Red Kohlrabi

There are several vegetables in the turnip family.  Red kohlrabi (chou-rave rouge) is one of them.  They remind me of parsnips.  Last night, I made kohlrabi fries for dinner.  They were good.

Okay, this post is solely here so I don't have to look at the last one anymore, but I do enjoy trying new-to-me vegetables. :)

R is for Rat

It was the art teacher's idea-- to make a rat.  She also suggested a rocket, robot, or racoon.  I made sketches.  The rat turned out best.  The clay version was much more difficult than I thought it would be.  It looks more like an oppossum.  But a kid in the class asked, "What's that's supposed to be, a rat?"  So I guess it's okay.

A couple of months ago, I'd volunteered to help in my daughter's art class a couple of times. A visiting artist is making a mural with story tiles the children have made.  The art teacher wanted all the parent volunteers to come back in and make a letter.  Four days ago, I didn't have courage to go to the elementary school and do this.  I ignored the art teacher's e-mail.  Four days ago, I was too afraid to choose courage.  Sometimes, if you think about something long enough, it starts to feel possible.  I had no idea my daughter had art class today.  She made three little kittens in a basket a month or so ago. She's glazing it now.  It was fun to see her, to sit by her.

As I was about ready to walk out the door, the teacher said, "I"ll let you know when we're glazing."

I thought to myself, "You mean I have to come back??!!"  I was hoping I was done with that 'possum rat forever, that I'd accomplished my task of courage for the week.  Apparently, I'll have to muster courage to go back and glaze the thing. 

Inspiration for Courage

This is Jill in a recent photo I copied from her blog.  I've been reading her since September of 2008.  I bought her book about her Iditarod race of 2008.  I wrote a poem about her race for a class.  Jill claims she is ordinary, though she does extraordinary things.  To me, that makes her extraordinary.  I give her full credit for getting me into biking.  She continues to inspire me.  Her photography is amazing.  Her writing is pretty good too.  She doesn't take credit for her photography.  The other day, she wrote on her blog, "I never set out to be a photographer. I have a hard time taking personal satisfaction in the images I take because they don't feel like mine - they feel like the world's. The world makes the images and I merely observe them." 

Another blog I recently discovered, is currently showcasing people who chose one word to live by in 2009.  They share their experiences of how that word affected their year.  I like the idea of choosing one word for a year to use as a focus.  It has been interesting to read about their experiences.  I've been thinking about choosing a word for 2010.  The word I'm thinking about is courage.  But it should look like this:  COURAGE.  Honestly, ironically, I'm afraid to choose this word.  How will it affect my life?  Will I be given more fear-inducing experiences to help me develop it?  Is it like choosing a trial, like saying, "Okay, I want to learn courage this year, so give me all you've got."?  That terrifies me!  But if there is any one word that would free me from what's been holding me back my entire life, it's that word.  Am I ready? 

I think I'll try it on for a week or so before I decide.  Jill's photo is my new desktop background.  Thank you, Jill, for inspiring me.

Sometimes the Old Way is Better

Our family went to Fulton for church on Sunday where my husband was assigned to speak.   I learned something important from the woman who gave a talk before him.  She wasn't old, but she said she's still not used to using the computer.  "So I used the old-fashioned cut and paste method."  She held up her talk to show the congregation.  It was clearly cut and pasted together.  We all chuckled, but I appreciated the reminder that the method works.

I've been struggling with wanting to do my latest assignment for my writing class.  I was supposed to read a bunch of essays written by the French author Montaigne and then choose quotes that I like and respond to them.  I ended up with ten typed, single-spaced pages of mostly quotes and some commentary.  I like his honesty and humor.  I'm only supposed to have three to six double-spaced pages.  It's all supposed to be unified and make sense.  I was overwhelmed.  Montaigne uses archaic, descriptive words and tangled sentences.  It's almost like reading Shakespeare.  He's smart, witty, and eloquent.  I didn't know where to begin. 

Then I remembered cutting and pasting.  I decided to print out my pages, hand write more thoughts on them, and otherwise try to decode the quotes I selected.  I crossed out things that didn't fit.  Then I cut and pasted what was left and what was beginning to make sense.  Yay! 

I'm nowhere near done, but I have a beginning.  I can see the light at the end of the assignment.  There's something about seeing all the papers at once, about actually writing on paper, about literally cutting and pasting, that works. 

No Guarantees

A couple of days ago, we had snow that actually stuck.  They didn't cancel school, just delayed it for a couple of hours-- enough time for my youngest two children to build this snowman. 

Yesterday morning, one of my older daughters intentionally got up late because her friends told her there was definitely going to be a snow day.  We were supposed to get lake effect snow, they said.  Somebody's grandma said she was sure it was going to snow a lot, and Grandma's never wrong.  Well, Grandma was wrong yesterday.  We had a lot of wind.  No snow.  My daughter has learned that you can't believe everything you hear.  You can't count on some things.

I've been thinking a lot about guarantees.  If you were guaranteed to succeed at every thing you attempted, wouldn't it be so much easier to try new things, set goals, and move toward acheiving dreams?  I realize, to many things in this life, there are no guarantees.  That has often kept me from trying.  However, I know that if I don't try, then I'm guaranteed to fail.  Trying is hoping and hoping with effort is faith.  Sometimes it takes a lot of effort.  Effort takes motivation.  Motivation comes from desire and commitment.  Sometimes it's hard to want anything.  That's when I have to pray for desire. 

I'm still having trouble committing to my latest class.  I haven't worked on it since I completed lesson one. My focus has been other places, on other dreams.  Perhaps I have too many dreams.  Or, maybe I just need to keep working on that particular desire.

I'm almost done reading a book that is motivating.  It's an autobiography, about a woman who had an alcholic dad, a frequently depressed mom, and a very colorul, constantly moving, poverty-stricken, painful childhood.  Her parents were dreamers who didn't consistently act on their dreams.  They were frequently selfish and didn't adequately take care of their children.  It has made me much more appreciative of my life and my opportunities.  I see so much I have taken for granted.  I see too much of these parents in me.  It's easy to be one of those dreamers who don't do anything.  The woman and her siblings left home in their teen years and changed their lives.  They didn't let circumstances or fears control them.  Time to change.

What Won't Fail You

This morning, I was craving exercise.  What a great feeling.  The sun was partly shining.  It was 41 degrees.  Did I go biking?  No.  Shock.  I really wanted a tougher workout and to read the conference Ensign on the treadmill.  But I couldn't find the Ensign anywhere.  So, I thought I'd listen to music.  But my iPod was dead and I couldn't find anybody else's.  I refused to listen to the radio.  I searched for the Ensign again.  Eventually, I said a little searching prayer and I found it tucked in my primary binder.

Now that I'm getting older, things are starting to fail me.  My hearing is going-- in my right ear especially.  My eyes are getting worse-- I can actually see better up close because the farsightedness is catching up with the nearsightedness.  I can't multitask like I used to.  I can't remember things like I used to.  Though I'm feeling great physically, thanks to watching what I eat, daily exercise, and general health, I worry about the things that are weakening.

This morning, on the treadmill, I read Elder Holland's conference talk about the Book of Mormon.  I love how he finished his talk:

"Remember this declaration by Jesus Himself: 'Whoso treasureth up my word, shall not be deceived' --and in the last days neither your heart nor your faith will fail you." 

As I read that, I was flooded with peace.  My heart and my faith will not fail me if I treasure up the words of Jesus Christ.

40% Chance of Sun

I was willing to take it and hope for it.

Views from the bike:

Above,

Ahead,

To the right,

Behind,

And home on time for lunch. (Not on the bike.)

While I was riding toward the sunshine, I kept thinking about hope. 

Alma 58:11  "Yea, and it came to pass that the Lord our God did visit us with assurances that he would deliver us; yea, insomuch that he did speak peace to our souls, and did grant unto us great faith, and did cause us that we should hope for our deliverance in him." 

Before being blessed with this hope, verse 10 says the Nephites "did pour out our souls in prayer to God."  They asked for specific blessings and though they didn't receive them right away, they were blessed with assurance, peace, faith, and hope.  Blessed indeed.