Practice

In my head, this is how I play the piano. I think that until I hear something like this and then I remember, oh. You probably have to practice to play like this! :)

I am soooooo grateful...

...to live where I do. And not here:

Looks like snow doesn't it? Snow is beautiful. (From a distance and a warm house.) Well, get a load of this next picture (although be ready to be grossed out). This is a close up: (I've purposefully left space so you can be prepared. I'll even take the surprise out. LOTS of spiders.)
























EWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!

I AM SO GRATEFUL TO NOT LIVE THERE!!!

Instead, I live in this beautiful place:


All I can think of is how grateful I am. :)

If you want the full story, check it out here.

"Clicking"

I went to Time Out for Women this weekend. It was fantastic! We had the privilege on Friday night of listening to Virginia Pearce, Sheri Dew, and Hilary Weeks - three of my favorite people to learn from! (Little tangent here. To not end that sentence in a preposition, I would have to say something like "Of all my favorite people to learn from, those are three" or "Three of my favorite people from whom to learn." Kind of ridiculous rule for English. Oh, yeah! It's not really true that you shouldn't end a sentence in a preposition! Oh, did I just start talking about grammar again? Sorry)

Anyways...

Hilary Weeks introduced us to BillionClicks.org. Check out their story! (It really will only take you a minute to read their story, so at least do that.)

The purpose of "clicking" is to focus on positive thoughts rather than negative ones and therefore improve our positive thinking, which improves our moods, which gives the Spirit a more fertile ground to work in, etc...

A little advice - again

Is this the second or third time I've posted this? It doesn't matter. Probably some of you have never seen it. And you really should. This is what I listen when I get down or need strength or just want to listen to something beautiful.

Some books

I've read an embarrassing number of books this year so far, but there it is. I've been meaning to write about some of them for a while, but I've been too busy reading. (Among other things.) So I guess I'll just list some of my favorites that I've read so far.

My favorite "book" so far this year was actually a series of lectures by Hugh Nibley from 1954. The title of the series is "Time Vindicates the Prophets." The series affected my thinking so much and really opened up a new level of the gospel to me. Rating: EXCELLENT.

My favorite picture book so far this year was "Stuck" by Oliver Jeffers. I laughed so hard reading that book! I highly recommend it, especially to adults!

I liked "In the Sea There Are Crocodiles" by Fabio Geda a lot. Based on a true story, it's about a boy who makes his way from Afghanistan to Italy over a few years.

"Tryst" by Elswyth Thane was a fun read for me. The writing style was very cozy. Possibly my favorite style. The story had a twist that drove me crazy at first and then made me chuckle. I'd love to read more of Thane's books.

I read Hemingway's "A Moveable Feast" to see if I could appreciate his writing better as an adult. Nope. I can't. Only pure stubbornness got me through that book and then I regretted finishing it. What can I say? I think he's a terrible writer who occasionally had flashes of not bad writing. I should give him his due though. The man did know how to avoid adjectives. And that is impressive.

I started and put down several classics. I'm making my way through "Crime and Punishment." I'm about half-way through and I've finally started to get interested in the past few pages. :)

I've also read a number of "fluffier" books, some of which I really enjoyed. And despite me calling them fluffy, I actually find some great things in such books (not just relaxation):

The Guy I'm Not Dating - Trish Perry (laughed my head off!)
Funeral Potatoes - Joni Hilton (laughed my head off again)
My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business - Dick Van Dyke
My Angelica - Carol Lynch Williams (I love to laugh) (and now I feel a song coming on)

And various and sundry others which I will not write about right now. Maybe later. We'll see. I'm in the middle of about five different books, each vying for my attention. Maybe with the next report, I'll have more to recommend.