the beautumous carpet

Missionary Mail and New Carpet

Ted had a nice week. It was his birthday and his favorite parts were his cakes. He asked me to make a cake based on the video game Portal. It seems that the computer in the game promises cake, (moist and delicious) at the end of the game. It was black forest cake. Here is my rendition:


His words were, and I quote for all you Portal fans, "This was a triumph!" His brother in Law, Emmanuel also made him a cake for his birthday with a Portal theme:


We had some fun with this that we found at Deseret Book.


How could I help it, with a name like that. Ted had a good day. On the mission news, Ted is now out of training. As of tomorrow he will go from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. I think he will triumph. He rules.

We did get the new carpet in. It is a triumph also. We aren't letting the kids wear their shoes on it. It is beautiful.


This is how it makes us feel:

You're not as clean as you think you are.

Today we tore out the carpet in the living room and the family room. I was so happy. It was like really good therapy. Our carpet has been peed upon by too many dogs, too many times and now I will be able to exercize without gagging.
I started exercising again this week. It has made me very sore. I got obsessed with watching the Biggest Loser on Hulu (watched the whole season in 3 days I think) and it made me get back on the exercise horse. I even ran. I hate running... Anyway back to the carpet.

We have had several vacuum cleaner salesmen in our home from time to time. They always do this thing where they show you how much dirt is in your carpet. I can tell you right now that not one of them ever touched the real problem in our house. Our living room had a layer of fine sand through out the area that gets walked upon constantly. It was amazing. There was so much that you could write your name in it. The back side of the carpet was an interesting mosiac of dog pee. DISGUSTING. I have washed that darn carpet and cleaned the messes as soon as I could, but it just proves that dog pee comes to stay... and stay... and stay-ne. GROSS.

I am so excited to get new carpet tomorrow. The only sad part is that my camera lens died this week, the one I use to take pictures of almost everything. I only have the huge zoom that works right now, so hopefully I can get a decent picture of the newness tomorrow, even though I will have to back way up.

It doesn't get better than this!

I really am supposed to be writing these on Sunday, but I needed the extra time just to organize myself. So much happened on the Elder Teddy front that it took me some time to process.
One of the joys/blessings/curses of having a child that has certain disabilities (or in Ted's case, Autism) is that teaching them to be independent takes awhile. They are usually at least 3 years behind socially, (Aspies, that is) and usually plagued with nerves when it comes to new experiences and transitions. Well, a mission has been a bit of a transition, but Ted has done really well dealing with the stress of it. He has loved going to his mission everyday and learning about his ancestors. He has done well on the floor and on the phone (oh happy day) but this week I had to push him out of his comfort zone once again. It was always our intention that when I got out of school for the summer we would teach Ted how to ride the bus. For most people not that big of a deal, but for Ted and ME it was a big deal. I could easily take care of him for the rest of his life, driving him where he needs to be and making sure he is safe, but he will not grow if I do that. He needs to be able to be independent. So I taught him the bus this week. I really threw him right into the middle of it. Took him to the library on the bus and told him to come home on the bus at night. The first day, he did get a little lost. He got off a mile early. But you know what? It was okay. He had some money with him, and he walked to a Circle K and used the pay phone to call me. He wasn't nervous, he wasn't that upset, and he handled it manfully.... I was so proud of him! He even knew the cross streets of where he was to tell me so I could come find him. The next day he did it perfectly, and I think by the end of this week he will not even be phased at all by it. Maybe I won't be either....

In other Ted news, Saturday was one of the greatest days of my life. He went through the temple for the first time. He is a profound boy, so it effected him profoundly. He said it was an extremely interesting experience. Seeing him come into the Celestial room in his Temple whites was one of the most wonderful feelings I have ever had. The only thing that could have made it better was if all of the family could have been there. Yesterday he got set apart as a missionary so now he is official. This has all been such a good experience for him and I am so happy that he gets to learn all this new stuff and practice changing things up! That's all for this week!

My favorite things

So it's my birthday. So I'm 47. So I'm not getting any younger, and without the use of surgery, I won't be getting any smoother. Just wrinklier.... probably not a word. Don't care. It's my birthday. I thought I would dedicate the blog today to what makes me so strange, or in other words, things I love....

I love:
My family
To study the gospel (yes I am a proud MOLLY MORMON. GET OVER IT!!!!)
To study anything that interests me including and not limited to:
archeology (especially when it involves Mayans, or Incas, or any of those people)
Psychology (I adore brains)
Sociology
Writing and writers.... give me books, lots of books
social welfare, and I mean real social welfare and justice, not just namby pamby catch phrases. I like to study what would REALLY help rather than just put a band aid on it.
Cooking. I love love love to cook. Good food. That explains my body shape.
ART... I LOVE GOOD ART
Music.... oh I am a musical waiting to happen...
and many, many other things
Other things that I am quite passionate about are:
Diet Coke. love it. Can't be without it. Has to be decaffeinated though. Can't do caffeine anymore.
I don't love cake, but I do like pancakes. That's what I had for breakfast.
I love cookies though. and pie. Pie is good. The only good cake has cheese in it too. Just my opinion.
I love seafood. Not all seafood, but most of it. I especially love things that come in shells that I can craaaaccck and peel and eat.
Peanut M&M's
I love to go on adventures, whether they are just to Walmart or whether they are all the way to china.
I love to be artsy fartsy crafty. I am not good at decorating rooms, but I love to play with fabric and paper.
I am a happy traveler. I don't love car trips though. I do like getting there (to new or different places) I love to go on airplanes. I am just weird that way. I also love to come home from a trip.
I love soft beds. I am thinking of jumping on my new bed until it softens up. At least on my side. Dh needs firmness. sigh.
I love sitting in bed and watching TV. I like to fall asleep to TV, but it is no longer necessary for me to do so. I have always had trouble (at least since I can remember) with the falling asleep thing. Too many scary things in the dark. But I am getting better at it.
I love to read. Just about anything. If it is interesting. One of my life long passions.
I love fall weather. I love to crunch leaves. I love the crisp feeling in the air. I love rosy cheeks.
I love snow. I love shoveling it in the fresh morning air that makes me feel so very
I love being hugged and buffeted by my rowdy children. I love to do things with them. I will now discuss a special memory with each one:
I remember when Randy Jr. got his finger slammed in the door at the family reunion. He had to be on my lap as we rushed him to a doctor, and the only thing that calmed him down was me singing to him. Later in his life, he used to sing Armies of Helaman with the cutest vibratto at the end of the phrase, "We have been taught in our youuuuuuttth" was so cute. I miss the innocent little boy he once was. I worry about him and think about him every single day. I don't think he believes this, but it is true.
Samantha Anne has always been one of the biggest joys of my life. I remember climbing up Mount Timpanogus with her. She was the happiest girl that day. She pulled the bigger kids up the hill, unlike her mother, who at that same age would have needed to be pulled herself. She said that her feet never hurt because of all the pretty things to look at. She was the prettiest thing I could see. I loved watching her dance. Loved singing with her. That is the thing I miss most. She has the most amazingly wonderful voice. And that's not just because I am her mother. I miss that. Darn those evil people who took her confidence away from her. There is a special place in.... but I digress...
Ted.... Ted needs a hug. Ted is noble, kind and true. I love the little grin that is almost perpetually on his face. I love the unintentioned jokes that come from Ted. The Tedisms. One of my favorite stories is when he was about 8 or so, we were passing by a friends house and noticed that there were a lot of cops in the neighborhood. I remarked on this and he said, "Maybe they're just looking for the donut shop." Ask him what he thinks of the word Infatuation. I guess there was a Pokemon character that was called Infatuation, and he and his brother were arguing its merits. He said, "Infatuation is a stupid word for love anyway. It sounds like you have gas." I nearly died. I need that boy in my life. EVERY DAY.
Stephen the beautiful, Stephen the kind, Stephen the smelly.... I love my stinker. He is the voice of reason at times. He taught his socially awkward brothers how to have friends. He has always shared his friends with them. He is also the one who looks at me sideways with that evil little grin.... We get each other. I can't help it if he looks like an angel. How did Taylor Swift know???? LOL
Daniel... Danny boy. I love him. He is so interesting. He notices everything. He is very sensitive to how other people feel. Very interesting in an Aspie kid. He is also just a lot of fun to be around. Enthusiastic. Fun loving. LOVING. I hate it when the kids are mean to him. HATE IT. If they knew him, really knew him, they would never dare to be mean to him. He is too good.
Ashley is my evil twin. She plans things. She nags a good bit of the time. She worries. She is too much like me. I love it when she goes off on one of her little speeches about how she wants to be as a person. She is very kind hearted. I love it when she is smiling her clear and beautiful smile. It is an allusive smile that is hard to capture on film. I love her sense of fun. She loves to go and do. She is not content in the life of a couch potato. Even when Hannah Montanna is on. lol.
I love being married. I love my husband. I love how sometimes I find that he has done just the sweetest thing for me. I love it when he wants to discuss things with me. I love how we laugh at the same things. I love that we like the same music. I love that we can usually watch the same movies and love them. I love his kindness. I love his work ethic.
On this day of my birth, I am grateful for my family, those that raised me and those that let me be part of the miracle of their lives. I am grateful that I can learn still. YOU CAN TEACH AN OLD DOG NEW TRICKS. or at least an old lady.
I love my life. Even the imperfect parts.

Elder Teddy Report

Missionary Moments this week were fun. Ted discovered that on my line on the Lyons side, there is a line that stretches back into the distant past that includes scottish princesses, Old King Cole (I'm not kidding) and goes until 99 AD. On his dad's line he found a line that goes back to Norwegion Kings, Joan of Arc and again, Old King Cole. He was so excited to show his brothers and sisters this fun information. He might even begin to dabble in Mexican/Spanish genealogy and see if Emmanuel's line can hook us up with some Spanish nobility. He continues to do really well. He got his temple recommend signed by both the Bishop and Stake President so we are good to go on Saturday. Oh, and he wore his cute little badge to the Gila River Valley Temple open house that we attended this week. So I will post pictures of him when my drive is up and running. Right now it's not.

On Being a Mother

So today was Mother's Day. We actually celebrated mostly last night as I got my presents and we ate crab. I love crab. I love that they put it on sale for Mother's Day. They must know me. Randy fed into my obsession with cookbooks by buying me a ton of them. I am going to have some fun this summer experimenting. I don't even know which one will be my new favorite. (Although one of them is Alton Brown's cookbook. I am so excited about that one. I am a HUGE Alton Brown fan and have been for years.)
I was reflecting today on a Mother's day that must have taken place about 8 years ago. I had many expectations (not unreasonable to me) of having a relaxing soak in the tub, and then a leisurely getting ready for afternoon church and a nice day relaxing. I can't even remember what went wrong that day: whether it was illness, contention or what, but I do remember venting to my online looper friends about the crappy Mother's day I had had. One of those loopers, who was not able at the time to have children, lit into me about my bad attitude when some people would at least like to be able to have children. I have thought about that experience a lot since then. See, here is my deal. We each have things in our lives that make us happy and sad. We all have trials. My trials are not the same as your trials. Sometimes we have trials that are similar, but because we are different individuals we may not have the same experience in those trials. To try to equate or qualify our trials as better or worse than anyone else's might be doing ourselves a disservice. I mean, sure, she wasn't able to have children which was a huge deal. I get it. But to not even attempt to sympathize with someone having a bad day because you see your life as somewhat worse is not only not fair, but is kind of self absorbed. I think the worst trial we have to deal with in life is competitions and enmity. Trying to say that my day was better or worse than yours, or that my life is better or worse than yours, or that my kids are better or worse than yours is bogus. Life is what we have and it is what we make it. This year I have been trying to look into what it means to be humble, and the first quality you have to develop is the quality of being non-judgmental. That means that you can't say your life is any better or worse than mine, because you haven't lived in my skin. When someone is having a bad day, it doesn't make them feel any better to tell them that they have no reason to complain.
This dear soul has since had the opportunity to be a mother; she has adopted 4 darling children. It hasn't been easy for her. I wonder if she has had a less than perfect Mother's Day yet.... Does she dare complain about it if she does?
The biggest lesson I learned from that experience (my Bad Mother's Day) was not to expect anything from days like Mother's day. That way every gift, token or rememberence you get is like getting a tremendous bonus.
Another thing I have been thinking about is a study they talked about in the news recently that said that parents might be less happy than non-parents. I think this might be bogus. I think non-parents haven't been subjected to the pains of parenthood, therefore, according to the laws of opposition, they might not have experienced the intense joy that parenthood can give. Ashley has written me probably 5 to 10 notes on how much she loves me. Danny told me that my gift for Mother's Day was him. My son, who is in Haiti, and who hasn't really been talking to us for a little while wished me a Happy Mother's Day over Facebook. My Son-in-law sent me a little message too. Even though my hubby is gone to Boston for the week, he made sure that my house was clean for this day. My cup runneth over.

Elder Teddy: New report

A lot of my missionary mom friends out there are having a wonderful day today because they get to hear from their boys who are away. I am happy for them! I remember the days on my mission, calling my mother (hoping to get through the totally tied up phone lines on that day was a joke at times) I only had one out there I think.....yeah, but it was a good one.
I am lucky because I get to see my missionary grow right before my very eyes. It is weird to think that next year he might not be here, but in Salt Lake and working at redeeming the dead up there. He has had a lot of opportunities to work the floor this week. He has been the host, been at the copy center, helped people with computer issues, and hardest for him, worked the phones. He said that the second time was easier because the person training him didn't mess him up so badly that time. The phone thing is a point of nervousness with him, but I am encouraged that they actually used him on the phone and on the floor this week. That must mean that they trust him to help the public appropriately. He says he can't decide whether he likes going to class or working the floor better, because he is finding them both enjoyable.
The other momentous news this week is that we got a date for his temple endowment. It was quite the adventure. The bishop asked us to schedule the date before his birthday so that they can set him apart as a missionary right after his birthday, as this is the official start to his mission. I called and the lady at the appointment desk asked me if he was going on a mission. I told her that he was technically already on his mission, because he was serving at the Family History Library. She put me on hold and then got back on and told me that traditionally, missionaries called to service missions didn't get their endowments out to serve in that capacity. I would have to get the bishop to call and verify that the stake president knew what was going on. I was totally confused by this, I mean, I let her know that the bishop and stake president were the ones that had decided this. So Friday night, which was Stake Temple Night, we went in there, planning on meeting the bishop there and taking him in to talk to them on person (we had set this up ahead of time). The bishop never showed up (we later found out that this was because he and his wife had been asked to do sealings when they had come in... but I digress). Randy got antsy (and me too I might add) and decided to go see at least where to take the bishop when he did show up, and he talked to the lady at the appointment desk (hopefully not the same one but I didn't think so because our results were so not the same). She saw the temple president passing by and talked to him about our predicament, and found out that the sister who had told me to get the bishop to call in was in the wrong, it was not the temple's business to "screen" people before they could get their endowments, because if the stake president saw fit to give them a recommend, that was good enough for the temple. So we got a date, May 22, at 8:00 a.m. Reflecting on this experience has made me wonder at how hard it seems to be for Ted to get the wishes of his heart sometimes. He was really worried about the temple thing. I wonder what kind of strength and fortitude will be necessary for him to develop to live the life that Heavenly Father has in store for him. I am certain he will succeed. After all, he is MY son. Happy Mother's Day.

A smattering of randomness

Things never slow down in the Bell household. Last week was Ted's first week serving as a Family History Missionary, and it was a good one. They released me from Relief Society and let me have one of my favorite jobs, Primary Chorister for the Juniors. Hey I could be Janet and the Juniors.... but I digress. We are in the middle of an exciting remodel to our floors in the house. Randy, my hero, put in some beautiful tile in our hallway, and looking at it, you would never know that it's tile. And of course, next week is finals week so I had a huge paper due, another huge assignment due today and tests, and all that stuff. Next week looks very busy!

First things first, Ted got his mission badge yesterday. He is so excited about all of the new stuff he is learning. They put him on the phones yesterday, which I think made him a bit nervous, but he did it, and that's a huge thing. He has also been working the floor.


Second, about the Primary Chorister gig... When I was young, before the Church switched to the three hour block on Sundays, there was a thing known as Primary that was held in the middle of the week. I was called into service in the Primary when I was 15. I helped teach Sunbeams. I have worked on and off in the Primary for 32 years now. At one time I figured that I had spent more than half of my married life in Primary, which doesn't bother me in the slightest. I have this talent, ability, whatever... to get little kids to love me. I think it must be because I love them. Either that or it's that I smell like cookies. Primary chorister combines this ability of mine with one of my great passions, which is Primary music. I am loving the program song that goes with this year, "I Know that My Savior Loves Me." It has some great words! My favorite line is "The love that He felt for His little ones, I know He feels for me. I did not touch Him or sit on His knee, but Jesus is REAL to me." So powerful. Plus I get to color and be silly!

Third, the remodel. Wow. My husband is amazing. I always worry that we will start some big project and it will never get done and I will have a torn up house forever. This experience has not been like that at all. Within two weeks, even through Fathers and Sons, Home Teachers that insisted on coming over, random drop ins by the missionaries, and our general busy-ness, he has totally retiled my hallway. Look at this tile! Does it look like wood to you? Aren't we clever? The look we wanted without the fuss and fear of hardwood. I am sooooooo happy. My husband RULES!





School has been making me crazy. But yesterday one really awesome thing happened. I finally reached 26 hours in my fitness class which cinches my A. I am obsessed with A's. I don't know if I will get one in Math this time. I have a test today that I feel somewhat unprepared for. We have rushed through the last section and I don't feel like I have had sufficient time to assimilate the knowledge I need for this. (how's that for college speak? I just do that to annoy those who wanted me to promise not to speak like that when I went to college. snicker) I also have had huge English projects due this week and I have finals week next week! Calgon take me away.

The busy-ness will not be ending at finals. I am going to the Gila Valley Temple Open House next weekend with some of my all time favorite people, the Tribes. They will descend on us at around the same time Randy will be coming back from Boston. The flooring people are coming today to measure to put in new carpet! Hallilujah, you have no idea how awful my carpet is. I am still going to girl's camp and that stuff should be heating up this week. The kids are in "concert season" and band and ... and... and.... but it's a good thing, because I like to be busy. Not to mention that in the next two weeks I will move oh so much closer to that 50 year old mark.... Not there yet, but one step closer......

How is our missionary doing?

Well, for those of you who know and even for those who don't, Ted started his grand adventure at the Family History Center this week. He has been working from 8 until around 3 every weekday. It was fun to pick him up and ask him what he had learned that day. I think my favorite comment from him was something like, "Genealogy is exciting, and anyone who doesn't know that hasn't learned how to do it." There were a few insights that we had about this interesting mission experience that is so not typical.
First of all, Ted is learning stuff that most people his age have not interest in learning; he will be a big step ahead when the future as far as knowing how to do genealogy goes. It might even give him some hints as to what he would like to do long term. The other thing that Randy pointed out is that he will be learning things on this mission that he might not learn in any other place or time. I have had it confirmed to me, anyway, that this mission will also help Ted understand how unique and cool his brain is. At one point, someone was looking at some handwritten census records, trying to make sense of them, and Ted, with his thinking in pictures brain, was able to look and see exactly what was written. And this is before he has been set apart.
Second, it is giving him a unique chance to bond with some of the other missionaries, both that are his own age and those who are much older than him. Most young people don't see the value of older people fully. Ted will be in a wonderful place to find out the great benefit our older people can be to us if we let them.
Third, I have learned so much from this experience about my son, about the love of the Savior for him and for me, and tender mercies that are EVERYWHERE!

That is our missionary message of the week. We were at Deseret Book yesterday to get Ted a missionary journal and we saw this stuffed missionary bear called Elder Teddy. Do you think I could pass THAT up? It was a sign.