Category: Life according to Angela

Happy things today

A happy list today:

Negative Covid test results for a loved one

A sunflower in a vase beside my sink

My Christmas quilt is all quilted with gold swirls and I’ve attached the binding. It’s ready for hand sewing. This might be my favorite step.

New fabric on the pillows

Time spent in the Book of Mormon: I love that book.

Our kids have fun interests (classic cars, portraits, music composition, cooking, piano, woodworking, reading) and they are good company.

Richard is a good calculus tutor.

Rain is in the forecast.

My first issue of The Friend arrived today, after letting our subscription lapse for a few years after our kids left Primary. I have missed this church magazine!

I just watched the first episode of The Chosen series. I don’t think it’s very accurate but I really liked it, if for no other reason than it portrays biblical personalities as relatable people.

Pastimes

When Richard goes off on adventures, I stay home to fluff the flowers and pillows. This was our weekend.

This week, I am working on finishing a quilt and scanning certificates and awards for Timothy’s Sterling Scholar application. Most of us here are outmatched by assignments and work and concerns, but thankfully, Mark is not. I need to be more like Mark.

There aren’t enough batteries at our house. Maybe you can relate to that stalled little black car, just as I do this week.

So much mental energy

I look at this wall more than any other because it’s the view from my chair. I spent months identifying why the original gallery wall didn’t make me smile before I got to work fixing it.

Eureka! My eyes like black and white photos with wide white mats. I could give new life to my old frames with a $4 can of spray paint. I didn’t need to display everything I love, just a curated collection. I realized my favorite gallery walls aren’t perfectly symmetrical and they have a variety of sizes of photos. I used Velcro Command Strips so the frames stay in place.

Interior design is something that interests me, and I make all the mistakes as I learn to create beautiful spaces that are pleasing to me. This week: dramatic covers for those neutral pillows.

Emotional tool kit

I have done some work in the family’s bedrooms this week, and this video speaks to the feelings I have as I watch my children’s rooms change as they grow and leave home.

Seven months ago, before the pandemic impacted our lives, I had an idea to create an emotional tool kit, with physical objects to inspire and comfort. I wrote down a list on a post-it note, and began to move the note in my day planner, putting it off for another time. Maybe I was in denial. “Oh, I won’t need this,” or, “If I make it, something will happen that will make me need this.”

Then came new levels of isolation, earthquakes, uncertainty about the evacuation of missionaries, challenges from distance learning in schools, canceled plans, discomfort and disfigurement from abdominal surgery, and the secluded hospital stay. And so on.

I have been comforted, even without my little tool kit, no doubt about that. Still, this week, I remembered that I hadn’t compiled it, and decided it was time. It wasn’t difficult. I gathered things into an old hat box and slid it beneath my bed. Who knows if I will ever use it as I envision I might. If nothing else, it is a time capsule, and a reminder of my faith that comfort can be found in Christ, always.

The objects are small and have personal meaning. Some things are soft; others spur memories; on the bottom of the box are the scripture notes I have taken this year, which follow my 2020 spiritual journey even better than my journal. I tucked in a Michael Buble album that I love.

At times, everyone needs reminders that things are going to be okay.

If you are doing well, share your energy with others. If you are doing poorly, consider handling some physical reminders that Heavenly Father loves you and sent His Son for you. Allow the Spirit to bring joyful things to your remembrance. (John 14:26)

Moving On

The Yard Crew, summer 2020
They got so tan this summer.

This week, I picked up a few things at the store to add to the “college set” of dishes and silverware passed down from Paige to Daniel. (Where did all the teaspoons go???) I can’t think of much I should do to help him, but the impulse is to think about details such as, “Oh, he is going to need some spices!” The truth is, he grew up long ago, in South America, and he can navigate the spice aisles in Provo, Utah just fine without me.

I remember this ache. I have felt it before. Each child’s imprint is different, so the the ache for each child has its own quality. It’s terrible and precious at the same time. I don’t know why I am not thinking about Covid-19 tonight. I suppose it could spoil university plans very quickly, but we’ll deal with whatever comes.

A big day

I was able to hike this week, which is something I have been working on since my surgery in April.

Healing is not a steady slope upward; it is a loopty-loop, a song on endless repeat, triumphs followed almost immediately by days in bed, isolating, and boring.

This snail on the trail enjoyed the little details I would have missed at a faster pace. It is so good to be able to hike again.

Take What You Need

I am enchanted by little jars of rocks with words printed on each, such as peace, joy, contentment, love, rest, etc, with a label on the jar which reads, “Take what you need.”

I made this scripture pep talk a few years ago, and I don’t think I shared it here. Take what you need.

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