A blast from the past.

1001 ways to be more ROMANTIC! My mom have had this book for years, and years. I think she got it hoping that my dad would stop "putting out her fire". Yep, she got the book. Last night I was flipping through this book and low and behold it has a section for singles. It was so ridiculously funny that I had to share on the blog.

Do you remember when you were in grade school and you wrote little notes to that cute boy or girl that went something like this?

Do you like me? Circle yes or no.
What is your favorite color?
What are you going to do at recesses?

Well I have found something like that in this book that got me laughing. Check this out.

~Need a clever ice-breaker? Try creating you own, personalized personality quiz to hand-out to potential date. Here's a sample.

• Men........

a)........make life worth living.
b)........have their faults, but they are easier to train than dogs. (what? sense when, I have brothers. Dogs are easier to train)
c)........are only good for lawn care and vehicle maintenance.
d)........should be shot on sight, no question asked

• The best film in history is....

a)........Citizen Kane
b)........Gone With the Wind
c).........It's A Wonderful Life
d)........The Wizard of OZ
e).........I was a Teenage Werewolf
f)..........Other

• The Perfect man resembles.........

a)........Albert Einstein, but is a better dancer.
b)........Arnold Schwarzenegger, with better diction.
c).........Cary Grant, but not dead
d).........Donald Trump, but with fewer tabloid headlines.
e).........Danny DeVito, except shorter and fatter.

Directions:


Your answers to the questions will reveal an elaborate psychological profile of yourself. We already know you're unbalanced enough to voluntarily hang out with me, so we're just trying to help your before it's too late. There are no right answers, which should horrify the perfectionists and thrill the delinquents among you. Drinking during the quiz is strictly encouraged. So just circle what fits you.

Yeah I know this is just wrong, we are not in grade school any longer. On top of that, this quiz just encourages singles to put themselves down with the phrase:

"We already know you're unbalanced enough to voluntarily hang out with me, so we're just trying to help your before it's too late."

Singles, please don't say anything like that. It's just not exactly a good phrase to tell your date, or anyone else at all. In fact, don't even put anyone through this quiz. It is laughable that this is a grown up version of the notes that went around in grade school.

Cheers Everyone!

Dating-An endangered Species?????

Back when our grandparents were teens and young adults, life and dating were so much different. Our grandparents got married for survival. They needed to have a companion and children to work the farm or the family business.

Just for laughs and giggles:

• Men got married because they needed a women to tell them that “The meat is bad. Lets put in the flour sack and bury it!” Mens response “Or lets make Mince Meat Pie out of it. Waste not, want not!”
  
• Women got married because, if she did not, she would be forever with her family or be the local school teacher. If she was lucky, then she would be the that governess.

Now when our parents got married, it was out of companionship and family. Then during the late 70's inflation was on the rise. So now "mom" needed to go to work to help support the family. So corporation's had to recognized the "Woman Suffrage Movement," and found out that women are capable of doing the same jobs as man. So many women then opened doors for other women, that were never even opened before, so women are walking though those doors.

Now it is our turn, singles. Face it, a lot of us have stopped dating, or just date to have companionship on a Friday or Saturday night; before that lonely week begins once more. Some problems have arrived for us singles. Once-upon-a-time a woman was defined on her ability to have a husband and children. If she couldn't do it, then the poor woman would not be viewed as a woman, she has failed. Today, if a woman had a husband and children; society would not view her as a woman, she as failed; her status, she would not be a women or a person. Society view a woman as a person of value if she has a career. Divorce has been made legally easy, you can do it online in one day. The family now is not as sacred as it was during the time of our grandparents and earlier times. Times have changed indeed, and the Plan of Happiness becomes discourage. A friend of mine said:

“It is so hard to find a good man.”

I disagree, I find good men all the time whether they are LDS or not! What is hard is to get that good man to take up their responsibility and get married; LDS men, Priesthood responsibility. So Men are not the only ones reluctant to take up their traditional role's. I agree that it is hard to challenge what society has foisted on us. Society have made single life look glamorous, but we singles who are 30 and over know better; we are the ones who need to deal with the loneliness during the week. Oh sure, we compensate the loneliness with family; a lot of singles who has siblings who have children of their own; we surround ourselves with their children, to only go home and think:

"I now have my fill. How do they do it?"

Sometimes I get the sneakiest feeling that my nephews love to come over because they know they will get spoiled. Like I have said, we are compensating.

Now a mother of a teen boy of dating age told me this:

"My son and his friends are not dating, AT ALL! My daughter couldn't wait to start dating, my son, he is a different story. "

I remember being in my teen years and couldn't wait to start dating. All I could think of is how much fun it would be, to be with my friends and date the boys we thought were cute. Now that society has made single life looking virtually glamorous, these teens are a new generation of Non daters . If our parents and other family members are looking at us 30 something and shaking their heads and wounder if we will ever get married; the parents and other family members of this new young generation of Non daters are discourage, scared, worried, that the devil's opposition of our Father's Plan of Happiness are getting to their youth. This opposition is, to stay single and avoid eternal exaltation, or to become as miserable as the devil.

We all want to experience great happiness, this is the shocker, (yes,that was sarcasm), to achieve that great happiness we all need to follow God the Father's Plan of Happiness. Within A Proclamation to the World given by the First Presidency of the LDS church says this:

"In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshiped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize his or her divine destiny as an heir of eternal life. The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally."

Within the LDS Church, we teach that you must be married before we can "Be fruitful, and multiply, (Gen. 1:28; Abr. 4:28). The reason is, again it is in the A Proclamation to the World:

"The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed.

We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets."

Now all we need to do is to challenge what society has foisted on us; that single life is glamorous. To achieve this great happiness that God the Father wants us to have, we can't give up hope, it can happen. We must keep keep our eye on what God the Father wants us to have, all what He has, Eternal Life, and Happiness.

Please note:
I saw this title in the New Era that is put out by the LDS church, I thought that it was hilarious and had to borrow it. The real article is called "Is Dating Dead?" If anyone is interested you can subscribe this Magazine and others that the LDS church make online at Subscriptions, Renewal, and gifts. Pleas note that you do need to register to make such purchases.

Entertainment for Singles Awareness Week/Day

This is a list of Entrainment for Singles awareness week/day. Within these list, (book and movie), are all about spurned love, tragic love, or it-took-awhile-for-the-characters-to-know-what-is-going-on love. Anyhow take a book or a movie, either on these list's or a book/movie that I have not listed and eat some popcorn with other single friends, (if you have decided to have Feb. 14 to be a movie night).

As of right now, I am reading The Scarlet Pimpernel, (so not like the movie). This is a paragraph from The Scarlet Pimpernel. pg 125, paragraph#2, Sir Percy Blakeney is speaking to Lady Marguerite Blakeney:

"Yet 'tis simple enough," he,(Sir Percy Blakeney), said with sudden bitterness, which seemed literally to surged though his words, though he was making visible efforts to suppress it, "I humbly put the question to you,(Lady Marguerite Blakeney), for my slow wits are unable to grasp the cause of this, your ladyship's sudden new mood. Is it that you have the taste to renew the devilish sport which you played so successfully last year? Do you wish to see me once more a love-sick suppliant at your feet, so that you might again have the pleasure of kicking me aside, like a troublesome lap-dog?"

Books:

1. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
2. Lord of the Rings trilogy
3. The Scarlet Letter
4. The Scarlet Pimpernel
5. War of the Worlds
6. The Raven (this link will take you to the poem on line)
7. Captivating Couples (celebrating love in the silver screen)
8. The Simple Truth about Love
9. Love from the Heart of the Home
10. Love Letters A Romantic Treasury
11. Romeo and Juliet
12. Othello

Movies:

1. Love Potion #9
2. The Raven
3. Haunted Honeymoon
4. High Spirits
5. Darby O'gill and the Little People
6. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
7. Farther Goose
8. The Women
9. Charade
10. The Ghost Breakers
11. Monkey Business
12. Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Young Single Adults & Dating

Yet again the subject of dating and YSA are back. I think that this will never go away, as much as we want it to.

I have been part of a online discussion on the question;

"Why are their so many YSA's?"

The answer varies from person to person. Coming from a females point of view, a lot of girls are freaked out, we keep hearing from the media *X* number of spouses are disappearing. I have found this article "He says She says" by Kimberly Webb. It is a good read.

Parents and family members are frustrated that their son/daughter are still single. Sadly I fall into that group, I'm just as frustrated. One parent was so frustrated that he has suggested that arrange marriage should make a come back. To be honest I am so freaked out about that. I could just see divorce numbers sky rocked.

One question was, why are so many YSA's ignoring prophetic council. What I have notice is that a lot of us think that we are *smarter* then God. As in: We are in control of our lives, we can do what we please, if we half to pay for it later, that will be later. I know that a lot of us YSA's will half to face God and tell him why we are not proactive in seeking for that eternal spouse, or not get married altogether.

When I was in Young Woman's, the lessons were “Because dating is a preparation for marriage, date only those who have high standards, who respect your standards, and in whose company you can maintain the standards of the gospel of Jesus Christ” (For the Strength of Youth, p. 7).
This is all wonderful council, to the youth of the world, not just the church. This brings up a question of:

"Have we YSA's got so used to group dating/hanging out that we got into that habit?"

So problem is that YSA's are not being proactive in getting out their and dating, they are more incline to *hang out*. The problem with that is people don't know who they are with. In my former singles branch, the branch presidency was always freaked out that everyone in the branch was committing fornication, to my knowledge nobody was fornicating, as well as dating. They would constantly tell us to always be in a group, and get married. Yes, that is such a problem, Elder Dallin H. Oaks says this, in Dating versus Hanging Out

"Young women, resist too much hanging out, and encourage dates that are simple, inexpensive, and frequent. Don’t make it easy for young men to hang out in a setting where you women provide the food. Don’t subsidize freeloaders. An occasional group activity is OK, but when you see men who make hanging out their primary interaction with the opposite sex, I think you should lock the pantry and bolt the front door.

If you do this, you should also hang up a sign, “Will open for individual dates,” or something like that. And, young women, please make it easier for these shy males to ask for a simple, inexpensive date. Part of making it easier is to avoid implying that a date is something very serious. If we are to persuade young men to ask for dates more frequently, we must establish a mutual expectation that to go on a date is not to imply a continuing commitment. Finally, young women, if you turn down a date, be kind. Otherwise you may crush a nervous and shy questioner and destroy him as a potential dater, and that could hurt some other sister."

Awesome council if you asked me. My young singles branch presidency, should have said something like that to us. I don't think that it is right for ether men or women to mooch off of each other, or to go on a date just because you have nothing to do that night. As singles we must be sensitive to each other. Don't date just because, date because you are interested. The way I see it if you date just to get out of the house, you might just pass up an opportunity with someone who is interested in you; that person might think that they will never be good enough.

The Purpose of trials.

Within the last seven years my family and I have experience some pretty intense trials. I have jokingly thought that the mirror's that I have accidentally broken wants payment. I don't know why I have been asked to go though these trials. Like I have said they have been intense. My family and I hate talking about our trials. Family, friends, and people in general do not understand, the pain, or the confusion we have experienced. This is the "Readers Digest" version of it. I just hope they don't mind.

One trial was an experience as a family, it was that the loss our home. This was before the economic melt down. Some strange, unexplainable events have happen that have caused this. It had started out that my parents getting sick. They were ok, sick, but ok. Then they lost their jobs, but still they were ok. They had saving, pensions, and promise of a new job, and so on. So they assured that things will be ok. Then I had a back injury. It took this back injury one year for it to heal, it was a muscle injury. So there was nothing to do but let the muscle heal it's own way, in it's own time. So of course I was home to heal. Then trouble started to happen and more trouble's. Savings, pensions was drying up, that promise of a new job was broken. I drained my accounts to help my parents, others have helped also. But in the end it wasn't enough. We have lost our home, respect, friendship's, family, and other acquaintances.

Another is a personal trail. I am still single. The reason is not so clear to me other then I am not married. It is not like I had planed to being single. I would loved to be married, just like any other single. But as it is I'm trying to do the best as I can right now with my life.

A "concerned" family member called me the day after I got home from Idaho. She was not very tactful. During the conversation she asked me how old I am. So of course I told her that I'll be 30 this December. Her response cut me to the core, and she rubbed salt into it. I shoved the phone into my fathers chest, and told him to talk to this family member. I cried for almost 2 hours, and I wrote what my mother would call a Scott's blessing on my facebook page. This family member was way out of line. She had no right to say what she had said, she doesn't understand what I have been going though. Right now my mother and I don't want to talk to this family member. We were both hurt, we don't want to hear any more.

My mother said this:

"I'm sorry that I had raised you to be a free thinker. I should have raised you to paint your nails barbie pink, bleach your hair platinum blond, try on shoes all day long, blow money, and to be stupid. Then maybe you would be married. Not happy but married. But when you do get married you will be happy because you have waited for that amazing guy."

She is right. I don't know why I am asked to go though these intense trials. Now this is in a book called "His Final Hours" by W. Jeffery Marsh. So please consider this:

"Knowing that the trials and afflictions awaited them [the Lords disciples], the Savior blessed his disciples: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27).

"He has promised similar rewards for our placing our trust in him. Even when we do not understand the purpose of a trial, ( as with me being single, loosing my home, family, friends, peoples respect, and etc.), or commandment, we can be confident that following God will always be to our benefit and blessing: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, put your trust in that Spirit which leadeth to do good-yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously; and this is my Spirit, which will enlighten you mind, which shall fill your soul with joy; and then shall ye know,or by this shall you know, all things whatsoever you desire of me, which are pertaining unto things of righteousness, in faith believing in me that you shall receive," (D&C 11:12-14) [emphasis added]

I believe that this promised that the Lord give his disciples, also is a promised to us. He knows what trials we are going though and will go though. So my advice to all of you in cyberspace land; put your trust in the Lord he will never lead you astray. Remember what the Lord said to Joseph Smith Jr. "And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and be for thy good." (D&C 122:7)

I am a great admirer of President Benson. He had many trials in his life, he is a great example to me. He was a great disciple of the Lord, he followed his words, did what the Lord told him to do. But his life was not all a "bed of roses." He had many health problems. But he still had great faith in God and His gospel, he still got up every morning and did what needed to be done. He himself may not understand all of his trials and problems but he still had great faith. The result God blessed him for his faith and his obedience. Remember: "All these things shall give us all experience, and be for our good." (D&C 122:7) [emphasis added]

Cheers Everyone!!!

A diffrent breed of animal

After chatting with some people on one of my social networks about what would little boys would do. The stories I got. Here is a few they told me, but most came from my own family:

• back flips off of a stage
• riding a skateboard down Devils Hill
• balancing chairs on their heads
• French braiding their leg hairs
• Tired to kick a glass door open, missed and foot went into glass
• Keep boots on while taking a bath
• Made an make shaft snow chair in the front yard
• Wrecked the mission presidents car
• Tried to make Root Beer in a bath tub
• Stuffed himself in a suitcase and friends at the MTC zipped him in.
  
• Eat Rattle Snake- I hear is taste jest like chicken!
• My brothers companion had play dough, made horns and sucked them to his head.
  

Some of the men replied saying:

"They wonder how they survived, with so many broken bones."

My conclusion my nephews are typical boy's. I hope they can survive being a boy. Like countless of others have.