I love painting!!!!

I've started an oil painting, and I'm so excited about it. I got the first layer painted, with the darkest hues. I've been trying to come up with ideas for paintings, but all of them were lacking and I got bored with them before I had a chance to sketch them out. Last night I had a dream where I saw in clear detail exactly what to paint. I woke up surprised because it was a perfect idea, exactly what I want to paint and I could see it so clearly, everything from composition, to color scheme. I have never been so inspired. It's not necessarily an inspirational painting, but I felt inspired as to what to paint. I'm not telling you what it is yet, only that it will be impressionistic in nature. I'm certain I'll have some pictures of it up soon.

Rain Rain Go Away.

I feel like blogging today hoping maybe it will help me feel better.

Today has been one of the saddest days of my life. I'm not going to explain it all here, that's too personal, and I'm sure it's not something everyone wants to read about. I did want to say some things I've learned from my sadness.

1. I have a testimony in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and in the Book of Mormon. I know it's true in my heart and in my soul.
2. You choose who you will be, and if you don't choose you might find you don't like the person you have become, so choose. (original quote taken from the Iron Giant, and modified by me a little).

3. Teenagers are hard, and I do not look forward to having them. Can I just sleep through that part? j/k. But, I pray and hope that a mighty miracle will happen and my children will not greatly rebel. You want the best for them, you want them to grow up happy and you know which things will bring them the greatest happiness, and which things will bring them only sadness and pain. I don't know everything, but I do know some basic things about what brings happiness and what brings pain, and I hope that if nothing else my children will believe me on the important things. If they want to question the health benefits of broccoli, oh well, but the big choices in life that are most important, I hope they believe me and choose well.


4. I've gotten to the point on certain trials or things that bring me great sorrow where I feel so helpless, I've done all I possibly can. And I realized that the only way out of the problem would be for a miracle from Heavenly Father, for Him to send help. So I believe in God, and miracles, and the power of prayer.


There was a video on MSN a while ago about an LDS mother whose 16 month old son had drowned in the bath tub and he had been pronounced dead at the hospital. They were able to finally get a heartbeat after 40 minutes or so of trying (i'm not sure if that's total or just once they got the hospital), but he was in a coma. the doctors told the parents that the likelihood of him coming out of the coma was slim, and that he probably would have to re learn everything. He did come out of the coma, and was not brain dead and was the same boy they knew. The interviewer was asking the parents questions about them leaving the baby un-attended in the bath tub, and the mother sat there on national television and bore her testimony on the power of prayer. Her testimony moved me so much, to see her say it on national tv. I knew that what she said was true. God made it possible that her son got the right doctors who knew the right methods to use, it was through God that he was saved.


So, back to my original point, I believe that Heavenly Father will help. We don't always know how and when, and we don't always recognize it when it happens, but it will happen.

Toddler drowing article and video, I highly recommend watching the video:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/35820985/ns/today-today_people/

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/35833923#35833923

Random

Random thoughts today.

Ethan has been struggling with temper tantrums lately, but with the help of some good advice and comforting from friends, it seems to be abating. We can hope right? Things I've learned so far in parenting (and I'm positive there are those who would disagree, but so be it): Spanking does not work. I don't like to spank, and I don't believe in spanking, but there have been moments where I've chosen to spank, and I've come to the realization it doesn't work, and it just creates more hostility. My goal is to try hard to find alternative methods of "discipline" that are more positive and actually produce results. Positive parenting seems to help a lot (noticing and praising good behaviour, distraction/difusing through humor, etc), as does time out, when done properly. I am amazed at how much parenting changes you and how much I have grown and changed since becoming a parent. It might not seem like much to others, but to me it seems like I've changed a lot. Many more years to go right?

I miss Costco. I went to the store today to buy diapers and found that they don't carry the size Ethan wears (he wears them while he's sleeping, and on really long car rides or for babysitters whom I don't want to overwhelm with potty training my child). So, I headed over to walmart, to find that the huggies were overpriced. I decided to go with the walmart brand, thinking that since they are mostly for sleeping, quality wouldn't matter. I was surprised when I got home and pulled one out of the box. It was extremely thin and flimsy, there wasn't much to it... I'm not too sure how much those things can handle.

I LOVE my new home. It's still very disorganized, but it will eventually all get unpacked and put away. I am waiting for some warm weather to do yard work. I love yard work, but I hate the cold, so it will just have to wait. It gives me time to plan out what I want to do, right?