Olympics

I am not a sports fan at all. I hate watching on tv, although I have enjoyed live hockey games before. In most cases if you name a team, I can’t tell which sport they play and I’m perfectly happy this way. The exception to this is the olympics. When it comes to the olympics I will watch any sport. Needless to say, I’ve been glued to my computer for the last however many days watching all kinds of sports and crying with them over wins, losses, and upsets.  Yes, my favorite moments are always when the underdogs come up first. To me, that is the olympics, not the politics and other crap that is always there. I have to say some commentators can’t be bothered to report on the actual race, just the person they think is going to win. I mean they are right a lot of the time, but still. I can’t really complain since I’m not paying for any of it. Anyway, this is one of the few times where I am a sports fan. I’ll enjoy it for a few more days and then go back to my old ways. 

Good Weekend

I didn’t feel very well for a few days last week and the week was dragging. I woke up on Saturday feeling better and decided I wanted to get out. My mom and I ended up driving to Logan to Bluebird Candy. Earlier this year we had both purchased a Christmas countdown with their candy in it and it is excellent. We decided we needed more. :) But I also bought a few small boxes of chocolates for neighbors and friends. Since I’m not baking treats this year, I thought those would do the trick. We stopped at the cheese factory also and I stocked up on cheese. Ha ha cheese and chocolate. Yum! And now my Christmas shopping is completely finished, wrapped, and under the tree. It feels really good to do things that used to be “normal”. 

I got my bonus on Friday. I put aside my tithing and decided how much to save. I reloaded my Amazon gift card for myself and then I donated to 5 different charities. I gave a lot more than I usually do. I’ve been blessed with so much and that includes a very good job that allows me to be free of financial pressures. It’s the least I can do, especially for the organizations that reach places I never could on my own. 

On the way home yesterday, we stopped at my sister’s house because my mom had bought her a countdown. My nephew wanted me to take him shopping. I told him I’d take him later in the evening when it got less crowded if he could get to my house. He called me later in the day with a plan and his parents dropped him off. He’s such a fun kid. I thought by 16 he’d be done with hanging out with his aunt. He told me that since I took him to Best Buy last year, it was now our tradition. So I guess we’ll be doing it next year too. :) Driving my nephew around to stores was not how I had planned my evening and there’s nothing better I could have been doing. 

Today we had stake conference broadcast. I used the time to cook since I don’t do well sitting for 2 hours like that. Elder Robbins said something that stood out to me. I’m paraphrasing but basically we have Google maps that will track traffic all over the world as it happens and Google will answers millions of questions simultaneously. If man can do that, why can’t we believe that God also does that? God knows all of us. It’s kind of amazing when I think about it. 

Anyway, I get to relax for the rest of my day. It’s been a good weekend and I’m feeling positive and refreshed to deal with life. 

It's February And That Means...

It’s birthday shopping month! My favorite time of year. :) Just kidding. But I do believe that I can celebrate how I want and I have to take care of myself since nobody else will.  

This year I’ve decided to start a new tradition, or I should say add to my tradition, and I’m going to be making some donations to a few organizations that help immigrants and refugees.  I’m still thinking about where to put my time, but while I’m deciding that, I can do this now. I’ve got a couple organizations I’m looking into and I feel good about my decision.  I regularly donate to a few other places plus my church humanitarian fund, but I think making this a tradition for my birthday will be a good thing. I have so much and others have so little, I really should have been doing this long ago, but at least I’m doing it now.

Since I just finished a big clean out of my house, I’m trying not to go overboard for shopping month.  There is a bottle of perfume I want. I need a new pair of walking shoes and I have a few books to buy. All right, who am I kidding; it’s a stack of books. But I’ve culled it down. Truly, I have. And some of them I’m going to go buy at local bookstores. By local, I mean in the same state as I live in. It’s so sad I don’t have a good bookstore in my city. Although probably much safer for my budget.  

Anyway, that’s the plan. Faith and action, tears and laughter, finding happiness and good in spite of all the sadness and anger I also feel.