Growl

That's right, growl.  I'm in a bit of a grumpy mood right now.  I am currently grumpy at:

• Benzoyl Peroxide--Why do you have to bleach out every towel in my house?  I don't like the green towel to have orange spots, or the blue towel to have pinky-purply smears, or the new towels to be ruined.  Could you just stick to your job of taking care of pimples (which, I personally am not so sure you do that well anyway, even though my teens like you) and leave my towels alone?
• Menstrual Cycles--Seriously, why do you have to make women feel so nasty at least once a month?  I am most especially not fond of bloated midsections, sweet cravings that make me feel like Pac-Man (woca, woca, woca...munch, munch, munch!), and the emotional roller coaster.  It's the big joke that when a woman is grumpy a man says "It must be 'that time of the month'", but sadly, it's often true.  Not only does PMS type stuff make me cranky, but it makes me cranky to know that in a few days it will all feel so much better.  Could I just be level-headed through that time of the month instead of some Godzilla-like creature? 
• Getting old...especially as I'm not that old!!!--Slowing metabolism, graying hair, wrinkling eyes, stiffening body...PBBBBTTT! (that's the sound of me sticking my tongue out at old age!)
• Never-ending things such as laundry and weeding.  It would be so nice to say for once, "It's all done!", but we all know the laundry basket is bottomless and the weeds are always growing.  Stink.

Well, I guess that's all right now.  Excuse me as I go consume all the chocolate chips in the house, while folding a laundry load of bleached out towels.  Let's hope I can get up off the ground when I'm through!

Quilt Blocks

For the past day I've been trying to work on the quilt blocks that I need to finish for my quilt block exchange.  I know, I know...I said previously here that I wasn't sure I wanted to continue with the quilt block exchange.  And I don't...but I got pulled in and said I'd do just one more.

The reason I got pulled in was that the quilt blocks are for a girl that I had in Mia Maids when I was in Young Women just a few months ago.  This time each person picked a color from the Young Women value colors to make all their squares.  In the end, we'll all have the following squares:
White (for Faith)
Blue (for Divine Nature)
Red (for Individual Worth)
Green (for Knowledge)
Orange (for Choice and Accountability)
Yellow (for Good Works)
Purple (for Integrity) and
Gold (for Virtue)
How could I say no to one of my favorite Young Women and a Young Women value color quilt?  Well...I couldn't. 

So here I am, working to finish eight yellow Good Works quilt blocks before the first of August.  The pattern I picked to do was a pinwheel pattern.  It's kind of symbolic in my mind.  First of all, thinking of how pinwheels turn round and round reminded me of the Scout version of Good Works, "Do a Good Turn Daily".  Secondly I thought of how with just a little effort on our part, we can send a pinwheel spinning away.  Often with just a little effort on our part we can send other spinning away to do their own Good Works in a "pay it forward" type of way.  And finally, at least for me, pinwheels always seem to bring a little bit of joy and happiness to my soul...as Good Works do as well.

Happy Independence Day!

Just a brief post to say THANK YOU to all those who helped make our country free.  I am so grateful for your service and sacrifice. 

Today we sang the Star Spangled Banner as the closing song in Sacrament Meeting.  I have heard that some people don't appreciate it, but I love the Star Spangled Banner, and I can't sing the whole thing without crying (especially the 3rd verse).  Truly we live in a blessed land!

Oh say, can you see, By the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh say, does that star spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly see thru the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream;
'Tis the star spangled banner!  Oh, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh, thus be it ever, when free men shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust!"
And the star spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!