Merry Christmas!

The Christmas cook

Let Your Light Shine

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some of us, it is in everyone; and as we let our own light shine we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love

Today's Question

How can I put my hands on the same piece of paper multiple times over several weeks in the course of other tasks, yet still never find it when I specifically look for it?

Merry Christmas to Me

What's Christmas without a little self love? 

I swore I'd never buy another bag with a black interior, but this is just what I've been wanting--a slouchy hobo (the bag is actually a pefect rectangle) with a short single strap. Think of how many things could get lost in a bag of this size!

Like many cases of true love, it came when I wasn't looking. I walked into TJ Maxx just to "check things out" before heading to my real destination next door (Target). And voila! 

Even better is the fact that it was priced 60% off retail, because there is no way I could have paid full price for it. As it is, this should serve as a gift for several Christmases to come.

Sacrifice, as in Brownie

Today is the annual Christmas luncheon at work. I abandoned my usual Fish Eye Salad (which no one ever eats except me) in favor of BYU Mint Brownies*. This is the first time I've made them, and I'm sorry to report that the brownie itself is less than special. 

I think that with all the frosting, however, few will notice the inferior brownie.**

*The recipe I have includes the specifics for the chocolate frosting, which is essentially the same as the mint frosting, with the addition of 1/3 cup of cocoa and the deletion of the mint extract and 1/3 cup of sugar.

**While cutting the above sacrifice piece in my office, I learned that you can't cut these with a plastic knife. Fortunately, I have sturdier implements I'll use to cut the rest.

What?

Look what I discovered when I tried to practice the organ for church tomorrow. I have no recollection of when or how this occurred.

Math I Understand

Unlucky Arithmetic

Thirteen Ways to Raise a Nonreader

by Dean Schneider and Robin Smith

1 Never read where your children can see you.

2 Put a TV or computer in every room. Don’t neglect the bedrooms and kitchen.

3 Correct your child every time she mispronounces a word.

4 Schedule activities every day after school so your child will never be bored.

5 Once your child can read independently, throw out the picture books. They’re for babies.

6 Don’t play board games together. Too dull.

7 Give little rewards for reading. Stickers and plastic toys are nice. Money is even better.

8 Don’t expect your children to enjoy reading. Kids’ books are for teaching vocabulary, proper study habits, and good morals.

9 Buy only 40-watt bulbs for your lamps.

10 Under no circumstances read your child the same book over and over. She heard it once, she should remember it.

11 Never allow your child to listen to books on tape; that’s cheating.

12 Make sure your kids only read books that are “challenging.” Easy books are a complete waste of time. That goes double for comic books and Mad magazine.

13 Absolutely, positively no reading in bed.

http://archive.hbook.com/pdf/articles/13ways.pdf
Text © 2001 by Dean Schneider and Robin Smith. Reprinted from the March/April 2001
issue of The Horn Book Magazine. For ordering information about The Horn Book Magazine and The Horn Book Guide, visit www.hbook.com or call 1-800-325-1170.

Not an Unqualified Success

The semester is over (for me), and though I'm waiting for grades, I suspect (hoped) I earned a B+ in the class I took. (I actually took two classes, but one was a pass/fail and I earned a 90%).

I earned plenty of Bs and worse in college, but none in library school. This B is a combination of mediocre effort and absence of a natural affinity for the subject. My library school grades didn't always involve my best effort, but library school is pretty easy, and there was perhaps some natural talent involved.

One remedy for my lingering unease is to say, "I'll try harder next time," but I've decided to sit out next semester and rethink the entire Master's of Public Health plan. So if I don't go back, I'm left with a sour taste in my mouth. I realize a B is a perfectly acceptable grade--I think it's the mediocre effort that has me feeling dissatisfied. I'm happy to be done, but wish I could also be happy I'd done a good job.

Too much self-recrimination?

Selective Memory

Why do I only remember I need new wiper blades when it's raining?

Another New Frontier

Full-length X-ray image of Dayton C. Miller.

Today saw two firsts in the usual non-adventure that is my life: First fainting episode and first CT scan. I'd prefer for today to be the last incidence of either. Actually, the CT scan was painless (assuming I don't have to pay for it). The fainting left me with a sore head and elbow and a bit of embarrassment.

I wish I'd fainted in a more glamorous and decorous situation than in the middle of a mammogram and on a tile floor, but there you are. No, I did not eat beforehand, yes, I was perhaps a bit nervous because it was a follow-up screening* and I had some other worries on my mind, and yes, I knew that I was prone to such behavior, though I've never actually fainted before.

Everyone was as nice as could be, and the silver lining was the fact that it happened where it did, so they made the CT scan and x-rayed my elbow on the spot without sending me to the emergency room. They also pushed me from room to room in a wheelchair, which was perhaps excessive, but I'm sure they were all holding their breath until I left the premises without further incident.


 *I'm going back in another six months for another screening. It's unlikely anything of concern. I may ask to sit down for the next one, as a preventative measure!


----------------
image: Miller, E. E. (1896). Full-length X-ray image of Dayton C. Miller. Dayton C. Miller Photograph Collection. Available from American Memory at http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/h?ammem/dcm:@field%28DOCID+@lit%28dcm001748%29%29 

On the Frontier

For the past six months at church I was a counselor in the stake Primary presidency, which meant visiting different wards 2-3 times a month to train and observe their Primary organization. I missed the children in my ward, but I loved the women I worked with and I enjoyed meeting the children and leaders in other wards. In November, the church created a stake in my town, and I assumed (based on things that were said to me) I would have the same calling in the new stake (all four of us from the former presidency are in the new stake).

Well, that isn't the case. The other three women were reinstated, and I'm now the adult Sunday School teacher in my ward (Gospel Doctrine). 

Yes, after years of teaching teenagers and children, not a person under 25 is in sight anywhere. I'm happy for the opportunity to study the scriptures, but very nervous about teaching adults. With the exception of about four months of teaching Gospel Doctrine a few years ago, I've taught children and teenagers for the past eight or nine years. 

The past Sunday was my debut, and it was rocky. I prepared extensively for the lesson, but started late because I was nervous and spent far too much time on the introduction to the lesson. The former teacher was excellent (and in the room), which just increased my anxiety. I'm hoping for a better experience this week. 

My Three Pirates

Holiday Eating Tips

1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Holiday spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.

2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. It's rare.. You cannot find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an eggnog-alcoholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas!

3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.

4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.

5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Holiday party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?

6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.

7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.

8. Same for pies. Apple, Pumpkin, Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?

9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards.

10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Re-read tips; start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner. Remember this motto to live by:

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate and wine in one hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"