Attributes to Improve On

I am currently taking a religion class at school and one of the assignments I have a choice of how to share what I have learned. The class focuses on the second half of the New Testament. I have different choices to make of what to study from. I decided on 1 Thessalonian 3-5; 2 Thessalonians 3:1-6,11. In it Paul was giving counsel to the members of the church at the time. First, I had to find attributes that Paul counseled the members what they needed to improve on. I feel that we can take it and apply it to our own lives for what we can improve on. There are three attributes that I felt I could improve on. There were more but these three stood out the most to me. 

The first being to love one another. I have been taught this my whole life. My mother is a great example to me of how to love others. It doesn't how one looks or acts, my mother treats everyone as God would want her to, as a child of God. I sometimes find myself judging others in my head but then I correct myself by telling myself that I don't really think that way. My goal for when I start to judge others or to feel frustrated and mad at someone, is to remind myself that he/she is a son/daughter of God and that I should love them and treat them as such.

The second attribute is to pray without ceasing. The picture to the left is one of me when I was little and I had fallen asleep during family prayers. There are times that I feel that my prayers are not as heartfelt as they could be. I'm afraid that I have gotten a little lazy in saying my prayers. Sometimes I am too tired to sit up or kneel by my bed at night, so I say my prayers while lying down. But on the days that I sit or kneel, I feel closer to God and that He hears my prayers. Ever since I was little, I have had a phobia of kneeling by my bed to pray. I blame it on the movie Little Monsters. Ever since, I just can't kneel by my bed, so I sit or kneel on my bed. My goal is to sit/kneel every night before bed and say my prayers. When I say my prayers, I remind myself that I am talking to God as I would a friend who cares about me. I always begin my prayers with thanking Him of different things in my life. Then I ask Him for help for myself or for those in my life or the world in general. The times that I have spoken to Him as I would a friend, I feel closer to Him and I feel like I get more out of my prayers.

The third attribute is to abstain from all appearance of evil. For those that know me, know that I love watching TV shows. I have many that I watch, but there are some that I love more. There are also a few that I would say are probably not the best shows I should be watching. I go through my phases of trying to cut back on TV or stop watching the shows I think are not good for me to watch. But then I get bored and start watching them again. Thanks to Hulu Plus and Netflix, there are a lot of shows I can watch. But my next goal is to stop watching the shows that I don't think are good for me and to stop watching them for good. Today I have only watched one and a half episodes of Doctor Who from season seven. I have seen Doctor Who so much and I love the show, that I feel comfortable in stopping in a middle of an episode to finish things. Today, I have done laundry and homework and have not watched any current TV shows. I feel very proud of myself and that I have been productive. I am going to work on allowing myself to watch a current TV show only after I have completed homework for the day. 

Current Projects!

I finally finished Josh & Adele's blanket back in the beginning of July. Here is a a pic of the finished project. Since the last time that I blogged I have finished Jen & Kevin's blanket like this one and I made one for Nicole and Jared. Of course Josh & Adele won't be able to get their blanket until Christmas or when I next see them. Sorry guys ;) It's a good thing that it is summer time!

I have also made three baby blankets. I made a pink and cream one for Dr. Campbell's new granddaughter. I made a light blue and cream one just because I wanted something to do. Then I made a dark green and cream one that I gave to Nelda for her new grandson. I started another one that is a denim blue color and a brownish/green color.

Here is the second baby blanket that I made. When I started this blanket I just felt like making another baby blanket but I didn't know who I wanted to give it to. After I made the dark green one I found out that Justin & Alicia are expecting their first baby. So I might give this blanket to them unless they end up having a girl. Then in that case I will have to make a new one. Which I have plenty of time to make. I am putting that last baby blanket on hold until I make the t-shirt quilt for Leah.

Which brings me to my current project. I am making a t-shirt quilt for Leah's Baptism/Birthday this year. So, Jen, Leah may not see this blog ;) This is an idea of what it will look like. Only the green will be darker. I just got the fabric for the yellow & green strips. I went to Hobby Lobby and used a 40% off coupon for both. My mom and I went this morning for interfacing for the back of the t-shirt squares.

We got the interfacing and yellow broadcloth for the quilt. We used a 40% off coupon for both. After we had been home for a few hours, I decided that I wanted to go back for the dark green fabric. When I went back to Hobby Lobby with another 40% off coupon, the girl at the cash register tried to tell me that I couldn't use the coupon on a sale item. I had to point out to her that it wasn't on sale, that $1.99 was the original price. Luckily she didn't argue with me. So I can now work on the blanket some more. I have the interfacing ironed on to the back of the t-shirt squares. I now need to cut out the strips of yellow and green. Then I can sew the blocks together. The reason the border is blank is because I don't know what fabric that I am going to use. I was thinking about using some Disney fabric for the border. I figured that after I sew all the t-shirts together I would take it with me to the fabric store and see which fabric would look best with it.

Facebook Group

So, I took some cookies with me to church today for my lesson in Relief Society. I like to take treats with me when I have a lesson to teach and I hadn't in a while. So yesterday I made Revel Bars to take with me. Then after church someone mentioned that I should email them the recipe then someone else said that I should make a group on Facebook. So I did. I've already posted dome recipes. I really hope people enjoy it. I love to bake. I'm not a big fan of standing over the stove and stirring something. I have very little patience for it plus I tend to get light headed. I always have to be sure that I have a glass of water next to me. I don't mind cooking on the stove as long as it doesn't take too long.
Now that church is at 9am this year, I seem to have more free time on my hands when I get home. For the past 3 Sundays I have been cleaning the kitchen. Mostly loading the dishwasher, wiping down the counters if they need it and cleaning the stove. Luckily the stove wasn't as bad today. I didn't have to spray it with anything. I love it when the kitchen is clean. I hate cooking in a dirty kitchen.
I have been trying to finish a queen size blanket for my sister and brother in-law. It was supposed to be done by last Christmas but I wasn't happy with the width and neither was Jen. I didn't work on it for a little while and now I am finally almost done with it. Oh, I am crocheting the blanket. That pic is how it looks. It's huge. Once I am done with it I will take a picture of it on a bed to show how big it is. I used to take it with me to work to work on during my lunch break but it got too big and I was getting tired of carrying it in a big plastic disney bag. I ended up having to tape that bag up to keep my crochet hook and scissors from falling out of the bag. I really do love this blanket. It's nice and warm. Once I am done making blankets for my siblings and parents I will finally make one for myself. Who knows what I'll feel like making for me by the time that happens. I have Justin's blanket done a long time ago. That leaves Heather, Josh & Adele, Nicole, and my parents.

Visiting Maryland

I have been in Maryland since last Friday morning (04/18/2208) and today I leave to go back home to Tulsa. I am going to miss it here. I love my sister and her kids. Owen has been so cute, he let's me hold him and he'll cuddle with me. I love his laugh, he has the cutest laugh. I got to go see some monuments this past Wednesday in Washington D.C. We took the train/subway (I can't remember what it is called). It was quite an experience. I got burned really well by the time we got back. We did so much walking around that I was very glad to be heading back when we did. Plus it didn't help any that I was starting to get sick. Even though we didn't do much sight seeing, I am still glad that I came out here and got to spend so much time with my niece and nephews and of course my sister and brother in-law. As soon as i get some pics from nicole or jen I will post some.

I want to MOVE!

So, a part of me really wants to move. Mostly I want to move back to the provo/orem area in Utah, but since I am currently jobless, that will be a little difficult. I am currently looking for a job. I'm thinking that if I am lucky and I find a good job soon out here in Oklahoma, then I'll save up some money and then by March-June of next year I'll move to provo/orem if I still feel like I have a desire to move. I'm pretty sure that I will still have a desire to move. I'll be 25 next March and I really want to be living on my own by then. Plus my brother Josh and his wife Adele are expecting their first child next spring and I would like to be out there in Utah to spoil and love the child. Oh, and play with the child of course.

Life can be Crazy

I've moved back home to my parents home in Oklahoma in December and then a week later we move to a new house and then a couple of days later we drive to California for my brother's wedding and then we got back in the beginning of January and I started to look for a job. Then one day I was being stupid and climbed over the couch and fell. So that put a couple days where I couldn't look for a job. Then we got a ice storm and we couldn't go anywhere. It's just starting to melt and we're suppose to get another storm this weekend. I really need to find a job but with the roads so bad and my dad taking the car to work, it's a little difficult. At least I've been able to help around the house. I've washed dishes everyday this week so far and that is a big thing. Especially since our dishwasher doesn't work and I'm not really one who likes to wash dishes. It helps that we have a portable DVD player so I can watch movies while I clean. That's the only thing that helps me. It was so great going to California for my brother's wedding. I've moved around so much since I graduated high school I started to feel like I wasn't from California anymore and I am proud to say that I definitely feel like I am from California. It was nice to have that reminder.