A Day That Will Live in Infamy

August 12, 2000: Team Schu becomes official....

To celebrate such a monumentous occasion I have penned a........

Top 11 Team Schu Stupendously Amazing Highlights List

11. "Why do you always want to start a conversation with me at 1am? Go to sleep." Christopher says this to me on a regular basis; I get chatty late at night, but he snores listens anyway.

10. Tree Top Haven hot tub in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. I was in horrible pain during our honeymoon from a ruptured lower disc. The only thing that helped was sitting in that dang hot tub. Christopher brought me wine coolers & sat with me in the hot tub. In the Ozark Mountains August heat.

9. "Crush" - DMB (Bah doon doon chat)

8. Baseball games & baseball hats

7. Dancing in the kitchen

6. The girls 

 











 5. 90210, Melrose Place, & sub sandwiches 

4. Epic car performances of such classics as "Come Sail Away" & "Nothin' But a Good Time". Seriously. If you haven't witnessed a performance you truly haven't lived.

3. Meeting new friends at Madonna's Bar in Cincinnati. Twice. "Did you really eat that whole pizza on the way here?"

2.  "Everybody likes their own brand."

1. "You & me together, we can do anything". "Come what may, I will love you until my dying day." We've been to hell & back (a few times), but we always find our way because we're together....I love you, Christopher Neal. Happy Anniversary!!!!

Warren Jeffs Receives Life in Prison

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44076040/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/?GT1=43001

I don't even really know what to say about this....

Wait, yes I do: Warren Jeffs, you are a dumbass. You have chosen to use the Mormon religion, spirituality, GOD, & the spiritual hope of others to perpetuate a disgusting life fraught with pedophilia & manipulation. 


Although polygamy is illegal, I'm not sure I have a problem with it as long as all participants are willing & of an age where they have the ability to choose for themselves. I suppose the "choice" part is contradictory to why plural marriage exists in the Mormon religion, but I cannot get past the idea that God would want a 12 year old CHILD to be sealed to a man potentially five times her age. 


If God came to me & said, "Jennifer, it is My Word that you marry 13 year old Tommy next door" I'm pretty sure I'd ask him to check his Magic 8 Ball again. Then I would ask him if I could ammend His Word by marrying this guy instead (hey, my blog, my wishful thinking). Mostly because he's so stinkin' dreamy, but he's also OF AGE. 

Sunday Love

Source: None via Jennifer on Pinterest

Sundayness

A woman who cannot be ugly is not beautiful.  

Karl Kraus

In other words, you cannot truly be beautiful until you share yourself ---- ugly & all. 

Elton John - Harmony

Overwhelmingly underestimated song....

Sunday Quote Later in the Evening

People are like stained glass windows: they sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light within.

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

5 Year Old Wisdom

Karsen Hope: "Life is when you're happy."

Couldn't have said it better myself, baby girl....

So Maybe the Sunday Quote Will Turn Into a Sunday OR Monday Quote....

"When the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence, it may be that they take better care of it there." 

Cecil Selig 

 I saw this quote on Anthony Hamilton's Facebook fanpage this morning; it really resonated with me. When our lives seem twisted, icky, or dark we might look to others' lives & ask " I want THAT. Why can't I have THAT?" Perhaps, instead, we should be asking ourselves how we can cultivate goodness, happiness, & grace in our own lives.

Find something to make your lawn greener today....

 

 

Sunday Quote Returns with a Little Rambling....

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.

 

Helen Keller (1880 - 1968)

 

I've been thinking about the word "character" a lot lately. What does it mean? How do I view my character? How do others perceive my character? And how do I continue to grow my character into something I can be proud of? That my girls can look up to? 

 

When I found this quote from Helen Keller, it struck me that your character truly is your soul....It's rooted deep inside you. Every experience, moment, occasion in our lives shapes & moulds us into who we are & who we will become. 

 

We pray for joyful, positive experiences in our lives that will create within us a character that is open, strong, & hopeful. But sometimes in our lives there may be pain & darkness that can scar our souls. And sometimes it's easier to perseverate on the scarred pieces of us, rather than the beautiful. 

 

 This weekend I attended a class on grief, loss, & trauma work in Play Therapy. One of the activities we did was called Flower Pot. In this activity we were provided a terra cotta flower pot. We noticed its smooth, round surface; no jagged edges. We imagined the flower pot was our lives, ourselves. The flower pot was then broken with a rubber mallet. We were told to decorate the broken pieces with art materials, then glue the flower pot back together. This proved not to be the easiest task because the terra cotta shattered in places, leaving jagged edges & fragments so small there was no way they could be put back into place. Once the flower pot was glued back together we observed the cracks, the imperfections, & the empty spaces that didn't exist before. But glued back together, the broken pieces still formed a flower pot. It just looked different. It was altered & may not be able to perform its original function, yet the basic form of the flower pot remained. And if you looked at the individual pieces, they were beautiful: vibrant colors, sparkles, poetic words were now just as much parts of the flower pot as were the imperfections. One group's flower pot was broken into so many pieces it was impossible to put them together properly to regain even a semblance of its original shape. Rather than give up on their flower pot, they simply placed their smaller pieces inside the largest piece & lovingly tied them together with a lavender ribbon....

 

If we look at the altered flower pot as our character, our soul, we can begin to see the beauty in each piece. In every fragment is a lesson to be learned, a new path to be forged. For a long time I chose to focus on the scars & defects in my character. The painful occurrences in my life began to shape my soul & define me. It was somehow easier to handle these than to actually admit there are beautiful, wonderful &, dare I say, damn fabulous pieces of me. This activity reminded me that although I am not the person I once was, or who I thought I would be, my soul remains vibrant, sparkly, strong. 

 

Just like the flower pot.

SO. ANNOYING.

I continue to suck at updating dizdam blog. That is all.