Julie, Julia, and JustRandi

Last weekend The Brain and I watched the movie Julie and Julia.  Of course I loved it. I knew it was a movie about cooking, because  - hello?  Julia Child, right?  But I had no idea it was also a blogging movie!  Nobody tells me this stuff.  Or at least if they do, I don't really listen.
So if you haven't seen it, here's your newsflash -- a lot of the movie is about blogging. And how could any of us not love a blogging movie?  My heart even skipped a little beat when she got her first comment.   Ahhhh, the memories.

But blogging aside,  the second most interesting thing to me about the movie was Julie's relationship with Julia.  They never meet in the movie.  But several different times, Julie talks about how close she feels to Julia there in the kitchen as she cooks her way through 365 days of recipes.  And I kept thinking - - really?  You really think you "feel" Julia there with you?  

But then again... why not?  Not only did she spend hours and hours with that cookbook, and doing exactly what Julia told her to do, but she also read other books about her, and even found Julia Child rerun shows to watch.  And when she was done taking in information and acting on it, she spent the evenings writing about her experiences, sharing them with anyone who wanted to listen.

It sort of made me wonder what would happen if I used some of those same ideas to study the life of Christ. You know... read The Book, do what it says, find conference talks to watch, read books others have written about Him, and then actually spend some time thinking about it, and write about it in my journal. 
Would I feel closer to Him?
Wait.

Did you hear that?

I think that was the sound of the teachings I've heard for the last 40 years finally sinking in.

I wonder if Glenn Beck will miss me...

Karma Kicks Me in the Rear... Again

So yesterday, we chose our pew to sit in for Sacrament meeting up really close. Frankly we were grateful to get a pew at all, because in our ward if you don't get there by 10 till, you have to sit on the folding chairs in the far back.

Yesterday the service was extra crowded because it was our Primary Program day. Basically that's the one Sunday every year that the children's organization runs the service. All the children say a small part, and there's lots and lots of singing. SO it was extra crowded with lots and lots of grandparents and people who invite their neighbors and what not.

We ended up in the front corner, almost the front row.

As it turns out, I was in the exact same seat that the unnamed daughter was seated in during last week's incident.

So as the program got underway, The Brain leaned over to me and asked, "Do you smell something?"

And yes, in fact I had begun to smell the recognizable odor of a dirty diaper. Now, I'm no dirty diaper newbie or anything. Hey, I think 4 kids moved me into the expert category a long time ago. So - - whatever. I can take it until they leave with the kid to change him, right?

You'd think that even if it didn't bother the (single) dad, it would have bothered the kid, but you'd be wrong. Apparently we were sitting behind the original Buns Of Steele kid, who never even indicated any discomfort whatsoever.

But I am not kidding you, that stench got stronger and stronger. About 10 minutes later, The Brain leaned over to say "I don't think I can stay here."

To which I replied, " You have to just DEAL with it. Remember? We're the Nazi parents who, only one week ago, lectured our daughter until she cried, because she left this very bench in the middle of a service."

And so, Karma won again. We were never so glad for a meeting to be over in our lives.

And just FYI - If your baby has a dirty diaper, and you think maybe if you ignore it then nobody else will smell it either, You Are Wrong.



Karma: 5894300239485
Randi: 0



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My Coffee Maker is Dying

Oh, yes, I really do.

Nobody here drinks coffee, but we all enjoy having insta-water that is the perfect temperature for herb tea or hot chocolate.

So I've had this little beauty for 5 years now, even though it started dripping water out one of the seals last year. Now it's more like a steady trickle of water every time we run it. Do you think it's a problem to run an electric appliance while it's sitting in a pool of water?
Do you think God might be getting ready to shock me for having an appliance of evil in my home? (kidding!! I'm kidding!!)

I guess maybe I'll ask for a new coffee maker for Christmas.

I would highly recommend this to all my lds friends as a low energy, highly safe way for your children to get their own hot water,(unless your coffee maker happens to be sitting in a pool like mine.), but I don't want to start any kind of trend that could be responsible for someone telling you that "especially considering your calling" you need to "avoid the appearance of evil", as some helpful person once told me.

Do you think that means I should stop taking the Laurels to Starbucks for steamed milk? Because they'd WAY rather do that than go for ice cream.

Oh well, If the bishop wants to talk to me about avoiding the appearance of coffee I'm pretty sure he has my cell phone on speed dial anyway.

Hey! FYI -- -The very best herb tea in all the world (at the bottom of this link) is making it's seasonal appearance. If you haven't gotten yours yet, I'd suggest doing it immediately. A couple of weeks ago, The Brain brought me home 6 boxes. No wonder I like him so much! He totally gets me.

And the Winner Is -

There were SO many great quotes, as always! And you all managed to pull out the most meaningful and most concise. I'm really impressed!

Truly- I loved them all. I've been touched recently, though by President Monson's special ability to really see and care for "the one". Even though his calling has him meeting thousands of people every month, he still takes time to minister and treat people as individuals. I'm trying to do better with that skill.

And so with that in mind, my very FAVORITE quote this time was:

"Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved."

and that makes our contest winner (first person to comment it in)..... Happy Mommy!

Of course, you know that I'm now required to say that everyone's a winner, because everyone who participated had their lives enriched and uplifted.

I hope at least a little bit of that enrichment and uplifting really did rub off a little, and give you peace.

And HM - email me privately to claim your prize.