The Gift of Time

I am grateful for Saturday mornings and a husband that lets me have them.

For as long as I can remember—at least as a child, Saturday meant sleeping in. The weekdays were busy. Late nights, early mornings. No naps. No rest. And for me, no idle time. Recreation, vacations, down time never existed.  So Saturday was my cherished treasure.

It was taken away with the responsibilities of married life and children. In fact, my body craved sleep so much during that time, that even when I was awake I often tried to lie down, but with children, that never lasted long. My children never napped long (as in their age) and I had so many that even when some were napping I was working to catch up on other matters or caring for another child. If someone was up for any reason in the night, so was I.  I was so sleep-deprived I often bordered on psychotic behavior, but I knew no respite. We couldn't afford someone to relieve me and daycare was never an option. Even when the children were older, we couldn't afford another car so I was up with seminary and late into the night picking children up or helping them with homework. When work outside the home entered the picture, my sleep was still deprived, but my husband took over much of the early morning seminary routes so I didn't have to get up earlier to get ready for work.

And now, when I enter the ’empty nest’ season in life, my body wakes at the normal time, but I am content to quickly fall back to sleep. When I reawaken, (my husband long gone) I lie for hours, just thinking. Memories trickle in and out of a near-wakened state as I reflect about days past, the day ahead, my problems, and things that make me happy. When I have pondered long, I often drift off to that sacred slumber again. It is pure heaven to not have to be anywhere at a certain time and have the luxury of uninterrupted time to do nothing...but think.  I treasure my Saturday mornings and am thankful that I have them again.

Even though this is a gratitude post, it occurs to me that husbands reading this need to help their wives to get the sleep and alone time they need to regain the person they are. I am grateful for the husbands of my daughters and daughter-in-law that already do this.

Fast Sunday notes

President Ezra Taft Benson said that people who are “captained by Christ will be consumed in Christ. … Enter their homes, and the pictures on their walls, the books on their shelves, the music in the air, their words and acts reveal them as Christians” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1985, 6; or Ensign, Nov. 1985, 6–7).

Deuteronomy 6:6-7

King James Version (KJV)

6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

Note to self: write the story of the obscene phone call.

To do: scripture research

Occasionally I get this prompting to write down a story I remember from my life...and I don't. Or in church I get a prompting to bring up something at our next family gathering. I decided to start posting what I remember to do, so I can actually remember to do them.

Today's lesson was on Hyrum and Joseph Smith. What got me, was the teacher saying that she thought of her sister 6 years younger and asked herself what kind of sister would she have been if her sister had been the leader of something? Would she support the good cause and stand by her side, or would she be competitive and try to put her down so she would be the leader? We started thinking about siblings in the scriptures that were examples of each ( i.e. Lamen and Lemuel vs. Nephi, Moses and Aaron, Nephi and brother later in the scriptures). Which one would you be? I want to look this up. I want to research this. I felt that we needed to have the characteristics in our family of support and not competition. So my report will be at our next family gathering.

I thought of my sister, Joanne. She is actually 6 years younger than me. She has had her own set of trials. Trials I would never want. But she is such a positive, loving, sharing sister. Whenever I am negative/critical, and I tend to be, she always sees something positive. I am so blessed to have her as a sister. I wish we lived closer.

The price of New

I usually have Mike drive me when I go shopping. I hate shopping, but I hate traffic even more. But he was out of town. I almost got in 3 accidents and I would have been the cause of all 3. Thank goodness for a store driveway the other car swerved into because it was going fast. The other time, my sandal got caught on the brake and I couldn't press down till I got it unstuck and I got it out just in time because I was turning left trying to make the light, only to find the other cars stopped. The other, was I turned the wrong way and pulled out on a blind curve. Luckily, the other car could stop in time. BUT, I finally found my perfect dress at Dillards. A mint green dress. It is so beautiful I could wear it as a mother of the groom. I felt like I had the most beautiful dress of all in church today. Not that it matters, but I haven't bought a new outfit for a long time.

New things

Monday--Surprise to me...no rental car was planned. For some reason unknown to me, Mike had planned for us to use public transportation and borrow people's cars if we wanted to go anywhere. Definitely not my style. So needless to say, when I had to walk to change the transit system and sat down with my purse, then left without my purse, only to discover it gone when we were halfway to Provo, I blamed the transit system. Mike pointed at the book I was reading and said, "I blame that." Mike had to get off, ride a train back to the platform, then get the purse, then ride the train back. Yes, and a little part of me was glad he left it on the train when he got off. Luckily, Linda asked where it was. Even luckier, Provo was the end of the line and Mike could get back on to get it. Yes, I blame his Iphone for that one. Well, I had less than a dollar in coins gone, my pack of gum, and about 10 gift cards to restaurants taken from my purse. Oddly enough, they also took all my pens. Thank heavens my keys, temple recommend, my debit and credit cards were still there.

Got to see Lydia. Got to see Maddy, Hannah, and Abigail all racing around upright on their knees to copy me "kneewalking' across the room. When they said that was a strange way to walk, I told them that is how grandmas walk, so they spent a giggling 5 minutes copying me. Racing back and forth. They said they were playing outer space...and the chair was their space station or base. I told them the couch was Jupiter. They looked at me oddly. I realized after watching them that space to them means aliens.

Tuesday--All plans went awry. Mike had my cold from last week. He was sneezing nonstop with a nose running like a dripping faucet. We did not visit anyone. We stayed home and made a quick trip to the store for kleenex, medicine, etc. for Mike.

Things I didn't know that I learned: 1. My dad's mother was a member before she married. She married a nonmember. She did not remain active during the first part of their marriage. At one point, they lived in Ely, Nevada during the mining era. Something bad got in the water and two of her sons, my dad's brothers, died within 2 days of each other after drinking the water. She was pregnant with another child and after the deaths, they promptly left Nevada for California. The child was born, but died when she was four. At that point, my grandmother decided she needed to go back to church all the time. By the time my father was born, she was totally active. When my father was 5 years old, he got blood poisoning in his leg and his leg was so swollen and the poisoning so advanced that he was rushed to the hospital. My mom had my father's sister, who worked for the phone company as an operator, track down the missionaries to come to the hospital and administer to my dad. The hospital was a Catholic hospital, so when the Mormon missionaries came, the nuns held up a sheets to make the annointings private. My father was completely healed and sent home the next morning with nothing wrong. My grandfather was so grateful for my dad's healing after having had 3 children die, that he investigated the church and joined shortly thereafter.

Nothing like a little company...

Nothing like a little company to get the blood flowing.

I've been sick with a cold that turned into a sinus infection on top of a previous sinus infection. This one had me looking like a drugged Rudolph, with the too frequent nose-blowing. I finally decided to stay home and heal. So...today (after Mike driving me to school with lesson plans and materials) I came home and crashed.

Crashed was a mild word. I slept straight from 8 till almost 2 p.m. I forced myself to roll out of bed and eat something--knowing a headache would follow if I didn't. I looked at the skin-covered slime on the stacked dishes in the sink. Even I could smell the odor...but I was too tired to do them. I finally washed my face because I couldn't stand the grease and promptly fell back asleep.

About 5 p.m. I woke up and was very groggy, but managed to call Mike to ask for Los Tres takeout. I lay back in my chair. My face was now greasy again, but not like my hair. It was so oily that it looked wet, but I was NOT going to wash my hair that late; I could endure it till the morning...especially since I was still in my pajamas. I lay back in my chair and dozed till the phone rang. The caller ID said my sister's name. I answered it. She asked how I was. I said I was sick. (I assumed she was in Montana). Well, I was so sleepy, that it took awhile to get it through my head that when she said she had just landed and wanted to take me to dinner, that she was in Houston and not Utah or Montana and that the dinner was for today.

If you know my sister, you know there will be pictures; she is the queen of snap shots. I looked at my face in the mirror. It was sad. There were dark bags under my bags. I looked at the house. It was clean except those scummy dishes. I had one hour.

Long story, short: I was up, out of my pjs, showering, dressing, doing dishes, putting on makeup, and ready when she got here about an hour later. Mike got food and brought it to the house for them. We had a nice visit...and the picture (I knew would happen) did. "Two sisters, who see each other once a decade". We had a nice, but short visit before they had to leave since they have to get up early for classes and a cruise. So nice that they came. So nice that I had the day off to rest. And so nice that one, once sleepy, grimey, 'sicky' could be transformed in an hour.

A Blast from the Past for the Slaugh children

1980s: This would have been the updated version of said Raggedy Ann doll.The hair was still yarn. The face was 3-d and not flat like the Raggedy Ann's, but the face, arms, and legs were still cloth for a few years, then updated to be plastic later and called Cabbage Patch kids. Your mom had a doll very similar to the one below. We threw out a couple of them last month.

The Cabbage Patch doll



1960s: Chatty Cathy was all the rage during my time as a child. It was a plastic-type body and had a string you pulled that had the doll talk. She would say something like, "Hi, I'm Chatty Cathy." Everyone wanted one. I never had one. :(




1880s-1930s: This would be a Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy doll. They were totally made of cloth, stuffed with cloth, and had button eyes. These were more from my grandparents; era, so if your mom knew about it it was kept alive by me, although I do believe we had one for awhile. It was fun to dress up as a Raggedy Ann doll for Halloween because the face was easy to make and the hair wig was fun to wear.