Anticipation

baby pomegranates

baby corn

baby zukes

baby watermelon

baby tomatoes

baby lemon

It's all so hopeful right now. But soon, the bugs will come and have a feast. Then the rain will rain too hard and be too much. Then the sun will come and burn up leaves with its heat. And let's not forget the birds. They love tomatoes and lemons. I wonder if they like pomegranates. But, for now, just for today, I can dream that we will have food right out of the garden.

Delicious, wholesome, nutritious, fresh. It could happen.

Cakes and Badges (and bragging)

WARNING: This post contains stuff about Scouts. And there's some bragging, too.

We went to a Court of Honor last night. (Bragging coming up) My 13 year-old earned 11 Merit Badges in 3 months. He also earned the "Overachiever of the Year" award. Looks like I'm going to be busy getting them all on his sash. I still hadn't sewn on the two he earned at the last Court of Honor. He's busy working on his Eagle and hopes to have that done before he turns 14. Whose kid is this anyway? (more bragging coming up) Did I also mention that he plays the piano, trumpet, football, track, and has all AP classes? (OK, that was a little much, but sometimes it feels good to brag. I'm proud of him!)

In Cub Scouts we had our cake auction a few weeks ago. This is to earn money for Day Camp. Look at this cake pan. What other state has a cake pan shaped like them? Big Texas pride down here.

We made a Triple Chocolate Cake and since I'm not a big fan of red and blue-colored frosting, we went with homemade buttercream frosting. Nothing better. :) We used regular buttercream for the white parts, added a few tablespoons of cocoa for the red parts, and added a few more tablespoons of cocoa for the blue parts. I was going to put some dark cocoa in, but I had run out, which is kind of unheard of around here. B even helped decorate it a little bit.

We named it "Deep in the Heart of Chocolate." (More bragging coming up here) It brought in the most money.

K, I'll be quiet now. I'm done bragging for a while.

Cousins at Easter

Easter Weekend

6 people + 7 people = lots of people.

Lots of shoes.

Lots of cups.

Lots of Easter.

Little kids first. Wait for it.

Yay! Found one!

Hhmmmm....Where are the rest?

Sleeping people bookends.

So fun to be with family.

Cousins that have grown inches in the last three years.

After 10 minutes of being together, it's like you never left.

So, when do we do this again?

Remember me . . . .

This last month has been a busy one, as usual. Besides the busyness of spring break, school, work, kids, family, youth conference, facebook, car repairs, cooking dinner, and laundry, we have known 4 people who have passed away this last month.

Two of my hubby's aunts, who were sisters, died just a week apart. They both were favorite aunts and will be greatly missed. We were not able to attend their funerals because of distance.

And then soon after, two men in our ward (church congregation) passed away on the same day. One was older and his passing was expected and the other was an unexpected heart attack. My heart goes out to both of their families. Although they are celebrating the lives their fathers/spouses lived, they are also greatly mourning their passing.

My hubby, as bishop of our ward, conducted both funerals which were held on the same day. What a day that was. I wonder how many people who attend weddings or funerals really think about the pressure the person in charge has. Of course, my hubby handled both events beautifully, but what an insight to be behind the scenes and to feel his burden.

What has really been on my mind through all of this is the question--How will I be remembered? Both of the men who passed had not much say in what memories and eulogies would be portrayed. Although the one death was expected and the funeral may have been written out somewhat before he died, the people giving the talks can basically say what they want to. The memories are theirs. The family and friends they left behind give their perspectives of the one who has passed. The one who has passed has no more say about it.

I'm somewhat of a control freak. I've thought about writing my own funeral, obituary, talks, who sings and what they sing, etc. After pondering on that for a while I have realized that that is a bit over the top. What I need to focus on is living my life in such a way that those around me will be touched by the good things I do and remember that. That's actually kind of a bit controlling, too, although more subtle, and maybe good.

I think that when someone passes, those that are left behind are blessed with good remembrances. Our thoughts are focused on the good things that person did during their life. My father, who died over 30 years ago, was a saint. There's nothing he did wrong, no tainted memories. Even the stories about when he was a boy and would get into trouble and need a spanking were passed onto us with fondness. (I guess that thoery doesn't always ring true, though. Hitler will not be remembered for anything good and I had a certain step-father who falls into that same category.)

So, back to the question--How will I be remembered? It's up to me. How will I live my life? It's up to me. And after I'm gone, I hope that those whose lives I've touched will remember me with fondness.

What Works For Me

This is my way of organizing recipes. I thought I'd throw it out there so if someone wants to adapt it to their kitchen, they can. If you've got improvements, please let me know!

It's taken me at least 15 years to develop this system. I finally had just gotten fed up with stray recipes littering up my kitchen and pantry and so came up with this way that works for me.

First, I bought this accordian file box.

This recipe file is for all of the recipes that I've gathered that are still loose. These recipes are in that in between state of finding a copy and becoming a favorite. They look good either in the newspaper or RS Newsletter but I haven't tried them yet. They are all on different-sized scraps of paper.

I put all of these recipes in piles by category and then labeled the tabs in the file box accordingly. Just to give you an idea of what they're labeled--they are: Main Dishes, Mexican, Breads and Breakfasts, Smoothies, Fondue, Cookies, Cakes, Pies and Desserts, Soups, Salads, Veges and Dips, and Food Storage. That's just how it ended up based on my sorting through all of the loose recipes that I have.

The file box is full and messy, but all of the recipes in it are where they're supposed to be.

Now, if the recipe gets tried and is a keeper, it gets promoted from the file box and typed into the computer and I put a ".recipe" after the name of the dish when I save it. Even if the recipe is from a book, if it's a favorite that I will make again, I type it in. All of the favorites that I like to make and use often are now in the computer. When BJ left for college, I did a search to bring up all files with recipe in the name and made a CD for her. I plan on doing this for all of the kids.

This is also handy for when someone wants a copy of a recipe. I can find it and print it or email it very quickly.

Another thing I did was print up all of these favorites and put them in plastic sheet covers in this binder.
I made my own section dividers with colored paper.

Each recipe is printed nice and big and if it gets ingredients spilled on it I can wipe it clean.

It did take some time to type them all in initially, but it's worth it to have them so handy now. I think it took 3 or 4 days just to type in all of the cookie recipes (2-3 hours each day) but now they're easy to find and share. And now I'm only typing in one or two recipes a month. Easy peasy.

Also, if a friend emails me a recipe or posts one on their blog, I can just copy it and save it to a word document with .recipe after the name. I print up a copy and either stick it in the book if I like it or in the accordian file if I'll try it later.

Now I know why it took me 15 years to come up with this--technology had to catch up.

A Little Crazy . . . about quilts . . .

I really must be crazy to think that I can do this!

I've started blog #2!

It's all about quilting--check it out for how-to's, inspiration, whatever!

I know I don't keep this blog updated as much as I should, but when I started thinking about new postings about quilts, my mind overflowed!

I know maintenance will take a little time, but it's cheaper than a puppy.

Enjoy!

http://thequiltingbuzz.blogspot.com/

(Yes, the sea turtle's a quilt. No, it's not mine.)

Mistakes and Stone Throwing

"If you don't learn from your mistakes, there's no sense making them." --Anonymous

Last week I took the car in for a lube job. Everyone that knows me knows that the main reason I do this is so they can check the air pressure in the tires, change the wipers, and vacuum out the inside. Those are tasks I would gladly pay someone else to do. The actual oil change is the extra.

After I paid and drove on my merry way, I noticed the car smelled a little oily. Hhmmm, maybe they dripped a bit on the engine. Not a big deal. Over the next few days, the smell still lingered and became so strong that we'd have to roll down the windows. Then the engine started sounding really low and a bit thumpy. Something was wrong. We pulled over and popped the hood. The oil cap had not been tightened and over the week had been shaken off and there was oil spurting all over the engine! Eewww! Stinky big mess! We put the cap back on, wiped up a little bit and got back on the road.

After I dropped off everyone that needed to be to school, work, etc., I went straight back to the lube place. I didn't even go home and put on makeup first. I was starting to fume a bit (just like the car). And then I was a little surprised at how apologetic and nice everyone was there. They thanked me for coming back in. They washed the entire engine. They washed all the windows, inside and out. They put on a new wiper blade because it had gotten oil on it. The wiped down the dashboard. They made sure the oil level was where it was supposed to be. They fixed their mistake. I don't know what I expected them to do but I had thought that I would have to stand firm and demand the engine be cleaned and refuse to pay and maybe not ever go back there again. I was very impressed with how they made it right.

I compared it to a time when, as a teenager, I went to get my brakes fixed. As I drove out of the parking lot, the brakes that had just been fixed, did nothing when I stepped on them. I used the emergency brake to stop myself before getting into traffic. I went back into the shop and told them that the brakes that they had just fixed didn't work at all now. They just kind of brushed it off and said they must have forgotten to put brake fluid in. They told me to drive it back up and they would fix it. I told them to drive it up! I wasn't going to drive a car without brakes! If I ran into their shop or another car, I did not want to be held responsible. Then they acted like it was my fault that the car didn't have brake fluid in it. What? It could have gotten very ugly so I stopped talking except to make sure it was done right before I left again. As you can guess, I never went there again and talked bad about them every chance I got.

B-man brought home a book from the library recently that is about inventions that were made because of mistakes. Stainless steel, liquid paper, celluloid, rayon, and dry cleaning, to name a few. A mistake was made, the person figured out how that new product could be used and now we all have microwaves in our kitchen. Amazing.

It's kind of like the making lemonade out of lemons saying. What do we do when something goes wrong? How often do we take offense when a mistake is made? Do we try to right our own wrongs? Do we own up? Do we give others the chance to right their wrongs? Do we throw the first stone?

Mistakes are a part of life and we all make them and, yes, some are bigger than others, in fact, some are doosies! The thing that matters is our response to a mistake--whether our own or someone else's. I suggest we clean the engine and replace the wiper blade and clean the windshield inside and out. Make it right.