Shell's Diaries

I love my friends.  I hope you ALL know who you are.  If you are reading this via Facebook, then, by all means, you ARE my friend.  Friendship, to me, is so important, and entails many different aspects.  I just came home from a wonderful trip to Arizona, to visit some long time friends; friendships that were formed 20 years ago as a freshman in college.  I can't believe it's been that long, yet we still keep in touch, and as one of them said to me after I came back home...."we can pick up right where we left off", even if it has been 9 years.   While I was away in Arizona, and since I've been back, I've spent a lot of time pondering on why friendship is so important to me, and what it is, exactly, that binds us closely to one another. (Although, John does not understand why a woman needs a break every now and then, just to be with "friends" to reconnect, and be refreshed and remotivated..... still working on that one with him).  Yet, that is the...

I mean really, what mother on earth glories in this day? Can we just skip the festivities, the potted plant from church that dies a week later, and move on to Monday? Is it really the only day of the year that those we care for feel the need to celebrate who we are and what we do?  Don't worry, I don't really feel this way. I feel blessed that my family does not limit their gratitude towards me just on this day only, I've got loads of cards and pictures from all my children made on all the other days of the year, celebrating me, their mom, who, for some reason, they love. But maybe there are some out there who DO feel it's the only day, out of obligation, they are celebrated.  And what a shame it is if that is the case. One of my favorite books is by Emily Watts, Being The Mom : 10 Things I Learned By Accident, Because I Had Children On Purpose .  Just the mere title of the book put my mothering days into perspective. I knew, as I read through those pages, that the...

Frogs and snails, that would be Josh. Puppy dog tails, well, neither Hunter or Josh, since I refuse to have a dog in the house at the current time. But these boys of mine are made up of plenty, that is for sure. I remember well the baby shower I had when I was pregnant with Hunter.  There were many ladies there that I watched  raise a plethera of  boys.  I observed these boys growing under their mother's wings with compassion, stability, endurance, and a firm belief that they knew their mother's loved them.  Each of the women at my baby shower were given a piece of paper that said, "How To Raise A Boy".  Of course, there was still advice from my friends who did not have boys that were meaningful.  But I have always cherished the words that were given just for me from moms who had already experienced what I was about to. There was a mom there, that raised 3 boys, and her advice was this.... "When your son becomes a teenager, and even maybe before, you...

It's the same question I ask myself every time election rolls around. Do I want to pay more taxes? Or rather, do I want to pay more taxes if it will help our schools?  In general, I never want to pay higher taxes than I already am; whether it be my property taxes, which are a whopping $4000 a year, (I know, some of you may be wishing that was ALL you paid), or our business taxes, and, being self employed, we are taxed so high.  I won't even go into how much we pay monthly and quarterly, but it's up there, that's for sure.  But, I will say, being self employed was a choice, one that we don't regret (so far), and knew it wouldn't be cheap to run either.   I thought, years ago, that the lottery was supposed to "save the schools".  And it seems that every year, there is some sort of measure on the ballot to, once again, "save our schools", and of course, this money will be tacked on to our already high property taxes.  Last year it was measure 6...

Have you ever come back from a vacation, or even, just from an outing, and thought, 'Well, that wasn't what I expected'.  Or you thought of all the things that went wrong, didn't go your way, or just complained about the most insignificant things that, at the time, felt like huge set backs?  I have.  Many-a-time. I remember when John and I went away for the first time, in 10 years of marriage, alone.... childless. We went to Oahu, and we were pretty excited for our first ever trip to Hawaii, and really, our first ever get-a-way by ourselves.  To me, going to Hawaii was like going to a movie that was talked up to no end, and everyone you knew said "It was the best movie ever... you are going to love it!". But then you realize that the movie was all hyped up and you didn't like it nearly as well as everyone else did. That was how I felt about Hawaii...... at first.  My thoughts of the unknown Hawaii, before we got there, was that it was gloriously sunny, pl...

In defending truth and right?  While the enemy assaileth, shall we shrink or shun the fight? NO!  In this day and time, parents have many choices of where and how they want their children schooled.  You've got Public, Private, Charter, or Home Schooling.  I have decided, for now, to stick with public schooling for a variety of reasons.  Being the conservative I am, some may wonder why I have chosen this path, as there are more and more liberal views pushed on students, and the funding of schools is completely out of hand.  I have many friends that home school, or do charter schools.  I would venture to say that we have come to our decisions based on thoughtful consideration and prayer because only WE know our children best, and what would best suit them.  This post is not, in any way, about bashing one system or the other.  As I said earlier, for NOW, I choose to go the public school route; that could change as the years go on.  The cur...

I remember about 7 or 8 years ago, that show, Extreme Makeover, which was for humans. I always thought it was amazing how, in a 6 week span, those people could look one way, and then look like a completely different person, unrecognizable. And then there was the spin off from that show, Extreme Home Makeover, for houses.  I love that show .   We usually watch it as a family. It's such a feel good show about helping out a family in desperate need, with a new home, in just ONE week. Lately, I've pondered a lot about "makeovers", remodels, and updates when it comes to homes, but also how some of the same principles in remodeling a house can be applied to remodeling our soul. Right before John and I were married, we purchased our first home in Ogden, UT.  It was in VERY bad shape. It needed a complete remodel, not because it was just "outdated", but because there were many things falling apart, like, a garage door, and cat smell that needed to be gone, among o...