HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ELDER HARRIS!!!!

It's our wee baby's (I mean full-time missionary for one more week) birthday today!!! How 'bout that. He's been an amazing missionary, serving with honor and we're so excited to see him in 7 more days!! Hope you're having a terrific day! WE LOVE YOU TONS!!!!!

The Dangers of NanoParticles in your cosmetics!

in mid-2008, the British Royal Commission report warned that products that contain nanoparticles pose very, very high toxic risks,” Epstein says.

Many products can also contain other toxic ingredients, such as allergens, toxic hormonal ingredients, and known carcinogens such as:

•Ethylene oxide
•Dioxane
•Nitrosamines
•Formaldehyde
•Acrylamide
These are known carcinogens, and should not be present in anything you slather on your skin. Epstein says:

“… the evidence which we’ve accumulated so far, is largely restricted to the fact that they [nano particles] get into your bloodstream and reach organs throughout your body.
And as far as the brain is concerned, we have actual evidence of entry into the brain and producing toxic effects -- lesions, small lesions, toxic effects in the brain.”
This is an excerpt from an article about the dangers of nanoparticles and other toxins in our cosmetics from Dr. Mercola's website. If you've ever been around someone with Parkinson's disease or some of the other brain-disorder conditions you know you don't want to go there if you don't have to. Not saying there's a connection to Parkinson's but it seems like the direction those toxins might take one or something like that. Good grief. For the whole article go to http://www.mercola.com/

General Motors Paying back Government already-----or are they really?

Have you seen those General Motors commercials where the head dude says they are paying back the government this huge amount of money way ahead of schedule?? Wow. Cool. Well, the truth is they are paying back the first loan with money from TARP which they just accepted. So GM is paying back a government loan with more government money. Uh-huh. If you're not outraged you're not paying attention.

Sonic and Penny Model Spring-II

Our front yard continues to amaze me! Imagine that it does this with zero input from me. Thank you, previous owner! It is no surprise that the Garden of Eden is in the Midwest.

When I have the camera in front of my face Sonic and Penny are both equally incapable of looking straight at me with their eyes wide open. Quite baffling, really.

Why is Franklin the new Houston??

Every time I look at the temperatures along the right side of my blog we here in Tennessee are hotter than Houston, HOUSTON! Is heat just following me around! Life can be so tough.

The Gift of Fear

This is the title of a book by Gavin de Becker, security and safety expert to the president, supreme court members, congressmen, etc. He is an expert at helping people stay alive in almost any situation. The gist behind the title is that before something bad happens almost always we will feel that something is wrong. A feeling in our gut. This is the gift of fear. Not to be confused with the Holy Ghost or perhaps it IS the Spirit. Not sure about that. But it seems to be a phenomenon that occurs with just about everyone even well before the danger is visible or obvious. Besides teaching all kinds of strategies, the main point of the book is that if you sense that feeling TAKE ACTION. Do NOT ignore it. (All this I heard on Oprah BTW) Many people who found themselves in real trouble said they felt that something was not quite right but ignore it.
Other little gems:
If someone doesn't hear your NO then they are trying to control you. IE, the salesman at the store. Your 2 year old, etc.
When men say NO it means the conversation is over.
When women say NO it means that a negotiation could begin.
According to De Becker, we humans seem to be the only "animal" that senses danger and doesn't run in the other direction. We seems to talk ourselves out of acting on it. Sometimes reasoning isn't always our friend. We know that doing what the Spirit whispers often means doing the counter intuitive thing.
Some things too think about.

Sonic and Penny modeling Spring

Today's Founding Fathers' Quote

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."
--Thomas Jefferson

First Gigantic Mistake with Kitchen Remodel

The big mistake was not taking everything out of ALL of my cupboards and/or sealing them closed with painters tape. Now everything will have to be taken out and washed. The dust from the workers pounding out the tile with sledge hammers was unbelievable not to mention the noise. I had to leave the house. Needless to say the tile did not just pop off. When done there was a 2" gap between the subfloor and the surrounding wood floor.

Now EVERYTHING has a not so thin layer of pink dust on it. If you enlarge this photo you can see it on the glass and the edges of the blades. I should have tied sheets them. I took before pictures and will post the afters in about 3 weeks!

Aahhh, Conference!

Yippee, it's Conference time again! As fun as No Church is, the real treat is hearing what the Lord would have us know for the next 6 months. I think we will check our 72 hour kits, too. Wonder if there's any chocolate in 'em?