I mean, really!

Will my life ever return to the normal rhythm of get Flash off to school, Super Q to preschool, volunteer at school library, grocery store, make dinner, ride exercise bike, sleep, repeat? I was called to be the Primary president ( in charge of roughly 120 kids between the ages of 2 and 12) at church about 2 weeks ago and, man, am I reeling! Between phone calls and finding substitutes and meetings and issues with teachers and now Cub Scouts, I feel like I'm being stretched to my limits. My body has responded in typical stress-out mode: nausea, migraine, twitchy eye. As Flash would say, in his inimitable way, "I mean, really!"

I'm thinking a tattoo of all of the prophets across my back will help me remember to follow their example as I serve the kids in my ward. Or maybe just a green CTR shield on my ankle?

suggestions for filling down time

Fun things to do when you're faced with a rainy Saturday, a napping 4 year old, and no desire whatsoever to clean your house:

Google Image Search on your own name. I found several "Rebecca Marshalls" (one pictured here--she looks a bit like my Dad's somewhat unstable cousin), both in the UK. And a few men who came up under that search (?)

Research Windows Vista. Get excited about it. Price it. Decide against it.

Listen to majority of The Shins' new album. Wonder why you were, at one point, desperately in love with this band. Shift allegiance to Iron & Wine.

an ad like no other

It's a gray day outside--I know you need this link as much as I do. It's for the Sony Bravia TV: 2 ads that celebrate color. My favorite is here,, the superball ad. The paint cannon ad is also really cool -- it can be found here.

distractions of late

freezer paper hand towels , detail of shoe organizer


<--freezer paper/embroidered tooth fairy pillow shoe organizer for baby Chloe--->

telegrams and anger

Last week we found out that a good friend of our family, Miss Binns (at left) has an inoperable brain tumor. She starts radiation this week, and her oncologist has given her a 12-18 week prognosis.

We've known Miss Binns since she was a baby; she's two days older than Super Q. Her mom is one of my dear friends. We're all reeling at the news, as you might imagine. I can't seem to wrap my mind around the possibility of a life only 4 years long.

I've been thinking the past few days about one of my favorite books, Howard's End, by E.M. Forster. Among other things, its theme is the overarching importance of personal relationships in our lives. Indeed, you might say that little else matters except for connecting with (loving) others. In the book, two sisters, the Miss Schlegels, encounter death, love, and loss with grace and sensitivity informed by their motto: "Only Connect!" They consider themselves quite different from other people--they don't care much for (as they put it) "telegrams and anger." In other words, they try to see beyond the minutiae that can cloud our perspective and take time away from the people we love the most.
"Only Connect!" Words to live by, I think.