Holiday Values?

I’ve started a class by Jessica Sprague called Holidays In Hand and I would like to make a book for my boys about their childhood holidays.

What are our holiday values?  For me at Thanksgiving it was to teach our children to be thankful for their many blessings and the forbearers who came to this country so that they and their descendants could have freedoms that they didn’t have elsewhere.  I wanted them to understand how blessed they were to live in a country where they could worship openly without the threat of persecution or tyranny.

At Christmas I wanted our family to celebrate the birth of our Savior and the love that He and our Heavenly Father have for each and every one of us.  To cherish the Gospel that was restored to this earth.  To treasure the family that they were born into and to be thankful for the way that the Gospel of Jesus Christ had molded their lives.  For many of us in the United States we have become a huge melting pot of culture and environment.  We don’t keep many of the cultural traditions of our forbearers.  Those of us whose families left other countries generations ago can look on a pedigree chart and see that we came from a certain country but we don’t know a lot about the people or their culture.  Some of us can even look in the mirror and see physical traits that we still have such as skin color, hair color, face shape or stature.  In our family our culture has been our religion, where we live, our families and even our careers. 

As we celebrated Christmas we also got caught up in the worlds view of Christmas.  Santa, Reindeer, presents, candy, etc.  Sometimes it was hard to remember the true meaning of Christmas with the lights glowing on the tree and presents underneath.  Sadly at the holiday time there are so many who don’t have enough to eat or a safe warm place to sleep.  As we contribute to help them we also experience the spirit of giving without thinking of what we will receive.  What we do receive though is that warm glow inside knowing that we have helped to lift another's burden and to be thankful for our own circumstances. 

As I watch my grandchildren, I get to experience the magic and peace of Christmas through their eyes.  OK, so Christmas morning isn’t so peaceful but the season also has times were we read the Christmas story out of Luke, sing carols out in the cold, listen to wonderful stories and music of faith and praise.  Help someone in need.  Those are the times we experience a little of the true meaning of the season.

Winter Comforts

We had several days of rain and some snow this week.  I know that we didn’t have as much snow as many of our family but it still makes one want to prepare to hibernate for the winter.  To me this brings around thoughts of comfort food (as if I didn’t have enough fat to last the winter!).  Yesterday I made a hot hamburger, vegetable and barley soup and some wheat bread in our new bread machine.  YUM!  It was so good and made us all so happy.

For the last week I’ve had some bananas going black on the cupboard and I kept thinking that I needed to make banana bread.  Since I haven’t been feeling good my cooking involves lots of small spurts of activity.  When I made my soup I put the hamburger, onions and garlic in to cook.  Laid down for awhile, with the timer on.  Next cut up some veggies, laid down.  Added the broth and veggies, laid down, etc.

Finally today I got around to the bananas.  My banana bread has always been good but a few years ago I found this recipe by Tyler Florence for Banana Bread with Pecans.   This recipe is divine! 

If you love banana bread you definitely need to try it.  If you don’t like nuts in your fruit bread, well….you are on your own and I feel so sad that you are missing out. 

This recipe has you take two bananas and lightly mash them with a fork and keep them on the side for a while.  Then when the bread is all mixed in you fold these bananas and the pecans in.  When you taste the bread the texture is so moist and there are very small pockets of banana in the bread.  

Bob was so funny because he kept asking if the bread was done.  “Bob, I’ll let you know when the bread is done,”  Bob, “I think we should take it out now,”  Me (having flashbacks of raising young boys), “It’s OK, Bob you can have all you want when it is done.” 

I should be careful what I say because when the bread came out and the smell had permeated the entire house.  

Bob had some very substantial slices of bread.  Then he kept saying that we should have made more.  I had doubled the recipe!  It was so funny to listen to him but very satisfying to see him so happy.  Ahhh, small pleasures.  Winter can come now because we have our own coping skill to deal with the cold dark days.

 Note to self:  Buy more bananas!

Note to Ben:  Sorry but you live too far away.  I know how much you love Banana Bread but next time you come visit I’ll make some for you…you just have to share with Bob. 

Question:  What do you do to cope with the dark cold days of winter?  You know those days that are dreary and dark and not good for going out and playing in the snow.

Smell-a-vision & Taste-a-vision?

Today while Bob was working on my laptop I turned on the TV and watched Next Iron Chef on the Food Network.    For those of you who don’t know what it is, see below in Today’s Favorites.  Bob had mentioned that he wouldn’t want to eat a lot of the things the chefs make in the challenges.  Not me!  I told Bob that I wanted smell-a-vision and taste-a-vision so that I could taste almost all of the creations. 

Since Bob is our computer guru, I asked him to see what he could do about making my requests happen.  He just laughed at me.  You see the problem is that I have become so spoiled, with Bob being able to fix or create whatever we need with technology, that I just assume he can do anything. 

I have to admit that wanting to taste many of  the creations the contestant Chefs cook is quite adventurous.  Some of the ingredients that they give the Chef’s to cook with I have never heard of or are way out of my comfort zone.  This week they are down to the final three contestants.  Ten years ago I would have thought that I would love to watch Food Network but here I am and I’m enjoying it.

 

TODAY’S FAVORITES: 

Next Iron Chef on Food Network

World-class chefs battle for the supreme culinary title, Iron Chef.

          

Host Alton Brown (Also created Good Eats)       Contestants of Next Iron Chef

The Chairman Mark Dacascos (Nephew of the Chairman on Iron Chef Japan)  Mark is also currently on Dancing With the Stars.  His facial expressions are so entertaining!

Test of Live Writer…

For some reason Windows Live Writer isn’t working for me so Bob and I are trying to make it work!

Build Yourself a Foundation On Christ

Stake Conference is today and the theme is “Build Yourself a Foundation On Christ.”  I wasn’t able to go but Bob said that it was very good.  It was a long conference, about 2 1/2 hours.  I really miss going to Church but by the time I shower and get there I’m exhausted and very shaky.  Also my immune system isn’t working too well and there are a lot of virus’s going around right now.   My Mom brings home plenty of germs from work.  By working with the public she is exposed to a lot.  They keep antibacterial sanitizer on the counters and use it frequently but money is covered in germs.  Also people just don’t stay home when they are sick so it just keeps spreading. 

TODAY’S FAVORITES:

Podcasts of General Conference, the Ensign and much more.  We can even download MP3’s of the scriptures.  I love that they are so available to everyone.  I can listen while scrapbooking, cooking or driving.  There are several talks that I listen to several times because I don’t always catch everything the first time.  IPOD even has General Conference and the Ensign podcasts.

I used to feel a bit dim because I needed to rehear things several times but then I heard a lesson about Joseph Smith and some of the visions he had.  Each vision was usually repeated throughout the night.  It finally hit me, even the Prophet needed repetition.  As I read through the scriptures there are many accounts of important lessons being repeated.  I also realized that at different times in my life I was more prepared to hear and learn things that I wouldn’t have noticed before.

Bob

Today Bob is at the Stake Center helping to prepare for the satellite feed for Stake Conference this weekend.  Bob loves his calling and I’m so glad that the people in this area appreciate his talents.  Sometimes he is gone a lot but I can’t complain because his willingness to help others is one of the reasons that I fell in love with him.

TODAY’S FAVORITES: 

Zojirushi BBCCX20 Home Bakery Supreme Bread Machine

I picked up this bread machine last week when I dropped Stefan off at the Airport to go to Air Force Boot Camp.  Bob and I want to use our wheat and since I don’t often feel up to kneading and baking four loaves at a time I tried to get a decent loaf out of the bread machine that we have but it just wasn’t working well.  

Jerri Ann had just purchased this machine and when I was staying with her we really enjoyed the whole wheat bread.  When I first tried this new machine it didn’t mix the bread very well.  I finally discovered that the right paddle wasn’t turning so I gave it a bit of a nudge and now it seems to be working.  I baked three very bad loaves before I figured this out.  We have had one good load and I hope that it continues to work and that we don’t have to send it back.

Bob has been eating a slice every day with some local honey on it and he seems to really enjoy it.  That makes it worth it.  It takes me minutes to add the ingredients and then about 3 1/2 hours before the house smells divine.  I really like that this makes a 2 lb. loaf and has two paddles.  The load is baked horizontally instead of vertically like the other machines.  

Update

I had another appointment with the Pulmonologist and it seems that the current antibiotic is helping a little but the infection seems to be hanging on.  He extended it for another week.  I’ve been on four antibiotics in the last three months and am a bit worried although I want the infection gone.  My voice is not as raspy and my cough isn’t as tight.  I’m still very shaky and have a hard time getting a deep breath. 

If I didn’t have my laptop and the internet I would be going bonkers.  I can’t stand just laying around and watching TV.  At least now I can work on some Internet classes and Digital Scrapbooks.

Today’s Favorites:

Brussels Sprouts.  I know this sounds weird but lately I’ve craved them and steam a bowl of them almost every day.  They must have something in them that my body needs. 

A few facts from Wikipedia:  Brussels sprouts are among the same family that includes cabbage, collard greens, broccoli, kale, and kohlrabi: they are cruciferous. They contain good amounts of vitamin A, vitamin C, folic acid and dietary fibre. Moreover, they are believed to protect against colon cancer, due to their containing sinigrin^{[citation needed]}. Although they contain compounds such as goitrin that can act as goitrogens and interfere with thyroid hormone production, realistic amounts in the diet do not seem to have any effect on the function of the thyroid gland in humans

Lost Momentum & Reflections

I haven't updated this blog since April and I just lost momentum for all journaling, documenting, crafting, etc. I think that I have just been on emotional overload. With the premature birth of our sweet twin grandchildren in the same hospital where I stayed 30 years ago (while in labor for four months with my son Nathan), so many memories, emotions and questions have plagued me. I have felt emotionally raw and exposed. Not only did we deal with the fear and physical day to day events but I have had some other things come at me that I just didn't think I would ever have to deal with again.

Taking some time out to answer some questions and reevaluate my life has been a long journey. I am still basically the same person just a bit singed from passing through the refiners fire. We all know that the real tests in life are unexpected and never what we think we need but as long as we come through it we grow in strength. For months now I haven't really cared what else was happening around the world. Of course I always care about those I love but due to illness I haven't been able to keep up with them as usual (Damage to lungs from forest fires). This blog would have been a good way to let them know how I've been but the desire just wasn't there.

I am starting to wake up and peek out at the world again so I need to discipline myself to do the things that really matter to me. Communication has always been very important to me, not that I have always been very good at it but I do try. Oh well, we live and learn. So here I go restarting this blog again.

We have had an eventful year since April and as I go through my photos I will go back and highlight a few things for my own record and for those interested enough to peek in on us from time to time. For now, I'm just going to take it day to day and count my many blessings. If this year has taught me anything it is that I am truly blessed.