This Thing Seems Like it is Always in Dire Need of Updating...

Not like I write a whole lot of important things in here though. It's more like an online journal, no? ;) The only way I'm even on here actually is because I'm waiting for things to upload so I can start on a Christmas video for my friend. Aaaww, how sweet, I know, lol! ;) I'll post it on here when it's finished and she's received it.
So, I've been sewing a lot, which is good. But I've decided I'm no longer going to take special orders. They are a pain! :P No offense to the special order I've been working on, but it has been pretty difficult. And frustrating. And that makes it not so much fun unfortunately, and much more stressful. Maybe I can do small special orders, but never again will I do anything beyond a size XL.
Christmas is fast approaching! Can you believe it?! The play is already finished! We performed it last weekend! Everyone did so well, it was definitely a success! :) I enjoyed doing that show so much it feels weird not to be thinking about it all the time now. There is a second half to the show though about the Savior's resurrection, and I'm wondering if I'll be asked to put together another show for Easter...we'll see. :)
So I have almost all our Christmas cards out too! Saweeeet! :D I feel though, like I'm forgetting something important that I'm supposed to do today, but I'm pretty sure I'm not...I hate that feeling!
Right now I'm uploading Reboot. Such a good show. I should write a review for that one. It's awesome. And speaking of my reviews, I just realized that I never did a review of Princess Tutu! At least, I don't remember doing one...hmmm, I'll have to check on that...
I've also been looking for some video editing software. This is soooo difficult for me! Because since I'm buying it, I don't want to get something that I will say "Gosh, this doesn't have all the features I wish it had," or "This is too hard for me to learn how to use!" but I also don't want to pay a fortune for it either...If anyone has any suggestions, that would be great! :)

Katara and Azula- Paparazzi

Nothing very interesting to report, so here's the Video of the Week. Katara and Azula- Paparazzi from Avatar: The Last Airbender by AviiAvitar02. Awesome job, although the ending is kinda creepy...enjoy!

In Response to The Human Rights Campaign: Mormon Leader Gives Anti-Gay Sermon After Suicides

*Note: This post is not intended to be bashing on anyone, and/or said with hatred, anger, etc. This is simply me stating my own personal opinion on the matter along with thoughts and feelings of what I know to be true.*

A friend of mine on Facebook just posted a link to a Human Rights Campaign page. I was curious what the argument was about, seeing the word Mormon in it. Being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints myself, it caught my eye and I wondered what was going on.

The article stated that recently, many homosexual teenagers have committed suicide due to terrible bullying at schools due to their sexual preferences. I find that very sad that anyone would bully someone so much to the point of them feeling so trapped that suicide is the only way out. I don't care if you are atheist, Catholic, LDS, whatever, no one should be harassing other students that way. I feel bad for the families and friends of those teenagers who took their own lives, and I feel bad that that teenager felt like they had no one and no where to turn to in their time of need.

However, the article then went on to say that it was wrong for Elder Boyd K. Packer to openly say in his talk just this last week in General Conference that homosexual conduct is morally wrong, "impure and unnatural," and "against God's law and nature." The article says that this only encourages intolerance and all of the bullying that has been occurring. Personally, I feel that this person perhaps misunderstood the intent and meaning behind the talk that Elder Packer gave.

First off, this person makes it sound like President Packer choose this time specifically to give this talk, as if he heard about the suicides and decided to talk about how their sexual orientation is morally wrong. But the talk was given during General Conference, a gathering of the saints at which they can listen to the words of God through the prophets and apostles, which is set at a certain time every year. Consequently, the conference happened to land at about the same time these suicides happened. Furthermore, there have been many talks given at previous General Conferences about same-sex marriage, homosexual behavior, etc. being morally wrong in the eyes of God. President Packer, along with all of the apostles, prophets, and leaders of the church, are always inspired in what they should talk about during General Conference. It is what the Lord wanted His people to hear.

Second, I disagree that this talk influences people to harass those who are homosexual, and if anyone takes it to mean that, and acts upon it in that way, then the sin is on them. President Packer's talk was merely conveying that 1. Homosexual behavior does not agree with God's laws. 2. Although some suppose that this is the way they were born and cannot overcome what they feel, it is not so. God loves each and every one of us. We are His sons and daughters. Why would our Heavenly Father do that to anyone if it is contrary to His law? 3. Paul promised in the scriptures that we will not be tempted above that which we are able. Those who do struggle with this have the potential to overcome it, if they truly desire to do so, and will come to the Lord for help. (I fully believe this to be true). 4. These feelings are not only against God's law, but against the law of nature. It is impossible to set a law against nature. "What good would voting a law against gravity do?"

If you look very carefully, President Packer's talk is not intended to bully or harass homosexuals or encourage such. It is merely stating a spiritual fact, and actually giving a message of hope for those who are like this that they are able to change. Now I know that some would argue that this is intolerance, and why should they change? First, I do not believe that my views and beliefs are intolerance. If this is the choice someone is to make, then that is their decision. I will not go out with a sign rallying others to do away with all homosexuals, or go to classes to bully someone who is. I will not shun my friend if they confide in me of their feelings, although I will have to tell them that I disagree, and let them know that I am here to help them out of it, if God's will is what they desire to follow. But the reason they should "change" is so they are not acting contrary to God's law and will. His will cannot be altered or changed by mankind. It is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Therefore, with what I have said, I believe that I am tolerating their decisions, although I do not agree with them. Tolerance does not mean agreeing or changing my views and beliefs, and with my tolerance, I expect those who are homosexuals and supporters of them to tolerate my views as well.

Near the end of the article, it asks for people to please sign their name to an open letter addressed to the leaders of the LDS church and post it to Facebook so that everyone may know that "these views are scientifically wrong and misguided." Well, here's some news for you. I am not a person of science. I am a person of faith. I follow God's laws and commandments before I follow anything that mankind has "proven." I find it interesting that people try so hard to defy Him, boasting in our technology, as if we know everything. Although mankind has come a long way scientifically, I know that there is so much more that we do not understand and cannot comprehend simply because we are mortal. God knows everything, and all things. I would much rather put my faith and trust in someone like that more than millions of people who have worked throughout the ages to uncover mysteries that God knew all along.

As for the letter addressed to Elder Packer, I have pasted it here:

Dear Elder Packer,

I'm appalled that you chose this moment to deliver a sermon saying same-sex attraction is unnatural and same-sex unions are immoral. You have risked further alienating LGBT youth and potentially contributing to suicides of even more vulnerable young people. You've told them that their very identities are "impure and unnatural" and you've incited the violence and bullying that often drives them to suicide by repeating lies disproven by both science and the experience of millions of Americans who know their LGBT neighbors and care about them.

I hope you will cease putting young people in real peril and acknowledge the scientific truth: sexual orientation cannot be changed, nor should it be.

1. As I stated earlier, Elder Packer did not choose this time. General Conference is always conducted at this time of year. Also, if you choose to argue that he could have chosen another topic, you are correct, but God specifically impresses upon the minds of those speaking what they should say and speak about.

2. If Elder Packer has risked more teens committing suicide due to what he has spoken (which are God's words, by the way [D&C 1:38]) then they have completely missed the critical spiritual information and message of the plain and simple truths he has stated. God does not mince words or sugar coat things. It is what it is.

3. Naturally, a girl's very identity is to be attracted to a boy, and a boy's very identity is to be attracted to a girl. They are to be united in marriage (which marriage, by the way, is not something set by law only, but is a holy union- but that's a different argument I won't go into right now) and have children so all of God's spirit children may have a chance to come to this earth. Producing babies can only be accomplished by a man and a woman.

4. Again, inciting the bullying is not what Elder Packer intends, nor is it what he says for people to do. If people do that, they are acting on their own accord.

5. Stated earlier: I am a person of faith, not science. I don't care what mankind has "proven."

6. Just because I don't agree with someone doesn't mean I don't care about them. I can like chocolate ice cream while my friend likes vanilla, but that doesn't mean we hate each other.

Perhaps we don't understand each other's views, but I won't hate her because her beliefs are different from mine. Nor will I encourage her desire for vanilla if I do not agree with it.

7. The real peril here is that so many people do not understand God's will or know about Him. In order for people to know, they must be told the truth. The real peril is in lack of spiritual knowledge.

8. The last statement in here is very contradicting. Perhaps I am misunderstanding what they mean or are saying (which is possible) but isn't saying that "sexual orientation cannot be changed nor should it be" is like saying (according to the dictionary) "your natural preference in sexual partners cannot be changed nor should it be?" Wouldn't natural selection mean men and women, women and men? And if that's right, then isn't that just what Elder Packer and so many others have been talking about? Just saying...

In conclusion, I just don't think that this is something that people should really be targeting The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for. Saying that stating our beliefs in what God has told us is true may cause people to commit suicide is ridiculous. People bullying and harassing those who are homosexual because they don't agree with them may cause people to commit suicide is a reasonable thing to say. But ultimately, even if these people get loads of people to sign this letter and send it to the LDS church leaders, it really doesn't matter. They aren't going to stop the laws that God is set on, and they won't stop Him from commanding His apostles and prophets to tell us that this is impure and unnatural, can be overcome, and against His law. So you may wonder why I took all this time to write this thing up. It is simply because I want to show that I stand faithfully beside the leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and beside my God. I know that He lives and loves all of us. I know that He has blessed us all with strengths that will assist us and weaknesses that will define and shape us into better people if we allow them to. I know that the words of the prophet Thomas S. Monson, his counselors, and the apostles are words straight from God our Father to us, His children. I stand this day forever beside Him, determined to follow Him until the end of my days.

The Duck at Daybreak

Most people wake up to birds singing sweetly in the trees. I woke up this morning to a duck quacking in the canal. Haha, it was great! :)

So, let's see, recent happenings...Well, I'm just working hard at getting Savior of the World all put together. Can't remember if I mentioned that I'm in charge of putting that show together for the ward Christmas party, but I am! I'm very excited and hope that things turn out awesome! :)

This last weekend we went to Twin Falls to visit family for Conference weekend. It was great and wonderful to hear all of those wonderful talks. Really felt the spirit. :) We had a fun time, all together. We didn't do anything amazing (except watch conference :) ) but we had a fun time. I just love spending time with the family, no matter what! The hardest thing though was not eating any sugar. My mom always makes the best food, and that includes the best desserts too. She made some peach cobbler and THAT was hard to resist! I had a teeny tiny taste of it though, and that was good enough for me. It was delicious!

We also went shopping to TJ Maxx while we were there. It was fun. I found a jacket I really liked, but even at TJ Maxx, it was a little more than we could really afford. It would have been nice to have, but it wasn't necessary, so with a sigh, I set it back on the rack like a good girl. I'm proud of myself though that I can do that. Sometimes it is sooooooooooooooo hard, but then I'm glad that I'm able to say no and save the money. I'm sure Brandon is glad too. :)

I'm getting more hours with babysitting. It's going good, and I'm enjoying it. Kids are so much fun to be around, and they are soooooo cute too! I'm going to love being a mom someday.

Ballet is fun too! We just started turns (piruettes, I think that's what it's called...pretty sure that's not how you spell it too! haha!) I've done those in Jazz before, but these are a little different, and I REALLY need to work on landing. It's a lot harder than you'd think actually. But I know I can do it! :)

So I got some essential oils from Young Living yesterday! I am sooooooooo excited to try these out! I am really hoping that all of this helps me to become healthier and solve a few issues I have. I really want to learn all I can about these things too! It will be a fun adventure! :)

Well, I don't want to ramble too much about everything and bore everyone, so I think I'll just wrap things up right here. Oh, and while I'm at it, I think I'll post the video of the week as well. :) This one is entitled Basil and Mrs. Brisby Beauty in the Breakdown starring Basil from The Great Mouse Detective and Mrs. Brisby from The Secret of Nimh by boebliek. Not a fan of The Secret of Nimh myself, but I thought this crossover was really well done! Just short and sweet. Here it be! :)

Title...?

So, basically, just going to ramble about what's been going on recently. Last week we had Jacob and Kalli over (Jacob is one of the vendors that Brandon helps at work) for dinner. They travel all over the world, so we thought we would give them a homemade meal and dinner at home. It was fun to have them over, and we also had Daniel and Hailey over too, which I think helped because Daniel is so good at driving conversation. To be honest though, I was a little nervous, just because it was a work thing, and I wanted to be a good hostess, and make Brandon look good (because he is!) :) We had a good time, so I guess things went well! It's funny though. Stuff like this makes me feel...not old exactly, just....older? I mean, honestly, what do you think of when a husband comes home one night and says, "I think we should invite an important someone from work to have dinner with us this week." I think of mom and dad. That's their thing. That's what mom and dad do. I guess it's just weird to see that I'm at a more grown up part of my life than I thought or feel. I still feel really young actually. I think I want to keep it that way though. I've always wanted to stay young, and I think I always will. :)

We also had our housewarming party this weekend. We invited sooooo many people, I was a little worried as to how we would fit everyone in, but things worked out. I have learned one thing from this though. From now on I am definitely rsvp-ing to invites. It makes things sooooooooooo much easier when you know how many people will be there for sure so that you can know how much food to get, etc. It ended up being that I could end up having 21-45 people show up, so I just rounded out to the higher end and made a lot of cookies. Of course, we had the lower end come, so we have lots of cookies left over that we've just taken over to friends and to ward choir. There's no way I'm eating that many cookies!

Speaking of which, I've decided that I am going to cut out sugar and yeast from my diet. My mom said that she recently found out that people who have been on antibiotics for an extended period of time may have issues with yeast and sugar which can cause problems in the digestive tract and stuff. I've had my own share of health issues in my life, and some of which I am still going through, where I've had to be on antibiotics for years and a little in between. My digestive system hasn't been what it could be, and I wouldn't be surprised if the two were related somehow. So, I figure I will give this a try and see how I feel. The good news is that even if it doesn't solve the problems I am facing right now, I will be healthier and probably feel better and look better, so that's cool! The only thing is that this is going to be much harder than I thought. Sugar is in EVERYTHING and you can find yeast in many ordinary places too! I mean, I've already run into problems this morning with breakfast. Cereals have too much sugar in them, so that's one thing off the list. I figured eggs would be good, but I can't have toast due to the yeast in bread. I thought, maybe I can have a granola bar? But that has lots of sugar. I thought about hash browns, but they are a carb which turns into sugar, so I'm not sure if that works...So I got so desperate that I thought, maybe I can have peanut butter on saltine crackers? But NO! To my amazement, saltines have YEAST in them! I couldn't believe it! So, I ended up having a couple of eggs and a lot of water...I'll have to fix this somehow. Oh, something else I had no idea there was yeast in, is cream of chicken soup! Now, what the heck is yeast doing in SOUP???? My mom warned me that lots of canned soup has yeast in it, but WHY????? Ingredients in foods these days are very strange...

Let's see, what else? Oh, I've been put in charge to do the program for the ward Christmas party. I think what I would really like to do is the part of the first part of Savior of the World. It would be amazing! The only problems I see though is we don't have a stage at our building and I'm not sure the choir would be interested, and I'm not sure if I would have enough volunteers. I guess I would just recruit friends from elsewhere in that case...As far as a stage goes, I could always ask bishop if we could have the party at the stake center where there is a stage. I think a stage make a lot of difference. Well, I hope things work out though. I would LOVE to do that!

Well, I think I've rambled enough...the only other thing I can think of to put on here is the video of the week, called Vampire Knight- Zero's Chance, a remake of a previous video by TheWingsofKanna starring Yuuki and Zero from Vampire Knight, and anime that I would definitely recommend, although it didn't end the way I wanted it to. :P Booo! Oh well, still good. Enjoy!

Canning, Story Writing, Videos, and Headbands

Yesterday I went to an older lady's house from my church ward with a friend and we canned peaches. I've never really done a whole lot of canning before (I did apples one time- it took forever!) but peaches went by pretty quick and it was fun! She's a really cute lady and it was nice to learn something new and useful. :)

We also had lunch over there too. She had made some homemade bread and it was sooooooooo good! We had homemade peach jam on our bread or homemade raspberry, or mayo and tomato with salt and pepper (I tried all 3!) I thought the tomato was kinds weird, but I tried it anyhow and I was sooooo glad that I did! It was delicious! :)

This picture is seriously what the tomato looked like! It was huge!

So, something I forgot to mention before that I'm doing is I'm writing a story. It's a fantasy-type story, and I would put what it's about, but it's kinda complicated, so maybe when I get the story really put together I'll be able to give some more details about it. But it's going to be awesome! I'm so excited that I have the time now to finish it. I've had this idea for about a year now, and I started it, and then had to stop due to absolutely no time to do it. :( But now I can, so yay! :D

I thought this cartoon was cute (love Calvin and Hobbs!) and also very true at times.

The other day I was messing around with my video editing stuff, and ended up making a video about me! I think it turned out good and it was fun to make. Enjoy if you'd like to!

Something else I've been doing is making headbands (I don't have pics at the moment- I'll get them up soon). They are really cute and fun to make! I think I'll try selling them on etsy.com. Hopefully that will help with my ballet class fund. Speaking of which, I had my fist lesson yesterday and my friends Diana and Tony are both in my class! I was so surprised and delighted! It was a blast having them in there! We had a great time, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the time we get to spend in the class together. :)

We're going to finally have our Housewarming Party this weekend. I'm excited but for some reason a little nervous. I don't know how to host parties, so I'm hoping it will just go it's own way smoothly, haha!

Well, Brandon has some people from his work in town, and we might have one of them, along with his wife, over to our house for dinner tonight, so I need to get to cleaning the house and figuring out what to serve! :) Bye!

Fun Photo Shoot...In my Kitchen!

Messing around with the camera on my laptop. I got some fun pictures. What do you think?

Haha, this one reminds me of Grover from There's a Monster at the End of This Book when he says, "Shhhh, I have an idea!"

Fun stuff. :)

My Poor Puppy...

He has a calcified disk, which I think is like a ruptured disk. Two actually. This makes me soooooo sad though because he is such a cute, sweet, lovable little dog, and I love him so much! Is it weird to pray for you dog? I don't think so, but even if it is, I'm praying that he'll get better soon anyway! Poor little guy can't jump, can't walk up the stairs, was in so much pain he was crying, couldn't eat, and he drags his leg while walking. Just imagining all that makes me cry! :_( My poor little Happy dog...

These pics are pretty old, all but the last one. That was back in February.

Long Time No See...

Well, not that anyone follows up on this thing anyway (at least I don't think so...) but I figure I have the time now these days, so I should at least document that I am still alive and what's new. ;)

Let's see, so, I started working at the Chiropractic office back when things suddenly came to a screeching halt here. It was a good experience, but not exactly right for me. I'm hoping to become a mom hopefully soon, which is the real job that I want anyway. :) I'll probably start a babysitting job soon though in the meantime.

I'm enrolled in a ballet class! I'm so excited! My first lesson starts on Monday, so I'm going to go shopping for leotard and tights tomorrow. :D I already have shoes, so there's one thing down to get. :)

We moved into a home (picture not of our real home...just thought it was fun!) recently. We're renting it from a friend of my parent's, which works out really well for us in case we ever need to get up and leave for whatever reason (pretty much work or school).

Some new (and by new I mean not listed on this blog) animes I've seen are: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Romeo X Juliet, Fruits Basket, and Vampire Knight. All of which were good, but I still LOVE Princess Tutu most of all. :)

Zuko and Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender

Romeo and Juliet from Romeo X Juliet (duh...)

Shigure, Yuki, Tohru, and Kyo from Fruits Basket.

Yuuki and Zero from Vampire Knight (still think they should end up together...)

Um...trying to think of what else has been going on...well, I'll write it later if I think of it. That's all I can really think of at the moment.

So, the bi-weekly video has been basically non-existent, so I'll put a video on this post to make up for it. Yay! This post's video is one made by your's truly called Fakir: The Hand of Sorrow. I've entered the video into a Princess Tutu AMV contest. Hopefully something positive (such as placing?) will occur! Eee! ^_^

Princess Tutu- Memories

Video of the Week is MY very own Princess Tutu music video I made! :D So happy with how it turned out!

THE STORY
*WARNING* This is most definitely a bit of a spoiler video, meaning it gives away some of the plot in this awesome show. So, watch if you don't mind finding out some stuff, and don't if you want to keep the mystery a mystery until you actually watch the show. :)

The video starts basically where the series ended. Fakir has tried many times to write a story about Duck so she can become a girl and they can be together again, but with no success.
One day, as Duck is swimming in the lake, waiting for Fakir to visit her, she is attacked by a vicious animal. Fakir arrives in time to drive the beast away, but Duck is too badly injured and dies in his arms.T_T Fakir is devestated and blames himself for Duck dying since he wasn't able to write a story about her sooner.
Fakir is visiting Duck's grave one night (I know it says Drosselmyer, just pretend it says Duck or something). He reflects on what happened that day, and with new determination, sits down to write a story to bring Duck back. As he writes, he recalls all of his memories with Duck.
Meanwhile, Duck awakes as Princess Tutu inside another story (kind of like being reincarnated, I guess). She searhces around for a way to escape, but finds none. Tutu wonders if Fakir is all right, and misses him terribly. She thinks about her memories of him as she dances.
Suddenly, Fakir senses Tutu's thoughts and feelings, as does Tutu. The two draw strength and hope from each other. As Fakir writes, he recalls the time that Duck showed him the mime for "I love you." Fakir proclaims his love for Duck. She hears him and is lead out of the story and falls safely into Fakir's arms. The two are reunited and live happily ever after. ^_^

So that's my vid! Please feel free to leave comments and suggestions as long as they are both clean and constructive. Thanks for watching!

Song: Memories
Artist: Within Temptation
Anime: Princess Tutu

I'm not the creator of Princess Tutu, nor am I in any way associated with Within Temptation (although both are AWESOME!), but I did buy and song, and the DVDs, so I would expect that I have enough ownership and rights to at least make this thing and post it for others to enjoy. :)

Ikuto is Amu's Bad Boy

Hey, sorry about not updating this thing in FOREVER! I have been insanely busy, and I haven't had time to do anything! But, here is the Bi-Weekly Video, extremely late, but here it is anyway. :) I actually can't post the video into my blog because the author has disabled this feature on their video, but I do have the link to it. :) The video is entitled Ikuto is Amu's Bad Boy by 0SimplyAngel0. The video features Ikuto and Amu from the anime Shugo Chara, which I have watched only a few episodes of. It seems okay, but really the only thing I was interested in was this couple, but that doesn't justify watching 100-somewhat-odd episodes for me. But, nonetheless, I thought this video was really well done, and the couple is fun. ^_^ Enjoy!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcKXq-SQzaw

Viva La Susantivo (Live the Story)

Ta-da! The Bi-Weekly Video! And surprise, surprise, it's Princess Tutu again! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D hee hee! This one's titled Viva La Susantivo (Live the Story) - Collab by luigirules64. When I watched this one, it also gave away a major part of the plot, so I would suggest to those who have not yet seen it, and would like to have the end a surprise (because that is the best way to watch it), then please stop the video at about 2:45. Enjoy! ^_^