Sometimes I hurt for news from an LDS perspective. I think I’ve found my fix though. I “discovered” Deseret News online, primarily the LDS Newsline page. Just in time for Pioneer Day which is not being celebrated per se here. The youth are doing a service project tomorrow though.

Jerry Johnston is a featured columnist on the LDS Newsline page, and I enjoy his articles. Another columnist I enjoy is Orson Scott Card although he is also online.

Another one is—help me with her name, somebody—syndicated out of (I think) Phoenix. I haven’t seen her column in a long time! Like the last time my mother sent me a clipping out of the Deseret News.

Sigh. On top of not getting to read those very often, I’m losing our Wall Street Journal Aug. 1 with some columnists there that I love. I guess I should be happy because we received an extra month for being long-time subscribers. Six months. Sad commentary on how much people read the newspapers. The Journal, in my opinion, excels at researching their topics, especially the more serious ones. They also have editorial commentators from both sides of the equation represented. If we just had more frequent-flyer miles to resubscribe . . . .

I guess I’ll have to make do with the online Journal.

P.S. Funnybone: I just noticed that health care and IT industries are booming. Apparently, people and computers still get sick. Hope you got a chuckle out of it too! At least if you’re in the IT side of the house. My sympathies to those who are sick.

The pen to Jim’s Graphire tablet is lost. Because of that, we have been searching through the family room where it was last seen and lost.

In the process, I have finally cleaned out a box of stuff that I haven’t wanted to sort through. I found some pictures we thought we had lost and a 2005 calendar that had all of the daily activities marked in it. True treasures!

I also found a poem I have saved for years that I’m going to share today. It’s what I needed to hear; maybe it will help you too.

A Day at a Time

I don’t wish to know tomorrow,

For the trials of today,

Are enough to keep me busy,

Here on life’s pathway.

God in all of His wisdom

Could so easily see,

One day at a time

Was enough for me.

No need to be anxious

For what the future holds.

God must prepare you

As each day unfolds.

So Lord, I trust you.

The future is all Thine.

Just help me to live

One day at a time.

–Dottlee Duggan Reid

That’s all I can say about the smell coming from Shaundra’s room.

The ironic part is that her room is clean.  Cleaner than it has been in months.  More stuff free than in years.

You’d think it would be easy to locate the source of the smell.

It  hasn’t been.

But tonight . . . tonight I brought my husband into the room and convinced him to start sniffing.

He found it.

An old, rotten baseball she found outside under the shed.  Probably the one the kids lost last summer.

Pee-eeww!

It must be about a week and a half before belt rank testing. It never fails, Steven starts complaining about going to all the classes they have been attending, but when the time comes, he’s the first one on his bike to go. I think it’s the jitters of knowing it’s almost time to test.

In case you’re wondering, I do not “require” them to attend, but I do point out that it is to their advantage to go as much as possible. As James said, Steven didn’t have to stay for the second class. He has his own set of wheels. Steven didn’t appreciate that observation.

BTW, they will be testing for high green.  Each “cycle” is 3 months long, but they don’t automatically qualify to test.

Today I felt a little lost.  Our school day was derailed so I didn’t feel like I accomplished anything.  Then I remembered that I cut out a shorts outfit for my daughter a couple of months ago.  So I sewed it together.  No facings, just a simple pattern.  And it’s done!

I was amazed that I actually got it done in a few hours!  She kept asking if it was done yet (after the first seam.) In fairness, she has periodically asked when I was going to sew it for the last two months.  She masked her disappointment when I said I wasn’t going to finish it because I was afraid it would be too small.  It wasn’t so I’m very glad I finished the project.