Catching up

I put everything on hold on this blog while I sewed, sewed, sewed. So - get ready for the scoop on the last couple of weeks!

Pics

So much to write, so little time (until this weekend, at least). So, hoping that a picture is really worth 1000 words, here is what we've been up to:


The girls in their new Christmas skirts. I sewed 4 on Friday, 2 on Saturday and 1 early Sunday morning before church!


Taiza and her little snowman



After shoveling

Preparedness Challenge, Dec 17

I've been so busy sewing and politicking that I just haven't been filling these out. Shame, shame, shame on me!! So – my answers apply to the last month and not just the last week. New Year's goal: 52 Preparedness Challenge posts . . . .

1. Garden work. We (meaning the kids while I “supervised” aka gave them marching orders) stripped the garden bare of all plant stuff. We got bags and bags of leaves from fellow free-cyclers who so kindly raked and bagged them for us. We put them on the garden and I realized once again how big it really is, and yet too small for us . . . go figure. We'll rent a shredder (sometime) and run all the plant leftovers through it and put it all back on the garden. It's still a sadness and annoyance to me that after our house fire both our (very expensive) tiller and (moderately expensive) shredder were stolen. . . .
Oh, and we are already getting lots of garden catalogs - fun!

2. Preserve something. Pumpkin, with many more to go, but they'll have to wait until after Christmas.

3. Work on food storage. Hit lots of sales. :) We had a new grocery super-store open up near us. We got over 100 boxes of cereal for $1/box – probably more like 200 boxes. Got a year's supply of cream cheese Thanksgiving week, a year's supply of cranberry sauce and a ton of instant potatoes and Hamburger Helper. Let me explain the last two. :) Starfish Daddy needs lunches and the boxes of potatoes were on sale for $1. Each one is good for 2 lunches. In addition, the boxes of garlic mashed potatoes had coupons on them for free Hamburger Helper if you bought three boxes of any variety of mashed potatoes. We ended up with about 100 boxes of potatoes and 30 boxes of Hamburger Helper. I don't like the stuff, but it's great for the kids to fix when we head out on a date. :)

4. Other preparedness tasks. I'm busy making sure everyone has new, warm, flannel jammies for winter.

5. Try a new recipe or a new variation. Several different ones.

6. Financial preparedness. Sigh. Not doing great in this dept.

7. Work on local food systems. No.

8: Learn something new. I've re-learned I can do OK on 5-6 hours of sleep a night, but 3 to 4 is killing me.

9: Serve someone: My family, what with sewing and other Christmas preparations.

Stock up on vanilla!

Madagascar, which supplies a good amount of our "real" vanilla has been hit hard by an incurable vanilla fungus. About 80% of their crop has been affected. Stock up now. You have been warned :)
The story is here, if you want to read about it in a more "official" place than my blog.

PJ update

I don't have much time, between a cranky baby and the sewing that needs to be done, but I thought I'd give a quick update on what I got done yesterday. I couldn't get to cutting out pj's until about 2 or so. In 3+ hours, I cut out 6 jammie tops, 7 bottoms and 2 nightgowns. In the next couple of hours, I sewed straight seams and just kept the line going. I ended up with a string of seamed material 22 yards long. I thought I'd get to do a bunch today but the baby had other plans for me - she was up at 1 and no, I have not gone back to bed. I did finish one top and pair of pants between 3 and 5 am. Sigh. Good thing I am mostly OK to work in spurts!

Ours forever

Feeling like a total dweeb because I forgot to blog about Angel's sealing! What a dork I am.

So, the evening of November 11, we all headed over to the Mt Timpanogos temple. We now have 2 endowed children (cool) who were able to stay and help in the waiting room with the other kids while we did the necessary paperwork and went upstairs. While we waited in the sealing room, the sealer told us he had 14 children and thought he had a big family. He does! He also told us they have 100 grandchildren - that's about how many I thought we'd have - maybe it will be more (note to self: Never start any grandkid traditions I can't do for 100+ people.)

So, they brought the kids in and no one did anything embarrassing (LOL). My mom was able to hold Angel's hand on ours and not only did she not fuss a bit, she looked heavenward and grinned. It was that that brought me to tears - the veil is so thin for her. She is SO like Lizzie that way - we know they were and are watching angels when they do that.

After the sealing, we went outside for pictures, up close to the temple since it was dark and cold. I sure love my kids. I am so glad that we CAN be together forever.

Remembering Lizzie

We just passed the third anniversary of Lizzie's death. It was almost everything I could have hoped for. The only thing I would have wanted different was for her to die in my arms. Instead she chose (and I'm sure she really did) to go when she was on the couch by herself, after a week of being on the doorstep - and with me with her almost every second. It was one of the most spiritual weeks of my life. We were absolutely engulfed by the Spirit.
Anyway, I had time to make a lovely winter princess dress - white, sparkly and trimmed in fur. Starfish Daddy made her casket - it was beautiful. It was lined in white satin, with "Families Are Forever" machine-embroidered on the lid and with all the kids handprints embroidered in red, all the way around the inside. We wanted to send her off surrounded by loving hands.
Of course, I dressed her and we curled her hair ourselves. I even attended a birth - a long, hard VBAC birth - the week between her death and her funeral. Amazing how God works that out . . .
We had her viewing in our home. She had sparkles in her hair and red rose petals sprinkled over her. We had Christmas lights outside and decorations inside and were glad to welcome friends and family into our home.
After her funeral, instead of leaving right away, we had a "receiving line", to greet people who did not have a chance to say hello before the funeral. We went to the cemetery and stayed to watch her be buried. We blew almost-frozen bubbles - the high that day was about 20 degrees.
We miss her, but we do know she's happy. This coming week - on my birthday - I will go to the temple and do all of her ordinance work for her. We did not know it could be done - dh found out about a month ago. I am excited for her and nervous for me - it makes me emotional just thinking about it.

Three years goes by so fast . . .

Puttering

Yup - that's me. I'm just puttering when I should be working steadily! (Actually, I do keep working - it's just that I don't keep working on one project for very long before I'm off to something else. Here is some of what I've been puttering around on over the last couple of weeks:
*most Christmas shopping is done - woohoo!
*some wrapping is done
*the trees are up and decorated
*the house is decorated. It looks nice too, if I do say so myself
*the lights are up outside
*the yard is clean and ready for snow - waiting . . . waiting . . . still waiting
*I have 2 sets of jammies sewn
*worked on my BYU class and got an A on my first assignment
*made homemade French onion soup - the onions cooked for 4 hours!
*cooked a variety of other meals
*cooked 3 turkeys (2 on Thanksgiving, one the Sunday after)
*gone to court for B
*delivered a baby, with one more due any day
*thought about making homemade caramels - have all the ingredients but so far not the time
*held a cranky baby - repeat multiple times each day (that's how I'm blogging right now - she's on my lap)
*3 midwife meetings and a political meeting
*lots of politically-related emails. :)
*wondered how long USCIS can go without answering us - it's been over 100 days since I filed our response and a whopping 7 months since our initial application
*business paperwork
*fixed our huge love-sac thing by sewing the zipper closed (if you have kids, you'll know why this is necessary)
*watched Twilight
*re-watched all 5 Harry Potter movies while sewing
*taught Kadee how to sew pillow cases
*watched her sew 20 of them!
*sent off all requisite visa paperwork for the missionary-to-be
*wondered if a trip to Africa will happen in 2009
*laundry (but I suppose that's a given)
*re-braided the princess' hair
*started re-reading the Twilight series

OK - the baby's off my lap - time to get back to work!

Tips for Holiday Eating

1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact,if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving chocolate balls.

2. Drink as much eggnog as you can - And quickly. It's rare. You cannot find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an eggnog-aholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it! Have one for me . Have two! It's later than you think. It's Christmas!

3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.

4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.

5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?

6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.

7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.

8. Same for pies. Apple, Pumpkin, Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?

9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards!

10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Re-read tips: Start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner. Remember this motto to live by:

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO!! What a ride!"

Interesting tidbit re: Embassy in Zambia

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/219158/122764414096.htm

JFON: A FAMILY REUNITED

*Mali Mwando and her adopted son, refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo, were seeking asylum in the US. Mwando was separated from her husband for eight long years. Her husband, a Justice for Our Neighbors' (JFON) client, helped file petitions on his families' behalf.

The Vice Consul at the US Embassy in Zambia repeatedly rejected the family's asylee petitions claiming that Mwando had engaged in human trafficking and suspected that her son's adoption certificate and even her marriage certificate were not authentic. She was told that her husband would re-marry and that she would never enter the US.

JFON Attorney Thomas Mills worked with an attorney in DRC to authenticate all of her documents, discovering in the process many contradictions. After submitting a 70-page rebuttal, approved documents were sent to the Vice Consul and the Mwanda family was finally reunited.

Support the JFON ministry that provides much-needed free legal services and helps families reunite. Give to Justice for Our Neighbors, UMCOR Advance #901285.

*Name has been changed.

Elder Maxwell talk

Watch this talk by Elder Maxwell from 30 years ago. We DO have prophets in the land.