Reflections About my Social Media Fast

Hello Blog! It's been a while!

I wrote about my experience with my 10-Day Social Media Fast, and wanted to post my thoughts here.

Enjoy!

Note: Click on the pop-out arrow to view my article at its regular size. :)

Remembering September 11th

 12 years ago...
I was walking to my job on campus. I was behind two girls and overheard them talking about the twin towers getting hit and collapsing. I couldn't imagine something like that ever happening and assumed they must be talking about a new movie or TV show. I remember thinking, "What an awful, tragic plot! I won't be seeing THAT movie!"

When I got to work (the computer lab where I taught family history), there weren't any students there, which was a bit surprising. A few minutes later my supervisor came in and told me I needed to see what was happening on TV. I did, and watched in horror as the news program re-played the towers being hit. 

I was in shock. I was numb.
I went to High School in Maryland and our family had visited the twin towers on one of our trips to New York. I had friends and friend's parents in NYC and had no idea how to get a hold of them.
I was scared.

We watched the news and cried, and a little bit later we closed the computer lab and I went to the BYU devotional. I remember that the President of BYU (Brigham Young University), President Bateman, gave a speech (http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=249) calling for hope and also for kindness for others. I was surprised by that, because retaliation against others at our school wasn't something that would have ever come to my mind.

Afterwards, there was a prayer offered and it brought me a great amount of peace.
The rest of the day is a blur in my memory.
I think classes were cancelled for everyone. I went back to my apartment and watched the news with my roommates. After work, my friend Keith (now my husband!) picked me and my brother up, and we went to my parent's house.

We had dinner there, watched the news, talked about what was happening, and prayed as a family. We cried as we mourned for those who had died or been injured, for their families, for our country, and for the loss of innocence...

I still reflect on that day with sadness and with reverence. Images that now come to mind are of the policemen, firemen, and other responders who displayed such heroic acts for their fellowmen, with no thought for themselves.

In the years since, I have found great peace through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I have faith that my Savior can heal all wounds. I know that families can be together even after this life. I don't understand all things, but I do know that God loves His children.

In Malachi, the Savior is compared to a refiner's fire (http://www.lds.org/scriptures/ot/mal/3?lang=eng#3), where, like silver, impurities are cleansed through difficult circumstances. Personally, September 11th was like a refiner's fire for me. After struggling through the days and months that followed, I now have a deeper testimony of peace than I did before. I feel closer to my Heavenly Father and have a greater love for my fellowmen. Ordinary people went out of their way to help others, and in hearing their stories of love and sacrifice, I am humbled to see how much good we are capable of.

My children have no memory of September 11th, but I hope that I can use my experiences to teach them to help others, look for the good in the world, and to remember that through God we can find peace.

Broken Washer? Sigh

Yesterday I woke up and our washer wouldn't drain or spin. I fiddled with it for about 5 minutes and finally got it to work again.

Did another load of laundry and then had to spend 10 minutes getting it to advance to the rinse/spin cycle. Did a third load, spent 20 minutes trying to get it to advance, and gave up.

I did some research last night and think it's something with the timer connections. Tonight we picked up a washer from a nice lady from Freecycle, hooked it up, and discovered that it leaks. Sigh. Keith put some special tape on the tubes on the back and it still leaks. He's going to look at it again tomorrow.

In the meantime we have a towel soaking up the excess water under the washer. But hey, I'm slowly digging into "Mt. Clothesmore", so that's good, right?! :)

The Hippie Sister

A few weeks ago I read about a new way of cleaning your face. You use a mixture of olive oil and castor oil, do some meditation and imagine how you'd like your skin to look, steam your face with a warm washcloth, and then wipe off any excess oil. The olive and castor oils naturally draw the oils in your skin out and keep your face smooth, clean, and moisturized.

Here's the original article: http://www.theoilcleansingmethod.com/

I thought I might as well try it. Not because my skin is particularly bad or anything, but because I ran out of Mary Kay face cleanser several months ago and have just been using water to clean my face lately. I figured this new "oil cleansing method" couldn't hurt!

So far I've had great success with it. My face feels nice, I take a few minutes to meditate and relax every night, and my skin does look better! Of course I made up a little bottle of oil cleanser for each of my sisters and my Mom (always trying to get them into my crazy ways!)

I need to change the amount of olive oil a little because my face is actually a bit too dry. So far I've been using about 70% extra virgin olive oil, 30% castor oil, 8 drops of tea tree oil, and 4 drops of lavender oil. I'm thinking I'll add some more of the olive oil and see if that works better for my skin.

Anyway, today my sister Tami shared a conversation she had with her fiance Robbie. It went something like this...

Tami: So I started this new way of cleaning my face. I use this mixture of oils and tea tree oil and such.
Robbie: Huh, doesn't that just make your face oily?
Tami: Not really, because the oils from the cleanser draw out the oils from your face!
Robbie: Is this something that your hippie sister Tina got you into?
Tami: Uh, yes.

Muahahaha! (Rubs hands together and laughs maniacally) My plot to convert my family to my crazy ways is working!

Yes, my family (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.) refer to me as a "hippie" because of the strange things I do.

I decided I should look up "hippie" because when I think of that term images of a tie-dye-wearing, non-showering, drug-using, vegetarian, anti-government, flower child come to mind. And I don't follow any of those.

But some of the descriptions of hippies could certainly be used to label me:

- a person with a non-conformist state of mind. Non-conformist in the sense that they don't conform to the socially accepted

- "back to the earth" lifestyle

- 'free spirited', or having 'alternative views'

- content to throw away the idea of fitting into society's norms

So I guess I am a hippie!

Here's a silly ongoing list of my "hippie-ways":

- Use Natural Family Planning (NFP) based on Toni Weschler's book "Taking Charge of Your Fertility"
- Chart my monthly cycles
- Use HypnoBirthing to have drug-free, mostly painless (honestly! It was amazing!) childbirths
- Make my own cloth nursing and menstrual pads (so much more comfortable than icky plastic!)
- Sew baby carriers (slings) so I can carry the kiddos around when they're little
- Started cloth diapering our boys when our second child was born and it was too dang expensive to buy disposables for two kids!
- Learned how to sew my own cloth diapers and training pants for our kids
- Started sewing their clothes, bedding, quilts, etc.
- Use homeopathic medicines when we can (Neti Pots for sinus irrigation, Hyland's homeopathic medicines for teething, colds, flu, etc.)
- Amber necklaces for natural teething remedy when the boys were young, and for me to help with menstrual pains
- Natural cleaners for the house
- Hand-made with natural ingredients: soaps, shampoos, and deodorants
- Clean my face every night with oil ("Oil Cleansing Method")

Huh. I guess there are a lot of things on that list that go against society's norms.

So thanks for the compliment Robbie; I'm guess I'm glad to be a hippie.

Oh, what color bottle would you like me to use for your oil cleanser?

Headaches Should Be Outlawed

Today I woke up with a headache. I mean a really huge whopper of a headache. Pounding in my right temple and between my eyes. Threatening to make me faint if I happened to stand up too quickly. My sweet husband (K2) had gone with the Scouts for the “annual scout/family hike” in the canyon and I attempted to sleep off the pain.

And then the doorbell rang. And I was really tired and my head was killing me. I made my way downstairs and whomever it was had already left. So I locked the door, took a couple of tylenol, went back up to bed, and discovered that AJ was now awake. He climbed into our bed and I attempted to go back to sleep.

Two and a half frustrating hours later the phone rang. AJ had been waking me up every 20 minutes. On the phone was my sweetheart asking if the boys had slept in their beds and if so, did I want him to get slurpies for them? Yes! Please do. And could you bring me a gatorade too?

K2 arrived soon afterward with fantastic, sugary beverages in hand. I turned on a movie for the kids, made a couple of sandwiches for me and K2, and joined him in the study where I hoped to drink my gatorade and work on a Twitter design for a client in peace. Several minutes later AJ came in and insisted on sitting with me.

Have you ever tried working in Photoshop with a toddler who bumps your hand every few seconds? It's quite difficult. And I still had the pounding-headache-of-doom. I took some anti-allergy medicine and one sudafed, hoping that would be the magic cure. And AJ continued to climb on me like I was the human jungle gym.

I told K2 that I was trying to enjoy the moment. I know AJ will grow up someday and not need me as much as he does now, but I admit that it's hard to fully enjoy being climbed on when your head is pounding and you just want to climb into a deep, dark hole.

I finally finished up my client's design and started re-working my Twitter account. After a couple more hours (and lots of refills of chocolate milk for the boys' sippy cups), I finally gave up, took one excedrine, and sat on the couch watching “Aristocats” with the kids. AJ of course snuggled up to me and I put pressure on my right eye, which seemed to help for some strange reason.

AJ fell asleep (finally!) and I took the opportunity to lay him on our bed and take a hot shower. Since it was 5:00pm I decided it was about time to take off my plush purple robe and get somewhat ready for the day. Afterwards, I fell asleep for a couple of hours.

I woke at 8:00pm to the wonderful smell of chinese food! K2 must have gotten hungry and decided I was in no state to cook. Bless him. I woke up AJ and we made our way downstairs. K3 was playing games on Nick Jr. on my computer (his dad was playing WoW on his computer), so I dished up some soup for me and AJ and we sat on Uncle David's couch to eat.

A few minutes later K3 went into the kitchen. “What are you doing honey?” “I can't tell you, it's a surprise.” I heard the ice maker going and then the freezer water and thought, “Wow, what a fantastic son! Just what I need.” And then K3 brought AJ a little sippy cup with water, and me a nice, big glass of water and ice...with yogurt on the side of the glass? I thanked K3 and he beamed with pride and ran back into the study.

And then I realized the yogurt-encrusted glass had come from the dishwasher full of dirty dishes. So I hurried and got up, made myself a new glass of water with ice, and hid the gross glass in the kitchen sink so as to not offend K3. AJ and I took turns eating the Wor Wonton soup. And by the time we finished my head was feeling much, much better. I think I'm going to survive.

Some days are harder than others. And some days are made much better by chinese food ordered by a loving husband.


PS – Honey? I agree with you. The regular wonton soup IS better than the wor wonton. But any chinese food is better than having to cook. Thank you. :)