Tracie's World

I've been pondering on my personal goals for this year, and as I was reading in the Book of Mormon the other day, I was struck by the story of the Brother of Jared. I've thought on this quite a lot over the years, but this time, what jumped out at me was how he counsels with the Lord over how to have light in the barges they'll be building for their journey to the Promised Land. He thinks about it and the solution he lands on is to prepare 16 small stones, 2 for each vessel, with the intention that the Lord will touch the stones, and make them give off light, enough to last the length of their journey. This time of year I often struggle to see and feel light. It's cold, and dark, and the inversion makes it even more so. To avoid these, I often don't go out as much. However, the lack of light can sometimes impact me both physically and spiritually. So I'm usually needing to find ways to keep light in my life. And here's where the Brother of Jared's 16 s

Went for a walk yesterday morning, and the day could not have been more beautiful. I snapped this shot on the way home. Blue sky and sunshine you say? Count me in!

Something you may not know about me is that I love Nutter Butters cookies. It's two peanut butter cookies, with peanut butter filling in the middle. What's not to love? They're my go-to for long road trips or hikes. Especially the mini's in the little containers. I can go through one of those containers in a heartbeat. Anyhoo - through the miracle of the twitterverse, I was able to discover that there is now such a thing as Nutter Butters cereal. Well, as soon as I found that out, I couldn't wait to get to my nearest store and grab a few boxes. Mind you, I'm not much of a sugary cereal person, but this one had my name all over it. I must say that although the texture is not the same - instead of the usual peanut butter cookies, it's more the texture say of Honeycomb cereal, coated in peanut butter. But delicious and fun nonetheless. A definite must-try!

For some time now, I've had an interest in doing more teaching and presenting. It's something I enjoy doing, and I thought it would be helpful if I were to get some more exposure and training. So this week, I attended my first Toastmasters meeting. I have a few friends that have a group where they work, and their work happens to be not too far from mine. So with the New Year, I finally took the opportunity and got myself over there during my lunch hour. I ended up having a good time. The group was smaller than I expected, but the people were nice - and it helped that I already had some friends there. There were prepared speeches, along with extemporaneous speeches (known as Table Topics). Figuring what the heck, I decided to try my hand at the Table Topics, and ended up tying for best speech. Go figure. Anyhoo, it seems that it will be useful and fun, and help me make more connections, so I'm planning to keep going. Here's to Toastmasters!

Last weekend dawned cold and drizzly. And after running my errands, I figured it was a perfect opportunity to curl up with some good books. So I walked next door to the library, and checked out a few, and then hunkered down. You can tell from my selections that I prefer the classics.

The only difficulty with getting away for a weekend is how much I hate to leave his highness. He my be a pill, and have too big of an appetite, but he's a pretty cool cat, and being separated is hard. Thankfully my brother's family here is willing to help look after him when I'm gone. They love him and he loves them, so he's always well cared for. But it's always a relief to come home, and reunite. I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual. Happy Tracie and Happy Kitty.

Drove up to the old homestead over New Year's to celebrate with Mom and Dad and some of the siblings and their kids. It's been several years since I've celebrated the Holidays with them, so this was a special treat. Thanks to La Nina, the weather cooperated, and the drive was uneventful.  My first stop was LaGrande, Oregon, where one of my sister's and her family live. I took along the Jane Seymour version of "The Scarlet Pimpernel", and we had a fun evening with the nieces, watching movies and making Italian sodas, and in general making sure they were plenty spoiled. The next day I left LaGrande and drove up to the Herm. The first night was a "Sound of Music" slumber party with 3 more of the nieces. We laughed and sang and ate so much popcorn we were sick.  Sunday was New Year's Eve, and after church we gathered with my brother's family for our traditional New Year's Eve snacks. We ate cheesy dip, and chips, and crackers