I pretty much overbooked myself the last couple days, and I survived, and it’s all good. I’ve discovered I can handle high-stress days in small increments (like maybe 2-3 days max), but not over a sustained period of time. It’s nice when it passes and you can sit back and breathe again.
It feels a little indulgent, but several of you have asked about the notes from the fireside I taught last night, so I’ll work on a blog post in the next few days (after I breathe). I saw one young woman recording the whole thing on her iPhone, so I wish I would have just asked her for a copy of it, but oh well. Despite the nerves and the self-induced pressure to just get it right, I felt like it went well. I’m satisfied when I can walk away from a teaching opportunity and say, “Well, that’s the very best I could do.” You just hope it’s enough. For those of you who expressed curiosity, this is what I wore. (I know it was silly of me to post about that, and I really knew the right answer — which you were all so kind to share–, but you have to admit you’d feel the same way if you were going to stand up in front of a group of people as some kind of “beauty” expert. Ha! Even typing that made me laugh.) Anyway, voila:
I know, I know. “[Insert name of real beauty expert* here.], eat your heart out.”
*I couldn’t think of one since I’m so in touch with the fashion world and all.
In the meantime, if any of you are dying to study some great reference material about beauty, modesty, self-image and virtue, here’s a link to a list of things I studied in preparation for the talk. There’s a lot of great direction available to us. It made me realize that our leaders have given us a lot of clear direction, so it’s surprising that there’s still so much confusion. I guess Satan does a good job of scrambling signals.
In other news, after several failed attempts to communicate to Clark my complete dissatisfaction with finding his recently-washed clothing back in his dirty clothes basket instead of put away, I finally decided to take a more practical approach. I informed him on Sunday that he is now in charge of the laundry for a while. I’ve spent the last couple of days teaching him the system. They’ve always sorted their dirty clothes and put away their clean clothes (in theory), but I decided to let him actually wash them all, switch loads, dry them all, fold them all, etc. This photo I took tonight shows you how happy he is about the new arrangement:
Well, that’s about it. I’ll finish up with one of my favorite quotes I found while preparing for the fireside (thank you to my friend Velda for making it look pretty for me):
Diapers and Divinity 
I hope you don’t mind I “pinned” that quote on Pinterest. Anyone who knows Pinterest will know what I mean. Anyone who doesn’t should quickly hop on and find out. 😉
Umm, you look awesome, child! I’m serious! I’m glad it went well and I’m excited to read your notes!
Looking great! I was thinking/talking about you tonight. I had to teach Mutual last minute tonight…about MAKE-UP. And I heard your question…what does one where to a night of make-up beauty…I wore none at all of course…but that made sense, because I was going to put makeup on for the girls as a demonstration. You on the other hand…could not have made the same choice as I! 🙂
Jocelyn, that’s too funny!
The list of references you have collected is terrific. I’m pinning that to go back an dread through with my girls. {What did we ever do before pinterest to so nicely keep things organized for us?} Are you going to be scanning you tube for your video? 🙂
You remind me or me so much. I saw this story earlier and wondered if you had seen it: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/glennon-melton/dont-carpe-diem_b_1206346.html
I am a huge fan of you having him do the landry. It’s awesome!
Love the quote.
So I’ve recently been asked to do a 45 minute or so presentation/fireside in March and I’m already sweating bullets about it. This is the first time I’ve been asked to speak for more than the ten minutes in sacrament meeting. Any suggestions on how to prepare for something like this? I’m totally out of my league. Did I mention the fireside is at the prison? Yeah, way out of my league.
I, too, love that you are having Clark do the laundry. Super mom right there 😉
You look beautiful and FUN! And Clark looks a bit less than THRILLED! HA!!! I love the quote. 🙂 I wish I could have been there to hear you speak.
Oh, and I just LOVE that painting on your wall… is it the one of George Washington praying? oh, if I ever got a painting….
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE the look on Clarks face. You can use it for his campaign ads when he runs for president. of Utah.
Nice! Good for you, I’m so glad it went so well!
*PS. Excellent topic. I would have loved to teach that!
Corine 😀
Remember how I love you? And that I have 2 teenage daughters? And how I love you? Yes. That. We will be watching for the Promised Notes.
Ha ha! That’s exactly how I handled it when I found my sons’ laundry, STILL FOLDED, in the dirty laundry basket. The best part is they are getting pretty good at it. Hooray for self-sufficient kids! That photo is a classic. One to pull out someday when he gets his mission call.
I’m glad to know that it is not just my children who do that with their laundry, but I have had a different outcome here. When I put my children in charge of their own laundry, they decided that they were going to wait a REALLY long time to actually do it. I just told them they couldn’t leave the house with dirty clothes on. So we had a lot of mornings of changing clothes, scrubbing spots off with a washcloth – anything to avoid doing the laundry! So I changed my tune….I started charging them for each item of clean clothing I find in their dirty clothes. The older ones owe me a quarter for each item, and the younger ones owe me a nickel. It has worked pretty well. Now they just need to get the clean clothes actually put away rather than just in the closet or stuffed into the drawers. How do we get them beyond the concept of shoving things in the closet and shutting the door (thinking Mom won’t notice) and help them get things CLEAN!?!