Button Love . . .

I've been in love with buttons my whole life. Any size, any colour, any type. This, I largely blame on my grandmother's button jar. A large mason jar that sat on top of the chest of drawers in her bedroom. It was full of buttons . . . big ones, small ones, pretty ones, plain ones. New ones . . . old ones, labouriously clipped from bits of worn out clothing , before they went into the scrap bin.

I loved to play with the buttons in the jar. Somedays they were a pirate's golden lucre . . . a hidden treasure as I ran my small fingers through them. Other days they were just buttons, but I would lay on her bed and sort through them . . . trying to imagine what articles of clothing they had come from and who might have worn them.

Every button had a tale to tell and a story behind it. My mother had a button jar as well . . . although her's was a metal tin that I suspect my dad had saved from work. There were about four of these in her sewing basket, each one labeled with masking tape. There was printed on each one in black marker . . . various words. Snaps, hooks and eyes, zippers, and buttons . . . I loved to play with these buttons as well.

There were even several still on the button cards. One card held Duck buttons . . . flat white buttons with colourful ducks imprinted on them in yellow and orange, wearing little sailor hats. Those were my favourite ones, and I longed to have them on a garment of my own . . . although in reality, by that age, I would have looked rather silly in a sweater with yellow duck buttons on it! Imagine my joy many years later when, upon having given birth to my oldest son . . . my mother presented me with the gift of a handknit sweater adorned with those same yellow duck buttons!! What a treasure

I have a button jar myself, although mine is a papier mache heart shaped box. In it I have tons of buttons and, like the child I once was, I still like to run my hand through it and feel their cool smoothness, trickling through my, not so small anymore, fingers. I love collecting buttons and anytime I see a packet that are unusual or colourful I am wont to buy them and add them to my collection.

Quite often, when I buy a blouse or a sweater, it is because of the buttons on it rather than the garment itself. I, too, clip buttons from old clothes before they are thrown away. Sometimes I use them on crafts and sometimes they come in very handy when a button is lost on something being worn . . . but mostly I just look at them, and dream about the tales they have to tell . . . where they once lived . . . and who once owned them . . . the magic stuff of a little girl's dreams.

I am going to cut this short this morning because I actually woke up with a headache. This blood pressure lark is getting to me a bit. I bought a machine so that I could monitor it at home as per the Doctor's request. It was okay for a couple of days, but then it started really pinching my arm when it took it. So hard, just in one spot . . . so hard that I can feel it for hours afterwards, in fact its been a few days and I can still feel it in that one spot when I touch my arm . . . it hurts. I am supposed to monitor it at home and write it down a few times a day and then bring the paper in to the Doctors and he will adjust my medication again. He added 10mg to my tablets, but it hasn't touched it. Its still really high every time I take it. I don't know what to do. I am not sure if you can get larger cuffs or not. I will have to see.

I got all my North American Cards posted yesterday, now today I will post the UK ones. I think next year we need to put aside some pounds each month just for Christmas post.

Oh, and I thought you might enjoy seeing this picture of Pumpkin (my mother's cat) that my sister posted. She is one who doesn't mind making herself at home, anywhere . . . she looks quite comfy there.

A thought to carry with you . . .

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~＼。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ ｜田田｜門 ★
*.˛.°In this world some people will always throw

stones in your path. It depends on your

what you make of them, a wall or a bridge.

~unknown •。★★ 。* 。

Spiritual Enlightenment

BOOK OF MORMON CORNER - Today's Reading - 2 Nephi 15:1-30

Question - What have you learnt from the reading today? How is there a famine of spiritual knowledge in the world?

My Thoughts - 'Wo unto them that call evil good, and good evil, that put darkness for light, and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!' 'My people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge' These verses remind me to continually learn, look to and live God's truths and standards. I don't ever need to stay feeling lost or confused or empty of knowledge. I have the scriptures and words of prophets, I can pray and I've been given the gift of the Holy Ghost.
In my scriptures next to this chapter I have written 'Wrong is wrong even if everyone else is doing it. Right is right even if no one else is doing it.' Love this! The things of God are clear and unchanging.

There is also a quote I like from the Institute manual that goes along with verse 20. "The gap between what is popular and what is righteous is widening. As prophesied by Isaiah, manay today "call evil good, and good evil." Revelations from the prophets of God are NOT like offerings at the cafeteria, some to be selected and others disregarded."

Wrong is seen as being right all around us these days, whereas those things which were always deemed as being right are now being seen as wrong. God does not change. His laws are immutable. A dog is still a dog and a duck is still a duck. I fear for the youth of today that are going to have to wade through this mire of confusion and misinformation to carve a decent life for themselves in the world. This is another sign that we truly are living in the latter days.

Tommorow's reading (Day 55) - 2 Nephi 16:1-17:25

Question - What have you learnt from the reading today? Why would the Lord send a prophet to a people He knew would reject the message?