Tarnished

As someone who is currently looking at moving to another town which will involve getting a new house and getting rid of my old house let me say this. Consider how long you will probably stay in the house. If it is going to be 7 years or more, then seriously consider buying a house, if you don't think you will be in it that long then don't. And even if you do think you may stay there for awhile, really give it thought and prayer. We currently will make no profit on our current house, which is a really depressing idea since when we bought it we could have turned around and sold it for a profit. A house is a big responsibility, it requires a lot of upkeep and a lot of money, and selling it can be a huge pain. There is also the issues that were brought up by some of the other posters, if you do get married your wife may not like the house you have or where you have your house and may want you to sell it. There are lots of things to think about when you bring another person into the mix. Either way you choose to go think about it carefully and give it lots of prayer.

And this is why I do not own credit cards and probably never will. I have seen too many problems come from credit cards in both my family and my friends for me to ever really want one. Thankfully my husband agrees. It has led to a marriage of 10 years with no credit cards, and we currently only have the debt of our house and our car on our hands.

I used to play dress up with my mom as a child and I played it with my younger sister. Dress up involved playing around with her old makeup and learning how to use it on myself. Though I played a lot with make up I never really became interested in using it until I was in about high school or so. Even then I didn't use a ton of it, and even now I don't use much makeup. As a single father it will be difficult to play with makeup with your daughters. I second what Wingnut said about starting with small simple things like lipgloss and such and when they do show interest in makeup consider taking them to a mall or something for a make over of sorts. See if you can set up an instructional event for them where someone who works with makeup and has learned techniques of using makeup to enhance your looks can show them what to do. One of the best things my mother ever taught me about makeup is making it look like you don't have any on. Natural beauty is the best and there are ways to use makeup to enhance their natural beauty instead of covering it up. Making sure they are taught that will help them later on not only with their future makeup usage but also with their self confidence.

Who here works in Corporate America? *raises hand* Come on now, if you do raise your hand. I don't know where the idea that being clean shaven, wearing a white shirt and tie and sometimes a suit coat makes a person look unprofessional. As someone who works in Corporate America I can say that you may find the colored shirt and beard on some of your lower paid employees but when it comes to the executives, the ones who really are trying to look professional, you see them with neatly cut hair cuts, clean shaven face, white shirts, ties and suits. Yes you may every so often see a beard, but to tell the truth it is still rare. And I don't know where the idea that the hippie culture is dead or that their way of dressing is dead. Just the other day I saw a couple walking through a town I was in, the guy had his hair dredded, and both him and his lady friend were dressed like someone I would call a hippie. The hippie culture is still around, and beards are still part of it. I think when it comes to missionaries appearance is something the church is really trying to get at. First appearances can be influential and when a guy is dressed like he is heading to a job interview then he is going to get noticed. I don't think that is a bad thing when it comes to missionaries.

I never do understand marriages where the money is looked at as his and hers. When we got married all the money became ours. There have been times where I have not worked and there have been times where my husband has not worked. In either case the money was still ours, it was still used to take care of our needs and not just the needs or wants of only one person. This may seem harsh but whether he intended it or not, what your husband did was abusive. It was a form of financial abuse, the fact that you got to a point where you almost did not have enough food for yourself and the baby is bad. Encouraging you not to spend money on groceries or diapers is bad. Encouraging you not to go to the doctor is bad. When he told you that the church taught him to pay tithing he is correct, however it seems almost like he led you up to this point. Instead of stopping tithing he should have stopped his crazy spending. Instead of letting your opinion of the church fall he should have taken care of his family and placed them first instead of his wants. What the RS president said was wrong, and she should not have said it. I am glad though to hear that you have worked things out with her. I agree with Anatess, you really need to sit down with your husband and discuss finances. Considering that he has exhibited abusive behavior already I am loathe to guess at what communication is like between you and him. But if it is possible then you need to talk to him about it. Tell him what your family needs are, food, healthcare, essential items (diapers and such), talk to him about creating a budget, a way of saving money and spending money appropriately. Talk to him about church and your desire to pay tithing. And if things get bad again go to the bishop, explain to him the circumstances, there should be no reason that you and your child should go hungry because your husband is being selfish. The bishop should help.

How does it look today? Well I think inside the LDS church and outside the LDS church it often looks slightly different. Outside the LDS church I think you will often find it in church leaders who use the offerings they get from their followers to give themselves more than they need. Ministers who buy the big house and the fancy car. I think those leaders should be giving more to the church and less to themselves. I understand that for many ministers this is how they gain their livelihood, by gaining income from the church. However I think there are some who take it too far and use the money for things it was not intended for. Inside the LDS church I think you see it differently because ours is a lay church, meaning we don't get paid for what we do. I think you can see it when priesthood holders use the fact that they hold the priesthood to undermine those who don't, like a husband who expects his wife to do everything he tells her to because he holds the priesthood. Or even people who use their position in the church to enhance their personal business. I think these people need to stop using the priesthood and their positions in the wrong manner.

Funky, for a cute 1920's based webcomic check out Lackadaisy you will get a nice fill of 1920's slang.

Ah, but you are wondering why you are not getting as many laughs as you are expecting, meaning that you are basing this expectation on something. Probably you are basing this expectation on the fact that you seem to get a lot of laughs in face to face encounters with people. I am just trying to explore with you the reasons why the laughs you recieve online are so small compared to those you receive in face to face encounters. And as it certainly must not be your words I am trying to help you find an alternate reason. Such as your looks. I am guessing though as I don't actually know what you look like in person, such is the way of the internet.

Those were interesting to look through. Thanks for posting the link. I liked how some of the photos looked like they could be paintings. It was definately an interesting peek into an older time.

And some people are just funny looking. Dorave, it could be that you are one of the funny looking people and we just don't laugh because we can't see you.

My dad's doctor is one of his old bishops, my dentist was in the bishopric of one of the wards we used to live in, my hairstylist is in the ward I grew up in, my parents have used the catering/decorating services of an LDS family for wedding receptions. But we use these people because of the quality of their work and the fact that we know they are good people. We pay full price and don't expect discounts. I use my sylist because she is the only person I have found who can cut my hair right, when I move two hours away from her I will probably travel just so that I can get my hair cut by her. When it comes down to who I use for business in a certain area it really depends on who is trustworthy and who does a good job at what they do. And when it comes to doctors and OBs I don't care what religion they are, I just want someone who is a good doctor who I can trust and who doesn't come off as creepy to me. Currently my OB is jewish, but she is great and I am going to miss her when I move. My general practitioner is Indian, I don't know what religion he is, I like him but there is a woman doctor in his office that I would prefer to use, she has a more personal patient doctor manner than he does.

Uhhh, I would not makeout with my brother, sorry but incest just doesn't appeal to me. ICK! I love my brother, as a brother, he sometimes bugs me A LOT, but in the end I think he is a pretty good guy. Your idiosyncrasies remind me of his, that is pretty much it. Ugh, makeout session? Seriously? Are you from the south or something? Wait, Canada and I think I have heard you mention the UK, I didn't know they were into that over there. Maybe with all the incest that went on with the royalty...

My husband was called by the Gospel Doctrine teacher last Friday and asked to give the lesson on Hosea. Wow was that a tough one for him to teach. But I think he did very well on it. He used the NIV to help translate the book for the class as parts of the KJV can be a bit confusing in that book. He also brought out the meanings of the names of the children that Hosea and Gomer have and how the names apply to the Northern Kingdom of the Israelites. What I thought he did very well with in the lesson is tying the lesson to the church today. The Northern Kingdom of the Israelites were all scattered, they make up all the tribes other than Judah, so if you are from the tribe of Ephram, or Menassah, or Benjamen or any tribe other than Judah then the lesson is speaking about you. Basically the tribes betray God, cheat on him with other religions, but then are found by God again and return to him, and he takes them back not as a slave, or as a lesser person in his eyes but as his people, just as Hosea took back Gomer as his wife, not a slave or a servant. I thought he did a good job with a very tough lesson.

You remind me so much of my brother, everything from your picture to the way you argue things to the Touche. I think Touche is my brother's favorite word. It isn't a bad thing that you remind me of him, just a bit eerie for me.

I have never felt really comfortable at church either. I am a pretty big geek/nerd and though I can relate to many people at church I don’t really mesh well with them. Basically if I want to hang out with people at church I have to put on a mask of who I really am and be a pretend me. I have been a pretend me for many years so I am pretty good at it but it is always nice to find someone who just meshes well with me so that I can take off the mask and be myself. Very often I don’t end up attending Enrichment, mostly because I really am not as interested in many of the things they do, however as your calling is assisting in Enrichment activities maybe you can help bring a bit of a change to yours. Suggest activities that you would be interested in. Have them learn about hobbies that interest you. Enrichment doesn’t always have to be about housekeeping, or scrapbooking, or quilting, it can be about many other things as well. It sounds like you may be a bit shy when it comes to interacting with other people, especially if you don’t know them too well, I am much the same. It takes awhile for me to get up the courage to talk with others and get to know them. Which is why I often make friends in an area about 2 to 3 years after we have been living there.

Every spirit child of Heavenly Father that makes it to their second estate needs to be tested and tried on this earth. Just because Jesus was the first begotten spirit child does not make him exempt to this. He needed to come down and gain a body and go through the trials of life as well. From some of the things he said in the Bible I come to the conclusion that he is following the example that Heavenly Father set, meaning he came down and gained a body and went through life, because it is something that Heavenly Father did as well.

7:29 CST - Success! Made it through the work day, through shopping after work, home and through supper without throwing up! My jedi mind skills are improving...

I am in Illinois, in the Chicago land area. They have these little black crickets out here that like to get into basements if you aren't careful, they are aggrivating little buggers because they seem to be able to hide in any little crack. Yeah, the cicadas are LOUD, thankfully these aren't the 17 year cicadas, when those come out they come out in droves and all you hear all summer long is their noise. In my parent's eggplant patch the cicadas have used the big leaves to shed their juvinile skin on and then they dry out under the plants and then move on, problem is lifting up the leaves and finding a huge cicada skin looking at you. UGH! It isn't alive, it is just skin, but it is still creepy.

That looks like six questions, or rather four questions and two requests. But still, neat. Makes me think more about what I have done in my life.

There are black crickets they have them out here in the midwest. Crickets don't bother me too much, cicadas don't bother me too much, I am bothered by anything that is small and buglike and that may give me a disease or bite me. Mostly just spiders though, I am ok if I see the spider first and know where it is and can kill it easily. When I am surprised by spiders though, that is when the blood curdling screams happen. Don't much like beetles, don't like cockroaches, cicadas are a bit frightening when you are picking vegetables from the garden and you almost grab a huge bug instead. Ick! At least we don't have super big spiders here, or super big cockroaches, or super big bugs in general, excluding of course grasshoppers, cicadas, and praying mantises. I think praying mantises are kind of cute but I don't think I would want to hold one in my hand. As for technology, it doesn't really scare me, rather some of the ways the world has been going lately scare me, and we know it will only get worse. Oh yay to live in the last days!

11:33 CST - Browsing LDS.net to kill time at work and hoping that I don't throw up before the work day is out. Or at least that I make it till after lunch. 11:46 CST - Then again, after lunch wouldn't be good either. Actually I would rather not throw up at all today, if possible.

This works great for if you have a garden planted, but even if you don't you can pick up the ingredients usually year round. Squash and Tomato Dish Zucchini Squash (how ever many look right, I usually use 1-3) Summer Squash (the yellow kind that look similar to zucchini, again however many look right again 1-3) Tomatos (about 2 or 3 large ones) Cheese (I usually use cheddar but I have found that almost any kind will work) Slice up zuccini and summer squash and tomatos, place tomatos to the side, you can cook squash in a skillet with some water, or what I do currently is to cook them in a steamer (pot with water in bottom and collander type thing with lid that goes over). Steam/cook squash until it is easily pierced with a fork, when squash is almost done add tomatos on top, allow to steam/cook for a few minutes more (2 to 5 min). When tomatos can be easily pierced with a fork remove from heat, dish up squash and tomatos into a dish (usually a bowl), sprinkle cheese over top, add as much as desired. Enjoy. What I like about this recipe is that I can put the squash on to cook and then put a timer on it for 30 min or so and go forget it (especially if it is steaming), and the whole thing is pretty tasty. Here is another easy steaming recipe. Cauliflower Spahetti 1 head of Cauliflower (Brocoflower works too) Spaghetti (about on inch in diameter of grasped spaghetti) Parmesean Cheese Take cauliflower and cut up into smaller pieces, place in steamer and begin to cook. You will cook cauliflower until it is easily pierced with a fork. When cauliflower feels about half done place spaghetti in the water that is being used to steam cauliflower, feel free to add oil or butter to water if needed. When cauliflower is done spaghetti should be about done as well. Drain spaghetti in collander used to steam cauliflower, dump all into a bowl and liberally sprinkle parmesean cheese over it, mix cheese in and enjoy.

True, it is not actually true, but I did hear it a lot. It actually took me two years at BYU - I before I got my ring. Wouldn't it be nice though?

People of all ages are encouraged to keep journals. I keep a journal, and my mom has kept a journal since she was a teen. I don't know how many people keep a journal on a regular basis, but I find it helps sort out my thoughts throughout the day. My current journal is an online one, which makes sharing it with others easier.

In general when it comes to baptisms they want the entire list done. The names come on a sheet of paper and hold I think about 5 names per sheet (I could be wrong there could be more names), before the end of the day they usually want all the names on each sheet done. This may end up resulting in a temple worker having to step in to finish up baptisms and confirmations before the temple closes for the day.