This month is my turn to submit an entry to the church newsletter.  I have a love/hate relationship with this periodic assignment.  It's always hard for me to get started, but once I manage to get the words coming, I usually end up liking what I came up with.  It took me a ridiculously long 2 1/2 hours to write this.  I obsess over editing, what can I say. 

Admittedly, I took some creative license with the details of this story, mostly because I had to fill in the gaps in my memory.  Still, the lesson I learned from this good woman is real. 

Here is the article:

When I was a little girl, maybe 5 years old, my ward boundaries changed.  As a result, a woman named Sister Simmons joined my ward.  I had never met Sister Simmons before, but I was instantly scared to death of her.  In fact most kids met her with a wary eye.  She was ancient and bent as she sat in her wheelchair.  She had two big clunky hearing aids in her ears, and she wore glasses so thick I could barely tell if she actually had eyes behind them.  Her wrinkles were the deepest I'd ever seen and her hair was a thin wispy white mop that failed to fully cover her scalp and stuck out in every direction.  On top of that, she had a few course whiskers that stuck out of her top lip and chin.  I had never seen anyone quite like her and I planned to keep a safe distance.  Most of the children seemed to have the same opinion when they first laid eyes on her because I saw that they would cling a little more tightly to their mothers when they were forced to walk near her. 

Over the next few weeks, I started noticing that some of my friends, after being introduced to her by their parents,  eagerly ran up to her and let her kiss them on the cheek before the start of Sacrament meeting.   They seemed to walk away from her no worse for the encounter.  In fact they seemed to enjoy their moment with her -- children were lining up for their chance to greet her.  I was puzzled and a bit curious about their change of heart.  I mean, she looked REALLY scary.  Soon it became a ritual for nearly all the kids to go up to her before the meeting started.  Eventually my curiosity became bigger than my fear and I told my mother I wanted to meet Sister Simmons.  With white knuckles, I held on to the back of my mothers skirt while we approached her wheelchair.  When I got close enough I could see that in Sister Simmons' lap was a huge bag of Chiclets -- you know, those little square pieces of gum.  She was offering me a small handful.  Why hadn't I noticed it before?  All the kids were happily chewing on their gum as they walked away from her. 

I had always been taught not to take candy from strangers.  To me, no one looked stranger than Sister Simmons, but my mom didn't seem to look at her that way.  When I was close enough, she moved her foot off of the foot rest of the wheelchair and invited me to step up, as the other children had done,  so I would be close enough for a kiss.  I looked at Mom and she still seemed to approve, so I stepped up and offered her my cheek.  Her kiss was gentle and warm and a bit scratchy from those little whiskers but surprisingly, it wasn't really all that scary.  I'm sure she said something to me, but I don't remember what it was, then she handed me my candy and sent me on my way. 

The next week, I went up to Sister Simmons all by myself.  I even told her my name when she asked.  From that day on, I was right there along with all the other kids that couldn't wait to greet her before church.  At first it was all about the candy, but it didn't take long before we just loved her, with or without the goodies.  As I got to know her, she was one of the kindest and most amazing people I've ever known.  She gave me much more than bubble gum and kisses. 

The scriptures teach us that "man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."  (1 Sam 16:7)  I started out looking at her outward appearance, and I was truly afraid of her.  Undeterred and unoffended by my snap judgement, she took the first step to help me get past it until I was able to look on her good heart.  She taught me that if I want a life with true friends that look closer at my heart, than they do my shortcomings, I sometimes have to be willing to forgive hasty judgments and take the first step.  Furthermore, I have to be willing to offer all of this with no expectation of return or results.  She was an example of what it is to be Christlike.    Sometimes my efforts in the Sister Simmons school of thought have been successful, sometimes they haven't, but I have never once regretted making the effort to offer something of myself. 

Eventually Sister Simmons'  body failed her, and she passed away.  Many of the children that were so scared of her (at least at first) attended her funeral.  Sitting beside her her in the casket was an empty jar.  As each of us came to say goodbye to Sister Simmons, we dropped a small handful of Chiclets into the jar.  When it came time to close the casket, her jar was overflowing. 

I know I'm kinda going nuts with this clone photo thing, but it's so FUN!  While we were in St.George over the Thanksgiving holiday my sis-in-law, Tonya, wanted me to show her around her new photoshop software a bit, so we set up a few clone shots to goof around with.  

Here are Alex and two of his cousins, as well as Starbuck and two of her dog cousins playing in Grandma and Grandpa's back yard.  Don't you think it's kind of tidy that all the families at our Thanksgiving reunion are represented in this photo?  MaKayla (the tall beautiful blond) is here from Brad's family, Ali (the half pint cutie) is Jessica's little ambassador, Alex and Starbuck are our contributions, and Casi and Abbie (the great big Scooby Doo-ish dog and the teeny tiny terrier) are Tonya's babies.  

So in the tradition of "Where's Waldo" can you find all 4 MaKaylas, 4 Alexes, 4 Alis, 3 Casis, 3 Starbucks and one Abbie?  Ah come on, it's not that hard! 

Oh and if you need a larger image to hunt through, go to my flickr photo link over there on the right, click on the thumbnail for this image, click on the "All Sizes" button just below the photo title, then chose how big you want to see it.  

Last night was the third and final evening of a marriage seminar that was taught by our bishopric. Each week they covered a different topic: communication, provident living (finances), and intimacy. The focus was on teaching more recently married couples some of the keys to a successful marriage without making them wait as long as some of us took to figure it all out and hopefully sparing them the school of hard knocks. (No, Scott and I still don't have it ALL figured out, but we have learned a few things over the years.)

Last night's topic was intimacy and the discussion was honest and frank and wise. Some of the questions that came up had to do with how to balance being parents and being husband and wife when parenting can be SOO exhausting. The answer from our wise teachers was to be sure and set aside time for each other away from the kids. Time as a couple has to be a priority. Then I came home, went to bed and had this dream...

Scott and I went on a date. For some reason, we had to bring Andrea and Gwyneth along so we decided it would be a driving date. The babies would fall asleep in the back of the van, then we could have some time to just drive and enjoy a nice conversation. All was going perfectly according to plan. After the driving had lulled the babies to sleep, Scott pulled into a parking lot of a city park. There were a lot of people around, but the view of the mountains was really beautiful and it was a nice place to sit, relax and chat. While parked there, he leaned over and kissed me. No, it wasn't like THAT -- I already told you there were a lot of people around and the babies were with us. It was just a nice kiss. Nice until I fell asleep. Uh-huh. In my "dream date", I fell asleep after about 45 seconds of making out with my husband. Still in my dream, I woke up about an hour later slumped over and drooling with my face on the driver's seat. (I was sitting in the passenger seat with my seat belt still on.) Scott was walking around outside the van, laughing about it. I was extremely embarrassed that I had fallen asleep during our date, especially in the middle of a kiss, but he had a great sense of humor about it.

Psychoanalysts could have a heyday with this one!

This cloning thing is fun!   It certainly sparks the imagination doesn't it?  Oh, the possibilities... : )

This clone image of Alex trying to ignore Gwyneth while he reads Harry Potter (for the millionth time) was much more difficult than the one of Alex alone.  Part of the problem was that Alex couldn't seem to hold still to give me a consistent background.  I had to throw out the best image of him because his book was in a much different position than in all the other photos and it caused problems when I started blending all the layers. 

Another problem was Gwyneth.  The image of her on the far right was originally positioned more in the center of the foreground.  When I snapped that image, she was sick of posing for me and was moving in for a closer look at the camera.  I ended up liking the photo of her, but she needed to move to the side to provide a better view of Alex and the other two Gwyneths.  Moving her was somewhat problematic because she went from a white background behind her hair, to a dark one.  I'm still clumsy with Photoshop, so the best I could do was to give her a haircut and trim off all her fly away strands that had white between them rather than brown.  First I tried replacing the white with brown, but it looked terrible and cartoonish, so she ended up with the haircut.  It's certainly not perfect, but maybe I'll come back and do this one again when I gain more skill with Photoshop.

Look what I learned to do today.  Have you ever wanted a clone to help you do two or three things at once?  I can help.   : ) 

I found a web site that explains how to create clone pictures.   It's surprisingly fast and easy once you get the hang of it.  

Alex and I had fun setting up this image of him demonstrating some of the various ways he passes time in his room.  He loves to read, he experiments with growing a wide variety of plants, and he loves to examine things under his microscope.  He has a lot of other hobbies as well, but there are only so many Alexes that can fit in one frame.  

This photo tells a lot about Alex, for example, he keeps a crate full of all our empty water bottles and insists that we find a place to recycle them.  In fact, he has become quite the voice for green in our house.  He is constantly buzzing in our ear if we leave an unused light on for too long, and don't even THINK of tossing an aluminum can in the regular garbage.  I haven't found a recycling center yet, so if anyone knows of one in the area, please tell me where it is before the empty bottles take over our basement. 

His fish tank is also on the desk beside the microscope, although you can't really see much of it.  Those fish never have a chance to get bored because Alex redesigns the landscape in their tank at least once a week.  Also, the painting hanging over his desk is one that I did when I was in high school.  Alex found it in the garage and begged me for it.  I am honored to have him to display it.   

I asked Gabrielle what she thought of this photo and she said, "Well, Alex sure does like to read!"  I asked her, "Do you see anything unusual about this photo?"  From the look on her face, I could tell she was stumped.  After I gave her a few moments I said, "How many brothers do you have?"  Then the light came on for her and she burst out into laughter.  : )

I was patting myself on the back yesterday because I FINALLY got both babies to settle down in their clean and tidy room, nestled cozy in their fresh clean sheets, for a nap at the SAME TIME!  Ahhh, it was heaven.  Not a sound in the house and a little time for Mommy.  

I was still congratulating myself on the nap time triumph when after about 2 hours of sweet serenity, I heard their cherubic little voices in conversation.  It melted my heart to hear them playing together.  They are just so CUTE!  Plus, by the sound of it, they were waking up in the best of moods.  This was all working out so well!

However, I was soon to learn that I suffered from one fatal error, not checking to be sure I had removed all liquids and gels from the room. The TSA has already figured out what I failed to realize.   That these seemingly innocent substances can be a significant risk to security, especially if they are present in large quantities.  I would add that they are also a significant risk to my sanity. 

As soon as I opened their bedroom door, the smell of Vitamin A & D ointment blasted me nearly to the floor.  If you aren't well versed in modern baby care, you may not know that A & D is a diaper rash treatment consisting mostly of petroleum jelly with, as the name suggests, some vitamins tossed in.  Gwyneth and Andrea figured out a few alternative uses for the 2 tubes of the stuff that were stashed in a basket on top of their dresser.    One tube for each baby.  How lucky was that! 

Based on what I discovered once my eyes stopped watering (from the strong fragrance, of course) and I could once again focus them,  I will explain some of less known uses for A & D.  Furniture polish, for example.  It turns out that A & D brings a real glossy shine to just about any finish -- furniture, floor, or wall.  On windows you can finger paint a design that yields the kind of warped glass impressionistic effect that you usually only see in more upscale homes and museums.  As far as skin care, it's soothing effect need not be limited to the nether regions, but can be slathered over your entire body, head to toe.  In fact, there's no need to even remove your clothing to do this.  If you put enough of it on, a quarter to half inch layer should do it, it will soak right through the fabric and very effectively moisturize the skin underneath.  Rolling on your bed after applying the thick layer helps to expedite this "soaking" process.   Fourth, it does a pretty good job of turning the pages of a book translucent.  (You never know when that's going to come in handy.)  And finally, it makes WAY COOL hair gel that doesn't wash away at the first 3 or 4 shampooings the way a less desirable styling product might.  

So there you have it.  All the ways you never knew a petroleum based ointment could come in handy.   Try it, and let me know how it turns out for you.


 

I've been doing a little home study research into how to improve the composition of my photos.  I've run across some really interesting online articles explaining different compositional rules, such as the rule of thirds, and the golden ratio.

One article, titled News Photos and Layout shows side by side comparisons of how a different crop or sizing of the same photo can make a big difference in your final result.  

I also found a composition help site that lets you upload your photo, then it superimposes the guide lines for different compositional techniques onto your photo, allowing you to play with the cropping and improve your composition.

Another fascinating article I read delved into color theory.  

My favorite quote of the day comes from the very last line of an article by James Gentles.

He says: 

     Remember the golden rule:
     The difference between a good and bad photographer, 
     is that the good photographer doesn't show you his bad pictures!

 Gwyneth just turned 3.  I'm still in denial.  Time seems to be passing so much more quickly with my youngest two compared to the preschool years with my oldest two.  Anyway, enough of that mommy moping...

Starting 2 or 3 days before we celebrated her birthday, Gwyneth began demanding that we call her Sleeping Beauty.  Any time one of us addressed her as Gwyneth, she would patiently but firmly correct us.  "I'm not Gwyneth, I'm Sleeping Beauty." 

I didn't realize how far she was willing to stick to her guns on this until it was time to open her birthday gifts.  She didn't want them because they were labeled "To: Gwyneth".  "I'm not Gwyneth, I'm Sleeping Beauty."  How difficult and frustrating it must be for her to live with such slow learners.  I recently heard that a local private school is looking for a drama teacher.  Gwyneth, I mean Sleeping Beauty, should give a guest lecture on how to stay in character.  She immersed herself in the role and dismissed all temptations and distractions handily.  I was impressed!

She was willing to open one gift, since it was wrapped with Disney Princesses wrapping paper, and Sleeping Beauty was among them.  Inside was a book with a different princess on each page.  She pointed to Sleeping Beauty and said, "Hey!  It's me!"  

We did eventually convince her that she could open her gifts even if we, in our penitent ignorance, had written the wrong name on the cards.  In the end it seemed that our birthday offerings satisfied Sleeping Beauty and she happily pranced off to play with her new toys.  BTW, does anyone know... Do princesses prance, or is that just princes and ponies? Maybe I should say she gracefully glided away. 

Later that day, she put on her superhero cape.  I thought maybe she would have a name change to go along with the new costume.  Nope.  She demanded we call her Super Sleeping Beauty.   

It took a few more days, but we all finally got the hang of calling her Sleeping Beauty. Once she had us properly educated, it didn't take too long before we were hearing, "I'm not Sleeping Beauty. I'm Butterfly."

I just go with it.   

First thing this morning, before I could confiscate all the Halloween candy and begin the rationing (which given the quantity of candy my kids gathered, should last us well into the next century), Gwyneth dove into it.  Actually I caught both Andrea and her shoving candy in their mouths as fast as they could before I came to stop them, sometimes not even bothering to remove the wrappers.

Anyway, a few minutes later, I noticed Gwyneth running laps around the house and throughly enjoying the burst of energy that comes from being three years old and completely LOADED with sugar.   While running, she was holding this half unwrapped butterscotch Dum Dum sucker in the air.  I asked her what she was doing and she told me, "It's Super Onion."  You know what?  She's right.  It does look like a tiny onion wearing a super hero cape.   Why didn't I see that before?

Also, this photo is my first try at applying the Orton Effect to one of my photos.  Admittedly this isn't the best photo to use.  It was out of the question for Gwyneth to stand still when she and Super Onion had so many rescue missions and adventures to attend to, so the original photo is a rather blurry.  Still, this kind of gives you an idea of what the Orton Effect is all about.  Here is the original photo so you can compare the difference. 

Scott and the babies have been sick, but they are better now. 

Gwyneth can be a NIGHTMARE CHILD when she is sick with the high maintenance personality of Zsa Zsa Gabor, only with less slapping and more whining.   Make no mistake, I love her completely and I will readily do anything I can to ease her pain, but taking care of her sucked the life force right out of me.  Now I have a temperature, a fussy tummy and a 4 day headache. Grrrrr!  Alex stayed home from school sick yesterday too.  This stinks. 

Oh well, at least everyone was healthy for Halloween, and all that candy doesn't tempt me when I feel like this.

BTW, Happy Birthday to Gwyneth!  She turned 3 yesterday. I love ya my little princess! We celebrated her birthday when Doug and Cynthia were here last Saturday, so fortunately my being sick didn't change any birthday plans. I'll write more about her birthday when I fell better...