It's a Random Day in the Neighborhood

(Image from http://images.gizmag.com/gallery_lrg/yachtdesignsfloatingislandmegayacht.jpg)

The picture has nothing to do with anything, (I guess that makes it random) except that I think it's kind of pretty, kind of cool, and incredibly ridiculous. Whoever owns this yacht is sailing the seas asking for pirates to overtake them, steal their fortune, ravage their women, and say something scary like, "Now ye'll walk the plank."

Yesterday was my last child's last Primary Sacrament meeting program. I watched him sing the songs and say his part from memory and felt a mixture of pride and sadness. Next year he'll be sitting beside us and we'll be smiling at other people's children.

I'm having a love/hate relationship with Pinterest. It's fun and interesting to see what interests other people, but I DON'T REALLY HAVE TIME FOR IT. I need to finish my book. But does that stop me from looking at all the food and fashion and homes and food and furniture and art and food? No, it does not.

It's going to be a lovely thing having Veronica work at Great Harvest. She came home today with a loaf of pumpkin chocolate chip bread. Mmm hmm. 

If only we didn't have to buy things like tires and toilet paper, we could buy more cool things like shoes and books and treats.

Speaking of treats, my husband discovered Beyond Glaze. It's a donut place with gourmet donuts. They have something called the maple bacon donut. Sounds strange, but let me assure you. It's delicious. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best donut he's ever tasted, he scored it a 10.

Our family had a big, 10 family yard sale on Saturday to fund next year's family reunion. We had four tables piled high with clothes--many of them really nice, name-brand clothes. For logistical reasons (and not because of their worth), we priced all clothes 3 for $1.00. That's 33 cents for jeans, blouses, dresses, maternity clothes, beautiful baby clothes, hoodies, etc. One woman spent more than an hour carefully picking out the best clothes. She filled two yard-size black garbage bags and asked for all of it for $8.00. Really? We counted it and discovered that she had 84 items in there ($28.00). We offered it to her for $20. She opted to pick through it and eliminate some. She came back 45 minutes later with one overstuffed bag and asked if we'd take $8 for that bag. We recounted and it came to a little over $20. I offered it to her for $15. She huffed and puffed, reminded us that "this is a yard sale, you know," to which my sister said, "that's why we're selling the clothing for 33 cents each" and then the woman said she'd go through it again. A half an hour later, she came back through with one moderately stuffed bag (still full of the best things) and asked if we'd take $5. We counted it again and it came to over $15. I offered it to her for $10. She steamed, set it aside, told me she wasn't taking any of it and informed me that I'd wasted her morning. Then she marched to her Lexus SUV and drove away in a rage. I was thrilled to have lost her business. Really!

I hope this doesn't get me struck down, but in my effort to read the entire Standard Works while my son is on his mission for our church, I now find myself reading The Old Testament. I've already read The Book of Mormon and The New Testament and I loved them. The Old Testament is killing me. There are some wonderful stories, but to get to them I'm having to slog through some things that I'm not really enjoying. So much murder, genocide, incest and adultery and more that I don't really want to talk about. I wish I'd read this first and that it was behind me.

And finally--I love Fall. The sky seems bigger and bluer. The clouds seem whiter and fluffier. The breeze makes my skin feel cold and alive. The trees haven't put on their colorful clothes yet, but I feel it. It's there and it's wonderful. I'm ready for jeans and cardigans and boots. I'm ready for reds and yellows and oranges. I'm ready for General Conference weekend and pajamas and cinnamon rolls and hot cocoa.