OCTOBER

I like the month of October.

School's begun, and every one's back to their usual work schedule and commute.

There aren't any major holidays you need to prepare for until Halloween at the very tail end.

And Halloween is one of those "optional" holidays - the younger your children, the more you get involved in it, with decorations and costumes and special trick-or-treats; the older you are, you just hand out candy.

I have it lucky there.

I live way out in the country, where even if there were loads of children, we have no streetlights and generally no outside lights on our homes, in order to preserve the incredible night sky we have.

And it is DARK.

So I don't have to decorate or prepare in any such way.

October is also when it (finally) begins to cool off around here - at least at night.






The leaves on the trees in the mountains begin to change, and the green slowly becomes those beautiful reds and oranges.

Yeah, I think I can take on October this year just fine.

LOVE THY NEIGHBOR

This photograph on the right was posted on Pinterest today; I have a similar one as a sticker on my truck.

(In case you can't read it, it says "Love Thy Neighbor - Thy Homeless Neighbor, Thy Muslim Neighbor, Thy Black Neighbor, Thy Gay Neighbor, Thy White Neighbor, Thy Jewish Neighbor, The Christian Neighbor, Thy Atheist Neighbor, Thy Racist Neighbor, Thy Addicted Neighbor.")

  And my eye was caught by a comment made about it, by a woman who maintained "that it isn't right to love RACISTS - they are bad people!"

Hold it right there, people.

Do you see the problem here?

The commandment is NOT "love people who are capable of love only" - NOT "be loving to those who can return that love in a socially acceptable way" -  NOT "love everyone except those that you don't feel deserve your love."

Because isn't that called judging? And haven't we been commanded to not do that?

Can you imagine how it must feel to be a racist? To hate/distrust/despise people based on skin color/ethic background?

It must get awfully lonely.  Or you surround yourself by other lonely racists.

I admit the quandary here.

How to love someone who hates.

But you can't fight fire with fire - you can only conquer with love.

WHY, YES, I DO HAVE TWO PIANOS

I like pianos.

I grew up in houses that almost always had at least two pianos - sometimes quite a few more.

My dad was a music teacher for most of my formative years, and usually there was a room modified into a studio where he had private students come.

And the majority of those students were piano players.

There was usually a grand piano in our living room, and sometimes an upright also. One of my favorite childhood memories was waking up in the middle of the night and listening to my dad play.

And as an adult, I've picked up old cheap pianos that I'll clean up and tune, and then sell for a profit.

My kids can tell you stories about playing underneath a full-size grand piano we had in Hawaii for about a year.

Fast forward to the present day.

I have an old upright that I bang away on occasionally (going back through a self-instruction book) and have as a tuning practice instrument.

A friend was moving suddenly to Phoenix, and had to get rid of a beat-up piano she had paid literally a few bucks at a yard sale. I offered to purchase it, and when I couldn't arrange for it to be moved before they left, just told her to leave it and forget about it.

Today, it finally got moved to my house (with the help of three pairs of missionaries and a one little tiny Datsun pick-up).

And I am wondering what the heck I am going to do with it.

CRAIGSLIST

I don't remember who first introduced me to Craigslist, but I remember how excited I was to discover a FREE way to list and advertise, well, everything.

And I loved the fact that it has hardly changed since it's inception back in 1995. The format, the open communication - it has remained community based - and the fact that's it is FREE.

Like anything else in the human world, it has been used by evil, as many other internet connections - there have been Craiglist Killers, people who used the service to hook up with victims. There's a lot of porn that just pops up suddenly.

But today I am using it to find another animal to join my little menagerie.

I'll keep you posted.

TEACHING METHODS FOR FIVE YEAR OLDS

When you are regularly teaching a class, at least in our church, you end up gaining, either through study or sheer experience, some techniques about getting to that particular age group.

From many years of research, I maintain that cookies work for all ages.

But I was called in suddenly to teach a class of five year olds this past Sunday, and handed the printed lesson, multiple strips of colored construction paper, and a bag of Starbursts.

Without the Starbursts, it might have been nothing but an hour of chaos.

But with the Starbursts -- suddenly, in able to 'earn' a treat, I have six little model students.

IS THERE A POLITICALLY CORRECT WAY TO KILL A MOUSE?

Supposedly, according to one study with cats, a cat will bring you only every fourth or fifth mouse kill - so if s/he brings you one a day, s/he is killing a lot more.





My cat is obviously doing a whole lot of killing.





But her favorite trick is to bring me a not-even-slightly-injured mouse - bring it to me proudly and joyfully, clearly with the intent for me to be able to play with it and kill it just a little bit more.






My Facebook friends suggested to bread it in egg batter and saute over a low flame; serve with a side of whole milk.

Everyone else agree?

WE'RE ALL ALONE TOGETHER

I guess we've all experienced changes in our priorities throughout life.

When we were young, everything was traumatic and would result in the end of the world. The absolutely ESSENTIAL things were like the right kind of clothes (in the correct stage of either neatness or disrepair) and listening to the right music (usually anything our parents strongly objected to). 

Looking back through the 20/20 hindsight of maturity (in years, not in actual wisdom), we now smile at the small, insignificant things the younger us would have DIED about, such as if that cute boy in English did NOT ask us out.

And suddenly what the music was saying isn't that important - the people that we had serious crushes on are the ones we smile sadly at during reunions and think "Thank God I missed that one!" - and we laugh out loud at photo's of 60's/70's/80's/90's hair styles.

Where was I going with this one? Oh, yes, changes in our priorities.

I grew up with a professional musician, and a lot of music in my life. It was important to me.  And I couldn't imagine it ever being something I might try to avoid.

Now?

I have an older brother who constantly criticizes my taste/knowledge in music (or rather lack of both, from his point of view), and I've gotten to the point where I simply avoid the subject with him. I have a tone-deaf husband who listens to country music stations.

And tonight I deliberately did NOT attend a outdoors blue/jazz concert, that I helped organize, that was held literally three houses away from me.

I've changed. And in some ways, I don't like the way I've changed. I need to actually decide if I want to get some of these things back into my life.

ROCKY XIV

I don't like shopping at WalMart, but it's the cheapest place in town for groceries, so I go.

Our WalMart is fairly new and large, so the feeling of grayness must come from some atmospheric condition or the lighting - it just doesn't look clean or fresh or sharp, like Target does.

There always seems to be about six screaming toddlers in carts - two of them with the parents' yelling being louder than the kids.

There are way too many young grandmothers pushing around the babies while the teenage moms pick out food items.

There are adorable senior citizens walking along hand-in-hand, comparing prices to fit in with their Social Security income.

And a whole bunch of them are middle-aged shoppers racing in to get the items necessary to get dinner made in twenty minutes.

So where did I fit in with this crowd, at least today?

Today, I was the older woman with tissues stuffed up her nose, with enough blood stains to rival the Rocky movies.

I got a bloody nose on the drive into town, and simply could not shake it - not with tissues, not with pinching the bridge of my nose.... it would stop for a few minutes, then begin right up again.

From the original Rocky movie:

Mickey: Your nose is broken.

Rocky: How does it look?

Mickey: Ah, it's an improvement 

REMARKABLE DISCOVERIES IN THE PANTRY

Some places in my home get cleaned only rarely.

Okay, well, there are quite a few spots in my home which do not get cleaned regularly.

It might also clarify things if you realize how low my cleaning standards are.

But after an ENTIRE package of spaghetti noodles was spilled over all the contents of my pantry, I vowed to take everything OUT of my pantry, clean the floor and sort the contents.

I was pleasantly surprised by a few things I found - a jar of chocolate topping that I'd forgotten about - two jars of strawberry jam - and FOUR cans of chow mien noodles.

I was appalled at Hamburger Helper boxes from the turn of the century (I am not kidding, folks), and a half-filled box of lasagna noodles.

And with the majority of the stuff, I simply stuffed it back in and shut the door on it all until the next time something sloppy gets spilled.

CHOICE ROOMMATES

I've had my fair share of odd roommates.

My first roommate in college woke up each and every morning SMILING - it was horrible.

I had a roomie who planted marijuana in my terrarium without my knowledge (or permission).

But after seeing my brother's latest two roommates, I have nothing to complain about.

He is still in a nursing home recovering from and adjusting to his leg amputation.

And I haven't been all that sympathetic to his complaining about his roommate's serious coughing - I mean, the man's trying to breath, right? And it isn't that bad of a cough... well, at least when you don't have to listen to it 24/7.

So today I visited him for the first time in his new room, and was greeted cheerfully (which hasn't been the norm) by a fully dressed (even to his shoe) adult male.

I didn't realize that sleep deprivation had been effecting his personality so much.

And hopefully this will continue.  Because his roommate is borderline comatose.

YES WE HAVE NO BANANAS

I am very sympathetic towards fast-food employees.

I've worked at McDonald's, Wendy's, a local burger joint, and ran a pizza stand.

It's incredibly DIFFICULT to decipher mumbled orders, get the cooks to make the order correct, handle the cash and order while the next people in line are already mad at you for taking so long.

You're not generally working with high quality supplies - and the clock is ticking the instant the customer steps up to the counter or the car pulls up to the speaker.

And these are people who generally have a couple of hours training, have passed a food handler test, and are being paid minimum wage at best.

Maybe that's why I am perhaps overly considerate of giving fast food orders - I make certain I know in advance what I want, and exactly how I want it prepared. I speak slowly and enunciate clearly - my orders are NOT misunderstood.

So today when I paid for a sandwich, and did NOT get the sandwich I ordered, I was sorely tempted to go back and throw it in their faces.

But I didn't - it was edible - I wasn't ridiculously overcharged - and it wasn't all that important.

I ate it - and actually enjoyed it.

ULTERIOR MOTIVES PART TWO

The scripture I was looking for last night is in Moroni Chapter 7:

6 For behold, God hath said a man being evil cannot do that which is good; for if he offereth a gift, or prayeth unto God, except he shall do it with real intent it profiteth him nothing.

7 For behold, it is not counted unto him for righteousness.

8 For behold, if a man being evil giveth a gift, he doeth it grudgingly; wherefore it is counted unto him the same as if he had retained the gift; wherefore he is counted evil before God.

9 And likewise also is it counted evil unto a man, if he shall pray and not with real intent of heart; yea, and it profiteth him nothing, for God receiveth none such.

10 Wherefore, a man being evil cannot do that which is good; neither will he give a good gift.

Which seems to be the point of the lesson Sunday - that doing something right for the wrong reasons counts even more than not doing it.

Elder Dallin H. Oaks taught “We must not only do what is right. We must act for the right reasons. The modern term is good motive. The scriptures often signify this appropriate mental attitude with the words full purpose of heart or real intent.

“The scriptures make clear that God understands our motives and will judge our actions accordingly. If we do not act for the right reasons, our acts will not be counted for righteousness.”

Somehow finding this scripture makes me feel a little bit less sneaky. "God understands our motives" - he knows our real intent, but he also understands how incredibly weak and wimpy creatures we are also.

I feel better about doing some things perhaps not for the best reason, but doing them in the hope that I will eventually begin doing it for the right reason.