Lazy Cloud

Picture of the Day for 1/31/2014. I tend to assign human emotions to non-human objects. I was thinking the long, horizontal cloud resting on Mt. Olympus (in Salt Lake City- not Greece) was feeling a little bit lazy and lethargic and decided it was just too hard to float higher in the sky. I sympathized with the cloud. Sometimes all I want to do is to recline on my couch and watch TV. 

No Kindle Sales for Us

Picture of the Day for 1/30/2014. I experimented with transferring our speech therapy books into Kindle format since I thought it would be great way to increase Teach Speech Now sales by offering the books on Amazon.com. Sadly, it's not going to work since there's no way to preserve the original formatting. 

Here's a sample page from Tongue Twisters for the R and S Sounds in Kindle format.


And here's what this page is actually supposed to look like. 


Dang.

What? We Weren't Fighting

Picture of the Day for 1/29/2014. My sister's dogs, Princess (the big one) and Billy are fast friends. They were wrestling and nipping at each other tonight which I thought would make a cute picture of the day, but when I brought out my camera, they stopped and looked up at me with innocent looks on their faces like they were saying, "What? There's nothing to see here. We weren't fighting."

Cream Cheese and Hot Dogs and Bacon. Oh My!

Picture of the Day for 1/28/2014. I rewarded myself after undergoing a painful therapy session at the chiropractor this morning with lunch at a favorite deli where I ordered a grilled hot dog smothered with bacon and melted cream cheese. Oh my, it was just the comfort food I needed. 

Restless Nights and Wild Dreams

Picture of the Day for 1/27/2014. Every few months I go through a period when I wake up at odd hours during the night and experience wild dreams. As you can see from the time stamp from my phone in the picture below, I woke up at 1:39 am this morning. I also recall waking up sometime after 3:00 am and then 5 am.

Tonight I dreamed I was wandering an old European town that was reminiscent of Venice, Italy when I noticed a performer on top of a very high platform. This performer was astride a horse and wearing buccaneer-style clothing. (Think the "puffy shirt" from Seinfeld.) His horse took a running leap and dove into a deep pool of water. There was a large audience watching this performance. As horse and rider emerged from the water, the rider waved to the crowd and that's when I realized it was my good friend Richard Larsen! I woke up laughing. That was such a random dream to have. 

Holiday Decorations Running Amok

Picture of the Day for 1/26/2014. Sigh. I just realized I have another Halloween decoration that has escaped the "packing up until next year" process. I LOVE holiday decorations, but I hate it when they go rogue on me. I guess this welcome mat just wasn't done welcoming visitors to my house yet. 

Tender Mercies and Chocolate

Picture of the Day for 1/25/2014. I was driving home from my follow-up appointment with the chiropractor this morning and thinking I needed to give my neighbor, Susan Williams, a call to see if she would come lift up my garage door for me since I was in excruciating pain. I didn't think I had it in me to lift up the door. In fact, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to make it inside and up the stairs to the main living area in my house. I was given a clear sign the universe was looking after me since Susan was pulling out of her driveway at the precise moment I was driving by her house. I flagged her down and of course, being the utterly lovely person that she is, Susan was delighted to help. She didn't stop there. She came back later with bottles of Ibuprofen and Tylenol for me and asked if she could do anything else for me. I had her refill the bag of ice I had been using on my back so she said she was going to the store to get me a bag of peas which works better than using messy, melting ice. Susan asked if there was anything else she could pick up for me and I said yes- I need just a bit of chocolate. Susan not only brought me a bit of chocolate, but as you can see from the picture below, she showered me with chocolate. I love Susan! I consider it a tender mercy that I ran into her right at the moment I needed her help. I wouldn't have made it through the day without her assistance. 

Tiki, the Chiropractic Assistant

Picture of the Day for 1/24/2014. I made my first ever visit to a chiropractor in hopes of getting some relief for my back pain. My chiropractor's dog, Tiki, was assisting today since he couldn't be left at home due to some remodeling/construction work being done on my chiropractor's home. I knew I liked this chiropractor the moment I walked in and saw the very friendly dog who came rushing up to greet me ecstatically. He was very affectionate and as you can see he performs tricks. Can't ask for more than that in a chiropractor's assistant.

Weird Gyrations to Relieve Back Pain

Picture of the Day for 1/23/2014. My back pain resurfaced unexpectedly today. At about 1,000 times the intensity of before. OUCH!!!! I had been feeling so good the past three weeks that I thought I was out of the woods. I pretty much remained inside today reclining on the couch. I found the only way to relieve the pain shooting down my leg due to the pressure on my sciatic nerve was to hold my foot up like this. It looked silly, but I didn't care.

Adding to the Gnome Vignette

Picture of the Day for 1/22/2014. This is an update to my blog entry Love and Gnomes. It appears my sister's gnome vignette in her front hallway is expanding. She's glued a blue bird to the ceramic gnome's hat to match the gnome in the pillow and she's added a gnome picture. This amuses me to no end. I sincerely hope this isn't the end to the gnome exhibit expansion. 

I have to say gnomes are starting to grow on me. I might have to collect some gnomes for myself!

Good-Bye Michelle and Lemony

Picture of the Day for 1/21/2014. There are some days I just rack my brain for a "picture of the day" topic. And sadly this is often when I have obvious subjects right in front of my nose- like relatives who I don't get to see very often and are in town for a brief visit. I'm still irritated with myself that I only got one picture of my niece Rachel and her boyfriend Danny while they were in town for Christmas. And Rachel was here for 8 full days! And I saw her quite frequently! 

The same goes for my niece Michelle. She's been in town for the past week to help out my sister Paula take care of her husband David who is recovering from being struck by a car as he was walking the dog. I've seen Michelle frequently too, but I only remembered to take a picture in the last couple of hours she was in town today. I met Michelle, Michelle's dog Lemony, Paula, and my other niece Corinne for lunch before Michelle left for the airport. Good-bye Michelle and Lemony! I love the look on Lemony's face. I'm not sure if she looks grumpy or suspicious. 

Thanks to the Squirrel, I Have No Toilet Paper

Picture of the Day for 1/20/2014. I keep forgetting to buy toilet paper. The situation is critical at my house. It's not that I haven't gone to the store to pick some up. In fact, I've made more than one stop. It's just that I get distracted, like that dog in the movie "Up" when he sees a squirrel. Squirrel! In my case it's been the following:

Valentine's Day Candy! Oooh, Russell Stover marshmallow hearts! And hey, look at those Reese's peanut butter hearts!

Cinnamon! I'm out of cinnamon!

Diet Coke! Mmm... And if I buy lemons to add to the beverage it will taste even better than the large Diet Cokes I buy at McDonald's!

Magazines! I love magazines! 

I have a hankering for peanut butter on toasted English muffins!

I think my problem is toilet paper is just about the most boring thing you can buy so I browse the aisles for a bit to look at more interesting things before picking up what I came for. And, it's cumbersome to carry around since I usually don't grab a cart when I'm going to pick up just a few items. I don't want to carry it around when I browse. 

The next time I go to the store, I'll head straight to the toilet paper aisle before doing anything else. No more squirrel distractions for me!

Venerable Speakers

Picture of the Day for 1/19/2014. Today's church service featured six elderly members of our congregation who each gave a brief 5-minute talk. I've known all of them, with the exception of Bob Martin, all my life. It was so heartwarming to hear them speak and reminisce.

Ethel Kasteler. She spoke about doing your duty and making sure you attend church.

Bing Jacobs. He recalled his experiences serving in the Navy in World War ll and how his life was preserved. He even survived a Kamikaze attack on his ship. I think I got that right. Bing is in his mid- to late-90s and is recovering from a stroke. He was just a little hard to understand. One of his kids always makes sure he makes it to church each week where he sits next to his buddy, Max McBeth, who is also in his mid-90s.

 

Erma Todt. My next door neighbor! I love her. She reminisced about meeting her husband during World War ll. She was working at the Kearns Overseas Replacement Depot when her soon-to-be husband was transferred there after flying over 30 missions overseas. 

Shirley Smith. She spoke about gratitude and how she attended a Mormon social up in Montana when she was a teenager 70 years ago and joined the church when she was 18.

Evelyn Marshall. She spoke about how her mother put so much effort into Sunday dinners which were a such a huge production that everyone in the family was exhausted by the time they were over. When she got married, she decided things would be different and she would have the big family dinner on Saturday nights so she could enjoy the Sabbath and focus on spiritual matters. 

Bob Martin. He spoke about the power of love and recounted his experience as a temple worker.

Curious Cat - Part 2

Picture of the Day for 1/18/2014. A week ago I blogged about how my voice teacher's daughter's cat is EXTREMELY curious about the baby who shows up with his mom for her voice lesson immediately following mine. I captured some better pictures today than I did last week so I thought they merited posting. 

Polly's Pink Kitchen

Picture of the Day for 1/17/2014. I got a bee in my bonnet today to create a blog with the title The Pink Kitchen as I am the inheritor of a VERY pink kitchen and thought it would make a cute blog title. I did a Google search and discovered The Pink Kitchen was already taken, but if I added Polly (my late mother's name) to the title, the field was wide open. Polly's Pink Kitchen is much cuter than The Pink Kitchen so that worked out even better than expected. I have absolutely no clue what to do with this blog now that I've set it up. I was thinking of posting some cherished family recipes. Or maybe it can be a Merrill family blog where I can post memories and family stories and photographs. We'll see. Let me know if you have any suggestions. 

It's Amazing What Happens When You Ask

Picture of the Day for 1/16/2014. I attended my monthly real estate investors club meeting tonight. The moderator mentioned that he only had a few copies of the book pictured below and since he didn't have nearly enough copies for everyone in attendance, you'd really have to work hard convince him why you were deserving. 

After the meeting ended, I noticed all the books were still stacked on the desk so I went up to the moderator and simply asked, "May I have one of the books?" He simply said "Yes" and handed me a copy. There was no jumping through hoops required. As I was walking out of the classroom, several of the other attendees noticed I had a copy of the book and asked in wonderment how I had managed to convince the moderator to give me one. I said I just asked.

I have found that's a great strategy in life. I think people would be amazed at what can happen when they are simply willing to ask.

Paula Can Help You With That

Picture of the Day for 1/15/2014. I dropped by my 88-year-old neighbor Erma's house today for a visit. She showed me a picture of her late husband, Colonel Donald C. Todt, that she had rediscovered in the basement. He looks quite distinguished. As well he should as he had a very distinguished career in the U.S. Air Force.* She mentioned that she wanted to hang the picture in the living room above her piano. My automatic response was, "Oh, Paula can help you with that." 

My poor sister Paula. I'm always very quick to volunteer her services. 

Erma is working on organizing her photos and memorabilia. That's a huge project to organize nearly nine decades of an eventful life so when she recently mentioned she was feeling a little overwhelmed by the task, I said, "Oh, Paula can help you with that." 

It's very useful having a useful sister. So, just let me know if you have any projects you're working on. I'm sure Paula can help you with that.

*Check out his obituary to read about his career.

Tree Landscaping

Picture of the Day for 1/14/2014. I was driving along 7th East today (a major thoroughfare in Salt Lake City) and noticed these trees looked like they had been cut in half. They had been landscaped so their branches didn't interfere with power lines. Poor trees! The shape kind of resembles a hand holding up a catcher's mitt.

Bullies Being Bullied

Picture of the Day for 1/13/2014. Do you see those two dogs behind the fence? They are bullies. They belong to my neighbor and whenever I presume to venture into MY backyard, they go into a complete frenzy of anger. They rush up to the fence and bark and growl to make sure I know that I have committed an egregious error. It's actually pretty scary since the dogs rear up and look like they are trying to jump the fence. The neighbor and his family moved in a couple of years ago so you would think the dogs would be used to my presence by now. Nope. I've tried to look on the bright side which is that they make fabulous guard dogs. I always know when someone is about when I hear them bark. 


Today I heard such a violent racket in the backyard that I had to go investigate. The dogs in the picture below had wandered into my yard and barked right back at the bully dogs. I was amazed and totally gratified when my neighbor's dogs were the first to back down. I gave the "we're not taking crap from you" dogs a mental high-five as they trotted away victorious. They are welcome in my yard anytime.

Stocking Up on Essentials

Picture of the Day for 1/12/2014. As you can tell, I'm a little obsessed with Bath & Body Works' Vanilla Bean Noel shower gel. It kind of looks like I stocked up for the apocalypse. It's just that when I first used this body wash, the heavens opened and life changed irrevocably for me that day. I don't think I've ever smelled anything as good. When it went on sale for 75% off after Christmas, I had no choice but to buy as many bottles as I could. 

Wouldn't it be ironic if I grew to hate the scent by the time I've worked my way through six bottles of the stuff?!?!

Curious Cat

Picture of the Day for 1/11/2014. My voice teacher's daughter's cat was VERY curious about the baby (Sean) who has now started accompanying his mother (Emily) to her voice lesson which is right after mine on Saturday mornings. 

Don't You Go "Dynin" on Us!

Picture of the Day for 1/10/2014. In honor of my brother-in-law David's last day of his two-week stay in the hospital, I thought I would post a note his youngest daughter Corinne wrote on the white board next to his bed. It's totally Corinne. The doctors were horrified when they first saw the message since they assumed one of the CNAs had inappropriately written the message. David assured them it was his daughter and they were NOT to erase the message since it made him laugh. You have to admit, it's a pretty good piece of advice. 

Why Bother Shoveling?

Picture of the Day for 1/9/2014. I spent an hour shoveling my driveway and front steps. I was feeling quite a sense of accomplishment until I looked out the window (which is quite dirty- eek) just a mere half-hour later to discover a fresh new coating of snow. Sigh. It made me wonder why I even bothered to make the effort in the first place. 

Love and Gnomes

Picture of the Day for 1/8/2014. 

My sister Robynne LOVES gnomes. 

My brother-in-law Will HATES gnomes. 

Robynne has decorated her home extensively with gnomes. (Don't be alarmed- Robynne is the only person I know who can decorate in an eclectic manner and pull it off. Her house is beautifully decorated.) 

Will puts up with the gnomes. This can only mean one thing. He LOVES Robynne.

Not only does Will put up with the gnomes, but he actually gave Robynne the large gnome pillow pictured below for Christmas. Of his own free will. There was no nudging or prompting. The pillow was a complete surprise to Robynne. This can only mean one thing. He REALLY loves Robynne.

Robynne took the pillow and created this little gnome vignette. In the front hallway. For everyone to see.

Will has only himself to blame. 

Barging In

Picture of the Day for 1/7/2014. This morning I was listening to a podcast where the speaker was talking about the human body's Reticular Activating System (RAS). It's basically how the brain filters all of the information out in the world so our heads don't explode from all the stimuli. We get just the "need to know" information and information we are used to seeing. Consequently, there might be things out in the world that exist, but our eyes just don't process them. 

Ironically, I was confronted by an example of this concept just a few mere hours after learning about it. I dropped by the hospital to visit my brother-in-law David. In the rehab wing where he's currently located, there's a little break room where patients, staff, and visitors can go get a free soft drink. FREE! You can't go wrong with FREE Diet Coke! Trust me, I take advantage of it. So, before stopping at David's room, I went to get my FREE Diet Coke. I barged right into the break room and didn't really notice until I was filling up my drink cup that there was a huge staff meeting going on and I was definitely intruding. It wasn't until I exited the break room with Diet Coke in hand that I saw a very prominent sign at the entrance indicating the room was closed due to a staff meeting that was in progress. Once I actually "saw" the sign, I wondered how I missed it in the first place. I guess my RAS system filters out anything non-Diet Coke-related. My RAS definitely knows what I consider essential information. 

#1 Reason Why You Shouldn't Procrastinate

Picture of the Day for 1/6/2014. Oh no! Do you remember how I mentioned back in October that I helped a 93-year-old lady who was having car trouble? Her name was Carol Gray and while we were waiting for the tow truck to show up, we had a nice time chatting and getting acquainted. Carol told me that she makes necklaces and sells them. I was leaving for a trip to Florida in a few days, but I promised I would call her upon my return so I could arrange to come to her house and buy some necklaces. Well, as you know, life gets busy so I didn't end up calling her until mid-December. I left a message on her voicemail, but never heard back from her. I was thinking she was busy with the holidays or that she didn't get my message. Today I did a google search for her because she had mentioned she sells her necklaces online. This is what I found- her obituary. She died just three weeks after I met her! I was so sad to see this, but she did mention she missed her husband who had died 20 years ago and she was ready to go. I'm so happy that I could be one of the people who extended a kindness to her in the last weeks of her life. I consider that an honor. 

2013 Was a Great Year After All

Picture of the Day for 1/5/2014. I mentioned a couple of days ago that I'm organizing all of my photos from 2013. Not only am I doing that, but I'm printing them out and putting them in a monster-sized binder that also contains memorabilia I've collected over the past year (i.e., pamphlets, programs, ticket stubs, cards and letters, etc.). 






I've only gotten to May 2013 and the binder is almost full! I'll need to buy a second monster-sized binder. As I'm working on this project, I'm reminded of all the fun adventures I had (both personally and professionally) and all the places I was able to visit. I know I complained in this blog a couple of times about how hard 2013 was for me sometimes, but looking back over the year, all-in-all, I'd say it was a great one. 

14 Old Testament Reference Books and Counting

Picture of the Day for 1/4/2014. I may be a bit of a heathen, but that doesn't mean I don't have a well-stocked library of religious reference materials. My friend Suzanne was recently called to be a Sunday School teacher in her ward and I offered to loan her some reference books for the Old Testament- this year's course of study for the LDS church. She asked to come over today to pick them up so I assembled about 14 books for her. Those were just the ones I could find easily. I know I have more lurking in the hard-to-reach recesses of my bookshelves.

I have a couple of books where contemporary writers have written essays or short stories about the Old Testament. My favorite is a rather subversive short story called "She Unnames Them" by Ursula Le Guin. The story is written from Eve's point-of-view as she unravels Adam's work by "unnaming" the animals. The imagery in the story is so beautiful; below is an example:

As for the fish of the sea, their names dispersed from them in silence throughout the oceans like faint, dark blurs of cuttlefish ink, and drifted off on the currents without a trace. 

I have so many reference books because I was a Sunday School teacher myself for over four years. It was one of the rare periods of time when I haven't played the piano for church. Pianists are always at a premium so that's why playing the piano represents 99.9% of my church service to date. My most successful/favorite lesson I gave in all those four years was from the Old Testament. I was teaching the creation story from Genesis and I showed an excerpt from Nova - To the Moon, a space documentary that included the Apollo 8 transmission to earth on December 24, 1968. The astronauts took turns reading the creation story from Genesis. It was an appropriate choice (at least I think so- the words are lovely regardless of religious beliefs) not only because it was Christmas Eve, but because this was the first time men had traveled to the moon and had the unique vantage point of seeing the earth rising over the moon. The earth looks so beautiful from space, It must have seemed like an amazing creation to those astronauts. 

I do have to add a disclaimer that I showed this excerpt BEFORE I became a space fanatic. This particular documentary had been on my radar because several years before I had been having a crisis of faith. I turned on the TV at 2 am one morning due to insomnia and the excerpt I showed to my Sunday School class happened to be playing right at that moment. It made me cry.

3,931 Photos; 21 Videos

Picture of the Day for 1/3/2014. I've been working on organizing all the photographs I took in 2013. After that, I'll tackle 2012 and 2011. I have a habit of wantonly taking a ton of pictures and then choosing the best of the selection for my Picture of the Day. The problem is, I tend to forget to delete the pictures I no longer want or need and they have accumulated at an alarming rate. As you can see from the snapshot below, I currently have 3,921 photos and 21 videos in my iPhone photo album. This may seem excessive, but I've managed to delete several hundred pictures over the past week and I have high hopes of eventually getting the number well below 1,000. I am allowing myself to keep 10-15 pictures per each month of the year on the phone. I find it's nice to be able to bring up a photo when I'm discussing people or places I've visited. At least I think it's nice. I'm sure some people groan when they see me pulling out my phone to show them a picture. 

Very Young Hairdresser

Picture of the Day for 1/2/2014. The entire family was assembled in my brother-in-law David's hospital room today for a visit during which my great-niece Sadie decided my hair needed some attention. She can be seen below brushing it. According to Sadie, my hair is very silky. As a 51-year-old, that was nice to hear.






After making sure every hair was in place, Sadie let me borrow her headband. It's nice to know I was properly groomed.

New Year's Kiss

Picture of the Day for 1/1/2014. So, can you guess who gave me a kiss to ring in the new year? It was Jack the puppy. He's an affectionate and indiscriminate face-licker. Everyone in attendance at my niece Renee's New Year's Eve "junk food buffet" party received many kisses from Jack.


If you've never held and/or attended a "junk food buffet" party before, I highly recommend it! You can't go wrong with junk food. Ever.