We believe we are daughters of God

I got called to Young Women's! I am excited about this new calling. I feel that I have talents and knowledge that God wants me to use to help these Young Women. Most of all I hope that I can teach them not only about God but confidence in themselves. As I sat in Young Women's today, the first time I've been there in 13 years!!, I thought of when Elise will be in Young Women's, I can't wait for that! I loved being in Young Women's, and I'm glad that Elise will get to experience Young Women's, too. I am so grateful for my Young Women's leaders. One of them helped me to become active and the rest helped me to stay active. I have fond memories of my leaders and the other girls in my ward. I owe so much to them and I hope to be the influence in these girls' lives that God intends for me to be by putting me in this calling.

The widows of heaven

There isn't much that embarrasses me but not being able to keep my finances under control kind of does. Not because I care what other people think about it but because I know that I should be better at it and more importantly I know HOW to be better at it. But the knowing doesn't always translate into the doing.

When we lived in Orem I was on top of things. What helped the most was living down the street from Walmart and having cheap eating and entertainment options close by. We had so many places we could go out for dinner or a treat that wouldn't put us over our budget. And we had a dollar theater close by. Oh how I miss the the dollar theater!

When we moved in with my in-laws my MIL did all the grocery shopping and cooking. And both Cody and I were working full time without having to pay for rent or utilities or food. We developed a lot of bad spending habits. When we moved into our own home, not only was I pregnant and just off of bed rest, but I was so used to Carma taking care of dinner that come Monday I would realize that not only did I not think to make a weekly menu but going grocery shopping had been the furthest thing from my mind! And on top of that we had picked up the bad habit of eating out. And places to eat in Roosevelt, unless you go to McDonald's, are not the cheapest place to eat. Nor is there much variety.

I'm happy to report that I did finally get back on the wagon. Every week I make a weekly menu and do the grocery shopping and we hardly ever eat out anymore. Which is both good for our budget and our bellies. We have resumed or old money saving tricks and are learning new ones.

But we still struggle with our budget! Not only are there so many fun things that we want to buy but we have the added baby expenses and as we have been working on getting our house in order we have had to buy things to help us do that. Plus I don't work full time anymore. I do bring in a little bit of money, which helps, but it doesn't save our budget.

We've been thinking for a while that we need to get a handle on this, and now we are finally getting serious about it. No more of this, it's okay we have savings. No! If we don't have the money, or if it's not essential, then no, we aren't buying it! This last time we got paid I had decided beforehand that we were going to try the envelope budget. Actually physically using envelopes, I pulled them out and everything and had them ready to go. And then we got paid and didn't have any money to put in said envelopes. Sad, but it's a start! It makes us more aware of our situation and what we need to do to fix it.

Why am I telling you all this? well, partly because sometimes when I get going I ramble on and on but mostly because I want to share this with you:

I have a HUGE testimony of tithing. I love tithing. I could never not pay it. I used to sometimes think of how much money that was and what I could do if I had it. Now I know it wouldn't even be worth it to have that much extra money to add to my budget. The blessings far outweigh the money. If I could put the blessings on my budget spreadsheet it would be so big it would take days for my computer to open the file.

Tithing has brought us amazing blessings. Tithing brought us to Roosevelt, got me my job at the hospital, got Cody his dream job at the paper, got us this amazing house with the amazing house payment, got me a job writing book reviews for the paper, and allows me to stay at home with my baby girl. Tithing is AMAZING!!!

But in my testimony and extreme gratefulness of tithing, there is a thought that had not yet made itself known to me. I pay a perfect tithing, and in my mind, I receive these blessings because I pay a perfect tithing and because I strive to live within my means and I worked hard to stay home with Elise. But what about when I mess up? What about when I overspend, again and again? What about when God blesses me with help and despite my best intentions, I mess it up? What then?

We have had a couple paydays recently where the check was more than I anticipated when we really needed it. And both of those times I knew that God was giving us an opportunity to do better. He was giving us higher ground to start from so that we would have a better chance of succeeding instead of being trapped in a hole that just gets deeper and deeper. We were extremely grateful for those opportunities, and while we tried to make the best of them, we weren't perfect. We still ended up over spending a bit. Sometimes for food or unnecessary items, and sometimes for unexpected expenses.

After realizing that I didn't have money to put in envelopes, and being serious about not overspending, we determined that we would not buy anything, until we got paid again. --Don't be alarmed, this was after we bought enough food to last us until the next payday!--

And then I randomly logged onto my online account to see where we were, and saw that someone had transferred money into our account. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough. Enough to give us the hope of not having to start from zero next payday. Enough that if we needed to spend a little money on something in the next two weeks we could do so knowing that we had the money to spend.

I didn't think much of this person putting money into my account until the Spirit whispered something to me I would not have thought of. This was from Him. This was Him helping us again, even though we had messed up the last two opportunities He had given us. He wants us to succeed, and He wasn't going to just give us only two opportunities to do so. He knows that we are human and that we will make mistakes and he also knows that we have good intentions, that our hearts and our goals are in the right place. As long as we are striving, and doing the best we can, even though we mess up, He will help us all He can, again and again. Such a simple truth that I should have already know, but I was blown away. I thought that I had disqualified myself from receiving His help again and that I was on my own, but I was wrong. And I was grateful that I was wrong. My testimony has been stretched to include a new testimony of His love and mercy, for me. And I am so grateful for that learning opportunity.

Poem du jour

It's been a loooong time since I have written a poem, but I kinda did tonight, and I wanted to share it with you guys <3 Enjoy!

Racing the Dark

the Dark is not my friend
well, it is
but its not
not tonight
tonight im alone in my car
running later than expected
racing the Dark home
im tempted to speed
to take chances to win
but thats not me anymore
this new me
the me im working on becoming
her heart is at home
simultaneously upstairs sleeping in the crib
and downstairs on the couch watching futurama
(sometimes my heart has bad taste)
as it becomes obviously clear that ive lost this...
battle?
war?
scrimmage...
as it becomes obviously clear that ive lost this scrimmage
 im driving in the almost Dark
wishing id gotten a bigger cherry soda
i know that ill make it home to my heart
Dark or no Dark
and i know that i have won after all

Trouble's on the Menu--Book Review

Hi friends! I'm going to be posting my book review articles on my blog. If you have any creative comments about my writing, let me know!

Brittany’s book review: Trouble’s on the menu - proves interesting

By Brittany Wilkerson
Uintah Basin Standard

I love curling up on the
couch with a blanket and a
good book. Even better is
when it is actually cold and
snowing, which it isn’t. At
the moment it is sweltering
outside, which, sadly, isn’t
very conducive to a blanket at
the moment. So I was fortunate
enough to happen upon a book
that made me feel like it was
blizzarding outside!

“Trouble’s on The Menu: A
Tippy Canoe Romp” by Caleb
Warnock and Betsy Schow,
released April 2013, takes
place in a small Montana town
where it is cold enough to curl
up with two blankets to read a
book!

Upon her estranged husband’s
death, Hallie Stone
finds herself in Tippy Canoe,
Mont., where her goal is to
settle his accounts and be in
and out as soon as possible.
Hallie ends up staying longer
than she planned when the
town mayor starts taking an
interest in her and then things
don’t go as expected. But when
everything starts going awry
she has to decide whether to
stay and help out or head for
home in a hurry!

“Trouble’s on the Menu: A
Tippy Canoe Romp” was a fun
and easy read. I was able to get
into it right away and wanted
to keep reading.

I enjoyed all the characters,
with the exception of the villian.
Their personalities were
varied and kept things interesting-
especially Ula!

My favorite part of the
book is the underlying theme
of how things work out in the
craziest of ways.

My other favorite part of
the book is the recipes in the
back. Some of the food in the
book sounded so delicious that
I wanted to give them a try and
now I don’t have to hunt down
the recipes!

This book would make a
great book club selection. It’s
a quick read, appropriate for
all ages and offers a few great
topics of discussion.

Warnock is the original author
of “Troubles on the Menu:
A Tippy Canoe Romp.” When
he asked his writing students to
read and comment on the first
chapter, Schow had so many
great ideas, that he asked her to
help co-author it with him.

Warnock has written three
other books. You can read
more about him and his books
by visiting calebwarnock.
blogspot.com/.

Schow lives in Alpine,
Utah. This is her second novel.
The first, “Finished Being Fat”
was published January of this
year. She has a young adult
fiction novel set to be released
sometime in the future.

Schow hopes readers “take
‘Troubles on the Menu’ for
what it is and enjoy it. Enjoy
the ride. If I’ve made you
laugh for a couple of minutes
then I’ve done my job.”
For more information about
Schow visit www.betsyschow.
com.

“Troubles on the Menu: A
Tippy Canoe Romp” can be
purchased online at Amazon.
com and BarnesandNoble.com
and at Cedar Fort Publishing.

Editor’s Note: The Uintah
Basin Standard has donated
a copy of “Troubles on the
Menu: A Tippy Canoe Romp”
by Caleb Warnock and Betsy
Schow to the Roosevelt Library

I'm famous!

I write book review articles for the two newspapers out here and they ran an article about me writing articles! How about that! So just in case you  need to hear more amazing things about me today I've included the article for your enjoyment :)

Uintah Basin Standard

Wilkerson includes author interviews with every book review


By John Plestina

jplestina@ubmedia.biz

 With 12 book reviews
published in the Uintah Basin
Standard and Vernal Express
since December 2012 to her
credit, Brittany Wilkerson
plans many more, and maybe
future books with her name as
the author on the cover.

 It began with the two local
newspapers asking Wilkerson
to read and review books.

 Wilkerson reads an average
of one book per week, usually
250-300 words each.

 “I can read that in one day,”
she said.

 The reviews have not been
every week.

 “This month, I’m trying to
do four,” Wilkerson said.

 She chooses the books she
is going to read and review.
They must be new releases
and must be written by Utah
authors.

 “If a book is a new
release and it’s by a
Utah author, I always
like to have people
recommend them to
me,” Wilkerson said.

 “All of the books
are clean and young
adult type. That’s what
I’d rather read,” she
said.

 Two upcoming
reviews are of books
written by local authors.


 “The next book I
am reviewing is called
“Checking Out” by
Clair M. Poulson,” she
said.

 Poulson was born
and raised in Duchesne,
is a former
Duchesne County
sheriff and currently
serves as justice court
judge for Duchesne
County.

 “He will be at the Uintah
County Library in Vernal next
Thursday (Aug. 15). I will be
going to interview him and to
get his book signed so that we
can give it away in a contest of
some sort,” Wilkerson said.

 Another upcoming review
is of “Stung,” a book by
Bethany Wiggins of Vernal.

 The interviews and reviews
of the books by Poulson and
Wiggins are the first two books
by Uintah Basin authors that
Wilkerson will review.

 Her favorite author is Brandon
Sanderson. He teaches at
Brigham Young University.

 One thing that sets Wilkerson
aside from some other
book reviewers is she always
interviews the author.

 “That’s fun. I always enjoy
doing that,” she said.

 Being an avid reader and
writing book reviews begs the
question of whether Wilkerson
envisions herself as an author.

 “I don’t know. I’ve thought
about it. I came to a conclusion
that if I write a book it will be
non-fiction,” Wilkerson said.
“Cody (her husband) really
wants me to.”

 “I have always thought
about writing my own book,
but I just can’t come up with
enough of a story to write one,
especially an ending. As I’ve
been writing these reviews,
I’ve realized that I could
actually write a non-fiction
book if it was something I was
passionate and knowledgeable
about,” Wilkerson said.

 She said authors she has
interviewed have encouraged
her to write and to consider
publishing an e-book.

 “Cindy Bennett is an
author I interviewed who has
a few books that she has self-
published. Carole Rummage
is another author I interviewed
who told me she was 60 when
she wrote her first book. She
was encouraged by a group of
authors she met regularly with.
She had no idea how her book
was going to end but it ended
up writing itself. That made
me start thinking that perhaps
I could write a fiction novel,”
Wilkerson said.

 She said talking to authors
encourages and inspires her.

 Wilkerson said she must
feel passionate about what she
is writing about and wants to
write something that would
help someone.

 She has written two short
unpublished books to help
friends. They are, “How To
keep Your Child Alive For
The First Three Months”
and “Dedication, Determination,
Communication and No
French Kissing,” a short book
Wilkerson wrote for a friend.

 “The title came about when
she (the friend) was dating
her husband and she asked
me how Cody and I managed
to stay good and make it to
the temple,” Wilkerson said,
adding that she told her friend
she should consider dedication,
determination, communication
and no French kissing. The
friend suggested that she write
a book and she did.

 Wilkerson grew up in
Taylorsville and has lived in
Roosevelt for two years. Her
husband, Cody, grew up in
Roosevelt and works for the
Uintah Basin Standard. They
have a daughter, Elise, 1.

 The Uintah Basin Standard
and Vernal Express donates
every book Wilkerson reviews
to the Roosevelt Library.

 All of Wilkerson’s reviews
appear in both newspapers.

Tender mercies

Today was not bad, like at all. I woke up this morning convinced that it was going to be a bad day. I could feel a sore throat coming on and my hips/rumpus muscles were killing me yesterday and I knew that Cody wouldn't be home tonight so I was hoping that my muscles would be feeling good enough that I would be able to put Elise down for bed without having to call someone over to come help me. Yesterday L&L told me that my alternator and thermostat need to be replaced and they would be nice enough to do it for about $1000 so today I knew I would need to call around to see how much other places would charge. My throat is still a little sore but it hasn't been bad. Most of the day it actually has felt pretty alright. Thanks to Tylenol Severe Cold and Flu. I love that stuff <3 My first tender mercy this morning, before I had taken the Tylenol. was that I miraculously didn't spill baby food everywhere when I found myself accidentally hitting the spoon that was in the baby food container. A small thing, yes, but at that  moment it was big. The next tender mercy was the Tylenol. Once I got the babe to sleep I took a shower and was in the mood to NOT do my hair. First I decided that I was going to just put it in french braids and then I decided to not do it at all, just let it air dry, which means I would not be able to do my hair decently until I washed it again. But something told me to do it, so I did, and it looked good! Turns out, I the newspaper is doing an article on me and they took my picture for the article today. Phew! Tender mercy!! I decided to take Leese to Arby's for dinner and then drive her over to Grandma's house since Dad wouldn't be home and really I was bored and hungry. My car--which I should not have been driving around anyway--died in the drive thru. This very nice Arby's employee pushed my car out of the way and then brought me my food when it was ready. Tender mercy! I told her manager how awesome she is. Cody came and rescued me. He jumped my car and followed me home. All because I was LUCKY enough to break down at 4:45 pm instead of in the middle of his busy day or after he had already gone fishing. Tender mercy! And the piece de resistance, my muscles didn't hurt at all today. That's actually more of a miracle than a tender mercy, but it can go on the tender mercy list :) Hooray for tender mercies!

I love when bad things happen at a good time :) It reminds me of how aware God is of me. I can recall a few times that I have been grateful that a bad thing happened when it did instead of at a much worse time. The bad things are going to happen, so I'm grateful that when they do, God is there to help the bad things be the best that they can be :)

I don't know about Taylor Swift, but we're feeling 32

I turned 31 a week ago on the 28th and Elise turned one a few days later on the 31st. So WE are now 32! I took her in for her one week well child check on Friday. I can remember so well taking her for her well child checks when she was first born. I can remember the feeling of those first weeks of being a mom. Elise was 5 lbs 5 oz when she was born, so small! I kept wishing for her to be bigger so that I would feel less nervous about her. Yet, when it came time to put her newborn sized clothes away that was a very sad moment for me. She will never be that small again! When I think back on my life there isn't anything, no matter how much I enjoyed it, that I would want to go back and do again, except for the first year of Elise's life. Or maybe just the first 6 weeks! I would like to go back and do it again knowing what I know now and just be able to enjoy it. There was such a different feel to it. We lived on the couch in the front room for those first 6 weeks. She slept a lot! I spent all those naps reading The Spook's Apprentice series and watching White Collar, which my mother got me onto when she stayed a week after Elise was born. I'm grateful that Elise is 1. She is so happy and so much fun and it's fun to see her learn new things and get new teeth and change so much so quickly, but it has been a year learning to appreciate things as they are now. So perhaps I should spend more time appreciating the here and now with Elise instead of wishing for one more chance to have her as a newborn again! Yet I still find myself looking forward to when she can walk and talk and be potty trained and take care of herself! Oh, will I ever really learn??

Jammin'

I made my very first batch of homemade jam last night! I made Strawberry jam using Strawberries from my garden, and it turned out really yummy! It was also surprisingly easy even though I had the hardest time starting. I kept worrying that I would do it wrong. It reminded me of the talk by Elder Uchtdorf about being in the middle. It's kind of a hard concept to grasp but from my understanding he says that we should act as though we are always in the middle of something so that we keep up our best efforts until the end so that we don't slack off because we are almost done with that particular project or phase of our lives. I am very guilty of that! The other aspect of it was that sometimes people have a hard time beginning, so if we act as though we are in the in the middle of something, it makes it easier to start. I get keeping up our best efforts til the end, I can figure out a way to make that work for me, but that other part is hard. I don't always falter in starting something but when I do, it is quite the struggle. I don't know how to act as though I am in the middle to start, I do however know how to tell myself that if I mess up making jam, its okay. Sometimes I don't believe myself, though. But it's true! If I had messed up my jam it would have been alright. I could have learned from the experience and tried again. No one would have thought ill of me, God would not have disowned me, and life would have gone on. It's just jam for goodness sake!! There are so many things that Satan doesn't want us to start and I am so grateful for a Heavenly Father who helps me realize that and who accepts my mistakes. And I love that I can make my own things!

Writer's Block..not good for you like sun block

Sigh. I have writer's block. Usually when I read a book that I'm reviewing the article just comes to me. Without me having to exert any sort of effort whatsoever other than reading the book it just comes to me and I end up writing my article in my head wen I'm supposed to be sleeping. But ever since I reviewed my first non-fiction book I've been struggling. I didn't really like that particular book and it was the first time that I wrote an intro that didn't work. I had to rewrite it and ever since it has been a struggle to come up with intros for my articles. I want so bad to blame it on this book and call it names but really I think it all boils down to confidence. I had confidence that my intros were good and now I'm shaken. The truth is my intros ARE good. But after having to rewrite just that one, it's like I can't get it back into gear. Like when you've been going full steam ahead and something throws you from the track and you're left wondering where in the world the track went. I just finished reading The Rhithmatist by Brandon Sanderson. First of all, Brandon Sanderson is my favorite author and second of all I really liked this book, which makes reviewing it a million times easier Yet, I still find myself struggling to come up with an intro to this article. I have a couple faint ideas, but it's not the "move over everything else going on in my head, we gotta make room for this fantastic intro that's just going to come to us" sort of thing. I realized yesterday that it's hard to all of a sudden have to work hard at something that normally just comes naturally. Like trying to keep track of your breathing if all of a sudden it wasn't just an automatic thing your body does. I hope this writer's block will pass soon. Maybe having to work hard at this will help me to become a better writer and maybe I will start to appreciate my talents more instead of taking them for granted. It's crazy the little things that trip us up. Little crumbs in our daily path. I'm kind of hoping that telling someone about it will help. We'll see when I finish with Brandon Sanderson and start on the next book. In the meantime, I'm working up my gumption so I can interview Brandon Sanderson!! Wish me luck!

Starting again...again

This is my third time attempting blogging. I've been thinking about it lately but wasn't sure I'd keep with it since I haven't in the past. I usually have a lot going on in my mind that I'd like to share but since I've been being a stay at home mommy I've been needing an outlet even more. Elise is a pretty good listener but sometimes you just need someone older than 1 to talk to! Plus, I wondered who would want to read what I got bouncing around in my head anyway?? After reading a post by my sister-in-law, I felt inspired to start blogging again, even just for me. I want so badly to journal every day but I rarely write in my journal. It's more convenient to type than to write so even if no one else is reading, I will have a record for myself of what is going on in my life. This Roosey life! And maybe along the way I'll write something that will help someone else :) Thanks for reading! Here's to starting again!!