The Crazee Chick's View of Life

D o you consider yourself to be religious or spiritual? For many years I considered them to be mutually exclusive.  If you weren't religious, how could you possibly experience spirituality?  How did you categorize it? To whom did you attribute the moment? My religion defined God--it gave him a face, a body, a personality, and from that I knew who looked down upon me at night as I uttered my evening prayers.  When I had a spiritual moment, I could see who had blessed me with that opportunity.  It was clear, so very clear. And then one day it wasn't anymore.   After a lifetime of being a devout christian I became disillusioned with organized religion and God and I separated myself from both.    And that was hard, so very hard.  It was then that I began to consider whether or not religion and spirituality were in fact mutually exclusive.  Could I still feel indescribable joy, or a burning in my soul, if I was ...

Have you ever done a vision board?  If not, let me tell you, they are the bomb diggity!  They are a visual representation of your goals and dreams and are a great tool for helping you remember and focus on what you want to achieve.   I have faithfully done one for about the last seven years.  I love the process--the dreaming, the refining, finding the pictures and then smooshing them all on one page.  And, of course, if you know me you'll know that I love laminating and so that final touch solidifies my goals and makes them unchangeable. Put your vision board somewhere where you can see it every day.  I have two--one in my office and one in my bathroom (yes, both are laminated!).  Look at them and recall the excitement you felt when you dreamed the dreams.  Use the pictures to strengthen you when you're feeling low or when you've lost your focus.   It doesn't have to be pretty and it doesn't have to make sense to anyone but you....

My business partner has a little boy who loves cars. I have a little boy who doesn't care so much for them, consequently we have a box full of unused, unloved, untouched toy cars, so I decided to give them away. As I emptied the cars into a shoe box, and then tried to shove the motorbike with launching pad toy in as well, it became obvious that there wasn't enough room. I remembered a story I had read about a jar, some rocks and some pebbles where the theory was that you put the big things into the jar first and then the smaller stuff in order to make everything fit. It was a theory I'd known for a while but had never tried it out, so I set out to disprove it. There was no way I was going to get it all in... ...but I did. First thing to go in was the launching pad and the little motorcycles and then, miraculously, there was oodles of room left for the little cars. In fact there was more than enough room---I could have added more toys to the box had I had more to gi...

The other day a text I posted to Mo was meant to read, "Be safe", but a slight typo turned it into... "Be sage." Sage is defined as having or exhibiting wisdom and calm judgment, while safe is defined as being free from risk. This typo really gave me pause as I considered the depth of the meaning-- in order to be free from risk, we need to exercise calm judgement and use wisdom--so in order to be safe, we need to be sage, or smart. And then it occurred to me that we are always telling our kids to be safe but are we teaching them how to be wise? Are we providing them with the right tools they need to practise safety and sage-dom? What are those tools? I don't have the answers but here are a couple of things that I think are important to teach our kids: 1. Stranger danger/street smarts--when the kids were little and playing in the park they always knew to draw an imaginary safety circle around themselves (spanning out about 20 feet) and if someone...

There are lessons to be learned at every turn in life.  Just today, as a case in point, I frustratedly picked up another bag off the floor (filled with stinky runners) and paused just for a moment to look at it.  It was a lululemon bag and had many words of wisdom contained upon it:  As I read it, I felt both inspired and sarcastic (two verrrry different emotions): Do one thing a day that scares you.   Okay. I just cleaned my son's toilet.  Done! Children are the orgasm of life.  Umm...someone's been doing it wrong, THAT comes during the 'creative process' Listen. Listen.  Listen.  And then ask strategic questions.  Aw, crap, I listened so long that I forgot my question! Do it now!  Do it now!  Do it now!  But you just told me to listen, listen, listen and then act!  Visualize your eventual demise. It can have an amazing effect on how you live for the moment.  I believe this contracts the 'choose a ...

Howdy all, I totally ripped this off of someone's blog/website/can't really remember where I read it,  but I absolutely loved it and wanted to share. Enjoy! Happy Tuesday. Five Lessons About How To Treat People -- Author Unknown 1. First Important Lesson - "Know The Cleaning Lady" During my second month of college, our professor gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions, until I read the last one: "What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?" Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her 50s, but how would I know her name? I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Just before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our quiz grade. "Absolutely," said the professor. "In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your ...

Zee and I had the most amazing morning yesterday. As the sun cracked the sky and shone it's beautiful light through my bedroom window, the sweetest little boy in the world awakened me with a tender kiss on my cheek (as he does almost every morning) and then crawled into bed for a snuggle. After a few minutes of cuddling, his morning breath began to choke me so I lovingly pushed him over to the other side of our king sized bed, and of course, I reached for my ipad (the equivalent of a morning coffee or cigarette for me) and got my fix of the news, the happenings on Facebook, and got caught up on a couple of emails. And...as I do about once a week...I visited the iTunes APP store. Usually a bad move. (Money, Money, Money....) But not this particular morning. On this morning I found a Sing Along App for LDS Primary Songs. There was a 'lite' version so I thought, "what have I got to lose?", and so downloaded it. I beckoned my stinky son to come hither and sh...

Oh how I laid in bed this morning trying to find reasons to justify why I should skip church and just sleep in. "Zee has a cough." "Kiki didn't get to sleep until after midnight." "Mo's looked so exhausted lately." "I deserve it." But the better part of me knew where I needed to be this morning; at church, worshiping the Lord who makes all things possible. The health of my family, the wonderful week I've had in my business (actually, the whole year has been amazing), the loving relationship I have with my husband, the food on our table--all these things come from the love of our Heavenly Father, and how selfish am I to want to remain in bed because it's comfortable? How ungrateful am I to say that I am too tired to make the effort to get cleaned up, drive 5 minutes to the church, and sing praises and spend 3 hours re-connecting and re-committing to Him? Church was where I needed to be this morning and I'm so grat...

Today is a time for me to reflect. On this day, one year ago, I was rushed to the hospital barely conscious, and very, very sick. To read about what happened, click here. It's a long read so I suggest you find a comfy spot, grab a cuppa tea or hot chocolate, and wrap yourself up in a blankie. I've thought a lot about what this past year has meant to me and I feel an overwhelming inability to put it into words. The only way I can really peg it is to say that it was a time of rebirth for me. After just coming off Easter weekend where we celebrate Christ's victory over the grave I hope you won't see this post as trying to draw any parallels between Jesus and myself because, clearly, there can not be any. What I do feel though is that this past year has been one of renewal, reinvention and rebirth. How apropos that my illness and recovery occurred in the spring: the quintessential 'rebirth.' I am not the woman I was 365 days ago. I love harder, work har...

See this beautiful building? This is a temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is almost finished completion and is due to be dedicated on May 2, 2010. The granite is on, the scaffolding is down, the angel Moroni sits atop beckoning all to come, the sign 'House of the Lord, Holiness to the Lord 'has been etched into the building above the entry way doors and the baptismal font, supported by the gorgeous oxen, is situated in it's place. Some of the special touches like the gold leafing on the ceiling, the beautiful windows and the chandeliers are also done. The other night I was honored to be asked to go inside the temple to hang crystals on the chandelier. What an amazing experience!  Just to see the temple fills me with the Spirit, but to actually go inside of it...well, let's just say that words can't describe it.  Despite the drywall dust, the power tools, the ginormous fans, the blueprints and the wooden walkways, it was easy to f...

Mo had her very first talk in Sacrament today.  For those of you who aren't familiar with my religion, I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon church.   Instead of a hired priest or pastor to give a sermon, we have members of the congregation who are asked a couple of weeks in advance to prepare to give a talk to the congregation on a certain subject.   It can be quite a daunting task and is certainly overwhelming for anyone, let alone a 12 year old girl speaking for the first time in front of over 100 people.  Mo's talk was on repentance and she did a wonderful job.  She spoke clearly, used inflection and delivered a powerful message. She read a story that made most of the congregation cry, including our bishop, called Push-ups and Donuts. Here is that story.  Enjoy a good Sunday cry...  There was a boy, named Brian, who was a bit of a trouble maker.  He had been kicked out of hi...

Last night I looked over at my little boy kneeling on the floor in his Spongebob undies, his Winnie the Pooh blankie draped over his knees, and his eyes squished tightly in fervent prayer and I thought, "How does God stand it?" How can He let these precious little souls out of his sight even for a second? How does He not weep from missing them so badly? How can He not answer every single little prayer that is uttered from those perfect little lips? I couldn't do it. If Zee had prayed for a monkey riding a unicycle last night I would have run to the nearest circus and grabbed one for him. He didn't ask God for anything for himself though, he asked that the Lord could 'pwease make everyone in da whole world safe.' Awww.... It was all I could do not to just scoop him up in my arms right there in the middle of his prayer and cover him with kisses. And as I tucked him in his bed and kissed his gorgeous little mug the thought crossed my mind... "How d...

I've been de-cluttering. I've already taken one van load of toys and clothes to the thrift store and I've got another on the way. As I pull out each of these 'treasures', I can't help but remember the thrill I had when I purchased them. How I told myself I would love them forever. How I just knew it would bring me pure joy and contentment. Funny how now they are just 'things' that I no longer can even bear to display in the storage room. Matter of fact most of them go directly into a box or bag so that I don't have to look at them. This got me thinking and reflecting on what are the true 'treasures' in my life (and hopefully yours too.) I found this little story: It seems there was a wealthy man who was distraught about the toughts of dying and leaving all his treasures behind. He'd worked so hard and accumulated so much! He somehow made a bargain with a Heavenly Official: he could pack one suitcase full of anything he wanted to ta...

It was a beautiful, crisp and clear morning. The perfect day to go to the temple site and watch the spire and the angel Moroni be placed upon the pinnacle. As the temple grows, so does my hope that one day our entire family will be able to go and recieve the blessings that only the temple has to offer. My children look at that sacred building and know that one day, if they live in accordance with the gospel, that they will be married to their sweetheart there. It's a wonderful visual reminder of what can be. To be there today was such a blessing. To see the beauty of the golden statue called Moroni, to see the details in the sculpture such as creases in his golden gown, waves in his windblown hair and toenails etched into his feet was a once in a lifetime event. Who is Moroni and why does the LDS church put him on their temples? I found this explanation... "The angel Moroni is the heavenly messenger who first visited the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1823. As a mortal named Moron...

Feeling in need of a little enlightenment? Then I hope you enjoy this story... "One night, or early morning, around 1:00am, there was a lull in my particular assembly-line job, so I decided to run to a nearby all-night grocery store to buy treats for everyone who was working the night shift. I told a couple of my colleagues where I was going, that I'd be back in half an hour, and dashed out the door. Moments later I was zipping unobstructed along a thoroughfare on the west side of the Salt Lake Valley when suddenly, BAM! I hit something, and hit it hard. My adrenaline began pumping out of control as the horrifying though that I had hit someone flashed across my mind. At the same time, the car began to vibrate and veer sharply to the right, and it was all I could do to steer the vehicle to the side of the road before it came to a dead stop. I hunted unsuccessfully for a flashlight, got out of the car and down on my hands and knees, and peered under the engine compartment....