Easter Basket Box... finished...

Listed today in...

ThE LoVE BoXES SHoP...

Little Sarah...

Love BoxES SHoP...

peg dolls, doll, little peg people. peggies, wedding cake toppers, cake toppers, cupcake toppers, birthday, decorations, painted, anniversary, available in love boxes shop...

Easter Basket...

Something new.. is coming to

LoVe BoxES SHoP...

The Flip Side of Feminism: What Conservative Women Know and Men Can't Say

A liberated woman is one who has sex before marriage and a job after. ~Gloria Steinem

No woman should be authorized to stay home to raise her children. Women should not have that choice, because if there is such a choice, too many women would make that one. ~Simone de Beauvoir

I have a university degree and worked for a number of years after I was married. We waited until my husband had graduated and started in his career to begin our family so that I could be at home. I knew that I would never be able to leave my child in daycare. I realize that some women don't have a choice (This book is not a diatribe against working mothers).

It's true that my brain isn't stimulated by laundry (although books on tape help :) I don't love to change diapers and do dishes. But personally, I do love to be with my children. I love to watch them learn and grow. Teaching them their colors and numbers and then to watch them read, ride bikes, have friends of their own is amazing.

Even though I loved my work-life outside the home, mothering is the most creative, complicated, rewarding work I've ever done. I'm grateful that I have a husband who has prepared himself professionally and is willing to support our family. He has my great respect.

I hope that my daughters will find a man like him when they grow up. Will they? I see our feminist culture as the kryptonite to the supermen our boys want to become. By treating their rough and tumble elementary school games as bullying or expelling them for throwing snowballs (ridiculous). Banning recess?

There is a teacher in our school who has recognized this problem. She runs her class around the track before math. The class moves between every subject. She incorporates music and jumping jacks. Her classes are always filled with the "behavior problem boys" who turn out not to be problems in her class at all. The boys love her and they love school.

But, elementary school problems are just the beginning, the world has become hostile to men.

Feminism doesn't recognize the inherent differences of boys and girls, men and women and both suffer because of it. Feminism has been shoved down our throats until what was once considered shocking is a normal part of society to great cost. Broken families abound creating poverty, crime and other social problems at an alarming rate. Women put off having children for careers and advanced schooling to the point that infertility is rampant. 1.2 million abortions are performed in the United States every year. And, yet feminism has been considered a great step forward in society.

It's just the beginning of the lies that any fan of old movies, like myself, knows for what it is. Watch Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn, Bogart and Bacall, Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur in films made before 1950 and you will know that American Women had equal rights long before Gloria Steinem came along.

I could go on forever, but I'll say this. I heard a stranger say the other day, "I don't want a woman who walks in front of me. I don't want a woman who walks behind me. I want a woman who will walk beside me." READ THIS BOOK!

One Brave Girl... Custom Peg Doll

peg dolls, doll, little peg people. peggies, wedding cake toppers, cake toppers, cupcake toppers, birthday, decorations, painted, anniversary, available in love boxes shop...

LoVE BoXeS SHoP...

Who Gets Two Bowls of Ice Cream???

ME! ME! ME!

I am now the proud owner of these two lovely paintings

by my very favorite artist...

Ally Sweeney

I love.. Love.. LOVE them!

Easter...

Now to plant the pansies...

How I love pretty ribbons...

Why Do We Let Girls Dress Like That?

Interesting article... WSJ
Women of a liberated generation wrestle with their eager-to-grow-up daughters—and their own pasts...
HERE...

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

I was a little surprised to learn that this book is considered YA fiction. I would probably read it with my teen if she were interested in reading this book. Because, the book covers some heavy topics: teen suicide, abandonment, death of a child, teen sex, drug abuse and depression. However, it is never overly graphic and it tries to help the reader have empathy for someone who is literally falling apart.

I sat down and read it in a single shot. It's a clear-your-schedule-and-make-some-couch-time-because-you-aren't-going-anywhere book.

Side-by-side, the book tells the stories of two troubled teens, one modern and one living during the French Revolution. The plot is complex and exciting, but it's also well researched historical fiction. I learned some things about the French Revolution that I didn't know before and Donnelly paints a fascinating picture of the time.

If you liked the book, The Thirteenth Tale... This book feels like that one... Surprises, great characters, tight writing. It's good stuff.

The Life of King Henry the Fifth

O Kate, nice customs curtsy to great kings. DearKate, you and I cannot be confined within the weaklist of a country's fashion: we are the makers ofmanners, Kate; and the liberty that follows ourplaces stops the mouth of all find-faults...

I love to watch Kenneth Branagh's 1989 version of Henry the Fifth. Brilliant. I need to spend more time with Shakespeare. Good for the brain and good for the heart. If you haven't seen THIS... put it on your list. Gorgeous!

Yearning For The Living God

I am grateful that I took the opportunity to read this book. It helped me puzzle some things together that I have been studying in other areas.

Enzio Busche was born just three years before Hitler came to power in Germany. He talks about the thought processes and learning at the time and about his experience in the Hitler Youth.

There is a part in the book where he says, "There was a great deal of talk about a world of conspiracy with secret combinations. Certain names of rich families were mentioned as well as members of the royal families in Europe. Supposedly, they wanted to establish a world government that would use democracy and communism as tools to fulfill their own purposes. We were told that Germany was the last enemy standing in their way, so they wanted to destroy it permanently."

Sound familiar?

Elder Busche goes on to say, "This idea always seemed very far-fetched to me. And, surprisingly, similar rumors tend to surface year after year, even in America. I do no believe them any more today than I did then. But I have observed with interest what long lived rumors and lies can have and how they destabilize the comfort and peace of societies."

I believe something is lost in the translation here. It was the only part of the book that had me really confused because in the very next paragraph, Elder Busche goes on the describe the very conspiracy that fooled so many and became what is known as the Holocaust. Truly, secret combinations are part of this world. I talked this out with C. He made the comment that he's been asked about who are behind the secret combinations of this world. Who are the conspirators? Who is the great and abominable church? His answer was that it wasn't one thing.

The drug cartels. The mafia. Those who seek to destroy the church and the faithful can all be part of secret combinations. Surely there are many. The idea of pointing to just one, even in the time of Hitler, Stalin was also an evil dictator responsible for the killing millions and for secret combinations that allowed him to keep the power of which he was so jealous. C's thoughts made a lot of sense to me. There is no one family, no one race, no royal family, no one sect that is out to cause chaos, war, bloodshed and the destruction of society.

The book goes on to tell of Elder Busche's conversion to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and of the many tender mercies gifted to him by our Father in Heaven. He also tells many instances of people whose devotion to God gave them the ability to serve him in miraculous ways and often that helped them to be in the right place at the right time with the right help, with the right information... Elder Busche told many stories about how after giving all they had and coming short, the Lord made up the difference. The book is full of stories of the widow's mite... those that have so very little, but whose sacrifice, made in love is great.

There is a thread of liberty that runs through the book. An understanding of how freedom and liberty are essential to the gospel. The end of the book includes a treatise on the bloody history of Christianity. It's very sad, but interesting and made me think how much we still live today with our ancient history. Elder Busche tells how we need to judge faith by it's fruits and that the best is that message delivered by the angel at time of the birth of Christ, "Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward men."

I give this book the highest recommendation I have and hope that you will read it and tell me what you think.

The people of Japan...

I'm really impressed with the people of Japan. Looting? No. Whining that people aren't doing enough for them? No. They are handling this most difficult tragedy with grace and patience. Had they not, had there been riots and disorder... markets already fairly shaky would have had further problems. The Japanese have given the world a gift with their grace.
I'm sure that we will all find some way to be helpful to them.

Children Make Terrible Pets...

What if when you were a small child, you brought home a frog and asked your mom if you could, "please, please, please.." keep him forever? And then your mom said, "How would you like it if some forest creature picked you up and took you home and asked to keep you?" And you thought. "GREAT!" ... or something like that. This book is delightful!

Custom Birthday Cake Topper Giveaway...

I haven't done a giveaway in a long time... So... This one is for a

Custom Birthday Cake Topper

Made to look like your own son or daughter, with name and birth date on the bottom.

Will also include the fun gift service available in the

LoVe BoXeS SHoP...

Instructions: Everyone is welcome to enter by...
making a single comment in the comments section
Winner will be drawn Monday, Midnight EST
GOOD LUCK!

Congratulations Frenchy!

Charlotte Tiana...

This turned out to be one of my very favorite dolls so far.

Find custom birthday cake & wedding cake toppers

LoVe BoXEs SHoP...

little peg people. peggies, wedding cake toppers, cake toppers, cupcake toppers, birthday, decorations, painted, anniversary, available in love boxes shop...

Winston Churchill PBS

PBS documentaries of great men and women are a little too much like reading a newspaper these days. While no man is perfect, it is difficult for people to put into perspective a man's accomplishments vs. his sins. Just ask Dan Quayle what happens if you happen to not like a particular episode of Murphy Brown, for example. I think that "scandal" is what most people know about him. Or, if you are a favorite friend of the liberal media, like for example George H.W. Bush, you might be flayed in the media because of what great sin.. Yep, he doesn't like Broccoli. It almost got as much coverage as the death of Michael Jackson or even the O.J. Simpson trial.

I'm not saying that we should gloss over people. But, a little bit of perspective would be healthy. PBS often lacks that perspective and so while I learned a little bit, I can't highly recommend this program.

Winston Churchill in a nutshell: This is a man who smoked like a chimney and drank like a sailor, but when he was a young boy, he had an impression that he would have an opportunity to save his country and he spent his whole life preparing to do just that. And, when the time came, he was prepared and he did save his country and ours too.

He did not fall for the charm of "the great bear" like our own more shallow FDR. He knew the evils of communism and tried to prepare his people. He worked tirelessly to save Poland and in that he failed, but he knew liberty and when he held up a two fingered salute, it was not for peace, but for Victory.

God bless you Prime minister... We still have so much to learn from you.

All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope. ~Winston Churchill

How To Train Your Dragon

Everyone at my house wants to be Astrid. Since under-the-weather has been more normal than not this winter. I have this film memorized. What bit would you like to hear?

I love it though. This is a film about my people. I hope they were dragon fighting instead of raiding and pillaging, but hey... It's cold up there in the great north and we Vikings get worried about where our next meal is coming from.. If you get between a Viking and dinner.. you could have trouble.

Anyway, if there is any chance you haven't seen this 59 times, you should. It's darling. And, the music is really lovely. Really.

On Saturdays if you are very lucky...

You can find these HERE...

I know it looks just so everyday, but it's not.. it's DELICIOUS!

Sugar Daisy Bakery
140B North Main StreetKaysville, UT 84037(801) 543-1500

Spinach Chicken & Pasta Salad with Teriyaki Vinaigrette

My mom made this on the weekend.. If you are starting to look for some delicious summer recipes.. This one will be a hit!
***Note: I made this recipe myself. My suggestions are to go with the 2/3 cup rather than 1/3 teriyaki sauce and use regular table salt rather than sea salt :)

Recipe HERE...

PS.. I have to say that I love this blog so much. It has a ton of recipes that I would like to try. I am adding it to my blogroll so I'll be able to find it. Fantastic recipes :)