all the projects

project 1: Sweing stuff



i'm attempting to make two shirts and a hot rice pack thingy. i've made the shirt before, so it might actually turn out. the rice pack thingy doesnt look _too_ hard...

Project 2: Music



I'm attempting to salvage my piano playing skills, and guitar skills before they become totally inept they diminished greatly when i went up to school.

project 3: Crafty Stuffs



i owe this one to my roomate JM. she did this kind of thing when she broke a necklace or somesuch. rachel happened to break her bracelet, and so i made it into a pair of earings (whats going to happen with them, i dont know. no one at home can wear them.), and a choker for her. i have two pieces left. i'm hoping to make a necklace for myself out of them...


project 4: Mission-prep/Gospel related



fairly self explanitory. i'm still preping to go on a mission, even if it will take about half a year longer than i want it to.

Matsuko's Writings

as i tread through the forest, there isnt a sound. it is very quiet. the snow adds to the quiet, but it is too quiet. no birds singing in the trees overhead. i stop, watch, and listen. i dont hear a sound. not even the far off barking of the dogs in camp. in the fading light, it is hard to be sure, but i think i see anoyher person, crouching behind a bush. i wistle like a bluejay. he wistles back. i approach.
"the wolf has been by" i comment, noticing the paw prints in the snow. the wolf has been threatening our camp for a couple of days, and has been scaring off the game. we need the game if we are going to live over the winter.
"yes, very recently. that is why the birds have stopped their song."
we both adjust our quivers, get a firmer grip on our bows, and walk on a bit further.
"you were supposed to go after it. you should have left."
on we push, tracking the tracks, following his every move.
"i could have left" he said finally "but i would have missed my mark. i cannot see in this light. only you can see in this dim light."
we come upon a small cave. it was the wolf den, for there were a multitude of tracks around the opening. we could not tell if it was there, or if it had once again left. we peek inside. the wolf is still there. i nock my arrow, and take aim. suddenly, a pup comes into view. i lower my arrow, and step back.
"we cannot kill it. we will have to move camp. this wolf is a mother."
"so kill it and its pups."
"no. we cannot. it would be wrong. an adult, yes, we can shoot them, and even use the meat. the pups, we cannot kill. they do not have as fair of a chance, and, although we could eat them, and they would be most tender, it would be wrong. like killing one of the puppies from your dog."
he sees the fire in my eyes, and knows he has lost. we go back to camp, and then to home. we will be hungry this winter.

downtown, yet again

i was downtown, yet again today, and took more pictures. this time of less famliar buildings. some of city hall, and some of the Cathedral of the Madeline. both very pretty buildings, both of them very cool architecturally.

go here for more pictures

i'm so proud

sometimes, being rachel's "mindy-mommy" is a lot of fun. sure, there are times, many many times, that its been frusturating, but recently, its been a lot of fun, and she's made me proud.

as i've been looking for missionary clothes (not nearly as easy as you might think), rachel has come along to give her opinion, and then, just to be fair, we'll go and look at rachel sized cloths. lots of the cloths that they have out are immodest, and for the most part, rachel didnt, i thought, care about if it was modest, or immodest or what. but, she surprised me. as we were looking, she saw some really cute shirts and said "oh, those are cute mindy. but they are immodest." and she moved on to something else. one of the floor models they had was wearing a shirt, actually modest, but its shoulder had slid down. rachel, once again surpriseing me, went over and fixed it and then said "there. now she is dressed modestly" i was so happy and proud, and muchly plesently surprised.

not only has she been doing this with clothing though.

her dad and K, have recently made arrangements for rachel to go with her grandma and grandpa H to California over thanksgiving. when she found out that she would be gone over a sunday she asked her dad "is there a church in california?" me and me mum and dad were all very surprised to hear her ask it. we had thought that, especially after living with some of her parents, she didnt care much if she went to church or not. it was so exciting to be able to hear her ask that, and to show that she does care, and that she really would like to go, no matter what.

on a different note...

yesterday was the primary program. my sunbeams sat there so well! i was so happy that they were able to sit there and were as good as they were. sure, a lot of it probably had to do with the fact that their parents and grandparents were there, but one boy, KS, he honeslty doesnt know how to sit still, and he was sooo good! i was so proud to be there teacher.

pictures from downtown

i went downtown yesterday, while i was there, i decided to take some time and tour downtown. here's the pictures i took. (thanks daddy's camera!)

yet another story

Why we have snow
by matsuko

the great dragon decided it was time to move. he had been living in the same house for over 1000 years, and was starting to get tired of the scenery. so he packed up everything. his earth-shaking smoothie maker, his furniture, everything that he had in his house. he then moved to a new house that was about halfway across the sky. as he was moving all of his boxes and furniture and everyhting, he saw a sign for a dust/leaf/snow blower and thought that maybe it would be good to have one. "who knows, there might be a lot of trees where i'm going, and get lots of snow in the winters. i dont want to be spending my whole days raking leaves and shoveling snow!" unfortunately, the Great Dragon was too busy at the time to buy one. he forgot about the dust/leaf/snow blower for a long time, never passing the store. it was a lot closer to his old home than his new one. it changed seasons, and was no longer summer, but suddenly was fall. the great dragon's new home did indeed have a lot of trees, and, since he didnt remember to go get the leaf blower, was spending a lot of time raking up the leaves. a lot more than he would have liked to have. he decieded to try blowing them into a pile with his lungs. sadly, as he was trying so hard, he ended up setting the leaves all on fire. "i wish i hadnt done that. i had wanted to use those leaves for compost, and help my new garden grow next summer." so, he had to come up with a new idea. he tried to use his tail, instead of a rake, but that just scattered them more, and make it take a lot longer. so, he just settled with raking up the leaves. then winter came. he tried to blow and make fire and melt away the snow from his sidewalks, but it just turned into ice, and was more of a hazard. he tried making it all into snowdragons and snowunicorns and the like, but he ran out of room in his yard for them all. eventually, he just settled for shoveling his snow, like all of his neighbours. one day, he decided to go back and visit some of his old neighbours, and see how they were doing. as he was headed home, he passed the store selling the dust/leaf/snow blowers. "ah ha! just what i needed all this time. if only i had remembered, then i wouldnt have broken my arm when there was ice on my walks, or wasted all of those wonderful composting leaves. i'll have to get one, and try it out!" so get one he did. next time it snowed, he started up that snow blower. and what a wonderful job it did! he had his walks clean and free of snow and ice within 15 minutes. one thing he didnt notice was that it created quite the wind down on earth. come the next snow storm, the great dragon was prepared. this snow storm was HUGE! it dropped about two feet of snow. the great dragon was ready for it. he took out his snow blower, and started to clear his walks. this time, it took a LOT longer. he stopped to rest, and looked down to earth, to see what was going on there. he noticed that it was really really really windy, and it looked like it was snowing there too! "well, what a coincidence" he thought. i wouldnt have thought it would be snowing there, especially since it isnt snowing here any more. as he kept watching, it suddenly stopped snowing. "odd. snow doesnt just suddenly start, and suddenly stop like that. not down there. well, i had best get meself back to work. i still have more of my own sidewalks and driveway to worry about." as he got back to work, he kept an eye out on what was happening down on earth. he noticed that as he was using his snow blower, it suddenly started to snow on earth. "maybe i should stop. i dont like to give the people my snow. they have never had any, and wont know what to do with it all. but what can i do with all of my snow? i guess i'll just keep on making snowdragons and sometimes snow unicorns. maybe i'll only use the snowblower when i'm going to have company. i know that wont happen much, so it will only inconvinence the people on earth every once in a while. that would be good" so, every once in a while, the great dragon gets a gues to his house in the winter. some years, he gets more guests, and so we get more snow, but on other years, he gets hardly any visitors at all, and we dont get much snow at all.

today's lost arts

one of the problems with many of today's people is that they dont know how to do some of the really cool things that people like the pioneers did. people dont know how to can/bottle things, make applesauce, make bread, things like that. its rather sad cause honestly, those are awesome things to be able to do. even people in the church who are supposed to know how to do those types of things, it doesnt happen. its an art that has been lost on today's society. on the other hand, those of us who do know how to do them, dont share. a lot of that comes from a lack of interested people, but it also comes because we just plain dont offer our services, unless its to our familes. but families are drafted into helping with the work, so it only makes sense. its a family tradition in our house to can pears, peaches, and make applesauce and jams every single year possible. we were making applescause today, and when rachel's newest set of grandparents came to take rachel for the day, and they saw that we were making applesauce, they were impressed and said something like "oh, i had homeade applesauce once... it was really good." only once?! again, sorry, but i cant live off of the store bought stuff. it just doesnt taste right. its the same with the store bought canned fruits. they just dont taste right. too...metaly, aluminmy (huzzah for made up words!). maybe one day i'll jsut have to start a campaign and teach people how to make applesauce, can fruits, and make jam. at least, my own family (if i ever have the pleasure of having a family) will have the pleasure of making jams/applesauce/canned fruit. its an art that really just shouldnt be lost. so why start with my family?

ideas

i've been wanting to come up with some sort of a creative story recently, or do some other such thing all creative like and using the right side of my brain. only problem is that i cant seem to figure out anything to do. i could write another story about the great dragon, except that i cant think of anything else for him to do or create (thanks to B, my ideas for anything else are all corrupted by the myths that she wrote, and i have no new ideas). so, i'm asking for ideas. what can i do that is creative, using the right side of my brain?

It should have been today

Today is offically 90 days from my birthday, meaning that my papers should have gone downtown today. thats great! except for not.

Reason one:
my bishop wants me to get a "missionary screening" from the LDS family services to make sure that my depression et al. wont get in the way of my being able to serve. the bishop says that he isnt worried about it, it is more for clarification for the missionary councel, because they might have questions. this meeting is apparantly two sessions long with a councelor. my first meeting isnt until next wednesday. since i've done this kind of thing before, i'm guessing it will take about a week before my second and hopefully final meeting with them, then they will send a letter to my bishop saying yea or nay i will be able to serve without any hinderance. as of right now, i'm really really hoping that they are a yea yea instead of a nay nay. i have guesses as to what it would do psycologically.

Reason two:
i have yet to meet with my stake president. president R is out of country a lot, so i have to wait a long time for his secritary to call me and set up a time. also, i have suspicions that my bishop has yet to give my papers to president R. reasoning? see reason one.

so, although this should have been a great day, its not. i should have had my papers in to downtown today, but they wont. Fie on Melinda being stupid!

tooth bugs

Yesterday, after general conference, my family went up to my Mimi's house. while there, L was looking through some old song books she got from her mother. there were a lot of old sunday school song books, but one of them happened to be a really old (published in 1939) primary song book. it had all sorts of songs in it. thanksgiving songs, songs about easter, songs about chiristmas. there were even some songs about "grandma's old fasioned garden" the one song that i like the best was called "tooth bugs"

"I do not want to clean my teeth," a little boy once cried,
"I've washed my face and combed my hair, That's quite e-nough," he sighed;
Some tooth-bugs hiding in his mouth, Began to dance in glee;
"At last we've found a home," they cried, "We do not have to flee!"

"This boy has such a nice warm mouth, We'll linger here all night;
His teeth are filled with bits of food, We'll eat with all our might!"
The small boy heard their shout of glee, "Get out of there," he cried;
He grabbed his brugh and scrubbed and scrubbed 'Till ev'ry tooth bug died.

the dolls of today

as i've been working at sears, i've had the opportunity to put away a LOT of toys. one thing i've noticed is that, for the girls, especially their dolls, they all seem to have the same types of messages. (you may not agree with my views, but a lot of this comes based on the fact that, since i was brought up LDS, i tend to have a different view than a lot of people) one of the messages that seemes to be sent all the time, which i'm highly in favour of, is that they need to learn childcare, and to beome mothers. i'm fine with that. another mesasage that seems to be getting sent a lot (this is more found with the stupid bratz and barbis.), is that you should find a job that doesnt require any brains. barbi has come out with some "i can be" barbi's. its showing possible carreers for when they grow up. the idea itself isnt bad, its the things they are saying the girls can become. dog walker, baby photographer, art teacher. notice, they can be a teacher, but it cant be a chemistry teacher, or a physics teacher or anytihng like that (and i'm fairly sure they would never promote becomming a park ranger). they arent encouraging anything that uses much of a mind to do. certian skills, sure, but nothing that really requires thinking. then there's the bratz dolls. they are just...as my coworker described them "they are trying to get the girls to become sluts" great description of them. on the back of one of them (i think it was a bratz sportz one) it said "we know that it doesnt matter how well we play, but how hot we look when we win" sorry, i just have a problem with that. it doesnt matter how well we play? since when? thats not how it is in the real world, sorry. it only matters how hot we look when we win? um....no. how can you even expect to win when you promote not carring how well you play? its just...wrong! honestly, its not right. girls are way influenced by what they play with, and, no matter how much my daughter would want it, i dont think that _any_ girl should play with them. look at them. what kinds of morals is it teaching?! none! when i was growing up, at least we had some decent dolls to play with. i'll make sure to save them, and then my girl will have something that istn quite so...blech.