Olive Nunn Wixom- Moving from Nebraska to Idaho, 1916

Here are a few little anecdotes from Grandma Olive Nunn Wixom’s life story.  She used her diary entries as her life story, the whole book is mostly just daily entries so there isn’t a running story line except where she added them.  I will add a few comments in parentheses.

(When Olive was 12 the family moved from Nebraska to Idaho Falls, Idaho.  Here are some entries from her trip.)

Started on our trip from our home near Round House Rock to Idaho.  This is my diary from day to day along the way---

June 14, 1916  In two covered wagons, 8 horses.... (they camped some nights and spent some nights with friends or relatives)....

July 26, 1916  Got stuck and an automobile pulled us out.  There were very few automobiles on the roads then.  The roads were all dirt and very narrow.  We had to ford lots of little streams because there was not very many bridges.....

Aug. 10, 1916  Entered Yellowstone Park...

Aug. 12,  Saw 11 bears

Aug. 16- (in Yellowstone) There were stagecoaches that the tourists traveled on.   This was to be the last year for them.  They were to bring Buses the next year.  Just a few cars going through.  We were frightened several times because our horses were not used to them and would shy away from them and sometimes we would be on the outside of the road that had a sheer drop off down to the river below.  However no accidents occurred.  I always rode in the wagon that Mama was in because I didn’t want anything to happen to her unless I was with her.

Aug. 28- Got to Drummond and camped there at night.  We had stopped here so the men could work in the harvest.

Sept. 10, 1916  Got to Idaho Falls.  Crossed the Snake River and camped on the west side.  Decided to stay for awhile.  It was coming winter.

Sept. 18, 1916  Papa went up town and had his full beard shaved off and a hair cut.  He came walking back into camp and we hardly knew him.  He looked really good.  We had such a good time over it.

Sept. 29, 1916  Mama got kicked by a horse.  She was in bed quite awhile.  I was in the seventh grade.  I remember helping do a lot of the cooking while Mama was sick, I cooked some of the time in the sheep wagon.  I liked to fry hamburger and make milk gravy with Sego canned milk.  We used a lot of bakery bread.  Could get three big loaves for a quarter.

Nov. 2, 1916  Papa took sick in the afternoon, so he came home and tried to start a fire.  he sat down in his big chair in front of the stove and went to sleep.  When we came home he was still asleep and the fire had never started. ...It soon turned into Pneumonia and Mother had him taken to a hospital where she stayed right with him...

Nov. 17, 1916  About 9 pm Papa was worse and we were all there with him...the Doctor told Mother and us girls to go out....just a few minutes he came out and we knew that (Papa) was gone.  We felt dreadfully alone having been here (in Idaho Falls) such a short time and not knowing very many people....It was decided that we should sell off everything...and all go back to Bridgeport (Nebraska).  (Her brother- age 20) Elbert and Mother were going to take Papa back there to bury him in the Redington cemetary, then rent us a house in Bridgeport and Elbert was to come back, sell everything, and we would all go back together.

Nov. 28, 1916  My birthday, 13 years old.  Received a card from Mama.  Elbert wrote a letter to Mama after he got back from Nebraska and we had talked it over and decided none  of us wanted to go back to Nebraska.  She already had rented a house right in Bridgeport but she gave it up and came on back to Idaho Falls.  We moved down on Third Street.  I had quit school thinking we were going to leave, so I started again.  Town school was so different to me.  I didn’t like it and I had already missed quite a bit so I didn’t do very good.

April 10, 1917  Elbert took up a homestead out in Fall Creek Basin so we all packed up and went out there, about 35 miles east of Idaho Falls.  So I didn’t pass the seventh grade and had to take it the next year.

Something emailed to me

A friend emailed this to me.  Some of the ideas seem pretty good.  I agree that Congress should not be able to vote themselves raises, have their own superior health care plan and superior retirement plan.  If they had to live under the same plans as the rest of us, they would fix them pretty fast!  (I have no idea if Warren Buffett really said that second paragraph, I'm just passing it on.)

Let’s not give up.
Warren Buffett, in a recent interview with CNBC, offers one of the best quotes about the debt ceiling:

"I could end the deficit in 5 minutes," he told CNBC. "You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election

The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only
3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971...before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc.

Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land...all because of public pressure.

Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise.

In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around.

Congressional Reform Act of 2011
1. No Tenure / No Pension.
A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.
All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.

7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen.
Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.

If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive the message. Maybe it is time.

THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!!!!!

If you agree with the above, pass it on. If not, just delete. You are one of my 20+.. Please keep it going.

Autobiography of Sarah Alydia Terry Winsor

http://wiggles.winsor.us/history/wfs/page36_43.html

Here is the story of the wife of Anson Perry Winsor Jr.


(Note:  in the 7th paragraph, they talk about a man named Milton Musser.)

Luther Murkins Winsor's 5 yrs in Persia

http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2011/01/31/luther-m-winsor-my-assignment-here-in-persia/

Luther Murkins Winsor was an expert in water drainage, and served for five years in Persia as an advisor to the Shah of Iran.  He was stuck there during World War II, and was unable to come home until after the war.  Time magazine featured an article about him.

My mom said a naughty word

I am working on my mom's life story a little at a time, and I was reading her journal when she was 18.  She told about having a fight with her brother Dale, age 16.

She called him a "snot aggot"

and he hit her

and she hit him

and he hit her

and she hit him with a pan.

She got in trouble from my grandmother, and at the end of the journal entry she wrote "CRAP".

What a shock!  In later life my mom would never let any of her children say that, she said it was a cuss word.  I sure learned something new about my mom.

A.P. Winsor Junior

http://enterprise2day.com/2011/06/camp-at-the-honeycomb-rocks/
Here is a group photo, with Anson Perry Winsor Jr. at the far right.  (Click on photo to make it bigger.)

http://wiggles.winsor.us/history/wfs/page27_32.html
Here is a life sketch of Anson Perry Winsor Jr. (called "Uncle Perry" by those who knew him).   Written by his granddaughter, Lela S. Nelson.

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Winsor-50

Here it says A.P. Winsor died in 1915, which is 2 years before his dad died.

A.P. Winsor Sr. and the Baptisms for U.S. Founders

In case you were wondering, this is the ancestor who worked in the Saint George Temple, and was the witness who watched Wilford Woodruff get baptized for the dead for all the U.S. Presidents and signers of the Declaration of Independence.  Wayne and I had wondered if the "A.P.Winsor" who is listed on the temple record was Senior or Junior, and we have recently found out it was Senior.

My books are all boxed up, waiting for the new carpet.  When I get them out again, I will post a picture of that page in the Seminary/Institute manual where it shows the temple record book with his name on it.

A.P. Winsor Senior's Family group

http://www.winsor.us/pictures/APWinsorAndFamily.html

Click on photo to make it bigger.

I recognized the man kneeling at the very right because of his kinky hair.  That is Luther Murkins Winsor, (who is A.P. Winsor Senior's grandson.)   This would be a year or two before he married Beatrice Snow.  (Wayne always said his brother Brian inherited that hair.)

According the newspaper articles I posted Saturday, this photo was probably taken at A.P. Winsor Sr.'s  95th birthday party in 1913.

(Of course it would have had to be taken before A.P. Winsor Sr's death date of 1917.)

A.P. Winsor Sr.'s tombstone and portrait

Wow, I could really get into googling ancestors. Here is what I found next:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=26662822

and his portrait is on this website:

http://azmemory.lib.az.us/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/histphotos&CISOPTR=22158&CISOBOX=1&REC=1

Newspaper Articles about Anson Perry Winsor Sr.

I took classes at the Family History conference today, and learned how to search for ancestors in Google.  Here is one of the first things I found:

These articles are about Anson Perry Winsor Senior, because in the first article it mentions his son A.P.Winsor II.  (And A.P. Winsor II died much younger than age 98.)


http://www.winsor.us/history/APWinsorNewspaper1.html

A one and a two and a three

#1
Zac is taking the ACT tomorrow.  Yesterday we got an email saying he had to print out a new admission ticket, the old one would NOT be honored.

I printed out the new one, all I could see different was that instead of being held at one side of Broughton high school, it was being changed to the Science Room at Broughton High School.  Big deal.

Then today a UPS overnight special delivery envelope came to our door.  ACT had sent Zac the exact same new admission ticket, which I had already printed out.

I cannot believe the insanity of ACT paying to send every kid taking the test at Broughton High School a special delivery overnight envelope.  What do those cost?  $17 or more?  That must have cost a fortune.


#2
Are any of you wondering why Mumar Ghaddafi's body is being held in a freezer, yet we were told that Osama Bin Laden had to be dumped at sea within hours of death?  Whats with that?  There is a lot of fishyness going on.  And I haven't seen a single news article which brings up that question.  Is nobody but me asking why the difference?  (Wayne just told me the U.S. didn't kill Ghaddafi, somebody else did, so thats why.)


#3
Excellent article on why protesters protesting capitalism really AREN'T correct, this really isn't capitalism.  We don't have true capitalism.

http://www.freedomworks.org/blog/jborowski/wall-street-protesters-should-instead-focus-on-the

"Many of the Wall Street protesters are holding up anti-capitalism signs that read “capitalism doesn’t work” and “capitalism oppresses love.” These posters are grossly illogical because we have never even had a capitalist system. The United States economy is better described as a mixed economy, an admixture of capitalism, corporatism and socialism. "

I finally found the words to explain my OCD to finish things

Zei·gar·nik effect

  noun \zī-ˈgär-nik-\

Definition of ZEIGARNIK EFFECT

: the psychological tendency to remember an uncompleted task rather than a completed one

Biographical Note for ZEIGARNIK EFFECT

Zeigarnik, Bluma (1900–1988), Russian psychologist. Zeigarnik first described the Zeigarnik effect in her 1927 doctoral thesis.

I totally have this!  This is what explains everything in my life!  I love to complete things, it irks me to have an unfinished project.  I cannot stand to procrastinate, because I want to get things done and get them crossed off my list.  That is my ultimate satisfaction.

Wayne has been so sick

Wayne has been very sick since Sunday.  His ribs feel broken he has such sore chest muscles and stomache muscles from coughing so much.  He thinks it is just a virus so he isn't going to the doctor.  He has been working from home every day.  Thank goodness for the computer!

Zac has had it too, although not quite so badly.  And Zac doesn't want to ruin his senior exemptions, so he kept going to school.  (If you only have a certain amount of absences, you don't have to take your final exams.)

I have been on the South Beach diet for the past two weeks and have lost 7 pounds.  Only a few more days and I will reach my goal.

We got our house interior painted, and now we are waiting for the new carpet.  I am so excited!  We are going to pay Zac to completely remove the old carpet and pad and haul them away to the dump.  He seems pretty eager to make the money.

I babysat for 3 of my grandchildren yesterday, so Rachel could take her very last exam for her very last class at Meredith College.  Now she can graduate!  Go, Rachel!!!

Hannah was much more smiley.  And I found out she does NOT like to be laid down.  On either her tummy or her back.

I am looking forward to attending our stake Family History Conference this Saturday.
http://www.apexfamilyhistoryconference.org/  I have invited five friends to attend, I hope some of them do.



(Politics alert. Don't read it if you don't want to.)
I only include this because I read it, and if it comes true I want you to know about it.
http://theulstermanreport.com/2011/10/17/wall-street-insider-the-obama-white-house-wants-us-gone-all-of-us/

Haight's Vision of Christ's Sacrifice

http://lds.org/ensign/2007/04/the-sacrament-and-the-sacrifice?lang=eng

Elder David B. Haight gave this talk in the October 1989 General Conference.  Then it was reprinted in the April 2007 Ensign.

Elder Haight had been very ill, and lost consciousness, and was in the hospital for several days.  During this time he was shown, in vision, Jesus's life and his suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane.

"I was shown a panoramic view of His earthly ministry: His baptism, His teaching, His healing the sick and lame, the mock trial, His Crucifixion, His Resurrection and Ascension. There followed scenes of His earthly ministry to my mind in impressive detail, confirming scriptural eyewitness accounts. I was being taught, and the eyes of my understanding were opened by the Holy Spirit of God so as to behold many things."


Elder Haight was unconscious for several days:

During those days of unconsciousness, I was given, by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost, a more perfect knowledge of His mission. I was also given a more complete understanding of what it means to exercise, in His name, the authority to unlock the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven for the salvation of all who are faithful. My soul was taught over and over again the events of the betrayal, the mock trial, the scourging of the flesh of even one of the Godhead. I witnessed His struggling up the hill in His weakened condition carrying the cross and His being stretched upon it as it lay on the ground, that the crude spikes could be driven with a mallet into His hands and wrists and feet to secure His body as it hung on the cross for public display....


I cannot begin to convey to you the deep impact that these scenes have confirmed upon my soul. I sense their eternal meaning and realize that “nothing in the entire plan of salvation compares in any way in importance with that most transcendent of all events, the atoning sacrifice of our Lord. It is the most important single thing that has ever occurred in the entire history of created things; it is the rock foundation upon which the gospel and all other things rest,” ² as has been declared.

What if he had been a Mormon?

http://amarillo.com/news/local-news/2011-10-18/passenger-youre-all-going-die#.Tp7tORztqHB

Hmmm, yesterday this guy on a plane, of Iranian descent, yells

 “You’re all going to die,” “You’re all going to hell. Allahu Akbar,” translated as God is great in Arabic,"


and yet they never say what religion he is.  Wow, how politically correct is that.  If he was a Mormon it would have been all over the headlines.

Painting done, house is a wreck

All my furniture is piled up into the rooms that didn't get painted.  It will be some time before we can get everything put back.


Here is an excerpt from a good column by Thomas Sowell:
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/280393/spreading-wealth-thomas-sowell




"Politicians can solve almost any problem — usually by creating a bigger problem. But, so long as the voters are aware of the problem that the politicians have solved, and unaware of the bigger problems they have created, political “solutions” are a political success."

Teleprompter of the United States=TOTUS

Here is a spoof news article from the Weekly World News, about Pres. Obama's teleprompter being stolen today:  http://weeklyworldnews.com/politics/39669/obamas-teleprompter-stolen/

"The President was livid and had to cancel his speech in front of a class of kindergarten students.

”I had my speech all planned out, I was going  to tell the kids to eat some vegetables, or donuts, or something, but I don’t remember, and I wanted them to think about something important like the NBA, but I forgot what I was going to say.  I feel terrible that I had to cancel.  They deserve to hear me.”

Here is the typical setup President Obama uses when he speaks to kindergarten classes:

“I think Totus will  return to the White House some day and we hope it’s soon… the President hasn’t spoken a word in twenty-four hours,” said Carney.

WWN reached out to President Obama directly for his reaction… but he had no comment."

Nickels are worth more than a nickel

If you want to buy some metal, get some rolls of nickels and stash them away.  At nickel's lowest value in 2011, a single nickel was worth 6 cents in melt value.  So if nickel goes up, the currency will hold its value for the metal in it.

 The paper in dollar bills?  Not so much.

For the most part, a positive article about LDS and Mitt

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/16/us/politics/for-romney-a-role-of-faith-and-authority.html?_r=2

From the New York Times.  "For Romney, A Role of Faith and Authority"

Peanut butter prices going up

I have already reported on my other blog  that all the major suppliers and growers of peanuts have already raised their prices, because the peanut crop was very small this year.

So the price of peanut butter will be going UP.   The peanut butter companies have announced that they are raising prices 30-40% starting in November.  So you better get some peanut butter soon.

Here is just one of the sources reporting the price increases: (thanks Seth)

http://lifehacker.com/5848634/stock-up-on-peanut-butter-now-before-prices-get-ridiculous

Getting our interior painted tomorrow

It is late Sunday night.  We have cleaned out our whole garage yesterday, it took us 11 hours to empty it, sort it, and put it back.  Later this week I will be giving away and selling a lot of stuff on Craigslist.

We had to clean out the garage yesterday because it was beautiful weather and the only weekend we were all available to work.  AND IT HAD TO BE DONE.

But it was terrible timing because for the day before, and last evening after cleaning out the garage, we still had to pack up all the bookshelves and move all the furniture in 4 rooms of our house to prepare for the painters to come bright and early Monday morning.

The house looks like we are moving, and I am very tired.

And I have poor timing for another job too:  I have ordered new carpet, but it won't be installed for about 2 weeks.  So we can move the furniture back but we aren't going to load the bookshelves again until we move the furniture one more time for the carpet layers.

I hope I will think this is all worth it.

Write Nativity on your calendar

Our stake puts on a fabulous Christmas Nativity display every december.  Go to the website and look, it is really impressive.

Thursday, December 8, 2011 6-9 p.m.

Friday, December 9, 2011 6-9 p.m.

Saturday, December 10, 2011 3-9 p.m.

http://www.christmasnativity.org/apex/

A Snopes for Mormons

http://www.holyfetch.com/index.html

Here is a website that checks out Mormon rumors and myths.  A lot that I thought were true were confirmed.  And some that I thought were true were FALSE.  Anyway, it is an interesting site to read.

And don't you just love the name:  "HolyFetch.com"

October Ensign magazine, Excellent!

The official magazine for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Ensign, and every month I tend to get it from the mailbox and read a bunch of it the very day it arrives.  Then I read a little more over the course of the month until I lose track of it, and it gets mislaid somewhere in my house.

Then the next month's issue comes, and the cycle repeats.

 I don't have a good track record of really reading the whole thing, there are always articles that I never get around to.

This time, when the October issue arrived, I could tell right away that I wanted to read every word.  The whole issue is centered on the Book of Mormon.  I have made a point to read every article, and I want to tell all of you that it was excellent, front to back.  I enjoyed everything I read, and it strengthened my testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.  I know that it is true.

(In case you are interested, you can read this month's Ensign or any back issues by going to http://lds.org/ensign?lang=eng.)

Buchanan's book "Suicide of a Superpower"

This book looks fascinating.  Here is a synopsis of each chapter.

Chapter 1: The Passing of a Superpower “We have accepted today the existence in perpetuity of a permanent underclass of scores of millions who cannot cope and must be carried by society -- fed, clothed, housed, tutored, medicated at taxpayer’s expense their entire lives. We have a dependent nation the size of Spain in our independent America. We have a new division in our country, those who pay a double or triple fare, and those who ride forever free.” Chapter 2. The End of Christian America  If [Christopher] Dawson is correct, the drive to de-Christianize America, to purge Christianity from the public square, public schools and public life, will prove culturally and socially suicidal for the nation. “The last consequence of a dying Christianity is a dying people. Not one post-Christian nation has a birth rate sufficient to keep it alive....The death of European Christianity means the disappearance of the European tribe, a prospect visible in the demographic statistics of every Western nation.” Chapter 3. The Crisis of Catholicism  “Half a century on, the disaster is manifest. The robust and confident Church of 1958 no longer exists. Catholic colleges and universities remain Catholic in name only. Parochial schools and high schools are closing as rapidly as they opened in the 1950s. The numbers of nuns, priests and seminarians have fallen dramatically. Mass attendance is a third of what it was. From the former Speaker of the House to the Vice President, Catholic politicians openly support abortion on demand.” “How can Notre Dame credibly teach that all innocent life is sacred, and then honor a president committed to ensuring that a woman’s right to end the life of her innocent child remains sacrosanct?” Chapter 4. The End of White America  “[W]hite America is an endangered species. By 2020, whites over 65 will out-number those 17 and under. Deaths will exceed births. The white population will begin to shrink and, should present birth rates persist, slowly disappear.” “Mexico is moving north. Ethnically, linguistically and culturally, the verdict of 1848 is being over-turned. Will this Mexican nation within a nation advance the goals of the Constitution -- to “insure domestic tranquility” and ‘make us a more perfect union’? Or have we imperiled our union?” (Page 134) Chapter 5. Demographic Winter  “Peoples of European descent are not only in a relative but a real decline. They are aging, dying, disappearing. This is the existential crisis of the West.” (Page 166) “Not any Iranian weapon of mass destruction but demography is the existential crisis Israel faces....By mid-century...Palestinians west of the Jordan river will out-number Jews 2-1. Add Palestinians in Jordan, it is 3-1.” “In a startling development of history, Russia’s population has fallen from 148 million in 1991 to 140 million today and is projected to plunge to 116 million by 2050, a loss of 32 million Russians in six decades.” Chapter 6. Equality Vs. Freedom  “Those who would change society begin by changing the meaning of words. At Howard University, LBJ changed the meaning of equality from the attainable -- an end to segregation and a legislated equality of rights for African-Americans -- to the impossible: a socialist utopia.” “Where equality is enthroned, freedom is extinguished. The rise of the egalitarian society means the death of the free society.” “A time for truth. As most kids do not have the athletic ability to play high school sports, or the musical ability to play in the band, or the verbal ability to excel in debate, not every child has the academic ability to do high school work. No two children are created equal, not even identical twins. The family is the incubator of inequality and God its author.” Chapter 7. The Diversity Cult  “The non-Europeanization of America is heartening news of an almost transcendental quality,” Wattenberg trilled.4 Yet, one wonders: What kind of man looks with transcendental joy to a day when the people among whom he was raised have become a minority in a nation where the majority rules?” “Historians will look back in stupor at 20th and 21st century Americans who believed the magnificent republic they inherited would be enriched by bringing in scores of millions from the failed states of the Third World.” Chapter 8: The Triumph Of Tribalism  America’s war of revenge against Japan was a race war. Newsreels, movies, magazines, comic books, headlines treated “Japs” as a repulsive race whose extermination would benefit mankind....Only well after the war was over was it re-branded a war to bring the blessings of democracy to...Japan. We may deny the existence of ethnonationalism, detest it, condemn it. But this creator and destroyer of empires and nations is a force infinitely more powerful than globalism, for it engages the heart. Men will die for it. Religion, race, culture and tribe are the four horsemen of the coming apocalypse. Chapter 9. ‘The White Party’  “Through its support of mass immigration, its paralysis in power to prevent 12-20 million illegal aliens from entering and staying, its failure to address the “anchor-baby” issue, the Republican Party has birthed a new electorate that will send it the way of the Whigs.” Chapter 10: The Long Retreat  “We borrow from Europe to defend Europe. We borrow from the Gulf states to defend the Gulf states. We borrow from Japan to defend Japan. Is it not a symptom of senility to be borrowing from the world so we can defend the world?” “Are vital U.S. interests more imperiled by what happens in Iraq where were have 50,000 troops, or Afghanistan where we have 100,000, or South Korea where we have 28,000 -- or by what is happening on our border with Mexico?...What does it profit America if we save Anbar and lose Arizona?” Chapter 11: The Last Chance  “We are trying to create a nation that has never before existed, of all the races, tribes, cultures and creeds of Earth, where all are equal. In this utopian drive for the perfect society of our dreams we are killing the real country we inherited -- the best and greatest country on earth.”

My mom's painting- What wall color?

When my mom was here she touched up this painting that she had painted for me about 8 years ago.

We are having our house interior painted and I am having a fit trying to decide what wall color to put in the dining room.  I wonder what would look right with this painting and frame?

Elizabeth's party and playhouse

Elizabeth is growing up.  This is the first birthday in awhile where she didn't have a Barbie cake.


Rachel showed us the playhouse that she found on top of an apartment dumpster.

Wow!  What a darling playhouse!  And I am just stunned that someone would just throw it away like that.

Rest in Peace

We went to a wedding reception on Saturday night, and we saw some old friends we hadn't seen in about 4 years.  I knew they had a son about Tara's age (19).

I said to Anne T. "How's Norwood?"

She said, smiling, "Oh, he's in paradise."

I sat there stunned for a minute, pondering her words and her facial expression.  I finally asked very hesitantly, "Did he pass away?"

She looked really shocked and burst out laughing.  "No, he's on his mission in Paradise, California!"

She said that it had not occurred to her how her answer would be misinterpreted.  She and I laughed about it all evening.

"Overdose" video part 3 (15 min)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_17ck3Vti8A&feature=related

I was really impressed with these three videos.  And I didn't see any politics in them, just monetary policy.  From common sense, you can see that what they are saying is true.

I hope you can click on each video and watch it while you do dishes or something.

"Overdose" video part 2 (15 min)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Jlt9lHVS8E&feature=related
Part two explains the housing crisis and the stimulus packages.

Homemade refrigerator made from Flower Pots

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=bSZH0K-Qhuw

Just ignore the beer suggestions.

The Daily Telegraph nails it (and Winston Churchill does too)

In the October 8, 2011 London Daily Telegraph:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/8813441/An-entire-system-of-global-trade-is-at-risk.html they wrote an article called "An entire system of global trade is at risk"

In this article, they quote Winston Churchill, who sounds like he is talking about today:

“Want of foresight, 

unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, 

lack of clear thinking, 

confusions of counsel, 

until the emergency comes,

until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong –

these are the features that constitute the endless repetition of history.”

--Winston Churchill:

"Overdose" video part 1 (15 min)

This video puts together all the background of the financial crisis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6FNYvC4uyM&feature=player_embedded

Comstocks Fairytale Cottages- I LOVE THESE!

http://talesfromcarmel.com/2011/04/06/hugh-comstocks-fairytale-cottages-by-the-sea/

I want to win the lottery and buy every one of these!

World Economy explained in 3 minutes: YouTube

Very entertaining and oh so true:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5odRIK28TWU&feature=youtu.be




When Palin announced she wasn't running, she said a lot of other things the media didn't report on.  I was impressed with this article:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/10/pitch-perfect_palin.html

The Book of Gomer: A Parable

(This is a cute parable by an unknown author.)

These are the generations of Gomer, son of Homer, son of Omer. And in the days of Gomer, Noah, the Prophet, went unto the people saying, "Prepare ye for the flood which is to come, yea, build yourselves a boat, that ye may not perish."

Now, Gomer was a member of the Church, and taught Sunday School and played ball, yea, even on the ward softball team. And Gomer's wife said unto him, "Come, let us build unto ourselves a boat as the Prophet Noah hath commanded, that we may not perish in the flood." 

But behold, Gomer saith unto his wife, "Worry not, dear wife, for if the flood comes the government will provide boats for us." 

And Gomer did not build a boat. 

And Gomer's wife went unto Noah and she returned saying, "Behold, Honey, the Prophet saith unto us, "Build a boat, that we may preserve ourselves, for the government pays men not to grow trees, wherefore the government hath not the lumber to build for you a boat." 

And Gomer answered saying, "Fear not, oh wife, for am I not the star pitcher on the ward softball team? Wherefore, the Church will provide for us a boat, that we will perish not." 

And Gomer's wife went again unto Noah, and she returned unto Gomer, saying, "Behold, mine husband, the Prophet saith that the Church hath not enough lumber to build a boat for everyone, wherefore, mine husband, build for us a boat that we might not perish in the flood." 

And Gomer answered her saying, "Behold, if we build a boat, when the flood cometh, will not our neighbors overpower us and take from us our boat; wherefore, what doth it profit a man to build a boat?"

And Gomer's wife went again unto Noah and she returned, saying, "Behold, the Prophet saith, build unto yourselves a boat, and have faith, for if ye do the Lord's bidding, He will preserve your boat for you." But Gomer answered his wife, saying, "Behold, with this inflation, the price of wood has gone sky high, and if we wait awhile, perhaps the price will go down again. And then I will build for us a boat." 

And Gomer's wife went again unto Noah, and she returned saying, "Thus saith the Prophet, build for yourselves a boat RIGHT NOW, for the price of wood will not go down, but will continue to go up. Wherefore, oh husband, build for us a boat, that we may perish not." 

But Gomer answered his wife, saying, "Behold, for 120 years Noah hath told us to build a boat, to preserve us from the flood, but hath the flood come? Yea, I say, nay. Wherefore, perhaps the flood will not come for another hundred and twenty years.” 

And Gomer's wife went again unto Noah and returned saying, "The Prophet saith, he knows it has been 120 years, but nevertheless, the flood will come, wherefore, build unto yourselves a boat." 

And Gomer answered her saying, "Wherewith shall we get the money to build ourselves a boat, for are we not now making monthly payments on our snazzy new four horsepower chariot? Wherefore, when our payments end, perhaps we shall build ourselves a boat." 

And Gomer's wife went again unto Noah and returned saying, "Behold, the Prophet saith that we should cut down on our recreation, and our vacations, and even give each other lumber for Christmas, that we might thereby get enough lumber to build a boat."

But Gomer saith unto her, "What a drag! Are we to cease enjoying life, just because we must build a boat?" 

Wherefore, Gomer built not a boat. But behold, one day Gomer heard thunder in the sky, and he feared exceedingly and he ran, yea, even to the lumberyard to buy lumber. But behold, the lumber store was crowded with great multitudes, all seeking to buy lumber, and there was not enough lumber to be found for the multitudes. 

And on the same day were all the fountains of the deep opened, and the windows of heaven were broken up, and the floods came - and behold, Gomer had no boat. And as the water rose above Gomer's waist, his wife saith unto him, 

"Behold, Honey, I told thee so!"

(end of parable)

Note from Amy:

Here is what President Ezra Taft Benson said in 1974:

 "The revelation to store food may be as essential to our temporal salvation today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah."  (Jan. 1974 Ensign)

He said it again in 1980:

" The revelation to produce and store food may be as essential to our temporal welfare today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah." (Nov. 1980 Ensign)