Wish Lists

As a mother, I find that most of my wish list consists of things I'd like the kids to have, so today I'm writing my own wish list as a birthday present to myself.  A lot on my list has to do with the family anyway. I guess that's just the way it goes... :)

*a Kindle? (I still prefer the feel of books and turning pages but being able to store 3,500 books in one spot and not having to pay to move them are huge selling points for me)
*new hotpads
*tongs for a campfire
*a good camping light
*a car that works well and needs minimal upkeep
*CO2 monitor (living in a house built in 1901 can make a person paranoid-see next wish)
*Lead testing of the soil at our house (I'd really like a garden next year but don't trust the dirt...)
*heat sensor thing to find out where cold is coming in or heat is escaping (lower electric bills?  Who wouldn't want that?!  My father-in-law would know what the thing is actually called since he has one...)
*new atomic weather clock (changes in weather always surprise me because I forget to check the reports! Our old weather clock got damaged in a move)
*update for current GPS or new GPS (am getting lost too many times-wrong coordinates, new streets)
*earrings (my contact solution disintegrated most of the ones I had)
*clothes budget (apparently dresses you can nurse in are not easy to find, going back to work in pants with holes is a no-no, and our washer keeps putting spots on our clothes-ironic, I know)
*massages and manicures (they just make a girl feel good)

What's on your wish list?

Judgment day

So, last Sunday's Relief Society and Priesthood lessons were on the topic of repentance and its parts (remorse, confession, restitution, etc.) Well, I must say that I need to repent of all the judgments I render on people as I drive around town. You just never know when it will come back to haunt you...

The other day I had my first back-to-work meeting and, trying to go above and beyond, had brought my binder of all the important contracts and documents for starting work as well as notes on all the projects I'll be involved in and tons of ideas I'd come up with during maternity leave. The meeting ran late, however, so I quickly put the baby in the car and raced off to pick up X from preschool (they charge a dollar a minute for being late!).

As I drove more leisurely home, I saw pages and pages of paper all over one major road and wondered who in the world would throw papers everywhere and not pick them up. In my own head I chided the person for his or her environmental irresponsibility and rudeness among other things. Since it was by a college apartment complex, I figured it was a student who had failed a test or paper and threw it everywhere in a fit (where do I come up with these scenarios anyway? People watching, probably. Does anyone else do that?)

I didn't stop to pick up any of the papers (I had hungry kids in the car, etc., etc.) and, in fact, ran over a few papers and simply wondered who was going to pick up the mess...the police? After I got home and got the kids settled I checked my email. My face flushed in embarrassment as I read the following note from a Bro. Carter in my ward:

"Hello, I rescued a notebook that had been strewn across canyon road. I think I got it all, though it is a mess. (Hope you don't mind tire marks!) I thought you should know where it is."

I realized immediately that in my haste, I'd put my all-important binder on the back of the trunk while putting the baby in the car (at least she made it in, right?! I think I get at least one parenting point for that!). Somehow the folder didn't fly off for several blocks but, unlike me, my humble neighbor and his high school aged son picked up the papers, looked through them to figure out whose folder it was, drove around to make sure they had gotten all of them, contacted Joe and me, and then brought them over to us. They are a truly inspiring family to me and I have learned my lesson.