Perspective

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29867937/

I really liked this quote:

"The right question to ask is not if we want the president to fail or succeed, but whether we want America to succeed."

Saying "the time for talking about the past is over," Jindal said Republicans have begun to find their voice after back-to-back elections losses — motivated by what he called historic Democratic spending excess.

Now that's what I'm talkin' about! Seems like we've finally acquired some perspective. I hope we can continue on, in the political arena, with this goal in mind.

Eagle Scout Blood Drive

Here we go! We'll see how many people show up. . . Eric is just about finished with his project also.

Maybe we'll end up having a joint Eagle Scout Court of Honor for our twin boys! Ya never know. . . By some quirky twist of fate, that just might work out!  : )

The Weekend List

And it goes a little somethin' like THIS:

Friday:

Jeffy's fever is down, Charlie has the day off

Get all the big kids to school

Drop little kids off at Kim's

Drive up to Park City with C-Man, tour galleries, take notes for Art assignment, take lots of pictures - THIS, I can do! -  : )

Drive back, pick up little kidlets, (enjoy the fabulous weather) take Aleia and Tommy to piano lessons

Drop film off at Target, grab Tominator and Lea, pick up Laena from Tardy School (read detention)

Deal with big kids, conjure up an after school snack, take Clint to work

Figure out dinner, get Eric from Track practice, take Eric to work

Eat dinner, hook Laena up with car/ride to Spring Fling, try to fix camera

Work on BYU-I detail, EFY sign-ups, acquire tickets for temple dedication Sunday, take Aleia to sleep-over

Bag Twilight party, more calls for blood drive, fetch Eric, wrap things up, Family Prayer, get to bed (Ha!)

Wrestle little buggers into bed, take Diego home, beautiful, beautiful sleep

Saturday:

Kids up, Laena off to Tardy School, me to gym, (scratch that, slept in), wonder why I agreed to fill in for Diann on Tuesday with that 45 minute presentation. . .

Laena babysitting for Laura, get Clint working on recruit times for Eagle project, make job lists, clean house, do laundry, get Aleia to Activity Days, homework (sure)

Take Jefferson to doctor, (thank you Charlie), put together Singing Time lesson for Sunday, take Lea to birthday party, grocery shopping, pick up prescriptions

Make disc for Mama, encourage Laena to drop off applications, cut Tommy's hair, give Jeffy medicine

Take Eric to work, score babysitter for double date with Charlie and Bullards, catch movie, get ready for church at 9 am

Take Diego home, pick up Eric, grab Sprite for Laena, (who now has the flu), finish up laundry

Wind it up, put them down, collapse into bed (didn't actually happen, because Charlie happened by a Red Box, brought home Twilight, and we stayed up half the night watching it)

Sunday:

Get up, take care of sick kids, get family to church

Teach 40 little children Primary songs, help Clint and Charlie with Blood Drive sign ups, get little guys home, deal with Choir practice, help Laena apply for scholarship

Home Teachers coming over, Draper Temple Dedication with family (unfortunately I missed it, Jeffy was still sick)

Picked up touch of the flu, took a beautiful, beautiful NAP, (THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN, angels singing, baby asleep, no teenagers in the house, bless you Charlie), made pasta

Helped Aleia with Theatre Class memorization, wondered about the sudden cold snap, got ready for school Monday morning, tried to do homework

Read scriptures with the kids, watched Easter Beagle with the Binky, pinned down the fort, somehow made it to bed

Monday:

Woke up to a full-fledged snow storm, big kids off to school, broke windshield wiper AGAIN, got Lea to class, picked up muffins in my bathrobe

Called high school about announcements, called Miss Roybal about presentation, contacted Red Cross about eligibility, verified appointment time for refinance

Got assignment together, went over schedule, discovered that Eric's Track meet, Aleia's play, Clint's Eagle Project, and Charlie's class for work are all scheduled for the . . same . . . time.

My question is. . .

HOW DO SINGLE MOTHERS . . . DO. . IT. . ?

It Starts

The Binky just fell asleep in the middle of the living room floor, a baseball mitt stuck hopefully on his chubby little paw. Poor little guy. . .  : ) He wants to be just like his big brother Jeffy! But mostly he wants to play ball! Too bad they don't have a little league . . for little 2 year olds. : ) There's probably a good reason.

Monday Charlie signed Jefferson up for T-Ball. Then last night they went out 'bat shopping'. : ) Jeffy's eatin' it up, wearing his baseball hat everywhere, and now the whereabouts of the mitt and the bat are being carefully monitored. Such a cutie! : )

Sigh. They grow up too fast.

But here it comes. . .

Spring, I think, is finally here, and with it chaos to our home and our lives. Not that that's anything new, but May and December, December and May. . . are crazy, busy months, and now, with the coming of warm weather, I can feel it coming. . . Craziness in general will once again reign supreme at the Mason residence. It's just a matter of time.

Graduations, birthday parties, reunions, baseball practice, swimming lessons. . . Soccer, Scout camps, Youth Conference, Girls camps. . . Summer.

Big grin.

Here we go!

A few years back, we decided to limit the kids' extracurricular activities to one per child per year. This works out to 'almost manageable', if you do the math, and makes it so much easier to keep it together. . . because, my friends, there are only seven days in a week.

And how many kids? : )

Mama. . .

You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown

Last week I was heading to school, in a driving snow storm.

I had studied all day. I was brain-fried. There was no way I'd be able to remember all the stuff I'd read.

Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, the driver's side windshield wiper somehow went from slightly torn to shredded, making visibility a mildly urgent issue. At that moment I realized that the heater had stopped working, eliminating the defrost mechanism. To add insult to dubious injury, the low-fuel light chimed in, with it's not-so-pleasant beeping, letting me know that we were almost out of gas.

Oh brother.

Was I not supposed to take this test? Had the elements literally combined against me? What to do. I had left the cell phone at home, no gas station within a mile or so. . .

There was no time, I'd have to chance it. . .

Coasting into the parking lot, I realized that I had just enough time to make it to class. Battling a head wind, in almost blinding snow, I hurried across the frozen campus toward my building and shelter.

Throwing open the door, I darted inside, and shook the snow out of my hair. I'd made it!

The instructor mercifully gave a short lecture, allowing us slackers to cram in a small amount of studying before he administered the test. Arghhh!

"This test will probably take you 30, 35 minutes. . ." he droned.

Heaving an internal sigh, I began, going with my first gut impulse, first reaction to each question. I only got stuck on a couple, which I flubbed my way through on the second go-around.

Yay, done!

I looked at the clock. It had been about 5 minutes. Since we were free to go when we were finished with the test, I decided to high-tail it out of there, maybe try to limp back home. Thankfully, the storm had let up. You know how it is in Utah. . I'd heard it a hundred times. "If you don't like the weather, wait ten minutes." Yeah!

I made it back to the car without too much trouble, but noticed, to my momentary alarm, that someone had been in it! There was a red and yellow box sitting on the passenger seat that had not been there before. I hesitated, took stock of the situation, and realized that it was okay. The car was locked, no one in the back seat. . . It was still light outside. . . Once I saw the Almond Joy on the dash, I knew I'd been been saved. Charlie had left a note, with my favorite candy bar, and had changed the wiper blade while I was in class. : ) Wow.

I always knew I had a guardian angel, and now I know why my Daddy let me go ahead and marry this guy, even when we were so young and goofy. Sigh. Because of little things like this. : ) Which add up to life.

Charlie's a good man.