purse was lost and I needed someone to call a long distance number for me.  The lady on the other end said a purse had been turned in!!  The clerk said that Kevin had just told her no purse had been turned in.  The other lady came,  she gave me my purse and lo and behold, cell phone was there, all the money was there, all the cards and my license were there. 

Now, if I had had gas in my car I would have driven home and not retrieved my purse.  If I had given them the 760 number, Maria or James would have come and I would have not retrieved my purse.  Thank the Lord for tender mercies, for the second time my scatter brained carelessness did not damage my life and financial situation.  And believe me this really proves without a doubt, if you have to lose a purse...do it at Walmart, they must have the most honest employees and customers ever.

Hair Cut

Time to go back to having short, short hair.  Seta doesn't work a lot anymore but she always takes me right in and talks as she cuts.  This time we went short, short, and it feels good!!

Dr. Martin also called and said the spot on my nose needs to come off so more surgery on the 21st.  She said it won't be so invasive this time but I will be looking pretty ghastly for my birthday this year.

Listening  carefully to the technician  at my doppler test I got the idea that although I have plaque in my carotid arteries it will probably just be a thing to watch and not bad enough for surgery yet...that is good news so it is on to the next thing--eyes being tested and then new glasses so I can see better when I compute or read, yea....

Maria says it is good I am not working so I can take care of all these things, but of course, if I was working, I wouldn't be paying attention to any of these things...that is life.

When I called Fort Worth SBA the other day, they said there is nothing going on...

Moved

Oh, yes, I forgot to mention I had moved from Linda's house in El Cajon to James' house in Rancho Santa Fe.  I always enjoy staying at Linda's house because it is so quiet and peaceful.  Everyone is fairly grown up except for Sarah, who is in fifth grade, so everyone is working or busy and have learned to take care of themselves so the house stays neat and is quiet.  Even Sarah likes her room neat.  She spent half the day cleaning it and sorting out her clothes.  There is also a fantastic library by Linda's house.

But it is fun to come to James' house and be around younger children who are always playing games and having lots of friends over to play.  Lots of activity going on.  Kelsi is a fun little companion for me as we walk the dog or play together.  Tonight we matched dominoes and she did a super job.  I am lucky to have such nice families to spend my winters with and no time to get lonely.

It was 85 degrees today and so beautiful.  As I talk to my sisters and friends and hear how cold it is, I feel very blessed to be enjoying this gorgeous weather as well as nice company.

The Library

This morning I found a library just a few miles away.  And it is a very nice library.  I love libraries, I have said that before.  I have very happy memories of libraries, books and words from my early childhood days.

I ordered the second Stieg Larsson book--there are only 84 of us waiting for it, but since there are 43 copies it shouldn't be too long of a wait.  I was able to get another Gail T book and a Dean Koontz book.  I just read Dean Koontz  "Your Heart Belongs to Me" and what a fun mystery read.  Since he has written over 160 books I should find plenty more to enjoy.  The one I chose today I see is being made into a movie, "The Husband".  How can one person have that many stories in him, how can he make them all different?  It is beyond my comprehension.    

No Fear? How?

As I was driving to a Dr appointment today I remembered a cup my son John gave me years ago.  It said, "No Fear" and had a diamond on it representing the Difficult area of a mountain to ski.  I followed John once on a Diamond area only because he persuaded me.  But I took two turns and looked at what followed and skied to the side, took my skis off and walked down the mountain.  I never did learn to ski an area that I feared.  How does one live with "No fear"...  I would like to.  Ever since I slipped and fell last year and then fell flat on my face a month later I walk with fear.  It is a very unpleasant experience to feel so vulnerable and not be able to choose to not go in areas you fear because you just fear the most ordinary experiences of walking down stairs, walking down a driveway, walking on a cement walk with bumps, things you once did with no thought at all.  I just fear falling flat on my face again when I am not being careful.  I was talking to a friend and she feels the same way.

In my dreams I am always losing things, yes, that is a fear.  In my dreams I am also lost and can't find my way, that is a fear.  In my dreams, I either can't find my purse or there is no money in it, that is a fear.  Then there is the problem of not being able to get ready for wherever I am supposed to be going.  I can't find my clothes, I can't get them on, everyone else is moving on and I am still trying to get dressed, that is a fear, not being ready. 

As I was thinking about this fear thing on my way to a new medical building to me, I suddenly realized I was in a residential area and the ruffians on the side of the road looked a little scary to me.  Instead of using my GPS I was following directions from the Internet and realized I was not on the street I should be.  The main street had taken a slight curve and I stayed straight.  Thank heaven for my Garvin--I was able to pull to the side, plug in the address and get myself out of that strange area...fear, it was there.  Long before the GPS thing I remember being lost in LA in a strange area when I was going the wrong direction as I was looking for a Lender--the only way out was to call and ask for directions and we didn't have a cell then so I had to stop at a phone box at a gas station...fear.  I hate fear.  How does one live without it????

Talk Given November 8, 2009 at Clear Creek Branch

Sheri Dew tells of visiting a ward in Oregon and at the conclusion of Sacrament Meeting a woman approached her and asked: “Are you the woman I think you are?” Her question referred to her identity, but Sheri Dew said the question has haunted her and it is a question you and I, sisters, could ask ourselves. “Am I the woman I think I am? Am I the woman I want to be? More importantly, Am I the woman the Savior needs me to be?

Who is the Latter-day Saint Woman of today?

Sheri Dew also tells about meeting with President Hinckley and in response to a question he asked her she said, “I love getting out with the women of the Church. They are so good.” At that he immediately corrected her. No, Sheri, They aren’t good. They are great?

So what makes the Latter-day Saint woman great?

I concur with President Hinckley, I am forever grateful for the great leaders and teachers I have had over the years in Relief Society especially in my early marriage years when I had so much to learn about marriage, motherhood, and homemaking. They were the example to me of who I wanted to become. They taught me things I couldn’t learn in college and things my own mother was too far, far away to teach me. And I am still learning from my Relief Society sisters.

So who is this Latter-day Saint woman and what makes her so great and what is her role in the church and in the world?

President Heber J Grant said, “Without the devotion and absolute testimony of the living God in the hearts of our mothers, this Church would die.”

Elder James E. Talmage of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles stated that “The world’s greatest champion of woman and womanhood is Jesus the Christ. Elder Russell Ballard said, “I believe that. The first time the Lord acknowledged himself to be Christ, it was to a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. He taught her About living water and proclaimed, simply “I am He, And it was Martha to whom he proclaimed. “I am the resurrection, and the life.. and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.

Then during His greatest agony as He hung on the cross, The Savior reached out to one person—His mother ,when in that terrible but glorious moment He asked John the Beloved to care for her as though she were his own.

Elder Ballard also said Of this you may be certain: “The Lord especially loves righteous women—women who are not only faithful and filled with faith, women who are optimistic and cheerful because they know who they are and where they are going, women who are striving to live and serve as women of God.

Is this what makes a Latter-day Saint woman great—her testimony, her faith, her righteousness, her optimism and knowledge of who she is?

There are those who suggest, Elder Ballard said, that males are favored of the Lord because they are ordained to hold the priesthood. Anyone who believes this does not understand the great plan of happiness. The premortal and mortal natures of men and women were specified by God Himself, and it is simply not within His character to diminish the roles and responsibilities of any of His children.

Jan Marie Petersen had a shocking experience while serving a mission in Florida. One woman literally screamed the two missionaries off her front porch after they had introduced themselves, furious that they represented, in her words, “a church of male dictators where women cower in kitchens—mindless slaves to their husbands.” “Her words appalled me,” Jan Marie says. “They were so far from describing the many talented, confident Latter-day Saint women I had grown up admiring.” “Contrary to the world’s conception of the ‘place’ of a woman in LDS society, our places are as diverse as we are—our possibilities for achievement are as endless and exciting as our dreams.

President Joseph Fielding Smith explained, “The Lord offers to his daughters every spiritual gift and blessing that can be obtained by his sons (Apr 1970) All of us, men and women alike, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and are entitled to personal revelation. We may all take upon us the Lord’s name, become sons and daughters of Christ, partake of the ordinances of the temple from which we emerge endowed with power, receive the fullness of the gospel, and achieve exaltation in the celestial kingdom. These spiritual blessings are available to men and women alike, according to their faithfulness and their effort to receive them.

We know that the basic doctrinal purpose for the Creation of the earth is to provide for God’s spirit children the continuation of the process of exaltation and eternal life. Yet, some people in the world do not understand that.

In Luftkin, Texas, Marsha Ault, who was eight months pregnant, was shopping with her husband and four children. She endured the curious, disapproving, and pitying stares of several of the store’s patrons before a woman approached her and asked, “Don’t you believe in birth control?”

The question sent Marsha and her children to the car, leaving Marsha’s husband to check out the groceries. Marsha began to cry, and her children asked what was wrong. “I tried to explain that many people nowadays feel it is wrong to have more than one or two children, and that people seemed to think I was very foolish to be having another child. “Then my five-year-old daughter, Ginger, said innocently, ‘Mama, we can duck down!” Marsha said she had never felt so small.

When I read this story the other day I had a really good cry and I don’t cry often. It touched me so much how willing Ginger was to just disappear just so her mother wouldn’t feel badly. And of course, her Mom didn’t feel badly about the children at all…we know that.

The Church’s proclamation on the family confirms that God has not revoked or changed the commandment to multiply and replenish the earth. Is this what makes the Latter-day Saint woman great, her willingness to be a Mom?

This doctrine does cause some women to ask: “Is a woman’s value dependent exclusively upon her role as a wife and mother? The answer is simple, an obvious: No!

Although there is nothing a woman can do that has more far-reaching eternal impact than to rear her children to walk in righteousness, motherhood and marital status are not the only measures of a woman’s worth. Every righteous woman has a significant role to play in the onward march of the kingdom of God. We cannot fulfill our mission as A Church without the inspired insight and support of women.

Elder Ballard went on to say; “For that reason I am concerned bout what I see happening with some of our young women. Satan would have you dress, talk, and behave in unnatural and destructive ways in your relationships with young men. The adversary is having great success distorting attitudes about gender and roles and about families and individual worth. He is the author of mass confusion about the value, the role, the contribution, and the unique nature of women. Today’s popular culture which is preached by every form of media from movies to the internet, celebrates the sexy, sassy, socially aggressive woman. These distortions are seeping into the thinking of some of our own women.”

The other day when I drove to Susanville my country station became static and I switched to the Catholic station. The discussion was on abortion, the after morning pill and unwed mothers. A young man called in and said, “ I wish you would tell the girls not to dress the way they do. I wish they would dress so that we wanted to look at their face and talk to them and get acquainted with them and find out if they are someone we really want to know and be with.” Instead of having our eyes drawn to their bodies and think other thoughts. The commentator made the observation that a community will have the morals of what the women have. That men will rise to meet the morals of the women.

I was telling this to my daughter and she said her son said the very same thing. They passed a group of girls dressed in the low and midriff t shirts and low hipped,short shorts and he said, “I wish girls wouldn’t dress that way.”

When I was working in Texas I was amazed at the strict dress code they had. Not that we had to dress in expensive suits, nothing like that. It was just no tight capris, t- shirts, low necked blouses, etc. This was a work place and there was to be no distractions in that way. And yet anything goes in our schools.

It was refreshing for me to hear this young man’s call and know it is not just LDS that are asking for better dress standards amongst our women.

Is this what makes a Latter-day Saint women great? That she dresses modestly?

President Dieter Uchtdorf repeats somewhat what Jan Marie Petersen said when he said “Because women’s potential for good is so great and their gifts so diverse, women may find themselves in roles that vary with their circumstances in life. Some women, in fact, must fill many roles simultaneously. For this reason, Latter-day Saint women are encouraged to acquire an education and training that will qualify them both for homemaking and raising a righteous family and for earning a living outside the home if the occasion requires.

The 70’s were a time of Woman’s lib but this is not why I was working fulltime in the 80s and it is not why most of my friends were now working. We had to work. Times had changed, interest rates were in the upper teens, businesses were failing, foreclosures were rampant. My husband was busy saving his investment clients and the business had to change. I had to come out of my comfort zone after 20 years of being a stay at home Mom and learn a new business that was forming—that of being a mortgage broker to the big banks—and it changed my life forever. This is what Elder Uchtdorf was talking about

“earning a living outside the home if the occasion requires.”

In the early 80’s I attended a Woman’s Week at BYU-Idaho (wasn’t called that then) my oldest daughter was attending school there and I remembered in particular three of the talks that were given.

One was from a white haired older gentleman and he told the women they needed to stay home and raise their children and not go out of the home to work. A younger Church leader recognized that many women were having to work outside the home and encouraged them in their efforts to sustain their family and marriage and work and do it all acceptable to the Lord. A third speaker reminded the young women that all their happiness could not be dependent on that one prince charming they were looking for to marry. They needed to become women who were happy with themselves and educated and prepared in a career of their choice in case they would be needed to sustain themselves.

Elder James E Faust said in speaking to women— You should work very hard to prepare for your future by gaining some marketable skills. However, it does not mean that women should be the same as men or try to do things the way men do them. Although some jobs that are traditionally masculine are now being done by women, it is possible for them to be done in a feminine way and yet be done equally as—or even better.

For the most part I have been treated with respect in the workplace but occasionally I have met some men who try to intimidate women.

When I was working in Hurricane Katrina one of my leaders had a lower payscale than mine and my friend Karen. It really bothered him and he was so rude to us. One day after he came to my desk and talked to me, I could stand it no longer. I stood up, walked over to him and pointed my finger and said. “Don’t you ever speak to me that way again.”—And he never did. As women we need to express which boundaries will not be crossed.

I remember when I was making copies one day in the office and I could hear a discussion by two secretaries on the other side of the screen. They were discussing the way the husband was treating one of them. One secretary said, “Janet would never let Richard treat her that way? And the mistreated secretary said, “Yes, but Janet is her own person?”—

Heellooo---Yes, sisters we are our own person—We are Latter day Saint women who know who we are, where we came from and where we are going and what we have to do to get there. We will not be able to fill all the roles of our life at the same time but we can do things sequentially—filling roles one at a time at different times We are definitely our own person—daughters of God, women of faith with a mission.

President Spencer W Kimball in speaking of the roles of men and women said. “our roles and assignments differ. These are eternal differences—with women being given many tremendous responsibilities of motherhood and sisterhood and men being given the tremendous responsibilities of fatherhood and the priesthood—but the man is not without the woman nor the woman without the man in the Lord.

Remember, in the world before we came here, faithful women were given certain assignments while faithful men were foreordained to certain priesthood tasks. While we do not now remember the particulars, this does not alter the glorious reality of what we once agreed to. You are accountable for those things which long ago were expected of you just as are those we sustain as prophets and apostles!

This leaves much to be done by way of parallel personal development—for both men and women.”

A recent book sent to me about Mormon Women featured a Humanitarian, a Jewelry designer and business owner, a teacher, a City manager, a historian, a public health administrator, a mystery novelist, a sign language instructor, a fashion designer, a chief justice, a poet. And certainly the arts are filled with Latter-day Saint actresses, dancers, writers. There is no “Molly Mormon”—that is a myth. We all agreed to come to this earth and complete our commitments but we all came with separate assignments and separate gifts and we are all unique.. Elder James S Faust said to him “Greatness” is becoming an individual of significant worth and a person of virtue so that your contributions are maintained in both human and eternal terms.

Elder Ballard expressed it this way:

I have been drawn to an interchange between God the Father and His eldest and Only Begotten Son, who is the ultimate example of living up to one’s premortal promises. When God asked who would come to earth to prepare a way for all mankind to be saved and strengthened and blessed, it was Jesus Christ who said, simply, “Here am I, send me” (Abr. 3:27).

Just as the Savior stepped forward to fulfill His divine responsibilities, we have the challenge and responsibility to do likewise. If you are wondering if you make a difference to the Lord, imagine the impact when you make commitments such as the following:

“Father, if You need a woman to rear children in righteousness, here am I, send me.”

“If You need a woman who will shun vulgarity and dress modestly and speak with dignity and show the world how joyous it is to keep the commandments, here am I, send me.”

“If You need a woman who can resist the alluring temptations of the world by keeping her eyes fixed on eternity, here am I, send me.”

“If You need a woman of faithful steadiness, here am I, send me.”

Between now and the day the Lord comes again, He needs women in every family, in every ward, in every community, in every nation who will step forward in righteousness and say by their words and their actions, “Here am I, send me.”

My question is, “Will you be one of those women?

Now, I know most of you want to. But how will you do it? How, in a world filled with deceptive messages about women and the family—and the significance of both to the Lord—will you constantly respond to the Lord, “Here am I, send me”?

For those who really want to live up to who you are, for those who want to see through Satan’s deceptions and who at all costs want to repent if necessary, I have two suggestions:

First, listen to and follow those whom we sustain as prophets, seers, and revelators.

Second, learn to hear the voice of the Spirit, or the voice of the Lord as communicated by the power of the Holy Ghost.

In November 2000, President Hinckley spoke to youth in a Churchwide fireside (see “A Prophet’s Counsel and Prayer for Youth,” Liahona, April 2001, 30–41). Have you young adults studied his message and identified things you need to avoid or do differently? I know a 17-year-old who just prior to the prophet’s talk had pierced her ears a second time.

She came home from the fireside, took off the second set of earrings, and said to her parents, “If President Hinckley says we should wear only one set of earrings, that’s good enough for me.”

Wearing two pairs of earrings may or may not have eternal consequences for this young woman, but her willingness to obey the prophet will. And if she will obey him now, on something relatively simple, how much easier it will be to follow him when greater issues are at stake.

I make you a promise. It is a simple one, but it is true. If you will listen to the living prophet and the apostles and heed our counsel, you will not go astray.

If you want to avoid the snares of Satan, if you need direction when the choices in front of you are puzzling and perplexing, learn to hear the voice of the Lord as communicated through the Holy Ghost. And then, of course, do what it tells you to do.

“Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good” (Alma 37:37

Who is the Latter Day Saint Woman today and what makes her great and what is her role?—She is a woman who can hear and responds to the voice of the Lord, She is a woman who at all costs will defend and protect her family. She is a woman who rejoices in her womanhood and has a spiritual confirmation of her identity, her value, and her eternal destiny. She is a woman of faith who follows a Prophet. And above all She is a woman who will stand up for truth and righteousness and simply say, “Lord, here am I, send me.”

None of us are perfected yet, we are all striving and often fall short of being the women the Savior needs us to be. Most of us will never do great things. But we can do small things in a great way. It has been said that “The smart learn from themselves and experience, but the wise learn from others.” I feel that is what we do as Latter-day Saint women—we learn from one another and there is a line from Martin Luther that applies to us today—he said “The kingdom of God is like a besieged city surrounded on all sides…Each of us has a place on the wall to defend and no one can stand where another stands, but nothing prevents us from calling encouragement to one another.” We are so blessed to not only have the gospel in our lives and the voices of the prophets to teach us but great Latter-day Saint women who continually encourage us to become the women the Savior needs us to be. For this I am very thankful and I say this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen

Janet Hardy, Nov 8, 2009

Stieg Larsson

Stieg Larsson is the author of  'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and he passed away in 2004 right after the manuscripts of  the Millennium trilogy  'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo', 'The Girl Who Played with Fire' and  'The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest' were presented for publication.  There is  intrigue in his life as well as his books.  He had a life partner for 32 years.  He did not marry her nor did he write a will so the estate (and income) of his books rights goes to his father and his brother (who he evidently had little to do with in his life).  There is a fourth book on the computer held by the life partner.  She will not have it published unless they turn over the rights of the books to her.  The father and brother have offered her 2 mill.  It has been at a standstill for five years.  Before Larsson died he also had to take precautions for his life as he was threatened because of his exposure work of right-wing extremists.  He was a workaholic and accomplished a lot but I could not find out how he died.

Most of the comments on the bibliography site sided with the life partner.  However, this brings up the issue which someone said to me to the other day. "What is the use of getting married?"  Here is a huge reason for getting married--ownership rights.  Obviously he should have done a will at least.  Why do some very smart people overlook this crucial part of life???

At any rate I am looking forwarding to reading the second two books in the triology and hope that someday the fourth book will be published and I can also see the movies resulting from these books, even if they will be in a foreign language.  What a talented man, how sad he will not be able to go on with his great skills.  I hope the family can resolve their differences.  How sad he did not live to see the success of his work.

The Good Life

The nice thing about being away from my home and yard (though I miss them) is that I have more time to read non-stop.  I just finished  "Dancing Water" by Gail Tsukiyama  which Marilyn gave me for Christmas and I will read more of her books.  I am always happy when I find an author I really enjoy.  "Dancing Water" was about a child who had Werner's Disease in which the person ages prematurely and eventually dies at a young age.  It was sad and the whole book only encompasses two days but goes back and plays out their whole life.  Very moving and enriching to read. 

Now I am reading an exciting mystery which I can't put down even though it is about a murder over 30 years before.  I have read over half the book in one day and it is almost 600 pages long.  It is "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson.  I will definitely read more of his books as well.  The book takes place in Sweden and it is fun to know about the places in the book having just traveled to Sweden this last summer.

My eyes get so tired though, I know I need better glasses.  I went to Costco today to see when I had bought these reading glasses and it was four years ago!!!  I can't believe that much time as gone by but I will definitely get my eyes tested and get new glasses.  It will be even more fun to read!

When I saw "Avatar" (which I really enjoyed) I saw that "Dear John" is coming to the screen in January.  It was one of my most favorite Nicholas Sparks' books.  Yea!

Oh, yes, and Nancy Meyers has another hit "It's Complicated!"--sooo funny.  You really appreciate her movies when you watch another so-so movie and see how uncoordinated and slow moving some of them are...

The movies cost way too much down here though--you can buy the whole book for the price of the movie!  And popcorn, wow, that is a whole other issue--movies and popcorn used to be a cheap date which Richard and I had every Friday--not cheap anymore.

Today I also enjoyed listening to the cd my sister Jeanne sent me for Christmas--Susan Boyle.  I knew her singing was good but it is even more pleasurable than I remembered, so good.  Poor Jeanne is in the hospital with pneumonia, we are all praying for her speedy recovery. 

My niece Stephi and her family were here this weekend and I hoped to see them but did not.  I don't drive out at night much anymore and being way out here in El Cajon I couldn't think where to meet them.   I have been gone from San Diego for over 10 years and hardly know where all the favorite eating places are anymore.  However, the sun came out today and they should have a lovely cruise down the coast...Meagan and I really enjoyed our cruise last March.