Not-So-Green Thumb

I love gardens. I think they're beautiful, inspiring--God's gift on earth. I often find myself browsing through Better Homes & Gardens just so I can admire other people's amazing work.

When we got married and had our own place I had dreams of making my backyard look like this...

picture from www.bhg.com (I love tulips!)

It's a little far-fetched I know, especially for someone with a not-so-green thumb. We literally have tons of empty pots sitting around just waiting to be filled with flowers, herbs, anything!

I'm just scared to start a project until I figure out what the heck I'm doing. Afterall, I haven't had much luck so far...

Our first summer in the house I decided I would start with a small flower garden on the side of the house. Little did I know that it would be way more work than I bargained for. Just creating the garden was back-breaking. Digging up the dirt, placing the weed barrier, shoveling the dirt back on top, buying the plants, digging holes for the plants, and on and on and on...Plus, I wanted to be environmentally friendly. So instead of laying down non-biodegradable weed paper, I used newspaper. BAD IDEA! I had weeds just two weeks after I planted. And I didn't have a lot of time to weed the garden so it basically turned into a jungle.

I also tried growing some hanging plants. My mother-in-law gave us some ferns. I killed those. My impatiens were the only thing to survive my garden so I replanted those into hanging baskets. They lasted a month or two but eventually died also.

This summer I officially gave up on my garden. Actually, I didn't really have a choice after the hubby mowed over my overgrown plot.

Nevertheless, I decided to stick with my hanging baskets (I didn't want to be a total quitter). But this time, I checked out a gardening book from my grandmother's very extensive library collection. I searched and searched for a hearty plant ideal for hanging baskets that didn't require much sunlight or water. What did I find?...Portulaca (aka moss roses). Oh my precious portulaca. They have done amazingly well. I have both light pink and yellow and also a very bright pink color. They open up in the early morning and begin to close-up as the day goes on. Their colors are so vibrant and the vines grow like wildfire. And I only water them every two to three days. They do require some pruning, and I try to do this about once a week.

They have done so well this summer that I'm actually going to move them indoors for the winter (I never had this problem before because all my plants died before the summer was over). I just hope they survive indoors. Keep your fingers crossed.

p.s. I have also managed to keep my camelia plant alive (wedding gift from Ms. L-thanks!), but only after some much needed TLC because apparently I wasn't giving it enough water. And I have managed to keep an aloe vera plant. I don't exactly know what those brown spots are, but I just told the hubby that they are freckles from all the sunlight. Hey, it keeps growing :)

86-year-old Apostle Stirs Up the Nation

Read here>>>>Mormon leaders remarks spark outcry on same-sex marriage

During the 180th Semi-Annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which aired on October 2-3, President Boyd K. Packer stated, "We teach a standard of moral conduct that will protect us from Satan’s many substitutes or counterfeits for marriage. We must understand that any persuasion to enter into any relationship that is not in harmony with the principles of the gospel must be wrong. Some suppose that they were preset and cannot overcome what they feel are inborn temptations toward the impure and unnatural. Not so! Remember, God is our Heavenly Father."

Picture from http://www.lds.org/

He is clearly stating that the church believes feelings towards others of the same-sex are disagreeable with God's plan. And he is also explaining that those people with these types of feelings should not give up because there is hope.

So why then has his comments sparked such an outrage in America?

The gay and lesbian community has responded with protests and petitions as if they are surprised by what Packer said. The church's stance on same-sex marriage has been known for a long time, and it will most likely never change. In case the gay and lesbian community didn't know, we live in a free country and we are free to practice and preach what we believe. Not everyone has to think and feel the same way you do. This is the beauty of freedom.

I am a Latter-day Saint (LDS) but my best friend is a lesbian. She knows how I feel about her sexual orientation and she respects what I believe. I know about her feelings for the same sex and I respect those feelings. Do I go out rallying against same-sex marriage and protesting gay and lesbian relationships? No. Am I going to go out and vote for the legalization of same-sex marriage? No. How can I do this to my friend you might ask. Because it goes against what I believe in, and it is my right to hold to that belief just like Packer.

It is hypocritical for gays and lesbians to protest against what Packer said. They are mad at the LDS church for not agreeing with their way of life, but at the same time they are not agreeing with ours.

In the soundoff section of the article (I always like to read these :), Bill replies to someone calling Mormons a hate group by stating, "Hate speech? Hate speech? Really? I don't agree with what this guy said, nor do many others, but calling it hate speech is reactionary and self serving of his opponents. It shows just how crazy people can get. This guy didn't call for people to be harmed, ostracized, excommunicated or discriminated against. He said that their orientation was wrong and could be changed with enough faith. Where is the hate in that? Put it in perspective and put your soapbox away. Just because you disagree with someone does not make the other person a bigot, racist, liberal, left winger, right wing nut or Hitler reincarnate." I couldn't agree with you more, Bill.

So what then is the solution? Learn to coexist!

And this process begins with a little r-e-s-p-e-c-t. Respect others beliefs!

Trapped Miners Receive a Complimentary Blanket

Read here>>>>Chilean president: Looking forward to imminent mine rescue

In case you haven't heard, there are 33 miners who have been trapped in a Chilean mine for over two months.

Nonetheless, they are supposed to be rescued sometime today or tomorrow. Yeah!

So what do they get for being trapped in a small, dark hole for more than 60 days? A complimentary embroidered blanket of course!

According to the president of Chile, each miner will be given a blanket embroidered with their names. "They're going to be able to keep it for their homes," he said.

Wow, how nice! I bet those miners can't wait to get their blankets.

First of all, what PR person thought of this? I'm not even going to explain why this is a bad idea. Second of all, it better be a blanket made out of benjamins.

Got Mud?

So...a few weeks ago me, the hubby and the sister-in-law ran the annual Volkslauf Mud Run.

Was it fun?...Hell yeah it was!

It was a 5.5 mile run through the stinky, wet, disgusting mud.

My boss, L, looked at me after I told her I did it and said, "Kaley, why on earth would you do something like that!?" My reply, "I don't know. Because it looked like fun." And believe me, it was.

We ran as a team so we had to cross the finish line together. We finished in 58:20. Just under an hour! Which we totally thought was impossible.

Here are some pics.

That's me in the blue shirt.

That's the hubby in the grey.

And here we are taking a shower with hundreds of other people.

This is us after the race.

I would like to publicly thank my teammates for being so great and hustling their little butts off. Ya'll are awesome :)

The Power to Be Me

Fortune Magazine has published a list of the 50 most powerful women in the world.
Read here >>>> 50 Most Powerful Women

The question is--what constitutes power? What characteristics does someone have to possess to be considered powerful? Is it wisdom, worldly experience, looks, expertise, money?

After grazing through the list, I discovered that power is all about position. The top five women are all CEOs and Chairwomen of various conglomerates. Care to take a guess at who's in the number one spot? It's Indra Nooyi, chairwoman and CEO of PepsiCo. That's right, the most powerful woman in the world runs a soda company. Maybe she exerts this power through a little thing called caffeine. After all, most of the world is addicted to the product she sells (at least my grandmother is anyway).

Our beloved Oprah comes in at number six. I would have to say that her power does not just stem from position but also talent, money and visibility. People love her, they listen to her and buy whatever she sells. She holds the power of persuasion.

The COO of Facebook comes in at number 16. EVP of Wal-Mart is slated at number 23. The president of McDonald's is ranked at number 25. The VP of search products and user interests for Google is ranked at number 42 (she's also the youngest on the list at age 35). The president of Ebay is at number 44. And VP of worldwide corporate communications for Apple is ranked at number 50.

In this hegemonic world we live in, it is obvious that the women with the power are those with higher-up positions in internationally recognized corporations. But is this just?

I know that I will never be CEO of PepsiCo., McDonald's or Wal-mart, but does that mean that I'm not powerful? I feel pretty powerful...my dog listens to me when I tell her to sit. I feel in control of my life, I know where I'm headed, I have goals that I would like to accomplish.

So I think I might add my name to this list maybe as number 51 or number 1,364,459,782. What does it matter? As long as I feel empowered I have the power to do anything I set my mind to.