WHY I BELIEVE IN GUARDIAN ANGELS

They must have flew, fluttered and zoomed back and forth, calling in all the troops they could find when I jiggled any car keys. A guardian angel’s job was not an easy one in the 1970’s when there were no seat belt laws, and actually, no seat belts that worked worth a darn!

Our first brand-new car was our pride and joy. We traded Tony’s gas-guzzling bachelor car in for a brand-new shiny red 1973 VW Bug. In those days, we didn’t worry about seat belts. The ones in our Bug broke within the first year. I don’t think there was anything like car seats for babies back then. If there were, we were ignorant of them.

When our first baby was born, we put the baby in a small basket in the back seat with no straps in the back to secure it. When baby number two came, she was in the basket and child number one either sat next to the basket or in my lap.

Help! I need more guardian angels! This one is getting tough!

Baby number three got tricky. No more room for the basket. By then, we knew about child car seats, and purchased one. So child number two went into the car seat, and child one held baby on her lap.

Baby number four was put in a car seat next to child one, while child two and three sat in the little alcove that we called the “way-back” behind the back bench seat. We called them the “tadpoles” because they hadn’t sprouted longer legs yet, and could fit scrunched up in the way-back.

Baby number five meant no more car seat, so child one or two held the baby while they sat on the bench seat and tadpoles three and four sat in the way-back, as we called it.

Reinforcements! Reinforcements! This could be a potential funeral for seven!

Before I add on any more children (which I will do shortly) I must tell of the decline of our beloved VW. Not only did the seat belts quit working early on, but the heater also quit working around this time. Tony’s shoulders were way too wide for a VW Bug so he drove with his window down summer and winter so he could sit comfortably as he drove. We probably wore the poor heater out trying to keep us warm when he had his window down. Now the winter months necessitated us having blankets in the car and a window scraper for each of us. We would bundle in the car, then as soon as the doors were shut, the windows would quickly ice over on the inside because of condensation from all of our breathing. (We tried to convince the children not to breath, but they wouldn’t comply.) So everyone would scrape away at all the windows, which caused a delightful snow storm inside the car as we drove down the road.
But now comes baby number six. We already had three children on the bench seat and two in the way-back, so number six sat on my lap in the front. This worked pretty good until I was big-pregnant with baby number seven, so then a child had to hold number six in the back.

I NEED THE ROYAL NATIONAL GUARDIANS! AT LEAST 50 TROOPS: NOW!!!!

At this point, we finally purchased a new VW Van.

Now, the worst confession of all: If Tony was not there and I was driving with all the children in the car, I would have a daughter sitting in the front seat with the baby on her lap. If the baby cried, I would take the baby, WHILE I WAS DRIVING, and nurse it.

GUARDIAN ANGELS? YOU BET!!! It’s a miracle that we never had an accident that would surely have killed some, if not all, of us. I now look back and envision thousands of guardian angels protecting us from our stupidity!

THOUGHT FROM MY OLD SCRIPTURES:
A poem written by my dear friend, Margo Myler.

BREAK OF DAY
The serenity of the break of day
gives time to ponder, pause and pray.

The dawn renews resolves to endure
the Savior atoned, man can be pure.

Evidence each morn of weaknesses to face
With a promise, the humble qualify for grace.

Our thanks dear Lord for days on earth
To perfect, purify, and acknowledge our worth.

THROW OUTS FOR THE DAY: Welllll, Not exactly throwouts yet.
When my husband died, my 7 year old son insisted he had to sleep with me. I knew this could end up a permanent thing, so I let him sleep in my bed for about three nights, then I told him he had to gradually move back into his own bed. So for two nights, he slept on the floor near my bed, then the next few nights he slept on the floor, each night getting closer and closer to my door. Finally, he was sleeping in the hall outside my open door. After about a week of creepy-crawling him further away, he was finally in the next door bedroom in his own bed.
Well, that's how I am with my blanket pile. I put the quilts I want to keep back into my closet. And the stack of blankets I was discarding stayed in the corner of the hallway next to the closet door. I couldn't move them any further than that for a whole day.
This morning I moved them down the hall to the entrance of the hall, putting them in my discard hamper - but not putting the hamper out in my car to take to Deseret Industries. I couldn't move them any further than that today. Tomorrow, my goal is to get the hamper to the side of the front door. That's kinda scary.

This stack of top sheets wasn't hard to discard - but the beige twin bedspread isn't going to be able to go. It was a bedspread from my husband's submarine that he "lifted" when we were first married. (To go along with the two paper thin twin mattresses that he also "lifted" in order to provide us with our first bed. Luckily those were thrown out when we got our first real bed). I don't know what I'll ever use it for, but I just can't get rid of it. Someone will have to do that when I die!

VUA-LA!!! The linen closet is as empty as it's going to get in my lifetime! But I was able to put quilts in it that have been stuffed at the top of bedroom closets.

Am I done with my "linens"? Not by a long shot. I still have two drawers of old white sheets, that I have saved for sewing projects (you never know when you might need some plain white sheeting!) I also have 5 chenille bedspreads that I collected for sewing projects. (What was I going to make with them? I DON'T KNOW! but they may come in handy some day - SHEESH!)

AND I have about 15 flannel sheets - for backing all those levi quilts I'm going to make some day (I have 6 boxes of old levis for those someday quilts!)

Maybe just listing these will give me the courage to get them out of here. I know I'll never make that many levi quilts, let alone possibly one!!!!

THOUGHT FROM MY OLD SCRIPTURES:
Happiness is a habit. "...for I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content." Phillipians 4:11


THROWOUT FOR THE DAY: Jennilyn, I DID IT! I cleaned out the "Linen" closet, or should I say "Pillowcase closet". I haven't thrown out a pillow case my whole married life! This is a stack of 39 (COUNT EM - 39!!!!) extra pillow cases that I've amassed all these years. AND THIS ISN'T COUNTING THE PILLOW CASES THAT ARE PRESENTLY ON MY PILLOWS!!! I narrowed my pillowcase stash to 10 extra pillow cases, and hopefully I can narrow that down a little further when I have more "moxy" to do so. Whew, this was a hard one!!!!!
Wait until you see my blanket stash! I can't do it today - - - I just can't. Maybe tomorrow.........

SCANS FOR THE DAY:

1991

SCANS FOR THE DAY:

Look at the lines the artist used to draw this picture of Christ. It is of scenes from Christ's life. I have not seen anything like this and wanted you to see it too.


THOUGHT FROM MY SCRIPTURES: This was on a piece of paper stuck in my old scriptures:
THE QUIET SERMON
A member of a certain church, who previously had been attending services regularly, stopped going. After a few weeks, the pastor decided to visit him. It was a chilly evening. The pastor found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire. Guessing the reason for his pastor’s visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a comfortable chair near the fireplace and waited.
The pastor made himself at home but said nothing. In the grave silence, he contemplated the dance of the flames around the burning logs. After some minutes, the pastor took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone. Then he sat back in his chair, still silent. The host watched all this in quiet contemplation. As the one lone ember’s flame flickered and diminished, there was a momentary glow and then it’s fire was no more. Soon it was cold and dead.
Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting. The Pastor glanced at his watch and realized it was time to leave. He slowly stood up, picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire. Immediately it began to glow once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it.
As the pastor reached the door to leave, his host said with a tear running down his cheek, “Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the fiery sermon. I shall be back in church next Sunday.”
We live in a world today, which tries to say too much with too little. Consequently, few listen. Sometimes the best sermons are the ones left unspoken.

If you don’t stand for something you’ll fall for anything.

THOUGHTS FROM MY SCRIPTURES:
GOD DOESN'T
ASK ABOUT
OUR ABILITY,
JUST OUT
AVAILABILITY,
AND THEN
AS WE PROVE
OUR DEPENDABILITY,
HE WILL
INCREASE
OUR CAPABILITY.


SCANS FOR THE DAY:

Fall 1988

THOUGHTS FROM MY SCRIPTURES:
Sometimes when you give your kids the things you didn't get when you were a child - you end up not giving them the things you had!

By serving in the Church, we become sanctified as we leave our comfort zones, live outside ourselves, and come to unfold our true natures by living our lives for the Lord's sake.


1988

SCANS OF THE DAY: Since I quit cleaning for awhile (a person can deal with the emotional trama of purging "stuff" only so long), I am now scanning pictures like crazy. So, I will be posting "scans of the day" instead for awhile.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: People are very open-minded about new things - as long as they're exactly like the old.



THROWOUT FOR THE DAY: Okay, I don't think it'll ever be a throw out, but I am (sniff, sniff) going to have to (sob, sob) replace my scriptures (WAAAAAAAAA). They are so very old (bought in 1989) and have even been chewed on by a dog (may he rest in peace!) No, I won't throw them away, but they are being shelved for a newer set. This was not done willingly and probably wouldn't have been done at all, except that at work (Deseret Books), I was trained to put engraving on scriptures, and I messed up on a Quad. I felt so bad, I bought the Quad (30% off) and am engraving my name over the mess up. I didn't have to buy the Quad, but I realized this was a good time to replace my old set.

So my THOUGHT FOR THE DAYs are going to be some of the quotes and poems I've lovingly written in my scriptures - share them with those I love, then shelve them with my Quad that Tony bought me many, many more years ago.

This is one of the funniest date stories I've heard:

First Date
If you didn't see this on the Tonight show, I hope you're sitting down when you read it. This is probably the funniest date story ever, first date or not!!! Many of us have had bad dates, but this takes the cake.
Jay Leno went into the audience to find the most embarrassing first date that a woman ever had. The winner described her worst first date experience. There was absolutely no question as to why her tale took the prize!
She said it was midwinter... snowing and quite cold...and the guy had taken her skiing in the mountains outside Salt Lake City, Utah. It was a day trip (no overnight). They were strangers, after all, and truly had never met before. The outing was fun, the skiing great, the coffee hot. The day was uneventful until they were headed home late that afternoon.They were driving back down the mountain, when she gradually began to realize that she should not have had that extra latte.
They were about an hour away from anywhere with a rest room and, to top it off, they were in the middle of nowhere! Her companion recognized her discomfort, and suggested she try to hold it, which she did for a while. Unfortunately, because of the heavy snow and slow going, there came a point where she told him that he had better stop and let her go beside the road, or it would be the front seat of his car.
They stopped and she quickly crawled out beside the car, yanked her pants down and started. In the deep snow she didn't have good footing, so she let her butt rest against the rear fender to steady herself. Her companion stood on the side of the car watching for traffic and indeed was a real gentleman and refrained from peeking. All she could think about was the relief she felt despite the rather embarrassing nature of the situation.
Upon finishing however, she soon became aware of another sensation. As she bent to pull up her pants, the young lady discovered her buttocks were firmly glued against the car's fender!Thoughts of tongues frozen to poles immediately came to mind as she attempted to disengage her flesh from the icy metal. It was quickly apparent that she had a brand new problem due to the extreme cold. Horrified by her plight and yet aware of the humor of the moment, she answered her date's concerns about 'what is taking so long' with a reply that indeed, she was 'freezing her butt off' and in need of some assistance!
He came around the car as she tried to cover herself with her sweater and then, as she looked imploringly into his eyes, he burst out laughing. She too, got the giggles and when they finally managed to compose themselves, they assessed her dilemma.
Obviously, as hysterical as the situation was, they also were faced with a real problem. Both agreed it would take something hot to free her chilly cheeks from the grip of the icy metal!Thinking about what had gotten her into the predicament in the first place, both quickly realized that there was only one way to get her free.
So, as she looked the other way, her first-time date proceeded to unzip his pants and pee her bottom off the fender. As the audience screamed in laughter, she took the Tonight Show prize hands down. Or perhaps that should be 'pants down.'
'Did you ever see the young man again?' asked Mr. Leno.
'I married him,' was the reply. 'He's sitting right here next to me.'

i

I forgot to show you the levi diaper bags - still in the closet.

Also, I found this backpack that dates back to my college days. It's so old, held together with paper clips, safety pins, and bread ties. I didn't save it.

By the way, I can now fit my vacuum cleaner into the closet! YAYAYAYAYAYAY!

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: "I hope I will always be tolerant of those who sin differently from me." Henry Eyring (this was one of Tony's favorite quotes)

THROW OUT FOR THE DAY: Whew, I finally got through the back hall closet. First I collected all the bags - it was disgustingly revealing how I love bags - picking them up at Yard Sales and DI and the discards of my kids.



I got rid of this many bags, keeping only 2, plus the two diaper bags I couldn't make myself get rid of. Someone else will have to throw those out when I die. They have too many memories. I made them because Tony wouldn't be seen with a flowery diaper bag, which was all that you could buy at the time. So I made him the plain levi one, then I made the red levi one for me.

So if you want any of these, they will be taken to DI on Friday.

I also have a thing for 3 ring binders, and found these nice cloth covered ones that I've never used. I kept the 3 to the right and am giving away the four to the left (I can't go cold turkey!!!)

These are very revealing: Old carbon paper, typing paper, and a Rick's college folder. Those are tucked nicely back into the closet, just for the sake of antiquity.

AND HOW DO I GET RID OF "DADDY'S NOSES" - GO AHEAD, LET YOUR HARD HEARTS CONVINCE ME OF CHUCKING THESE!!! HAHAHAHAH

In the Christmas wrap section, I had all these gift boxes - I NEVER USE!! To make it more interesting; the four brown ones aren't gift boxes at all - I was recycling these from when you get stuff from a bakery - so old I don't know what bakery! Maybe New York! Yiy, I'm bad!

TA-DA - THE FINISHED CLOSET - DON'T IT LOOK SOOOO NICE!

THIS WEEK'S PROJECT: The dreaded hall closet. What the heck is all that stuff?
The top shelf has a package of old doilies and tablecloths, inherited from my Mom. It also has backpacks and misc. bags - way too many!
Second shelf has 3 ring binders, notebooks, dividers, etc. With a few more bags and backpacks
Third shelf is jigsaw puzzles, Krap, and more binders, notebooks, etc - topped off with MORE bags!!! (notice the one on the left - it's the levi diaper bag I made when Jenny was a baby!!! Amazing!)
Fourth shelf: I DON'T KNOW - YOU CAN'T TELL BECAUSE OF THE BINDERS AND BAGS!!
Floor - the big blue thing is an organizer for gift wrap and ribbon. Behind it - - - all the gift wrap and boxes and ribbon that I never put into the organizer.

FROM THE BAG LADY OF THE YEAR: I've pulled out all the bags to begin with - there were 4 soft suitcases, 4 backpacks, 3 body bag suitcases, 2 sports bags, a soft briefcase, 12 large bags, and the two levi diaper bags I made in 1974 (I didn't even know I had the second one still!!) Stay tuned tomorrow for pictures and what I got rid of.

THROW OUT FOR THE DAY: Whew, I took the games and coats to Deseret Industries today. IT WAS SOOOO HARD TO DO! But I did it.
Also, Saturday, I cleaned a corner of my Family Room - getting rid of old posters, etc. that were stuffed behind a bookshelf.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Enjoy the

season you're in - it may never come again.

Pictures taken out my backyard, evening time.