1. Paper, especially paper containing information vital to our continuing existence.
2. Lip gloss, no matter how high of a counter we place it on.
3. Live cats which we currently keep as Pets, not Free Range Feeder Cats as the dog supposes.
4. My hands, which will soon be stripped entirely of skin from his constant licking.
5. Barbies, both Malibu and Princess, with no regard for their collectable or resale value.
6. Garbage, because apparently items ajacent to food may, to my dog, actually turn into food.
7. Plates formerly containing food, which he will clean so thoroughly a CSI crew could no longer find trace evidence on them.
8. Stuffed animals, perhaps confusing them with actual animals that have accepted their fate as entreés and become too lazy to run from predators.
9. Anything with blood on it, seriously ANYTHING. We really need locking lids on the bathroom garbages.
10. The other dog's butt. You dont want to know more about this, it will cost you your temple recommend.
Sunday, March 8, 2015
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
THE ONE WITH THE ISLAND OF MISFIT MORMONS
I'd like to start a social group to meet together oft and talk about whatever may be on our minds, perhaps with a topic to help focus our discussions.
This group would be open to anyone. I'll call it: The Island of Misfit Mormons.
I think many of us have things we think make us outcasts in the Church. We may feel somehow less worthy than other members we see. There may be many reasons. Maybe we are converts. Maybe we have events in our history we aren't proud of. Maybe we have tattoos or piercings. Maybe we are divorced. Or single. Or widowed. Maybe we are childless. Maybe we had our children late in life. Maybe we weren't able to have as many children as we wanted. Maybe someone in our family has an addiction, or has trouble with the law. Maybe there is a great physical or mental illness in ourselves or in a family member. There are so many reasons anyone may consider themselves an outcast.
But someone I very much admire and respect recently made this profound observation: The Mormon Culture is different from The Mormon Church. This couldnt be more true.
When we label ourselves outcasts, as evinced by our actions and how close we get to other Church members, I think we make that decision based on our Mormon Culture outlook and not a Mormon Church outlook.
The Savior loved the outcasts, in all their forms. He sought them out, eased their burdens, succored them, befriended them. And the Savior himself was an outcast. If we are truly outcasts from the culture, we are in good company.
I think many of us have things we think make us outcasts in the Church. We may feel somehow less worthy than other members we see. There may be many reasons. Maybe we are converts. Maybe we have events in our history we aren't proud of. Maybe we have tattoos or piercings. Maybe we are divorced. Or single. Or widowed. Maybe we are childless. Maybe we had our children late in life. Maybe we weren't able to have as many children as we wanted. Maybe someone in our family has an addiction, or has trouble with the law. Maybe there is a great physical or mental illness in ourselves or in a family member. There are so many reasons anyone may consider themselves an outcast.
But someone I very much admire and respect recently made this profound observation: The Mormon Culture is different from The Mormon Church. This couldnt be more true.
When we label ourselves outcasts, as evinced by our actions and how close we get to other Church members, I think we make that decision based on our Mormon Culture outlook and not a Mormon Church outlook.
The Savior loved the outcasts, in all their forms. He sought them out, eased their burdens, succored them, befriended them. And the Savior himself was an outcast. If we are truly outcasts from the culture, we are in good company.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
My Notes from Regional Stake Conference and Elder Bednar
Brother Beck, General Young Men's President
Youth today are truly immersed in a battle against evil. You must be engaged in God's work. You have a great work to do. You cannot wait for others -- YOU need to step up and battle evil. BE good and DO good EVERY day. It is needed!
Heavenly Father will help you with this great work. God empowers righteous youth. The video on lds.org titled "Dayton's Legs" is an example of this.
Doctrine and Covenants 58:27: “Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness." To fail to do so is "one of the most lethal weapons of the adversary."
Sister Dalton, General Young Women's President
Heeding the counsel of Elder Bednar is vital to our success and happiness. Never get discouraged from being faithful.
Story of a group of college class presidents asked to stand next to the sign that most closely resembled their opinion on various issues. On the issue of "premarital sex" one young man found himself alone under the sign that said, "Strongly Disagree". His friends thought he was kidding. He firmly said, "I am not being funny. This is what I believe."
Shows a photo of 3 sheds: Several years ago I was given a photograph of three sheds, two of which were leaning on the third and smallest shed. The accompanying caption read: “You need to be strong when you are the last one to take a stand.”
Elder Christenson of the Seventy
Spoke on strengthening our testimonies.
Elder Bednar
Set an example. The world may criticize, the world may mock, but your worthy example drowns them out.
Testimony is being brought to the knowledge of the truth through the Holy Ghost. Conversion is consistently being true to what we know.
"In the world in which we live, testimony will not be enough." -- Elder Bednar. We must give rise to a deepening and ongoing conversion.
In Alma 23:6-7 we learn that as many who gained a testimony AND were CONVERTED unto the Lord "never did fall away. For they became a righteous people; they did lay down the weapons of their rebellion, that they did not fight against God any more, neither against any of their brethren." Do we lay aside our own weapons of rebellion?
A testimony is what we know to be true by the witness of the Holy Ghost. It is NOT enough without conversion. In the book of Matthew, the parable of the Ten Virgins shows the difference between testimony and conversion.
The lamps were the lamps of Testimony. The oil was the oil of Conversion. The wise virgins didn't withhold oil from the foolish virgins because they were stingy -- Conversion is something that cannot be shared in a moment of adversity or crisis. It comes to us drop by drop and line upon line. ALL had testimony, the wise ALSO had conversion.
Even to Peter, strong and valiant as he was, the Savior said, "When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.." We need to experience a mighty change of heart. Those who heard King Benjamin's speech had “no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually” (Mosiah 5:2).
CONVERSION IS: Moral Qualities, Moral Capacities, Strongly Developed and Consistently Lived. Elder Maxwell once said to Elder Bednar, "Except for the character of Christ there would have been no atoning sacrifice." In the New Testament, Matthew, Chapter 4:11 says, "Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him..."
However, Joseph Smith Translation says, "and now Jesus knew that John was cast into prison, and he sent angels, and, behold, they came and ministered unto him (John) …"
This sheds light on the character of Christ. At this time the Savior was spiritually hungry and in need of assistance and suffering more than John. But, He was aware of John and sent angels to John, even in the midst of His own affliction.
Study the New Testament and 3rd Nephi for more stories of the character of Christ. Here are some examples:
1) When the Savior institutes the sacrament, He prays for the peace of others, not for Himself.
2) In the Garden of Gethsemane the Savior asks the apostles to stay awake for him, and several times they sleep anyway. When He left the Garden where he had suffered so greatly that He bled from every pore, he was betrayed by Judas. He had been through much in that moment, and yet, he healed the ear of the guard.
3) On the cross, the Savior's concern was on His mother, and the thieves beside Him.
These examples show the character of Christ to be one that turns OUTWARD instead of INWARD even when He is suffering. Moving toward this should be our ultimate objective. "As we continue to conversion...a mighty change of heart is a turn to looking outward, not inward. " -- Elder Bednar. We can't do it alone, however, we can't accomplish it under our own strength.
Our capacity to achieve this mighty change of heart is enlarged through the Holy Ghost and the Atonement. We DON'T, CAN'T WON'T achieve it simply with goal setting. Mosiah 3:19 says, "For the natural man is an enemy to God... and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint..."
How is this done? The first part "putteth off the natural man" is accomplished through the Atonement when we repent. The second part, "becometh a saint" is accomplished as we overcome the things we have previously repented for and repent for less and less serious sins. As we do this, we become more and more sanctified.
Elder Maxwell gave a talk at BYU Idaho and apologized to Elder Bednar, feeling his talk was sub-par. Elder Bednar believed it had been one of the best talks he'd ever heard. So, Elder Maxwell still repented of things, but even the bad stuff he repented of, was really good stuff.
Do all we can do IN the strength of the Lord. When the people of Alma were oppressed, the Lord said, “I will … ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that … you cannot feel them, … that ye may know … that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions....And … the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord” (Mosiah 24:12, 14–15).
This is how we accomplish OUR conversion, our mighty change of heart, our process to turn outward and not inward, to get oil for our lamps and emulate the character of Christ. We ask the Lord to ease the burdens of our weaknesses, our trials, the obstacles in our way...not that they may disappear, but that they may be light upon our shoulders and we may bear them with ease so we may cheerfully and patiently submit to all the will of the Lord.
Youth today are truly immersed in a battle against evil. You must be engaged in God's work. You have a great work to do. You cannot wait for others -- YOU need to step up and battle evil. BE good and DO good EVERY day. It is needed!
Heavenly Father will help you with this great work. God empowers righteous youth. The video on lds.org titled "Dayton's Legs" is an example of this.
Doctrine and Covenants 58:27: “Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness." To fail to do so is "one of the most lethal weapons of the adversary."
Sister Dalton, General Young Women's President
Heeding the counsel of Elder Bednar is vital to our success and happiness. Never get discouraged from being faithful.
Story of a group of college class presidents asked to stand next to the sign that most closely resembled their opinion on various issues. On the issue of "premarital sex" one young man found himself alone under the sign that said, "Strongly Disagree". His friends thought he was kidding. He firmly said, "I am not being funny. This is what I believe."
Shows a photo of 3 sheds: Several years ago I was given a photograph of three sheds, two of which were leaning on the third and smallest shed. The accompanying caption read: “You need to be strong when you are the last one to take a stand.”
Elder Christenson of the Seventy
Spoke on strengthening our testimonies.
Elder Bednar
Set an example. The world may criticize, the world may mock, but your worthy example drowns them out.
Testimony is being brought to the knowledge of the truth through the Holy Ghost. Conversion is consistently being true to what we know.
"In the world in which we live, testimony will not be enough." -- Elder Bednar. We must give rise to a deepening and ongoing conversion.
In Alma 23:6-7 we learn that as many who gained a testimony AND were CONVERTED unto the Lord "never did fall away. For they became a righteous people; they did lay down the weapons of their rebellion, that they did not fight against God any more, neither against any of their brethren." Do we lay aside our own weapons of rebellion?
A testimony is what we know to be true by the witness of the Holy Ghost. It is NOT enough without conversion. In the book of Matthew, the parable of the Ten Virgins shows the difference between testimony and conversion.
The lamps were the lamps of Testimony. The oil was the oil of Conversion. The wise virgins didn't withhold oil from the foolish virgins because they were stingy -- Conversion is something that cannot be shared in a moment of adversity or crisis. It comes to us drop by drop and line upon line. ALL had testimony, the wise ALSO had conversion.
Even to Peter, strong and valiant as he was, the Savior said, "When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.." We need to experience a mighty change of heart. Those who heard King Benjamin's speech had “no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually” (Mosiah 5:2).
CONVERSION IS: Moral Qualities, Moral Capacities, Strongly Developed and Consistently Lived. Elder Maxwell once said to Elder Bednar, "Except for the character of Christ there would have been no atoning sacrifice." In the New Testament, Matthew, Chapter 4:11 says, "Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him..."
However, Joseph Smith Translation says, "and now Jesus knew that John was cast into prison, and he sent angels, and, behold, they came and ministered unto him (John) …"
This sheds light on the character of Christ. At this time the Savior was spiritually hungry and in need of assistance and suffering more than John. But, He was aware of John and sent angels to John, even in the midst of His own affliction.
Study the New Testament and 3rd Nephi for more stories of the character of Christ. Here are some examples:
1) When the Savior institutes the sacrament, He prays for the peace of others, not for Himself.
2) In the Garden of Gethsemane the Savior asks the apostles to stay awake for him, and several times they sleep anyway. When He left the Garden where he had suffered so greatly that He bled from every pore, he was betrayed by Judas. He had been through much in that moment, and yet, he healed the ear of the guard.
3) On the cross, the Savior's concern was on His mother, and the thieves beside Him.
These examples show the character of Christ to be one that turns OUTWARD instead of INWARD even when He is suffering. Moving toward this should be our ultimate objective. "As we continue to conversion...a mighty change of heart is a turn to looking outward, not inward. " -- Elder Bednar. We can't do it alone, however, we can't accomplish it under our own strength.
Our capacity to achieve this mighty change of heart is enlarged through the Holy Ghost and the Atonement. We DON'T, CAN'T WON'T achieve it simply with goal setting. Mosiah 3:19 says, "For the natural man is an enemy to God... and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint..."
How is this done? The first part "putteth off the natural man" is accomplished through the Atonement when we repent. The second part, "becometh a saint" is accomplished as we overcome the things we have previously repented for and repent for less and less serious sins. As we do this, we become more and more sanctified.
Elder Maxwell gave a talk at BYU Idaho and apologized to Elder Bednar, feeling his talk was sub-par. Elder Bednar believed it had been one of the best talks he'd ever heard. So, Elder Maxwell still repented of things, but even the bad stuff he repented of, was really good stuff.
Do all we can do IN the strength of the Lord. When the people of Alma were oppressed, the Lord said, “I will … ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that … you cannot feel them, … that ye may know … that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions....And … the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord” (Mosiah 24:12, 14–15).
This is how we accomplish OUR conversion, our mighty change of heart, our process to turn outward and not inward, to get oil for our lamps and emulate the character of Christ. We ask the Lord to ease the burdens of our weaknesses, our trials, the obstacles in our way...not that they may disappear, but that they may be light upon our shoulders and we may bear them with ease so we may cheerfully and patiently submit to all the will of the Lord.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
How I Use Swagbucks
I am new to Swagbucks, but already I am loving it. By doing a few quick searches morning, afternoon and night and making my regular online purchases that I would make anyway, I have already earned more than $20 in amazon gift cards. To me, that's all free money.
So, here's what I do to use Swagbucks:
1. When you sign up for Swagbucks, sign up under my link:
http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/NoMischief
When a friend signs up for Swagbucks under your name, then you get Swagbucks every time they get Swagbucks with their searches (not Swagbucks they earn through other methods) up to 1000 Swagbucks. Of course when you start using Swagbucks, you will recommend it to everyone anyway, even if there was no reward, but how much better that there is this incentive.
2. Download the Swagbucks toolbar. I get 1 Swagbuck daily just for having and using the toolbar (it usually shows up in the middle of the night). Then use the Swagbucks toolbar for searches in the morning, afternoon, and evening.
Swagbucks will award you randomly as you do searches. It usually only takes about 5 searches to earn swagbucks. But, once you win, then you won't win again for hours. So, do like 5 searches with the toolbar in the morning to get your swagbucks, then again in the afternoon, and then you can try again before bed.
You might also try doing a search and then switching to Images or Web (along the left hand side of the page) and back to Web. Sometimes that gets swagbucks.
This is the part my daughter likes to do for me. She loves to put in search terms and try to win me swagbucks. I get 15-30 swagbucks daily with this.
3. Take the daily poll. Go to Earn on the toolbar and select Daily Poll. It takes about 20 seconds to take the poll and vote and it's worth 1 swagbuck daily.
4. Do the daily NOSO. Every day you can go to Earn and then NOSO and go through the offers there. Just hit Skip on each one (there's around 6 or 7) and you get a swagbuck at the end.
5. If you buy ANYTHING online, check first to see if you can go through the swagbucks site to get to the site you're going to purchase from. Go to Earn and then Shop and search for the website you're going to use. You get 2 Swagbucks for every $1 you spend. Walmart and Target are both on there. So's Aeropostale (which often has better quality jeans on sale for cheaper than Walmart jeans so I like to be on the lookout for those for my boys.)
6. If you use Groupon or Living Social deals, purchase them through Swagbucks. Go to Earn and then Daily Deals. Scroll through there to find the deal that you want (if you don't see the one listed that was mentioned in your email, just click on another offer from the same company and then select See Other Offers or something like that when you get to their website). This page will list how many swagbucks each offer is worth to you. How great to get a $20 meal for $10 AND earn a $5 amazon gift card!
If you don't yet use Groupon, please consider signing up under my name:
http://www.groupon.com/r/uu2602234
which will add $10 to my Groupon acct when you make your first Groupon purchase. When you join, your friends will have the same option to add under you and earn you $10 in Groupon credit. This is a great way to get a free date night!
7. Check the SB News tab on the toolbar when there is a little yellow star on it. The blog often has swagcodes in it that are good for a short amount of time to get swagbucks.
8. If you have an email from TSG showing in the toolbar, check it. There are often codes there also for free swagbucks.
9. If you use coupons from coupons.com, print those same coupons through Swagbucks instead. Go to Earn, Coupons and then select and print the coupons you want. When you use them, each is worth 10 Swagbucks. It's worth at least checking there before you do your shopping. Often I find that I bought a name brand item that I wanted and there was a coupon sitting there for it that I could have used.
10. Recently I started watching Swagbucks TV to earn Swagbucks. I'm still figuring it out, but it looks like you can win 1-5 Swagbucks randomly as you watch the little learning videos. I just have been running it in the background while I do other things online. Haven't decided yet if it's worth the fuss or not.
My goal is to pay for Christmas 2011 with Swagbucks. When I get 450 Swagbucks, I go to the Rewards tab and exchange them for a $5 Amazon gift card. When the code for amazon arrives (in about 2 weeks), I add it only my Amazon account and it waits there until I'm ready to use it and it never expires.
I hope this is helpful and encourages you to give Swagbucks a try. My daily routine is pretty quick: 5 searches, NOSO, Daily Poll and then check to see if there are any daily deals I want. Other than that I'll search in the Shop section or Coupon section before I make online purchases or do my grocery shopping. This is how I get Swagbucks.
Thanks for reading!
So, here's what I do to use Swagbucks:
1. When you sign up for Swagbucks, sign up under my link:
http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/NoMischief
When a friend signs up for Swagbucks under your name, then you get Swagbucks every time they get Swagbucks with their searches (not Swagbucks they earn through other methods) up to 1000 Swagbucks. Of course when you start using Swagbucks, you will recommend it to everyone anyway, even if there was no reward, but how much better that there is this incentive.
2. Download the Swagbucks toolbar. I get 1 Swagbuck daily just for having and using the toolbar (it usually shows up in the middle of the night). Then use the Swagbucks toolbar for searches in the morning, afternoon, and evening.
Swagbucks will award you randomly as you do searches. It usually only takes about 5 searches to earn swagbucks. But, once you win, then you won't win again for hours. So, do like 5 searches with the toolbar in the morning to get your swagbucks, then again in the afternoon, and then you can try again before bed.
You might also try doing a search and then switching to Images or Web (along the left hand side of the page) and back to Web. Sometimes that gets swagbucks.
This is the part my daughter likes to do for me. She loves to put in search terms and try to win me swagbucks. I get 15-30 swagbucks daily with this.
3. Take the daily poll. Go to Earn on the toolbar and select Daily Poll. It takes about 20 seconds to take the poll and vote and it's worth 1 swagbuck daily.
4. Do the daily NOSO. Every day you can go to Earn and then NOSO and go through the offers there. Just hit Skip on each one (there's around 6 or 7) and you get a swagbuck at the end.
5. If you buy ANYTHING online, check first to see if you can go through the swagbucks site to get to the site you're going to purchase from. Go to Earn and then Shop and search for the website you're going to use. You get 2 Swagbucks for every $1 you spend. Walmart and Target are both on there. So's Aeropostale (which often has better quality jeans on sale for cheaper than Walmart jeans so I like to be on the lookout for those for my boys.)
6. If you use Groupon or Living Social deals, purchase them through Swagbucks. Go to Earn and then Daily Deals. Scroll through there to find the deal that you want (if you don't see the one listed that was mentioned in your email, just click on another offer from the same company and then select See Other Offers or something like that when you get to their website). This page will list how many swagbucks each offer is worth to you. How great to get a $20 meal for $10 AND earn a $5 amazon gift card!
If you don't yet use Groupon, please consider signing up under my name:
http://www.groupon.com/r/uu2602234
which will add $10 to my Groupon acct when you make your first Groupon purchase. When you join, your friends will have the same option to add under you and earn you $10 in Groupon credit. This is a great way to get a free date night!
7. Check the SB News tab on the toolbar when there is a little yellow star on it. The blog often has swagcodes in it that are good for a short amount of time to get swagbucks.
8. If you have an email from TSG showing in the toolbar, check it. There are often codes there also for free swagbucks.
9. If you use coupons from coupons.com, print those same coupons through Swagbucks instead. Go to Earn, Coupons and then select and print the coupons you want. When you use them, each is worth 10 Swagbucks. It's worth at least checking there before you do your shopping. Often I find that I bought a name brand item that I wanted and there was a coupon sitting there for it that I could have used.
10. Recently I started watching Swagbucks TV to earn Swagbucks. I'm still figuring it out, but it looks like you can win 1-5 Swagbucks randomly as you watch the little learning videos. I just have been running it in the background while I do other things online. Haven't decided yet if it's worth the fuss or not.
My goal is to pay for Christmas 2011 with Swagbucks. When I get 450 Swagbucks, I go to the Rewards tab and exchange them for a $5 Amazon gift card. When the code for amazon arrives (in about 2 weeks), I add it only my Amazon account and it waits there until I'm ready to use it and it never expires.
I hope this is helpful and encourages you to give Swagbucks a try. My daily routine is pretty quick: 5 searches, NOSO, Daily Poll and then check to see if there are any daily deals I want. Other than that I'll search in the Shop section or Coupon section before I make online purchases or do my grocery shopping. This is how I get Swagbucks.
Thanks for reading!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
Monday, December 6, 2010
Things My Children Believe Are Interesting Which Are Not Actually Interesting
o What happened in that one episode of SpongeBob
o What level they are at in their video game
o What moves they made to achieve that video game level
o What's going on in the middle of the book they are currently reading
o What else happened in that one episode of SpongeBob
o How many dirty dishes they have to clean tonight compared to how many they counted last night and the night before that
o the long list of things they have decided AGAINST being for next Halloween
o detailed descriptions of Foxtrot cartoons
o their ordered list of favorite anime characters listed from most to least favorite
o a point by point comparison of their favorite anime characters
o what happened in that one episode with their favorite anime characters
o the various evolutions of each Pokemon
o stories that end with, "yeah, so, that was the most I ever peed."
o What level they are at in their video game
o What moves they made to achieve that video game level
o What's going on in the middle of the book they are currently reading
o What else happened in that one episode of SpongeBob
o How many dirty dishes they have to clean tonight compared to how many they counted last night and the night before that
o the long list of things they have decided AGAINST being for next Halloween
o detailed descriptions of Foxtrot cartoons
o their ordered list of favorite anime characters listed from most to least favorite
o a point by point comparison of their favorite anime characters
o what happened in that one episode with their favorite anime characters
o the various evolutions of each Pokemon
o stories that end with, "yeah, so, that was the most I ever peed."
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