My interview/discussion with Sister Julie B. Beck, the General Relief Society President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints finally went live today on The Mormon Channel. She is the president of the worlds largest women's organization and it was a humbling experience being able to meet with her. She is an inspired woman, who cares for the women of the world deeply.

I wrote about my experience meeting with her on my other blog, MMB and if you're interested you can click over there to see what other things I had to say.

For me the some of the biggest things that I took from these meetings with the General Relief Society President, Sister Julie B. Beck, were:

1. The ways we can utilize the war chapters in Alma in raising our families in “enemy territory”. I felt a call to action to learn those chapters and learn them well. They should be every mothers blue-print as we raise our families in enemy territory.

2. We discussed at great length our duty as Latter-day Saint Women Bloggers to be women like Abish—leaders in our own little blogging communities, leading people to righteousness. In fact when I left my first meeting with Sister Beck, I asked her what she would have me do, and she said “Be a woman like Abish and lead people in your own way to righteousness.”

3. The heavy burden that is Sister Becks of being the steward of all the Women and Children. That is a heavy burden to carry. I saw the tears in her eyes as she expressed her love and concern for the women of the church.

4. Her desire for us to all get along and stop being our own worst enemy. We as women can be quite mean to each other. We “war and jangle” with one another—are critical of the choices that each other is making—when we should be the safe place for us each to land. If we were the safe places for each other, then our Relief Societies would be places where we could ask questions, express sorrows, and request help without feeling like we are being judged.

5. That sometimes when we look to our peers for answers to our questions we are just flaming the fire. We need to look to the women in our lives—in our past—to find the answers to the questions that really plague us. Look at the “Grandmother” figures in our wards and search them out and learn from them. Age brings wisdom and they can shed a different light on the issues we are struggling with because of their life experiences.

The experience I had while waiting to meet with her each time was deeply personal. I had the spirit of the Lord strongly present in my life as I read the comments and questions pouring in-- and I had the constant reminder in the back of my mind of the spiritual gift that the Lord has blessed me with. He is a wise one, the Lord, and he knew that this gift-- the simple gift of knowing-- would be the best one for me. I don't need to speak a million languages or see angels. I just know. And that knowing allows me to see, hear and understand all sides of the equation without it damaging my own faith.

Take a listen and see what you think.

I learned some things that blew my mind.

But mostly? I'm proud to call myself a Mormon Woman-- a woman who is strong, educated, progressive,  dedicated and an individual.

Which is what my religion is truly all about-- its an individual experience.

Except Moxie.

And then you wake up raring to go and ready for a party. At 6:30am. Even if Mom was up half the night working.

I love it when I stumble upon amazing finds and this one is my newest, greatest, latest find: Live from Daryl's House.

Peeps.

It's freaking amazeballs!

It's all the Hall & Oats songs from the 80's remade with hot new artists in Daryl Halls HOUSE!

I wish I could just be a fly on the wall and sit and watch. Maybe if I was quiet enough they would indulge me and let me sing along. Just for one song. Or maybe two.  You can tell that these musicians are having the time of their lives just hanging and playin' tunes with each other.

My favorite find so far? It's a toss up between Kiss On My List with Rob Thomas and One on One with Cee Lo Green.

Whoa Nelly. These are freaking amazing and I could listen to them over and over.

Oh wait. I already have. Never mind.

It's raw, real, pure music in its absolute finest form.

Heaven peeps. Heaven.

Now I just need to figure out if I can download all this in either Spotify or iTunes.

You listen and tell me which ones you're diggin' more.
 Great  Balls of Fire! 

I'm in love and have a something new that I'm obsessing over. Which will make Jefe happy so I'll quit bugging him about the "fix it list" that is now a mile and a half long.


*****
I turned the comments back on.

Just to test the waters.

Please be nice to me.


*****
I'm heading to SLC tomorrow for a huge get together with a bunch of bloggers at the SLC Public Library.

If'n you're wanting to come and hang with the cool kids, that's where we'll be. From 9:30 - 5:00pm There's food, fun and yes. I'll even be listening to General Conference to see what sort of changes come about. I hear there are bunch of peeps going out to dinner after, too. You could maybe tag along with us. If you're so inclined.

Get more deets here. 

*****
I love it when I find a good book to read, too. And boy howdy do I ever have a good one right now! I have been basking in the sun outside while Moxie chalks the crap out of the driveway and I read and read and read. The book is over a thousand pages and I am in sheer hog-freaking-heaven.



This is the first book that I have ever read of Steven King's and I pink sparkly puffy heart LOVE it. A lot.

I am NOT a fan of horror. AT. ALL. But this? It's fantastic.

{i loved his made for tv movie The Stand, too. it rocked my world. and still does.}



*****
Do you Spotify?

Man alive. I do. I LOVE Spotify. More than Pandora or iTunes.

It's freaking awesome and I love that it's all at my finger-tips and ripe for the pickings and I just have to pay a small monthly fee instead of buying every freaking damn song.

I want to marry Spotify.

I wonder if Jefe will mind ?


*****
I have been non-stop listening to the Live from Daryl's House for the last few days, and decided that I will break the rules today for the random 10 and pick my favorites from what I have heard.

 I"ll link to their videos for you.

Cause I'm a giver like that.

Prepare to have your minds blown. 

1. Here Comes the Rain Again - Dave Stewart & Daryl Hall 
2. Kiss On My List - Rob Thomas & Daryl Hall 
3. Private Eyes - Mayer Hawthorn, Booker T & Daryl Hall
4. One on One - Mat Nathanson & Daryl Hall
5. She's Gone - Rob Thomas & Daryl Hall
6. Something to Talk About - KT Tunstall & Daryl Hall
7. Past the Sleep - Company of Theives & Daryl Hall
8. Ain't No Sunshine - Finger 11 & Daryl Hall
9. Sara Smile/Ooh Ooh Baby - Smoky Robinson & Daryl Hall
10. Adult Education - Neon Trees & Daryl Hall

 Bonus:  Family Man - Chromeo & Daryl Hall

The sun is finally shining here in Crazyland and it feels mighty fine. I spent the better part of the day sitting in my tacky old camping chair, reading a book and watching Moxie Pants draw with chalk and chase birds. She was hell bent on catching one of those singing birds on her finger so that she could put it in her back pack to take her BFF's house to show her.

It was delightfully perfect. I had the sun beating down on my mug, and my baby chatting my ear off about birds and chalk towns.

Nirvana, it was. 

And, I just might do it again today.

As long as the wind stops and the clouds go away, that is.

*****

 *****
I watched my kids yesterday, happily interacting with each other it made me soar further into my happy place. At one point the two oldest actually embraced in a heartfelt hug and I nearly died from happiness. Everyone was running around, laughing, playing, joking and I just wanted to pause the moment and bask in its perfectness. This, this perfect moment of everyone being happy and playing together, is the moment that will be seared into my brain forever. It's the moment that we have been tirelessly working towards.

Yesterday it finally showed up and I damn near died from the sheer joy of watching it unfold.

This past several years have been rocky, rough and frankly like walking the seventh rim of Hell. Truthfully, I didn't think that we would ever survive, let alone find ourselves surfing the Nirvana waves like we were yesterday. I can honestly look back to where I was last year, and the year before and I don't even recognize not just the person that I was,  but that family we were. We have all changed, and it has been for the better.

It's costing us an arm, a leg and a couple of ear lobes to facilitate these changes, but you know what? It's money well spent. At the end of the day stuff is just stuff, but people and relationships? They mean WAY more than just crappy old stuff.

For the first time in YEARS my family is happy. And that makes this Mama very happy.

*****

1. I Love You but I Don't Know What to Say - Ryan Adams
2. Maps - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3. Sideways - Citizen Cope
4. Never Satisfied (revisited) - Jackie Greene
5. Get Up, Get Up, Get Up - Barcelona
6. One of Those Days - Joshua Radin
7. Blue Mind - Alexi Murdoch
8. Jolene - Ray LaMontagne 
9. Wishlist - Pearl Jam
10. Hearts a Mess - Gotye

Bonus: Oh - Dave Matthews Band

Moxie is at the age where she says pretty much everything that comes to her mind and it keeps us not only on our toes, but laughing hysterically.

She notices everything and comments on it all. Sans a filter and I sort of love it.

Because this kid?

She’s funny.

Peeps.

Her sense of humor is strong and prevalent. It’s one of the things I love about her! She’s only four, and she has a super quick wit and wry sense of humor. It makes me excited to see what it evolves into the older she gets.

Take for instance these conversations that she had with me and her siblings. We were chatting in bed the other night—because “she found her words and they needed to get out” – and she was jumping from one train of thought to the next faster than a speeding bullet.

We would barely get registered the funny things she was saying, and she was off again on another brain tangent.

I love it when my kids are this age. Every single one of them has had these verbal purge moments and it completely melts my heart and is the highlight of mothering for me. They say basically everything that comes to mind—and yes. Sometimes it’s even inappropriate.

{ Why is that man so fat Mommy? } 

{Why does the birds sing like that Mommy?}

{What is that man’s name Mommy? No. Really. WHAT is his name [this is when I make up strange names and stories about the people she wondering about, just so that she will move on to the next thought] }

It always makes me sad when they grow out of this stage because this is the best one of all. We can listen to them say everything that we are thinking, and they can’t get in trouble for it ‘cause they’re too dang cute. And further, we can join in and be silly with them and not even bat an eye at the awkwardness that is the conversation. Those are the best conversations ever.

Take these most recent ones:

Me: Where’s my phone?

Moxie: People’s makes lots of calls, huh Mom?

Me: Yeah.

Moxie: Well. The man says ‘One Call, and That’s All.’

Me: {gut busting laugh} YES! Yes He. Does.

Moxie: And you know what Mom?

Me: What?

Moxie: I thinks he’s right. Peoples makes too many calls. One is enough.

*****

Me: Want some fries?

Moxie: Yes.

{Silence while fries are eaten}

Moxie: Mom?

Me: Yes?

Moxie: Did you know that Unicorns live on Mars?

*****

The day we move into boring, regular every-day conversations is the day I start to mourn. She is my baby. My last. The end of the awesome, off-the-wall conversations spurred on by sporadic, uncensored, unfiltered thoughts.

I loves it and I will miss it.

Recently I was with my friend and we stopped at McDee's to get ourselves a Diet Coke so that we could continue the amazing conversation that we were having-- and not get parched as we talked the night away.

One of my favorite songs-- and apparently her's too-- came on because we both started singing at the top of our lungs together. We were in perfect synch as we were waiting for our turn to pay and get our drinks. Bouncing along, singing-- It was absolutely perfect. It's times like these that make up my Kodak moments of life-- complete with a soundtrack.

And then my friend started singing the last verse.  Or what she thought was the last verse.

Just as the McDee's Man opened the window he heard TWO versions of that verse.

Mine of course, was the correct version because we (the McDee's man and I) both at the same time said to my friend "What did you just say?"

She looked at me, scrunched up her nose and said "Stop it! I sang the lyrics."

I looked at the McDee's man, who was laughing, and said  "Uhhh... No you didn't. Sing it again."

Which she did.

And it was wrong.

In so many ways, it was wrong, wrong baby, wrong. 

Me: Did you just say "like a hair on your untrimmed chest?"

Friend*: Yes. Shut up! That's the line in the song.

Me: And then what did you sing?

(McDonalds man is still listening. AND LAUGHING)

Friend: Like a bird in your vagina.

Me: Uhh.. Yeah. That's not how the song goes.

Friend: Yes it is. Stop being such a prude.

Me: Seriously. That is NOT the lyrics to this song.

Friend: It is too.

Me: WHY for the love of all things holy would you put a bird in your vagina? For hell's sake, REALLY?  A BIRD? In your vagina. Wuh the wuh-wuh??

(McDee's man is wiping the tears now as he listens to this gift I am giving him).

Friend: Uhhh. I thought it was some weird sex thing.

(McDee's Man starts laughing even harder) 

Me: Seriously? Think about it. A Bird. IN your vagina. For reals? WHY?

Friend: I dunno. Maybe not?

Me: That's right. Positively not.

Friend: Ok, Smarty Pants. What are the lyrics then?

Me:  LIKE A VIRGIN, YOU'RE MADONNA.

(McDee's man bursts out laughing. Again.) 

Friend: Shut up. Both y'all.(points to the McDee's man and Me) I'll never speak to either of you again if you tell anyone it was me that sang it this way.

Me: Oh. For sure. I'll never tell a living soul. Pinky Swear. **

And I turned to the McDee's man, and said "You're welcome and have a nice day."

And now You're Welcome, and I hope YOU have a nice day.

You will never be able to sing that song again without thinking of me. And my dumb cute friend.


*identity kept a secret to protect the guilty. 

**she is aware of this post and approves of it. sort of. in an anonymous sort of way. 

"A strong positive attitude will create more miracles than any wonder drug." - Patricia Neal

I give my teenage son and his friends (and my daughter, too) a public service announcement every time I see them and twice a day when I drive them all to school.

It started as a joke at the beginning of the year I would greet them with a hearty "Hello Children of the Corn!" and then snicker all the way to school because they had no idea what I was saying.

That lasted all of two days when one of the smarty-pant boys got in the car and said "I Googled that and I know what the means now. You're calling us killers."

So, I added something new that day to my routine.

 I greeted all of them with the same hearty hello and then sent them on their way with a rousing "Don't kill anyone today! Make good choices, and just say NO to drugs and porn."

When I pick them up from school I ask them all how their days were, and specifically ask "Did you kill anyone today? Smoke any pot? Looked at any naughty pictures?" When they all responded with a resounding NO! I break out an enthusiastic round of applause and yell "YAY! You did it! You had a super successful day! Great job guys!" 

At first they were horrified that I would say that to them.

I mean what Mother in their right mind would openly talk to their kids like that about killing, drugs and porn?

Me, that's who.

For the longest time, they didn't know how to handle my little PSA announcement as they were dropped off and picked up. Honestly, I think I scared them for a while. They just didn't know how to take me.

Whenever my son would have his friends over, I would make sure that I said that my mantra to all of them. I wanted them to know what my "expectations" were.

It's funny to see how it's now turned into something that my son expects of me. He had a friend over spending the night and as I wandered off to bed, I told them my abbreviated mantra: "Make good choices tonight guys and just say no to porn!"

Thing 2's friend looked shell-shocked and as I headed up the stairs I heard him say "What the heck did your Mom just say?" Thing2 proceeded to tell him that I always tell him that "Make good choices and just say no to drugs and porn" He then said "she sometimes throws other stuff in there too, but she always reminds me to say no and make good choices. She just wants us to be good."

And that right there warmed my heart.

That really IS all I want.

I want them to make good choices.

I want them to say no to drugs and porn.

If I say it enough, maybe when they are faced with a choice, they will hear me in their heads warning them to "make good choices and just say no."

I like to think that it's working, too. One summer we spent the entire summer, every chance we got, pounding the story of Joseph who was sold into Egypt into their brains. He was faced with a choice-- a naughty girl wanted to do naughty things with him -- and he turned around and ran. He ran so fast out of there that he left his coat. THAT HE WAS WEARING. That's high-tailing it out of Dodge pretty dang fast, if you ask me.

The pounding of that story into their brains is working -- along with my daily mantra -- because one night Thing 2 came home from a sleepover at 1am. He hummed and hawed around and finally told me that the boys were doing and saying bad stuff, so he told them to stop and they wouldn't. He asked again, and they still refused and he remembered Joseph running away and Me always telling him to make good choices, so he packed it up and WALKED HOME.

He made a good choice, peeps. He did it. He was successful. 

The boys from the carpool have asked me to add one more thing to my daily mantra: Don't steal anyone's soul today.

I will gladly oblige and say it over and over again if it will help them all to keep their noses clean.

"Make Good Choices, people. Don't kill anyone today and no stealing people's souls. And remember:  just say NO to drugs and porn."

If you can do all that, you will have a successful day!

*****
That's all she wrote, peeps.

I'm working on a super fun project that's keeping me pretty busy-- and you can join me if you want.

1. Dear Chicago - Ryan Adams
2. A Punk - Vampire Weekend
3. Colors - Amos Lee
4. Sex On Fire - Kings of Leon
5. The Shadowlands - Ryan Adams
6. Smile - Mia & Jonah
7. No Ones Gonna Love You - Band of Horses
8. Heart Skipped A Beat - The Xx
9. Somebody That I Used to Know - Gotye
10.  Free Fallin' (live) (acoustic) - John Mayer

Bonus: Grace Is Gone - Dave Matthews Band