Keeping Christmas

Romans 14:6: He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord.

It is a good thing to observe Christmas day. The mere marking of times and seasons, when men agree to stop work and make merry together, is a wise and wholesome custom. It helps one to feel the supremacy of the common life over the individual life. It reminds a man to set his own little watch, now and then, by the great clock of humanity which runs on sun time.

But there is a better thing than the observance of Christmas day, and that is, keeping Christmas.

Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember what other people have done for you; to ignore what the world owes you, and to think what you owe the world; to put your rights in the background, and your duties in the middle distance, and your chances to do a little more than your duty in the foreground; to see that your fellow-men are just as real as you are, and try to look beyond their faces to their hearts, hungry for joy; to own that probably the only good reason for your existence is not what you are going to get out of life, but what you are going to give to life; to close your book of complaints against the management of the universe, and look around you for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness-- are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.

Are you willing to stoop down and consider the needs and the desires of little children; to remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old; to stop asking how much your friends love you, and ask yourself whether you love them enough; to bear in mind the things other people have to bear on their hearts; to try to understand what those who live in the same house with you really want, without waiting for them to tell you; to trip your lamp so that it will give more light and less smoke, and to carry it in front so that your shadow will fall behind you; to make a grave for your ugly thoughts, and a garden for your kindly feelings, with the gate open-- are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas.

Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world-- stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death-- and that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem nineteen hundred years ago is the image and brightness of the Eternal Love? Then you can keep Christmas.

And if you keep it for a day, why not always?

But you can never keep it alone.

--Henry Van Dyke

Grandpa Green

My Grandpa has been gone for quite a few years now. I remember the last time I saw him--Grandma and Grandpa were leaving our house and we were outside saying goodbye, and for some reason I had the thought that it might be the last time I would see them. I brushed that thought aside, though I cried a little when they drove away, and shortly after I headed back up to school. I was on campus when I got a call from my mom saying that Grandpa had been very sick and was probably not going to make it. I sat down on a bench and cried--some kind student asked me if I needed some help, but I said no. It was very sad for our family to lose him--he was a wonderful grandpa and leader of my mom's family. And since we always lived close to my grandparents (I even lived with them for the first three years of my life), he was such a big part of my life growing up.

Often I remember something about him or I hear something that reminds me of him. He had his own dialect, unique probably to Idahoans and Utahns of his era, and sometimes I hear older people who talk like him. "Sundee, Mondee,Tuesdee, etc." He also had a slew of expressions that our family remember and use from time to time like, "Well for heaven's sake". He had so many unique ones too that I can't think of. He had nicknames for the kids like McGilicudy and Button and Peanut.

Speaking of which, Grandpa was very fond of nuts and always had a stash by his chair: peanuts, pistachios, walnuts, pecans, macadamia. I would sneak them--I love nuts too. He was also very fond of fishin and would tell stories about his fishin trips and camping trips. When I was little, I really liked rocks and started a rock collection. Grandpa gave me some of his--he knew a lot about them and had the tools to cut and polish them. He was known by many as a great jeweler, and I lucked out and got some jewelry from him over the years. On my 12th birthday we happened to go to my Grandparents house, and he went into his office and came out with my first string of pearls! I felt so lucky! Eleven years later I wore them on my wedding day.

I remember Grandpa would squeeze some orange juice in the mornings. I have this image of him in the kitchen in some plaid pajamas juicing a few large oranges from his tree outside. I have no idea if this is just my memory of one day, or if it happened often, but he just made enough to fill a glass. Grandpa was always making things in his shop. He made me my first little dollhouse. It was so cute! Once I was assigned to make a pioneer wagon for school, so he and I made one out of wood. I have no idea how I did that ;) Another thing about Grandpa is he was always handing everybody money. That was so cool. And at Christmas he would type up his testimony and give everyone a copy. I have a stack of those letters in one of my boxes at home that I am excited to read again. He was at all my big events growing up, he blessed me when I was a baby, he confirmed me when I was baptized. I think of him whenever I sing How Great Thou Art because he loved that song. He is a great example to me, and I'm grateful to be his granddaughter.


http://lumangreen.com

So Blessed

The last few weeks, though at some points exhausting, have been very happy ones. I have been feeling very blessed and feeling Heavenly Father guiding my life. I feel lucky and also a little bit guilty because I have not been incorporating Him into my thoughts and life as often as I should. I need to be more diligent in my prayer and scripture reading. Why are those simple things so hard for me to do sometimes? However, despite my slacking in some areas, I am still feeling close to Him. Sunday was a really great day for me--our Relief Society lesson about the Savior's life was so powerful and I felt it added to my testimony. I have just felt more joyful and more grateful lately and I am so thankful for my blessings. Sure, we have lots of worries and stress with our busy lives, and it seems like no matter what we do we are scraping for money. But we are also greatly blessed, and I feel like Heavenly Father is reminding me of that.

First Thanksgiving

We made our first Thanksgiving dinner this year. Raimo made the turkey. We also had mashed potatoes, yams, carrots, and apple and pumpkin pies with homemade whipped cream. Raimo also got his nintendo to work. He was pretty much overjoyed.
It was a very special Thanksgiving

100 Books

Have you read more than 6 of these books? The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here.

Instructions: Copy this into your NOTES. Bold those books you've read in their entirety, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read an excerpt. Tag other book nerds.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolken

3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

6 The Bible

7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell

9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott

12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare

15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien

17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk

18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger

19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell

22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis

34 Emma -Jane Austen

35 Persuasion - Jane Austen

36 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis

37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

40 Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Mine

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell

42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving

45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery

47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood

49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding

50 Atonement - Ian McEwan

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel

52 Dune - Frank Herbert

53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt

64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac

67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding

69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie

70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

72 Dracula - Bram Stoker

73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses - James Joyce

76 The Inferno - Dante

77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal - Emile Zola

79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession - AS Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker

84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

87 Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery

93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

94 Watership Down - Richard Adams

95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Now I have a new book list!

& Thats The Way It Goes... Sometimes...

Its funny how these things happen sometimes. But they indeed happen. First off thank you Grandma for the card & everything. As a Door salesmen, you indeed have a lot of interesting experiences, I think I mentioned knocking doors on halloween, it got to the point where people were handing me candy as I knocked from door to door. That wasn't bad, but talking with some of our customers, they had noticed that the internet speeds were slowing way down from the expected 10/10mbps, Which is highly unusual. It was raining, I had made some good potential leads, to follow up with on Monday.
Monday came, and so did a notice letting me know I had been laid off... Apparently my companies profit margin was to small, & costs were too high here in the Utah area, they did address that if I was graduated they would have liked to keep me, but move me down to Arizona or Las Vegas. But that wasn't happening. But thats the way it goes... At one point you're on top, bringing in sales, the next you're no longer needed. I'm still waiting on my pay, and reimbursement from them since the 1st of this month.
But just as that so happens to be closing, My companies biggest competitor here in Utah, called me up & invited me to an interview. After two interviews, they'd like to hire me, and have me do the same things I was doing with my company, that is recruiting training, & selling. The difference would be that I can knock everydoor in Provo, that my new company owns the network in Provo, and we can continue to knock doors on the Utopia network throughout Orem Payson, Lindon, Murray, S. Salt Lake, Midvale, Brigham City. So my big push is going to hire guys up in the Salt Lake area. To create a Salt lake team, & a Utah county utopia, & Provo Team. Along with that we can also sell directv & dish in the Utah area, so if anyone wants to sign up for those, it would be helpful if you signed up with me. (there's my spill selling to friends, sorry about that). Well, I started as a door salesmen, I was let go as a door salesmen, & I'm hired again as a... door salesmen.

& Thats The Way it Goes... Sometimes...

To do list

Here are things I still need to do in Utah

go to the Blue Lemon restaraunt
see the Waldorf Astoria (stay there??)
go to the Festival of trees
go to that pizza place i can't think of the name of in SLC
go to studio 600
go to a Mountain West ballet
go to zions (i'm iffy on that one)
go snowboarding some more
see manti pageant

Seattle

We drove all 14 hours through boring Idaho for a trip. It took all day. But we loved our hotel.
The next morning we drove into town

Blue blue skies


We enjoyed Seattle in all its colors
We spent our first morning driving all over the city

We had to go to the one-day sale since I was missing it back home

Went to the open marketand the first Starbucks



We drove around the peninsula. It took a whole evening, but it was so beautiful.
Ate fresh fish

We had our competition. We took 5th in Amateur. Hair and makeup took longer than the actual competition, as always
We played pirates


We got rained on at the temple

Found our future house
Found Raimo's old apartment
Found the Grangers, one of Raimo's favorite couples from his mission. They Looove him.
Digby, who was and still is the ward mission leader, told us his favorite story of Raimo. They tracted into a man who was very negative and kept telling them all the things he already knew about the church. I already know this, I already know that. And Raimo just said, "Well how about a tap dance." He still gets a kick out of remembering some of those times. They had the best things to say--that he and his companion were the highest baptizing and the best missionaries.
Stopped by the chapel (it is surrounded by the most gorgeous trees)



Went to Gig Harbor, or the Gigity Gig as Raimo says. It was my favorite city
His apt in Gig Harbor
On the way back I read him the third Hunger Games outloud. It was such a wonderful trip. I'm glad we went--it was great.

My husband is more than cool

Tonight I'm just thinking about people and how they judge each other, and I wanted to write it out to make sense of it. Read on, but be warned that it may be mushy.

There is a girl who doesn't like my husband very much. I think she just hasn't really gotten to know the real him--like she hasn't allowed herself to be close enough to really know his character. Anyone who knows him knows he is really upbeat and positive and also very selfless. While he does like to play the "cool" card, it in no way interferes with his kindness and humility. It got me thinking about how easy it is to make a judgment about someone else, and to then continue thinking badly of them no matter what they do later on. In high school I learned that I had to put myself out there more. I actually felt really shy around people I didn't know very well, but it ended up looking like I was really snooty. I still try to make a real effort to be friendly--I am just not much of a talker and not particularly expressive, so I know I have to let people know that I really do like them!

So I am just thinking about all of this, and I'm guessing that the majority of the time, we just get people wrong. It's interesting to think about--there are so many different personalities out there (maybe some more different than others!) and yet we always expect people to think the same thing as us. How backwards is that?

And on a completely different note, I am thinking just how wrong she is and how wonderful my husband is. Sure, he is a cool cat. And he may seem like he is overly confident and perhaps arrogant at times. If she really knew him, however, she would know that he acts that way kind of as a joke. I mean, sure--he likes to dress "cool" and play "cool," but he is much more than that and is, in fact, a very humble, hardworking, sincere guy and would do anything to help someone else.

I'm thinking about my expectations for other people--I'm sure I have them. And what are they? I expect that they act a certain way, that they will have certain reactions, that they will like one thing and dislike another. Are expectations a good thing? Are they limiting? Or do they help us in some way? It is really interesting.

I think of President Monson's talk in the General Relief Society broadcast. He could not have been more spot-on in his choice of topic. Women especially are so bad about thinking the worst of others and judging when they ought to be understanding. I know I've often pointed out someone's dirty laundry on the line, when in reality it was probably just my window that needed cleaning. Sometimes those little judgments can blow up to major resentments of others. I am hoping I can see people for who they really are, and I am hoping I can be the person that gets up early to clean that dirty window!

rained in.

The weather is rain. Lots of it. There also happens to be a lot of thunder, so Here I am trapped in my apartment. I don't really want to take the scooter out in the rain, especially becuase I don't really have any rain gear. and visibility will be a bit harder.

I had a soup fest a couple of weeks ago and was making homemade soups every couple of days. Well one of them turned out really great! A corn "choup" (chowder and soup) by Rachael Ray. It had bacon and potatoes and was soo delicious. The other soups.... we'll call a learning experience. It was fun to get out the cookbooks for a little while.

I am currently reading Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery. It is such a wonderful book. Here are a couple of favorite passages:

"Can you sing?" asked a thin, freckled girl, who yet contrived to be very pretty in spite of thinness and freckles.
"No," said Emily.
"Can you dance?"
"No."
"Can you sew?"
"No."
"Can you cook?"
"No."
"Can you knit lace?"
"No."
"Can you crochet?"
"No."
"Then what can you do?" said the freckled-one in a contemptuous tone.
"I can write poetry," said Emily, without in the least meaning to say it. But at that instant she knew she could write poetry. And with this queer unreasonable conviction came--the flash! Right there, surrounded by hostility and suspicion, fighting alone for her standing, without backing or advantage, came the wonderful moment when soul seemed to cast aside the bonds of flesh and spring upward to the stars.

Another line I liked very much was "To love is easy and therefore common--but to understand--how rare it is!" This line comes just when she has finally met another human being who is like her father--someone she can really talk with and share her true feelings with. She hadn't had that connection with her starchy aunts or sarcastic great aunt or even with her school playmates. It isn't until she meets a fellow writer that she really connects on that level. I just love that italicized understand. I love those kind of relationships.

P.S. I just talked with Traci for an hour. When we get on the phone together, we just go off. It is so fun for me.

Drip drip drip little april showers

drip.. drip.. drip.. Lil april showers! Alright it isn't april and it hasn't been raining, however everytime our neighbors upstairs do their laundry, (which is everyday) a little shower begins in our family room. This has been going on since july... With no help from the management of the apartment. not only a shower but storm clouds gather on our ceiling. Ok so there aren't any storm clouds, but the ceilings paint bubbles into tiny little rainclouds that bring forth moisture, and drip drip drip. Well it happened again yesterday, ironically the day before, the management came and scraped off the rainclouds and repainted over, they told me they had fixed the pipes, (this is the 2nd time they've told me this.) And once again it is raining. I guess I wouldn't be that bothered by it. but it is raining really close to our electronics, and it did stop our clock the first time. This is the 3rd time its happening. Well anyways I called and left a message, sounding a little annoyed that they still hadn't fixed the problem, within an hour one of the management guys came over, I showed him the lovely video of it raining, and the bowl full of water. He was pretty helpful. hopefully we won't have anymore showers till April.

The Other Day...

I was knocking doors the other day, I had just talked to a few customers and signed them up for more services. I then came upon a customer who wasn't happy with our service. The ironic thing is the fact that I literally came minutes after a competitors internet service provider rep left their home. They hadn't signed up yet to switch the service. The customer has a very large family and the internet had been going out couple times a week, which is annoying when you're doing homework. I listened to them tell me everything that was going wrong for over an hour. & about their life. The other service provider had told them they could get 50mpbs data, they just had with us 10mbps. I told them that we have that package and it will be cheaper too. The cust said that they didn't even know we offer that package. But that wasn't their only concern, they had had a hard time getting a hold of cust service. The other provider called our service line, only to be put on hold for a few minutes and then sent to an answering machine. They called his service and it picked up. I was thinking thats becuase they don't have any cust (which is sorta true by the fact that we cover more than just utah for service). The lady then told me I should work on my talents, and explained how we can gain talents and such. Well I showed them our price for 50meg and phone and tv, they saw that it was cheaper than the other, I also assured them that we would do something about their internet not working, cause there are a few other customers on the street that have our service, and the service is working fine. So it looks like our competition is selling cust service, becuase the cust knows that we actually have better quality service, (their son was a tech guy who see's that we have invested in more quality products. I hope our customer service will fix the issues that this one particular cust is having. We've fixed things like this. Cuase generally I'd say over 75% of the cust I talk to are happy with our service. but it was crazy. Very nice family they shared their life story and how people haven't treated them very nicely, its sad cuase their very nice and really smart. I"m going to follow up and make sure we treat them right as our customer.

My day off

Dear bloggers,
Isn't it fun hearing Raimo's commentary on life from time to time? I don't think I would hear those things from him otherwise. I enjoyed his notes on tetris, especially since the game has been keeping him locked up in the bathroom for even longer than usual lately. I'm glad to know that it helped in the rearranging of our house:It's so much more open now. I love it.

Today is the first day of fall. We've been leaving the windows open at night, and every morning is so crisp and cool in our apartment. And since we live in the shadows, it remains quite cool all day. Today I wore a sweatshirt for the first time (inside the house). I painted my nails an autumn bronze, I cleaned up my house and added a little fall decor, and I sliced up some garden fresh tomatoes and ate them with lots of salt (Raimo brought them home from work--from an old lady he met on the doors.... they were big and plump and so-much-better-than-grocery-store tomatoes). My friend did a soup week in honor of fall, and I'm thinking I need to make some delicious homemade soups because that sounds soo good.

I have the day off work today. It has been nice to sleep a little later, get caught up around the house, do some laundry, and see some daylight.

That is all that's going on. Lately I am loving:

--the sound of plastic hangers clacking against each other or screeching across a metal pole. This means either I am shopping or I am going to hit my sales goal at work.
--having a stack of good sheet music next to me at the piano (every once in a while, I go play at the church across the street)
--living the simple life with Raimo. Sometimes we really wish we had this or that awesome thing, and sometimes I really wish we had fun plans to move or to do something exciting, but then we have nice days like today and I am quite content where I am.

Here are some recent photos
So that's about it!
Love,
Jessica

I Dream In Tetris...

Apparently there's to many people on facebook right now, because I keep getting kicked off, and it won't load. Any how, I found down in my parents basement, my brothers old hand held Gameboy by Nintendo, along with that, I found some of the old games, like double dragon, mario land 2, blades of steel, and now my own personal favorite Tetris. I've gotten pretty good at the russian inspired game. To the point that when I close my eyes at night I see tetris blocks coming down, and I have to arrange them in such a way that they won't make it to the top. The graphics are sweet, 2 dimensional, black & white.
In everyday life, our apartment is like tetris, we have only so much space, and our furniture are the blocks that we have to arrange so that we can live within that space. Also our scheduling is like tetris, sometimes it can be a stretch trying to get Jess & I's schedules to match up and sometimes we plan everything right or we just get the right pieces and we clear a "Tetris" which is the term used when you make 4 lines disappear at the same time. Usually by the end of the semester, all the peices of hectic lives are coming down super fast and you don't have time to think all you can do is react and place at the lowest possible place. that includes homework, rent, bills, work, dating, family, and everything else.

Another Experience: Just a day on the job

So another day has come and gone, the weather was in the mid 80's and it was sunny. The usual thing happened I had to drive and look for the addresses on my list. Which I don't mind with xm radio, my first door, the lady came to the door on the phone and needed me to come back. I knocked a few empty doors, followed up with a lady who said she'd "like to do more research" Which pretty much translates, no. Becuase honestly 99% of those who say that never do any research. This person already is on the same network as us, the only difference with the two providers would be, she would save about $20. Anyways she said she'd contact me once she's done the research. I think the best research would be to just try it, since we don't have contracts, it will save you money. Well I do reccomend that people search things out to see if what we offer will be best for them.
Well enough about that, I was going to follow up with another person on the street and walked by a gentlemen that was standing by a house where there was supposed to be an address that I was suppossed to knock, So I asked him where this particular address is. It turned out he lived there, he had qwest and I could get him about 40mbps more speed for his internet, and save him $34 about. He was a nice guy.
I also followed up with another older lady, she had to buy a new computer, and is going through a lot right now. Her husband is starting to forget how to basic things. I listened to her for some 30 minutes. I think she needed to vent a little bit, and then she gave me some tomatoes from her garden. She's a very nice lady, and asked me to follow up with her in a couple of weeks. I hope everything will work out.
So that was another day on the job.

Great words about great books:

My aunt, Marilyn Faulkner, has just finished her book called Back to the Best Books. It is designed to assist book groups, or any reader really, in reading some 36 different novels that she calls classic. I just read the introduction of the book and loved her definition of "classic" or great novels! Here are a couple of paragraphs:


"When an author combines brilliant artistry with the desire to uplift and edify, the attentive reader achieves a deepened sense of what it is to be human. A great book is designed to change your mind, touch your heart, and lift your spirit. You should emerge from the experience of reading with some new wisdom about the human condition and a deeper perspective about the experiences of your own life. The careful and compassionate observation of the human soul is the gift that a great novel brings us. We cannot live everywhere; we cannot be everyone. But we can read, and by so doing send out a “cord of communion” (to quote Jane Eyre) to another kind of person, and then another, and then another, until we are reinvented by our interconnectedness. Those few authors that have created truly great novels deserve our serious attention; they add to our ability to live creative and thoughtful lives."

"...That is why it is so important that literature paint an accurate, rather than an idealized representation of the human heart. Franz Kafka said, “A book must be an ice-axe to break the seas frozen inside our soul,” and Chaim Potok described the process of writing as “mapping the human heart.” The best books show us our true selves, warts and all, yet somehow inspire us to rise above those weaknesses to something finer. To have this kind of life-changing experience, we must reach beyond the level of simple entertainment. Some great books have happy endings, some do not, but each one teaches us something true about ourselves that may lead to more satisfying resolutions of our real-life dramas."

You can read the introduction to her book in Meridian Magazine here

and her book is available on Amazon here.
And all the proceeds go to charity. Cool, huh?

And don't you love it when a book is your ice-axe that breaks the seas frozen in your soul? What books have done that for you, OR what did you think about my aunt's introduction to her book?

It's no secret...

...I've always wanted one. She is soo cute! And just think of all the fun hair possibilities!
I heart babieeesssss.

Bad Hair day?

Yesterday was Jessica's first day of work. To make sure she was on time, I forgot to comb my hair. from that, i took off for work. another day to knock doors. The first two doors no one answers, even though I can hear people inside, it was relatively early (10a.m.) for a saturday. I walk past a cult de sac that I had knocked in febuary and thought to myself, boy it sure would be nice to know all the houses that have service, I could have knocked just one area quite easily. I walk up to the house. two little kids answer the door, good morning, could I speak with your mom or dad. The dad comes to the door. We talk a bit. I almost ask him if he needs time to think it over with his wife, but they say they'd rather switch over to the service. And they invite me in.
It is at this point I realize that my hair wasn't combed, and let me just say, it was going in all directions, so from that point on I make a joke about not using a comb. it worked out good, the family signed up with a triple play, which means tv phone & internet. I was totally going to let them think about it, but they invited me in and made me a sale. Love it when that happens, but realized that I do need to close sales more.

Another Day On The Job

We all have funny experiences, It just so happens that the mundane of door knocking can be taken away after each door. Jess had the car today since it was her first day of work! I decided to take Axle (my trusted made in China Scooter). It was getting dark, I put $.70 cents into her to fill her up for the month, and off I went. The weather is getting colder, so I put on one of my jackets to keep the cool out. My first door consisted of a family that I had talked to previously, they had asked for some information that I didn't have on me at the time, and I was returning to give them that info. Well they didn't answer the door, so I decided to leave a note with my last large sticky note, Naturally as I turned to leave the gentleman answers the door. We had a brief enthusiastic discussion on what the next step towards getting the service, and then he mentions that he didn't answer the door cause he had just stepped into the bathroom. It happens to the best of us.
Actually that wasn't the funny thing that happened on the way back home with Axle, I noticed out of the corner of my eye, some thing flying, it turned out that I hadn't taken off the sales tag from my jacket. I laughed, I had a lot of people drive by laughing. The other annoying thing I noticed is: you run into a lot of bugs when riding a scooter. I'm serious when the sun has gone down but its not fully dark yet, the bugs fly straight for your headlight and somehow end up hitting you neck, chest, arms, face, it was... an interesting feeling. One day I'll put pictures on with my writing but until then, you'll have to bare with my boring stories.
Do you ever notice that right when you decide to do something, the phone or doorbell rings?

"In Ohio seasons are theatrical."

~from Toni Morrison's Beloved

That's a good way to describe it. Seasons sure aren't very theatrical in California, but here in Utah we see a little more of nature's theatrics.


"Each one enters like a prima donna, convinced its performance is the reason the world has people in it.... summer had been hooted offstage and autumn with its bottles of blood and gold had everybody's attention."




Autumn is definitely SO bold and dramatic. In fact, on the first day of school, it was already overcast and slightly cooler, even though it was still August! I'm a little sad because I don't feel like we had a real summer--we skipped over beach days and a lot of other summer activities. But it's hard to be sad when it's a perfect 70 degrees outside. It's time to trade in the swimsuit for jeans and sweaters...

p.s. My new job at Macy's is going to be really great, I think. I am getting trained right now.

New trick

Lately I feel like everyone is letting me down. Well not everyone, but we've had quite a few things happen lately that are just not so fair and not very nice. My sister-in-law, who seems to get along with pretty much everyone, once told me her secret: "I just don't care." When people let her down or are super mean, she just says, "Oh well" and moves on with or without them. I have given that a try, but I am having a hard time with it because I DO care! I care about justice!! But I think it is kind of a helpful thing because it helps you not be consumed with anger or disappointment, and I can know that as long as I am doing my part and being the best I can for my family, friends, and associates, I can feel happy still even when let down. It doesn't always work right away though. And I have a really hard time forgetting...

I feel like things are not fair this week. Not everyone in our family is being fair and Raimo's boss is unfair and one of our friends is very unfair. I've been crying, but the good thing is that once I move past it... I won't care.

But probably not until I finish one of these rolls

Thanks for listening :) Phew

Ok so last time I shared with you one of my more recent days at work. I'd like to share with you this time one of my first days out knocking ever! (this excert will most likely be put into the experiences chapter of my book.
It was mid March at the time I was assigned a couple blocks, I could knock every in the highlighted map, and so with that I had a system of two highlighters green if they didn't answer, & pink if I talked to them. With this in mind I rode with my co-worker/friend. His area was right next to mine, my first person I talked to had recently bought a snow cat. If you don't know what that is, thats ok, for the most part it looks like a car, with huge tredds under it so it can climb up any mountain covered in snow. It was sweet looking, naturally the guy already had the services we were offering so no sale on that. I met an accountant who wanted me to come back after april when tax season was over, he didn't have any time to talk, met some other people and then ran into a current customer of ours who didn't have the television service we were offering at the time. He was really nice and liked the idea of bundling the service I explained the packages he could have and the pricing, I set it up with the middle package so that if he wanted a little more that was an option or if the price was too high we had other options below. He asked if I could come back later in the evening and show all this to his wife. so I knocked some more. Talked with a guy who was preparing for armageddon, buying all these supplies and food, and gear. I went back later the family was eating dinner at that time. "have you eaten dinner?" they asked me. I hadn't, so they invited me in. We ate meatloaf, and got to know the family. The family had 3 kids, who liked the idea of getting television in the home. the wife wasn't feeling it as much but felt that if the kids did their chores and homework for a week they'd add the service. (naturally that didn't come to fruition so I lost a sale). I was determined to not go home without a sale for the night, I had been knocking for a couple hours already and didn't want to quit yet. I decided to keep going, the last house on the street I meet a gentleman who has dish, and is tired of the price of it. I share with him our promotions and actual price he likes it, and invites me in, we fill out some paper work, and poof a sale.
What happened back there, that sale didn't come because of my amazing selling abilities. Nope, nor did it come because of my good looks and charm. It came because of persistence & the desire to keep going. that was the key. I wasn't very good right off the bat. It took me about 3 weeks of consistant and constant focus, & going out everyday and knocking doors sharpening my approaches and getting used to talking with people.

Goodbye

I'm going to miss my friends:







I am now employed at Macy's.