Kitty Drama

Where are you Kitty?

I guess I can say that we have had a few kitty eventful days.  Is that a proper term?  Well if not I am making it one for this post.  We now have three kittens in the house and the girls are overjoyed.  I can attest though that Steven and I are not thrilled about it.

The kitty drama began in earnest several mornings ago with very loud and desperate meowing.  This meowing was coming from directly below our feet, so I knew it was in our crawl space and the only way I knew how to get to it was from outside.  

So out into the bitter cold (which had been in the negatives the last several days), I did venture.  I could see several tracks leading to and from the hole into our crawl space on the side of our house, but I couldn't see any way to get that kitten to come out to me. At a loss of what to do I went into the house and sat.

Rescuing Oreo.

Throughout the day the meowing became louder.  I realized that the meowing was louder towards the garage.  You know where this is leading right?  I got back on my boots and coat and gloves and hat, I grabbed a flash light and headed into the garage.  I stopped and listened.  It was coming from inside the basement which you get to through the garage.  (Now this basement is not like other basements and if you have ever lived in a home that is close to or over 100 years old you know what I am talking about.  It is a bricked dungeon where a fiery furnace and water heater reside.)  I flipped the light in the basement on and the kitten stopped meowing instantly.   

Usually when I go into the basement it is to check the water heater or flip some switches in the fuse box, so I rarely go over to the far side.  On the other side I found that there was another large opening to the crawl space.  I never noticed it before because it had always been covered with a large board that was now laying on the floor. 

There was a large brick close by so I slid it over and positioned it below the crawl space opening, climbed up and peeked in.  It was dark in there even with my flash light shining in.  At this point I was starting to wonder if maybe there were any wild animals that made meowing sounds too, like maybe baby raccoons.  I was expecting one to launch itself at me any moment.  

Well I bravely stood there for several minutes and low and behold the loud meowing resumed.  It wasn't coming from in the crawl space, but from behind me.  I looked behind me and saw nothing.  There are several old boxes laying around in that basement that have probably been there for a century and one had a dead mouse laying on top of it, so you can see that I was not excited about looking through those.  Well I bravely did and low and behold there was a kitten.  

Of course as tenderhearted as I am, I wasn't going to leave it there, I brought it into the house where the two girls that were still awake pounced.  They had it named before I even finished washing my hands.  So we now have a kitten named Oreo.

This was taken minutes after bringing her in.

Rescue of Little Kitty.

Well the Kitten Drama was not over yet.  More meowing.  I thought no problem.  I'll just go move some more boxes.  Nope.  This one was in the crawl space.  So after crawling through the crawl space twice that night with one of my girls, and 3 times the next morning with the same daughter and a few friends, we have a second kitten. 

And no, I don't care how attached the girls get to it.  They are not naming it.  So for now she is known as Little Kitty.

My Morning Lemon Water.

Drinking lemon water has been my morning ritual for almost 3 years now.  Because of the wonderful benefits I receive from drinking my lemon water, that ritual will never change as long as there are lemons still on this earth.   I was introduced to lemon water 3 years ago while both my sister-n-law and I were visiting my parents for the summer.  So both my mom and I tried it.  It was sour, but not bad.  It wasn’t until later that I started seeing a difference in how I felt.  The biggest benefit in my eyes is that when everyone else seems to be getting whatever bug was going around, I seem to be immune to it.  I haven’t had a serious cold in what seems forever.  What is also great is I have lost over 30 pounds since I’ve started drinking lemon water.  Plus my daily heartburn has all but disappeared, although I still get heartburn when I make chocolate chip cookies because I can’t stop eating them. 

How much of a lemon you should use depends on how much you weigh.   If you weigh less than 150 lbs use only half a lemon, but if you weigh over 150 lbs you need to use a whole lemon.   If you are under that 150 lbs but want to use a whole lemon, that is completely fine.  I use a whole lemon just because I like the taste of it. 

Here is how I prepare my lemon water every morning.  First I put my kettle on the stove with some fresh water and heat it up.  I then get a fresh lemon out of the fridge and wash it.  Recently I have started warming up my lemon before cutting it by putting it in the microwave for about 30 seconds.  I have found out you get a lot more juice from your lemon this way.  Once it is warmed I roll it on the counter kind of like you would when making a snake out of play dough.  This just loosens those juices even more.  I then cut my lemon over my citrus press because I found since I’ve started heating it that those juices really do flow and I didn’t want to waste any of it by it getting it on the counter rather than in my cup where it belongs.  I actually bought a cheap citrus press for about $3 which comes with a jar that the press just screws onto.  I really like this because sometimes I’ll squeeze a few lemons at a time and I am able to save half of it for the next morning.  This works great also when you only need to use half of a lemon.  I pour half of the juice from the press jar into my mug and leave the rest in the jar and just cover it with saran wrap and put it in the fridge.  I then poor my heated water into the mug.  You want to use warm water, not really hot or really cold.  Most of the time my water gets pretty hot, so I just let it cool before I drink it.  I then take my mug and enjoy my nice cup of warm lemon water.

I want to share with you all the wonderful benefits of lemon water but my medical knowledge is not great, and I have no clue how to re-word things to make it any easier to understand, so I have made a simple list of the great benefits without all the big explanations.  You can go to several sites that can list in more detail the benefits. 

I challenge you to start this habit of drinking lemon water.  I promise, you won’t be sorry.  After discovering the benefits for yourself, you will never want to go without it again.  I would love to hear how this works for you, or if you too have already discovered the wonderfulness of it.  Let me know.

Recognizing the Spirit

The Holy Ghost is a blessing to all of us and we can feel promptings from him so that we may be a tool in our Heavenly Fathers plan.  I know this and have a deep testimony of this, we talk about it often in Relief Society at church.  Just in this past Women’s conference we had such a beautiful example given to us by President Henry B. Eyring.  He spoke of a sister who felt a prompting to simply check up on another sister who happened to be President Eyring’s daughter.  Because that sister chose to listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost many lives were blessed.  Click  Here for the link for that talk. 

I have a strong testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ and in his teachings.  I know that I have been given the gift of the Holy Ghost. I have felt his comfort and guidance often throughout my life.  But I have never felt a prompting for me to go see someone or to call someone.  I have wanted to be a tool in my Fathers hand and to be able to be of service to others, but I just figured that maybe I didn’t know how to recognize actual promptings.  

I was given a powerful witness this week in promptings.  While driving into Vienna, West Virginia to run some errands I had an overpowering feeling to call my Sister-in-law.  My brother who is her husband works out of town as well as my husband does so we are left alone with our kids for long periods of time.  My sister-in-law just had a baby about 7 weeks ago and also has 2 girls ages 8 and 3. When I first felt the prompting I shook it off thinking that it was one of my silly thoughts, not a prompting.  But again I had an overpowering feeling to call her.  I didn’t hear an actual voice, but just a clear thought to call her and not only to call her but to go over there if there was no answer.  Well, being in West Virginia I couldn’t call her until I had stopped, so I called once I got to the bank that I was headed to.  Her 8 year old daughter answered who should have been in school.  I asked Kiya, my niece, why she wasn’t in school.  She said that mommy was sick.  So I told her that I was coming over to help.  My poor sister-in-law gets pretty bad migraines and the one she was having was making it very hard for her to take care of her kids.  I was able to take Kiya to school and the other 2 over to my home for the day so that my sister-in-law was able to get some rest.  

Not only was I able to bless their lives by listening to the promptings of the Holy Ghost, but I received a powerful testimony of the Holy Ghost and how we can be of service to others.  I am so grateful for those that listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost.  I know that we are often who our Heavenly Father uses to answer others prayers. 

Talents

I used to believe that I didn’t have any meaningful talents.  My drawings are pathetic, (ask anyone who has played Pictionary with me.)  I am not a good singer or piano player and I have no rhythm for dancing.   

Since that time I have learned that talents come in many different forms and that I am very talented.  In my old ward (in our church we are divided into what is called wards which is determined by where you live) we held an annual talent show.  The first year I did not bring anything to show my talents.  The next year I made a tasty treat to share as my talent.  

We are new to Vincent, Ohio which is in the Marietta Ward.  About a month after we moved here our ward held their annual Ward Talent Show.  I brought some of my hair bows that I have made and also the 2 pillow case dresses I had made this summer.  I am not a good sewer but I am very proud of my pillow case dresses.  I also had learned how to make my first hair bow by a friend and sister in my old ward.  I became addicted to making hair bows and started to explore all the different types I could make.  Needless to say my girls have no shortage of hair bows. 

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, in the “Happiness, Your Heritage,” Nov. 2008 general conference said;

“Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty. …”

I love to take unorganized matter as you would call it and make it into something beautiful whether it is tasty treats or beautiful hair bows.  I am also molding my daughters into the mothers, wives and women of God that they have the potential to be. 

I have learned that talents are not just what we can do with our hands, but spiritual talents and mental talents as well.  As a mother I am continually praying for patience and understanding.  These are talents that I am developing to become a better mother to my precious daughters and a better wife to my eternal companion.  Although I have my hobbies that I really enjoy, I know that the most important talents I can develop is what will mold me into what my Father in Heaven would have me be, and I feel at this time my calling is to be a wife and a mother. 

I am so grateful for talents.  I know that we all have them and they are all extraordinary.  What talents do you have and how did you discover those talents?  Did you come by that talent naturally or did you work hard at developing that talent?  The Lord has blessed us with talents and we are expected to use them for the better of others.  Like in the parable of the talents we can either put to work what we have been given or we will lose it. 

Counting my Blessings

This past weekend I have had so many wonderful things happen in my family.  My oldest daughter made the choice to receive her patriarchal blessing on Saturday and my 8 year old daughter chose to be baptized on Sunday.  Not only were 2 of my children making such wonderful choices, but my niece Kiya made the choice to be baptized as well, so it was a double baptism as well as a baby blessing for my nephew Noah.  My heart was full of joy and gratitude for my many blessings.  Unfortunately, what should have been a peaceful and happy evening for me didn’t turn out that way.  Negativity seemed to find me every direction I turned.  Not only from some of those around me, but from other sources that I invited into my home although unintentionally.  One of the main sources of that negativity was the all popular “face book.”  Don’t get me wrong, I love face book and all that it has made possible for me.  I live far from most of my family and many of my friends and I love to keep up with them and hear how they are doing in their lives.  I love seeing the pictures of their children.  I love the silly quotes and the inspirational ones.  What I don’t love is the influence other posts can have on me.  It seems as though more and more negative posts or just plain crude posts are being shared.  I am often offended by many of them and I find that they drive away the spirit.  As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I continually
try to do as the Savior would have me do.  I fall short more than not on so many things.  We have some scripture in the Pearl of Great Price that states the basic beliefs of members of my church; they are called the Articles of Faith.  In particular the 13^th Article of Faith states what I have found myself pondering as of late.  It states;  “We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.”  I have come to realize that I have allowed many of the sources that drive away the spirit into my life.