September 6, 2015


Today was the first time my kids ever actually fasted.

I know, I know, bad Mormon mom.

The thing is, I, personally, cannot fast. I can SORT of fast. Meaning, that I can take my pills with water instead of with juice. And my "take with a meal" meds will be eaten with dry toast or a cracker or two. (So you see, I AM fasting, I just have to do it to the best of my ability.)

AT ANY RATE: today I was awake before anyone else, which means I was downstairs to remind people that WE ARE NOT EATING because FAST SUNDAY. I should also mention that two weeks ago, we spoke in sacrament meeting at church, and our topic was the law of the fast. Apparently, we did really well, because we have been invited to speak in another ward at the end of the month. (Which is kind of weird to me, but also, super awesome, because it reaffirms to me that I AM a good public speaker.) Of course, all of this scheduling is happening via Troy, and he is not a very good relater of important details. How did they ask? Did they ask more for you? Or did they specifically mention me? WHAT WAS THEIR FACE DOING? Were there hand motions involved? And when you say they want "us", do they mean "us" as in, you were great, and we guess we'll let your wife speak? Or do they want "us" as in, your wife gave a super awesome talk, and made really interesting points, and hey, you weren't so bad yourself... THESE ARE IMPORTANT DETAILS MY FRIENDS!

Either way, we're going to be speaking somewhere else.

And I didn't finish telling you about all the murmuring and complaining of the children in my home. People were exceedingly hungry, and I kept reminding them that you are not supposed to make a big deal out of your fast. Fasting is PRIVATE and you should SUFFER IN SILENCE, or at the very least, in a room far, far from me.

Meanwhile, there is no school tomorrow. It is Labor Day. My household will very much be laboring tomorrow, and even though all the labors could be done relatively easily and early, I'm sure that it will take us ALL SORTS OF TIME. It's really hard to get work done when you have to run up and down the stairs to tattle on people. Especially since I pretty much don't listen to tattle-tales. BECAUSE GET OVER IT and FIGURE IT OUT YOURSELVES. I really don't need to be involved in people's arguments.... I just don't.

Also, I have now killed THREE black widows in my house. That is three too many, and I am a girl who is super comfortable with insects of all kinds. I just can't figure out where they are coming from, so we will also be spraying every nook and cranny of this house tomorrow.

I do have to say that I'm having a bit more trouble adjusting to the animal life here in the mountains of New Mexico. In Virginia, we had cute, woodland animals; bunnies, deer, squirrels, foxes. As far as insects go, we had LADYBUG problems. Seriously, too much ladybugs. Occasionally, we would see some kind of snake, but that was very rare, and they usually slithered away as soon as they noticed us.

Here? We've had all sorts of venomous spiders, a gnat infestation, snakes, mountain lions, and coyotes. And there was a black bear on our street, but then it went back to it's home... which is accessed at the end of our street. Basically, our street opens up to a bunch of canyon intersections, which makes it the go-to place for wildlife. This means I am always paranoid at arriving home anytime after dark, because MOUNTAIN LIONS and BEARS. Ah well, keeps life exciting, right?