A Condensed Reaction to the Kids and Technology Problem

I think there is a lot to be gained in this digital age. I feel I can't afford to ban video games and TV from my children's lives. But there absolutely has to be a balance.

Regulating what kinds of games and shows are in my home is a big part. But as long as there is more good than bad coming from it, I feel pretty strongly about being tolerant.

As far as time spent on electronics versus what I consider to be real play and interaction, I feel confident that as long as I'm honestly passionate about non-technology based activities, a balance will come. ie It's more important to me that my kids learn to love the outdoors than that they aren't addicted to a tablet, if that makes sense. I try to focus more on what I do want for my kids than what I don't want.

Most Popular Primary Songs

I'm currently the Primary Chorister for our ward. This Sunday I felt like the kids needed a break from all the hard work I've put them through to learn and practice new songs. I figured it would be easy to find a list of the top ten most popular Primary songs. Nope. I found lots of lists of opinions on the best, but I felt like they included songs that aren't sung often and were missing key favorites.

I LOVE Primary music and have sung the songs from the book all my life. That means I probably know more Primary songs (and LDS Hymns, for that matter) than most people. It also means that my perception of songs that everyone should know is skewed. I keep going up there with a song I feel like all the kids will know by heart and even the teachers look at me like I'm crazy.

Luckily for me, John hated Primary when he was in it, especially the music. That means that the only songs he knows are the most popular. We went through and he picked out all the songs he knows and we weeded down to the top ten. I leaned more toward the fun songs than the reverent ones, which I think is fair since kids really catch on to fun ones even if they don't sing them as often.

John told me to post it since I had such a hard time finding it. This isn't an opinion of our favorite songs, this is our perception of what the most popular songs are.

In no particular order:

I Am a Child of God 

A Child's Prayer

I Love to See the Temple 

Follow the Prophet

Book of Mormon Stories 

Nephi's Courage 

Love One Another

I Hope They Call Me on a Mission

Families Can Be Together Forever

Wise Man and the Foolish Man

I didn't include non-gospel-centered songs, especially since a lot of them are well known outside of Mormon culture. But a list like this wouldn't be complete without:

Popcorn Popping

Mushroom

Once upon a time when I was pregnant with Oscar, Johnny bought a mushroom light and duct taped it to our toilet.

Because when you have to go in the middle of the night, your choices are: possibly fall in the toilet, possibly pee on the lid, or burn your eyes with bright fluorescents.
Thanks, dear.

Chat Name

John makes me laugh.

He's programming a chat application that he and I talked about inventing a few years ago. This is an early result:

Foot Bath

I think letting my dog lick my face is really disgusting. I know exactly where that tongue has been.
Licking my hands and arms is only so much better, so I don't allow that either.

But she's so desperate to show me love that I let her lick my feet.

It's actually kinda nice. It's like a massage.

Except the part where she swallows. It makes me want to gag.

Dogs are gross.

Matt Walsh: Thank God I Wasn't College Material

Matt Walsh: Thank God I Wasn't College Material

I only agree with this to an extent, but I absolutely believe it need to be heard! I do believe a college degree and the college experience is worth it for many. I don't think we need to boycott college except for doctors and lawyers, but I absolutely believe degrees are frequently obsolete and time spent at college can be an enormous waste.

Part of that is that school has always been an enormous challenge for me. Concepts came easily to me, I could consistently manage passing grades, and teachers loved me, but I hated every minute of actual "schooling" except for the few classes I thrived in. College was a nightmare and my last semester was truly torture: I had multiple mental breakdowns, literally screaming at the top of my lungs because I could not manage putting myself through absolute torture for something that WAS NOT WORTH IT. Tell me it will be useful all you want. It's not. Not for me.

But it's also true for my amazing husband who dropped out of high school to get his Associates (that's a whole different story on the same vein) while his peers were graduating from High School. He was a model college student and almost everything about it came easily. He always figured he would get a Masters until he realized: there was no point. The time spent getting his Masters would be wasted, because he could instead spend his time honing his skills and getting even further ahead in his career than he already is, and he simply could not get that in school.

Mini Explanation of a Comeback

I'm slowly beginning to despise Facebook and I have a growing desire to not feed my feed anything.
Plus I miss this blog.