Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Retirement

I have reached a landmark in my life story.... retirement... from singles wards. I have been in many singles wards in the past twelve years... yes - twelve years! They have all been superb - especially in regards to the people that I have met. Yet, it is still funny to me that singles wards exist. I just feel that singles should be part of every ward - just like the moms and the dads and the little old grandmas.....
I have loved all of the singles wards that I have been in, and all of the friends that I have made. I am excited to experience a family ward again! Happy Retirement!!!

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Who's your daddy?


Did you ever see the movie 13 going on 30? It is one of my favorites. One part that cracks me up is when Jennifer Garner was asked "who's your daddy?" She missed the slang meaning and simply responded "Wayne Rink." Here is my daddy - Norm Drasher.
So, he just had an article written about him in the newspaper back home. Cool, huh? He never told me about an interview that he had on CNN, so I was excited that he actually told me about this one!!!
My Dad is not perfect, but I think that I have had to defend him within my family for so many years- that sometimes I forget that he is not perfect. I stayed with him when my parents divorced - partly because I could not handle him being left alone, but it was one of the best decisions I have ever made.
I do think that divorce is interesting in terms of parenting. Every child needs a mother and a father - there are so many traits that they gain from each parent. Yet, the world would say that we can each do it all on our own. Men and women are so different - but we need each others differences. Okay- so that was a huge can of worms that I just opened - just something to think about!
Here is the article - I hope this link works.
P
http://www.standardspeaker.com/articles/2008/12/22/news/hz_standspeak.20081222.a.pg1.hz22_normdrasher_s1.2176473_top2.txt

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

The Regulator

No, this is not some fiber aid, this is one more of my nicknames. Let me explain. A former roommate gave me this name. At the time, she was dating a young man. Well, I would worry about their late night activities at our home, so I would just happen to make cookies and surprise them. I know this sounds kind of dumb, they are adults. I just know that I am very tempted when I am with a guy.... and need protection some times. I wanted to be their protector... does that make sense? Well, umm, I do not think they enjoyed my antics, and thus was named the Regulator.

Who would have believed that I would actually feel like the regulator again? I work in a treatment center for teenage girls. This week especially, I have had to enforce some of the established rules - and felt so much like the bad guy! Once again, Peggy the Regulator returns!

P

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Another Tag

7 TV Shows I Love To Watch:

1. i Carly
2. American Home Makeover
3. Friends
4. The Office
5. I have really liked Private Practice lately...
6. I Love Lucy - an oldy but a goody!
7. Cold Case


7 Things That Happened Yesterday:

1. I was able to sleep in with my fuzzy blanket..... ahhh, heaven -
2. Conferenced with a professor who absolutely intimidates me.
3. Visited my friend, Diana.
4. Lifted some serious weights - and paid for it with soreness.....
5. Talked with my friend Lucinda
6.
7.

7 Favorite Places To Eat:

1. Cafe Rio
2. European Connection
3. The Pie
4. Bombay House
5. Happy Sumo
6. Gastronomy
7. Cold Stone

7 Things I'm Looking Forward To:

1. Teaching
2. Summer - I am always looking forward to summer!
3. Finding luvv, twue luv - and spending time with him...
4. Marriage in the Temple.
5. A trip to Pennsylvania.
6. moving to a new place
7.

7 Things On My Wish List:

1. To get completely out of debt.
2. To have my own place.
3. A teaching position.
4. To lose half of my body weight.
5. Geneology - to have my family's work done.
6. Free time
7. to be a mom

Friday, December 12, 2008

Christmas Carols for those with "issues"

1. Schizophrenia - Do You Hear What I Hear?
2. Multiple Personality Disorder - We Three Kinds Disoriented Are
3. Amnesia - I don't remember if I'll be Home for Christmas
4. Narcissistic - Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me
5. Manic - Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Buses and Trucks and Trees and...
6. Paranoid- Santa Claus is Coming to Get Me
7. Antisocial Personality Disorder - Thoughts of Roasting You on an Open Fire
8. Borderline Personality Disorder - You Better Watch Out, I'm Gonna Cry, I'm Gonna Pout, Maybe I'll tell you Why
9.Attention Deficit Disorder- Silent Night, Holy Ooohhh look at the puppy - can I have a chocolate, why is France so far away, is it snowing?
10. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,
Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,
Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,
Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,
Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,
Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,
Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,
Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,
Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,
Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells.

11.Alzheimer's Disease/Senile Dementia- Walking in a Winter Wonderland Miles from My House in My Slippers and Robe.

12. Social Anxiety Disorder - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas While I sit Here and Hyperventilate.

13. Oppositional Defiant Disorder - I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus so I burned down the house.

Since I work in the field of Mental Health and I totally have my own issues - this totally made me laugh!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Body Worlds 3: The Story of the Heart


My part time job is working at The Leonardo Downtown, where they have Body Worlds 3. I have been so amazed by really studying and looking at the human body. We have such a gift! Creation is sooo amazing to me. It amazes me that everyday, a baby is born, and born the right shape, with all of its parts. Or why we have some parts of our bodies. Eyebrows - they are so random. You can see them on the plastinates - not like hair - but padding. So Amazing!!!

1. started your own blog (duh)
2. slept under the stars
3. played in a band

4. visited hawaii
5. watched a meteor shower
6. given more than you can afford to charity
7. been to disneyland
8. climbed a mountain
9. held a praying mantis
10. sang a solo
11. bungee jumped
12. visited paris
13. watched a lightning storm at sea
14. taught yourself an art from scratch
15. adopted a child
16. had food poisoning
17. walked to the top of the statue of liberty
18. grown your own vegetables
19. seen the mona lisa in france
20. slept on an overnight train
21. had a pillow fight
22. hitch-hiked
23. taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. built a snow fort
25. held a lamb
26. gone skinny dipping
27. run a marathon
28. ridden in a gondola in venice
29. seen a total eclipse
30. watched a sunrise or a sunset31. hit a home run (in the park)
32. been on a cruise
33. seen niagra falls in person
34. visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. seen an amish community

36. taught yourself a new language
37. had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. seen the leaning tower of pisa in person
39. gone rock climbing
40. seen michaelangelo's david
41. sung karaoke
42. seen the old faithful geyser erupt
43. bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. visited africa
45. walked on a beach by moonlight
46. been transported in an ambulance
47. had your portrait painted
48. gone deep sea fishing
49. seen the sistine chapel in person
50. been to the top of the eiffel tower in paris
51. gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. kissed in the rain
53. played in the mud
54. gone to a drive-in theater
55. been in a movie
56. visited the great wall of china
57. started a business
58. taken a martial arts class
59. visited russia
60. served at a soup kitchen
61. sold girl scout cookies
62. gone whale watching
63. got flowers for no reason
64. donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. gone sky diving
66. visited a nazi concentration camp
67. bounced a check
68. flown in a helicopter
69. saved a favorite childhood toy
70. visited the lincoln memorial
71. eaten caviar
72. pieced a quilt
73. stood in times square
74. toured the everglades
75. been fired from a job
76. seen the changing of the guards in london
77. broken a bone
78. been on a speeding motorcycle
79. seen the grand canyon in person
80. published a book
81. visited the vatican
82. bought a brand new car
83. walked in jerusalem
84. had your picture in the newspaper
85. read the entire bible
86. visited the white house
87. killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. had chickenpox
89. saved someone's life
90. sat on a jury
91. met someone famous
92. joined a book club
93. lost a loved one
94. had a baby
95. seen the alamo in person
96. swam in the great salt lake
97. been involved in a law suit
98. owned a cell phone
99. been stung by a bee
100. seen mount rushmore in person
101. learned to play an instrument

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Come What May, and Love It

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, the oldest living apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died Monday night, age 91.
In reflecting upon his death, I returned to his last conference address. I LOVE IT! It speaks to my heart about the trials we face in this life. So, here are the main points - and I hope I do not get sued for plagarism.......

"Come What May, and Love It"
What a statement to guide your life. I think of myself at 18, with such hopes and plans about how life would be - and compare it to now and what life is. Two totally different routes really! I have been truly blessed - but in ways that I could never have imagined then.
"Learn to Laugh

1."The first thing we can do is learn to laugh. Have you ever seen an angry driver who, when someone else makes a mistake, reacts as though that person has insulted his honor, his family, his dog, and his ancestors all the way back to Adam? Or have you had an encounter with an overhanging cupboard door left open at the wrong place and the wrong time which has been cursed, condemned, and avenged by a sore-headed victim?
There is an antidote for times such as these: learn to laugh."
2."Seek the Eternal"
3. "The third thing we can do is understand the principle of compensation. The Lord compensates the faithful for every loss. That which is taken away from those who love the Lord will be added unto them in His own way. While it may not come at the time we desire, the faithful will know that every tear today will eventually be returned a hundredfold with tears of rejoicing and gratitude."
4."The fourth thing we can do is put our trust in our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ."

All I want for Christmas.....

As a child do you remember making the famous list to Santa Claus? I sure do. It is such an exciting time for a child - the anticipation and all. This year, I get the same questions, what do you want for Christmas? I never know - I guess because if I have a need, I get it myself... but here is my Christmas wish list......

kids books - i love em - they are just so pure -
a tune up for my car - umm, its been sounding kinda funny lately...
mmmm, a husband... okay, this might be one of those "big ticket" items... so I would settle for just a date with a nice, chivalrous man
-It may take a lifetime to find true love, but when you do, you have an eternity to share it!
Okay, so I will get to the real point... what I want is to have my return to the gospel. Dr. Stuart E. Rosenberg wrote in his book The Road to Confidence, ‘Despite all new inventions and modern designs, fads and fetishes, no one has yet invented, or will ever invent, a satisfying substitute for one’s own family.’ ”
My family was all raised in the LDS Church. Yet, I have watched as each brother and sister has fallen into inactivity. It truly breaks my heart.
If any of my family is reading this, I know your feelings towards the church. I think that it is too easy to focus on the restrictions that comes with church membership. Let's focus on the Blessings the knowledge of the Gospel gives us.
The Atonement
"In fact, it ought to be a matter of great doctrinal consolation to us that Jesus, in the course of the Atonement, experienced all of the heartache and sorrow, all of the disappointments and injustices that the entire family of man had experienced and would experience from Adam and Eve to the end of the world in order that we would not have to face them so severely or so deeply. However heavy our load might be, it would be a lot heavier if the Savior had not gone that way before us and carried that burden with us and for us." Elder Jeffrey R. Holland


Where can you start? Alma 32: 27, 33, 36
27 But behold, if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than adesire to believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words.
• • •
33 And now, behold, because ye have tried the experiment, and planted the seed, and it swelleth and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow, ye must needs know that the seed is good.
• • •
36 Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither must ye lay aside your faith, for ye have only exercised your faith to plant the seed that ye might try the experiment to know if the seed was good.

Prayer
I can not even count how many times prayer has changed my life. I have been directed and comforted through prayer. I am grateful to know that ANYTIME I need heaven's help - I can receive it!

Okay, so I know I am asking for a lot this year, but it is worth it! Know that no matter what - I still love ya'll!
Merry Christmas!
And Santa, I know I am not giving you much time - but if anyone can do it- its all you big guy!!!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Thank you Santa....

When I first moved to Salt Lake City - I moved into a fabulous singles ward - University 41st. At Christmas time, my dear Bishop Cutler and his wife invited me and several others from the ward to spend Christmas with their family. Since then, they have become my "surrogate" family. That first year, I had a knock at the door, just a few days before Christmas. It seemed that santa had made his rounds early that year - and was leaving gifts at doorsteps. I was really touched by "Santa's" genorosity and kindness, and kind of intrigued... who was this secret santa? Well, every year since then, Santa has found a way to deliver to the Cutler's every year since. I am baffled. I have had my suspicions through the years.... but have yet to figure out who the mystery Santa is. So, if you are reading this.... Thank you, Merry Christmas, and know that your gift meant so much that I have been inspired to be a secret santa for someone else.......
I love the spirit of the season!