Tough Grits

Iggy, I LOVE YOU TOOO!!!!!!! (excuse me for shouting...LOL LOL) I am so glad that I came here and found you! I really like many of the new people that I have met on this forum, but it also feels great to have people on here that I have known for years from the other forum. I miss Justice, and I wish he would post more, but it is good to have you and TomK here. I am glad that my mom tags along with me to these forums too. It is so funny and interesting to read her posts and juxtapose it with the woman that I have known all my life... You are awesome, and I am glad that we "met". Lots of Gritty Love, ~TG

LOL LOL :lol::lol:

How about this for rude... Things are tight financially for my family right now. So, when I can finally get enough money together to go shopping, I end up getting a FULL cart of stuff. I only go shopping about once or twice a month, and I have a family of four. Whatever I get has to last. Why do people look at me funny? Why do people give me dirty looks? Why do people make fun of me? Is there some silent rule or law that a person cannot buy a full cart of groceries? One time I actually had somebody (another customer) at Wal-Mart tell me that it was time for me to go home. Shopping with two kids in a crowded store and worrying about whether I will have enough money to pay for it all is bad enough, but having people make me feel bad for getting enough to last me a couple of weeks or a whole month is just plain wrong. ~TG

Some call it a "buggy" down here in the south.

Yay!! Sister of Jared found us!!!! I have missed you! Welcome to the forum. I look forward to hearing more from you!!! ~TG

I admire my two grandfathers and my two fathers, and my husband. My Cuban grandfather and my American grandfather may have been different in their cultures, but they were both hard working men who used their hands all their lives to create, build, and always provide food for their families. As tough as my American grandfather was (and still is) he always came home on Saturday's after shopping for groceries with a comic book or two for me. He never went without bringing something home for me. And even now, he finds little things to bring home from grocery shopping for my daughter. My Cuban grandfather used to let me drive the car home once we turned onto our dirt road. How brave he must have been to do that. We would sit and watch TV together. He was so funny. I miss him. I can't wait to see him again in the Spirit world. I admire my father for also using his hands, skills, and talents, to provide food for us during some of the most difficult times during my childhood. My father could build or fix almost anything. He taught me about dinosaurs, The Three Stooges, and astronomy. We would climb up on the roof of the house together and look at the stars. I admire my stepfather for always introducing me as his daughter, never his stepdaughter. He came into my life when I was twelve, but he has been there for me with such a kind and loving heart. He was the man who snapped pics of me as I walked across the stage at my high school graduation. I admire my husband for also having hands that create and build and fix. He is smart, funny, and he is my best-friend. I have every confidence that if we had to survive off the land, that he could still provide for our family without missing a beat. I am pleased with the men that I have had in my life. Everybody has faults, but focusing only on the good, these men were great and I am glad that I was able to meet them in this life.

On the way home from getting groceries tonight my 7 year old daughter and five year old son were arguing (as usual). The decided to have a contest to see who could count the highest. Ryan (7) starts rattling off numbers....she stops when she gets high enough that she knows that she will win (Bubba can only go up to 20 or so). Ryan: "Ha!" Bubba: "Oh yeah, well I can count higher than that...1...2...skip a few...99...100!" Needless to say that made Ryan mad, 'cause he cheated...blah, blah, blah. :lol:

Mother Dear, Can't you just listen to one of your Elvis CD's???? Sheesh! :lol:

I am SO not romantic. I am a weird female. The other day I found out that my husband had gone over to my mother's house before work to do some work on her new cabinetry that he is installing for her. I was so shocked. He had done it without anybody (me) having to remind or prompt him. That just made feel so warm and fuzzy about him. I don't know what romance is, but I find it to be a "turn on" when my hubby builds something, fixes something, or does something with his skills, talents, or abilities. I also had another "warm fuzzy" moment this past Sunday when he stood to bear his testimony. He has a beautiful testimony and a beautiful spirit. He very rarely bears his testimony, not because he does not have one. My heart melted (and tears rolled) as he bore his testimony. ~TG

I always think of things like this in terms of a car. You can have an awesome car with the latest bells and whistles, but you have to actually get in the car, learn how to drive it, and you have to learn how to use all those bells and whistles. I think our bodies are amazing. Evey minute aspect is a huge miracle in itself. The brain is extraordinary, and we know so little about it. But could a body move, think, or function without the "driver"? For me, the "driver" is our spirits. There are some functions that require no effort on our Spirit's part, like the natural function of our eyes to blink. Or our stomach growling to tell us that we are hungry. There are certain functions that are just automatic to our bodies...unless there is a malfunction or glitch somewhere...which happens. Cars also have computers in them nowadays to perform functions in the car automatically for us. Our brain is a computer, IMO. When I am on my laptop, certain things are running in the background that have nothing to do with me. It is hard-wired to perform certain functions automatically. Our brains definitely perform certain functions that require no effort or manipulation on the part of our Spirit. There are always programs running in the background of our brains. I think thoughts are an interaction of the spirit and brain, sort of like typing a blog on your laptop. The thoughts and words are coming from the human and are being inserted on the computer manually. Maybe it is the same between our spirit and our brain. We are "typing" information into our brains when it comes to thoughts. However, just like with a car or computer, damage can be sustained that is so severe as to render our brains or bodies (or both) inoperable. For me it is easier to think of my body as a car, my brain as the mother-computer installed into the car, and my spirit as the driver. And just like any driver, I get into my "car" to arrive at a specific destination. Ultimately, my Spirit uses my body and my brain to live out life in a certain manner so as to arrive at a specific destination...God's Kingdom. Just my simplistic take on things. ~TG

My Cuban grandmother just died on Thursday. I would invite her. I need to fill the gaps of my Cuban family history. She has been out of her mind for several years with severe cancer. So, getting much out of her wasn't possible while she was alive. The other person would be C.S. Lewis. I would love to ask him questions about his writings, his life, and I am curious to know what he thinks about everything now, since he has been in the Spirit World. Those are my two. ~TG

Opinions are so interesting. How people react to the opinions of others is also interesting. As for me and my house, we do what works for us. PERIOD. I appreciate the views and advice of others, and I do not take offense when others have found something that works for them. If I feel the Spirit prompt me to change what I am doing, then I do, otherwise I take the person's words and acknowledge that they are doing good by doing what is best for them and I leave it at that. All I can do is the best that I can. There are no perfect parents on this earth. Just one thought ~ We (all of God's children) come from perfect eternal parents. Yet, when we come to earth we still make mistakes, right? Didn't Lucifer rebel and didn't 1/3 of God's children follow Lucifer in being cast down despite having a perfect Father? My point is this- we should should all strive to be the best we can at all times in all things, but as parents, we cannot force our children to make perfect choices 100% of the time...because none of us do. We just have to do our best, and then let the teachings we have provided our children keep them from straying. Heavenly Father taught each of us the best that he could before sending us to earth, and now He must stand back and watch as we use our agency to prove ourselves herewith...righteously or unrighteously. I think all parents have a tremendous responsibility. How each of us chooses to uphold that responsibility is up to us. The responsibility of a parent is heavy enough, that we do not need to burden it further by worrying about how we compare to others. We should take what will benefit us and incorporate it into our lives and our families, and for those things that we feel will not work for us and our families, we can just leave those things alone with a quiet appreciation that others are trying their best as well. ~TG

I am sure that if I sit here long enough and think back, I can find where I have been all three. However, I find that mostly I am the carrot. I am not sure why others always think of me or see me as tough, but I am quite sensitive. I have spent years trying to figure out if it was my life experiences that have made so, or if it is just the personality/spirit that I was born with. I am sure the true answer is closer to a mixture of both. At any rate, most of the time I am strong, up-beat, bubbly, and "with it". But then I get so tired of the struggle, the battle, and the constant bombardment from life itself that I get tired and weak and I just get soft like the carrot. I would love to eventually be like the coffee bean. That would be ideal. I am working on it. But for now I am mostly a carrot, with some egg thrown in. Right now I am just trying to reconcile with myself that it is okay to get tired, or discouraged, or "soft", so long as I do not stay that way. There is a huge difference, in my opinion, between being discouraged and having given up all hope. I have been there too. When I suffered a break-down during Christmas of 2004, I had reached that point where I had lost all my hope. Game Over. I wanted out. Those were dark days, that can never truly be explained to another unless they have had to endure similar circumstances. Maybe we should be mindful of all the carrots and eggs out there, so that we are not contributing to any added pain or suffering to them. Though we should all be aspiring to be like the coffee bean in this particular instance, we should also consider how we interact with one another and whether or not we are the ones turning up the heat on somebody else's pot of water. Just a thought from a carrot.

I agree. I bought this book a few years ago. It is very profound and VERY intense. I would not recommend this book to those who are not serious about looking in the mirror of who they really are, or for those who are not sincere about wnating to change. This book is great, but it really can strip a person of all the false and erroneous notions that one may have about themselves. If you are not ready to be stripped of such illusions, then don't get this book. But if you are ready to get to the core of who you really are, and want to make a sincere change, then this book is for you.

I don't believe everything that the world or science tells me, but I sure do love reading astronomy books and learning about new theories. I take what I believe to be true, and the rest I just leave. Whether or not I believe a given theory to be true or not, I still find the journey to "truth" through science to be very interesting. This book sounds cool. I may get to the last page having largely dismissed the whole idea, but I am sure I will be intrigued and entertained along the way as I read. I am putting this one on my wish list!

My suggestions might seem simple, but they actually work for some... 1. Say a prayer. 2. Pick up your scriptures. 3. Call a friend to talk. 4. Find somebody to do a service project for or run an errand for. 5. Do that one thing that you have been putting off and setting to the side. 6. Think of all the reasons why you shouldn't engage in pornography. 7. Think of how Satan must laugh and enjoy it when a noble son or daughter of God gets caught in the trap of pornography. 8. Make a list of all your goals in life and in the gospel, then think about how being caught in the web of pronography might jeopardize those plans. 9. If you are married, talk to your spouse. Let them help you in your moment of trial and weakness...there is a reason that they are called a help-mate. 10. Call your Bishop. Yes, he is busy, but most bishops I know would welcome the sacred opportunity and responsibility to help a member avoid a moral/sexual/adulterous pitfall. 11. Have a spouse, family member, or friend set a strict lock-down on allowed sites/content on your computer. Let them be the only ones who know the password. Have them also set a strict content filter on your cable or satellite hook-up, again, where they are the only ones to know the password. 12. Keep a miniature Book of Mormon in your pocket or car at all times. If you feel the need to stop and purchase or rent material of a pornograpghic nature, pull out your "emergency" scriptures and start reading!! I hope these suggestions help anybody who may be struggling with this terrible disease. My prayers are with you. Though not all of us struggle with this painful addiction, many of us know somebody who does. It is for the benefit of us all to know the warning signs, and to know how to be proactive in combatting this plague.

Hmmm, some of those names were REALLY cool. I think I need to have at least five more kids so that I can use some of those names!!!!! :lol: Seriously, I liked "Starlyn". Very cool.

Me too! As far as aliens go...who am I to claim that I know of a certainty of their existence (or lack thereof) in a universe more vast than the mortal mind can comprehend? There are depths to our own oceans that we have no knowledge of. Every-once-in-awhile there will be a report of a new species found somewhere on this earth that science had not previously known of before. Hmm...but then some can claim with total authority that there is no life anywhere else in the universe? I don't have a firm answer either way. I am not omniscient. There is no way for me to make a claim either way, but luckily I have not closed my mind to a possibility that may well be true. I think it is ridiculous that the government can state with such absolute authority that there is no such thing as aliens. How do they know for certain? Have we even been able to take our own shuttle beyond our own solar system? No. Then how can a NASA or government official claim such authority over an issue that they cannot possibly have absolute knowledge of? There is a ridiculous notion that some officials have, that if humans were to discover life elsewhere, we would all run around wild, forsaking religion, and reverting ourselves to a basic, primitive nature. Where does this line of thought come from? I am LDS. I will be so even if a ship from another planet, galaxy, universe...etc. were to zip over my head. So? Why would that make me run around stark mad, burning my house, pillaging the neighbors home, and becoming a heathen? Scientists and the government must truly think that we (humans in general, and religious folks in particular) are all too intellectually unstable to handle the "truth", assuming that NASA or the government even knows the truth. I believe that if the government does know the truth, we will never find out from them. There is much that we will never know the truth about concerning our own country, our own leaders, our own government, and our own history. Believing this, it then becomes easy for me to believe that the government would NEVER tell us that other life exists elsewhere if they had discovered/encountered it. I, for one, don't know the answer...but it wouldn't bother me either way, and it would have no effect upon my beliefs. My intellect is just fine, and my faith is even stronger. ~TG

We were told recently that our entire stake was spiritually sick. That is pretty awful. I came from middle GA where the ward was awesome. No, things did NOT always run smoothly, and NO, the members were not perfect...but nearly every Sunday was a spiritual experience. I looked forward to going to Church every Sunday. It was just the best day of the week. This past Sunday was the first time in three years of being in this backwoods ward that I have felt anything close to the spiritual high of my former ward. Talk about a dry spell. How sad that I have to wait every three years to have a great, motivating, uplifting, and spiritual Sabbath. Oh well. As far as cleaning...our ward no longer participates in the Member Involvement as it is known is other wards. Each auxiliary and its members (Relief Society, Elder's Quorum, etc.) is responsible for a certain area or room of the ward building to clean or inspect before leaving each Sunday. The Relief Society sisters were told a few Sunday's ago that we were all responsible for checking the two women's bathrooms and cleaning them before leaving the building on the Sabbath. Trust me, there is always somebody or some place that has it MUCH worse than you.

Hey...does this mean I need to stop calling my son Bubba????? :lol: Actually that is just his nickname. I have a boy's name. I like my real name. Well, I go by my middle name because I HATE my first name. Too girly. I named my daughter with a "boy's" name. I bet nobody can guess my name!!!! LOL LOL Actually, both of my sons have names that girls have now taken over!!!!! But all of them are easy to say on sight. However, people ALWAYS had trouble saying my first name AND my middle name. I think it is more because people don't slow down and actually read my names...they just see the letter configuration and think that they have got it! Yeah, nobody can say my married last name either. It is a German name, where the second vowel says it's name, rather than the first like English speakers are taught. Oh well. I think I heard that Matthew McConaughey's brother named his son Miller Lite.

I agree! I love astronomy, I always have, ever since my dad would climb up on the roof of the house with me and teach me about the stars and the constellations. However, knowing the gospel now (I converted in 1998 at the age of 24) I am even MORE excited about science and astronomy in particular. Things just seem to have a grander perspective!

Thanks! I have seen these advertised on the DeseretBook website...but wasn't sure if they would capture me. I really like Cornelia Funk (Dragon Rider, etc.), Elizabeth Haydon (The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme), R.D. Henham (Red Dragon Codex), J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia), and many more. The next time I get a chance to get a book from Deseret, I will have to pick up a copy of Fablehaven. Thanks again for the recommend!

Body Piercing LDS.org > Gospel Library > Gospel Topics > Body Piercing Modesty LDS.org > Gospel Library > Gospel Topics > Modesty

You are absolutely correct. As Gwen pointed out though, we can find difficulty in finding the correct size from any catalog, store, or mall when it comes to purchasing clothes and/or shoes. Sometimes sizes vary from fabric to fabric, or from name brand to name brand. That is why I also made sure to mention that the Beehive workers truly are helpful (at least in my experience), as they have been able to help me tremendously in the past. Also, I have found that with any item of clothing that I am purchasing, that it is better to go a size larger with a new brand name or material than to go dead-on your with your normal size. Most of us have experienced shrinkage in clothing...whether it is because the fabric shrunk as a result of washing/drying or because we gained a few Christmas pounds!!!! LOL LOL Life is about trial and error, and finding what is right...shopping is no different!!!! One last thought ~ Our commitment to Heavenly Father and His commandments are not supposed to be easy. It was not easy for the Savior to suffer for the sins of every human, but he did so willingly. I can think of nothing that God asks of me that is too much for me to bear, as He always blesses me tenfold in the end for having obeyed. With much love and sincerity... ~Tough Grits

Apparently so. Though I personally saw nothing offensive, we all have different testimonies and sensitivity levels. I made sure to use the word "clothing" in my post, as various items of clothing and even manuals, books, and DVD's of a gospel nature can be purchased at the Beehive store. Anybody can walk in to the Beehive store on Temple grounds (do all temples have one?). The Orlando temple has some really good items (as I mentioned above) that are available to all members or even non members. I bought a whole collection of Church manuals from the Beehive store once... Book of Mormon Stories manual Old Testament Stories manual New Testament Stories manual Doctrine and Covenants Stories manual Those manuals are awesome, and they are just as valuable to me (an adult) as they are to my kids. The format, illustrations, and simple terminology is perfect for Family Home Evening or our daily family gospel study. Just wanted to share that not everything sold in the Beehive store is of a personal or private nature.