Nine months later

On June 30, 2010, I started reading the Old Testament. It was the course of study for 2010 for the auxiliaries of the LDS Church. It has taken me all this time to finish it. There were very few nights when I missed reading. I set a goal to read it by Dec. 31, 2010. I obviously missed my original deadline. I reset my goal a couple of times. I wanted to be certain to be finished by the beginning of Lent, or Ash Wednesday. And I made it!! I read the Book of Mormon for Lent. Don't worry, I won't be using this blog to document my reading this year. I started a scripture journal.

It took me almost 9 months, minus 3 weeks, to read the Old Testament. I could've had a baby in that time. My babies were both born 3 weeks early.

I read the Old Testament in the Old Testament Seminary class I took as a senior in high school, but as I read through it this time, I'm shaking my head in disbelief. I wondered many times where my mind was in seminary. (Of course, I also realize that was over 40 years ago.) I read the LDS Institute of Religion's Old Testament Student Manual 1 Kings–Malachi - Religion 302 along with the Old Testament this time. I still have a couple of chapters left in it.

I chose to read Isaiah last & I'm glad I made that decision. Now, as I read the Book of Mormon, I will read parts of Isaiah again; only this time it will be the pure scripture because it was taken from the Brass Plates of Laban & will not have gone through all of the translations. I can't wait to see how the Institute of Religion's Book of Mormon manual will treat Isaiah.

Where are my tickers going?

I noticed that the tickers for my book challenge posted on 12/27/09 are disappearing. Where are they going??

I will finish The Book of Mormon today!! I am so excited. I didn't quite read it in 100 days, more like 103 days, considering there were 6-7 days I didn't read. I think that is pretty awesome. Luana, my aunt, said she read it in the first 30 days of her mission. Our bishop challenged us to read it by Memorial Day & that is tomorrow. I will finish it tonight.

I filed it under Re-Reads & since I can't find the pin on the original ticker, here is the pin for the new one, rereads.

Paying my last respects

I am waiting up for 2 of our cats to come in from playing night games, yawn. Little buggers.

I probably could read another chapter of Alma while I'm waiting. This is the same place I got to the last time I attempted reading The Book of Mormon in 100 days. Lent is over, meaning the push to successfully complete the challenge of celebrating Lent is over. It was especially important to me after I failed so dismally last year.

Sam just came in, without a mouse. Now for Marsha.

Don, Mother & I went to the mortuary last night for Gwen Hulse Wheeler Cottle Fish's viewing. The new mortuary is SOOO nice. Today I took Mother to the funeral at our church. We could only stay for part of it because we didn't think to reschedule Mother's hair appt. But Mother was there for the life sketch, which Edna & FayeLynn gave. They stood together & talked in turn. It was really well-done. I wonder if they practiced. They mentioned Mother. Five of her 10 grandchildren gave "Memories of Grandma." Each of her 4 children were represented by one of their grown kids & both of FayeLynn's daughters spoke. It was a stretch for most of them, as her grandchildren are not active in the church. Derick, one of her grandsons, said, "Public speaking is not one of my strong points." He did very well. Public speaking is not a strong point for a lot of people who are active in the church. Most of us do get a chance to practice though.

I took Mother to her hair appt & went back to the funeral in time for the ending of the bishop's remarks, Robert Child sang "That Wonderful Mother of Mine," accompanied by his wife, Karen, who is also our (mine & Mother's) visiting teacher. The benediction was given by a stepson, Scott Fish. I went out to the cemetery. Gwen was buried in Dayton, next to her first husband Fay. After I picked up Mother, we ate at the Subway & then I took her back down to the church for the family luncheon so she could visit with Gwen's sister Venda.

It is so strange to look out the window & see Gwen's house sitting dark. It's strange to drive by during the day & see the drapes pulled. In the funeral today they said Wheelers moved into that house in 1953. I was just small. The house burned in the mid-'50s & Gwen & the kids lived in Glendale while Fay rebuilt their house. For virtually all of my life, Gwen has only lived 3 houses up the street.

Well, Marsha is in, so I'm off to bed.

Conclusion of Lent & new phone

The traditional ending of Lent is on Good Friday, which was yesterday. So, was I successful this year in keeping Lent? Yes! I am SOOOO proud of myself. I read The Book of Mormon daily for 45 days. I have reached Alma 12. I have learned so much more this time from reading the BOM than I ever have before.

Today we bought a new phone for Mother from King's for $37.77. Just now, when I went looking for it, I found it on the jWIN site for $99.99! Wow!! It took me hours & hours to set it up. See the little remote to the side of it? It has a lanyard the person can wear around their neck & you can program up to 10 emergency numbers on it. I haven't figured out how to do that yet, but I will. And look at those BIG number keys! They are 1 1/4 x 1-inch square!

I had the phone all set up & then discovered it wouldn't "talk" to the other phones in the house. Notice it has a tether, or in other words a cord?? I didn't want Mother to have to get up & go answer the phone & then stand there to talk when the other phones are cordless. I was panic stricken. Then Nick called on my cell phone to find out where I was & what I was doing. I had this scathingly brilliant idea, which was a little late in coming. Nick would know what to do!!

I told him where I was & what I was doing. Would he come over & help me? Sure enough, when he did come, he knew what to do & we set it up.

The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society

I am coming along swimmingly on my reading this year. Will I make 144 books?? I don't think so. I don't think I want to. That is TOOO many books to read. There is more to life than reading.

I finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society for the Whitney 2nd Ward book club tomorrow night. I started it Sunday. It was an excellent, excellent read. It is historical fiction written in letter form about the occupation of the Channel Island of Guernsey during WWII. By the time I was finished, I felt like I needed to visit. I wanted to look up the characters who peopled this book. Had I the time or the money, I'd be off to visit them. Kit would be almost 70. She was 4 at the time of the book in 1946.

As far as my reading of The Book of Mormon, I'm doing well there, also. I haven't missed a day. Last night I was tempted to just read a few verses, because I had to read it out of a book instead of online. I'm spoiled. I read it from LDS.org & the text is large enough to see & I can highlight where I am so I don't lose my place.

Weekly update 3/14/10

Do I really want to do a weekly update?

1. I have read from The Book of Mormon daily. check
2. Wednesday: Took Mother to have an ultrasound of her carotid artery. Good result. Had her INR checked, down .2 to 2.4, means it's a little thick. Recheck in 1 week.
3. Thursday: Took Nick in for his med check, complete with a blood check. Results are "better than last time." Whatever that means.
4. Friday: Took Mother in to primary care physician, he put her on another new med for her COPD.
5. Worked Friday afternoon & found a problem with a couple of legals, grrr

 6. Saturday: Watched a movie, Are We Done Yet, with Mother & she loved it
7. Sunday: And last, but not least, Daylight Savings Time is here!!! BOOOOO!!! HISSS!!! And, since we "spring ahead," I got to bed "late" & got up "late" & then, because I slept in, the sun stayed up late. As Bishop LeGrand Burton once said to my mom one spring Sunday, "It's later than you think!"

So, even though my body says it's only 10:30, the clock says it's 11:30 & I have to get up at 6, not 7 in the morning, grrrr.

Totally wasted day

I got up at noon today, only because I thought I heard someone at the door. Sure enough, there was. Finally about 3 I decided to get dressed. Now, not even 12 hours later, I'm ready to go back to bed. I did take both my morning & evening meds. And I filled the med boxes for Don, Nick & myself. Tomorrow I fill Mother's med boxes.

I hate feeling this crappy. The other day Rod asked me if I was sick. I said no I just don't feel good. There's a difference. He agreed. There are many days when I just don't feel good & today was one of those days.

I had many plans for today & didn't do any of them. However, I did read my scriptures & was thrilled to find out that there is a catch up day built into the booklet. I am already a day behind on my scheduled reading, although I have read every day. I am on day 18 of Lent but only day 17 of the booklet. It doesn't seem possible almost 3 weeks are gone already.

I also finished The Language of Baklava, one of the library books for Let's Talk About It. I gave it 4.5. It was sad, but also  laugh-out-loud-good. I was sad to see it end. The book for this coming Wednesday is a trilogy, three books in one, sigh. There are 386 pages. I still haven't read the first 2 books of the series. I know I won't finish this one either. Then there is the Whitney 2nd Ward book club on March 17, The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society, then the last discussion of Let's Talk About It on March 24 of Chocolat. The sad thing is, those 5 books are due then & I really do want to finish them.

Baldness

I came home from Ogden, & the first thing I did was sit down at the computer to read my scriptures. I read 2 Nephi 11-13 tonight. In the summary for Chapter 13 it says:

The daughters of Zion are cursed and tormented for their worldliness

Then down in verse 24 it says:

and instead of well set hair, baldness;

This rather disturbs me. I guess because of my hair loss. I know I officially lost my hair because of chemotherapy, but it hasn't grown back in very thick. I have thin, wimpy hair. I have never been officially diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), but have a lot of the symptoms, one of which is "male-pattern baldness or thinning hair." I guess I'll just call this an "ah-ha" moment. Every time I read the BOM, I find something new.

Reading The Book of Mormon

So why am I reading The Book of Mormon when I should be reading the Old Testament?? Why am I observing Lent anyway? It's not something The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints "does".

Well, for one reason, I've almost always marched to my own drummer. I'm fascinated with other religions. I studied for a year with the Jehovah's Witnesses. The bishop knew Mother & I were studying with them. Jehovah's Witnesses are more like us than different. I've since wondered if they aren't an off shoot of Mormonism.

In the 13th Article of Faith we read:

... If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

Is Lent "praiseworthy"? A habit is supposedly created if we do something 21 times. Some studies show that it can take up to 2 months to create a habit. So, 6 weeks is a good stretch. By the time the 40 days of Lent, plus 6 Sundays, or 46 days is over, I should be well on my way to having scripture reading become a habit.

Now, how come I'm not following this year's course of study for Sunday School??? Well, that's simple. I hold the keys to the library, LOL. Don & I both do. We spend our Sundays in the library & do not attend Sunday School. Frankly, my dears, I forgot that was the course of study.**blush**

One day at one of my cancer check ups, Dr. Broadbent & I were talking about scriptures. I don't remember now what it was, maybe I blogged about it. But he said the only thing he remembered about Primary was when he was 8 years old, his teacher asked the question what "keys" Joseph Smith held. It was multiple choice & one of the choices was the "keys to the library", which he chose. He said the other kids snickered & the teacher had a hard time holding her face straight at his answer. He was embarrassed & still remembers it 60 years later. I told him I hold the keys to the library.

So, when the booklet for reading the BOM came in to the bookstore & I saw it, I snapped it up. I have a booklet like that floating around here somewhere, maybe, but I knew I wouldn't find it. I also have one of those Sunday School booklets with the reading assignments for the Old Testament floating around somewhere. I would be more apt to find it, than my old copy of the 100 days of BOM. But why would I want to do something so easy? LOL

BOM reading schedule 2/21-27

Remember I have a nifty little booklet from the YW program, "Read the BOM in 100 days"? Well, the booklet I copied did not have days 5 through 12. Those pages were lost. My co-worker gave copies of them to me when she got them & I don't know where I put them. I'm sure they'll show up sometime, probably not today.

Sundays aren't counted in the 40 days of Lent. I haven't discovered if those are "free" days or not. But my goal for Lent was to read the scriptures DAILY!  Yup, daily. With this schedule I will be behind for Day 13. The assignment for Day 13 is 2 Nephi 8-9. I may read an extra chapter or so a day

Here is my reading schedule for Sunday, 2/21, through Saturday, 2/27:

2/21 - Day 5: 1 Nephi 11-12
2/22 - Day 6: 1 Nephi 13-14
2/23 - Day 7: 1 Nephi 15-16
2/24 - Day 8: 1 Nephi 17-18
2/25 - Day 9: 1 Nephi 19-20
2/26 - Day 10: 1 Nephi 21-22
2/27 - Day 11: 2 Nephi 1-2

Janelle did not commit to reading the BOM in 100 days, just to read her scriptures daily. I want you to know Janelle, that it helps me to know I have someone to be accountable to. I read the scriptures online from LDS.org. I know that before I turn the computer off for the night, I HAVE to read my scriptures, because you'll be reading yours.

Fat Tuesday 2010

"Ours is the responsibility to show our gratitude by the actions of our lives." 

-Thomas S. Monson, "Gifts", Ensign, May 1993, 59

Today is Fat Tuesday, the end of Carnival or Mardi Gras & Lent begins tomorrow on Ash Wednesday. My decision was to read the scriptures daily for Lent. My cousin Janelle said she would read the scriptures with me.

Our bishop has challenged us to read The Book of Mormon by Memorial Day. OK, I checked that out, it is 104 days. At work the other day the bookstore had a project from one of the LDS wards. They had brought in a booklet, "Read The Book of Mormon in 100 Days" & wanted it copied & stapled to give to their Young Women. The new value of Virtue's Value Project is to read the entire Book of Mormon. I have a booklet somewhere that our ward Relief Society did a few years ago, but I can't find my copy. I took one of the booklets back to the copier & copied it for me & a coworker.

So, Janelle, Lent begins tomorrow, Feb. 17.

Reading schedule for the first four days for the BOM follows:

1. Read Preface (Title Page), Introduction, Testimony of Three Witnesses, Testimony of Eight Witnesses, Testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith
2. Read Brief Explanation, 1 Nephi 1-2.
3. Read 1 Nephi 3-5
4. Read 1 Nephi 6-10

There are also thoughts & questions to ponder & places to write your responses.

Things change

About 10 years Kim Kent & I took a class on web design at Bridgerland Applied Technology College, only I think it was then Center. Whatever, it was & is BATC. So, for the past 10 years, I've dabbled in hyper text markup language, commonly known as HTML. I have made several web pages from scratch, have decorated web sites & thoroughly enjoyed it. It reminds me of DOS, digital operating system. And there is something satisfying in writing something, then checking it & see that all those commands strung together means something.

Then along came digital scrapbooking & another form of using computers to make something. Only digital scrapbooking uses GUI, graphical user interface. Still satisfying, but in a different way.

Then, every work day, I again use my skills of placing things on a page for about 3,000 subscribers to see my handiwork.

Things change. The only constant is change. The web sites I have been decorating changed to CSS.

"Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a style sheet language used to describe the the presentation (that is, the look and formatting) of a document written in a markup language."

Lost yet? I am. That information came from Wikipedia's explanation of Cascading Style Sheets. I am honestly surprised that I remembered what CSS stands for.

So, what is this leading to? Yahoo! is now closing Geocities & there goes the hosting site for my personal web page. I took the Oneida Stake Academy web site down because The Preston Citizen changed hands & the employee handbook for the new corporation says something about not using their information.

So, my dabbling in HTML is coming to an end as I try to find another free web hosting site. I am currently trying to use Google Sites, but not sure if I like it. I can't just view my web page as I can with Yahoo! Geocities. I have to sign in, ick.

Anyway, yes, I am murmuring just like Laman & Lemuel did in The Book of Mormon.

But there is good news! I found a new blog to follow!! W00t! W00t! I love blogs. My cousin Earl's wife, Ginger, has her blogspot addie on her Facebook account. I followed it & there it is, Mi Vida Loca. I love the name. Under the name she has "Welcome to 'my crazy life.'"