"9 Butler's Tips for Impeccable Table Manners" plus one

Hi-
This is a cut &paste.
Because I am lazy.
And the wisdom in the article is valuable.
YES-youknowwho-you know I'm talking to you, don't you?
So, be wise at the table and use this info.
(PS-I'd always heard that you were supposed to put your silverware together, facedown, at four o'clock when finished.  What do you -not youknowwho-do?)
love,
the mrs.

by Reader's Digest Magazine, on Wed Jun 23, 2010 (actually I cut and pasted from Yahoo-I know-what a geek am I.)

The way you eat and behave at the table is still important, says Nicholas Clayton of The Guild of Professional English Butlers (& the mrs). His guidelines:

1. Let your food cool of its own accord – don't blow on it.
2. Don't spit unwanted food into your napkin – remove it with your fork and place it on the side of your plate.
3. Never talk with your mouth full.
4. Don't hold your knife poised as if ready to sign a cheque, and don't point with any of your cutlery.
5. A napkin is there to protect your clothes; use it to dab the corners of your mouth but never to polish your teeth.
6. Never cut bread or bread rolls. Break the bread with your fingers and butter a small piece at a time. Breakfast toast is the only exception.
7. Be careful not to insult your host by adding salt before you have tasted your food.
8. When you've finished eating, place your knife and fork or spoon and fork together, vertically. Leave your plate where it is – never push it away from you.
9. Don't get drunk; you'll look absurd.

10. (from the mrs) Keep those elbows off the table.   Please.

Name, Name, Name

Get your elbows off the table

This is not a horse's stable

But a fine dining table.

---Now, stand on your chair and sing us a song---

(Thank you for use of the chant, OK girl's camp girls.)

Sunday School

What do you do in the summertime?

So, one of the commandments is to keep the Sabbath (Sunday for us) holy.

What do you do in the summertime to keep it holy?

How do you handle your observance of the Sabbath

and it's Sunday and you probably shouldn't

go fish in a stream?

I need something more than just lazily dream

as I nap because our meeings

start so very early.

Do you have ideas?

Please share them with me.

(Please forgive the very feeble attempt to make these words sound anything like the link above.)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

On that note, I was very excited to see our copy of July's New Era (which isn't online yet, as it's still June, but should be up July 1st-I was looking at a paper copy).  One of the cover stories is "What to do on Sunday, p.2."  I read it. I think the title faked me out a bit.  I was looking for a list of ideas (hey, if it's good enough for that age of people, it should work for me. That magazine is directed at the youth (12-18 yrs old) in our church-fyi.) I guess I just need to be more creative and plan better.

Oh my word.

Do you know what a clyster is?
It is pronounced kliss-ter.

It is one of the words on a drill list for the brain training I did today.
It has the code (meaning letter) 'y' that makes the 'i' sound (like in kiss).

But a clyster is not a kiss.
And I didn't know what it was.
So I thought I would look it up
So I could tell my young trainee what she is saying,
Especially now that we are at the important stage of using real words instead on nonsense words.

Would you like to know what a clyster is?
 (If you are squeamish, you might want to close your eyes now.)

clys·ter   /ˈklɪstər/ [klis-ter]
–noun Medicine/Medical .

an enema.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Origin:
1350–1400; ME < L < Gk klystēr, equiv. to *klyd- (base of klýzein to rinse out; cf. cataclysm) + -tēr agent n. suffix

I think I will let this explaination slide.
Pun intended -- (but you have to know that I wrote slide before I realized it was a pun & then it hit me & then I decided to say "pun intended.")

An imaginary very fun day

my mr and I think it would be oh so fun to be able to have all our kids at the same age for just one play day.

Their personalities are all so different, yet all so incredible.

We'd love to see them interact.

And it wouldn't be like they were quadruplets-that would be a challenge.

(ok-thanks for the indulgence, I just really wanted an excuse to show off my very cute kids-looking at these pictures makes me smile- and really, the play day would be fun.)

Happy Father's Day

I know one father who reads this blog.

He is an awesome father who makes great sacrifices for his family.

And works hard.

And plays.

And sings the wrong words to songs.

And his family is grateful.

Very grateful.

And they love him more than chocolate milk.

Happy Father's Day!

Bring your camera

And make sure the batteries are charged.

Because, when you are on a walk by the beautiful Clearwater River
And you are enjoying the pink, wild roses,
You might just happen upon a spider.

A white spider
With a pink stripe.

And when you walk by
And don't take a photo,
There will be regrets.

And when your walk leader decides to take a short cut back to the car,
Across a field of tall grass
And you took a tick off a dog the day before
And do not wish to do that again on a human,
Especially yourself,
You can decide to go back the long way
Back down the path
To find that bush
That held the spider.

And when you do
The spider will try to hide
So hurry and get your camera
But make sure the battery is charged.
Because it is very difficult to get a nice photo
of an upset white and pink spider
with camera on a phone.

The End.

PS-thank you, miss s, for  noticing the spider. It was AWESOME!
PPS-longer walks make little boys tired.  Happy me.
PPS-if you are not related to me & can tell us about the Clearwater River, you will get extra brownie points, leave a comment :).

A Quarter Fly

Picture found here.

When we moved to Oklahoma, our family got to live in a little apartment for a few months.
An apartment that flies liked to fly into.
So we started a tradition.
Every family should have a tradition regarding houseflies, don't you think.

So, when we moved into our home, we had even more houseflies.
Because, when doors are propped open, bugs will come in.
eeeww-yuck.

I told the people of the house,
"Each fly you kill-I'll pay you a quarter."
Money well spent.
Last summer I handed out a few quarters.
I guarantee you, they will bring me a few dead flies as soon as the season rolls around.
And I won't even have to ask.

What do you think the price of a spider should be?

(There was a tarantula on my front porch last summer. miss s saw three huge spiders, a few huge moths, fireflies and a frog/maybe a toad trying to knock down our garage door one evening last week. Just thought you'd like to know.)

Sunday School

A couple of weeks ago, our Bishop spoke to us about "The Lord's Interrogatories."

If you'd like to know what an interrogatory is, I'll quote a source I found (because I didn't write down his most eloquent explaination).

Written questions designed to discover key facts
(quote in a much longer version maybe found by clicking on that purple interrogatory word a few lines above)


Our Bishop didn't tell us that we had to write these questions down, he just suggested that answering them for ourselves would help us find where we are with the Lord. (At least that's the message I took from it. That and the handout he gave us.)

So, here they are:

1.  Adam, Where art Thou?  Genesis 3:9
2.  What Is Property to Me? D&C 117:4
3.  Unto What Were Ye Ordained? D&C 50:13
4.  What Think Ye of Christ? Matthew 22:42
5.  What Manner of men ought Ye to Be? 3 Nephi 27:27
6.  Many are Called and few are Chosen.  And Why aer they not Chosen? D&C 121:34
7.  Did I not speak Peace to your Mind concerning the Matter? What Greater Witness can You have than from God? D&C 6:23

Hint-Read a few scriptures around the exact ones quoted & search, ponder & pray.
And if you can guess our Bishop's regular/real life/supporting his family job, you get brownie points.

Summer Posting

Comic found here.

Here's a summertime commitment to you from me:

Sometimes I will post.

Sometimes I will not.

I am off enjoying.

Someday these people will not be living in my home anymore

and I need to enjoy them whilst they are here.

Happy Summer.

______________________________________________________________________________

Word Origin & History

from here.

whilst
late 14c., from while (q.v.) with adverbial gen. -s-, and excrescent -t- (as in amongst, amidst)
whilst (hwīlst, wīlst)


conj. Chiefly British


While.


[Middle English whilest, alteration of whiles, whiles; see whiles.]

To my fair skinned child

UV Index - Check it out. Seriously. Now.

And if you are still feeling grumpy about your situation, please go read this post.

Following the firefly theme

miss s shared this song with me this winter-she knows me well-i love it

How does planet earth move for you?

Firefly

Picture and wealth of information found at firefly.org.

I saw my first firefly of the season.
In our yard :)
Buzzing my mr. as he was messing with the garden hose & I was visiting with one of our neighbors.

My little fireflies were in their room, jumping on their beds.
I could see in their window.

I love their light.

Twenty Years

Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away. ~Dinah Craik

Thank you.