HR3101 - Caption Action 2

Many of you know that I joined Twitter back in June. This has been the best thing for me and my business venture (more on this later in another post) and I love twitter. I go on record right now as saying that I don't necessarily recommend twitter for everyone. It is addicting and can be time consuming! For me, though, I have made friends, locally and nationally. I have made a world of contacts for my PartyLite business and my Family History business. I've also been able to have some contact with a few celebrities that actually do respond to a vast majority of their messages. It's been fun. Steve and I have both made contacts in the photography world, as well, which has helped Steve learn more about this field as he ventures into developing his great talent! One last thing I would like to talk about today and thus the reason for the post....I have learned more about deaf culture and the fight for things to help...Well, read on:

One great person on twitter is @deafnessguide. She is currently lobbying for HR3101. She has made visits to Washington, DC to lobby for this cause and will be making another visit tomorrow, Monday, 23 Nov 2009. In preparation for her time there, she tweeted out the following message on Saturday. I felt strongly enough to try and help get the word out, so I have asked her for more information to share and copy/pasted the list of the offices she will be visiting on Monday.

If you don't see your specific representative on this list, it is most likely because she has already visited their office, but you are welcome to contact their office (and all of your states offices) and encourage their support of this effort. For more details, please visit: http://captionaction2.blogspot.com/. There is a lot of information for this cause. Also, if you scroll down on the right side, you will see the "Caption Action 2 Blogroll", which includes a file of "Congress Staff Contacts". Pull that list up, share with your family and friends. Email the contacts, as they are the ones that will really help in gaining more support for this cause. There are also links for a summary of HR3101. Also, if you click on "Write your Representative", you can use this to get a phone number or snail mail address.

If you happen to already be on twitter, please follow @deafnessguide and @NADtweets. Also, @MarleeMatlin, who is the NAD spokesperson for accessible broadband services and Internet media. There are many others that I would recommend following, if you are already there or choose to take the plunge into twitter. Oh and you can also support this cause on Facebook, by clicking here.

The idea is to work together, so their offices will know this is not a one woman effort. If you would like to be part of this, let me know ASAP with the easiest and quickest contact info for you. So, efforts can be coordinated to have you contact their office shortly after her visit, while it is still fresh on their minds. Here is that information:

Putting together a to-visit list for my fourth and final visit to Capitol Hill Monday. After list is complete, I'm going do something new..
I am going to send out a series of tweets, one for each state, with the names of the Reps I am going to visit. If you see your Rep name..
Either reply to me or DM me and I will mention you to the office staff when I stop by. Then, you can call or email and verify who u are.
And, I will send you a tweet when I stop at your Representative's office. That will give you a chance to call right away.

Alaska deaf: Visiting Alaska rep Don Young on Capitol Hill Monday for HR 3101.
American Samoa deaf: visiting Rep. Eni Faleomavaega on Capitol Hill Monday for HR 3101.
Arizona deaf: visiting Rep. Jeff Flake on Capitol Hill Monday for HR 3101.
Arkansas deaf: visiting Rep. Vic Snyder on Capitol Hill Monday for HR 3101.
California deaf: visiting these representatives' offices Mon on the Hill: Berman, Chu, Dreier, Harman, Herger, Lewis, Matsui, Miller...
More California deaf: visiting these too: Nunes, Pelosi, Radonovich, Thompson, and Waxman.
Connecticut deaf: visiting office of Rep. Rosa DeLauro Monday on Capitol Hill for HR 3101.
Florida deaf: visiting these representatives Monday on Capitol Hill for HR 3101: Kosmas, Meek, Posey, and Young.
Georgia deaf: visiting these representatives Monday on Capitol Hill for HR 3101: Bishop, Deal, Linder, and Price.
Illinois deaf: visiting these reps Mon on Capitol Hill for HR 3101: Biggert, Costello, Davis, Halvorson, Jackson Jr., Kirk, Manzullo, Rush.
Iowa deaf: visiting these two reps Mon on Capitol Hill for HR 3101: Bruce Braley and Tom Latham.
Kansas deaf: visiting rep. Lynn Jenkins Mon on Capitol Hill for HR 3101.
Kentucky deaf: visiting reps Harold Rogers and Ed Whitfield Monday on Capitol Hill for HR 3101.
Louisiana deaf: visiting reps Joseph Cao and John Fleming Monday on Capitol Hill for HR 3101.
Maryland deaf: visiting one representative from Maryland, Roscoe Bartlett, Monday on Capitol Hill for HR 3101.
Massachusetts deaf: visiting one representative from Massachusetts, Rep. Richard Neal, Monday on Capitol Hill for HR 3101.
Minnesota deaf: visiting three reps from Minnesota, James Oberstar, Erik Paulsen, and Collin Peterson Monday on Capitol Hill for HR 3101.
Missouri deaf: visiting 3 reps from Missouri, William Clay, Emmanuel Cleaver, and Ike Skelton Monday on Capitol Hill for HR 3101.
Nevada deaf: visiting one rep from Nevada, Dean Heller, Monday on Capitol Hill for HR 3101.
New Jersey deaf: visiting 2 reps from New Jersey Monday on Capitol Hill for HR 3101: Frank Pallone Jr and Albio Sires.
New Mexico deaf: visiting 1 rep from New Mexico Monday on Capitol Hill for HR 3101: Harry Teague.
New York deaf: visiting 5 reps from NY Mon on Capitol Hill: Michael Arcuri, Yvette Clarke, Joseph Crowley, Eliot Engel, and Paul Tonko.
North Carolina deaf: visiting rep. David Price Monday on Capitol Hill for HR 3101.
Northern Mariana Islands: visiting Rep. Gregorio Sablan's office Monday on Capitol Hill for HR 3101.
Ohio deaf: visiting one representative from Ohio, John Boehner, Monday on Capitol Hill for HR 3101.
Oklahoma deaf: visiting one representative from Oklahoma, Tom Cole, Monday on Capitol Hill for HR 3101.
Oregon deaf: visiting one representative from Oregon, Peter Defazio, Monday on Capitol Hill for HR 3101.
Pennsylvania deaf: visiting 6 PA reps Monday on Capitol HIll for HR 3101: Dent, Holden, Murtha, Sestak, Shuster, and Thompson.
South Carolina deaf: visiting 1 SC rep Monday on Capitol Hill for HR 3101: James Clyburn.
Tennesee deaf: visiting 2 TN reps Monday on Capitol Hill for HR 3101: Steve Cohen and John Duncan.
Texas deaf: visiting 9 Texas reps Mon on Capitol Hill for HR 3101: Ralph Hall, Jeb Hensarling, Sheila Jackson Lee, Eddie Bernice Johnson..
More Texas deaf: visting these reps Mon for HR 3101: Kenny Marchant, Michael McCaul, Solomon Ortiz, Lamar Smith, and Mac Thornberry.
Utah deaf: visiting 1 Utah rep Monday on Capitol Hill for HR 3101: Jason Chaffetz.
Virginia deaf: visiting one rep from Virginia on Monday on Capitol Hill for HR 3101: Frank Wolf.
Washington deaf: visiting 2 Washington reps Monday on Capitol Hill for HR 3101: Jim McDermott and Adam Smith.
Wisconsin deaf: visiting 1 Wisconsin rep Monday on Capitol Hill for HR 3101: David Obey.
Wyoming deaf: visiting 1 Wyoming rep Monday on Capitol Hill for HR 3101: Cynthia Lummis. (end of tweet series)

Roosters & office politics

I have found it! The ultimate solution to my office politics problem! It's a rooster!!! Any rooster, it seems will do, even!

We are not mall shoppers. Growing up, my mall of choice to hang out on the very rare occasion I did such a thing was Fashion Place Mall. My sisters was Valley Fair Mall. Both of these malls are currently undergoing massive makeovers, so I do not guarantee maps and such on the links. But, anyway, while walking through Fashion Place Mall yesterday we happened upon a store called Asian Gifts. We went in, hoping to find a birthday gift for my mom's best friend. Her birthday was also on Sunday and I hope she had a good one, too. We found a couple of things of interest, but mom decided on a set of 3 Chinese wisemen for Judy's birthday gift. This particular shop does not have its own website. They are to help bring Good Luck, Wealth and Health to your household and are best placed in the dining room.

In looking around, this shop was very good about having papers posted explaining the purpose of many thing on display. One especially caught my eye, it was for The Rooster:I laughed and showed my mom and Steve, who just basically rolled his eyes. Many of you know my background with "jobs" and will immediately get the reason for our reactions! I don't know that I will be in a position to test this purpose, but I found it amusing, at least! Office politics are not my friend...oh the books I could write! My many experiences also lead to my fascination with the only reality show that I really like and watch faithfully, The Apprentice!

So, what are your experiences and solutions to office politics where you work or have worked?!

Flag Day & Birthday wishes!

I love the United States of America! Most anyone who knows me, knows this. I especially love Flag Day. I also have great respect for the flag of the United States of America! For years now, I have worn a heart flag pin. Way before 9-11 and some people started wearing pins and ribbons and such, for a short while. I still wear my pin, the current one I have I got from AVON in 2004. I have others that I wore before that.

When I worked at the Mesquite Library as a page, one of my duties was to take care of the flag. On days that I worked opening, I was to put it up the flag pole. On days that I worked closing, I was to pull it down and fold it when it got dark or the library closed, whichever came first. I was a bit of a stickler on flag etiquette. Meaning that if it started raining, I was right out there to get the flag down or if it was raining, I would not even put it out. We made sure to fold it properly every night, too. I loved this task of being in charge of the flag.

This day is also special because it is the birthday of two very important people in my life. My Uncle Larry is my mom's brother, who we did not know until 1981. This is when we flew to Florida to meet my mom's dad for the first time. She was 32 yrs old.

The other is a great friend from high school. Rob was a very important part of my high school friendships and learning. Some of the best times we had were during and after the ACT prep classes, remember?! LOL! I wasn't even close the friend to him that he was to me!

Happy Birthday Larry & Rob...hope your day was great!!! Happy Flag Day to everyone else!

Grumpy Old WOMEN

The year is 1993 and the movie is Grumpy Old Men, which was followed in 1995 by Grumpier Old Men. My dad loved these movies! I can take it or leave them, but my dad loved them! My dad was known as grumpy, but it was more of an act than anything sincere. For example, we would ask for him to take us to the store and he would grumpily say, "It's too far!" We would whine and then move on about our business. A few minutes later, usually 10-15, he would come in and say, "Let's go!" This was common, he tried to be mean, but usually he would give in or just be teasing. In fact, it sort of ran in his family...his older brother was grumpier than my dad. One time we went to visit him, this was just a couple of years ago...he was in the kitchen being grumpy, I told him that he was just like my dad...he smiled!!! From then on, whenever we went over, he would smile. Ok, so back to topic....

This post is about the flipside of that, Grump Old Women! In looking for any info to share on this topic, I found that there is a TV series in the UK by that name. This made me laugh...but, today, I am going to talk about one Grumpy Old Woman in my life, my MOM! Ok, so I don't believe she is old because I believe that age is a state of mind! But, my mom just turned 60 and she thinks she is old! But I know a lot of people that would agree with me that she is GRUMPY!

We will be walking in the store, Walmart for example. Ok, most people have been in Walmart or most any grocery type store. There is one main aisle that people walk up and down to get to the regular aisles where the groceries are, right? Ok, so we are walking up and down this main aisle and someone comes out of an aisle too fast or isn't watching for anyone in the main aisle. Mom gets mad and says that she "should have the right of away". Same trip at the store, we are in a regular aisle and come out, mom in front and not watching or caring and someone in the main aisle is in her way and she still says, "I should have the right of way." I will sometimes look at the person in an apologetic way as we move along. I'm sorry, but I don't see how it can work that way. Both directions can't have the right of way for her? This is probably the most common example of her grumpiness.

So a week ago Sunday, we are having a game night of sorts, one of many, in fact, at our house. There are 5 of us playing, myself, Steve, my mom and two of my cousins. As we are getting started, I mention that the ASL class would be starting the following Saturday. My mom turns to my cousins, both teenage boys, and tells them "sign language would be a really good thing for them to learn." The topic goes by the wayside as we get into playing games.

We start by playing The Game of Life, and for whatever reason, my one cousin owes Steve $5000, but he only has the $10000 bill. So, he goes to hand it to Steve and then pulls it back. They are playing around and my other cousin and I are laughing about it. It is all in good fun! The cousin wants Steve to pick up the change and they can exchange it at the same time. Steve refuses, and I point out that that isn't how it works in real life, you pay your part and then get the change, right? Well, when the time comes that Steve gets a grip of the bill, it rips. Ok, now, this game belongs to me & steve, not my mom, who doesn't like the game in the first place. I don't care one iota that this bill is torn, it only shows the game has been played and enjoyed, imo! I would have probably just thrown the little torn off piece away. In fact, the cousins, Steve and myself kind of laugh about it! But, not my mom, NNNNOOOOOO, ...She gets mad, really mad! She makes the other cousin get the scotch tape. She says, "All Steve had to do was pick up the $5000", I come back by saying, "All had to do was give Steve the money!" She yells at me, I get mad...and would normally start crying because I'm mad...she knows this and so I say, loudly, "And I'm not going to cry!!!"

That did it, the rest of the night; we spent basically walking on eggshells. This is nothing new for me as I do this a lot. It isn't an easy thing to live in the same house as your mom, at least not for us! We finish that game of Life and then move on to Payday. We all pretty much expected mom to go to bed, but she didn't, she stays up and plays Payday, too. In this game, there is a lottery, where each player that chooses to play chooses a number 1-6. The player landing on the lottery then rolls the die and whosever number comes up first wins the lottery. This same cousin that was involved in the tearing of the $10000 bill, which we now call bill, calls out the number 3. Steve can't hear well and even less this night because he has been having some issues with his ears. So, we were trying to hold up fingers to show him what numbers we were calling out. Well, some of us were. This cousin says 3 but uses the sign for 6

(which is the same as the sign for the letter W) and is used by much of the world’s population to say 3 and I know this.

This is really the sign for 3. I took that moment to tell him the difference between the sign for 3 and the sign for 6. Mom didn't seem to like this lesson and told this cousin that it didn't matter for "people like them." Now, she didn't elaborate, so I am not positive what exactly "people like them" meant. Now, mostly because of the grumpiness earlier in the night, my brain was not exactly following the process of all conversation that night.

Later that night, as my non-stop brain was going over the events of the night, I realized that at the beginning of the night, my mom was telling the cousins that learning sign language would be a good thing, but late in the night she tells him that it doesn't matter for "people like them." Hmm....WHAT?????

So, a couple of nights ago, one of these same cousins was over playing games again. We were playing games again and for some reason I mentioned something about sign language and/or the class. Mom told cousin that it would be a good thing for him to learn. He and I glanced at each other and after a moment kind of laughed a little. She didn't catch on that we were laughing at her and her constant changing mind.

Now, call me crazy (I didn't marry into the BATTY family for nothing, you know!), but AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I guess I didn't know what crazy was until the last 4 years and I'm certain it is only going to get worse as time continues on...so I decided to let out a little of this and do a post called "Grumpy old WOMEN". This woman isn't old and the thought of just how grumpy she will be when she does get old scares the living daylights outta me............good thing I love her so much, huh?!

ASL

"You will be the same person in 10 years except for the people you meet and the books you read." ---Dave Ramsey

Yesterday, I did something I have not done in quite some time, too long, even! I bore my testimony in sacrament meeting. Sitting in the back row, it was a long walk up to the pulpit. Our ward does not use the microphones, so everyone has to go up to the pulpit, although, I usually did anyway. Ok, so I started out with the Dave Ramsey quote above and went from there. From the moment I was done and walked back to my seat (using the hallway vs walking back through the congregation), I have not really been able to remember what I said.

I remember thanking a few people in the ward for their examples on adoption and talking about looking back at our lives and acknowledging the people we have met that fit the criteria in the quote above.

I remember mentioning that I am a bookworm. Without mentioning any specific books, I noted that I always have a book I'm reading and that I have been blessed to gain something from every book I've read. Maybe that is why I blog all my reviews now, I don't know.

I remember thanking the Macedone's for starting and teaching an ASL class. They have such passion for ASL and the deaf community. I have been told that our stake is getting a deaf branch in the near future. So, the timing of this class is GREAT! I would encourage everyone to learn ASL. In the flyer below, you will see that this class if for anyone 9 yrs and older. They don't have to be LDS, just understand that there will LDS terminology and hymns taught. I decided to blog about this and include the original flyer for the class, with Jim's permission, of course. I also put it on my google calendar and invited everyone that knows me and especially my husband to come and learn. The next class is on 20 Jun 2009. For more information, contact me, or the Macedone's and we will give you the details. We had a great time at the first class and welcome all that want to come!

I also know that I really did bear my testimony. It has been way too long and I am grateful that I took that moment to do this during fast & testimony meeting yesterday!

Incidentally, yes, I do know there is no post for yesterday. We are down to one computer and I chose to not get on yesterday, so I didn't post. Also, I'm hoping that maybe it will get me to post early in the day rather than late at night.

Optimism

Back in the year 2000, we were living in the north part of Salt Lake City. Some refer to this area as Rose Park. We had run into some issues with family that had made our situation not the best. I have this overall habit of being optimistic about most everything, no matter how bad it looks. During this time, I was having a talk with our Bishop and he told me that I shouldn't be optimistic and that I needed to be realistic. This bothered me, until a matter of weeks later when during General Conference, there was a talk about being optimistic and that optimism is a good thing.

This made me feel better. I have my days of being really upset over even little things. Overall, I am optimistic and I believe, realistic. Even with everything going on in our lives right now, I'm still optimistic. Worrying and stressing isn't going to do anyone any good, is it?! No, it brings so much negative into our lives. Why would anyone want that? I know how dire things in the world seem today and I know that there are lot of people out there a lot worse off than we are. I know that we make our own choices and we have to live with the consequences of those choices.

Ok, a week or so ago, my bestest friend and I were talking about Twitter. We had both checked out the website, a little. We were both thinking that there was a lot of fluff surrounding its popularity. Then a day or two later, I read an article about using twitter in genealogy. So, I took the plunge, I am on twitter. I am still figuring out how to use it to benefit my own genealogical work and that of my potential clients. I am following mostly celebrities, local and national. I actually don't mind it. You can set it up so you can receive the tweets of those you are following as text messages on your cell phone. You can receive one, more or all of them on your cell phone. If you are on twitter, click on the link to the right and start following me, too!

One of those that I am following sends out a daily LDS thought, today's is below and that is what prompted this post: "Of all people we as Latter-day saints should be the most optimistic and the least pessimistic pres Benson" He said this in 1986, in an article in the October Ensign. But even in this last conference, Pres. Monson said, "be of good cheer, and do not fear", but more on that talk in a future post.

So, basically, I will continue to be optimistic. I hope that many of you will allow yourselves the blessings of optimism, as well. I know that we will be fine through our current issues and I know that most everyone else will also be able to work through their issues and come out above where they were before. This is a major part of having so many trials. We are here on earth to learn and grow! We do this, mostly, through trials. What lessons are you currently being taught?!

SMILE, inside and out, it really does make a difference!!!

remembering conference talks

As many of you know, I've been working my way through the conference talks from April 2009 General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I know loads of people that watch or listen to conference every 6 months, then they're done until the next one. I know some people who listen to the talks over and over between conferences. And, then there are some, like mentioned in the article that basically only do the monthly lessons for Relief Society and Priesthood.

I am usually the last one, I watch conference and have all the feel good feelings and I will even take notes, usually. This last conference was different, though. It was Steve's birthday and we had plans for the weekend. I did manage to listen to or watch every session, but didn't take notes. I have an Ipod now, so I have them all on there, too. We are among the evil and don't have church magazine subscriptions...OH NO! Anyway, so I listen and then I read on lds.org. For the first time, I have a blog and am taking the time to share my 'observations' from each talk.

This morning, I happened upon this article and I was very pleased with myself that I am making more of an effort this time to remember exactly what encouragements we received. So, I thought I would take a moment and share the link/story with all my readers! What do YOU do to help yourself remember the counsel received during the 6 months between conferences?

PART 1: 4 Apr 2009 AM session General Conference

Welcome to Conference, President Thomas S Monson: "In the near future, we will be dedicating the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple, and then in the coming months and years there will be many more dedications." I include this quote for the technicality in wordage. It should bring some comfort to some out there. "There is something about a temple dedication which prompts a reevaluation of one’s own performance and a sincere desire to do even better." This is so true. It never ceases to amaze me what big and little things it takes for us to stop and take a look at our lives and where we need to improve. "The work of the Lord continues to move forward uninterrupted." This is most always true, but we are continually reminded because it is important to know and remember!!!
Becoming Provident Providers Temporally and Spiritually, Elder Robert D Hales: "what we learn now, in our present circumstances, can bless us and our posterity for generations to come." I believe this would apply to anything in our lives, not just monetary lessons. "Of course some debt incurred for education, a modest home, or a basic automobile may be necessary to provide for a family." I love how this is worded and we have been given this advice for many many years. As a fan of Dave Ramsey, I do strive to not go into debt for automobiles or even education. Although, with current circumstances working out education possibilities without going into debt is looking to be difficult. "I pray that in the next few minutes, and throughout this conference, you will be filled with hope in our Savior, Jesus Christ, and find hope in the doctrines of His restored gospel." I know a few people that have looked at these hard financial times that many of us have and lost hope or have becoming somewhat paranoid, in a way. As I listened to and watched conference, I heard many little encouragements like this to have hope! "Our challenges, including those we create by our own decisions, are part of our test in mortality. Let me assure you that your situation is not beyond the reach of our Savior. Through Him, every struggle can be for our experience and our good (see D&C 122:7). Each temptation we overcome is to strengthen us, not destroy us. The Lord will never allow us to suffer beyond what we can endure" As one who has endured some stressful issues, although I openly acknowledge that even our current problems could be so much worse, I have to continually remind myself that I can endure and that there will be blessings to come out of each trial! I'm not always the most patient in waiting for things to work out or for the blessing to come! "Our success is never measured by how strongly we are tempted but by how faithfully we respond" This is very comforting to me! "What is a provident provider?
All of us are responsible to provide for ourselves and our families in both temporal and spiritual ways. To provide providently, we must practice the principles of provident living: joyfully living within our means, being content with what we have, avoiding excessive debt, and diligently saving and preparing for rainy-day emergencies." I absolutely love that he uses the word "joyfully" when talking talking about living within our means! Getting there is the hard part, in my opinion, but once we do, I can imagine the joy that will come! "There is an equally important principle underlying these lessons: we can learn much from communicating with our husbands and wives" 'nuff said "The foundation of provident living is the law of the tithe. The primary purpose of this law is to help us develop faith in our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Tithing helps us overcome our desires for the things of this world and willingly make sacrifices for others. Tithing is the great equitable law, for no matter how rich or poor we are, all of us pay the same one-tenth of our increase annually (see D&C 119:4), and all of us receive blessings so great “that there shall not be room enough to receive [them]” (Malachi 3:10)." Early on, as an adult, having not been taught strongly about many things of spiritual nature in my home, tithing was a hard thing for me. As time moves on, my faith in this 'law' has grown and I now have no doubts of the great blessings that come by obedience to this law. I love that there is a certain equalness in this law. The amount of tithe paid in regards to total dollar amount is not the important thing and should never come up in comparisons with others. The equality is in the fact that no matter who you are or how much money you make, we are asked to pay the same 10% of our income! "as children of God, our deepest hunger and what we should be seeking is what the Lord alone can provide—His love, His sense of worth, His security, His confidence, His hope in the future, and assurance of His love, which brings us eternal joy." Again, the encouragement of hope "in the future" even!

fire safety at Madeline's

Late last week I got a phone call from a neighbor, she said that another neighbor suggested she try calling me. She then asked if I would be interested in listening to a fire safety presentation and get a free meal at Madeline's in South Jordan. Normally for these type of things, you need to go as a married couple, but for this one, that didn't seem to be the case. My mom lives with us, for those that don't know, and so her and I went to this presentation. The presentation was very informative and actually quite enjoyable. Landon was great! They talked about several things, including what rooms are the most common to have fires start and why. They also talked about charitable work and saving lives. Both my mom and I are glad we attended and I look forward to a possible opportunity to attend again with my husband, at some point in time. We had to choose between three delicious meals. My mom got the salmon, so I got the steak. I'm sure that if Steve would have been there, he would have gotten the chicken penne. From the bread, to the green beans to the potatoes, it was all wonderful! We quite enjoyed the food, which really was very tasty! It was 100% true when it said you did not need your wallets for anything! There was just a lot of good information and very good food! I would encourage anyone living along the Wasatch front and willing to drive to South Jordan to attend one of these meetings to take the time and go! No, I don't get anything, at all, for having people I know attend, and I still encourage it because I really believe it was worth my time and know that it would be worth yours! Email me or comment this post and I will make sure my friend calls you, too!

The Chocolate War BY Robert Cormier

Let me start by saying congratulations to UW for winning the 2009 WCWS in Oklahoma in 2 games over Florida!!! WOOHOO!!! Good job HUSKIES!!!



rating: 1 of 5 stars
I got this book while working at the Mesquite Library. It seems to be a high school book, but I don't really remember if we read it at my high school or not. I chose to read this while waiting for my copy Sisterchicks in Wooden Shoes to come in at the library. It is a small short book, so I figured I would read it quick, but it took forever! Almost a month, actually. Ironically, I did finish it right about the time my sisterchicks book came it. I don't normally allow myself to write spoilers, but I don't recommend anyone I know read this book, so I don't care this time!

***SPOILER ALERT....STORYLINE IS CONTAINED BELOW...SPOILER ALERT***

The book starts off introducing a lot of characters very quickly. This alone was a bit confusing to me. Maybe my brain was never completely into reading this book. I did not like this book at all. I had to force myself to finish it just because I hate leaving books unfinished. At one point, it did start to get a little more interesting, but then I really didn't like the ending or the overall themes and really did have to force myself to finish it.

The location of the story is Trinity, an all boys Catholic school. The main character would be Jerry. He has recently lost his mother and his father is not dealing with it, therefore unable to help Jerry deal with it. So, Jerry, a freshman, decides to put everything into making the football team. Then you have Archie, the assigner for the Vigils (Trinity's gang), who is about as evil and cunning as they come, for teenage boys. There is also Brother Leonard, the stand-in headmaster running the show while the headmaster is unable to do so. The story revolves around the annual chocolate sale. Which because of the evil Brother Leonard's choice, is now double the usual...double the quantity, double the price of each box!

Jerry is assigned to not sell the chocolates for so many days. After the assignment ends, he decides to continue refusing to sell the chocolates. He is taking a stand. This is about the best thing in this book, the courage of one boy to not conform and to stand out on his own. Well, Jerry's decision is hailed as a great, in the beginning. That is, until Brother Leonard starts freaking out that the chocolate sale is not going well. He can not afford this sale to not succeed. Enter Archie, who enjoys nothing more than playing with the minds of everyone at Trinity. In the end, he has the Vigils selling all the chocolates but those assigned to Jerry. Then, he sets Jerry up in a fight with another student that Archie has been messing with for years. Here all the students are gathered at the football field buying into a raffle where they write down what punch they want thrown and who they want to throw the punch, this is how the fight is to go down, step by step! With the third draw, which is read off before realizing that it is a low blow, which is illegal, and causes the fight to reel out of control. Just as chaos breaks out with the students about chanting for Jerry's death, the lights go out. The teachers have arrived. Just in time, too...Jerry is about dead. They get him off to the hospital. The story ends with Archie and Brother Leonard celebrating in their own ways for the successes of thier evilness!

Another thing that was very bothersome in this book isn't the fact that there really isn't any female characters of importance. It's that the women spoken of, in any way, are used as sexual beings. Meaning that the only purpose of women is for the pleasure of men, whether the men are alone or not! I will not go into any further details there, as I'm sure you are all smart enough to know what it means!

Needless to say, I am glad to be done with this book and I do not recommend it to anyone! Originally there were a few pages I had noted for quotes, but looking through them now, there really isn't anything worth mentioning. Except maybe, "Do I dare disturb the universe?" A very important question, I think...do we dare NOT conform? I would hope we all would, at some point, stand for ourselves and not because we are told or taught a certain way. Isn't that what free agency is about?!

The Jaguar Touch (WJHS 1989)

June 1st...this day holds several bits of history for our family. First, 21 years ago today, my grandpa, Bailus VanBuren Dye, died. We had only known him for about 7 years at that time.

20 years ago today, the class of 1989 graduated from West Jordan High School. We had our commencement in the gym at the school. Now they do graduations in big event center places, like the Ecenter, the Huntsman Center or the Marriott Center. Having recently attended a couple of these services, I told my mom that I was glad we had ours in the gym at the high school. I was one of the nerdy ones that actually purchased a videotape of the commencement. I think we may have tried watching it right after we got it, but I don't think I've watched it since then. I pulled it out and watched it this afternoon. It was not the best quality video (audio) I've seen on a video, but it was 20 years ago. I was pretty impressed that it was all over in about 90 minutes. They did the presenting of the class, individually, after they showed the closing prayer. So when it cut off abruptly after the reading of the names, it caught me off guard, until a moment later when I remembered that they had already shown the prayer.

Here is what I could make out that impressed me:

The motto: Today we follow Tomorrow we lead

Michelle Plouzek: We are individuals solely responsible for our actions. Take the road less traveled.

Wendy Griffin: We truly have the best mascot in the state, the Jaguar. (She pulls out a stuffed animal) The Jaguar is the largest most powerful wildcat in the world. Jaguars stand for strength and power. The sky is the limit for us now. We are the ones that others will follow to meet their needs.

MaryAnn Mabey: (with great enthusiasm) High school became exactly what we decided to make it. Graduation is by no means the end of our opportunities. Recognize opportunities and use them for our best interest.

Dax Kiger: He could hardly keep a straight face as the students recognized noisily every time he proudly mentioned the school. (Was this the bouncy balls or was it some other clap/stomp thing? He was by far the funniest speaker.) He closed by commenting that we are the leaders of tomorrow.

Chris Davis: Do we dare stir the universe? Do we dare disturb the world? (I just finished reading The Chocolate War and this was one of the themes of the book, you will see the review for this book this week sometime. If he had made reference to this book before the above comment, I didn’t hear it.)

Jerry McCleary: (addressing the parents, mostly) This class has probably been the best one we’ve ever had. They will accomplish things that you and I have not been able to accomplish in our lifetimes. They are truly unique. They are the last class that attended WJHS for a full four years. God Bless you.

Dr. Tom Owen, Area superintendent: reiterated the motto above. He also quoted Denis Waitley by saying, “Losers make promises…winners make commitments.” I hope you are committed to be the leaders of tomorrow.

14 years ago today, my sister was part of the class of 1995 at West Jordan High School. They, too, had their commencement in the gym at the school. I remember going to her graduation and it feeling like a reunion of sorts from our class as many of us had siblings that were graduating that night.

This year we celebrate our 20-year class reunion and I am sure I will blog about that late in the summer. In preparation for this, if you would email your contact info and the info of anyone else from our class that you may have access to, we can update our file, thanks! I have many other memories about that night 20 years ago and I will share them another time, maybe next year, maybe 5 years, time will tell. But, for today, what are your memories of that night?

goal accomplished, WCWS style

31 Days ago I started a goal to post something to this blog every day for the month of May. Here we are at the end of the month and I would call it a successful goal reached. I have enjoyed the process, mostly in the things I learned along the way, like linking within the post and creating slideshows. Also, in researching some of the topics or finding links for some of the posts, I learned a great deal. I am glad that I set and reached this goal.

Doing these daily posts have given me other ideas on what to blog about. So, I've decided to keep going on the daily posts as long as I can, we'll see how long that lasts, eh?!

When I was growing up, my mom had me playing softball for a few years. I guess I was trying to follow in my aunt's footsteps. She was very athletic and I idolized her, at the time. I was not athletic and I was afraid of being hit by the ball, so I usually just stood there, never swinging and was often walked. One time, I actually swung the bat and hit the ball. The players were so surprised that they flubbed the play and I made it to second base! That says a lot, considering I have never been a fast runner! At the end of that year, I got my one and only ever all-star vote for that hit. Later, I would become friends with that opposing coach and his family. I was friends with his daughter in school, then they moved into our ward and I was his son's primary teacher. I love this family and miss them...where are they now, I often wonder...

These last few days we've been watching a lot of softball. WCWS from Oklahoma. We watched a great deal of this last year and enjoyed it, so when I saw it on last week in preparation for Oklahoma, I decided to watch it again. Alabama, one of my favorites, was back again, but lost out today in a heartbreaking last moment grand slam with only one out to go to force a second elimination game tonight. We remember watching and we will now miss seeing the likes of Brittany Rogers and Kelley Montalvo again next year! Kelley really is a spark plug and Brittany loves the game and her school! My second choice to into the finals and now my first choice to win it all is Washington. I am not as familiar with this team or its players as this is the first time I've really seen them. I was very impressed with Danielle Lawrie, though. She kept calm and focused for the game! I'm thinking that played a major part in her receiving the 2009 Softball Collegiate Player of the Year. They will be playing Florida in the best of 3 final matchup, starting tomorrow night. In that matchup, Lawrie will be going against one of the top players that she beat out for player of the year, Stacey Nelson. I am cheering for the Huskies all the way! In any case, one of these teams will reach their goal for this season, winning the WCWS. It will be a first in the history of either school. Good Luck all around! PLAY BALL!!!

GOT GAME?

In a world that has most everyone playing on their computers, much like you are right now, I'm sure, just as I am, there are still people out there that love to play board and card games! I am one of these people. We grew up playing games. One of my brothers gave me a board game every Christmas until he took himself away from this part of the family. The last game he gave me was The Hardy Boys Mystery Game. I still have it and I still love it! I even still have my original Candy Land game, the outside box is pretty worn, but the inside stuff is still great. I even have The Cinderella Game in its original box. I have loads of games, board and card games. Yes, we even play games with face cards! I am blessed to have a husband who is usually willing to come and play games not on the computer. I am even more blessed to live near cousins who love to play board and card games with real live people. We don't have as many game nights as we would like, but we always have a good time, even with poor sports in the crowd and other such negative nonsense! Tonight was one of those nights. The cousins came over and we played The Game of Life, you know the real one, not with credit cards and such. We also played Payday, one of their favorites!


Funny story about Payday, on my mission, my companion and I spent a family night with a family in our ward. My companion was losing pretty bad and then had the brilliant idea that the reason she was losing was because she wasn't paying her tithing, so she started setting money aside for tithing and ended up winning the game! It was really funny.

Another time, playing Monopoly (another favorite, we have several different versions including BYUopoly), my bestest friend was setting money aside for tithing and my nephews couldn't figure out what she was up to, they were convinced she was cheating! Then she won the whole thing and we made them figure out what some people set aside money for and pay to the Bishop. I have tried this with many games, but for me, it works best with Payday and I do it almost every time. Sometimes it works and I win by a lot, not even counting my tithing and sometimes I don't win, but it is always funny to have the new person playing try to figure out what I'm up to by setting money aside every time I get money!


Card games, growing up, we even played 21, or blackjack. It isn't one of my favorites, but my dad loved it and would play. My mom had a hotel bank full of pennies and we used them to play. These type of games, board and card, were used to help us learn counting and often money lessons were involved, too. My dad didn't play many games, his favorite was probably UNO. He would play Skip-Bo, very rarely and Yahtzee, too. One time we got him to play Yahtzee and he got 4 Yahtzee's in one game. We didn't like him to play that one anymore, LOL! My mother-in-law taught us how to play Screw Your Neighbor (face cards) several years ago and it has become a family favorite with loads of funny stories, but they aren't necessary appropiate family stories, LOL. This game is very similar to Phase10, to give you an idea.


After my dad died, my mom and I, would play one sheet of Yahtzee every night before going to bed. It would take us about an hour. On the night, Steve and I met, in person for the first time, he and I were sitting out on the porch talking and my mom came to ask if we were going to do our nightly Yahtzee. Steve and I went in and played. That tradition continued for quite awhile after that, whether it was just the two of us or with Steve.


I also love to do puzzles. I love word searches, cryptoquotes and sudoku! I love game nights! The slide show is mostly games we have and a couple my cousins have that we all love to play. What are your favorites? I can't decide, I love too many of them! Some I have, some I dont'! As I said before, we have tons of games and we love to play them. Who's game?! BRING IT ON!!!

LEHI HIGH CLASS OF 2009

From beginning to end, in May, we had two major extended family events that occured this month. On 2 May 2009, my cousin (technically, 1st cousin once removed) was baptised a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Somehow we didn't manage to get a picture of him, but my husband took this one shot of me with my Uncle Tim, who most everyone admires a lot!

Later, while my husband and Rhett (another 1st cousin once removed) were playing basketball, I took these few with my cell phone:


I also snapped a couple of my cousin (Rhett's dad) while he was visiting with others. It amuses me that he looked right at me, and probably still has not clue I was taking pics, LOL. I admire this family so much, they have progressed greatly and are wonderful examples, to all that know them, of making good choices!

Today, my cousin, Colton (Rhett's brother) graduated from Lehi High School. Steve had to work, so I don't have any good shots with his fancy schmancy camera, but here is his senior pic received in his graduation announcement. Also here is a pic of the "L" at the graduation.

I also have a few shots with my not so trusty cell phone camera, including the L above. I knew several of the graduates, but was only able to get pics of three of them. McKell with her parents. Devin, sorry, my cell phone didn't do better with that window in the background. Both of these amazing young adults are very good 'kids' and we are proud of them and I know their families are as well. Congratulations!


Then, of course, Colton, my cousin. The first two are outside of the Marriott Center and then one at Golden Corral, where he wanted to go for the after graduation family dinner. Thanks Colton, I love Golden Corral and don't remember the last time I was there, it was better than I remember! Oh, and I love the tie dye shirt!!!

This post started out as a short thing, ready to post when we got back from the graduation festivities, but I heard a lot of things that I liked, so I will share them here. First, I love their class motto: "Some succeed because they are destined to, but most succeed because they are determined to." by Henry Van Dyke. Several of the speakers focused their remarks on this motto, which I found motivational. The senior class president, Reta Ray said, "Although we didn't all receive the same grades, we are all receiving the same diploma." WOW, how true and equal! Of course, what you did in high school matters and can make a difference, but in the end, you all leave with the same diploma! I would say that we each must make the most of what we have, no matter where we are in life, graduating high school or trying to fulfill old and new goals!

I believe it was Carter Durrant who quoted Eleanor Roosevelt by saying, "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." He also quoted Dr. Seuss, "You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself, any direction you choose." It was their Principal, Charles Bearce, or as they affectionately called him, "Chuck" who quoted Cecil B DeMille as saying, "The person who makes a success of living is the one who sees his goal steadily and aims for it unswervingly. That is dedication." He strongly encouraged each of the graduates to never lose sight of their goals! Finally, Donna Barnes with the Board of Education, talked about this being the last class that will have students from Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain and said, "There is so much more that keeps us connected than keeps us apart." How true all of these words are and I, too, encourage all of these great young people to keep their eyes open and their minds focused on their goals. Never lose sight of your goals and never give up on reaching them! EVER!!!
Congrats to all these young people for doing their part and making good choices. I hope they continue to follow the many good examples in their lives and reap the blessings that will abound!

PB&J

I didn't have the best day and am very tired as I type this up and try to figure out what to blog about for today. So, I kept thinking about different funny things from recent memory and so I decided to call this post "PB&J". I will get to the title later on, but suffice to say right now, I do not like Peanut Buter & Jelly sandwiches. I do not like peanut butter.

Yes, that is a Utah license plate taken on the road with my sometimes fuzzy cell phone camera. Anyway, why original Reese's Peanut Butter Cups is one of my favorite candy bars makes no real sense, except that it doesn't seem to contain REAL peanut butter. It's still one of my favorites, yum, RPBC rocks! I could go on and talk about my favorite candy bars and although that could be a lengthy post by itself, it isn't what I had in mind when the title came to me...PBJ stands for several things, yet none of them are the reason for the title to this post, either. That would be movies, if you watch commercials or seen a certain movie this year, you will get it..right here, right now...if not, well, read on...

My favorite movie of all time is It's A Wonderful Life, but it has to be the one with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed...you know the one, the REAL one! I would have loved to meet Jimmy Stewart and I did cry, a little, when he died. There is something about the movies and the celebrities from his generation that I think has been lost in today's society. I practically still have this movie memorized and some people in my family don't like watching it with me because before I know it, I'm talking along with the movie. My favorite lines happens twice, "I wish I had a million dollars, (click), HOT DOG!" My favorites scene is with Clarence right after he 'saves' George! Classic movie that I can watch any time of year!

I want to keep this short, so I will blog about other favorite movies another time, but the current commercial I referred to above is for the new dvd realease for Paul Blart: Mall Cop. I saw this show twice in the theaters and would have seen it more, if opportunity had presented itself. I am a fan of The King of Queens, where I first saw Kevin James. I have enjoyed some of his other work, like Hitch. Haven't seen the commercials or the movie and wonder how PB&J relates? It's quite simple actually, Pahud says, "Peanut Blart and jelly! What, what, what's up, man?" Somehow, I don't see them adding this to the list above of what PBJ stands for, LOL! Have you seen this movie and what do you think?

Cancer - it's nasty stuff...

In 2000, I went to a PartyLite conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. The American Cancer Society is the charity of choice for PartyLite. They do several things throughout the year including rounding up for donations to raise over $1,000,000 a year for the American Cancer Society. Also, at their conferences they pass around and do separate collections of donations and donate that amount to the local Ronald McDonald house, wherever the conference is being held. But, I digress...at this particular conference, since it was so close, we had a lot of people from our region attend. They did a little demonstration of sorts as a whole group of well over 13,000. They started by having those who currently personally have or have survived cancer stand up...a few hundred did so...then they had everyone who knew someone who has or has survived cancer stand up, all but a few hundred of those there were now standing! In our group there was one lady that was not standing. She was very touched by this demonstration. She has never personally known anyone who has ever had to deal with cancer. This is very unusual, as one could see by this simple demonstration! This great woman was a smoker and such, this motivated her to quit smoking. In the almost 9 years since that amazing and small conference, I have lost touch with her and don't know if she is still not smoking, but I remember how touched many of us were by her motivation and realization of how wide spread cancer really is...we were all also very much more motivated to help in raising donations for The American Cancer Society.

I tell that story to remind people that cancer is out there and that it affects all of us, in one way or another! In my recent visit to Mesquite, I read an article about the current Miss Mesquite and how she is trying to educate people about cancer and using nutrition as prevention. At the bottom of this article they had the picture below of the different color ribbons for the different cancers. I thought this was really cool and wanted to share it with all of you.

Oh, incidentally, I do still sell PartyLite and if you are interested in helping our cause along, book your party and I will donate a vast majority of my profits to the cause, as well....

Valley of Fire - Nevada State Park

Ok, I know this happened 10 days ago, but I just finally got all my pics from mine and my moms cell phones to the computer and saved so I could learn how to create a slideshow with them. Success, as you can see above, although, they have no captions, which is safer since some of the order got mixed up in the sending to the computer. Saturday morning, mom decided to go into Henderson (Las Vegas) to visit her sister. On the way, we decided to take the llllloooooooooonnnnnggggg way in to Vegas from Mesquite. We have taken the long way a few times before, usually bypassing the Valley of Fire. This time, we decided to drive through it and we loved it! There are a lot of places to hike, have picnics and even use the restrooms! Seeing as how this is in Nevada, we would recommend this as a trip in the early spring and earlier in the day, before it gets hot. We got there around 1pm. We didn't do any hiking at all, just drove through and took lots of pics with our cell phones, since Steve wasn't there with his fancy schmancy camera. Some of them were even taken while we were moving in the car...and they don't even come close to doing this wonderful and beautiful place justice! Then, on monday, I used up almost all the space left on my cell phone to snap a few shots of the nice sunset we witnessed just before getting to Fillmore and eating at Larry's, where there was a sign that said:

We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone
-no matter who you are-
-or think you are-
-or who your daddy is!

Only in Fillmore...or some other small town! Needless to say, we were blessed to see a lot of God's work on this trip and we still wonder how anyone who sees such beauty in the world can deny the existence of God! We respect their right to choose that belief, we just don't understand it! As for us, we will continue to express our deep gratitude for such blessings...

Decoration Day

My dad often referred to Memorial Day as Decoration Day. I used to just think a lot of people just used that phrase, not realizing that it was because it really used to be called that! I, along with many others, have always thought of Memorial Day as the beginning of summertime. From what I understand all things to do with memorial day are to do with honoring our veterans who have died, mostly in combat. What I don't understand is when, how and why did this holiday become about decorating graves of all we have known and some we haven't but feel obligated by ancestry. Now, most of you already know that I am a family history consultant and that I love my ancestry and the study of all things ancestry in general. With all this in mind, I find that the commercialism of feeling like one has to buy flowers and place them on all these graves is very overwhelming, especially for those with large families, like mine...and that is NOT even counting the countless friends along the way! For example, if money were no object or we had unlimited supply of flowers, these are the cemeteries we would visit every year, at least this one day:

Larken Sunset Gardens in Sandy, UT: my dad, my grandma, my grandpa, my uncle, my aunt, my brother, my sisters ex-fiance (7)

West Jordan Cemetery in West Jordan, UT: my uncle, my cousin, a brother of a former best friend from childhood (3)

Redwood Memorial Estates in Taylorsville, UT: two of my uncles, my aunt, two cousins and several friends (5+)

Salt Lake City Cemetery in Salt Lake City, UT: my best friends baby, a former neighbor friend, a grandpa (3)

East Lawn Memorial Hills in Provo, UT: my cousin and his grandma (2)

American Fork Cemetery in American Fork, UT: my friends mom, an uncle, aunt and their son (4)

Timpanogos Memorial Gardens in Orem, UT: two uncles, grandma, and an aunt (4)

...here is where I lose count, but I think you get the idea:

Orem City Cemetery in Orem, UT: many friends from school and neighborhood

Provo City Cemetery in Provo, UT: grandparents and many other family and a few friends

Manti City Cemetery in Manti, UT: my grandma, great grandparents many aunts and uncles and cousins

I think I will stop the specific list there, but I could go on with cemeteries in davis county, utah...new mexico...gunnison city, lehi city, etc etc.

Now, mind you, I do believe in honoring those that have gone before us, but I think that the original meaning of this holiday has almost disappeared completely and, in its own way, been taken over by a form of commercialism. Between the obligation to buy and place flowers on so many graves and the BBQs, the meaning is lost to many. Do your kids know the real meaning behind Memorial Day? I encourage us to continue remembering all those who have gone before us, but also help everyone remember why we truly celebrate Decoration Day!

With all of this in mind, I would like to thank my aunt for sending me the following the pic just over a month ago. Then, I would like to thank a new found cousin, Danny, for emailing this to me a week or so ago. You both have amazing timing

From Danny: I found this tid-bit online and decided to you. I also found out that Jesus died in Saipan on July 18, 1944 and was buried in Puowaina Hawaii, Military Cemetary. He was born June 23, 1914. He was only 20 years old son of Leandro Trujillo and Angelica Salamon (Sullivan) of Guadalupita New Mexico. Leandro was the son of Jesus Trujillo and Manuelita Pacheco. Angelica was the daughter of John (Jack)P. Sullivan of Missouri, and Guadalupe Romero all of Coyote (Guadalupe) New Mexico

[Jesus would be my great uncle]

Oh, and know that I won't hold it against you if you do place the flowers on graves, we still do it, when we can, too. Maybe it is my guilt of not doing so more often that lead to this post? I don't know. Oh, and more important, I won't hold it against you for the BBQs, either, in fact, I won't turn down an invite, even! As long as we all remember to stop at 3pm and have that one minute of silence and truly remember to focus on the real purpose of this holiday!

Tornado warning & Networking...

Ok, they have nothing to do with each other, but someone requested I share the story referred to in yesterdays blog post. We went to an Orem Owlz game in the 2007 season. As we arrived, there were some dark clouds coming over the west mountains. Steve kept talking about how he didn't like the looks of those clouds. I kept telling him to 'shut up' and that we would be fine! Before long, they started an evacuation to the McKay events center due to a tornado warning headed right for us. We had a few other family members with us, it was kinda funny to see the different reactions, from nervousness to thinking it was all for nothing. It turned out that it was all for nothing, there ended up being no tornado...but from then on when my dear man starts being negative and then it happens, I tell him it is all his fault, just like the tornado warning! LOL!

Networking - at one time, I was sort of unofficially known as the networking queen. I had tons and tons of business cards from the people I met in my networking circle. I have seen great benefits from the power of networking. If someone needed something, I almost always knew someone that could help them! Having moved from the state for 2 years, people move on and my network is nowhere near as large as it once was, but I am working on it.

This leads me to the changes I made to my blog today...you will notice that I now have a long list of links to the right here. I have added all my friends blogs and business websites that I know about. If you are listed to the right and don't want to be on the list, let me know. If you are not listed to the right and want to be, let me know.

For the month of May, I made a goal to post to my blog every day. This has been a great experience for me. I have researched more topics online and learned a few new tricks in the process. I have come across some websites and information that have taught me much. I hope that we all can continue to help each other build traffic to each other's blogs and business websites and businesses in general. It is by networking and helping each other that will help us all become bigger and better as time goes on....

In the meantime, I am still doing PartyLite. I am also available to do data entry, organizing, family history research, babysitting and a few other things. Let me know what you need and I will see what I can do to help fulfill that need!