Monday Memories – Hello, Hello

When Cali was a little person she called the telephone a “hello, hello.”

When I was a little person . . .

• Our phone number was 655-4266 and my best friend’s number was only one digit different. I had dozens of phone numbers memorized. 
• We were on a party line with our neighbors so we had to pick up the receiver carefully when we used the phone in case someone was already talking. 
• We only had to use the last four digits of a local number to place a call. 
• We had a rotary dial phone and later a push button. 
• The kitchen phone had an extended 15-ish foot cord so that while we talked we could sit on a couch or go in a bedroom, shut the door, and talk in private (assuming no one was listening in on the party line). 
• Long distance phone calls were 30 cents a minute. We didn’t call long distance often. 
• The Jetson’s had futuristic, fantasy screens they talked into and saw and heard people talking back to them, but that only happened in cartoons to people that traveled in space ships with robot maids. 

Now that I’m a big person . . .

• I only have three phone numbers memorized. If I get thrown in jail I’ll be in big trouble when it comes time to place my one and only phone call if Calvin doesn’t answer.  Speed dial has stupefied me. 
• I have a phone with my own number as does Calvin and every single one of our family members. I can talk whenever I want without waiting for someone else to hang up. Phones today even interrupt and tell me when someone else is trying to call. 
• I touch a screen and the phone dials the number for me. 
• I can write messages, take pictures, play music, record videos, pull down maps, surf the internet, and read books on a phone. 
• There is no cord and I can answer a phone in the middle of the living room floor or the middle of a field. 
• There is one flat fee for all of my phone calls. I call long distance a lot. 
• The phone has a fantastic screen you talk into and see people talking as they talk back, but there is no robot maid in the background.  

Today I got my first iphone. You and everyone else in the family has had one for years and today I finally joined you.  Good bye sweaty ear and kinked neck, hello bedazzled phone cover and facetime.

(I couldn’t believe what I saw! Abe was in a beret and captain’s uniform, Afton had grown a foot or two and was walking all around the furniture, Ande’s baby belly had stretched another inch. Amazing.) 

Do you still remember your original phone number? Would you be in trouble if kidnappers nabbed you and you could only sneak away long enough for one call?

52 Blessings - Life

This week I had a terrible dream. There were bombers flying overhead and I was carrying a baby when I spotted them. They weren’t from our air force. I looked around for a place for the baby and me to hide and ran to a culvert under the road. Once there I realized it wasn’t safe, so ran to warn others as the planes zeroed in. The town had already been infiltrated with the enemy and they kept trying to take the baby from me. To put it mildly, the dream was disturbing.

I woke up thinking, “Whoa. Life is pretty darn good. I may be worried about a lot of things going on in the world, but at least I’m not looking for a culvert.”  That thought has stayed with me the rest of the week:  life is so very good.  Here are two things we enjoyed recently:   

Good life one:

A few weeks ago, Levin came and stayed with Calvin and me for five days while Cali accompanied Ray on a business trip. Each morning when we went in to get Levin out of bed, he greeted us with a great big “Hi” followed by a happy dance. His enthusiasm makes you feel like no one in the world is more important than you to him at that moment. Calvin fixed him breakfast each day – sometimes it was oatmeal and other times eggs, but always it was peaches.

In the afternoons Levin and I would go out and gather the eggs and I’d pull him in the wagon on a walk. Then, while I sat in the wagon, he’d wander around the yard and sweep the leaves with a branch, watch the crows caw, dig in a gopher hole, or play behind the row of trees. I don’t ever remember feeling as patient with our kids while they explored.  More than once, as I watched Levin walk and explore, this poem came to mind:

I like to walk with Grandma, she takes small steps like mine.
She never says "let's hurry-up! she always takes her time.
I like to walk with Grandma, her eyes see things like mine.
Shiny stones, a fluffy cloud, stars at night that shine.
People rush their whole day through, they rarely stop to see.
I'm glad that God made Grandmas unrushed and young like me.

However, I did teach him to “Hurry, hurry, hurry” as I thumped loudly after him chasing him. When he wanted me to chase him, he’d yell “Hurry, hurry, hurry” and run.

The week after Levin stayed with us, Cali and Ande both came and stayed the week while Ray and Joe were traveling. We worked on a fun project , tried a great new recipe, and each afternoon we’d go on a walk. The highlight of the week was on Friday when we went down to Tri-Cities baby shopping for Ande. Both girls are noticeably pregnant and they looked so beautiful walking up and down the diaper and one-sie aisles pointing and looking. Ande was a bit overwhelmed at the reality of getting ready for a baby; by the end she was not only comfortable and ready, but excited.

We ate lunch at a little bistro. We shared a basil-tomato-chicken Panini, Caesar salad with house dressing heavy on the horseradish, and an apple, chicken, caramelized onion pizza. We topped it off with a red velvet, coconut, and a salted caramel cupcake. It was just such a fun and satisfying day.

On Saturday two friends threw a baby shower for Ande. The generosity of people continues to warm me through and through. Though Ande moved away from here years ago, the women continue to show maternal support in her life.

Good life two:

We made some new friends a month ago via the friend of a friend of a friend who bought something on Craigslist. We needed to get rid of some old layer hens and they offered to take them. Sergei brought his daughter, Anna, and her children to come and catch the chickens. After Anna and I caught them, Sergei tied their feet together, threw them in a banana box, and loaded them in the back seat between the grandkids. While Calvin and Sergei talked, Anna and the kids followed me inside to wash hands and visit and eat cookies. Anna became a quick friend and since then we’ve swapped recipe secrets, apples, squash, potatoes, onions, bread, pickled vegetables, cookies, and cake. Last week she went to Seattle and picked me up some special flour; this week I’ll go to her house and teach her how to make fruit leather. Each week Anna and the kids come and buy eggs.

A few weeks ago Anna invited us over for dessert. She failed to tell us that dessert came with four other courses. We started with a zuppa toscana soup and bread. Oh-la-la. It was good. The soup was followed by pickled vegetables and salads, and that course was followed with meat and potatoes. Then we had two desserts: a Russian ice cream cookie and a rich, creamy dessert. Calvin and I waddled home.

Anna and her family moved to America from Moldova a few years ago and there are several families who emigrated from the Ukraine who attend church together in a small community forty miles from here. Anna had invited their church family and us to Lavinia’s 7th birthday party tonight. What a grand time we had. 

 

The Ukrainians are meat and potato people and Anna graduated from culinary school in Moldova, so how can supper at their home not be good?  We had grilled pork, beef, and shrimp kabobs. We also had several salads – a broccoli, bread, tomato, and mayonnaise salad, a purple cabbage salad, pickled mushrooms, and a green salad as well as potatoes and bread. There was lots and lots of food, and the men just kept bringing out more and more meat. Calvin was in heaven.

The birthday cake had several layers.  Whipped cream and fruit – berries, oranges, peaches, kiwis –were in between each layer.  It was wonderful. 

And as good as the food was, and it was very good, my favorite part of the evening was the singing. First the children stood and sang. They sang with great volume, clarity, tune . . . and parts! (The oldest was Willie who is only 9.) All of the songs were in Russian and Ukrainian. In between the songs they recited bible verses with gusto. The program lasted ten or fifteen minutes. The parents expected their children to be well-behaved and if a child got out of line, he was pinched or corrected.  The children responded quickly and positively.

After they performed, the children ran outside to play.  When I told the adults how impressive it was they projected so well and in tune, one mother replied, “They’d better. They’re part of the choir.” I asked if she sang in the choir and she nodded and then nodded towards everyone in the room and said, “We all are.” I said, “Oh, please sing.” So they did. Just like that. No begging. No hemming or hawing or saying, "Not tonight,"  they just opened up and sang a song (in parts) about the Savior. Soon, the pastor of the group came to the party with his guitar and the whole room started singing hymn after hymn after hymn in Russian and Ukrainian. It was all sung in parts – the bases were deep, the altos were solid – and they sang with great fervor and volume for the better part of an hour. They included How Great Thou Art and Amazing Grace so that we could sing along in English. And before Calvin and I left, they sang us a song in parting.  There was such a sense of community and conviction.  It was easy to understand why the children had sung with such fervor.     

Tuesday Tried It - Curly's Bees

A couple of weeks ago when Ande was here we made lip balm from a pinterest recipe.  Ande changed the recipe just a bit (we didn't add honey because it makes the balm separate), but for the most part we followed the instructions as given.  Here is Ande with our finished product: 

I can't remember how many times we doubled the recipe.  I think we 15 x'd it in the end.

We had four or five different flavors.

After we poured them in the containers Ande wrapped them in washi tape.

The thing that made this project especially sweet was that Calvin still had some wax from his dad's bees out in the shop.  (Grandpa Payne died five years ago.) We used that beeswax to make the lip balm.  Ande wrote up a little card explaining:

Grandpa Payne – who was called Curly because of his bald head – kept honey bees for 30 years.  He hummed while he tended his bees and while he ate his toast with honey almost every morning.  He kept the wax for the next year’s frames for the bees to build their honeycomb . . . and because he never wasted anything.  We’ve put the wax to yet another use in making this lip balm just for you.

We added a picture of Grandpa Payne to the front and then Ande sent a little package to family members.  It was a satisfying project, especially because this is Grandpa Payne's birthday month.  

.

Monday Memories - Supper Sleuths

Calvin and I belong to an empty-nester's family home evening group; that means one Monday evening a month we get together and visit, learn/do something, and eat.  I've always thought a murder-mystery-dinner sounded like fun.  Last night when it was our turn to host, Calvin and I figured this was a good group to do it with.

Oh man.  It was great.  It was fun.  It was funny.

The setting of the mystery was the Hickleberry County Fair.

The head auctioneer was shot in the outhouse during the fireworks finale.  Here are the suspects to the murder:

Cali brought Levin to stay with us this week while she goes on a business trip with Ray, and they got here
just in time to be a part of the party.  Levin was the official greeter; he was not a suspect.

Cali was J.L Macabee, the son of a carnie, and a truckdriver just passing through Hickleberry.  Some say he used to be in jail.

(thanks for the picture Maxine)

Calvin was Ida Witherspoon, notorious town gossip and reigning berry pie champ.  She was fairly harmless (but scared the lights out of Levin).

(thanks for the picture Maxine)

Garf was Chester Finkowski, an Elvis impersonator.  (See that bag?  He even brought Elvis dvd's to sell.)  He would not let Elvis die and used his microphone all night long.  Chester may have lost touch with reality, but he never quit loving the dead auctioneer's wife.

Maxine was Madam Mono Soothini, a mysterious gypsy fortune teller.  You can't see the rhinestones she had on her face, nor can you hear her muttering fortunes (I wish you could), she mumbled them all night long.

(thanks for the picture Maxine)

Jeanne was Cindy Sue Sweetly, last year's "Berry-Beauty" queen who lost her tiara to the auctioneer's daughter this year.  She looks sweet, but she's manipulative and conniving and miffed (think Tonya Harding).

Doyle was William B. Lackhart, the mayor.  All he wanted was votes.  The auctioneer was competition.  He also lacks-heart.

(thanks for the picture Maxine)

Carol was Tiffany Ann Canterway, a snobish horsewoman and owner of the town stables.  She was in financial trouble and it was rumored the auctioneer had taken over her business and planned to build a car lot on the property.

Marlo was Travis Buckland, a good ol' boy looking for thrills.  Murder would qualify.  He was not to be trusted.

Brent (not shown) was Gus Lavoni, the janitor.  And he was a funny one.  I would imagine this kind of party was out of Brent's comfort zone, but his comments and the way he played his character were perfect . . . and funny.

Nesha (not shown) played Pat Barnheart, the stable hand to Tiffany Ann.  Her character's job was to keep people laughing.  She played it well.  Nesha is naturally witty, but she brought horse joke after horse joke to tell and the cornier they were the more we laughed.

(thanks for the picture Maxine)
Starting at the left of the table:  Brent, Jeanne, Nesha, Calvin, Garf, Doyle, Cali, Marlo, Carol, and Maxine

To play out all the parts we needed a four course meal so we had mini-corndogs, tater tots, and mozzarella cheese stick kabobs for appetizers, a green salad for the soup/salad course, BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw and chips for the main course, and Ida's berry pie a la mode for dessert.   We also danced the hokey pokey and the patty cake polka.

What a great time we had.  I'm game for another one.

52 Blessings - Popcorn

I popped popcorn tonight like I do most Sunday nights and then Calvin and I sat down to watch an episode of Andy Griffith.  After such big noon meals on Sunday, supper is often popcorn.  But it is more than supper, it's . . . . well . . .let me describe it:

Every town seems to have its own lost gold mine story.  It's like the village security blanket; it seems to bring confidence to know that there is gold somewhere in them thar hills. Where I was born, Squaw Joe and Indian Sarah’s story is still told. The tale has many versions, but here is how it was told to me by my old-timer friends:

Indian Sarah was a good woman who married bad. She was a talented marksman. She hunted deer, then tanned and cured the hides to make beautiful handcrafted leather gloves. These she sold to the local merchants to provide for herself and husband, Joe.

Squaw Joe was a squanderer. He was lazy, slovenly and abusive to Sarah.

When times were tough, Indian Sarah would disappear for a few days. She’d return with a little bag of gold flakes and rocks with golden streaks. Though Joe didn’t work and lived off Sarah’s labors, he constantly wanted more. He also demanded that Sarah show him where she was getting the gold. She refused; even when he became angry, she held her ground. Joe attempted to follow her on the mining journeys, but she seemed to vanish and he could not follow her tracks.

One day, Indian Sarah was found dead from a gunshot wound. Squaw Joe says she was cleaning her gun when it accidentally fired.  But nobody believed him.  Everyone said Squaw Joe shot her in a fit of rage.

She never told anyone the whereabouts of her mine and it’s still out there.  All that gold, buried somewhere in southern Idaho.  People are still looking for it.

I admit there have been times when I have searched high and low for my own gold mine. I looked at our checkbook balance hoping I had miscalculated. I pulled out couch cushions looking for change. I considered selling everything but the kids. But, no gold mine. At least I didn’t think so, until one night many years ago when I was popping popcorn.

Cali walked into the kitchen, saw the popcorn and said, “I don’t like popcorn.”

At first I wondered how she could not like popcorn since she'd been eating it since she was a baby, and besides, what is there not to like about popcorn.

But my answered surprised me.  I said, “You know, I don’t think I really like it either, but when popcorn is popping it means everything is okay, so that’s why I pop it.  Popcorn means it's Sunday night and we're getting ready to watch a movie or go on a drive, or it means it's Friday night and we're getting ready to go to a ballgame (we took our own).  When I'm popping popcorn it means everything is okay."

I finished buttering and salting the popcorn and we went into the living room to join the rest of the family. I sat down on the couch - that same couch where I'd searched for coins, but found only stale popcorn, puzzle pieces, and crayon bits.  Cali announced to the family, “Hey guys, did you know popcorn is mom’s security blanket?”

She was right.  I'd been sitting on my gold mine all those year.  It took some sifting for me to see that being with my family, not the absence of debt, was my gold mine, but since then I've come to realize that I have lots of gold mines:  good health, citizenship in a free country, faith in God, kind neighbors, a warm home with plenty of food - my goldmines are innumerable. It just took some thinking to see them.

When people flocked to California in the Gold Rush of '49 hoping to find their own mines, their chances of striking it rich were as good as mine are today of winning the lottery.  Tonight I'm grateful for popcorn and sitting on the couch with Calvin watching Andy Griffith.  There is gold and then there is fool's gold and popcorn helped me see the difference.    

Life in Our World - Better Than I Expected

1.  A visit from Ande.

duck and rissoto

Calvin and Ande

The week before last Ande came to stay while Joe was away on business.  She had promised to fix Calvin duck and cooked it while she was here.  It was so very good.

I had had duck once or twice growing up (some my brothers had shot that Mom baked), but it was nothing like this.  This was delicate and tender.  The layer of fat on the top is like frosting - smooth and rich.  The risotto was also very good.  They were both so much better than I expected.

2.  A visit to Seattle.

Allison, Cali, and Courtney threw a baby shower for Ande 

Cali (5 months along) and Ande (7 1/2 months along)

Last weekend Calvin and I spent the day in Seattle so that I could go to a baby shower for Ande.  It was such a great day and it was fun to be with the girls as they interacted with their friends.  Everyone was so generous and thoughtful.  It was even better than I ever guessed it would be.

3.  A YW Activity

Friday and Saturday we had a YW activity at our YW president's home.  On Friday the girls played in their 11-man hot tub and then on Saturday we spent the day fixing a meal for and cleaning a woman's home that needed some help.  The girls worked hard and steady and were able to get their 10 hour Good Works value project completed by the end of the day.  It felt very good and beat all my expectations.

4.  A funny video. 

I have watched and re-watched this Afton is Indestructible video this week.  Her last hulk-flex is my favorite.  She's a funny and great one, but what else could I expect, she's got great and funny parents.

Thirteen on the Thirteenth of February Two Thousand Thirteen

Ty and Michelle:  We introduced Afton to the Wednesday fried chicken, mashed potatoes
and gravy tradition.  (Jane speaking here.  One year I found chicken thighs and drumsticks
for 29 cents/lb.  I bought 100 + pounds and fixed it most every Wednesday night that year.
The kids loved that year.)

All Afton wanted of that supper was the blackberry smoothie.

Michelle doing clean up duty.

 Ty:  Me helping Afton walk off the fried chicken in our cool hats.
(She only needs one hand and I think she won't need any soon.)

Joe and Ande:  Sometimes when you go out to lunch (ground pork, pork skin, and peanuts.  Mmm.) . . . 

You get a flat tire . . . 

 . . . and you get a bonus snack!

Grace:  Doing laundry today and reminiscing of the beautiful days on Oahu riding around in a convertible.
(Jane speaking here.  They got home from Hawaii yesterday.)

Abe:   Finalizing moving arrangements, but remembering hiking the Kalalau Trail along the
Na Pali Coast of Kauai

Jane:  My valentines on the fridge.  The one on the right is from my nephew Hydn and the one on the left is from Ande.
(Hydn says, "Give yourself a hug from Hy."  Ande's says:
(Dear Mom and Dad,  I wanted you to know how much I love you.  I'm glad I gotcha as parents
and that you love me and hug me and kiss me.   If you visited www.loveingparents.com
they would talk about . . . guess who?!  You!  As far as heroes go, u r mine.
 I don't tell you often enough how awesome you both are.  Absolutely awesome.
You both make me smile.  Sometimes I say to myself, 'Ande, how r-u so lucky to
have such incredible parents?'  You rock my socks right off.   I hope this valentine
reminds you how much I love you.  I'm really grateful u-r mine.
Love me, your favorite youngest daughter)    

Jane:  My Valentine gift from Calvin.  He doesn't keep surprises very well, and it's really really rather sweet.
I got these the minute he got them.  He ordered my two favorite chocolates (as of this year):
the dark chocolate/salted caramel and caramel/almond/dark chocolate.  He didn't even ask that a
row of his favorites (white chocolate/coconut/toffee/cashew) be included.  What a husband.

Calvin:  Sometimes he puts up his fists and pumps them around and says "kitty-cum-butt-ay,"
kind of like a Tarzan chest-thump.  He thinks it means, "I'm tough," in Spanish,
but when our friends Daniel and Rosa heard him say it they started laughing.
He obviously doesn't say it right or use it in the right context, but it's one of his favorite sayings
so he uses it anyway.  What he's trying to tell you in this picture is that he had just played a
game of basketball in his work boots with the young men and
his team won.  Which was no small feat - most of the young men haven't played
basketball and there was a whole lot of cheating and wrestling going on.  Kitty-cum-butt-ay.

Ray, Cali, Levin:  (Jane speaking here:  Levin learned how to climb out of his
crib today, and it was no fluke.  He did it three times.
Cali secretly videoed it so that they could figure out how he was doing it.
He appears unstoppable.  It so distressed her that he no longer has a
cage that she forgot to send a picture. 

Wednesday - All In a Row

Several months ago a friend came over to borrow my fruit dryer.  I gave her tips and suggestions on how to make good fruit leather and then went to the cupboard to get her a piece to take home.  A couple of months later she wrote and said, "I don't want you to think I was snooping, but I noticed when you opened your cupboards how organized they are.  Where did you get your containers?"

The big ones came from the dollar store.  There are 25 of them holding beans, crackers, cocoa, brown sugar, powdered sugar, coconut, crackers, popcorn, old-fashioned oats, quick oats, steel cut oats, chocolate chips, white and peanut butter chips, spaghetti, macaroni, bran, cracked wheat, cornmeal, cream of wheat, granola, etc.  The little containers on the right were a bridal shower gift from my mom.  They're filled with cornstarch, almonds, pecans, craisins, barley, and pistachios.  

Tuesday Tried It - I was Soapin' and Cerealsly

I got both of these Valentine ideas from Pinterest.  Neither one came with cute tags so I typed the sayings into Word, highlighted the pun, printed them and cut them in a circle.  They are quick, cute, and easy.

Monday Memories - The Banana Field

Abe and Grace have been vacationing in Hawaii.  It's been fun to get a daily-picture text from them.  

When I got this photo from them it reminded me of an experience I had 30+ years ago while I was a student at BYU-Hawaii.  My best friend Anita and I lived on the backside of Hale 6 - one of the dorms.  There were coconut trees out our window, geckos on our windows, and a field of banana trees twenty yards away.  Having grown up far from town, living among people all-day-every-day was a new and overwhelming experience.  That banana field was a very welcome solitary reprieve and I would often go there to be alone.    

One Sunday morning, feeling bewildered and overwhelmed, I took my patriarchal blessing (a personal blessing like the ones Jacob gave to his sons in Genesis) out to the field with me.  There is a sentence in my blessing that had always made me think that I would marry late in life.  However, that morning sitting under a banana tree, it was impressed upon me that the sentence could mean exactly the opposite:  I could marry very young.  

I sat there on the damp ground wondering about that new idea.  I strongly felt that I should change my schedule of upcoming classes and, instead of forging fast and furious in my major, should also include classes that would help me to be a good wife and mother.  I altered my thinking and in the next few semesters included children's literature, teaching special needs and gifted children, home nursing, child development, achieving successful marriage, and other similar classes in my schedule.

One year, to the month, after that experience, I went on my first date with Calvin.  We were married several months later; I was 19 years old and became not only a wife, but a stepmother.  Good thing I had that experience in the banana field.  I needed more than archaeology, animal science, and scuba diving for my next phase in life.

(**wait a minute.  After I posted and went to bed I realized I needed that animal science class.  That was how I met Calvin.) 

Life in Our World - This, That, and the Other

A few weeks ago my friend Melanie apologetically handed me a bag filled with some cute matching bowls and plates. She said, “I was going to get these glued together as cake plates, but I've lost my glue. I’m really sorry. Would you mind finishing your own gift?” We both laughed and I happily brought the plates and bowls home.

Calvin glued them together this week with some of his bow-making glue – I doubt they will ever come apart. I think they are so cute and wanted to take a picture of them, but the only props I had to choose from were two cookies in the cookie jar and a grapefruit in the wire basket. Until I spied Levin. I figured he could sit on a cake stand as well as any cake could.

 

Ray traveled all week so Levin and Cali came and stayed with us. Oh what fun it is to have the kids come home. We had a great week together.  There is a reason Cali hasn't blogged much since Levin was born.  He runs high-knees wherever he goes.  He's always begging you to hide, chase, or go.

***

Back when blogging first began and we were all getting to know each other we wrote 100 Things About Me posts. Thing #97 on my list was to someday say something quote worthy.

That day finally came.

I’m taking a class on grammar. Except it’s not called grammar any more it’s called usage (and that makes me chuckle every time I say it because usage sounds like sewage and that hardly sounds more proper than grammar). My instructor wrote on the top of one of my papers: Your answer made me laugh out loud. It was so appro pro. May I quote you on this?

And what would those quotable words be?

I was trying to say how frustrating it is to not write a sentence that ends in a prepositional phrase, and that by trying to write fancier than I speak I end up looking like the Emperor in his new clothes, bare beamed and buck naked with my ignorance showing.

Out of all the carefully constructed sentences in my assignments, that’s the one the professor chooses to remember.

***

Calvin and I disagree on how to feed the chickens. He thinks they should have free-feed. I think they should eat it all up every day so they don’t waste. If they have free-feed they spill a lot on the ground and don’t bother to scratch and pick it up. Calvin is always getting after me telling me they are hungry and I should feed them more.

The other day when Calvin got home from work he went straight out to do the chores before he came in the house. I had not fed the chickens for the day. Before we sat down to eat supper I asked him, “Do you know how much I love you?”

He looked at me, paused a long time, and obviously practicing self-restraint, said, “Then feed my chickens.”

I laughed and he said, “Ask me again.”

I said, “Calvin, do you know how much I love you?”

He said, enunciating very clearly, “Then feed my hens.”

He has chuckled about it ever since and I've tried harder to get them fed before he gets home.

***

Any this, that, or the other in your week?

Half-Baked

For supper tonight we had tamale pie. I like tamale pie. It’s not a beauty of a dish, but it tastes good. It’s a nice surprise to have something that looks unappetizing taste good.

However, tonight’s tamale pie was half-baked.

That’s how a lot of my projects seemed this last week – half baked. With a little more planning and better execution they would have been beautiful, but instead they have been half-baked.

For example:

A half-baked Thirteen on Thirteen.

Ty, Michelle, Afton, Abe, Grace, Cali, and Ande all faithfully got their pictures in for 13 pictures on the 13 of January of 2013.  But I didn't.

 Ray - My wife likes to scrub them out.
Cali - I hosted bookclub this week and the book I chose to discuss was Macbeth.
I drew this on the chalkboard above our mantel.

Afton - playing instead of sleeping in my crib

Michelle -  (Ty wrote:  Praying at the end of the day at 8!  She has to go to bed early for Insanity tomorrow.
I took the picture since we didn't have anything else for her and it was the end of the day.)

Ty - A picture I used during a very long text conversation between all of the Payne kids and spouses this afternoon.

Ande - Today all of us kids have been on a texting chain spree.
Our topics have been widely ranged (as has our participation...
we are still waiting for Cali and Ray to join in).
Hope everyone has unlimited texting!

Abe - Best part of my Sunday was the text messages
I had going on during Elders Quorum with Grace, Cali, Ray, Ty, Michelle,
Ande, and Joe (although I was disappointed by the lack of participation
on the part of Cali and Ray).

Grace - enjoying her favorite Christmas present

A half-baked attempt to be helpful: 

I offered some eggs to a friend and said I’d take them to her at church on Sunday. She said she didn’t think she’d be there, but I took them just in case.

Sunday morning Calvin and I walked across the church parking lot with a family and I offered them the eggs I’d brought. They acted so excited I thought they had maybe misunderstood me and thought I was offering something better than eggs.

I walked in the chapel and there was the friend. She’d come to church so that she could pick up the eggs.

I sat there on the pew for an hour hoping one or the other would forget about eggs.

But they didn’t. They both came up after the meeting waiting for eggs. Calvin gave them to the family while I told the other friend that I had forgotten to bring the cookies that went with the eggs (true, I had planned to bring her cookies but didn’t). I told her I’d come back to town later in the day with the eggs and cookies.

When we got home after church I went out to the chicken coop and gathered more eggs (thank heavens the chickens know to completely follow through). I put the eggs in a bucket and the cookies on a tray. The tray looked half-empty. I had eaten too many cookies after church and now didn’t have enough for a good sharing. I made a batch of no-bakes to add to them, and then just for good measure I grabbed some leftover chili to add to the cookies and eggs as I walked out the door.

Argh. It was attempt after attempt to cover over-zealousness and made everything inconvenient for everybody.  And then I wondered why Calvin got cranky as the day wore on.

A half-baked attempt to start a great goal:

I want to keep a little different journal this year. Perhaps it is because I am writing too many essays. Perhaps it is because I write a too-long family letter each week. Perhaps it’s because I blog. Perhaps it is because I have started to keep an on-line scripture journal. All I know is I am sick, sick, sick of so many words with my thoughts behind them. I decided to keep a simple journal this year entitled “See.”  My goal is to be more aware of the little miracles in life, take a picture of them, and then write ONE LINE as the entry - you know, let the pictures do the talking.

I got the photo book, the page protectors, and the paper, but here it is January 15th with nary a page completed. And already I want to bend the rule and include this.  But there's no picture:

Last Wednesday night I stopped at Wal-Mart for some things for Young Women’s. I stood in the check-out line behind a happy, disheveled man. I felt a distinct, “Pay for his groceries.”

I argued, “I think he has enough money. Just because his clothes are way too big and he is kind of messy doesn’t mean he doesn’t have enough money.”

I felt it again, “Pay for his groceries.”

I was still arguing if what I had felt was legitimate when the cashier showed him his total. He was reaching in his pockets and patting his coat trying to find his wallet, money, a card – anything. Finally he told the cashier he would have to go back out to the parking lot to his truck. Again I felt, “Pay for his groceries." But I only had $40 and I wasn’t sure that would cover his total let alone his and mine.

He left and I stepped up to the register. His total was still up: $30.28. I looked at my pile of groceries and quickly added them up. It was going to be about $9.00. There was a chance I was going to have enough for both of us.

I did.

While the man was gone, I paid the cashier for his groceries and mine. I hoped to leave before he got back, but he came in just as the transaction was ending. He was surprised and looked at me and smiled. He had very kind eyes and said, “Thank you. Thank you very much.” I felt good all the way through.  I said, "You are so welcome. I hope you have had a good day.”

As I walked to the car I wondered why that man needed his groceries purchased for him. Was the Lord answering a prayer of his? Was he feeling all alone and needed to feel like someone cared? Was he on his last $40? Was I full of baloney?

I don’t have any idea why I felt so strongly that I should pay for his groceries.  It was more than a now-that-would-be-a-nice-thing-to-do idea. What I do know is that as I walked out of the grocery store the words from Hebrews 13:2 came to my mind: “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares."  I thought I was doing him the big favor - that was a half-baked thought if I've ever had one.

Back to the half-baked tamale pie:

I put the tamale pie back in the oven after supper.  (I optimistically told Calvin the goo must be melted cheese when we spooned into it.)  It's all cooked now and ready for left-overs tomorrow.  

And that is what would probably be best to do with my other good intentions:  bake them again tomorrow.  

Map

Tuesday Tried It - The Name Game

http://www.theredheadedhostess.com/home-and-family/fun-home-and-family/fun-family-game-1/

I pinned this last night and used it in class today.  It was great.  

In Hebrews 11,  Paul teaches about faith.  He recounts faithful examples of many Old Testament characters to do so.  I used the names of those people Paul refers to as well as students' names, and a few fun names that were suggested in the instructions (click on link for instructions).  I have nearly 30 students, too large for a circle, so we alternated seats and the students came to the front of the room to participate.  We followed the instructions as written, but after round 2 spent some time studying before coming back to play the final round.  It was really fun.  And . . . the teams tied!  It was time to go (they played down to the last second) so we'll have a tie-breaker first thing tomorrow.

I'll definitely use this game again as it easily involves the whole class and can be an effective method for teaching content as well.