Author: alicewgold

I would like to state that I am a brunette, but now I am a mix of grey, white, brown, and blonde. I would also like to say that I am 150 pounds, but that would be a boldfaced lie. How about I say I am work in progress because that is the truth? A beautiful work in progress. I love the sound of my fingers tapping on the keyboard and my greatest hope is that something that I write will lift someone else on their journey.

Is America ready for a gay idol?

After last night’s results, I guess the answer is no.

Hey, but what about Clay Aiken? It sounds here likeClay wants America to know that he is straight. Good for him.
Sorry to DW who doesn’t like to read about AI. (Just a suggestion, you don’ t have to read every post) Despite the AI haters (such as DW) I am very happy that my four faves are still in.

I haven’t been feeling very good and it is really easy to throw up a post about Americal Idol. I will get back to a story, hopfully sooner rather than later.

The beauty of tulips
As I already mentioned, I was so touched by Lisa Leonard’s last post about her special needs son, David. I just adore these special kids and have more admiration for their mothers than anyone else in this world. Those mothers (and fathers) are truly angels on an errand for God.

Abigail’s teacher has a son with Downs Syndrome and I always tell Mrs. Webb how I am almost jealous. LG and I both think that Downs kids are the cutest in the world. Mrs. Webb, of course, feels the same way. She agreed with the following piece when referring to her experience with having her son:

I think that this little literary diddy can be applied to so many life experiences.

WELCOME TO HOLLAND

by Emily Perl Kingsley.

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability – to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel.

It’s like this……When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip – to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting.After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go.

Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, “Welcome to Holland.””Holland?!?” you say. “What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.”But there’s been a change in the flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It’s just a different place.So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.It’s just a different place. It’s slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy.

But after you’ve been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around…. and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills….and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy… and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there.

And for the rest of your life, you will say “Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned.”And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away… because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss. But… if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things … about Holland. c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved.

Fast Sunday

Mormons have a Fast Sunday every first Sunday of the month. We go without food and water for a 24 hour period as a way to gain greater spirituality, show our reliance on God, and give to the needy. (we give the money we would have used on the food to the poor)

Yesterday as we were driving home, Bella (my 4 year old) was telling me about primary. (Here is a photo of her leaving a typical church classroom)Bella loves her teacher, Sister Dennis. She had a great day and was especially happy for the chocolate chip cookies that her teacher had brought to share.

The teachers don’t always bring treats and they rarely do on Fast Sunday. (because even though children don’t usually fast, by not bringing treats it is a way to support the principle)

Bella says to me on the way home, “Mom, Sister Dennis must have forgotten that it is Fifth Sunday because she brought us cookies.” So much for having taught the principle! I responded, “Do you mean Fast Sunday, not Fifth Sunday?” She said, “Yeah, I guess.”

Tennessee Weather

Here is a picture of the girls in January at Grammy and Papa’s. They were thrilled to have a 1/4″ of snow. I had to let them go out at 10 PM to enjoy it…I knew the snow would be gone by morning.

Here are some photos I snapped around town last week when we got a good snow…as you can see it wasn’t a whole lot.

I snapped these photos while I drove the kids to school. (yes, I did drive and take pics at the same time) LG was taking the bar, or I would have been glad to have him do the snow school commute. I guess they didn’t close the schools down or at least start on a 2 hour delay because the weathermen predicted that this would be all we would get.
I am always a little afraid of TN icy roads. I went off the road into a ditch several years ago. When we get snow/ice conditions in TN everything shuts down. It only happens a few times a year and so they aren’t equipped to handle it…everyone just stays home and waits for it to melt away. And it is true that our icy roads are totally more slick than those out in the dessert.

So, on my way home from dropping the kids off, I started getting really stressed. The kids school is a 20 minute drive away, and I was driving through a pretty good downpour on the way home. I would have to go back and get them later in the day, and I was worried about navigating through it all after it piled up all day.

I was listening to talk radio. (while driving, snapping photos, and talking to Bella) People were calling in to the show and reporting treacherous conditions in different parts of town while the talk jock kept saying repeatedly that he hates snow. One woman called in from the west side of town and reported blue skies…I thought she was kidding and trying to cheer up the talk show host…until I hit the interstate…here is what I saw…

And now you know why all Tennesseans know to constantly check the weather!

I was wrong.

I rarely admit it, but because two people so kindly corrected me, I kind of have to let you all know that I am better informed now.

It wasn’t Alaina that does the impressions. It is Kady Malloy. Here is her you tube from last night.

The good news, now I am not at all bummed that Alaina is gone…maybe we will get one more good impression from this girl before she goes. 🙂

American Idol Results

I was at the church last night for a visiting teaching conference and so I missed the results show.

Our Zion’s Army was a lot of fun! In TN, it seems that we have a hard time getting sisters out for stuff like this. The conference combined two wards and there were still only about 30 women there. The ones who didn’t attend really missed out. The food was great and so was the company. Our army training workshops were also a lot of fun!

I checked out the results this morning on american idol.com. I was pretty confident that my favorites weren’t going anywhere.

I am pleased with America’s choices, but I am a little sad about Alaina…I think she has potential…I hope she will start her own impressionist talent show in Vegas someday..her impressions are amazing, and supposedly her singing is too, but unforutnately, she was never able to pull it out.

If I were on the show, I would rather be booted now than later. I mean really, why prolong the misery if you have no chance of winning anyway? And, that, ladies and gentlemen, proves my competitive spirit.

lisa leonard…no way!

Look at what Cally got for her birthday…We are all so jealous!

Really, Cally, you should have let Lori get one first, she was the one to tell us about lisa leonard. But, I guess you can’t control the best sister ever. Can you ask her to share her love language with us on our next birthdays? (LG, I know you are reading…FYI…I just read this page and I think I would love any love language you want to give:) I’m not picky, I’ll take whatever it is you want to give….a gift of value, a date, a massage, words of affirmation, whatever, you are so good at all of them)

Speaking of lisaleanord, check out her latest post about her son…so sweet!

How safe is your neighborhood?

My sister sent me this link. You can type in your address and find out exactly how close convicted sex offenders live from your home.

www.familywatchdog.us

I really wish I wouldn’t have looked at this, but I am glad to be informed that I have one directly behind my back fence!!! Scary! I guess the kids will not be playing outside without me this summer! It’s lookin like it’s time to move. But, with how many squares were on this map in the whole city of Knoxville, it is looking like it may be time to buy a gun and move out to the country.

Man, Shannon, I thank you for informing me, but I really am not going to be happy with my loss of sleep! Why do have to do that to me? You know how anxietal I am.