We can do HARD things!
A call for applicants… I read the words and feel excited. I’m qualified for this position. The longing surfaces. That is a really nice salary. We could put the kids through college on that. Submit resumes to: I could wear nice clothes everyday. We look forward to hearing from you. […]
I want to serve a mission, she said. Really? Great! Let’s make that happen, I said. What if I lose my scholarships? I doubt that you will, but if you do, we will figure it out. What if I lose my spot in the program? Then you audition again, and […]
This post has haunted me for some time now. I know the story must be told, and I know the time is now for whatever reason. I share my experience and what I’ve learned from it, hoping it will have some benefit somewhere to someone. Sixth grade in 1982 in Las […]
I LOVE the name of this blog. Love it. Smitten By. The other day, I was reading posts and thinking about this month’s theme, Strength, and had a little epiphany about the name. Smitten has more than one meaning. It can mean “struck by something, usually love,” or this: smitten past participle of […]
Confession: Having children has REALLY messed with my perfectionism. I’ve mentioned before that when I had my first child I had great expectations of a little princess that would always look perfect in public, never have a dirty nose, and sweetly do everything she was told. That […]
Resolutions never work for me. I either forget them or fail to resolve them in a short matter of time. Then, I feel like a failure and have resolution guilt until summer. I don’t know what it is, exactly, about resolutions that stress me out, but maybe it has to do with the idea that […]
On Christmas day, after gifts had been opened, my family loved to sit together in the family room and enjoy a nice fire roaring in the rock fireplace my dad built. One such Christmas day, in 1981, we were enjoying the fire when we noticed smoke covering the ceiling of the room. And….we panicked. My […]
One of my acquaintances once said to me, “You’re lucky. You have such easy children. Mine are so much harder to deal with than yours.” I wanted to leap across the table and deck her one. But I didn’t. I am respectful of the experiences of others. For whatever reason, she believes her experience is much […]
There is a story in my family that has reached legend status. It’s a tale of eager Christmas anticipation, door locks, the folly of youth, and accidental prowess. Let me give you a little background information. I grew up in a ranch-style house, and my parents converted our garage into a family room. Because […]
When my daughter was shopping for dorm room “furnishings,” she fell in love with a waterfall-ruffled duvet that she couldn’t afford from a popular “urban” store. (there is beauty all around, when they use their own money) She considered buying it for about a second, but read the reviews on the product and decided […]
