A social media fast is very US-based. I'm sure there are places where they don't even know what social media is or have never used it. It's not dropping it forever, though. Just 10 days and I feel like it's for *us.* He talked about writing down your impressions and thoughts and feelings as you go along and how you are changed from being off social media. Social media can be good, but more often it is bad if just because we are seeing the curated version of our friends lives and thinking we are just not as cool as they are. I have a friend who said she won't be doing the 10-day fast because she did the 7-day along with the youth back in June. She found that there is a lot of good on social media and she unfriended and unfollowed and recentered herself through that fast so that now it's an uplifting thing for her rather than something that pulls her down. I really think she found the exact reason for it. Particularly because you are in a rather unique situation, provided you already have a good balance for yourself where social media is concerned, a social media fast could be negative for you due to the isolation rather than positive due to the recentering and balancing my friend found. As for me, I'll be doing it because I need it and I know I need it.

He said to study about the temple and learn all you can about it. It does, but it doesn't seem to anymore. And Latter-day Christians would seriously give traditional Christians even more ammo against us I think. President Nelson said to say we're members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so I'm going with it, being a long mouthful and all.

Our temple is also currently closed for extra renovations. It'll open the second week of November I think. He did say something about if you don't live near a temple to study more about the temple. I was thinking since I definitely can't go to the temple for another month, I might do that. I figure even those of us that regularly go could do to learn more. I found it really awkward at first, but now it doesn't seem much different than home teacher or visiting teacher. I've had to explain what home teacher or visiting teacher means to many people. I wonder if ministering brother or sister would actually make more sense to some evangelical types. That still leaves out Jesus Christ's name and including His name seems to be the whole point. Guess we just have to get used to the whole mouthful of our name. Oh, man. That would definitely be awkward!

Yes! I jokingly set one of the Conference Candy words for this session as anything related to the Second Coming... and they've gotten quite a bit of candy because of it. They've gotten more from that than the other word I picked (scriptures). It really does seem to be more common. We had Stake Conference two weeks ago and Elder Maynes came (he's a Seventy) and he started the adult session by saying how the prophet is keeping up a pace to usher in the second coming. I don't remember hearing references to gathering Israel, hastening the work, etc. quite so often.

I think he said doggy paddle.

The home and individuals one looks absolutely amazing.

So I was just telling Jamie and Ani that you recognized him and they're like, "He's not the bishop's kid anymore..." I totally forgot lol The bishop was released a couple weeks ago, right at the 5 year point since we became a ward. Now we have Bishop Fisher!

I'm already reading the Book of Mormon currently. I've been doing one chapter a day and am up to 2 Nephi 5. I figured up that based on the number of days left in the year and the number of chapters I have left, I need to increase my reading to an average of 2 1/4 chapters a day. Sad to say that'll be easy given the time freed up by not going on Facebook or Twitter. I spend *far* too much time on those and I know it. I started reading the Illustrated Book of Mormon to my younger two boys a couple weeks ago. It's 8 volumes. We're a bit more than halfway through the first volume. We decided we'll read a little more each night and try to finish that by the end of the year, too.

I noticed that our fast was longer. Interestingly, I've been thinking about doing one myself because, um, political things have been too much recently. So I'll be doing it.

I'm sitting on the couch watching from my own house. It's all good ?

He's going to be serving in Honduras right where the Kimballs are living which is kind of crazy.

Yes! That was Dan!

And we're back!

I've been a nursery leader for over a year now so I was really hoping for two hour church. I love the babies, but I feel worn out like I've run a marathon every Sunday after church. 50 minutes of nursery will be so nice. Also, if it means we don't feed them a snack (and I assume we won't), it'll save so much money. I just recently bought $50 worth of snacks and we hope it'll last 6-8 weeks and we only have 10-12 kids any given Sunday! They eat a *lot* at snack time. We also recently took Adrian off his ADD meds because of an insurance/pediatrician issue and discovered he was having some side effects we didn't realize he was having because they happened so gradually. It's turned out good that we had to take him off the Adderall, but two hours of primary is HARD for him on medication. He was having a lot of trouble controlling himself by the end of church this past Sunday. 50 minutes of primary is going to be so much better for him. He has gotten to the point (even on meds) where he says he hates church and I really don't like hearing that from him and I know it's because it's just so long for him to focus. I really hope shorter primary will help kids like him. Of necessity, we have had Family Home Evening on Sundays. My oldest son works full time as a taekwondo instructor so Sunday works best for us. I'm pretty down with this homeschool church thing. I've been using Scripture Study for Latter-day Saint Families: Doctrine and Covenants with my 10 and 12 year old boys in school this year and it's been amazing for all of us. I love learning with them.

I just pour some on and rub it with a cotton ball. The ink just sort of disappears.

Rubbing alcohol. Works every time for me.

One Sunday during church my husband was rubbing my youngest son's head and neck and discovered a huge lump. Freaked us out. Called the doctor the next morning and they got us right in. The doctor was pretty sure it was just a swollen lymph node (actually three - there were two smaller lumps right near the big one) and prescribed antibiotics and told us to come back if the lump wasn't down in a week. He said his son got a swollen lymph node around the same age and they never did figure out why. He had to have surgery to remove it because after a year it was still the same. It was benign and just a weird thing that sometimes happens. In my son's case, the next day he spiked a temperature and we were under orders to always get his throat swabbed if he had an unexplained temperature and, sure enough, he had strep (he never complained of a sore throat ever so that's why spiking a temperature was always our clue to see if he had strep yet again). Of course, he was already on antibiotics so he just finished that course and by the end of it, the lumps were completely gone. Hopefully, your lump is a similar oddity and you were fighting/coming down with something, too.

They decline first and then ask you if it is fraud.

We threw a 50th birthday party for my mom more than 20 years ago and everyone brought gifts, so I'm not sure that's universal unless you specify...

I turned 40 a couple weeks ago and my friend convinced me to throw my own party. I had a taekwondo party at the school where my son teaches (which means my 16yo son ran the party; my friend who convinced me to do it was the program director at the time). It was super fun. I did say no gifts, but if guests wanted they could bring donations of diapers and other necessities for me to take to the Center for Refugee Services. Throw your own party!

Yes, they usually have fine print that says to have the merchant try again (some do automatically, so that could be why the one went through). If they flag for fraud the charge is automatically denied. We just had Chase flag and decline a charge from HomeDepot.Com... three times.

http://thefamilywho.wordpress.com It's mostly a homeschool blog.

I finished reading Out of the Blue by Gretta Mulrooney. It was horrible to the very end. Where it just... ended. The characters were seriously the most selfish people ever. So in addition to the one couple having an affair, the woman's husband also had an affair at the clinic where he went to get sober. He slept with his therapist just because he could and she was willing. Then it turns out this other guy (who I think is her uncle, but I'm not super clear) had an affair with her mom (who is dead now) and got her mom pregnant, but her mom miscarried. And then the man's wife flipped out and tried to stab the woman. And so the woman decided to go back to London where she was from and just basically start a new life. Because, somehow, that would magically make it all better and the man could go back to his wife and daughter. Horrid book.

Thanks! I am feeling a lot better today. Of course now Ani has it and Cameron has been running a fever since last night but not nausea/vomiting/diarrhea for him. Out of the Blue by Gretta Mulrooney. Adultery has definitely happened now (2/3 through). There has been some minor feeling bad about having sex while both are married to other people, but they were high school sweethearts and parted ways because they were immature so that makes it somehow okay? He asked her to marry him. She replied they were both still married. He said they could get married whenever the time was right. It really feels like the book is saying since they used to be in love and one is married to an alcoholic and the other just isn't happy with his wife, it means what they are doing is just fine. I love shallots. I am allergic to red onions (which I also love, sadly), but I can eat shallots no problem. So I often will have shallots in things in place of red onions.

I woke up with a stomach bug. Ugh. But I made myself much happier (though no less nauseated) by shopping on Amazon for swing dresses and leggings. Three new outfits coming soon. I'm reading the book I got from the book exchange. It's about schoolboys who defied Hitler in Denmark during WW2. Their bravery, and possibly idiocy, astounds me. I kind of feel like only teenagers would've done what they did. I'm also reading a book that I'm just not sure about. I kind of feel like it's saying adultery is perfectly okay if you aren't happy in your marriage. I'm not sure where this is going to go and I'm more than halfway done. It's so slow moving. It's the last book from spelling out birthstones last year for December.