Life in Our World - Good, Good Things

You know that satisfaction of sucking on a chocolate truffle? Smooth. Sweet. Satisfying. Pleasing. This past weekend was like savoring a Lindt.

Calvin and I flew to Seattle where we met up with Ande, Cali, and Levin’s flight to Denver. Ande and Cali took shift one with Levin, and Calvin and I took shift two.

We landed in Denver Friday evening and met up with Ray who had been working there all week. We met at the car rental place. They gave us a brand new van with only 3 miles on it for 5 days for $100. What a welcome. Certainly a sign of good things to come. Then Calvin, Ande, Levin, and I drove to Colorado Springs via Chick-fil-A while Ray and Cali drove to Colorado Springs via White Christmas, the play in downtown Denver.

Ande, Calvin, Levin, and I met Michelle and Afton at Dallin’s (Michelle’s little brother) basketball game, where he promptly made a 3-pointer. What a welcome. Certainly a sign of good things to come.

After visiting with Brian and Kathy (Michelle’s folks) for a little bit, Afton was more than ready to leave the noisy gymnasium, so Ande, Calvin, Levin, Afton, Michelle, and I got in the new car with only 3 miles on the odometer and went further south to Fort Carson to Abe and Grace’s home. Grace had chocolates waiting on the counter, chocolate chip cookies on the cupboard, and chocolate milk in the fridge. What a welcome. Certainly a sign of good things to come.

In the meantime, Ty had decided to surprise Abe and fly out from Maryland. It was difficult to schedule a trip that far with his military and school schedule, but he finally finagled it. However, when he landed in Florida his connecting flight was cancelled and no other flights were available. He would miss the homecoming after all.

About 11:00 pm Ray and Cali joined Ande, Calvin, Levin, Afton, Michelle, Grace, and me and we rested, visited, and waited until 3:15 am when the welcome home ceremony was to be held for the returning soldiers. 

Levin

The Fort Carson event hall was bedecked. It didn’t matter it was in the middle of the night, it didn’t matter it was cold outside, Mr. and Mrs. Claus and three or four hundred people came to welcome home their husbands, fathers, sons, and fellow soldiers from Afghanistan. 

Grace and fellow army-wife Jenny

The men landed at Fort Peterson before they were bussed to Fort Carson. While the soldiers were enroute from one base to the other, the families watched a recording of them deplaning. Like Santa Claus and the waiting families, it didn’t matter that it was in the middle of the night or that the temperature was low and cold, the army band and army brass were there to welcome the men as they stepped on American soil. I cried a wee bit with a whispered prayer in my heart when I saw Abe’s familiar smile flash on the screen. Grace shivered with excitement and anticipation. 

Finally, at 3:09 am the soldiers were ready to enter the Fort Carson event center to meet their families. Patriotic songs played and families stood and cheered as the men marched into the hall. After standing at attention, a chaplain said a prayer thanking God for their safe return and we sang the Star Spangled Banner. A general made a few comments thanking them for a mission well-served, we sang “The Army Goes Rolling Along,” and then pandemonium followed as he called out, “Dismissed!” and families were put back together. 

Abe and Grace

Abe and Cali

Abe and Ray

Abe and Calvin

There was an extra bonus for three of the families on Abe’s team. They saved the rank advancement ceremony until they returned to Fort Carson instead of doing it in Afghanistan. We got to watch as Abe was made a captain. 

And then the event center quickly cleared as soldiers went to get their gear and go home with their families. (We found only two soldiers that had no one to greet them and we were glad we had made the welcome home bags for them.  We gave the other bags to soldiers and their families.) By the time we returned to Abe and Grace’s home the night had caught up with us and we all fell sound asleep.

In the meantime, Ty was sleeping in an airport in Florida waiting for a flight . . . to somewhere, anywhere. He finally caught one to Denver early Saturday morning via Charlotte, North Carolina so Ray and Calvin went back to Denver to get him. Abe still didn’t know that Ty was coming. When Abe and Grace came home on Saturday about noon (they turned their house over to all of us and spent the night in a hotel) they brought wings and pizza so we could all celebrate and watch the Army-Navy game on TV. We told them Calvin and Ray had gone to get oranges and bananas (funny what details you throw in when you’re lying), but would be back soon. Just before the game started, in the door the three walked, and Abe bear hugged Ty just like he had all of us the night before. Calvin told me later, “I’m glad he came. It was worth his effort. I wish you could have seen Abe’s eyes light up when he saw him.”

At half time Army was winning. Ty, Grace, and Abe took Afton and Levin across the street to play on the playground equipment.

Afton, Abe, Ty

Levin and Ty throwing rocks down the slide

We came home to watch Army once again shoot themselves in the foot and lose the football game. Argh. “Losing is a disease” with that team. But even a loss couldn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the weekend. 

Ande and Calvin

It was just great fun to be together. We missed Joe who had to work, but were grateful that everyone else had been able to come. 

After the football game, several of us went to the commissary to buy groceries for the next day’s family Christmas celebration. We ended the evening playing Liebrary. Liebrary is a game where the book title and synopsis of the plot are read to everyone and each player then writes what he thinks the opening line of the book is. One player reads aloud the correct opening line along with the concocted lines and then everyone makes their guess as to which line is legitimate. Bet you can’t guess who submitted this line to Dr. Seuss’ Cat in the Hat:

If I ever saw a cat in a hat I would shoot it dead and that would be that.

Each time we play that game I think it won’t be as funny as the last. I’ve been wrong every time.

We woke up to snow on Sunday morning, but still made it to church by 8:30. No small feat. We were greeted by Elder and Sister Walker. They are a missionary couple that left their home in Utah and moved to Colorado for two years to help military families while the husbands are deployed. They have visited and helped Grace – given her rides to the airport and changed her smoke detector’s battery that was too high to reach.

After church we went back to Abe and Grace’s and prepared for our family night. During all this time Afton was learning to crawl with everyone baiting and applauding her on, and Levin was being chased and tickled by everybody in the family. 

Michelle, Afton, and Ty
What are the chances of being able to see your granddaughter who lives clear across
the continent learn to crawl on the weekend you're with her?  It was pretty grand.

Ande, Levin, Abe, and Cali

  

Afton, me, Levin
I love having a lap.

For our family night meal each family chose their favorite appetizer to prepare: 

Calvin and Ty

Calvin, Abe, Ande, Levin, and Ray

Ande and Joe chose a fruit platter – oranges, pineapple, bananas, limes (actually Joe chose dates stuffed with nuts and wrapped in bacon but since he wasn’t able to come and Ande, who doesn't like dates, didn't think twice about ditching his request)

Cali and Ray chose shrimp and cocktail sauce.

Abe and Grace made cherry bread.

Ty and Michelle made stuffed mushrooms and popcorn

Calvin and I chose a salami-cheese platter and vegetable tray 

Cali and Grace

After we ate we had family night. We started off by singing Angels We Have Heard on High and then I gave the lesson. I assigned everyone a person from the story of the birth of the Savior. Each person told us about their character’s testimony of the divinity of the Savior and taught us what they felt or identified with in that testimony. Cali was John the Baptist, Grace was Mary, Abe was Joseph, Calvin was the angels, Ande was Elizabeth, Ty was the shepherds, Michelle was Anna, and Ray was Simeon. It was a very sweet time. (If you’d like the scripture references I’d be happy to share them.)

After the lesson everyone did the part they had prepared. Grace and Michelle sang. Ande prepared a minute-to-win-it game for us to play.

the family dance

Cali had us dance. Ray recited a quote by Teddy Roosevelt. We played a game with Ty (my enthusiasm was a great handicap to our team). Hmmmm. What did Abe do? I don’t remember now. He was in charge. What do you want to bet he skipped his part? And then it was time to open presents.

As I mentioned before, each family chooses three of their favorite things for the year and then gifts them to all of the other families. 

Ande and Joe gave us vanilla powder for cooking, I Want My Hat Back a children’s book (oh gee it is a funny one, I can see why Joe gave it a 5 on goodreads), and the Monday crossword puzzles from the New York Times and Fluxx, a card game.

Ty and Michelle made a child’s board book from pictures of the family, donated a flock of geese in behalf of the Payne’s to a family in need, and gave us the book Leadership and Self-Deception. (They had Disney song’s they played before each gift to help us guess what they might be.)

Hot chocolate was Abe’s staple and macaroni and cheese was Grace’s while they were apart this past year; they gave us their favorite varieties. Abe weaved us all survival bracelets from parachute cord and burned a cd with a 500 page manual on how to be prepared. They also gave us cd’s of their favorite Christmas songs (from the Killers, Beach Boys, and Tran Siberian Orchestra). Les Miserables is their favorite Broadway play so they gave us movie tickets to see it on Christmas Day, too.

Last year Ray organized us into the non-profit Feed the Hummingbirds organization and gave us a hummingbird feeder. (He is the president but wouldn’t let me be the secretary until a humming bird ate from our feeder.) He gave each Feed the Hummingbirds member a packet of hummingbird feed. They also gave us a container of mini-mini-marshmallows and an apothecary jar. Levin gave us one of his favorite board books about cowboy bunnies.

Calvin and I gave everybody a boning knife, the Little People Nativity set, and a rubix photo cube of this year’s favorite family photos.

I’m telling you, this is a tradition that fits our family. It’s such fun to be a part of everyone’s world. We have all really enjoyed it and look forward to it.

Sunday evening, after our family night was over, it was time to take Ty back to the airport and Michelle and Afton back to the Page’s. Ray had to catch a flight out early Monday morning. Slowly but surely, the party was breaking up.

Calvin, Ande, Cali, Levin, Grace, Abe, and I visited and played games and watched movies on Monday.

Grace

Grace made us flautas for supper and we continued our gospel and life discussions that had been an ongoing part of the whole weekend. It was a relaxing and satisfying day. We had plans to do other things, but all voted to stay home and be together instead.

I’ve written of the things we did and saw, but the best part was the things we felt and heard. I don’t know how you write about harmony, love, trust, and gratitude. I don’t even know how you take a picture of it. I just know you feel it and sit there thankful and humble that you got to experience it.

Tuesday, after everyone had left, Abe texted this message: Grace and I want to thank you all again for coming to see us. It really meant a lot to us. We love you all!

Michelle responded: Thank YOU. We had a great time. You two are fabulous hosts.

Cali wrote: Amen. What a great trip. Another of many more to come.

Ty wrote: I had a great time with all of you. You guys are the best family.

Ande wrote: Ditto x 100.

What a welcome home party it was.

Certainly a sign of good things to come.

Homemaking Tip - Leftovers

Calvin liked the cookies.

He really liked them even though I over-cooked one batch and under-cooked another.

Today was a day for leftovers.

It wasn't planned, it just worked out that way.

Leftover One:

For supper we had homemade TV dinners.
 

chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and gravy
We had this for supper a month ago and I put the leftovers in foil pans in the freezer for a night like tonight.
I baked them for an hour or so at 350 degrees.

Leftover Two:

Tonight I needed a dessert for Young Women's.

There was leftover ice cream in the freezer from Thanksgiving.

There was leftover caramel in the fridge from the scrapbook retreat in October.

There were over-done and under-done cookies from yesterday.

I put them all together.

People asked me for the recipe.

The crust is cookie flops ground up in the food processor and spread into a pan.

Drizzle 1 cup of caramel sauce over the crust.

Scoop softened ice cream over cookie crust.

Drizzle more caramel over the ice cream.

Sprinkle with cookie crumbs.

Pick out the red and yellow M&M's from your leftover Thanksgiving candy and add them as garnish.

Serve on leftover plates that have a turkey in the center of them.

Leftover three:

Kent taught us how to crochet beanies tonight using some of his grandmother's leftover yarn.

I have hopes of making little beanies.

Leftover four:

I have nothing left over.

I have hit the wall.

Good night.

Tuesday Tried It

After we finished exercising this morning Calvin asked if I would put his almost-empty jug of water back in the fridge.  I carried it to the sink and began filling it up when he entered the kitchen.   He groaned and said, “Jane, I wanted a drink of it while it was still cold that’s why I asked you to put it back in the fridge.  Didn’t you know?”  Indeed I did not.  He replied, “I’m surprised you still can’t read my mind after 30 years.”

A little later I said, “Calvin would it bother you if I didn’t set up the Christmas tree this year?”  I knew what his answer would be, for while I may have missed the reading on the water jug, I know he hates setting up the tree and he hasn’t put an ornament on one in 30 years.  Though my question was a no-brainer, I thought I’d still be considerate and ask.    

He paused and then said, “Why wouldn’t you set it up?” with an emphasis on the wouldn't.

I said, “Well, I know it’s not that important to you (and thought to myself, 'none of the kids will be home in December'), but I just wanted to make sure it’s okay with you if I don’t set it up.”

He didn’t answer for a bit and then said slowly, “Is this a trick question?”

“Huh-uh.  Nope.  Just checking."

He didn’t answer, but talked of other things.

After five minutes I said, “Hey Calvin, you never answered about the Christmas tree.”

He solemnly said, “It doesn’t deserve an answer.  I never answer dumb questions.”

Well I’ll be.  I could have sworn his brain didn't care about us having a Christmas tree right after it said he likes a full jug of water in the fridge instead of an empty one.  I never knew a Christmas tree was important to him.

So here’s a brain teaser.  Will he like this cookie?   Calvin doesn’t really like chocolate chip cookies, but he does love nuts and coconut and butter.  This Pinterest recipe has all four.  Will the nuts, butter, and coconut sway his thinking?  Clearly, my brain doesn’t always get a perfect reading of his.  What do you think?

click on the picture for the link

(My unprofessional opinion of the cookie:  I substituted almonds for the pecans, but other than that [and the baking time] followed the directions.  Toasting the nuts and coconut first is a nice flavor.  It is wonderful tasting dough and a great tasting cookie, but it isn't the prettiest cookie.  I can see why she took a picture of only three on a pretty plate.)

Monday

1.  Safeway must have known it was Calvin's birthday last week because they had $5 lobster tails on sale.

Calvin has a habit of pricing home cooked food based on restaurant prices.  After a meal he'll say with great satisfaction, "Now that was a $30 a plate meal," or "that would have cost us $25." (And then I'll ask him if he wants to leave a tip and he pretends he doesn't hear me.)  When it's a breakfast of hashbrowns, toast, eggs, and bacon - all home grown things - he really inflates the price (he still doesn't leave a tip, but tonight he bought me a back brush for a surprise).

I love cooking for Calvin when he likes the food.  When he doesn't, I don't.

2.  We're not real spontaneous folk, but Saturday morning we realized we didn't have anything pressing so we covered our bases then went to see the kids.

Cali and Ande
These two are great friends.  They discuss books, ideas, food, babies, craft projects, . . . whatever.
They are kind enough to correct each other and generous enough to overlook faults.  

Levin's favorite game:  He ducks his head behind something with his
fanny sticking up in the air and when he lifts his head and growls he expects you to shiver and
shake like he's the abominable snowman.  Here he is hiding in the Christmas tree box.

3.  Cali rearranged one of her bookshelves.  I love the way she covered some of the books in brown paper then stamped their titles on them.

4.  It's a most wonderful time of the year.  Focusing on Christ makes it so.  I'm grateful "God so loved the world" that He would give His only Begotten Son.  

Homemaking Tip - The Point Is . . .

My professor said to write without worrying where the piece would go. Having a strong herding instinct and a tendency to moralize, it was a stretch to write without a plan. But I did it. I babbled like a brook. Unexpectedly the professor left last week and passed the grading pen to another. Professor Two graded my fluid and flooding essay. He said my sentence structure was sound, details were good, reminded me that “was” and “were” kill prose, and then implied I had no point. 

Correct, sir. You are absolutely correct. There is no point in that piece. I’ll throw in a few morals and slide a few paragraphs around and see if a point won't come up for air when I resubmit it.

In the meantime, I’ve got some prattling to do here on the blog as well. Those words I haven’t been writing for the last few weeks are all backed up.

1.  Remember that test I flunked? I passed it! I wrote the professor wondering if he didn’t think he could find another point or two from the essay portion to throw my way. He responded that not all the essays had been answered, but if they had it would be enough points to pass. Oh I answered them all right. I knew the true/false questions would eat me alive and banked on bloviating to carry me over the 60 percent line. Evidently the instructor didn’t receive all my answer sheets when they were faxed to him.  The go-between-lady quickly corrected the error and I passed.

The point of number one is that miracles, practical as well as not so practical, are alive and well. Bonus point: if you can’t discern true from false you might be able to wear them down with words.

2.  Cali, Ande, and I went with friends for a weekend of creating. We had such a good time. Cali pieced a quilt top. She sews beautifully and has great taste in fabric. Ande worked on three projects. She and Joe are making a darling A-B-C book for their children (Joe writes the words and Ande illustrates them). She is also making a fun Harry Potter quiet book for their baby, and finished a little photo album for him while we were there, too. Yes, that’s right. Joe and Ande are having a him!

Cali, me, Ande

The point of number two is to say it is worth all of the glue, glitter, fabric scraps, and construction paper kids use when they are little, because they grow up to be crafting buddies. Bonus point: I love being with our family.

3.  We had a great Thanksgiving. Besides Ray, Cali, and Levin, my niece Jesse came from BYU-Idaho and Melanie, Ray’s sister, came from Arizona, and friends from here joined us too. Jesse helped me with several projects, like drawing the tablecloth and fixing student gifts. She also made a wonderful berry pie.

Jesse
thanks for the picture Maddie

Melanie made a lattice-topped cherry and a lemon meringue pie, two cheese balls, little bags of candy corn and honey roasted peanuts, a silver tray of olive penguins, and crocheted us all a dishcloth.

Melanie

Every now and then you find a person who has an extraordinary amount of unordinary things happen to them. Ray is one of those people. I just learned over Thanksgiving that he has been caught in quicksand.  It gave me a panicked feeling just in the telling.

The point of number three is there is so much to learn in the world and so many good people who can teach it.  I am lucky to have both around me.  Bonus point: I love my family. Extra bonus point: a few homemaking ideas.

Slice a groove out of a long carrot then cut carrot in 1/4 inch slices.
Slice a groove out of a large olive and fill with softened cream cheese.
Make a beak for the penguin from the groove of carrot.
Put carrot sliver in the cross (at the bottom) of a small olive and assemble penguin using a toothpick.
These little penguins took Melanie time to make, but the kids loved them.

honey-roasted peanuts and candy corn = salted nut roll taste-alike
They are good.  Surprisingly good.

Thanks to Melanie and Jesse for making these tags, feel free to grab it and use it

student gifts
on the back is an appreciation for each student along with one thing that I love about them
(Twizzlers were less than 30 cents a piece after Halloween -
I grabbed a couple of boxes and was glad when the 'twizz the season' idea surfaced in pinland)

4.  Abe returns from Afghanistan soon. We’re going as a family to greet him. A few of us can’t be there because of school/work commitments, but the bulk of us will be there to salute the red, white, blue, and camouflage together.

Grace and Abe
thanks to friend Chelsea for the picture

We’re going prepared this time. Last time there were a few single soldiers who had no one to greet them, and hung around the periphery waiting until they could get a ride back to the barracks (soldiers can’t drive for 24 hours after returning). I didn’t notice them until the event center was clearing. Grace and I promised the next time we would be prepared for lone soldiers and have more to offer than a thank you and a hand-shake. We’re putting together a little bag with pop, pizza certificates, cookies, etc. I wish I could think of something else to put in the bags. Any ideas? Is there such a thing as a universal movie that everyone could like?

While we’re together the big Army-Navy football game will be televised and we’ll watch it. The last time Army won the Commander-in-Chief’s trophy was in 1996. A win would be nice. (At least in this academy game we will all be cheering for the same side.) Go Army. Beat Navy.

We’ll have our Christmas celebration while we’re together, too. Last year we started a new gift exchange tradition. Every family chooses three of their favorite things from the year and brings the other families those items. One of Cali and Ray’s gifts last year was a hummingbird feeder because their family loves to feed and watch the hummingbirds out the kitchen window. Abe and Grace gave everyone a Nalgene bottle with the note that they love to go hiking so each family was to go on a hike in the next year and use their Nalgene bottle. Ty and Michelle gave us all a funny one. (Remember they were newly married.) They gave each couple Christmas negligée, even the men, because one of their favorite things is to . . . well, wear negligee I guess. (I have a lovely Mrs. Claus robe with a white feather boa if anyone needs one.) Ande and Joe gave us a recipe journal and included two of their favorite recipes in it. This week each family is trying to finish up their three things so we can exchange. Believe it or not, this has simplified gift-giving immensely. No longer do I worry and wonder if I got the right thing, spent the right amount, or have the right taste. This way we get to include everyone by sharing what is important to us. Even Cali, who likes gifts least in our family, gets excited about this exchange.

The point of number 4 is I can’t wait for Abe to come home and our family to all be back on the same land mass. Bonus point: I love my family.

5.  The election knocked the wind out of me. It was a rough night seeing so many things that are important to me voted unimportant by others. I remember the first time I had the wind knocked out of me. I fell off the monkey bars and landed on my back. David, my neighbor friend, stood over me. I wasn’t sure if I was paralyzed or dying. He promised me neither.

The point of number five is to breathe deeper and carry on.

6.  I have rediscovered tights.

No point.  Just thought I'd share that my feet are warm again.


What point would you like to make today?

52 Blessings - The Finer Things

1.  Several years ago I read an obituary in my hometown newspaper of a woman named Thora. While I didn’t know her, I felt like I did by the time I finished reading the tribute to her. It sounded like she loved and served her family and they loved and appreciated her in return. Why, the obituary even included Thora’s Bowknots, one of her recipes. Now that’s the way to keep a dish on living – posting it in your obituary. Pinterest be hanged.

I read Thora’s obituary back when I sent a weekly newsletter. I included her story and the recipe in one week’s mailing. Since then I have received more than a few e-mails from her grandchildren (scattered across the nation) who discover the recipe from my on-line post. It’s always fun to hear from them. One granddaughter wrote me this morning thanking me for the recipe, she had fond memories of making bowknots with her grandmother. She wrote, “They are supposed to be tied small enough so that they are the exact diameter of a glass, easy to submerge in milk. This is how Grandma Thora let us eat them when we were little.”

When I read Thora’s obituary and recipe, I saw it simply as a human interest story, but it is far more than that to her grandchildren and I’m glad I posted it for their sakes. As her granddaughter wrote, “Finding this recipe on your website might motivate me to finally make them this holiday season – see how choices impact others?”

2.  Last week Levin and Cali came to visit while Ray was traveling. Calvin was working out in the pasture and Levin was . . . wandering. For the most part he walked among the leaves and kicked them, but for a little while he sat on a pile of boards and watched Calvin work. Calvin gave him a couple of screws to hold and Levin was very careful with them. He held them tight for a little while and then put them on the board next to him. They promptly rolled off so he got down off the board, picked them up and put them on the board. When he sat next to them they rolled off again. Again and again and again the screw rolling went. Finally I took a screw and pounded the tip of it into a board and then gave Levin a little hammer to pound on it with.

After I took his picture it reminded me of this picture of Calvin. 

3.  Yesterday Calvin and I drove down to the temple. We went a little early so we could get some Thanksgiving groceries as well. Few things excite me like food prices. I may not remember your phone number, I definitely won’t remember your address without a landmark, but you can bet I’ll remember the cost per ounce of most products. I was so excited to see that not only was corn syrup and cream cheese back to last year’s prices, but Guittard chocolate chips were cheaper ($1.78 a bag), and brown and powdered sugar showed a respectable showing at $1.18 for a 2 pound bag. Let the holidays begin.
         
Oh, and lest I forget.  I saw something that has to do with groceries today that I have never seen before.  I saw a hen lay an egg.  Really.  Our new batch of hens are laying strong and when I went to gather eggs this morning I had to reach under the hens to pull a few out.  The old hens peck your hand when you reach in, and they definitely don't move over or get up.  But this new hen didn't know about squatter's rights and she jumped right up, and when she did the egg plopped right out the back of her.  I stood there and thought, "I'll be.  I've NEVER seen that before and I'll probably NEVER see it again."
         
I just thought you'd want to know.
         
And one more thing about eggs.  We've got so many extras right now I have to keep finding new friends to give them to.  (They're not quite as bad as zucchini, but they're pushing it.)   I took them to church and asked a family there if they needed eggs.  The boy (he's Hispanic) saw them and jumped up and down and said, "Yes!  Mexican eggs.  I've always wanted Mexican eggs."  I looked at the mom quizzically and she said, "They always ask me to buy brown eggs at the store, but they're too expensive."  I laughed and asked the boy, "What kind are these?" and pulled out a blue egg.  He's still thinking on it.  We invited them to Thanksgiving Dinner, I'll see if he has an answer by then.


While bowknots, hammers, and groceries are not diamonds, red carpets, or white truffles . . . they are a few of the things that make life so fine for me and I'm grateful for them.  

  

12 - 12 - 11 - Give or Take a Few Days

Abe - Eating dinner with some of our AUP counterparts.  The guy I mentor is on the right.
He was just released from the hospital yesterday after being shot in a fight with the Taliban.

Grace - Heater broke last night and woke up this morning to 59 degrees!

Afton - Can you spot the baby? (Ty and Michelle help a couple out by babysitting once a week for them. The couple came home from vacation to FLEAS. While Michelle babysat, Ty went to help the couple. Guess who got fleas a few days later? Ty called in despair saying, "THIRTY loads of laundry. We'll never get through it all. It will take us forever to get everything washed."

Michelle - flea bites (more than yesterday)

Ty - Ready for round two on the flea extermination.

Afton participated in a research study at UMD

Ande - visiting family in the Carolinas

Joe - sushi with family

Calvin - building a manger for the calves.
(I find his get-up funny . . .
knee-pads, apron, headlamp)

 They finally ate out of it.

Levin - Cali and Levin are here visiting and I took him on a walk in the wagon.
He liked looking down into the ditches and saying, "Ooooohhhhhhhhhh."   

Cali - We skyped Abe tonight and Levin tried to feed him m&m's

October Photo Challenge -

This photo catches me up.  It's the weather, our town, and my view.

I love it when I can kill three birds with one stone.

October Photo Challenge - Calm

There were several calming things on this Sunday:

• the branch president gave me a blessing as he set me apart for a calling today
• our home teachers dropped by to check on us and brought a sack of Oreo's
• Calvin cooked supper (and didn't make a mess)
• ate homemade toast and hot chocolate for breakfast then took a nap before church
• read the scriptures and learned good things in church
• visited with friends and talked to family on the phone
• had ice cream with home made hot fudge tonight

One other very calming thing was making the weekly stop at the cemetery.  Focusing on the big picture, even for a few moments, has a very soothing effect on the soul.  

What did calm look like for you today?

October Photo Challenge - 4 o'clock

This morning Calvin and I spoke to a group of youth.  Our topic was "Strengthening Faith in God, Strengthening Family, and Strengthening Love for Country."  Calvin creeped back home and crawled on the couch (he's picked up the aches and shakes I had earlier in the week), while I went to Super Saturday at the church.  There were lots of great projects.  I made a cute chalkboard from a cupboard door, a dark brown plate with a cream vinyl "a thankful heart is a happy heart" saying, and these fun bows and tags from scrapbook paper.  (I'll post the chalkboard and plate when I have better light for pictures.)

At 4 o'clock I was rearranging the walls to accommodate the new chalkboard and plate and consequently displaced items.  A little later Calvin woke up and asked if I would make chicken noodle soup.  You know he's sick if he requests that.  He doesn't really consider soup food on a healthy day.

Noodles
1 egg, 1 Tbsp oil, a generous dash of salt, 1 cup flour.
Mix well.
Roll dough out on floured surface, then cut into strips.
Drop noodles into boiling broth and cook for 20 minutes.
That's it.  They're that easy.

And that is 4 o'clock . . . and on . . . at our house.

October Photo Challenge - Letters

Our ballots came in the mail.  Someday it will be interesting to remember what we were voting on in 2012:

• Initiative 1185, if passed, would make it harder to raise taxes by requiring a 2/3 majority vote in both the House and the Senate and it could also require a vote by the people.

• Initiative 1240, if passed, would allow public charter schools.

• Initiative 502, if passed, would legalize marijuana.

• Referendum 74, if rejected, would overturn a bill passed earlier in the year by the Washington legislature and governor legalizing same-sex marriages.

• Resolution 8221, if passed, would lower the amount of debt the state can carry.

• Resolution 8223, if passed, would allow WSU and UW to invest public funds in private companies.

• There are a couple of advisory votes which are non-binding but let the legislature know what our opinions are on some of our tax increases.

Trivia:

• Our state puts the two nominees who get the most votes in the primaries (other than for the office of president) on the ballot regardless of their party - so we have two from the same party running for the same office some times.

• Our gubernatorial election in 2004 was a mess.  Dino Rossi got the most votes, but it was close enough that contender Christine Gregoire requested a recount.  Dino Rossi still led with the most votes after the recount, but again it was close enough that Christine Gregoire requested another recount.  On the third count she had more votes so she became our governor.  We didn't know who our governor was going to be for several months.  It was a mess.  Her time has expired and we are voting for a new governor.

• The east side of our state is conservative, the west side is liberal.  The west always wins.  Argh.

October Photo Challenge - Something That Made Me Smile

I smiled again and again through this ten minute video.  If I wasn't going to vote for Mitt Romney before I watched this video, I certainly would have after seeing what he did with the light-bulb over the stove.  It still makes me chuckle.

October Photo Challenge - Fruit

Today is an unexpected day off from work.  Yesterday the kids informed me during class that today would be a career day so no classes.  It was fun to stay up and wake up late in the middle of the week.

This morning I sat down on the couch to read and study with a container of dried apricots and almonds (now that is a sentence full of prepositional phrases), and this is one of the first things I "studied":

What a great way to start a day off.  It added to what I studied yesterday.

Two women, who were unable to finish the church’s seminary course when they were in high school, have asked me to teach them.  Both have a desire to better understand the scriptures so they can better teach their families and asked if I could help.  After receiving the necessary permission, we began meeting.  I go to one woman’s home and together we Skype the other woman and the three of us discuss the scriptures and work through assignments.  Our discussion yesterday was on being a woman in today’s world, the text being Isaiah chapters 2 – 4.   We talked about the pulls and pressures to appeal and appear as sexual specimens and plastic people rather than real women, and the lure to put ourselves first and others last.  Isaiah warned that women of our day would

walk haughty with stretched-forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet

With that description, I can perfectly picture me in a few situations.  Isaiah warned that we not become sidetracked with

tinkling ornaments, cauls, and round tires like the moon, chains, bracelets, mufflers, bonnets, and ornaments of the legs, headbands, tablets, ear-rings,  rings, and nose jewels; changeable suits of apparel, mantles, wimples, crisping-pins, glasses, and the fine linen, and hoods, and the veils

He was warning women who knew better – women like me and you – not women of ignorance.  He prophesied that we – women who know better – will want to “have it all” and in the process will lose track of what is really important.  He warned that after many had followed the foolishness (that he warned of) the Lord would wash away and purge the filthy (think Noah and the Ark or Sodom and Gomorrah).  Isaiah countered it by promising those who follow the Savior and overcome the pull of worldliness great protection and refuge in their homes.   

My two friends had incredible personal insights as to these verses and I learned much from them as they talked.  I thought of Isaiah’s warnings as I watched this video.  To be a strong, compassionate, spiritual woman in a swaying world is no small thing.       

  

October Photo Challenge - Something I Wrote

I dabble in genealogy and family history.  I'll search for ancestors and then put them away for a year or six before looking at them again.  One of the most frustrating parts of being a dabbler is losing my place and familiarity with the names.  Who belongs to whom? Which line are they in again? and How will I ever keep this straight? are frequent questions.

Recently our Family History Library received a machine that can print out a large genealogy fan and today I printed and autographed mine.  It is quite exciting to easily see where my family gaps are without getting sidetracked or overwhelmed flipping and scrolling through pages.  Calvin was excited as well and plans to print his.  Here is a link if you'd like to create yours:

Genealogy Fan Chart