The "S" Word

One evening *Olga asked her son *Milton if he would please arrange the books on the shelves more neatly. Milton whined as he was wont to do, saying that it was too hard and besides, the sliding doors on the shelves stick! "I'm sure you'll figure out a way to do it," she assured him. Olga liked the shelves. In fact, she had spent many a month trying to find just the right piece, size, style and color, to hold the plethora of books and was elated to find just the right one! This was it. Yes the door stuck, but a gentle push had always done the trick.

As Olga worked away busily in the next room she could hear Milton banging books around and roughly sliding doors to and fro. She called several times for him to be careful, each caution being met with grumbling from Milton, who was about to get it from Olga.

At one point, Olga heard a violent crash from the hall. She called to him, "Milton, if you break my shelves your going to have to replace them, you know!" Milton was tentative as he replied, "Well, I guess I'd better start saving then..."

Olga was out of her chair like in a flash to see exactly what he meant by that sassy return. As she examined the shelves she saw that the door had been opened with so much force it had knocked the thing completely apart--no small feat. "What? You broke them!" she said (with gusto). "Milton, I can't believe it! You broke the damn shelves!" Now, Olga was not generally one to curse, especially to her beloveds.

Milton, having read the word in the Bible and knowing it to be associated with bad things, timidly replied, "Well, I couldn't get the door to move."

"That is a stupid reason!" said Olga (with gusto). Olga, knowing she was about to strangle Milton, took her leave and marched downstairs to walk laps around their ugly couch. By this time the other 4 children who could walk, hearing the commotion, had run upstairs to see what was going on.

By and by, Olga came back upstairs where her 5 children waited with eyes the size of golf balls, knelt down and said, "Children. I need to apologize. I just said a very bad word. One we never say. ["Which one, which one!!" the little ones chirped] I'm not going to repeat it, but you older kids know which one I mean."

*Sassafras, the precocious 6-yr old daughter, solemnly clarified to all, "That's right, you guys. We never say the "S" word! Never!"

*Names have been changed to protect the identity of the characters in this story.

The False Prophet

One June morning through the meadow going

Doris found a little daisy growing;

Blooming there, white and fair,

Nodding in the pleasant summer air,

"Tell me, daisy, quickly, truly tell,

If my dear one loves me well.

Will he be true till life is done?"

Then she plucked the petals one by one:

"He loves me! He loves me not!

(Alas, to be deserted is love's sorest smart!)

He loves me, he loves me not!

(Be still, be still the rapid beating of my heart!)

"He loves me, he loves me not!

(Beware oh little flow'ret, how you play your part!)

He loves me, he loves me not!

You lying little daisy, he loves me!

~John Prindle Scott

Flashback Fr...Monday

And thus began my illustrious career as multitasker (as long as one of the tasks is eating).

Elder Adam Mikkelsen
1/3/10: "...I also got hit on my bike this week when I got sandwiched between a scooter I was pulling over and a car. Took off some good skin and left a nice bruise but nothing really bad. No one fell over and I was able to set up a time to meet with both of them. Sweet!"

LUNCH by William

This little boy is a very enthusiastic lunch-maker. He makes us lunch EVERY DAY.

And, he sets the table.

And, he watches while you enjoy the meal he's made you.

And, you have to eat it. All of it.
And, you have to say thank you at the end.

Where's the Remote?

We've been having bad luck with our VCR/DVD player. A little while ago the VCR stopped working and shortly after that we lost the remote, so now DVDs are limited. Too much of a cheap skate to consider buying a new one, I thought I'd take it apart to see if there was something obvious wrong with it. My handy b-in-law Chace visiting with Rivka went and found a screw driver to get the project going. From the other room I heard him call, "Hey Anna, are you missing your remote?"Thanks, James.