What matters

This is from The Secret Life of Bees, a book I just finished reading for the second time (the first time about 3 years ago).

"You know, some things don't matter that much, Lily. Like the color of a house. How big is that in the scheme of life? But lifting a person's heart--now, that matters. The whole prolem with people is...they know what matters but they don't choose it...The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters."

If you haven't read the book, August is talking about why they decided to paint their house "flamingo pink." Her sister, May, who was an extremely sensitive individual to say the least, wanted it to be pink. When it came right down to it, August chose what matters. The question is, do we?

Here is a small example from my life today: Damon has been asking for days if he could paint, glue and cut. I told him that on Friday, when Allie was sleeping, that would be a good day for "arts and crafts." Maybe I should've thought about that last night when I finally got around to mopping the floor; something I should've done a week ago. Damon promised to be careful and not make any messes. He was very apologetic when, inevitably, he did.

Note that he used my clean kitchen rags and towels to wipe the paint off the floor. He was happy to clean up, though, which I can't always say is the case with him.

Here is one of his masterpieces, House on Fire.

When it comes right down to it, it really doesn't matter that my floor is dirty again or the kitchen towels may now only be used to clean the floor. What matters is that Damon feels good about his abilities (he said he's an artist) and that he didn't spend the afternoon driving me crazy.

It may be hard sometimes to choose what matters, but it's always worth it. I may need to be reminded of that tomorrow, or the next time "arts and crafts" rolls around.

A little bit o'nothing

It's cooled off here lately (highs in the mid 80's) and we are loving it! Today we went to the park in the middle of the morning and didn't die of heat stroke! It's definitely something to be happy about.

Allie has gotten very demanding lately. Right now, she is holding the book Olivia and crying because I told her I can't read it to her right this second. She is very particular about her story time. If Damon acts the least bit interested in what we're doing, and tries to "listen in," she freaks out. She pushes him away and says, "no." She also has become a water snob recently, too. She doesn't want to drink anything but milk ("milp," as she so frequently says). I try to give her water, and again, she says, "no." (FYI-I took a little break and read Olivia to her. Those big tears were too much for me!). Here is a view I have grown very accustom to having. If you can't tell, she's clinging to my pants crying. I'm looking straight down with the camera.


But as moody as she is (Allie is an all-or-nothing kind of gal. She is either happy or sad, with no in between), she can also be very sweet. She started saying "bess you" when someone sneezes, which is my new favorite phrase. She gets so excited when she sees her daddy, which Damon really never did, so I know it means a lot to Jeff.

Okay, how about something other than our hormonal daughter? All the new shows are starting, and for those of you who don't know already, you're going to find out that I watch too much tv. Jeff and I watch most of the same shows, and it's something we like to do together (we're not too big into talking, so playing fantasy football and watching tv together are two of our hobbies). Is anyone watching The Amazing Race this time around? I know, it's on Sunday night, which is horrible, but thanks to DVR we watch it Monday night and I'm already loving it. Survivor is another of our favorites. We caught up on The Office during the off season and I'm glad we did. It's one of the few good comedies on right now. We have also been Lost fans, but last season was a little bit of a disappointment for both of us. We'll see what this season brings. And, of course, I can't wait for American Idol in January! I have never been one to watch Gilmore Girls, but I started watching reruns and now I'm hooked. Jeff is not too fond of it (he made snoring noises one of the two times he was trying to watch), but my SIL loves it, too, so I'll just watch it with her.

Beach pics

Here are some pictures from our most recent outing to the beach. Greg had his dog, Vegas, there and Allie loves her. She mostly just gets close and laughs, but I encouraged her to get really close (we all need a little push in the back from our moms, don't we?).

Damon talking to April and Noel. Even though he had his life jacket on most of the day, he still managed to get sunburned. Mostly it was just where his swimsuit came down low on his back, but a little on his shoulders, too. Thankfully, he has skin more like me than Jeff.

This is my favorite picture of the day. Damon and Isaac have become such good friends, really surprising both April and me. We do hear, "I'm not going to be your friend anymore" almost daily from both of them, to which I respond, "I hope you guys work it out." Isaac asked me why I always say that and I told him it's because I hope they always will work it out. Look how happy they were together at the beach. Don't we all wish we had a friend like that?

A Fresh Start

Wow. It was weird today deleting all the posts I've written over the last nine months (don't worry--I saved them all on my computer first). I am looking forward to sitting down and reading over everything someday. Now, though, I'm back at the beginning with my first post. Hopefully keeping our last name out of things will help me feel more protected. Welcome to all of you who followed me over here and thanks for tuning in. I love blogging and I love reading the blogs of my friends.

Okay, now on to what I wanted to write about. Yesterday was Damon's first primary program and it was quite an event. Before the sacrament, the Sunbeams sat on the front row of pews, waiting until they could take their seats on the stand. Damon only walked down the aisle, arms folded across his chest, twice to where we were sitting; the first time to get his scriptures and the second time to ask "will they bring me the bread up there?" When his class finally made it up on the stand, he ended up mere inches from one of the microphones and he spent at least a third of the program pointing at it; heaven only knows what he was thinking about. All of the kids had a part, but somehow Damon ended up with two. Both were short, but they were similar and he kept getting mixed up here at home. He decided to play it safe and have his teacher help him, but I was just amazed at how far he has come in overcoming his shyness. The highlight for us, though, was the closing song, "I am a Child of God." The congregation was singing along with the primary, which must have given Damon the idea that no one would be able to hear him sing directly into the microphone on the chorus. He was wrong. There were people out in the hall asking whose "little voice" they could hear so distinctly. It left a smile on all our faces. I only wish we could've taken our camera in there to capture the Sunbeams trying hard to be reverent. Besides the microphone pointing, Damon also sang with his eyes closed on one song, and kept covering his face with his tie. All in all, it was a very entertaining hour and a half (yes, they went a little over).