15 Authors

I was tagged on Facebook, and thought it would make a decent blog post so here it is:

I don't remember Authors very well, but I love to read so here goes

Laura Ingalls Wilder- My first set of books, which I devoured then and still love now.

CS Lewis- It started with Narnia, and was firmly cemented in my heart with ScrewTape.

Charlotte Bronte- Jane Eyre is my very favorite book, and I'm not even sure why.

Lucy Maude Montgomery- Anne how I love thee and always, always will.

Shel Silverstein- 'Homework oh Homework...' Memorized this poem in 4th grade, still remember half of it, and I think it was by Silverstein.

Louisa May Alcott- Little Women is simply lovely and her other stories (the sequels and '(An) Old Fashioned Girl') are equally so.

David Eddings- I found The Belgariad series on the schhol library shelf in 6th grade and was promptly swept up on the world. My first taste of modern Fantasy, and now my most read genre

Orson Scott Card- Ender's Game was not my first of his books. I think I started with Alvin Maker. Then there was his retelling of Sleeping Beauty. I've read every book of his I've found, some were definitely better than others. But it was 'The Worthing Saga' that really struck a chord.

Sheri Dew- We read a couple of her books for book group, and they really made a difference in my life. I still remind myself to be wary of the Three C's- Compare Compete Categorize. We do it all the time, but it's very damaging.

JK Rowling- So this one may be a cop out, but I can remember the name and Harry will always stay with me, sorry Paolini and Meyer you don't make the cut.

L. Frank Baum Wizard of Oz, hey it's a classic.

Lewis Carrol- I recommend that someday you actually go read Alice in Wonderland, what a trip! He''s almost as influential as Shakespeare on modern writing I think- lots of people refer to the things he created in his books when writing childrens fantasy.

Mark Twain- Huckleberry Finn. Read it, the unabridged version. Marvel at a vagabond you have respect for and develop a desire to kick the symbol of boyhood in the pants.

William Shakespeare- My favorite class in High School was the Shakespeare class. It's actually quite fun to read, even if sometimes you have to slow down and re read it to understand the Elizabethan English.

JRR Tolkien- The movies are great fun. But, reading The Hobbit should be on your bucket list. Just for the fun of it.

Now you've read mine- you're tagged! Either comment with a few, or post and let me know in the comments so I can read it. Here are the directions

Don't take too long to think about this. List fifteen authors (poets included) who have influenced you and will always stick with you. List the first 15 you can recall in no more than 15 minutes. They do not need to be listed in any particular order. Tag at least 15 friends, including me, because I'm interested in seeing my friends' choices.

Month of Gratitude and Counting Blessings

Wow, what a brilliant idea. I got the idea from DeNae at My Real Life Was Backordered. I've been needing to count my blessings anyways. So for this month there will be at least 30 things I'm grateful for. One per day. Maybe more because I do have quite a list, and I'm going to try and name them one by one. Will you please fill up the comment boxes with some things that you are grateful for???

Nov 1st- This day I was especially grateful for Sacrament Meeting. Specifically Testimony meeting. I got to sit in Sacrament meeting with all of Jeff's brothers and sisters, I got to hear the wonderful testimonies of his mother and grandmother. And wondrously, the very first person who got up to bear a testimony was not a family member and spoke directly to me. About Counting Blessings (imagine that). I'm even grateful for FASTING. I pulled it off for the first time in probably 2 years, I tried once earlier but was nursing too often and got sick. Now that we are weaning I was able to fast, and it was wonderful. So there you go, I am GRATEFUL for Fast Sunday.

Nov 2nd- I am grateful for Doctors and generally good health. Harvey had a frightful coughing fit last night, and I got him an appointment in the morning. It's just and ear infection/sinusitis. No pneumonia, but if it was starting then the antibiotics for the earache should help any infection in the respiratory too. Despite the weeks of snot and coughs, there have been no fevers. Jeff is well and able to work. I am well and able to care for the kids. Abby is well and able to go to school. The boys, well they will be well soon!

Nov 3rd- I am grateful for my Saggy Baggy Elephant skin. Ok, really I hate it. But I'm grateful for it too. Why??? Well because, it's a mark of something I had to overcome. It's a mark of general improvement that I never thought was possible. I certainly hope that weight training will reduce the saggy baggies. It may never, but until it does I will be grateful that I no longer fill that skin so well. My kids may never need to be grateful for saggy baggies of their own.

A challenge and some thoughts.

Today our Sunday School teacher ch alleged us to memorize the 4th section of the Doctrine and Covenants. It is only 7 verses. Anyone that can recite it next week will get an hour and a half scenic plan ride. Which would just be really cool. I'd love to fly over this area, (actually I'd like to hang glide over all of these mountains and I really love the Zions Cinemax movie for that reason). But even before Brother Elliott offered such a fantastic bribe I thought I would try and memorize it. Especially verse 6 which struck me with an interesting thought. First the verse

D&C 4:6 Remember faith,virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence.

My first observation was that it reminded me of the Young Women theme, which I can still rattle off pdq. Next I started giving myself a personal review using this checklist. Faith- I've got that one, understand what it is, etc. Virtue, once again check. Knowledge, hmm knowledge is one that I all too easily put on the shelf- just because I'm a mommy now doesn't mean I need to stop learning, I'd like to find ways to keep expanding my knowledge. Temperance ??? Patience, oh yes I've heard of that- you shouldn't actually pray for it because it will be tried(reeeaaallly tried), right? Brotherly Kindness I'm always reminding my kids about this one. Godliness, Charity, Humility,- pretty sure I understand what all of these can entail. And I'm not there yet, have no expectations of being 'done' with any of them. These are a day by day, drop by drop set of standards. Diligence- I guess this is what I use to try and apply all of the previously mentioned ones. Diligence is definitely a necessity if you want any of the others.
But back to Temperance, aren't Temperance and Patience redundant? This is what really made me stop and think, and they are thoughts I'd like to share. Temperance. When glass, chocolate, and other things are tempered heat is applied as part of the process. The end result smooth and even. Tempered. even. smooth. consistent. Aha I GET it. I understand the definition of TEMPER. You know- the one which I have a family and personal history of just losing. Patience is the ability to wait and not worry, which really has very little to do with Temperance. I can be pretty patient and wait for good things. I'm not perfect at it, especially if I'm hungry and it smells good. But Patience I actually have a reasonable amount of. Temperance is another story. To have Temperance I need to be smooth, even, and consistent. That which is truly tempered does not crack and break easily, it can withstand more than the untempered. If I have Temperance I am not going to start taking my personal dissappointments out on others. My voice will remain steady and even, it will not shriek. My actions will reflect forethought and action, not reaction to the moment. My actions will be consistent. My jaw will not tense up along with the rest of me.

From now on instead of praying for Patience I am going to be more honest and ask that I can be more Tempered. I will keep in mind that being Tempered requires HEAT, stirring, and TIME. I'm also going to take Brother Elliott up on that challenge. I'm rather hoping that my whole family will be able to go, I think the kids would like it too.