Yup, Bored Again

So, Robert just got a new battery for his laptop. That means that I'm free to use the desktop when he studies in the evenings. This is both good and bad news. Because Robert's in the living area, I don't want to work out there (i.e. do the dishes). I have issues with people watching me work--unless their working with me--unless their telling me what to do. Anyway, before I stoop to the level of searching random videos on YouTube all night (a recent past time of mine), I thought I might right another post.

What I'm thinking right now:
I want Brick Oven Pizza AND Root Beer. . . Right Now.


I can't believe I spelt "write" wrong just now.
Is spelt a word?
I took an English Linguistic class from Dallin H. Oaks's son.
Sometime I should right (I mean write) a brag post about all of the neat things I've done (so people could realize how cool I am, of course. . . bwah hah ha hah).
I think I've had too much sugar.
I wonder if there's any rootbeer downstairs.
Is rootbeer one word or two?
I totally saw something move out of the corner of my eye.
I am NOT going downstairs!
Darn it. I didn't switch the laundry.
I won't have clean pants for my dr appt tomorrow.
Shoot. I wish I could find where I wrote down what time my appt is.
I used to use google calendar a lot. I wish I still did.
I wonder if Robert needs a study break.
"RahhooooOOOooobert, would you mind putting the darks in the dryer for me and bringing up the lights?"
I'm so glad he didn't complain--he just said, "Sure."
I'n't he great.
There's no way I'm asking HIM if there's any rootbeer down there. :oP
He gets upset when I eat bad food.
Woe is me.
That was probably too personal to put on a blog, oh well.
I've been trying to find this cartoon forever. . . it's about a bald eagle that is so bald that when he flies, the sun reflects off his head and his bird friends all fall to the ground because they are blinded. Then there's this buffalo that has such a long beard that he can't walk around because he trips over it. They both sing this song "Woe, woe, woe is me. Things for me are as bad as can beEe." I'm sure you can guess the end of the story--the buffalo shaves his head to give the eagle a beard, and they both realize things could always be worse.

And with that, I'm going to go search random videos on YouTube all night.

P.S. If you actually read all of that--you amaze me.
P.P.S. (as in post post script--it drives me nuts when people right [uhhh. . . write] P.S.S.) If you actually read all of that, you are probably just as bored as I am. We should hang out.

"R" Movies

are bad. I know. I made a commitment to stop watching them when I was like 16 or something, and now I can't believe I ever began watching them. They aren't worth it. Period. Most PG-13 movies aren't worth it either, and I (except once last year, and it was awful) never watch those without studying them out beforehand.

However. . . I'm a little hypocritical. Today I heard a song that reminded me of one of my all-time favorite heartwarming scenes (from an "R" movie). Soooo. . . I sought out the clip on YouTube. I've learned 2 things. Some things are better in your memories than they actually were in the beginning, and I have the hugest teenage-type crush on Hugh Grant (which is awful, because he doesn't have the cleanest background, oh well).

Anyways, it used to make me cry, but not so much right now. I do think of this clip often. It's one of those things you see that help shape you into the person you are, or at least the one you want to be. . . I want to be the man on stage, with his eyes closed, feeling a song that used to make him spout snide remarks, for a purpose he didn't know he had.

Movie: About a Boy
Background (Spoiler alert--but we all know you shouldn't be watching "R" movies anyway, so it's okay, right :D): The boy's mom is depressed. She has recently tried to commit suicide. Her favorite song is the song he's about to sing. He was going to sing it for the school talent show with a bunch of his friends playing instruments, but they decided it was too nerdy, and they chickened out. (The boy already is bullied at school). The man, Hugh Grant, has been a rich, selfish bachelor, who has never cared about others, but has sort of been chosen by this boy to be his mentor. He has previously made fun of the boy and his mom for singing this song at home and being so moved by the lyrics that they would close their eyes as they sang). Okay, I think you're up to speed. . .

Click here for the YouTube clip that I couldn't figure out how to put on here :D

Sunday Study

I have always believed that any religion is better than no religion (save Satan worshipping, which is just creepy and does NOT lead to any type of happiness--I know from secondhand experience). I was reading an article about a study that showed apx. 70-80% of Mormons who have left the church become aetheist. This was one of their reasons:

" They feel the evidence supporting the reliability of the Bible/Christianity is no stronger than the evidence for the Book of Mormon/Mormonism. This is encouraged by the LDS church’s deconstruction of all other Christian faiths. It’s a restoration church so it has to show why mainstream Christianity is false and why the Bible is unreliable by itself. To supports it’s own mission, the LDS church has latched onto the best the anti-Christian community has to offer and used it to bolster its own claims. When ex-Mormons leave the LDS church, they don’t need to learn why mainstream Christianity is false, they’ve been taught that their whole lives."

(No, I do not remember who wrote it--yes, I'm awful at this editor stuff. But, you can find the whole thing on MormonTimes.com)

I thought that was interesting. I don't see Mormonism that way personally, but I do see it around me. My favorite thing in the world is Medieval studies. Ooohhhh. . . don't get me started. Just looking at an illuminated text, well, there's really not much out there more beautiful. Thing is. . . pretty much everything Medieval has Catholic undertones. I wish I could take a class in Catholicism. That, dear friends, is a FASCINATING religion. The symbolism. . . I can't find the words. . . (Okay, so I'd pretty much die if I felt I had to be celibate to be religious--never have children!--but maybe I could be like Margery Kempe--although I'd much prefer to preach the doctrines of Julian of Norwich--I really dislike Margery, and I would feel silly all in white outside of the temple--but I digress).

Anyway, I don't completely agree with that statement (Apostles of the Lord definitely do not "deconstruct" other Christian faiths--other LDS members. . . yes. In fact, I have heard the Apostles give praise to other religions and ask us to follow others' good examples), but I do hope that I can always teach my children to respect the truth in other religions. Every religion (although I do believe The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only church given God's authority to perform saving ordinances) is inspired in one way or another by God. What I don't think is inspired of God is sitting on the fence, partially believing, but not acting on your religion. If you believe in something, you should put all of your heart and soul into following it.

I have seen so many of my high school friends fall away from their beliefs. They end up in really bad places. I just hope that my kids can always believe in something, put their whole heart into believing it, and follow through with their actions. I don't always show them the greatest example. Obviously, I hope they stay in the LDS church. It is more true than any other church. There are still some false dogmatic things that have snuck in, but that's why we have a prophet. He'll set us straight. I'll stop rambling now.

Thankful ABC's

So... Julie had this really cute thankful post, and I wanted to copy her.

I'm thankful for:

April 8, 2006
Babies
Cameras
Dogs
Eating
Feb 8, 2008
Girls
Hospitals
Independent Study
June 10, 2008
Krisp Rice treats (okay, okay, I know it's a stretch)
Little boys
Maternity clothes (that look like real clothes, so I can wear them from one pregancy to the next)
Napkins
Oreos
Prescription drugs (and the wonderful people that prescribe them:D)
Quilting websites that inspire me
ROBERT ALLEN JOHNSON
Savior
Tummies
Uni-gender clothing (because the kids go through them so fast!)
Valuables (no matter how unneccesary--so long as they make life comfortable without costing too much ;)
Wedding
XOXO's
Yakkety yakking
Zest for life (wish I ALWAYS felt it)

The rules are obvious: I'm going to be daring and actually tag a few people that I am grateful for--Machel, Becky, and Kira

Curious... Am I the only one?

First of all--I plan on supporting the leaders of our country as much as possible, and I do not mean to disrespect any of them. . . don't read this as mean or petty. . . just interesting marketing :D.

So, until after President-elect Obama earned his official title from the majority of the country, I didn't really consider his race (as in the color of his skin, not his campaign) to be a big deal. He didn't even seem (*ahem) "black" to me. Totally cool that our nation has come so far. It would be even awesomer if we didn't have to keep track of what race, gender, religion did things first. Ex. Are we going to be excited when we elect the first redhead with green eyes and an amputated leg? (Hope that doesn't sound offensive. . . I just hope one day we won't need to be excited about the color of someone's skin--I know I am very excited about the skin color of our President-elect right now, and that also makes me kind of sad).

I seriously wasn't excited until he was elected. Like I said, before I hardly noticed he was black.
So. . . I started noticing something about his campaign today. . . maybe THAT'S why I didn't realize it. . . lol

I think the one that says "change" looks a little bit like Robert

(guess I'm attratcted to powerful looking men :D).

Mine, Me, Myself, and I

So a few weeks ago in church, this amazing sister (Julia Reynolds) made a really good point--and I've been thinking about it ever since. I forget what the question was (Paul Dickenson asks some good ones), but she answered by saying that a lot of advertising is all about how having the product will give you power over other people. . . like by making your friends jealous, your kids happy, the opposite sex not be able to resist you. . . that sort of thing. Why do I have to be so power hungry? I would totally buy laundry detergent that makes people flock toward me so they could sniff my clothing--hey, I'd settle for one that made my husband do that.
I wish I were a more charitable person. I get so greedy--wanting the perfect house, the perfect image, the perfect kids, the perfect husband ("perfect" meaning having all these things utterly under my control). And why do I want these things? To influence people to like me? Probably. To get my way? Quite likely. To be happy? You bet. It just doesn't work that way.
Well, I was thinking about this when I went down with my friend, Danielle Bruening, to see Sister Julie B. Beck in Pittsburg. As the opening song started, I wrote down some questions I wanted answered (as is my habit). When Sister Beck opened up the meeting for questions I think my jaw just about hit my knees! I couldn't ask her any of my questions--they were all so shallow. I can sum them up for you here--"How can I make myself and everyone around me be perfect?" ("perfect" of course, meaning they would conform exactly to my standards). I've actually been super stressed about it. I want to be perfect and help my family be perfect, and not necessarily in some evilly concocted way. Even though I didn't ask her my question--she answered it directly. I took down this quote. "We don't get the dream here; we get the experience." This world wasn't meant to be like the Celestial Kingdom. I get it now--at least more than I did before. I love that quote. . . maybe I can put it on a super-cute plaque in my living room, and when I invite company over, they can say. . . awww, what a nice thought--Ali Mae is super cool. . . and then, they will be in my power! Mwah-ha ha ha! (Of course that means actually having enough control over my life that I'd have enough time to make such a thing; so I'm pretty sure that plaque will never happen).

Are we limiting ourselves, or just honing in?

BYU--"The world is our campus"
LECOM--"The community is our campus"

Just thought I'd ask. Rather, Robert asked, and I thought I'd post it. (He accused me of plagiarism! So, I thought I better mention that.)

BTW, I may practically be an editor, but I'm too lazy to see how to actually spell the word "honing" for my blog, or how to make a real em dash on here. All other posts are also not edited :).