In His Steps

Being sick is never fun. Especially when you got the day off over a month ago to go be with your family on your parents' 25th Anniversary. So instead of visiting, I get to lie in bed feeling gross and stuffed up, with a cotton head and a fever. I have been playing with my dolls a bit more though, so I thought I'd share some pictures of my Puki (PukiPuki Mary, to be specific). She's in a new dress and wig now, though the "right" wig for her is still yet to be found. Her name is Briar and the name fits her personality. I hope you like her; she's very cute. She has a bit of a Wednesday Addams complex at times, but the new dress seems to have calmed her. I can only hope that a proper wig will do the same. Khorae, my Iplehouse Silvia BJD, is one I don't have many pictures of, and those that I do have the wrong eyes and things. She's a manifestation of a character I've had in my head for a very long time; perhaps 5 or 6 years now. Enough that she's b...

I haven't had much of a chance to post lately. Last week I worked every day until late, save Saturday. The night before I drove up to be with my family and, after taking plenty of allergy medicine, I slept on the couch. (I'm allergic to fur, and they have three cats, a mouse, and a dog. Fun times.) The next day, Sister and I went out, got all the family cars washed, then went shopping for dresses for the wedding that night. Sister didn't find a dress, but she did find shoes to match a dress the mother of the groom had given her (the parents of the groom are best friends with our parents and claim us as extra children). I did find a dress from Torrid that surprised me with how good it looked on. I bought a shrug to go over it and cover my shoulders, but I returned that later, as I had one that already fit at home, and worked better with the dress anyway. That afternoon we went to the wedding and it was lovely. I was pleasantly surprised at what the minister said about marri...

Have you ever been so happy you felt your heart would burst as tears of joy flowed down your face? I had the most beautiful day at church. I sang The Lord is my Light and had the ward sing the chorus with me. It was sudden inspiration. Then our lesson in Relief Society was about goals and the girl who taught the class sounded as though she was speaking to me personally. I've been putting off going back to school for a myriad of reasons the last few years, the main one being that I couldn't afford to do so, as my last semester at BYU had dropped my grades down too low to qualify for financial aid. But now, since I'm working many hours, I'm putting money away and saving it so I can at least attend some community college courses come January. No more excuses! While I have learned a lot the last three years, it's time I learned more in a different setting. I'm ready. A few things that have hit me hard and gotten me feeling revved up and ready to act have been the c...

Another long day of work done and I am left to my own devices. Rosslyn and several other friends went to Great Western War this morning, but I couldn't afford to lose the hours to go this year. Two wars I've missed lately! My family will be up there as well. I cannot even day trip it. Ah well. No bardic classes and good practice time for me. Though, there is the anniversary tourney coming up, and with it the Barony Bardic competition. I could prepare to participate in that. I'm supposed to have a two pieces, one of which has to be about the barony or the baron and baroness. Rosslyn was writing a funny spoof song about one of the wars, asking the leaders to get a certain war back from the Ren-Faeries and people who think war is "just like Burning Man" and they can wear provocative clothing and drink and party all night right next to children. No thank you. If we'd feel ashamed to have our families see it, something's gone wrong. The SCA is supposed to be f...

Sigh. Bouncy balls full of glitter and four inches in diameter do not mix well with open bowls and bins of seed beads. At least my carpet is the kind that let's the beads sit on top, not swallow them whole. I'll be spending a few days sorting these beads. I can tell. As for the last session of conference...I spent a couple talks crying. The urge to improve myself and others is overwhelming. A friend texted me tonight, letting me know how terrible things have been. He tried to play it off and make it sound like he's ok, but I know better. I got him the bishop's number and hopefully the bishop can get him the help he needs. Tomorrow I have work, then FHE, then choir practice. I need to prepare to sing for next Sunday as well: a song fitting in with the theme of the Atonement. I'd like to do "Oh Divine Redeemer", but I don't have the sheet music, nor accompaniment, and I don't know the song by heart, so I cannot just do it a capella. Perhaps I'll ...

This weekend is General Conference for my Church. Twice a year we spend a weekend listening to talks and revelation about our day, and ways we can improve the human condition. We also listen to the beautiful music, done by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I'm a classically trained vocalist, and they never cease to amaze me. I love music. Nothing makes me feel closer to heaven than that. I missed the Saturday sessions due to work, but they are up on my Church's website, so I'll be viewing them later. I listened to this morning's session and felt inspired. I have so many ideas for service and good works, but most of them have to do with how I want to raise my children when I have them. So! Some brief ideas for that: Ask them every day what they have done for someone else (me or their father). Write these acts of service down and perhaps even make a craft project out of it for the children and I to do every summer. Encourage them to live with responsibility and integrity. It...

First posts are always awkward for me. I like to pretend I've always been here, always been posting. But I haven't, so I have to make a first post. What got me started on this was mostly that I'd had a blog for years and got bored with it. Posts were cluttered up with twitter posts and drama that I had long outgrown, and a fresh start seemed in order. Plus, blogger is usually pretty to look at. I'm rather easily pleased by silly little things. This blog is for the very personal purpose of growing into the kind of person I truly want to be. All the things I want to be--a wife, a mother, an artist, financially stable, college graduate, a true Daughter of God--all of that takes time and needs me to become worthy of it by working hard and persevering. The easy route is right out. For a little more about me: I'm the oldest of three, two girls and one boy. All of these will be Mom, Dad, little Sister, and little Brother, not that either of those two are that little anymor...