Sunday School teacher

(Almost) every Sunday for the last four years I have taught the YSA Sunday school class. Sometimes the weeks get really busy & I don’t prepare my lesson as early in the week as I should. Except this week. I made a commitment on Sunday to prepare in advance – especially since I am running a half marathon on Saturday & my brain will be mush. The lesson is about the Good Shepherd. What a great concept – aren’t we each shepherds for each other?

Okay, so why the blog post? Because I just realized tonight that Sunday is STAKE CONFERENCE!!! Hahaha on me. Instead of our normal meetings, we meet together with other Latter-day Saints from the area & listen to our stake president & other leaders speak. NO SUNDAY SCHOOL!! The weeks that I prepare early are the weeks that I don’t have to teach. Silly.

Spring Break, part 1

The kids’ spring breaks did not coordinate this year between the elementary/middle schools & the high school/college. Bummer. Chris and I had a whole week to hang out, go to the gym, and write a college psychology paper. We did make one attempt at having fun – we drove to Charlotte – actually HE drove to Charlotte. (BTW did you know that you can’t cross the state line with your learner’s permit? Now I know.) There was only one truly harrowing moment & otherwise we both survived. We went to IKEA, REI, & Nordstrom’s. I guess it wasn’t that much fun for Chris, but at least he was able to hold on to the steering wheel for a few hours & give me a few more grey hairs. (He is getting better!! He started driver’s training & should be able to take the test soon.)

In addition to our grand adventure, the kids have all spent a lot of time playing basketball. We pondered giving the kids a hoop for Christmas but skiied instead. One day while I was driving home early on a Saturday morning, I noticed that our neighbors had their hoop for sale for $50!!! I said, “We’ll take it!” I had to set time limits because they like to play so much. ( 9a – 9p) The kids also play baseball in the backyard, darts in the basement, & chess & Risk. Chris & Ryan were even able to go paintballing last week with a bunch of kids from church & school.

What’s happening?

Time is passing swiftly by. Mainly so I don’t forget … life is really hectic these days!!

Family

• Ward Temple Day – the temple is 1.5 hours away in Columbia. We all drove down & enjoyed spending time together as a family & with the ward. Scott, Chris, & Ryan went early & did baptisms. Jared & I came down later & stayed outside. I took pictures while Scott did an endowment session.
• We still enjoy our frog Pacman. He likes mice called “hoppers”. They are rather cute, but he is very satisfied after eating one.
• See the compost? We’re trying to enrich our garden. Lesson learned? Hamburger buns have so many preservatives in them that they do not break down, even after a full month! Yuck.
• White chocolate cupcakes – Jenna made cupcakes with a friend for EV’s baptism. These were not your ordinary cupcakes - they were delicious!
• I am totally in love with The Food Nanny Cookbook. Every single solitary recipe that we’ve ever tried has been wonderful. In fact, they are always best in class. I love the idea of sitting down to dinner with our family each night. We are not perfect but we are really trying.
• We hosted the semi-annual General Conference Sunday morning breakfast. I was delighted that Sunday came when I realized that I was never going to make curtains out of the fabric that I bought 7-8 years ago. Instead, I made tablecloths by cutting 6.5’ lengths of fabric! You cannot see the new tablecloths – just the round Christmas cloth. (We like giving every holiday an equal opportunity all year long.)

Scott

• Busy at work with the same project.
• Seemingly refreshed from a longggg weekend skiing in Utah with friends
• Traveling to Clemson a few times a month for church meetings
• Helping at Ryan’s & Jared’s baseball practices
• Preparing for the Nashville Marathon at the end of April
• Getting lost on a long run & ending up near the airport.

Jenna

• Trying to clean off the desk, finish taxes, & drowning in paperwork
• Exercising – step aerobics, spinning, Pilates reformer, running, whatever sounds good that day
• Contemplating the Nashville Half Marathon – swinging quickly towards not doing it because I haven’t gone much further than 6 miles since early March
• Running kids to school x 3, baseball practices & games x 2, piano lessons, Cub Scouts, young mens, etc. (Scott helps A LOT!)
• Jared’s team mom – concessions schedule, snack schedule, etc. Not hard, just one more thing.
• YSA Sunday school , family night, & dances.

Chris

• Homework, homework, homework.
• Multi-page paper for college psychology
• Running – mostly finished up physical therapy (except he didn’t get the t-shirt) – bruised meniscus – hip seems better too
• Taking the ACT – math was easy (lots of TRIG)
• Starting drivers training – doing much better. He drove to CLT with me during spring break. It was quite the adventure!

Ryan

• Baseball, baseball, baseball. He is playing on a travel ball team with his team from last summer.
• Piano lessons  (begrudgingly) – he plays well enough that sometimes Pacman (the frog) sings along.
• BASKETBALL – we bought a hoop from a neighbor & the kids play A LOT!
• Getting taller & filling out. He is getting very muscular.
• Running – not as much since we got the basketball hoop. However, he ran a 50 second 400-meter lap at school. The teachers were so surprised that they asked him if he had cut across the middle of the field. He is speedy.

Jared

• Injured his arm. He was vacuuming inside of Scott’s trunk the other day when he happened to get his arm smashed by the trunk. I was pretty sure it was broken – it just looked misshapen & even felt crooked. We went to the ER, got in a room right away, & watched Toy Story 2 & Happy Feet until we got the results. His arm is still bruised but he is much better.
• Playing baseball for the Rattlers. He likes to play 2nd base & catcher. His coach gives him drills to help him with his hitting.
• Totally into reading the Percy Jackson series. Currently on The Titan’s Curse. They are a little difficult but he really enjoys them.
• Teaching himself how to play chess & playing checkers & chess with his brothers whenever they are nice enough.
• Pinewood Derby – came in 2nd place to his best friend Cody. He was a great sport & was happy that Cody got an award too.
• Cub Scouts – his troop went hiking at a local lake. He has wonderful scout leaders.
• Sweet, happy, smiley – a joyful little boy.

Happy life!

General Conference: Memories and Waffles, Egg Casserole, and Salad

 

Every April and October, our church gathers together, literally (in Salt Lake City) and digitally (around TVs, radios, & the internet) to listen to living prophets deliver messages of counsel & encouragement.

For a 2:33 explanation on why conference matters.

We happily stay home in our jammies & watch BYU-TV. Another tradition associated with general conference is the breakfast. Scott’s family had this tradition for a long time & we have carried it on with our kids and our YSA’s. I did not take a picture every single year, but here are some that I found.

 

    

This weekend we have spent eight to ten hours watching General Conference. It’s been great! Except that when all is said & done, we are tired from sitting so much. I tried Tried TRIED to stay awake yesterday but must be fighting off something. I slept most of Saturday. The boys did better than I and watched almost every single speaker without complaint.

This morning, we invited the YSA’s over for our semi-annual tradition of conference breakfast. We had waffles, strawberries, whip cream (in a can!), turkey bacon, egg casserole, & orange juice. Scott is a speedy waffle maker.

Conference Waffles or Pancakes

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

2 cups buttermilk (or 1-1/2 cups milk plus 1/2 cup Greek yogurt)

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup butter, melted

In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, lightly beat the eggs, the buttermilk, and milk. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients all at once, stirring just to blend. The batter should be slightly lumpy & quite thick. Let the batter rest for 5 to 10 minutes.

Heat a lightly oiled waffle iron or skillet. Cook until golden brown. Slather with butter & (if your name doesn’t rhyme with Tina) drizzle with syrup. (bleck, bleck, bleck!)

 

Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Casserole

18 eggs (3 cartons liquid eggs)

1/4-cup milk (optional)

2 cups mozzarella cheese

1 cup sautéed onions

8-10 slices bacon, crisped & broken into pieces

Put onions, bacon, & cheese in 9x13-inch pan. Pour eggs & milk over. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, & Old Bay Seasoning. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes or until cooked all the way through.

 

After Conference Salad

1 Aidell’s Chicken and Apple Sausage, grilled

1 oz. goat cheese, crumbled (I used Trader Joe’s individual serving)

Salad greens (spring greens plus spinach)

Tomato

Snap peas

Blackberries

Salad dressing: I think this would taste good with honey mustard or raspberry vinaigrette. I just ate it plain.

Everythings Amazing & Nobodys Happy

Fat and Happy – not me!

Today, I went to the pet store & bought two little mice for Pacman to eat. And then as Scott was running out the door to go help a friend, he came back in squealing with delight. (Really SQUEALING!) He had caught a frog on the front porch & threw it in the cage with Pacman. He gobbled up the poor little frog before he had a chance. After two mice, we did not think he would go for more food… but obviously, he is hungry. I expect that he will be lazy for the next little while.

Speaking of fat & happy – we tried a new Italian restaurant that some friends recommended. The stromboli looked great!!

Dough you love me? Flax Seed Whole Wheat Bread

I love homemade bread. I know that it’s not the best thing in the world for me, but I LOVE IT! Back in the day  [when Christopher was a baby!], Costco started carrying a new-fangled gadget called a bread machine. My sweet husband bought me one for my first official Mother’s Day.  Now, seventeen years and hundreds of loaves of bread later, my Hitachi Automatic Home Bakery II is still spinning out great loaves of bread. A few years ago I decided that I wanted prettier & newer & bought a fancy-schmancy one from my favorite kitchen store. After making one loaf of bread (maybe two), I returned it to the store because it could not mix as well as my old-fashioned Hitachi.

 

I have wanted to find a great bread recipe for sandwiches. It seems like they are frequently too crumbly or the holes are too big or… I tried this a few weeks ago (& it’s waiting to come to life in the bread machine right now) and it was perfect. I am worried tonight because it’s rainy & that changes the way the bread works.

 

 

FLAX SEED WHOLE WHEAT BREAD

1-1/2 cups water

3 tablespoons canola oil (olive oil)

1/4 cup honey

2-2/3 cup bread flour

1-1/3 cup whole wheat flour

1/3 cup nonfat milk

2-1/2 tablespoons flax seed

1-1/4 tablespoons gluten

1-1/2 teaspoons salt

2-1/4 teaspoons SAF yeast or 2-3/4 teaspoons bread machine yeast (SAF yeast is better)

 

Place ingredients in the pan according to the manufacturer’s directions.

Now, I will teach you a little of what I’ve learned about using a bread machine. Start the bread machine & open the lid. (It’s okay! It’s not against the rules in the beginning of the dough cycle.) If the dough is not forming a ball, add a few tablespoons of water until everything starts to come together. If it’s too wet, add a few tablespoons of flour. Adjust until the dough looks like dough. I use this step even when I am delaying starting the bread. I let the first spin happen & make sure the dough will be right & then turn the machine off, set the timer & let everything bubble a little. My fingers are crossed for a beautiful loaf of bread at 5:35 a.m.

One of my favorite bread books, European Breads from your Bread Machine, encourages using the bread machine as a place to hold partially processed dough to help develop more complex flavors. The method is similar to making a sourdough starter, letting it sit on the counter, & then proceeding with the loaf of bread.

Part of making homemade bread is getting over the fear of it not working out. The bread machine helps by making the environment just right for rising. I guess I have some funny ingredients in my cupboards, but they seem normal to me.

Good luck & let me know if it works.

 

Update: I made this bread last night & added too much water. The dough looked a little more like cake batter than bread dough. But the taste? Still yummy. Our spread of choice? Nutella, of course.

REEDY to run… I think

I am running a 10K this morning – and guess what?! It’s downhill. Results forthcoming.

Oh Bother!

 

Do you ever just have one million things bouncing around in your head? I look at my to do list from last month & even last year (?!) & it seems that the more things change the more things stay the same. I think it’s helpful to make a list of (all) some of the things. There is nothing on my list that is particularly important but all of these ticky-tacky little things keep me occupied.

In no special order:

• Where are my keys?? I vaguely remember realizing that I was doing something that was going to make me misplace my keys. Luckily, we have a spare set that is usually in the right place when we need them. However, every single day when I go to the gym the snooty front desk clerk sneers at me & asks if I have found my keys yet because she doesn’t want to type my 10-letter name into the computer.
• What color should we paint the family room? And should we paint it or should we pay someone to come & risk life & limb to reach to 20-foot ceilings?
• Where are we going to buy crickets for the frog? Cold weather has made the little creatures scarce. He will eat worms too but it feels like spoon-feeding. I have to hold the worm gently in front of the frog’s face until he decides to eat. When he lunges at the chopsticks, I jump & the worm flies around in the aquarium & burrows into a hole. Nice!

• Which color of granite should we have installed in the kitchen? I had picked out Giallo Napoli (very similar to Santa Cecilia) but when I went to pick out the slabs, the color was different – darker & more golden. Now I am wondering if we should glaze the cabinets so it will be easier to match the granite. (We currently have natural maple-colored cabinets.)
• What is the best way to back up my photos & genealogy & other important documents? I have external hard drives but no regular time for doing it. It would be great if I could just have it automatically compare between two files & update everything.
• How should I rearrange my office so that it can include scrapbooking & our everyday life? What is the best desk? Why does that beautiful window take up 1/3 of the available wall space? Ryan is getting old enough that he wants his own room.
• What do you do with old textbooks? Goodwill will not take them. And they’re getting old.
• Where am I going to find the motivation to lose the remaining 25 pounds? I am pretty habituated to eating clean foods (& I feel pretty rotten when I go astray!) but have gotten lazy on my food journal. I love LoseIt! & when I journal what I eat, the scale moves.
• Will my hamstring ever stop bothering me??? The logical answer is rest – but I rested for 1-1/2 weeks following the half marathon & as soon as I ran today, the pain returned.
• And why can’t I make my desktop computer do what I would like it to? Since the dawn of time (or close to whenever I bought this particular computer) there has been an issue with the graphics card. If I update the computer, everything crashes frequently. I am now 42 updates behind though & iTunes will no longer update our toys. It takes A LONG LONG TIME to download the software to perform the updates & then I get wonky error messages time & time again.  I have typed this entire blog entry, uploaded pictures from the state cross-country meet, & skipped around Facebook a few times trying to wait for  the download to complete. Ugh! I am about ready to pull out the tape measure to see if the progress line is moving or halted.
• Time passes … still waiting on the computer!

Update: I wrote this original post in November. And it is true. The problems are pretty much the same, except I found my keys. I took Ryan to the injury-fracture-after-hours clinic because he hurt his hand or his foot or something. (With six injury-related visits in a year, it’s hard to remember.) As I exited the car, I prepared for a long visit by leaving my purse in the car & taking the laptop case with me. I left the keys (Scott’s copy of my van key) & my cell phone in the car & locked the car. I didn’t realize what had happened until we started walking out of the clinic & I realized I had no keys. The spare set was missing at home & Scott was in a church meeting without his phone turned on. (Lovely…) My visiting teacher’s husband & three children came to the clinic to pick us up & take us home to wait for Scott. When Scott arrived home, he looked in his suit coat pocket (?!) and there were my missing keys & cards for every possible business & the gym.