The Un-VEILing

Today was My Great UN-Veiling! They took off my cast! Yes, my nose is still a little swollen with a little bruising still noticeable, and things are still shifting a bit, so I don't look like I will look FOREVER! But I must say, it does look pretty darn good so far. I am Very pleased with the results! Heavenly Father was looking out for me.

Here are pictures of the process. Of course you saw a big chunk of the worst part of the swelling, but here are some photos of reduced swelling. Each day got a little bit better and better and I had to have a nose drip on the bottom of my nose for a while because I dripped. I dunno really what more to say because pictures I suppose say a thousand words. If you have any questions feel free to ask them, I don't mind. Anyways, ENJOY! :)

(If you can see my swelling went down so much there was space between my nose and the cast.)

Love Always,

Mrs. Fray Fray

Photos Below are before durring and after!

Before . . . and After!

STUFF

I have just learned of a new web site: http://storyofstuff.com/ It has GREAT information on our "Stuff!" Definitely watch "The Story of Stuff" video. (It is about 20min. Long so you may have to make time for it).

The next is an excerpt from an article on the Internet titled, "Stuff" Written July 2007. Go to http://www.paulgraham.com/stuff.html to read entire article.)

"I have too much stuff. Most people in America do. In fact, the poorer people are, the more stuff they seem to have. Hardly anyone is so poor that they can't afford a front yard full of old cars.It wasn't always this way. Stuff used to be rare and valuable. You can still see evidence of that if you look for it. For example, in my house in Cambridge, which was built in 1876, the bedrooms don't have closets. In those days people's stuff fit in a chest of drawers.

Even as recently as a few decades ago there was a lot less stuff. When I look back at photos from the 1970s, I'm surprised how empty houses look. As a kid I had what I thought was a huge fleet of toy cars, but they'd be dwarfed by the number of toys my nephews have. All together my Matchboxes and Corgis took up about a third of the surface of my bed. In my nephews' rooms the bed is the only clear space.

Stuff has gotten a lot cheaper, but our attitudes toward it haven't changed correspondingly. We overvalue stuff.That was a big problem for me when I had no money. I felt poor, and stuff seemed valuable, so almost instinctively I accumulated it. Friends would leave something behind when they moved, or I'd see something as I was walking down the street on trash night (beware of anything you find yourself describing as "perfectly good"), or I'd find something in almost new condition for a tenth its retail price at a garage sale. And pow, more stuff.

In fact these free or nearly free things weren't bargains, because they were worth even less than they cost. Most of the stuff I accumulated was worthless, because I didn't need it.What I didn't understand was that the value of some new acquisition wasn't the difference between its retail price and what I paid for it. It was the value I derived from it. Stuff is an extremely illiquid asset. Unless you have some plan for selling that valuable thing you got so cheaply, what difference does it make what it's "worth?" The only way you're ever going to extract any value from it is to use it. And if you don't have any immediate use for it, you probably never will." - End of Excerpt

I just thought those were excellent thoughts on the matter.

I think I am so interested in the subject is because I watch a lot of "Till Debt Do Us Part" a Canadian T.V. Show of a financial expert going around to couples in trouble with their finances creating trouble in their marriages. It is actually EXTREMELY helpful with financial tips AND you can see how many people there really ARE out there who have nothing. And when I say nothing I mean that they spend over their amount of income Every single month and end up in over their heads with debt, yet they live a life like they have been financially blessed or something.

I definitely think twice when I see people around me who seem to have Everything because those people might be thousands in debt over this facade of a life they are trying to live. It teaches me to follow the counsel that Prophets time and time again have told us and that is to ONLY accumulate debt with a car and/or house that is WITHIN your Means (Meaning that you could Actually afford it!) And schooling. You should ALWAYS KNOW what kind of financial situation you are in.

You can't have everything thing you want the very moment you want it, but you can enjoy the things that you do have and be happy knowing that you value what truly is valuable and that is Friends and family. Stuff truly is Just Stuff.

Love Always,

Mrs. Fray Fray

Victoria's Secret

LOVE the dresses at Victoria's secret. I am SUCH an online shopper! I like going to department stores, but ... for some reason looking online is much more appealing to me sometimes. No line up's, your feet NEVER hurt, You can easily see ALL the sale items And products at the click of a button and you don't even have to get dressed to do it. And who doesn't LOVE to get packages in the mail?! Ahhh...so many benefits to shopping online. Plus, since I get emails from thier stores they send me promotional codes to get money off every purchase! Love it! Yes Whitney, the red dress I ordered just for your wedding! Well, ... I also bought it for myself because I want a self-esteem booster by seeing how amazing I am going to look in it. MUHAHA! I love all the Grey dresses, but ended up only getting one, sigh...can you guess which one? Perhaps when I become rich one day I can get another grey dress. I love dresses! I don't know why?

Love Always,

Mrs. Fray Fray

Elder Richard G. Scott

This weekend was our Stake Conference, BUT, we received a NEW stake Presidency! Our New Stake President was James' and I's old Bishop in Calgary President David Spackman, with Orin Harker (who is my dentist AND old Bishop from when I first moved here) and President Reid as Counselor's. I don't know Brother Reid all that well, but it's still exciting!

We also Had Elder Richard G. Scott of the quorum of the twelve apostles come to preside over the meetings! On Saturday for the adult session we sat in the second row from the front on the left hand side and he shook Every one's hand's afterwards! He's such a great guy. It reminded me I guess of 3Nephi when Christ took the time to meet with ALL and EACH of the people and blessed them. Except there was only about 15hundred? or so...and I think Christ had more people's to see, but I guess if he does that with all the Stakes he meets with than he's shaken a lot of people's hands then. Or something like that? Ha, I am so silly.

We decided to view the broadcast the next day at a different building so that other people could have a chance to see him up close and shake his hand. Overall it was a really good conference. Elder Scott had us teach each other more than actually doing a hard core teaching session. He just asked US questions and people answered. It was cool.

Anyways, I will just write what I gained from the meetings. So...here are my notes:
President Craig (what I learned from him(he was released, our old Stake Pres.)). He spoke of the children of Israel and Moses and the bread that they got and how it would go sour the next day;
You need to eat daily to live and have energy throughout each day. You need to eat weekly in order to literally survive. So is it with the scriptures and the word of Christ/God. Do not go a day without partaking of the scriptures. You need the bread of life and living water Every Single day !!! You KNOW what you Need to do, ... So DO IT!

Pres. Olsen;
If the Saints were so committed to have a temple in their midst (He spoke of the Pioneers building the Salt Lake temple and how it took 3-4 days to bring ONE block of granite to the Salt Lake City temple site). How Committed Are YOU to the Alberta temples in our midst?

Elder Hansen of the 70:
Find times for even a casual testimony to be born to your posterity. Faith comes by hearing. (His grandfather would bear testimony to him all the time casually while working on his farm).

Elder Richard G. Scott:
He asked the question: What would you do to prepare in this life to be able to meet Joseph Smith in the next? (Question was similar but not exact)
What would you thank him for?

Those are just my notes and I wrote just what I felt I needed to for me. But, I thought I would just share it with ya'lls.

Love Always,

Mrs. Fray Fray

Future Snow and job Preperation...

I am super excited for our new items to come in!
Which will shortly after be wrapped for Christmas, and I will no longer see them, but their shiny new wrappings under our yet to be put up Christmas tree.

James and I for the last few weeks have been searching online for snowboarding gear and after much deliberation have decided that a new board and bindings for us both will happen next year, but as for this year we've decided to go with snow pants for me, along with pink dragon goggles, Burton boots, and a lock for our gear (boards while we are away from them). He will receive new boots, but I cannot recall the brand (probably Burton as well). Anyways, we got them all for super cheap because I am an amazing Internet shopper who finds new items for cheap prices (and good brand names attached to the said items). All in all, I am super excited for our new gear that we will use in the present and in years to come! :) YAY!

My class for personal training is coming along very well.
I hope to finish it COMPLETELY BEFORE we go down for Whitney's wedding on the 25th of Dec. So...That would be the final exam, CPR, First Aid AND AED certifications all being completed by that time! Yikes! That's A lot of time and Money! So hopefully I can get everything done by my deadline! Fingers crossed! And many prayers!
I just hope I pass. That would stink to have to re-take it.

Anyways,
I must get back to studying. I was just getting tired of reading, and reading, and reading...plus I'm re-reading like 8 chapters to get it in properly. So...it sucks. Lot's of studying to do.
At least I have belly dance to look forward to tonight.

Love Always,
Mrs. Fray Fray

Training

Hello Hello!
And HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

So, I have decided on an occupation (more of a career than JUST a job) that I am very excited about! The words I would use to describe my emotions are: nervous, excited, unsure, happy, and ecstatic! The job that I have now kept you wondering about for the last 3 seconds is .... PERSONAL TRAINING!
I decided that I wanted to work in the health industry, but I was unsure as how to even get into it without a "Bachelor's Degree" because all I have right now is my Associate of Science, and my degree was health oriented. And people in Canada are like, "What's the devil is an associates degree?" and then I'm all crushed because they have no clue that it is actually WORTH something. So, I have been disappointed interview after interview because my education means nothing to them. But NO LONGER! I will now not only have my associate of Science, BUT, I will be certified in CPR & First Aid, AND dun dah duh DA!!! I will have my personal training certification completed! HOORAY!

I am super excited. I am actually taking the course right now online and am making sure that I am taking a program that both the states and Canada will recognize as a substantial course. It's great too because I have so many different kinds of dance in my background along with athletic training so I will be able to incorporate a variety of tactics along with relating to and making a specialized program for each individual client. That makes me happy.

So...that is my update I suppose on what I have been doing, and that is studying.

The next "Training" thing I guess I wanted to address is a different kind of training. This training is of the spiritual kind. First off if you haven't heard or read it yet, Elder Oaks spoke at a BYU-I devotional in early Oct. about Religious Freedom being under attack and it was very good and many who oppose the church were outraged by it. So, if you haven't gotten a chance to read that yet then go to http://www.byui.edu/ and looks under past devotionals. If you have the time.

Anyways, Recently I just felt like it would be wise to re-read elder Bednar's talk, "And Nothing Shall Offend Them". (http://www.lds.org/ search engine on side, type; Bednar nothing shall offend).
The following quotes are excerpts that were my favorite parts, but the entire talk itself is worth the 15min. (or less) of your time that it will take to read it.

"When we believe or say we have been offended, we usually mean we feel insulted, mistreated, snubbed, or disrespected. And certainly clumsy, embarrassing, unprincipled, and mean-spirited things do occur in our interactions with other people that would allow us to take offense. However, it ultimately is impossible for another person to offend you or to offend me. Indeed, believing that another person offended us is fundamentally false. To be offended is a choice we make; it is not a condition inflicted or imposed upon us by someone or something else.

In the grand division of all of God’s creations, there are things to act and things to be acted upon (see 2 Nephi 2:13–14). As sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, we have been blessed with the gift of moral agency, the capacity for independent action and choice. Endowed with agency, you and I are agents, and we primarily are to act and not just be acted upon. To believe that someone or something can make us feel offended, angry, hurt, or bitter diminishes our moral agency and transforms us into objects to be acted upon. As agents, however, you and I have the power to act and to choose how we will respond to an offensive or hurtful situation.

Please note the use of the active word perfecting. As described by Elder Neal A. Maxwell, the Church is not “a well-provisioned rest home for the already perfected” (“A Brother Offended,” Ensign, May 1982, 38). Rather, the Church is a learning laboratory and a workshop in which we gain experience as we practice on each other in the ongoing process of “perfecting the Saints.”

Understanding that the Church is a learning laboratory helps us to prepare for an inevitable reality. In some way and at some time, someone in this Church will do or say something that could be considered offensive. Such an event will surely happen to each and every one of us—and it certainly will occur more than once. Though people may not intend to injure or offend us, they nonetheless can be inconsiderate and tactless.

You and I cannot control the intentions or behavior of other people. However, we do determine how we will act. Please remember that you and I are agents endowed with moral agency, and we can choose not to be offended.
I witness the reality and divinity of a living Savior and of His power to help us avoid and overcome offense."

I Really enjoyed his talk and I hope, that if all you did was read my posted excerpts, that you will have enjoyed them as well. They are something the each of us need to be reminded of on a continual basis. And that we need to TRAIN OURSELVES to be un-offended.

Love Always,

Mrs. Fray Fray

Say YES to the Dress!!!

One New show that I really enjoy is TLC's "Say Yes to the Dress"! For some reason I just love looking at wedding gowns. They are the epitome of elegance and womanhood to me. I don't know why, but they are. One designer that I have started to fall in love with because of the show is Pnina Tornai : Many in her line have a lingerie' look (see through) So many of the Brides that purchase the dresses have them altered so that you cant see through them and they look FABULOUS! I really love her line. Another Designer I love now is Eve of Milady: The next dresses are by Melissa Sweet:I also Enjoy Kenneth Pool's Line:The last dress is from the 2008 line of Lazaro, and this is actually THE dress that I would have purchased for my wedding had I had tons of money (and sleeve alterations). Of course, I say this now, but had I actually tried it on I may have said otherwise. I must admit, I did LOVE my dress that I wore my wedding day. :)

This is All for now, I just love wedding dresses! I would buy LOTS if I was a millionaire!

Love Always,
Mrs. Fray Fray

Work?

Now that it has snowed, and the temperature continues to drop each morning, I am getting less and less work at D'Arcy. I have been searching for the past few days for job positions available, but there certainly are not as many listing for jobs now, as compared to what there was this time last year! One word. Recession. Which equals, Destruction...on me.

And one bad thing about me trying to get anything RETAIL this year is that I HAVE to be upfront and honest with potential employers about me being gone during blackout days! And Dec. 26th here is Canada, is like Black Friday in the States. You CANNOT NOT be at work? You HAVE to be available during that time to work, and normally, it would be NO problem. But to my dismay, this year, Whitney is getting married in California! And DURING the Blackout season for retail stores! Oh Whitney...It's OK, I don't blame you, I blame your fiance' ha ha J/K. I fear that I will not be able to obtain ANY job until after The new year! which is TOO long for me to be out of work! That's TWO months with no work! And that is unacceptable to me. So, as the saying goes...Beggars Can't be Choosers. And I think for me that means. If I still have to work outside in the cold, or flip burgers, then I guess that's what I'm gonna have to do till the New year rings in. But hopefully I will not be doomed to doing that kind of work once again. I hope I can be blessed with a GOOD, FUN, and ENJOYABLE work environment.
I probably just sound a tad negative today because I'm stressed. This too shall pass.

Love Always,

Mrs. Fray Fray

Belly Dancing

Tonight I start BELLY DANCE!!! I am SUPER Excited! There will only be ten classes, but that's o.k. I think it will be fun! Plus I really need to do some exercise! At work I CAN get it, but they've been sticking me on the Sidewinder (A type of mower) and I just sit there. Every now and then I can get off to push a rake into the bunker, but by that time I am too lazy to get off, so I use my machine to push it in.

But yeah. It'll be nice to meet some new people and to get my body moving! I love to take dance classes. It's relaxing for me. In a different kind of way. Mentally relaxing. It's not really physically relaxing. Ha ha.

The season at D'Arcy Ranch is nearly over and I will be in search of a new job soon. I applied to one place so far, but that's about it, so I'll have to get a move on that pronto. And I REFUSE to do outdoor work this winter. The summer was cold enough for me to learn that sitting outside all day in the cold is no fun!

Love Always,

Mrs. Fray Fray

Zoom Zoom

We got a new Car!!! So...James and I decided that we need only one vehicular device while we live in Boise. So...We've just been checking out the market seeing what we'll be expecting to pay and so on... Well, at first we found a killer deal on Auto Trader.ca BUT, as we further investigated into and thanks to MacKay, we found it to be a major SCAM!

I mean, why would someone from Alberta be selling a car with a Virginia Licence plate? and WHY on earth would they produce the same information and the EXACT same photos as a person FROM Virginia selling their vehicle on E-Bay? Weird?! And then why would they push a sell BEFORE we received the product? Oh and this is the best part. We wanted to SEE the car (which was "Supposed" to be in Alberta at the time). But the seller then told us, "Oh it's out in Toronto." So we said, "we have a cousin out there that can check out the car for us" they then replied, "It's already packaged to be shipped" ? O.K? FiShy FiSHy FishY! They also stated, AND I QUOTE;

"I have a reputation to protect and a good Christian and I do not want to be imprisoned. You have my word and good faith on the fact that I'll keep my end of the bargain. I have never lied and cheated anyone and I will not risk my career, my freedom and my future for anything in the world!I would rather close this deal with other person than to know that you'll be very stressed hoping that I am a honest person, until you receive your car. Your peace of mind is a lot more important than this deal!!!"

HA! What a load of Crap. And THAT ladies and gentlemen is what you call an Internet Scam. We reported them to the website and shortly after their profile was no longer listed on the site. BOO YA! (If it looks too good to be true, It probably is...)

Anyways, Back to our new car! :) Yesterday we test drove a car in Calgary and...for a 13 year old car it was pretty sweet, but they were trying to rip us off at the dealership (typical). So we then looked at another car from one of James' buddies. (It was a BMW two door '98) It was reasonably priced, BUT if we ever needed to get repairs on the thing it would cost an arm and a leg because it's a BMW. Then we got a call from another one of his friends and we decided to go and have a look at and test drive his Mazda Protege 2003 (Orange, the picture is of a yellow one, so obviously this isn't OURS, but this is what it looks like).It was AWESOME! It was SUPER fast and really sweet! I Loved it! It felt right to get it and it was the BEST deal we had come across for the quality!!! SO EXCITING!!! WHAT A BLESSING! WHAT- A- BLESSING!!! We are SO thankful for this! SO THANKFUL! I only hope that we can do something so generous for our friends in their times of need. I want to be THAT kind of a person to others. Giving good deals to people who need them. A type of deal that we can both benefit from, in one way or another. (Spiritually? Temporally?)

We also bought season 5 of the office two weeks or so ago. IT WAS HILARIOUS! by the way. My favorite episode is the one where Dwight does the office fire drill with the CPR training. I could not stop laughing! So funny.

Love Always,

Mrs. Fray Fray

1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!!

HAPPY 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!! James and I had our one year anniversary on the Seventh of August 2009. And we had a BLAST! I took the weekend off of work to be able to relax and enjoy myself with my AMAZING Husband! I Went to a salon in town and they cut, colored, and did my hair! It was SO exciting! They even put Fire engine red in my hair! I can't wait to put more in. I only did a few highlights of Red for now. I loved the French Braid head band in my hair. I wish I was better at the french braid, otherwise I would have a head band in my hair like that WAY more often!

After my hair was done we drove into Downtown Calgary and checked into our Sweet in the WESTIN. (James has a friend who works there and he got us the room for $120 and it was an AWESOME SWEET! in DOWNTOWN! That would have been A LOT of money if he didn't have connections.)Our Sweet had JUST been newly renovated! The bathroom had a T.V. IN THE MIRROR!!! It was AWESOME! If you turned the T.V. Off it would become a mirror again! I loved it! The walls were textured the tile was sweet looking and overall, I loved the room! There was a balcony and our view was the river and skyscrapers! It was an AMAZING weekend! It was magical, and I felt so special:)

We walked around Downtown Calgary and looked into all the shops then, We ate dinner at "THE TOWER" which is Calgary's version of the Seattle Space Needle. We went to the viewing deck first and then enjoyed dinner in a rotating restaurant. After dinner we went back to the Hotel and ate our cake topper and after one year,...it was FREAKIN TASTY! It was still good! I loved it! I wish James hadn't finished it off the next morning. We also watched two movies and his friend took the movies off of our bill. It was sweet. I love my Husband VERY much! I had a blast this first year and to tell you the truth it doesn't even feel like we've been married that long! I hope we have fun in round two of our marriage and hope to have 100 more rounds before we hit the grave. I Love you James. You're my Best Friend and LOVER tehe Literally.

Love Always,
Mrs. Fray Fray