Paper or Plastic?

Check Out My Last Date WIth Scott

2011-01-02T19:15:00.000-08:00

Educational Websites We Love

2010-09-21T15:43:00.001-07:00

A few months ago I redid my one of my birth websites, and in the process deleted all the content I had on there previously. One page I completely forgot I had up there, was a page just for myself. It had all our homeschool links.

So, in efforts to recreate that page on a site that I will never do that again, enjoy all my links!

Schoolhouse Rock

Drag and Match States

Rich Kid Smart Kid

Mad Libs

Planets Song

I'm on a Blog Roll....

2010-07-25T22:13:00.000-07:00

this is a great cake with a great story. Woman orders a cake from Walmart. Tells the decorator that she wants it to say "Best Wishes Suzanne" underneath that "We will miss you". Apparently, the decorator has complex listening problems....

Yesterday Roma and I went to Walmart.

Walking in there was an ad/sign that made me stop and laugh - it was for bone density screening.

It said it could test you in "5" minutes. the 5 was in quotes like that.

What's so funny?

Ever since I started visiting the Blog of Unnecessary Quotations, I notice unnecessary quotes. When you do quotes like that, what you are saying is that whatever is in quotes, you mean the opposite or you're being sarcastic.

As we were musing this, a Walmart employee asked us what was so funny. I tried explaining to him what I just explained to you and why it might be funny and make no sense.

Either he had no clue what I was saying, or he himself didn't find the humor, cause he just gave me a confused, blank stare.

This made me laugh even harder as I tried to stifle my laughter and apologized for thinking and sharing.

Ahhh, Walmart.....if I were a stand up comedian I could get all my material from your store....rolled back, even

A Run Down of the Jones Household for the Past Few Months in Pictures

2010-07-25T15:38:00.000-07:00

Sage's 8th Birthday Party

We celebrated Sage's birthday at the best place in town...the community center!

They have the best deal going....swimming and a party room. What more do you need?

Scott always comes dressed for a swim party in the right garb.

Roma's Piano Recital

Roma has gotten quite good at the piano, I must say. Although, she is not a fan of recitals. She did great though!

Here's a photo of the two other people in the ward who take lessons from Roma's teacher. The lady in the middle is a riot and takes Harp lessons.

All of the teacher's students

Here Roma is with her hard core teacher, Alexis. She's a super nice lady, but is quite serious about the paino playing and Roma has flourished under her tutelage.

The Garden

Last year my neighbor, Mia, and I split a garden plot at the community gardens and we did it again this year. We wanted to get our seedlings in the ground in late April/early May, but the winter was sooooo incredibly long here (as in it snowed in mid May...ugh), that it delayed our planting.

By then our seedlings had had it and they weren't lookin like they would do much. I decided to plant what I could of the pea seedlings and sprinkle some romaine lettuce seeds on a small section of the garden the first week in May. At the time Daybreak's water lines were broken to the gardens, so I just left it up to mother nature to make anything grow. I came back the last week in May to put a top layer of compost and peat moss on and look what I found!

All the new dirt was our top layer we put on, but the girls weren't so into doing things this year, as evidenced by the fruit juice popsicle heaven provided by the ice cream man. I had found some great organic seedlings on sale at Smith's Marketplace and put them in the ground, set up the soaker hose, and crossed our fingers. Daybreak thought they were doing us a favor by tilling our garden after the season last year, but with the method we do, you should not till, so we were a little worried things wouldn't work well.

Nonetheless, I will ahve to post pics of the garden right now. It's huge and flourishing. The peas did great and are pretty much done now. Lettuce season is almost done, too, but boy did we get a ton of lettuce. I used a lot of it for a cost vida salad I made for a family dinner. And the one spearmint plant I stuck in the ground last year and ripped out at the end of the season...some of it stuck around and commandeered the last 1/4 of the garden bed (you can see it at the end of the bed in the photo above).

I think we're going to make some spearmint extract or our own spearmint tea bags from it and give it as gifts. We are waiting on our tomatoes, spaghetti squash, cilantro, bell peppers and cucumbers and beets to ripen, and our zucchini is going mad.

I super love gardening, esp Lasagna Gardening. This year was super easy since we invested our energy last year.

Spring

Athena went hard core in April with the friend playing and is still going strong. We have 4 girls her age on the street. What an incredible blessing!

Athena with Evelyn, Grace, and Lexi. Genovah is missing in this pic

Zephyr has a pretty serious crush on Evelyn in particular. He pretty much talks about her all the time and even pretends to call her on the phone.

If Evelyn looks familiar that's because there is a picture of a little girl on the back of the Organic Horizon Milk carton that looks just like her but with black hair. Freaky.

Cousin Nathan Got Married/Jessica Came to Visit!

Cousin Nathan got married, and had an open house in SLC. Cousin Jessica was able to sleep over one night while they were here. The girls had a great time! It made us realize again just how much we miss our family!

Here is cousin Stephen with me

Zephyr putting on his dance moves

Scott with Lisa and Jon(his sister and husband)
Did I get any shots of the bride and groom? Nope....my bad.

The gang getting gelato at our favorite gelato place

June

June was a super crazy month. It was the conference. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then go ask someone who might, cause I don't have the energy to explain it after putting it on ;). Here is a picture of me and Becca, my friend who put this on with me.

Sad, I was so busy I didn't take any other photos, except this one of the cousins. I wish I had.

My sisters, Cheryl and Loretta and sister in law Danille came up with a select few of their chirldren. Cheryl and Loretta stayed at our house and we all had a blast. I super miss mi familia.

Anyway, the conference was a success and we really couldn't have been happier with the turnout (about 400) and the feedback. Here are our 2 newspaper articles, and I swear I never said that 'dude' quote.

Daily Herald

Mormon Times

I thought we were done with it all, but I am now knee deep in audio download oblivion trying to figure out getting them to people. The downloads are awesome, though.

Zermatt

We took a vaca to Zermatt. Much needed, and seeing as how the only vacation we've taken (outside of going to Vegas for family stuff) was Disneyland in 2005, this was much deserved, I must say. Why Zermatt, you ask? What is Zermatt? Well, here's what and why.....

1. Neighbors have condo there that we could use for next to nothing. Thank you Prazen's!

2. 45 minute drive - our sanity stays intact.

3. Authentic....this is a Swiss themed resort, and it was as authentic as it could be. It was fun. Here Sage is pretending to blow on a horn just like the 'Ricola' inspired statue above them on the mantel you can't see

4. Eat in kitchen, large room. Sanity plus saving $ on making our own meals! The girl you don't recognize is our neighbor and Roma's friend Courtney. That was another plus....having enough room to bring as friend along!

5. Cute shops. This was a sign for the pastry/gelato place at the resort. Eatin good in the neighborhood.

6. Quirky. What is that statue? Why, that's Maddy the Bear playing an accordian. Huh? I know....Well, every year Midway has the Swiss Days celebration and I guess for a very long time there was a Swiss man in town who would dress up in a bear costume and play the accordian at the celebration's events. This statue was in his honor.

7. Old school and retro. Midway is 5 minutes from Heber city, which had THE COOLEST bowling ally ever. Not much had changed in this place since 1955, including the employees. Old lady bowling employee can make a mean burger, which was cooked on a grill that had decades old fat drippings, I'm sure - Scott said it was the best burger he's ever had.

Athena pointing out the metal cup holders on the back of the very old benches

Look closely at the ball return.....can't get more original than that

The paint on the wall, the lanes...all colors reminded me of my grandma's bathroom. Love it!
Apparently the two theaters in town were both built in 1918, and the girls were going to go see a movie there, but there was a mix up and didn't happen. It's on the list for next time.

8. Heber Valley Railroad. Again very retro and authentic, but not cheap. Nonetheless, we were saving so much everywhere else, we splurged on this. The kids LOVED it! This is the same railroad that does Polar Express rides and Thomas the Tank Engine rides. Again, not much has changed since it's launch in the 20's (I think it was).

Zeph showing you his conductor's hat

A picture of the picture that the lady working there took of us.

Z man taking it easy.

9. Swimming! Everyday with the swimming. There was an outdoor and an indoor pool connected by a swim thru type thing. The indoor pool has quite an impressive waterfall as well. This, and the tennis courts, were a great past time for the girls.

10. A carousel? Yep, Zermatt has a full on carousel, and a mini putting green, too - open to the public, mind you. This was Athena's highlight.

11. Close to Park City. We also went into Park City for one day. It's only a 15 minute drive there, so it was nice not to spend too much time in the car. We went to the outlets there, which the girls loved, but Scott started feeling sick and we went back to the room earlier than planned. I wanted to do Park City Main Street and go to the Olympic Village there, but I guess we'll have to do it next time!

All in all, I'd highly recommend this vaca. It was fun and low key.

Rock On

My other favorite thing this month:

The highlight of the past month is this....Zephyr playing guitar AND singing. About 3 weeks ago he just started playing air guitar with everything. A ruler, the vaccuum cord, his stomach - you name it. Then I remembered my dad had given us a real kids guitar (don't ask me where he got it from) that I had put in the storage. I gave it to Zephyr and that whole day he wouldn't put it down. Diaper changing, riding in the car, even while nursing he held on to that thing tight. Since the first day he's not been so extreme about it, but it pretty much goes where he goes, even on our trip last week. Rock on future retirement fund!

Scott, Roma and I also gave talks in church last week, on Bednar's conference talk Watching With All Perserverance. Scott and Roma did really well!

Besides all this, I attended 2 births in there, taught classes until May and finished up my Way of the Peaceful Birth book (booksigning on Aug 12...please come!)

Needless to say I am slwoing down this month and focusing on homeschooling stuff.

Useful Words Ellie Has Made Up

2010-03-20T18:02:00.001-07:00

2004: Freetard - combo of freak and retard (genius for a 5/6 year old, right?)
2005: Fridiot - combo of freak and idiot, spin off of freetard
2010: Maybably (May-bub-lee) - combo of maybe and probably, as in I will probably agree, but I'm not committing, so maybe.

BTW

2010-03-09T23:01:00.000-08:00

Check out the food fare we had after the baptism here

This is Your Brain on Placebo

2010-03-09T14:26:00.000-08:00

We had Sage's baptism this weekend and it rocked. Yes, my next post will be about her and have lovely pictures.

BUT, I wanted to post this before I forget and move on. It's the rough draft of one of my chapters from the book, and it's applicable to everyone, so I thought I'd post it. My editor is going to make me pare things down and move things around to be more topic specific, but the way I originally wrote it I think can speak to everyone, so here it goes.

On a side note, this came out today . People, we are powerful beings!

CHAPTER 3

Mind-Spirit-Body

We’ve all heard of the placebo effect. And for the most part, people just accept that the placebo effect is real and it happens, no questions asked. What floors me is, why are there no questions asked?

“A new study was done that showed X drug worked 50% of the time, and the other 50% was cured by placebo.”

And the reporter moves on, as if what he just said about placebo has no relevance. Just glosses right over it, as if some amazing didn’t happen within that study. Having any condition improved by a placebo effect I think is amazing. Why aren’t these placebo affects being treated as amazing? Why aren’t we looking into and applying the placebo affect everywhere?

The word placebo is latin for "I shall please". And a placebo is basically a pill or treatment given to someone, and the pill is either a ‘sugar pill’ or the treatment never happened at all. The placebo effect is when a person, thinking they have received the actual pill or treatment, recovers as if they had gotten the actual treatment.

Act as if, and it will be. In a nutshell, that’s what the placebo effect is. Everyone knows it happens, doctors and scientists know it happens. We all know it’s real, yet no one seems to take it seriously because mainstream science and culture doesn’t validate it. But because mainstream science and culture don’t validate it, does that make it any less real or applicable? Of course not.

For example, as early as 2002, through the Freedom of Information act, there were researchers looking into the issue of the placebo effect and anti depressants. One USA Today article said: “More than half of the 47 studies found that patients on antidepressants improved no more than those on placebos…They should have told the American public about this. The drugs have been touted as much more effective than they are."

(http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/drugs/2002-07-08-antidepressants.htm)

Think about that. Half of the studies said that a fake pill worked just as well as the real one, with no side effects and no cost.

Another study was conducted on 40 Parkinson’s patients. All agreed to and were prepped for surgery, and wheeled into an operating room. All were cut open and stitched up, but only half received the neuron transplants that they surgery was being performed for. Twelve months post surgery, those who thought they received the transplant reported better quality of life than those who thought they received the sham surgery, regardless of which surgery they actually received. In fact, one of the patients that had received the sham surgery said that before the surgery she had not been physically active for years. Afterwards she resumed hiking and ice skating, believing that she had received the transplant. ((McRae et al., 2004) (McRae C, Cherin E, Yamazaki G, Diem G, Vo AH, Russell D, et al. Effects of perceived treatment on quality of life and medical outcomes in a double-blind placebo surgery trial. Arch Gen Psychiatry (2004) 61:412–20.)

That is powerful! So, what is this powerful medicine, the placebo effect? It is your beliefs manifesting into real, measurable effects. Your thoughts do make up your reality.

We’ve all heard the Einsteinium equation E= MC2, but I don’t think the majority of us are aware of its implications and meaning. For if we did, birth and our world would be operating much differently. Before the E=MC2 discovery, science operated on the theories of Newtonian physics, which believed that all things just happened as a result of gravity. Newtonian Physics was Isaac Newton's theory that the Universe was made up of solid objects (atoms) which were attracted towards each other by Gravity. And atoms were solid and were the building blocks of nature. So electrons, protons, neutrons, etc. that each atom consisted of, was a solid mass or solid physical object. To a large extent, this is still what is taught in school.

What E=MC2 proved, though, was that upon further analyzation, atoms are made up of smaller particles (subatomic particles), and all that the subatomic particles were made up of was energy, nothing solid at all, even though they appeared solid. So, E=MC2 basically states that everything is energy. All things broken down in their most basic form is all the same thing: energy. And that this one energy makes up all things. So, everything that is in existence – the moon, the grass, your house, colors, sound, food, medicine, yourself – is all made from the same vibrating frequency of energy that merges with energies of the same frequency to shape our perceived reality and physical experiences.

Another physicist in Einstein’s day was Thomas Young who believed that energy existed as a wave form and was not particles at all, which got much attention and validation from the scientific community as well. And yet a third scientist, Niels Bohr, believed the energy was made up of both particles and waves, and this paved the way for what we know now. Bohr, through his work, also believed that these particles had the potential to take on various forms. That these particles appeared to be solid because of the high rate of frequency they were vibrating at.

Since the very early 1900’s, the study and science of Quantum Physics, with Niels Bohr being one of the influential contributors of it, has given us invaluable insight into how our thoughts shape our reality. Simply put, Quantum Physics (also referred to as Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Field Theory) is the study of the behavior of matter and energy, and it demystifies the process of manifestation. It explains how everything comes into existence, searching for the spring from where they come from.

To apply it to our lives, you probably will have to consider setting aside what we, as a society, has been conditioned to believe about cause and effect and how our reality comes about. Quantum physics says that everything in the universe is all made of the same thing: energy. And that energy basically knows no boundaries.

We grew up being taught that the Laws of Physics were concrete and everything in the world abided by those laws, the only problem is, that’s not true. There are some particles in the universe that do not obey the Laws of Physics. Neils Bohr conducted an experiment, called the Copenhagen Interpretation, on this energy that does not obey the Laws of Physics. He noted one incredible thing: that this rebellious energy they were doing experiments on was always affected by the scientist’s thoughts. Even in double blind experiments, this proved to be true. The Copenhagen Interpretation revealed that if the scientist was expecting the energy to appear in the form of a wave, it would be a wave, but if he was looking for it to take on the form of something else, a "particle" (matter) is formed. The thoughts and perceptions of the scientist doing the observing determined which one it was...waves or particles. As Wayne Dyer has stated, “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”

(Chester, Marvin (1987) Primer of Quantum Mechanics. John Wiley. ISBN 0-486-42878-8, Bohm, David (1989). Quantum Theory. Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-65969-0.)

I know….‘whoa’ is right. When you grasp this knowledge, it can fundamentally change your life. Yes, your thoughts, emotions and beliefs have a real, measurable outcome. This is empowering knowledge! Because now you know that YOU are the most important variable in improving the quality and outcome of your pregnancy, birth, parenting, and life!

Additionally, almost all religions place emphasis on positive thoughts as a means to attaining temporal progress.

For example:

In Christianity: “As a man thinketh, so is he.”

In Buddhism: “All that we are is the result of what we have thought.”

In Hinduism: " Whatever is sown must be reaped sometime and somewhere. This is the law: every action, every intention to act, every attitude bears its own fruit. 'A man becomes good by good deeds and bad by bad deeds'"

And from the Kabbalah: "Three are the dwellings of the sons and daughters of Man. Thought, feeling and body. When the three become one, you will say to this mountain "move" and the mountain will move."

We also have many social mantras that mirror this:

“Garbage in, garbage out.”

“You get what you give”

“That’s bad/good karma”

“Obey the Golden Rule”

So, what this all means is that what the most influential religious and spiritual teachers and scriptures have been trying to teach us for thousands of years is true, we are all one, we are all made up of the same energy. Many scientists and philosophers have come to coin certain phrases as a result of quantum physics, and many times they will intersperse scripture to reinforce what they are proposing. Quantum physics also proved everything in our world once existed as a wave (spiritual) and through individual observation and expectation was transformed into a particle (made physical) based only their thoughts, beliefs and expectations of what it would be!

This means that your thoughts create your reality. Your thoughts, the initial energy wave forms, transform into subatomic particles which take form based on your thoughts, emotions and beliefs, and the energy from your thoughts and beliefs join and manifest in our physical reality. Now on to the Law of Attraction.

One of those coined phrases is The Law of Attraction, also referred to as The Law of Cause and Effect or Sowing and Reaping. The Law of Attraction is the law by which thought correlates with it's object. The Law of Attraction ensures that whatever energy (anything from physical energy to thought energy) that is broadcast out into the universe is attracted to energies that are of an equal or harmonious frequency, resonance or vibration (energy).

All of your thought waves, turned particles, seek other particles that match its frequency, or vibration and in turn all these particles collide and make up physical things that we can touch and feel. Another discovery, called Quantum Entanglement, found that these particles that have the same frequency or vibration, communicate instantly, regardless of the distance, they have no regard to space and time as we understand it on a day to day experience. In other words, unlike the speed of light, energy doesn’t need to travel because it’s already interconnected with all other energy that matches its frequency. The energy is non local, which means it exists everywhere all the time, and is not affected by other local energies, such as electro magnetic energy, which is subject to space and time.

There have been experiments where DNA is extracted from someone, and as that person changed emotions, his DNA that was outside his body, responded to and mirrored the emotional shifts that was happening with him, even when the DNA was hundreds of miles from him. Space (how far the DNA was from the subject) and time (there was no delay) had no claim on the reaction of the DNA to its source. (The Nature of God by Archie Crawford)

So, quite often in this book, when I refer to visualization, staying in the place of love and peace, etc., I am assuming that you have even the smallest understanding of quantum physics as I just presented, or spiritual/religious beliefs or both.

Many times in the book, I also refer to surrendering. How and why surrendering works can be found in the mechanics of the Law of Polarity which tells us that everything that exists has a direct opposite that also exists. Within every problem there is a solution. Within every failure there is a success. Within every heartache there's a joy. When you look for the good in bad situations, you are aligning your frequencies with the good and will find solutions and joy more quickly. Learning to fully surrender and accept whatever shows up in your life, and learning that all things can work together for your good will actually increase the rate at which good will come to you. So, for instance, acceptance of the possibility that you might experience what you would consider a negative labor and birth, or accept that fact that one has already happened if your previous births were not your ideal, is actually the opposite of resistance and will more readily attract to you a peaceful birth. Resistance, or fear of a negative experience, is putting your main focus on what you don’t want and as a result of that focus is attracting to you more of that which you are resisting. If you learn to accept, and then express the frequencies of sincerity and gratitude for all possible outcomes, desired or not, you will soon discover that you are more likely to experience what you desire.

““The oak sleeps in the acorn; the bird waits in the egg. . . Dreams are the seedlings of realities.”

James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

Registration Open!

2010-02-22T11:33:00.001-08:00

HolisticLDSliving.com Can it be?! Yes! You can now register for the conference. Please visit the website www.holisticLDSliving.com and click on 'register'.

Additionally, vendor and advertising applications are being accepted.

Spread the Word!

Here In Lies the Rub

2010-01-23T23:36:00.000-08:00

Sage and I hiking in Redrock Fall 2002

I swear, one of these days I will actually post some cute pics of my kids and give an update about them. But for right now, I'm using this blog as my therapy. Bow-Kay?!

So, it's 12:30 am and I just got done doing a chapter in my book (I know, this is a lame official announcement that I wrote a birth book) at the request of my editor on a short history of childbirth. I didn't want to do this chapter for one reason:

I. Have. A. Headache.

I knew it wouldn't be my most inspiring of chapters, but she insisted it was essential in order to lend myself some credibility in the claims I make in following chapters and also give perspective.

The history of childbirth in America? Ouch...it's a little depressing, sprinkled with a few moments of progress.

I decided to take a break and go on facebook and stalk around a bit. I gravitated to someones page that I know pretty well, but we aren't facebook friends. This girl is nice and all, but she has the typical hang up's about me. You know, she came from a pretty mainstream background, she would like to think she's really open minded, but in actually it scares her to death to think about doing anything that serious when it comes to living outside the box. Hence, she's a little scared to like me too much, for fear of who knows what.

She's my most recent poster child for a small group of women I am acquaintances with who are like this. She's cute, she's bubbly, the type that you know was pretty popular in school and well liked by everyone. Probably voted 'Most Well Liked' or something. Another acquaintance, turned very good friend, who was at one time my poster child, I actually used referred to as 'Pretty Lady' to one of my friends who could never remember who I was talking about if I said her actual name, but who she immediately knew if I called her 'Pretty Lady'.

"Man, D asked me what to do about kids' ear infection, and I told her, but she just gave me a blank stare and fulfilled her antibiotic prescription," I'd say to Jonelle
"Who is D again?" Jonelle would say.
"You know, she's in my ward, 3 kids, from California, she's really pretty," I'd explain.
"Oh yeah, Pretty Lady."

So that's how that happens. Is this making any sense? Anyway.....

Don't even get me wrong, I love this woman, my new poster child. She is sweet and nice and doing her best. I'm over feeling frustrated at people in this position. We are all on our respective journeys, I have no reason to judge her, I'm just sad at the incredibly long arms length she holds me at.

So, I was able to view her photos which were so nice of her cute family, until I came across a few of her holding her baby in a baby carrier.

Nothing was wrong with the picture, but it triggered some memories. I was floored by how quickly and vivid these came to me.

They were memories of women from my past, who were cut from the same cloth as my poster child, who, with thinly veiled judgment, criticized and ridiculed me - sometimes to my face - oh so many years ago for carrying my own babies in slings.

And here 'she' was, doing it now herself. On the one hand, I just want people to carry their babies more, no matter who or what got them there. If it took a few celebs to start carrying their babies in order to give these women 'permission' to wear their babies, than so be it. It's cool because Gwen Stefani is doing it, so I guess I can do it now, too and won't look like a freak like Amy.

On the other hand, I've been gossiped about, laughed at, warned that I was injuring my baby, and down right socially rejected for doing something as simple and instinctual to me as wearing my baby.

"Does she think she's a better mother than me because she wears that contraption?" I overheard one woman say.

"You know, you're cutting off the circulation to your baby's legs with that thing" another lady in my ward enlightened me.

I can still feel the stares I'd get from people in the mall in 1996. Some were very intrigued and amused at the sight of a woman wearing her baby. But most looked on at me very judgmentally. I know...I was a freak to them, maybe thinking I was trying to out mother them, or what ever it was. And it's not like wearing my baby was, or is, the only thing I got picked on for - surprise, surprise - it was just the most obvious.

What they didn't get then, but maybe get now, is that I was just trying to survive and thrive. Make my life a little easier, and my baby a little happier. That was it. There was no social statement I was trying to make. Although, when I'd see another mom slinging her baby, we'd both jump a little and at least smile at one another in passing, if not become instant friends. It was a lonely world in a sea of baby buckets.

So, after going over and over and over and over this timeline of birth trends, and then coming across the photo of this mainstream mom who was doing what I was once ridiculed for, I immediately had a taste of how all of my birth heroes must have felt at one time. Grateful that their efforts have made a difference, even if it meant rejection, but maybe really bitter that it took so long and they were a punching bag for so many.

Pretty Lady taught me many a thing about other 'pretty ladies':
Be patient.
Be understanding.
Be kind.
Be accepting.
(Pres. Hinckley, are you proud of me?)

But above all, be friends.

The original pretty lady actually turned many a mainstream leaf and she admitted to me that my being accepting of her angst over all things alternative was very valuable to her doing so. She's become a great friend to me.

I will try to move out of bitter and into gratitude a little more completely in the morning. Everything looks better in the morning, right? I AM grateful for Pretty Ladies. Now, goodnight.

By the way, my headache is gone. Thank you!

About The Poll

2010-01-08T23:50:00.002-08:00

Well, my poll went in a different direction than I thought. But, were I to vote, I would have voted both. Driving by this place sent off both red flags and hopefulness.

Fresh Market....sounds so, well fresh, doesn't it?

I drove by this place 2 weeks ago. The sign had replaced the Albertson's sign that used to be there. For a moment, my heart was a flutter. Could this be my new shopping haven? After all, my nearest 'natural grocery store' was a half hour away no matter whether it was Whole Foods, Good Earth or Sunflower. Everything was inconvenient and required me to plan a whole day of outings around going there. So I had some hopes of this being my solution.

When I was finally able to check it out, I went with the thought that I would be okay if this store was not what the logo was trying to make me believe it was. When I got out of my MAV (Mormon Attack Vehicle for all you late comer's) and started walking towards the door, I paused as I looked up.

"Pharmacy"

Okay, what health food grocery store has a pharmacy, eh? Big sigh. Immediately I shook my head, but proceeded forward on the off chance this was some sort of 'hybrid' store. Then I looked at the products being peddled by the front door. Snow shovels and chimney sweep logs. Not exactly evoking anything resembling a health food store. Just go in Amy, maybe SOMETHING is worth looking in to.

And then I stepped inside. It was Alberstons. Not in name, but it was the same layout, same signage for the sales, same brands, same everything.

What wasn't the same? My respect. Not towards Albertson's. See, some of their stores were bought out by Associated Food Stores, hence this location is now a Fresh Market. But my respect for the directions grocery stores were going. As I walked up and down the aisles (I was there anyway, might as well look around a bit, plus I needed OJ) my annoyance and disappointment grew. I kept on saying to the oldest, "Man, this makes me mad".

The deception had reached mass scale. No longer is it the subtle, minute deceptions of - I don't know - Tropicana trying to make it's 50/50 juice look healthy, or even domestic (I don't want my oranges from Brazil, thank you). It's not even the more laughable attempts like 7 Up marketing itself as "all natural" as if it were a superfood juice product that is good for you. It's now big, bold, loud and plain insulting.

These big food stores know what they are doing. They don't want to fail. They hire plenty of graphic artists, market specialists and they know what sells. The organics industry grows by leaps and bounds every year, even in the depressed economy, organics are capturing more and more of the market place. They know if they make themselves look more appealing in terms of health, they will get more customers. But they have no real commitment to health, only to their bottom line, and their lack of change shows it.

It's a slap in the face to all of us who are committed to this lifestyle and frankly it's deceptive marketing and a lie. Hello Fakey McFakerson. While I'm not suggesting they change their name to "The Store That Will Sacrifice Your Health In Order To Make The Largest Profit We Can", I am saying, don't try to be something your not. The name 'Albertsons' told me exactly what I needed to know, thank you. You were likely founded by a man with the last name of Albertson, and you're probably a typical grocery store that I won't be able to find everything I need at. I can respect that. I don't like it, but I can respect it, and am even willing to buy a thing or two there without feeling insulted.

Hey Fresh Market, us granola types value honesty more than cute logos. We enjoy being looked at as more than a robotic consumer. You don't know it (yet), but we have brains. Do you?

I'm Taking a Poll

2010-01-04T14:50:00.000-08:00

Krazy Coupon Lady

2009-12-29T19:33:00.000-08:00

To feed my inner frugal-ness, I just found this blog. My favorite coupon so far is the free Aveda sample pack. I putting this on on my blog roll!

http://thekrazycouponlady.com/

Ode to the Gallon Ziplock Bag

2009-12-21T21:38:00.000-08:00

Zeph was the cleanest of all!

Oh, ziplock, my ziplock
There is so much to say,
From housing my leftovers
To dredging my zucchinae.

Quite possibly, though
The best use of all,
Is to help tidy clean up
In replacing the puke bowl.

A little hint to all the parents out there....when playing multiple musical throw up with 5 kids and 2 adults all through the night, using gallon size ziplock bags to hold the lovely contents makes clean up a breeze. Zip up and throw out. Yes, this was brought home to me again last night. We are better now, thank you!

Fakey McFakerson

2009-11-28T16:50:00.000-08:00

Mormons don't, and shouldn't, rap. Nor should they be 'Hot Muffins' or 'Men on a Mission'. Let's be who we are. We are not rappers, playgirl models or scantily clad chesty women spouting off double entendre's.

I have a pet peeve. I'm trying not to have any (as an aquataince just taught me, better to say 'It just doesn't resonate with my frequency'), but this one I've tried to let go of and it slapped me in the face again today.

Fake Sales.

You know 'em. You hate 'em. It's where the store advertises a 'going out of business' sale or a black friday sale, and you get there only to realize that there's really no sale at all. Only jacked up prices with price stickers on them made to look like a sale.

Last year when Mervyn's and Linens-n-Things went under, I got sucked into this one. When I tried to point out to the lovey sales lady that the original price printed on the price tag was actually lower than the price on the sticker covering it, she just gave me a blank stare. Was I the only one? Really, not everyone can buy into this insulting attempt at trying to cheat the customer, can they?

It happened again today at Macy's. I saw an ad on TV that if I went online I could print some coupons and take off even more than what they were offering at the Black Friday and Saturday Sales. I was a little skeptical, but jumped in nonetheless.

Shoes 'marked down' to $63.99? Little girls shirt 'clearanced' at $24.99? No, no, no, no. Do most people look that dumb? I don't know. I didn't stick around long enough to make my own assessments.

The point is, I hate fake things - unless it's like fake bugs or vomit, used to play a joke on someone. Then that's totally up my alley. But clearly these sales are meant to decieve the shopper into thinking they are getting some sort of deal when in fact, they are not.

Macy's, Mervyn's, Linens-n-Things....LIARS! You wasted my time, shame on you.

But this leads us to an interesting discussion. Aren't we all fake on some level? Aren't we all trying to decieve others (or ourselves) somehow?

I realized last month that I had been deceiving myself into thinking I have been thinner the past 4 years than I actually have been. Not an intentional deception, but one nonetheless.

A while ago I noticed all the icons on people's blogs that they read Nie Nie. Now, I had no clue who this person was, but my friend Jonelle told me a little bit to her back story. Then, the board for the Holistic LDS Living Conference (see our facebook icon on the right???) decided to see if she would be our keynote speaker. She had conflicts, but after we asked her, I began to see her appearances all over the place. Oprah, the news, the Today Show.

Seems like a lovely family who have been through a lot, but what has really impressed me is her lack of hesitation to get out there, even though she is severely burned on her face.

You know, our society hems and haws about all sorts of things and wanting to "fake it" in front of others. And not that I'm judging others to whatever degree they fake things. Whether it's fake boobs (or a heavily padded bra), fake happiness, fake looks (ie makeup and coloring hair)...we all put on airs and 'enhancements' to some degree - I'm as guilty of it as others.

I'm just wondering if we all might be better off just being more real and honest, who we are. After all, if Nie Nie can happily show her face all over this country and be at peace and inspire others in the process, don't you think we all can accept what we might consider slightly undesirable in ourselves?

No need to put a jacked up crazy price tag on the original. You might find that people love you just the way you are and you don't need to pretend at all. In fact, you might find that YOU love you just the way you are and are happier.

The Cox Cousins in Utah

2009-11-14T21:09:00.000-08:00

Well, thank you Miss Julie!

About a month ago my cousin Julie called out of the blue and said, "Let's get together, ya ya ya." (ala the original Parent Trap). Okay, she really didn't say it that way, but that's what I felt!

I've been meaning to get us Utah Cox folks all together for a while now, but something always distracted me. I couldn't have been happier at these prospects!

So Julie called Lane, and I called Nate. It was all set. My girls were giddy in anticipation of meeting their new cousins.

The menu was potluck Costa Vida Chicken Salad, my standard company meal.

First to arrive was Julie, Rob, Kylee, Joshua and Jacob. Sage and Kylee became quick friends. Athena talked about seeing her new friends before they showed up, but played shy around 'the boys' when they got here.

Second was Nate, Melissa, Macayla and Jordan. Roma and Macayla paired up well, as did Ellie and Jordan.

And then Lane, Ambria and Cragun (we were missing the older 2 kids...we'll get them next time;) - thanks for the correct spelling on this one Aunt Carla...I knew it was a family name, but my memory on spelling failed me!). Cragun slid right on with Kylee and Sage, and Ambria got on well with Ellie and Jordan. Lane did give me a hard time about giving bad directions....

(This is Lane, Cragun and Rob)

which leads me to poor, poor Kari, who is Lisa and Steve's daughter going to school at BYU and drove around for 2 hours trying to find my house based on LANE'S directions. Everyone was long gone before The Spirit took the wheel and got her to our house. Oy! I felt so bad!! Who gives bad directions now, Lane?!? Lane swears that he was just telling her the bad directions I gave to him, and maybe it was a bad case of the telephone game, but I will take the fall for this one. Sorry Kari!

BUT, we loaded her up with leftovers, so she went away happy

So, last night was a great night! I wish I had more time to give details, but long story short, we all had fun, the kids loved getting to know one another, and we plan on doing this again in Feb., with everyone triple checking directions to Julie's house and inviting Julene, Chris and Ben, too. I also wish I had better pictures, but hopefully Julie will post on her blog (on the right hand blog roll under 'Julie and Rob', but it's a private blog, cause she won't let just anyone meander over into her blog land like me. She has standards and all).

Heck, if any ya'll want to join us for that, feel free to drive up and join us!

I love mi familia! And I'm glad we're not 'alone' up here in terms of family. We may not be next door to each other, but we're close enough, and it's been waaayyyy too long since we had seen each other! Thank you Lane for extra photos!

I love you guys!

Requested meal recipes:

Green Lime Ranch
Blend in blender:
1 C cilantro
1/2 C chopped green onion
2 garlic cloves
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 C milk
1/2 C homemade mayonnaise (p. )
1/2 C sour cream
1 tbsp dried parsley
1 tsp dill
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp dried onion flakes
Serve with Green Rice, warm black beans, lettuce, chopped tomato or pico de gallo, feta cheese, mushrooms or chicken

Green Rice
Juice of 1 lime
3 C stock
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 C cilantro, minced
1/4 C chopped green chilies
3/4 tsp salt
1 medium onion, chopped
1 1/2 C brown rice

Sauté garlic, cilantro, chilies, onion and rice in 1 tbsp oil until onion softens. Add stock and lime, bring to a rapid boil, then simmer on lowest setting for 45 minutes or more. To produce separated, Mexican style rice you must simmer on very low heat and leave it undisturbed.

Revelation

2009-11-01T18:53:00.001-08:00

Russell M. Nelson:
For each of you to receive revelation unique to your own needs and
responsibilities, certain guidelines prevail. The Lord asks you to develop
“faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God.”
Then with your firm “faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience,
brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, [and] diligence,” you may
ask, and you will receive; you may knock, and it will be opened unto you.

Revelation from God is always compatible with His eternal law. It never
contradicts His doctrine. It is facilitated by proper reverence for Deity. .
.

Revelation need not all come at once. It may be incremental. “Saith the Lord
God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon
precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken
unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn
wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more.” Patience and
perseverance are part of our eternal progression.

(General Conference, October 2009)

Blog Much??

2009-10-26T21:25:00.000-07:00

Seems as though a lot of people took a break from blogging the last two months. I wonder why? I know why I did. Mucho busy.

I've been dealing with:

1. Swine Flu - that was fun (actually it was okay)
2. preparing for classes
3. teaching classes
4. schooling the kids and myself
5. finishing up my book
6. doing things for the holistic conference
7. scriptures, prayer, scriptures, prayer, prayer again
8. stomach flu today for the kids
9. being a trophy wife
10. got my hair cut
11. halloween decorating and costume making
12. cooking, nursing, cleaning, cooking, nursing, cleaning, cooking
13. Fed Steve and Cherida's family on Conf weekend. Fed 5 nephews and nieces + a roomate of theirs last night.

Zephyr just hit me in the face with a lettuce knife while nursing. talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth. I'm off to bed now. Will post photos soon of the crazy fun Jones house. Or is it just the fun house?

I'm Conflicted

2009-08-21T18:59:00.000-07:00

I know that this sign shouldn't be my favorite thing from our trip to Vegas for my parent's 50th anniversary celebration, but it is. Check it out:

Dessy Burgers
Steak House
Serving Seafood Daily

Oh, bless their souls, they don't know what venue to commit to! We laughed for a good 2 minutes on this one. Who is Dessy anyway? This joint used to be a Sizzler and I have a few memories of going there when my mom would take my Grandma to lunch. Ah, the artificially flavored Texas Toast!

Okay, so out of respect, here's a picture of everyone's backs at the 50th celebration watching the nice DVD at, where else....Macayo's! The only suitable place to take a family with 6 kids, you know (according to my dad).

There's a first for everything

2009-08-08T14:29:00.001-07:00

First steps for Zephyr...last night!

Roma is a cheerleader! In our community theater's production of High School Musical, that is. They are going on next weekend! Hopefully I'll get more pics up soon of it, but wish her luck! Buy tickets at sjtheatre.org

Give This Blog a Try!

2009-07-09T17:15:00.000-07:00

So, many of you know that I wrote a cookbook in 2000 (or 2002 depending on the story). Anyway, I've been doing a quarterly, or not so quarterly newsletter in conjunction with that. Well, I decided the reason why I wasn't being good at getting it out quarterly was because I never had more than 5 minutes to put a newsletter together and decided that blogging my newsletter would be way more practical.

Soooooo....welcome to the new World of Wisdom Blog!

www.aworldofwisdom.blogspot.com

My Boy is 1

2009-06-23T19:04:00.000-07:00

Zephyr in mid cake eating

Zephyr turned 1 last Sunday. Wow, how did THAT happen so quick? We had a quiet, small cake celebration with just the kids and ourselves.

Zephyr has been such a blessing in our lives. I say that as he is clinging to me in tears wanting more of the nummy. But honestly, he's brought more opportunity for growth than I expected.

I had a doula consultation today. I haven't done one of those since before he was born. I did a birth here a while back, but it wasn't an 'official' formal relationship, so I really didn't do what I normally do for a client. But as I was sitting talking with 'the mom' (Hi Kristen!) and she was asking me to expound on the spiritual benefits of a natural birth, I found myself not having the words or time to adequately explain things, but Zephyr's birth was right in the forefront.

As most know, I found out I was pregnant with Zephyr right in the middle of crap hitting the fan. Yes, Scott had started feeling better, but he still wasn't well and the money was long gone. It took me quite a while to confirm the pregnancy because I really didn't want to deal with all the lose ends that can come along with pregnancy, but also I had no money for a pregnancy test. I literally had to save up for it. I can't remember taking or reading the test, but what I do remember was being happy and scared.

"Lord, I am grateful for this blessing, but don't you know this is like, THE WORST time to get pregnant???"

Mind you, this is me trying to school the Lord again. You'd think I would have learned by now. Also, frankly, I was worried about people's reactions and judgement. Because it was the worst time, I just didn't want to hear anything negative about it. I really wanted to enjoy it as much as possible. But little did I know that the timing of the pregnancy was actually the best time to get pregnant. I wouldn't find that out until the day of the birth. I don't remember the exact thoughts or feelings, but after that prayer it was almost as if the Lord put me on autopilot with my faith in regards to the pregnancy and birth. After that, it was just a matter of solving a puzzle and the fears just disappeared.

So, on to the next question.....how am I going to have this baby? Not 'how' as in, gee how does the baby get from the inside to the outside, but 'how' as in no money + midwife in Vegas + commitment to homebirth - that how. I contacted Kaye, my friend and midwife, and informed her that I was 'in the way' and basically laid out the situation to her to see what her thoughts were. Here's where the answer to this loaded question just got handed to me. It just so happens that Kaye was planning on moving to Junction, UT around the time of the birth, and oh yeah, don't worry about paying her. The odds of her closing her midwifery practice of 25 years, uprooting her life and moving closer to me right around due date time were, um, slim at best. So I knew that this was another lesson in trusting and surrendering. I was going to be taken care of.

I ended up having only 2 prenatals with her. Really, with my background and staying in constant contact with her, that really didn't phase me much. Yes, ideally I'd love to do the regular prenatal schedule with her to hang out, laugh, and connect, but it wasn't an option. At my first prenatal, we went to her office in Vegas. I did an ultrasound to narrow down due dates with her, because as always, Amy doesn't really have a clue when she conceived. So we determined it could be one of two dates, June 10 or June 18.

I circled Sunday June 15 as the birth day I wanted. I always loved Sunday births and it gave us ample time before move day, July 1, and it was the happy medium between the two dates, so I thought I was being quite reasonable. Hear that, Lord? June 15, okay? See how I was schooling the Lord again. Amy is so funny, isn't she?

The pregnancy progressed uneventfully. All went smoothy and besides not being able to satisfy my every craving (Bishop's storehouse just isn't Trader Joes, you know) and having to cook every single thing I ate from scratch, I really had no complaints. I was paranoid that my lack of optimal nutrition actually stunted the baby's growth. Everytime someone would comment on how small I looked, I would cringe and say thank you. But all those worries were put to rest when he was born.

So fast forward to June 2008. It was the first time I'd ever experienced false labor. It was quite annoying and had Scott in a tizzy a few times. Scott had been communting since 1st of April, which had been a pain, but come June I was used to that, but not used to Scott's nervousness about the birth. He started stressing out that he'd be up north when I went into labor. I told him not to worry about it, the Lord would work it out. June 10 came and went with little fanfare except from Scott.

"C'mon! The baby was suppossed to be here by now! Let's go!"
"Wait for the 15th," I'd say.

So Sunday also came and went. I'd lie if I said I wasn't disappointed, but oh well.....I guess the 18th due date was more accurate. Scott debated whether to go back up north to work. I told him to just go and I'd call at the slightest twinge (which I didn't given the false labor stuff).

So, the 16th...nuthin
The 17th...nuthin
The 18!!!! Due Date!!! Nuthin

So, Scott really is getting ants in his pants. We're moving, living in a house with a mattress on the ground, blow up beds, a futon and one chair and ottoman to nurse in. We have to be gone by July 1, and he's commuting. But I say, "Scott, what can we do but just wait and be patient?"

19th....nuthin
20th...nuthin

21st....what is the point of waiting for the water to boil anyway? Let's go have some fun. So I piled the girls and a friend (I think it was Jade Barney) into the van and went to SUU to watch the Shakespearean Festival's Greenshow. I dragged my overdue bum with lawn chairs and a blanket, set up shop and started the show. I see a few friends from church...
"Aren't you due?" "Wasn't that baby suppossed to be here by now?"
Legitimate questions since I learned early on to be very vague about due dates. I just gave it up, though.
"Yep, I'm either 11 days or 3 days overdue!"
Ah, those are proceless looks you get when you say that. I'll miss them!

During the greenshow, I was contracting, but again, I had had many false starts and wasn't really taking anything seriously. Scott had gotten home from Jordan while we were at the show and when I did get home around 7:45 I was actually in good spirits. But by 8:30 I was actually still contracting a bit. Huh, I thought....

I knew Kaye had been making runs back and forth from Vegas to Junction since June 4. I thought maybe I should call her just to see where she was. Junction is 1 hour 15 minutes north, Vegas 1 hour 45 minutes south for us experienced drivers, so I wanted to just give her a heads up that something might be going on, but don't count on it. So I hesitantly give her a call, cause I didn't want to bug her without just cause.

So, I call....

"Hey, where are you?"
"I am 10 minutes from you".
"Oh! You want to come see if anything's going on with me?"
"Sure!"

Odds of her being 10 minutes from me right when I wanted her? Zero to none. At the time I didn't think much of it, but now I know it was divine intervention. When she comes I realize she's got her 2 boys with her, her daughter and her son in law (who was driving separate). They had just done a St. George Costco run. Ah, man...Amy really doesn't want to inconvienince family members too. So I tell Kaye that I really don't' think I am in labor, but the contractions, even though not so much increasing in frequency or strength, are still going on.

So, she talks me into an exam. I'm 3-4 cm, effaced, and a good +3 station. Well, all fine and good, but that doesn't really mean I'm in labor. I told Kaye to just go to Junction, sorry to bother. But she kind of insisted on staying. I said 'Okay, but I'm not guaranteeing anything'. So she leaves at 9:00 to tell her family to move on with the Costco load without her, and comes back around 9:30ish.

For the next hour and a half, it was kind of more of the same. Maybe a little more intense and closer together, but nothing to get excited about and declare "This is it!" I certainly wouldn't describe it as painful, just interesting. Scott and Kaye had a good ole time talking Last Days stuff, we put the girls to bed about 11:00, and then I noticed a pick up. Still not painful, but just more. And then a good one came at 11:30.

"Kaye, what do you think about checking me again?"

11:55....I'm something like 5-6 cm and my water broke during the exam. Well, I guess this is it. I decided to run to the bathroom for one last hurrah in there, and had the contraction of awareness, I gues you could call it. I went from maybe this could be it, kinda to...ah, crap, oh my gosh, you have to stop now within 3 contractions.

I raced back to the front room, took my station on my knees and leaning over the futon and let the good times roll. I got maybe 40 seconds between contractions at first, but it quickly went to what felt like only 15 seconds between contractions. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride had begun, keep your hands and feet inside the car at all times and you aren't getting off until I say so. Neighbor Ginger had come at this point, which was a welcome comfort. Everyone but Athena had come back out of their rooms and we all went on this ride together.

Zephyr was born at 1 am, so that means basically I was in labor for an hour. That sounds great to most people, but if you've ever had a quick labor, you know that it is full of it's own pros and cons. Athena's was a pretty hard birth, but Zephyr's was incredibly hard. His head was big and it took all my strength to get it out. I remember crying after he came out, not because I as overcome by motherly emotion, but because I was so glad to have that head out of me. It was rough.

In my previous labors, they were longer and afforded me some choice spiritual experiences during the actual labor and birth. But Zephyr's was so fast and hard, that there was really nothing there. At first I was a bit disappointed that I wasn't afforded the spiritualness of the girls' birth, but in reflection, his whole coming into being was a massively spiritual experience. Although, I do have to say that when Scott announced he was a boy, I said, "A what?" "A boy, " he says. "Check again," I say. "Yes, a boy!" "Are you sure?" That was a pretty choice moment. I had just counted on him being a girl. Only 1 time during the pregnancy did I seriously consider the baby might be a boy. If you look at the birth pictoral, you can see Scott 'verifying' Zeph's manhood.

The next day I woke up with my pretty purple baby (pretty bruised from his speedy entrance) and immediately thought about how I only have one week to recover and finish packing.

Day 2 - look close, he was pretty purple still

Also, because he was so purple for so long, there was a question for that whole week if something was wrong with him. Should we take him to a pediatrician (something I don't do lightly)? Is there a dangerous heart problem? Why is he soooo purple? Is it really just bruising? Is he going to die? It was hard to get a clear answer from the Lord. I was tired, had hemmoroids, nursing like crazy, had 4 others kids underfoot, was moving to a house I hadn't seen before to a place I didn't know, had few of my earthly comforts around....it was a trial I don't want to repeat.

I should have been stressing given my lack of proper babymooning. I had had such nice babymoons in the past. But I was reminded of pioneer women birthing on the trail so I wouldn't feel too sorry for myself. Really, it was fine, just not optimal.

I am going to end the birth story there, as the continuation of it is in my fifth blog post, but yes, the consult today did bring back just how divinely timed it all was.

Had he been conceived any later, it wouldn't have given me time to recover properly.
Had he been conceived any sooner Kaye might now have been able to attend me.
Had I not called Kaye when I did, it would have been a massive pain getting her there and she might have missed the birth.
Had Kaye not been the saint she was to attend me for free, well...I just don't want to think about what that would have looked like.
Had I not had the experience I had birth-wise, it would have been a harder and riskier pregnancy.
Had Scott not left Jordan when he did that day, he may have missed the birth.
Had the Lord not given me multiple distractions postpartum, I may have over reacted to Zephyr's color and intervened unnecessarily.
Had I not surrendered to the Lord's timing and greater wisdom, I would have been miserable. And I was done being miserable. I wanted to be happy. I had to force myself to be happy for all of this. And really I was and am so grateful I DECIDED to be in a place of faith rather than fear.

Trust, Surrender, Accept, Faith.

I think it was Elder Bednar that said, "The only gift we can give the Lord is our will". Mercifully, he gives us much greater in return.

Happy Birthday my little Mahatma!
Ps...to see the birth pictoral (non graphic mind you) go here

Ah, the anticipation Roma and Athena laughing at Zephyr being bothered by being messy
Ellie giving scott 'the hand'

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, who's the most princess-y of them all?

2009-06-20T19:53:00.000-07:00

Sage is fiercely off to find her prince!
(Not the type to wait around, you know)

For Athena's birthday we decided it would be fun to take her and Sage to the Princess Festival. How I got there was a bit painstaking, but it was well worth it.

I'm not a huge fan of the Princess movement, the Princess race or culture for that matter. Honestly, it can get overwhelming and frankly, expensive. But after seeing the billboard a few times, I thought I'd check out the website and see what the festival was all about.

Well, lo and behold, it was something after my own heart. It's put on by a charity and the proceeds go to help villages in Kenya. Oh, fine...I guess I could consider it then. I began remembering how much fun Sage had at Disneyland and just how freakin magical it could all be, and decided to do it.

Athena taking the reigns...no surprise there.

After I paid for it all, I realized that neither Sage or Athena had princess dresses. Whoops! I knew I was going to shell out at least $20 per costume and considering that those things fall apart as soon as you sneeze on them, I decided that if I was going to have to spend that kind of money, it was going to last, darn it. So, I thought, 'Hey, making them won't be that hard!'

Well, apparently I chose 2 of the most confusing patterns ever. It did take me quite a while, and I had offered to do my best friend's little girl's dress as well, which ironically was the easiest and honestly and I liked it the best, but they got done and are going to last.....darn it. Athena was a multi colored Tinkerbell, Sage was a psychedelic Cinderella. Nonetheless, I've done my sewing for the year.

Okay, so, the day of the festival arrives! It's raining! Yea! not.
But luckily, it wasn't a downpour and they got to enjoy the full festival. I took Ellie, Sage, Athena, neighbor India, best friend's daughter Tayla and poor Zephyr, surrounded by mounds and mounds of estrogen.

The festival was in Lindon, about 20 minutes away, tucked in this out of the way obscure spot. You never would have guessed what was there. I wish there were more pictures that adequately portrayed how cute it was, but alas I didn't take any, nor could I find any online, but there is this short youtube video .

Anyway, they start off by trekking us to this little cabin 'in the woods' to help rescue a princess. Well, that was enough to send Athena packing. There's something out there that has endangered a princess? Well, Athena doesn't take chances and she was not about to put her life in jeopardy, so she pretty much was glued to me for the majority of the presentation afterward.

They then led us next door to Rapunzel's tower, where she was in the top of the tower with her hair hanging down asking us to save her. Again, Athena was not impressed. Why would someone do that, mommy? Where's the man that did that? Oy!
But we went in the courtyard castle, and everyone but Athena went up the stairs and in to the tower to save Rapunzel. It was super fun time precious. Then we were led to another castle where.....

Sleeping Beauty was off in dreamland. Out appears a handsome, teenage, acne prone prince to break the spell with his fake kiss! Aaaahhhhh!!!! all the girls giggle.

Then we head up the stairs where all the princesses we've met (Blue fairy, Sleeping Beauty, Briar Rose, Cinderella, Aurora, Snow White, Jasmine....I'm sure I'm missing one) teach us how to properly dance with the man of your dreams. Here we are introduced to some Kenyan Princesses. Okay, honestly, here is where I lost it.

They had flown 4 Kenyan girls over to participate in this whole thing. I totally started crying. I mean, I suspected they were from Kenya seeing as how they were the only dark skinned in the bunch and they were clearly not from the US and they were sooooooo incredibly happy to be there, and a bit confused. It was just crazy how real this group made it for all of us. Our money really was going to this cause of helping others across the globe. Bless their giving souls!!!

India, Sage, and Tayla with the mean step sisters (which would have been my character of choice had I worked the festival). Of course Athena would have none of them.

Afterward the girls got a chance to dance with all the princes, take photos, and then out the door we went to have a tea party, jump on the trampoline with Tinkerbell and play on the playground.

India and Sage with the Mad Hatter (who had inhaled to much of the mercury from curing his hats). He was my favorite character.

Hats off to Zephyr for enduring the day well!

On top of it all they were given a free necklace, ring or bracelet. All in all, it was a great day, and we're planning on it next year! It was worth the money, effort and rain. Happy big 4, Athena!

Movie Wars and Kids in Mind

2009-05-11T00:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, quick post.....
1. went to Redbox
2. Rented Bride Wars....how bad can a PG movie be for 3 teenagers
3. Not appropriate for little teen girls, should have been PG13. Strip club scene, living with the boyfriends, a few swear words....schyeah, NOT PG!
4. I no longer trust ratings (as if I did before)
5. I resolve to always check Kids in Mind first

The end.
Hollywood, I'm on to you.

Refrigerator Dough ala Betty Crocker

2009-04-20T20:41:00.000-07:00

I like the 1965 version best. 1996...she looks a little, I don't know.....like a liar with oddly narrow shoulders. You know by that point in Betty's life she's got a checkered history. She likely just got done yelling at her kids and doesn't know she has toilet paper coming out of her skirt waist.

Note: there is a great recipe at the end of this post, so scroll down if you don't want to hear my ramblings!

Sorry, no pics this time. The camera is in the hands of Scott who took pics at Roma's 13 year old bday party of the century.

Well, here's my find of the decade. Or re-find.

Because my parents passed on a love of all things frugal, a few years ago I bought The Complete Tightwad Gazette off of Vegsource.com for like $3 or something. Vegsource was kind of pre-ebay, craigslist and half.com. It's where all of us fringey homeschoolers, vegetarians, homebirthers or wanna-be's went for a lot of information and also to buy, sell and trade our fringey stuff, like Champion Juicers and Saxon Math books.

So, when I got the book I devoured it and marked the ideas I liked. Basically it's a collection of tips and tricks and newsletters from the Frugal Zealot, as she named herself.

Before our drive down to Vegas for Easter, I don't know what possessed me to grab the book of the shelf to thumb through, but I did and realized I had forgotten how much of the suggestions I had already incorporated, but there were a few that just evaporated into thin air. One of which was Refrigerator Dough, which is supposed to last 4-5 days in your refrigerator and you just take out how ever much you want when you want it. Breadsticks, pizza, rolls, calzones....whatever.

So, I decided to give it a try and tonight we reaped the fruit of my labors.

Yesterday I made up the dough. Now mind you I don't have a mixer, food processor or even a hand mixer. AND...I was fasting yesterday, didn't get any sort of nap or rest and had a squirmy 10 month old on my hip the whole time. AND....I was making dinner (fajita's, yum!) and straining my friend Katie's water kefir probiotic that I am babysitting while she's on vacation all at the same time. So, it wasn't really fun to do at the time, but the Gazette promised all sorts of pay offs from this investment.

Fast forward to today. It's 'Bin Day'. When the weather changes and looks like it's going to stay that way, we do bin day. While I love the 2 perks of bin day:

A. Free hand me down clothes from various sources, namely my sisters.
3. The avoidance of shopping non stop for 4 girls

I do hate bin day. We have now worked our way up to 10 or 11 bins. All of these bins need to be taken out of storage and every single piece of clothing and shoes has to be sorted, tried on, mulled over, looked at in the mirror, decided if it can be hemmed or taken in or what not. If it is unwanted, I have to decide if it is worth keeping. Deciding if it'll be in style in a year or two or three, threadbareness, and whatnot is what I consider. If it gets given away, I need to decide if its rag worthy, garbage or DI worthy. Also take into account that the girls need to sort and bring down their last batches of clothing and shoes from winter. And for some items we go through the emotional upheaval of 'oh, but I really like that, are you sure I can't wear this heavy sweater in July, do you think I'll fit into it next winter? Sage, you cannot wear it now, it's long sleeved, you can't even fit in it.' and on and on and on and on.....and on.

Then I have to wash everything that was dirty and get it to it's respective recipient or bin, and all the bins need to be restacked in storage. Super happy fun time. I know ya'll are jealous.

This process takes a minimum of 2 days and has known to take up to 4. I'm pretty grumpy and impatient towards the end of it all. So, at 1 pm today, when I realized it was family night tonight and we has no treat (the whole point of family night according to Roma and Ellie), I remembered my refrigerator dough + my mom's recipe = cinnamon rolls.

So, I had Roma do the rolls as I gave her instructions, because I was stuck in 'the throne' nursing Zephyr to sleep.

1. Roll out the dough
2. slather on butter till you can't see the dough
3. sprinkle on sucanat (not the original ingredient LOL) till you can't see the butter
4. sprinkle on cinnamon till you can't see the sugar, or sucanat.

Roll, pinch the seam, 'cut' with dental floss, nestle in the casserole dish. Let rise (I quick rised them in a 200^ oven for 25 minutes), bake (at 350^ for 15 min) and drizzle with agave (also not part of the original recipe). Yes, steps 1-4 were explained like that from my mom, the master cinnamon rolls maker. I have many, MANY memories of watching my mom make and me eating her cinnamon rolls. Talk about comfort food.

Anyway, the payoff was sweet indeed. Thank you Frugal Zealot. You saved family night. It WAS the best part of the whole night and much deserved after swimming for 2 days in a sea of tween, children's, toddler and baby clothing and shoes. The cinnamon rolls were sooooo good and light!

Here's the adjusted, healthier version of the recipe:

Potato Refrigerator Dough (Makes 4 dozen rolls, 3 medium loaves or 3 braids )

2 packages (5 tsp.) active dry or fast-acting yeast*
1 1/2 cup warm (105-115° F.) water
1 cup lukewarm (95-105° F.) mashed potatoes**
2/3 cup sucanat (or sugar)
2/3 cup butter or oil
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp. Salt
7 to 7 1/2 cups flour (may be part whole-wheat flour), divided
(note: this time around I did use half wheat flour and half *gasp* white flour - bleached no less. Don't be judgin' - it's all I had for back up, yo. I use it for crafts, bow-kay? I didn't have the energy to deal with a mess up, so I will repost when I find a white flour substitute I like in this recipe)

*If using active dry yeast, dissolve in 1/2 cup of the warm water until it foams. If using fast-rising yeast, use warmer water - 120-130° F. and simply stir the yeast and water into the other ingredients plus half the flour (see steps 1 and 2).
**May be made from 1 1/3 cups boiling water and 1 cup instant potatoes. Cool to 105° F. before adding to the yeast mixture.

1. Combine the dissolved yeast and remaining 1 cup water or the fast-rising yeast with all the water and remaining ingredients except the flour.
2. Mix in 3 1/2 cups of the flour with an electric mixer or beating by hand. Beat for 3 minutes.
3. Mix in additional flour with dough hooks or by hand until the dough forms a rough dough ball.
4. Turn onto a floured counter and knead by hand or with the mixer's dough hooks until smooth and elastic - about 5 to 8 minutes.
5. Place in a greased or sprayed bowl, turning dough so greased side is up. Cover bowl with sealing lid or plastic wrap. (you may want to spray it so it doesn't stick)
6. Place in the refrigerator. Punch down when doubled (about 30 minutes for fast-acting, 45 minutes to an hour for active dry yeast).
7. Keep dough refrigerated for up to 4 days, punching down if doubled in size.
8. About two hours before baking, shape dough into desired rolls, loaves or braids.
9. Place in greased pans and cover with sprayed or greased plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled, about 1 ½ hours.
10. Bake at 375° F. according to directions for type of roll or loaf prepared.

DINNER ROLLS shape dough as directed in any recipe below. Let rise 1 hour. Heat oven to 275°. Bake 20 minutes (do not brown). Remove from pans, cool to room temperature. Wrap in aluminum foil and store in refrigerator no longer than 8 days or freeze no longer than 2 months. At serving time, pre-heat oven to 400°, bake until brown, 8 to 12 minutes.

Casseroles: shape ¼ of dough into 1-inch balls. Place in lightly greased round layer pan, 9 X 1 ½ inches. Brush with softened butter, let rise 1 hour. Heat oven to 400° and bake about 15 minutes until golden brown. 3 dozen rolls.

Cloverleaf Rolls: shape ¼ of dough into 1-inch balls. Place 3 balls in each greased muffin cup. Brush with softened butter, let rise one hour. Heat oven to 400° and bake about 15 - 20 minutes until golden brown. 1 dozen rolls.

Crescent Rolls: roll ¼ of dough into a 12-inch circle on a floured surface. Lightly spread with softened margarine. Cut into 16 wedges. Roll up tightly beginning at rounded edges, stretching dough as it is rolled. Place rolls with points underneath on a greased cookie sheet, curving slightly. Let rise one hour. Heat oven to 400° and bake about 15 minutes until golden brown. 16 rolls.

Fan Tans: roll ¼ of dough into a 13X9 inch rectangle on a well-floured surface. Spread with softened butter. Cut lengthwise into 6 strips, each about 1 ½ inches wide. Stack strips evenly; cut into 12 pieces, each about an inch wide. Place cut sides down in greased muffin cups. Brush with softened margarine. Let rise one hour. Heat oven to 400° and bake about 15 - 20 minutes until golden brown.
1 dozen rolls.

Four-Leaf Clovers: shape ¼ of dough into 2-inch balls. Place each ball into a greased muffin cup. With scissors, snip each ball completely into halves, then into quarters. Brush with softened butter. Let rise one hour. Heat oven to 400° and bake about 15 - 20 minutes until golden brown. 1 dozen rolls.

Pan Biscuits: use half of dough recipe. Roll dough into 13X9 rectangle on a well-floured surface. Place in greased, oblong pan (13X9X2). Cut dough into rectangles, each about 3X2 ½ inches. Brush with softened butter. Let rise one hour. Heat oven to 400° and bake about 25 minutes until golden brown. 15 rolls.

Parker House Rolls: roll ¼ of dough into a 12X9 rectangle on a well-floured surface. Cut into 3-inch circles with a floured cutter. Brush with softened butter. Make a crease across each circle; fold so top half slightly overlaps bottom half. Press edges together. Place close to each other in a greased square 9X9X2 pan. Brush with softened butter. Let rise one hour. Heat oven to 400° and bake about 15 - 20 minutes until golden brown. 1 dozen rolls.

calzones: prepare ¼ dough as if for Parkerhouse Rolls. After cutting into 3-inch circles, roll out to 4-5 inch circles. Make crease, fill bottom half with 2-3 tbsp. of leftovers. Fold over and press edges together. Let rise 30 minutes. Heat oven to 400° and bake about 15 - 20 minutes until golden brown.

My Social/Political Rant for the Year

2009-04-08T18:20:00.000-07:00

I'm prefacing this post with:
I'm as patriotic as they come. I love America and the Constitution. I just wish our elected officials actually abided by it more.

So, here are some of the things I want government to back off of in my life:

1. CPSIA. The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.

This 'improvement' is putting mom and pop children's retailers out of business, all in the name of reducing children's exposure to lead. Remember all last year there was news report after news report about lead tainted toys coming out of China? All a little media blitz brought to you courtesy of the CPSC, who came up with this law in November of 2007 to be enacted Jan 2009, before China was killing our kids with crappy toys. They just wanted to drum up some public support before hand. Too bad we aren't dumb and can see right through their little scheme. Now in order to sell my baby slings, I have to pay $2000 +/year to the government to test all my fabric for lead. Yes, children are safer because of this new law....not. Oh, did I mention that the CPSC is heavily lobbied by the JPMA, Juvenile Products Manufacturer's Assoc.? I think their bottom line was getting dented by all the etsy WAHM's out there.

2. The new little senate bill introduced into Utah legislature that would essentially destroy any farmer's markets and roadside produce stands, all in the name of protecting us from e coli, which is only produced by tainted manure, from tainted cows fed pesticide laden GMO corn all day and not allowed to graze and live a humane life. I trust my neighbor's produce way more than the produce from overseas, who don't have the same FDA standard's to abide by, thank you. Grass Fed Free Range Organic beef is yummy! See my latest newsletter here

3. SB 69 in the Nevada Legislature, that would put many health food stores out of business. This one requires to be a licensed health care professional on the premises in a health food store, working for minumum wage or a little more. That's like asking a doctor to work at Walgreens. Give me a break. If they can't take our herbs, they'll take our stores instead.

4. Which brings me to Codex aka CAFTA, which would make vitamins and herbs available by prescription only and under the jurisdication of doctors. Will I be arrested for growing oregano now, because the FDA has labeled it a controlled substance? Watch the informative video here
and sign the petition here http://www.healthrevolutionpetition.org/ . Did I mention that it would force vaccination, too?

5. The government's support, aka funding, of Monsanto and their efforts to deceive us with their tainted milk and attempting to control the world's seeds and funding GMO crops (the biggest one is the corn crops feds to those downer cow's mentioned in #2), Nestle for violating their agreement to not market and push their formula in 3rd world countries as superior to breastmilk, and the Bayer Corp for knowing selling HIV contaminated vaccines to France in 2005, creating mustard gas for Hitler, creating the honeybee population collapse through their pesticides last year (that sprayed that GMO Monsanto corn fed to the sick cows creating the tainted manure that's creating the e coli in our food supply) and creating a GMO rice strain that is messing with women's placenta's and killing babies in 3rd world countries.

6. The government basically funding, owning and running vaccine companies, and overlooking their 'lost' memo's, lack of adequate testing and deceptive marketing, and leaving a trail of carnage behind them. But that's a WHOLE other post (or 2 hours class LOL). 'One Less' my boo-tay.

7. The Personhood Act, which looks good on the surface, but would essentially imprison you for not following doctor's orders if you are pregnant, and fine you for missing prenatals, not taking OTC vitamins and force you into harmful procedures against your will that you may believe will harm your baby. How would it be if we forced people to have homebirths or birth unmedicated because it was in the best interest of the baby? Yeah, when the shoe is on the other foot, it doesn't make too much sense, does it? Jailed for birthing in the hospital....huh, doesn't sound good to me, and I am the biggest pro homebirther in the world.

8. Income Taxes. That's all I have to say about that.

Anyone got any more?????? It's a good thing the government is here to save us from ourselves.

Bless You Coughs and Other Sweet Things

2009-04-01T15:17:00.000-07:00

So, I have a VERY rare window that's been given to me, and I've chosen to use that time to blog. You are very welcome ;).

Wednesday's are my crazy days in that Ellie and Sage have gym from 4-5:30, which gives me an impossible window with which to make dinner between the dropping and off and picking up. Not to mention that Roma has YW on Wednesdays, so I have to have her fed before she goes. Because we are waiting on pay day and my ingredients are limited, I decided to make my life a little sane and just go with my back up food, canned soup. So, that frees up my time. Also, somehow the stars aligned and Athena and Zephyr are napping at the same time right now, and Roma is upstairs with her friends getting ready for a choice April Fool's joke that I am playing on her tonight. I feel a little bad that she is investing so much time into getting ready for this event that isn't going to come to fruition, but it will be memorable because of it....it's been a full 7 days in the making.

Athena ate a fruit without complaint. It's a once a year occurrence I had to catch on film.

So, I wanted to post about the sweet little things that have been happening lately. A week ago, Athena came up to me and told me she had 3 bless you coughs all at once.
I said, "bless you cough? What do you mean?"
"You know, achoo achoo" said Athena.

Holy cow, I laughed for 5 minutes. A bless you cough. So now, that's what we call sneezes around here.

Also, we have recently purchased a previously owned aka used car that fits our whole family! Yea! Our lease was up on our van at the end of December, which left us with a VW station wagon and '96 landrover aka Scott's baby. Don't get me wrong, I am totally grateful for having 2 cars period, but neither one

A. Fit all of us in it, in fact every time I went somewhere I had to figure out who was going to stay home or who's house someone could go to to play.
B. is family friendly.

I chose to drive the Land Rover. To say a '96 Land Rover is a tight squeeze for 3 car seats in the back is an understatement. Zeph's car seat could only fit in the middle, so I had to reach across to put him in, and Athena had her fair share of slipping and falling out of the car when trying to exit at first. Buckling Sage in her booster required me to scoot the booster towards me a little to find the buckle, then shoving her back in afterwards, which would result in "I'm tipping" "the booster is too far forward" or "I hate this freeeeekkiinn car seat!!!". She's mad that at 7, she has to sit in a car seat still anyway, and then to add the hassle of the Land Rover on top of that drove her insane. And for 3 months trying to figure out every time I left the house who to sacrifice not coming and what to do with them was maddening. I can't tell ou how relived I am not to have that be a daily occurance. Luckily Roma and Ellie are of age that they could stay home by themselves for short periods, but still, a homeschooling mother sometimes likes to take ALL her children somewhere, like the temple open house!!!!! But apparently if you want to look cool, that's the car to drive. I got at least 5 comments how good I looked in it. I had no clue, nor did I care really, but in case others care, drive a Land Rover.

So, we now have a '01 Suburban. I grappled with the decision based on the horrible gas mileage alone that it gets, but I weighed that against the amount we were shelling out for our van lease, and figured it would all equal out in the end. The extra room is sooooo nice.

Ikea, where all your wildest dreams come true

So, my other little sweet thing.....
I got to lunch with my niece Alexis and her 2 kiddos (plus her friend and her 3 girls) yesterday at the gourmet IKEA cafeteria! Alexis takes her duties as niece very seriously and blocked out time to see me while she was up her helping the friend move up. Of course, it was way too short a time to see each other, but I am grateful for what I can get. Her babies are getting so big, and my girls loved seeing them! "Mom...I want to go to Whatlyn (code for Jocelyn, my *gulp* great niece) house. I want to play with Whatlyn in the playplace (Smalland at Ikea)", says Athena. And her baby Bella is lookin like my sister Cheryl's (her grandma's) baby pics. Creep-pay! I didn't think our genes were THAT dominant.

Also, in that vein, I've had my nephew Ben, and my neice Julene and her husband to Sunday dinner, and a few Sunday's before that had Scott's 2 nephews, Brett and Travis to Sunday dinner. And who remembered to take photos at the last three meals? Not me, cause that part of my brain doesn't function as well as it used to.Sage is 7!

But i did remember to take pictures at Sage's 7th birthday pajama party. Boy, did we have a good time. A few months back our neighbors moved and gave us their unused chocolate fountain. So, Sage decided to have a chocolate fountain party. I wholeheartedly recommend everyone get one of these. There was a good 40 minutes worth of silent dipping and smiles happening because of it.

The chocolate fountain of love, according to Ellie

She invited all her church and homeschool friends and the night started off with present opening, per Sage's 'request' (insistence). The we did the fountain, cake and ice cream (which, by the way, I got Arrowhead Mills' cupcake mix for the cake and never in my life have I had a better mix, healthy or not. Granted, it's not cheap, but if you're going to splurge, get it.). Then we watched Artistocats. All in all, it was a fun party without much stress at all, thanks to the chocolate fountain!

On the bus to the temple, tatoos and all, just how the Prophet advises

Right outside the temple doors (no photo's inside) At the meetinghouse with their Costco cookies

I also remembered the camera at the Draper Temple open house I had to leave Roma home for. Very finely orchestrated event, I must say. We arrived at a meetinghouse, watched a nice 10 minute film on the improtance of temples, loaded a bus up to the temple, walked through a heated, tented maze to the temple, and quietly followed the many similar groups through the temple. Then we went into the meetinghouse that is right next to the temple and had some lovely Costco cookies and water in the wonderfully decorated cultural hall. I'll be honest, I was way suprised how many non members were there. We got there the night before they were done doing tours, so I didn't expect a lot of people, but it was full, with a lot of very polite people with a sincere curiosity. It made me excited and grateful for the Oquirrh Mountain (pronounced Oaker, but we call it the Shakirah temple, because for a long time I would call it the O-kira temple) temple celebration and open house. All together, they will make 3 temples within a 15 minute driving range for us. Can't beat that.

Roma put her glasses on him. I think here is where he realizes he's in for years of dress up torture.

Another sweet thing... I think it's awesome that Zephyr has turned into a rough and tumble little boy. Loves being thrown in the air, wrestled with and made scary faces at. He thinks it's heee-larious! He's put on the pounds in the last 3 weeks, too, as he's realized that I am not his only food source. If he's not nursing he's eating, if he's not eating he's nursing. Makes me a little afriad for our future food bill, but he's really cute a little pudgier.

Lastly, I am so happy that all of us our healthy, especially Scott. He's still got a little work to do, but I am floored by just how well he is doing. To think that sometimes he goes to bed after me and then leaves for work before I even wake up, this wasn't possible even before he got sick! Seriously, every day I am keenly aware of how blessed we are to have our health as a family. I am also very grateful for the subsequent corner of the world that I have in my house, affectionately known as Tincture Island, where I do all my herbs and tinctures.

Life is good! Now if I can just figure out a way to get all my family up here, it would be complete.

Oh, what's the April Fools joke? Last week, at Roma's temple celebration dance practice, a lady came in asking if theirs was the chapel David Archuletta was at for the choir practice. There is another youth group for the temple celebration, and apparently the director knows David Archuletta and had him come inspire them. So, I asked Roma if their dance director told them who was coming to their practice tonight to compensate for their lack of celebrtiy attention. So, for a full week I've had her going that someone is going to show up tonight. I have the dance director and her 2 friends in on it. She thinks Julianne Hough from Dancing With the Stars is coming. Roma's group is doing the Lindy Hop at the temple celebration, and it was a mighty fine coincidence that Julianne Hough did the Lindy Hop 2 nights ago on the show, and I eluded to the 'fact' that she was coming to teach it to them. I'm going to have Ellie dress up in a blond wig and poke her head in the door quickly. I know it's mean, but it's going to be a great memory, right? She's bringing her camera and everything, which means I don't have a camera, so we'll see if I get any photos of it. I'd feel bad and everything, but she's the one that chose me as her mother, she knew what I was capable of.....what's that saying, you knew I was a snake when you picked me up? And, really, it's only bound to get better as every April Fool's Day comes. wah hahahahahahaha!!!

Zephyr, my little Mahatma

2009-02-18T08:55:00.000-08:00

Zephyr, almost 8 months, getting his first taste of non mommy food....avocado!

I can't help saying it. Zephyr is a cool little baby. Over the weekend I had the tell tale signs that I was getting a cold. I decided to take it easy and force myself to lay down as much as possible. With cable, you get the On Demand feature where you can check out what the cable company has extra for you, often for free. One of those free movies was Ghandi. I am embarrassed to say that I knew very little about Ghandi, and seeing as how Roma has asked me to incorporate the Great Thinkers more into her homeschool, I decided to give the movie a viewing to see if we should study him.

All I can say is, see this movie, study this man, adopt his principles. I was blown away by this genius of a man, who exhibited such integrity, patience and love.

As I looked at this man, and then would look at Zephyr, you've got to admit that the physical similarities are staggering!

Okay, well maybe they aren't THAT similar unless I stick some glasses on him, but they are both really skinny and cute, and for a time Ghandi had a faux hawk, like the girls like to do to Zeph. And the patience and love part, Zeph has down. Plus I'd like to think that he is wise beyond his years. He such a mellow kid compared to my girls. If he's held or fed, all is right with the world. For some people I suppose he'd be considered high need because more than 2 minutes on the floor makes him all sorts of sad (you can see the beginnings of it in the photo), but for me, this is a breeze - a warm and gentle breeze.

So, here's to you, Z man - 8 months old already! Namaste, my boy!

If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children.
Mohandas Gandhi

Inhale

2009-02-06T13:52:00.001-08:00

I was thinking of posting some new photos of the fam, but my computer got a nice trojan virus and I can't access my files and pics right now. So, those are forthcoming. In the meantime.....

I did yoga today for the first time in about 2 years. I am woefully out of shape. It's not like I'm shocked by this, but I was hoping that I'd at least be as good as when I first started my yoga practice 10 years ago. Sadly, I am worse. It's not like I'm one of those 'naturals' at yoga, like some of my friends. It takes a lot of effort for me to do it.

I like the yoga that comes on the Oxygen network at 7 am, called Inhale. Thank goodness for DVR, cause Amy is only up to waking at 8 am. I am working my way to 7 am. So, I recorded it, pressed play, saw my old Inhale Yogi friend and he started off with a typical set of poses called sun salute.

Can't touch my toes, not to suprising. Downward dog, takes some effort. Plank pose, uh not happening today. Upward Dog, I can't even get halfway into the pose. At this point I know I'm in trouble and have to be forgiving of myself. My left side is always worse in yoga than my right because my kidneys are not up to snuff and haven't been for, well, maybe never, but I got a little better by the end of practice.

I love yoga, I don't necessarily like yoga, though. It is a very holistic exercise, meaning it incorporates your body, mind and spirit. When I do yoga, I can feel my chakra's open up, which is why I love it. You can't do that on a treadmill as easily. This wasn't always the case, though, that my chakra's would open. For the first few years of yoga practice, it was just nice and challenging, and then I noticed that I was beginning to go through a myraid of emotions when I'd do it.

If there was junk going on in my life, it would surface and I'd start getting impatient, judgemental, etc. I've even been known to cry at the end of yoga practice. Conversly, if things were going really well, I would have a ton of fun during yoga. There were a lot of reasons why I stopped doing yoga 2 years ago, but the crux of it was that I didn't want to deal with reality. Which actually made my reality worse.

I think this is why some people, on a subconcious level, outright refuse to do yoga or any other similar practice. They instinctively know that it will lead to other areas of their life becoming centered and healthy, and that might be uncomfortable. Sometimes growth hurts. But stiffling, numbing and avoiding the need to deal with reality doesn't make things easier in the long run.

So, I commit to do yoga 3 times a week, and just tell myself that if the poor overweight man that can't touch his toes and is sweating buckets on Inhale can do it, I can deal with my reality, too, and be grateful for it. Hopefully my cell memory will kick in and I can do my sun salute sooner rather than later, but if it takes me a year to get to the point of ease like it did 10 years ago, than so be it. Avoiding reality is harder, anyway.

Namaste my homies

For Any Horrible Occassion...

2009-01-08T22:36:00.000-08:00

test I moved into a truly talented ward. Really, the vibe is very creative, all the sisters use their gifts well, whether it be being a fantastic leader and friend, to writing or designing, it's a fun ward.

One of the sisters in my ward, Diane MacAfee, endeared me forever to her when at a recent RS service auction were her greeting cards she had done. I had never been to a service auction before, so i was a little confused how it worked, but once I figured out that the cards sitting on the table in the cultural hall - cards I had once purchased in Cedar City - were in fact of her own creation, I knew they would be mine. I spent all my 'points' on these cards.

Seriously, I encourage one and all to buy these. They are fantastic and such an intelligent and funny alternative to the cards one would find elsewhere.

www.AnyHorribleOccassion.com

Breaking Through the Terror Barrier

2009-01-08T22:00:00.001-08:00

Roma October 2006

Go ahead, say it 5 times fast with a George Bush twang. It's fun. Terror Barrier Terror Barrier Terror Barrier.

One of the things that has been on the back burner as a result of our 'circumstances' is Roma's Orthodontia. That's right, I called it what it is, the fancy word...orthodontia. Poor Roma. When Scott got hired last March, we didn't anticipate it taking as long as it has to be able to afford to resume her orthodontic treatment. Her last visit to get adjusted was Halloween 2006. Yes, 2006. I know because her bands were orange and black. She got her braces on in July 2005. So, count it, she's had her lovely metal mouth for 3.5 years. We told her that in August we'd try to get her braces off, and well - it's now December.

In early October I began the hunt for a new orthodontist. Because I have been unintentionally burned by dentists and our last orthodontist, I decided to put in the work to shop around. Price, philosophy, and trustworthiness were all a factor. In all, we had consultations with 8 orthodontists. Things I found out in this journey:

1. As guilty as I feel having Roma in braces this long untreated, the upside was her two teeth that I was considering doing oral surgery on to pull down have come down on their own. Our past ortho suggested surgery because he thought they would never come down on their own. well, he was WRONG. Wrong, I say! Lots of $ and pain saved.

2. There is no such thing as a holistic orthodontist, at least that I could find. There is such a thing as a progressive orthodontist. Most orthodontists are the same as far as the way they treat. The ortho we finally decided on is very up to date on new technology and ultimately Roma will be in braces for 14 more months vs the 18 months-2 years other ortho's estimated.

3. Orthodontists charge a wide array of prices. There was approximately a $1000 spread between all the orthodontists we saw. Some wanted $1000 down, some $500 down, the one we chose wanted nothing down and was willing to spread out payments to make it more affordable for us.

4. I am not paying for my child to go to a video play land during her visits. I swear, if I saw one more iPod station or personal TV in each station I was going to puke. The last thing I need is for my hard earned dollars to go towards these techno wonderlands. If it means $25 less per month off of my bill, then she'll just have to tough it out like her mom did in the olden days, with no entertainment. My kid does not need to be entertained or distracted 24/7, thank you.

5. And speaking of bills. The real point of this post.....
As we were ortho shopping, I realized I have a fear of adding on another bill to our stack. Everytime we'd talk to the nice lady about price, I'd feel a tightening in my chest. What if, what if, what if......what if something happens again, I have an outstanding bill and it gets sent to collections? What if we start treatment and can't finish it again?

But all my fears and what if's don't negate the fact that the girl needs it done. So, I have to break through my Terror Barrier and just trust that it will happen. And I am sooo excited for Roma to get this over with. BTW, if you want to know where the phrase Terror Barrier came from, email Jonelle.

My other Terror Barrier of the month???

Being good enough.

This is not my typical weakness. I'm not one of those guilt ridden people who is afraid that I will disappoint someone with my abilities, or lack thereof. But recently I was presented with an opportunity that made me step back and take a hard look at my abilities. After much meditation and prayer, I felt good about moving forward on it. If successful, it could have a wonderful HUGE return on my 12 year investment of studying and becoming who I am 'professionally' speaking. And as I sat wondering if I could really pull it off, here were the thoughts that crept into my head:

~ People are going to think you are a big joke
~ What makes you think people would want what you have to offer on this grand of a scale?
~ You really don't know as much as you need to to pull this off
~ You will fall flat on your face
~ You do not deserve success like this

I have never before been paralyzed by thoughts like these. In fact, sometimes I err on the side of being a little bit too over confident and have made my fair share of flubs that way. So, this was all new to me and made me pause and think, because it was new, maybe it was true. It took me quite a while to shake it and just break through the terror barrier. I had to sit and repeat affirmations to myself:

~ You have done all the work necessary to make this happen
~ You know what you need to in order to progress
~ People want this life changing information
~ Whatever the outcome, it's okay

It was an odd thing for me. For years I had been saying that I could handle something this big, I've earned something this big, I would enjoy something this big and then when it was staring me in the face within reach, I froze. Could I handle it? Have I earned it? Would I really enjoy it? I had to honestly stop and think about it. And after 3-4 weeks of thinking about it, I decided that I can and will accept it and enjoy it. Funny how when life presents you with the opportunity to act on your beliefs sometimes you hesitate. Lesson learned...when you espouse a belief, you better be ready to step into it!

Zephyr's Blessing...Finally!

2008-12-14T23:16:00.001-08:00

It's not every day you see a baby smiling in a blessing picture. It took almost 6 months, but we got our boy blessed last Sunday night, Dec 7, 2008 at home. Scott's dad and his wife Mary were able to be here, along with the second counselor in the Bishopric, Daryl Sam. It was a beautiful blessing given by Scott, where he talked of Zephyr coming to our family as a peacemaker (gee, with 4 older sisters I wonder why that?) and a protector. We tried to incorporate as much of my extended family as possible since none of them could be here. The blanket was given to Zeph from my niece, Alexis and his lovely blessing outfit my sister, Cheryl, gave him. For dinner, we ate off of Scott's mom's plates and used her flatware. It was an interesting journey to this day. Cheryl lovingly prodded, "You know you have to bless him before you baptize him." Yeah, yeah, yeah. My own wishes was to do it in Vegas with all the family, but we just didn't feel right about that, we felt it needed to be done the way it was done. I'm just glad it got done before his first birthday.

So enjoy the pictures (taken by Roma) of his long in coming Blessing Day!

Bueller? Bueller?

2008-11-30T21:29:00.000-08:00

Scott and I just got done watching Ben Stein's new movie, Expelled. No Intelligence Allowed. Loved it! I wanted to see it when it was in theaters, but we were moving, having a baby, and had no money or free time, or something like that, so I was extra happy to see it in the RedBox selections at the Cedar City Smith's on our way back to South Jordan last night. $1 + 4 hours in the car + able to return it to my nearest redbox = we have a winner! It's a great flick, worthy of your $1, 90 minutes, and RedBox rental.
http://www.expelledthemovie.com/

Paying it Forward

2008-11-24T13:12:00.000-08:00

I appreciate those of you have responded kindly and explained the situation. I had no idea. Gordon, this is Amy Jones, your doula and childbirth educator from Sara's birth. Honestly, all it took was some kindness instead of swearing and threatening me, for those of you that did.

Good luck to you all. Please Gordon, let me know if you need anything.

Blessings,
Amy

2008-11-22T15:41:00.001-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Hello, and meet my Uncle Ezra

2008-11-12T23:26:00.000-08:00

For the last 2 holiday seasons, Roma and Ellie (and now Sage) have done a "fundraiser" of cookie mixes, one that closely resembles Great Harvest's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies. The first year the funds went to their dance classes and costumes, which were uhhh....a mere $75 each.

Yeah, I told them it was pay up or they weren't in the Christmas show cause mama ain't made of money that year. Needless to say, they refuse to give them away even though they don't fit anymore. Future Halloween costumes for Zephyr, I guess. The second year went to their own personal funds, which was much needed considering the hole we were in. I was happy they were able to have money to have a bit of fun with amidst our circumstances. Let's just say, I just barely got done paying them back from borrowing money from them last year.

So, they are at it again, and I'm glad to say they have decided to pay it forward by giving a portion of their profits to a family in need. A few days ago I was up to my ankles in flour oats and chocolate chips. At least it was stone ground whole wheat flour. They had enough capital this year to invest in doing a souped up gift show on Dec. 6 www.ohswe etsadie.com, so we are excited.

It's actually right nextdoor - literally - to where my BF Lorelee is moving! (Yea, I outed Lorelee, she's moving to So. Jordan!!!!). Anywschmoo....The past two years I've kind of just done generic labeling, but now this seems to be turning into quite a business for them, so we came up with a biz name with a bit of a logo.

Their biz name, Uncle Ezra's is explained here www.uncleezras.homestead.com .
I've still yet to update the photo with the logo, etc., but it's coming.
So if you are up this way on Dec. 6, come see the girls at the show! You'll get a free sample and everything.

Halloween 08

2008-11-04T19:39:00.000-08:00

I know a photographer gal who was doing a $10 photo shoot for Halloween. Here's the results! Given we had had one heckuva day, I think they turned out pretty well!

Know of a good place to crash for Thanksgiving in Vegas?

2008-10-16T13:05:00.000-07:00

It's been hard to admit we've come to this point, but there are 7 of us now, and we just can't go crash at just anyone's house for a weekend. Not only is there a lot of us, but 5 are girls.....drama girls.

So, I no longer feel alright about asking people if we can come invade their house and disrupt their lives. With all the stress that comes along with trying to accommodate 6 other people, it's become rude to infiltrate another's home with that stress. So, if anyone knows of a time share, vacation rental or someone who is going out of town and wants to rent their house to us over the Thanksgiving holidays for cheap (like $50 a night or so), would you give me a head's up, por favor? Otherwise, I fear we won't make it home for the holidays adn be left out of our big 'ol family picture.

It would be your birthday present to me.

Speaking of, it was my birthday last Tuesday, and apparently I am a liar. It kind of crept up on me, and I almost totally blew it off. two of our pumpkins!

We went pumpkin picking that day, which was especially fun, but I kept on telling people that it had just become another day, it was no big deal, and then at 7 pm my baby laughed for the first time. I know, it took him forever to do it, he is 4 months old now, but I think that actually made it sweeter. My baby laughed at me for my birthday present. It's one of the best ones I've gotten so far. He's not really done it again, it's driving me nuts.

Scott and I did go out to eat the Sat. before for my birthday. Everything was going all swimmingly until I remembered what I was doing the year previous for my birthday. I cried because I was so grateful to actually get to do something this year for my birthday. This was a good birthday.

He Already Has a Savior.....

2008-10-16T12:13:00.000-07:00

Well, I think this post will be short, but this experience has been nagging at me for days to post, so here it goes.

Maybe it's because General Conference was so good 2 weekends ago, but I can't stop thinking about just how powerful the Godhead is. Rewind beck to April 2007. This was a super bad month for us, right up there in the top 2. With all that was happening with Scott's health and our finances, I had spun myself into such a tizzy (is that a word?) that it was difficult to function as a mother or a person. We spent about a week or more in Vegas, looking for any kind of work that Scott could do sitting down, and I was trying to renew contacts with people because it looked like we were going to lose the house for sure and I was calling people like mad seeing if anyone had a casita or something that we could rent for nothing. It took all my energy to put on a face of normality at Roma's birthday party that Scott's sister let us have at her house (thank you again, Teresa!). But by the end of our time in Vegas I was a walking zombie.

Roma's Par-tay

Roma begged me to take her to Target so she could spend her giftcard someone had given her for a present. I took all 4 of the kids there at about 7 pm and in the middle of shopping, my friend Jonelle calls to let me know that she has set up so our other friend (who will remain nameless) is expecting me at her house in an hour or so to talk with me. She's an intuitive soul, this friend of ours, but I was reluctant to go. Being how this friend is, I knew I wouldn't be able to hide anything from her, and did I really want to let anybody know just how far down the rabbit hole I was? I called Scott and let him know that I agreed to go over. He wasn't too jazzed about me going either, because he knew she'd know what was going on with him, too.

So, I show up at her house and we small talk and then sit for a few minutes. She reads me like a book and then says point blank to me, "Scott already has a Savior, and He can do a lot better job than you can if you will let Him." So, it took me a minute to process. But then I got it. This whole time Scott had been sick, I was trying to

Rescue him
Protect him
Heal him
Baby him
Do everything for him
even Receive inspiration for him

Isn't this what a 'good' wife does? Meeting with my friend that night made me realize that there's a fine and subtle line between supporting someone and enabling dependency. I had crossed that line and the life was being sucked out of me because of it. I was, in fact, delaying his physical and emotional progress. Even though I thought I was, I was not doing him any favors by trying to hold him up on my shoulders. Every waking minute was either spent rescuing him in some way or on parenting, and I was suffering for it. Quite honestly, Scott was getting used to it, too. I told him that I would no longer be doing things for him that he was capable of doing himself, even if it was hard for him to do. And believe me, in his condition everything was hard for him to do. Solving complex problems was hard, digesting his food was hard, staying awake was hard, praying was hard...everything was hard. And because it was, I assumed my role was to do everything for him until it became easy for him again.

I learned something from Kaye Bullock, my friend, midwife and mentor, that has always stuck with me. We were at a birth together once and the woman needed to move and change positions. I went to go pick her up completely and move her legs and everything for her. Kaye threw me this silent look to stop what I was doing - she could see what I was about to do. I looked back at her in confusion thinking, 'uh, hello, she needs to move and I'm going to help her. It would be mean not to.' A while later during the labor we caught a moment alone. I asked her to explain the look. She said, "This labor is going to get much harder for her. She is going to need to work more. If she thinks that you are going to do everything for her, she will give up when things get harder because she won't be strong enough to get to the top of the mountain because you've done all her work for her."

Again, the fine and subtle line.
Comfort, care, helping when someone can't help themselves. This is support.
Doing something for someone that they can do themselves, even if it's hard? That is actually weakening them.

Because....
Did things get even harder after April? They sure did.
Did Scott need more strength to ride out those waves? He sure did.
Did I back off and let him do hard things? I sure did.
Was I happy and more productive when I did? I sure was.
Was Scott more happy and productive when I backed off? He sure was.

I did everyone a favor when I learned how to not take on Scott's energy for him and try to save him.

Afterall, he has a Savior already, and He can do a much better job than I can.

An Open Letter to Cloris and Corky

2008-09-23T13:47:00.000-07:00

Dear Cloris and Corky,
As I sat down last night to watch the opening season of Dancing With the Stars, amidst my screaming 3 year old, famished 3 month old, whiny 6 year old, hyper 10 year old, and pre teen 12 year old, I sat in amazement and wonder at how two stars like you could align so perfectly. Cloris and Corky....Corky and Cloris. The two names together bring tears (of laughter) to my eyes. What are the odds of you two finding each other in a sea of Michaels, Jennifers, and even Madisons. I'd like to thank Dancing With the Stars, and ABC, for making this possible, and for giving me a lifetime of cheap jokes. Cloris and Corky, I will be voting for you based on your names alone.
Signed,
Amy Jones, who wishes her name could have been Penelope

My Babies are in the Theatre!

2008-09-10T16:20:00.001-07:00

Notice I spelled it Theatre, instead of Theater....cause that's the snotty way to spell it. Anyway, I'm announcing that Roma is an Indian, Ellie is doing backstage, and Sage is a Fairy in Daybreak Community Theater's production of Peter Pan! Check out the play here http://www.daybreaktheatre.org/About_Us.html . The lady running the theater group is in our ward and she's great and very gifted. We are so excited!

Crummy Church Signs

2008-09-07T20:34:00.000-07:00

Check out this blog I'm stalking right now, http://crummychurchsigns.blogspot.com/ .

Consider the Lillies of the Field....

2008-08-22T21:18:00.000-07:00

Athena in the lavender fields at the Young Living Farm, June 2006

Before May 2007, this scripture didn't mean much to me. In fact, I wasn't even sure it was a scripture, I just knew it was part of hymns. How's that for being well studied?

Well, it means something to me now.

Did you ever know someone who, when they needed an answer from the Lord, would flip open their scriptures and turn to the exact thing they needed? Yeah.....that wasn't me. I hate to say I was a little jealous of people like that. It seemed like an easy way to get an answer.

I spent all of April and May of 2007 trying to resurrect our food storage business. I had prayed about it, gotten an answer that we would do it again (just neglected to ask when), and went full steam ahead doing pricing, building a website, the whole nine yards. It pretty much sucked up all of the month of April.

Mind you, by May 2007, times were tough in the Jones household. Scott had been sick and out of work for 4 months, we were coming to the last of our own usable food storage and the bills were piling up. I remember in April our water got turned off for 3 days and I cried and cried (needless to say this wasn't the last time a utility was shut off and I suprisingly learned to roll with it quite well). Then our internet got turned off. The good lady at Bresnan felt so bad after I told her my sob story that she said she'd turn it on for 4 more days until we could possibly get payment. In my head, being online was the ONLY way I personally was going to bring in $, so I was not in good shape.

I had actually started calling around seeing if there were openings at various businesses. Something I thought I'd never do, but it was crunch time. It was actually quite difficult to bring myself to do it, mainly because it would mean leaving my babies at home with Scott, who was sick. I remember sitting on my porch with the phone book open making call after call, crying in between. When the Lord told me to stop job hunting, I was actually a little sad because I had no clue what else to do. I was told from The Lord that if I worked outside the home, Scott would take twice as long to heal and the dynamics in the family would be irreversably damaged.

So, that left me with trying to teach classes and attend births, and doing the food storage biz. Try as I might, there were no takers on any of it. I distinctly remember a Saturday afternoon, sun starting to go down, it was quiet in the house, I laid on my sofa in the front room and just cried. I felt rejected, defeated, scared, alone...it was not a Hallmark moment for me. Most of all I was confused. I have these skills and resources, why are things not happening? I had never had any problems attracting business in the past. I opened my scriptures, and I prayed that the Lord would take mercy on me and just send me a scripture when I opened them.

3 Nephi

25 And now it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words he looked upon the twelve whom he had chosen, and said unto them: Remember the words which I have spoken. For behold, ye are they whom I have chosen to minister unto this people. Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

26 Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin;

29 And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these.

30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, even so will he clothe you, if ye are not of little faith.

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

32 For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.

34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient is the day unto the evil thereof.

So, when I read that, honestly I was angry. It's not what I wanted to hear. I wanted to hear that if I did XY and Z, I was going to get money. If I tried hard enough, Scott was going to get better. If I was righteous enough, food would magically appear. I didn't want to hear, 'don't worry about it'. Seems stupid now, but at the time I was drowning in our problems, and when your drowning you don't want a 'don't worry about it', you want a 'hey, here's a life vest, and a big boat, and strong men to save you right this second'.

So, I tried to disregard that the Lord had actually given me an answer through the 'flip open the scriptures and read the first verse you come to' approach that I had been wanting my whole life. I know what you're thinking...O ye of little faith, is right.

Come the end of July, it was apparent that the food storage business wasn't going to work just then. I recieved an answer to a question I didn't ask, but should have, when I asked if we should do the business again. I was told that it was not the right time. I could have saved myself A LOT of work and misery had I asked the question "when?". Lesson learned that I hope I'll never forget. I was also drained from trying to drum up business for birth and health classes or doula work. I just gave up. I'm a huge believer in "faith without works is dead", and so that was my consolation this whole time I was killing myself trying to earn money, but what I learned is that you can't force things. I was trying to force the Lord's hand and make him give us money, health, and resources on MY timetable, using the reasoning that I was working for it, I earned it, I deserve it, now give it to me.

These were the scriptures I was clinging to:

Matthew 7

7 Ask, and it shall be given you;
Oh, I was asking, pleading and begging, so why wasn't I receiving?

seek, and ye shall find;
I was looking in every crack and couch cushion I could find (literally)

knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
I was banging on the door and yelling to get let in!

8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
So here is where I was just beside myself.

9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
No one! I said to the Lord. So, where's my bread?

10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

Yeah, so.....help me please! I hate to say it, but I was feeling abandoned and betrayed. My faith was waivering big time. But again, I wanted it on my timetable. In my head, we NEEDED it on my timetable. I was completely justified in expecting it when I needed it, right? wrong.

I was being taught multiple lessons. Patience, trust, learning to ask 'when', faith. All of our needs were always met, often (as I mentioned before) in the 11th hour. It took time, and multiple experiences, but I hopefully learned the patience, trust, and faith the Lord was asking me to cultivate. It was hard, because we were denied almost every safety net out there. The only safety net was The Lord. Had I learned to lean 150% on The Lord sooner, I know we would have been much happier. I don't know if our burdens would have been lifted sooner, but I certainly wouldn't have walked around completely occupied in the thoughts of getting getting getting all the time. When you are always thinking about how to get the next meal, how to get $4 in gas to get to the storehouse and church and back for the month, how to get a coat for your 5 year old that winter, how to meet your most basic of needs, it's exhausting and depressing and leaves no time for anything enjoyable, service oriented or fun. I wish I could have let those worries go and just let the Lord take care of them like the scripture said.

That day in May '07 was not the last time I would flip open to that scripture in 3 Nephi. In January and February 2008, when I was in the depths of a dark depression and not interested in living anymore, the Lord allowed me to flip open my scriptures to those verses 3 times. It would send me to my knees everytime, and also let me know that it was no coincidence I kept on being sent to those passages. It afforded me a measure of strength that helped me hold on, keep going, and work on letting go of my control issues and trying to force the Lord's hand. I also realized that even though I was massively desperate to feel happy and joyous again, the only real way out of our dark moments - emotionally, spiritually or otherwise - was in and through The Lord.

In coming full circle, the Lord allowed me to flip open to those verses again, after Scott had been working and commuting for a month. Almost a full year after reading about the lilies of the field for the first 'real' time, I flipped open to it again. It took on a whole new, literal meaning. I now know that the Lord will clothe and feed me and my family, literally and figuratively. Maybe not in the ways I want or expect, or on my timetable, but remain faithful....it will happen.

It only took me 11.5 months to really understand that chapter. Hopefully now the Lord will allow me to tackle another.

These are a few of my favorite things

2008-08-22T14:35:00.000-07:00

~ Post some of your favorite things in the comments, would ya? ~

Athena crossing the street.
Check out Roma's blog to see the video

Peanut Butter from Peanut Butter & co.
Found at Smiths, Harmons (if you're in UT), most health food stores, and online. Highly addictive, so ease into the stuff. Similar to Nutella, but tastes a ton better and is good for you.

Flipping Out

On Bravo. This guy is crazy nuts, but I'd totally trust him to do my house. The episode with Zoila's painting is classic. You can watch most of the episodes online now, so click the link, bow-kay?

Movies, you say?

It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
It takes a comic genius to write something like this. The remake, Rat Race, in 2001 was good, but didn't live up to the original.

12 Angry Men
Again, another genius writer, just not comical. And again, the remake in 1997 I felt totally stunk. That's right, I said stunk.

Dutch Apple Pancakes

From t he Original Pancake House. If you haven't had one of these, make plans. I substitute sucanat for the brown sugar when I make it at home. This stuff is bombdiggity.

Trader Joe's

Duh, of course TJ's is my fave. I miss you Mr. Joe. Check out Cooking With Trader Joe's.

My Senor Bob Macayo Mug

I have many memories at Macayo's in Vegas, namely the Charleston location. Granted, I wouldn't risk my life eating at that location today, but it was awesome while it lasted. The one time per year my family ate out was at Macayo's, we took the party from the church dances to Macayo's (those poor waitresses), and going with Lorelee's family to Macayo's. Typically you only get Senor Bob when you order a slushed alcoholic drink, but I got mine at the thrift store on Charleston. Currently I am on the lookout for Bob's ball and chain, Senorita Cha Cha - let me know if you find her, the old version, not the newer, cheap looking one. Where in the World is, uh, Miss Cha Cha?

My Favorite Joke

What do you get when you combine a brown chicken and brown cow? Brownchicken, browncow.

(okay, this is more a verbal joke than one that can be 'gotten' while being read. If you say it out loud, and the words together, with a certain twang, you'll get it)

Thank Goodness for Digital Camera's

2008-08-22T11:32:00.000-07:00

Cause it took 15 shots to get one of him smiling! He's 7 weeks in this photo...time's a flyin'.

Thank you to Merrill and Michelle for Zephyr's 'Chicks Dig Me' onesie, cause that's right a lot of chicks dig him!
Roma, Ellie, Sage, Athena and me!

Our house, in the middle of our street

2008-08-11T14:56:00.000-07:00

Our house, was our castle and our keep
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, that was where we used to sleep
Our house, in the middle of our street

I love that song. Our house was in the middle of the street.

Anyway, so, I feel...not lied to, but inadvertently misled.
I grew up buying the line that buying a house is always a wise investment. Even in the middle of house prices plummeting, and us being back in to a corner with our house, I got this preached to me. I had to restrain myself from smacking the guy. Well, now I know that sometimes buying a house is an idiotic thing to do. Don't get me wrong, we made a huge profit from our first house, but our second house in Cedar, well....

It's April 2007 and we are in trouble up to our knees - no waists - at this point. The bank? Not so much happy with us about our non house payments. Foreclosure has been brought up. This hit us before the whole country started experiencing a foreclosure problem. We were experiencing it because Scott was deathly ill, not because of the other typical reasons others later experienced it, and we were in lonesome and new territory.

Anyway, I'm freaking out. Seeing these visions of begging someone to move in with them, declaring bankruptcy, the whole 9 yards. I needed some answers - some peace on the matter. So I kneel down and pray. I ask "Are we going to lose the house?" I get an answer - yes. Inside I totally panick, and why I thought asking the opposite question would be useful is beyond me, but I did. "Are we going to keep the house?" I get another yes. Okay I was totally confused. So, then I said (as if I was schooling the Lord), "Lord, both can't happen. We either keep or lose the house." I get an answer....'Don't worry about the house.'

Totally comforting answer - in a way. I mean, I didn't know what 'don't worry about the house' was supposed to mean as far as keeping or losing the house, but at least now I'm not going to worry about it....right?!

Fast forward to August 2007. The bank? Still not so happy about our non payments. We're getting certified letters, we're avoiding their phone calls. It wasn't looking good. I start freaking out again. "Lord, please, just tell me if we're going to lose the house, do I need to prepare to leave?"

Well, I got the most gentle chastisement I've ever had. 'Amy, I told you not to worry about the house.'

"Okay, okay...I'm sorry."

The whole rest of the year and the first 3 months of 2008, as the heat got more intense from the bank, I used all my energy to do as I'm told. Everything will be fine with the house, everything will be fine with the house. When Scott got his job, we spent another 1.5 months working things out with the bank, but we felt good about working out a deal and finding renters so we could move and Scott and I actually live in the same city instead of having him commute and seeing each other a handful of days per month.

When we decided to keep the house and rent it out, as soon as I can, I start advertising. We had the sign up, were telling people, and I'm craigslisting like crazy.

Long live Craig and his list.

Our move date is July 1st. We started paying rent on a house we felt very led to on June 1st. So, doing the hard math, we need renters by July 1st, cause we can't do 2 house payments.

There were a few soft leads on the house, but no one had signed on the dotted line. Then June 26 came around. By this time my dad is peeing his pants in nervousness for us. But what has Amy been told? Don't worry about the house, so I didn't. On the 26th, I get an email from someone wanting to look through the house, and I set the appt for the next morning. She comes on Friday morning, walks through the house, loves it, wants to sign papers right then. I'm thinking, whoa...slow down horsie. Turns out they needed to be out of their place by July 1st and she has seen nothing but crap houses. Ours was looking pretty good to her. I told her to wait, come back in the morning with her husband and when Scott was there, and we could both sleep on it. So, we sign papers the following morning - 3 days before the 1st. They are moving in to our house as we are moving out.

I thought my dad was going to shed a tear when I updated him. "Oh, it's a miracle, Amy. A miracle." I said, "Well, yeah, but I told you that I was told not to worry about the house."

Tender mercy # 5 billion and 1

Really?!?! With Scott and Amy

2008-08-11T14:05:00.000-07:00

If you're an SNL fan, you'll get this blog title.

Scott and Zephyr at the Gas Station en route to our new abode

Moving out of our house in Cedar was, to say the least, painfully comical. Apparently I was in denial as to how much work was still needed to move. Scott had moved about 90% of the house (which took the whole month of June) before the Sunday and Monday of the big move. So I thought it would be no big deal to get out of there being newly postpartum, with a newborn and 4 kids.

Let me back up a bit. I had two due dates with Zephyr. The first was June 6. The second due date, which we moved because the ultrasound indicated that maybe we were off, was June 18. So, in my head I thought June 10th was good. It was Athena's birthday (saves me from remembering 2 dates) and it was a Sunday, and I love Sunday births. After the first 2 dates came and went, I just let it go. Whatever, what do I know. I've driven myself crazy about a due date before, and I wasn't going to do that again. Scott on the other hand was a caged animal. The sooner the better was his reasoning, and try as he might (and believe me, he tried) he just couldn't convince the Lord to send the baby when Scott wanted him to. Huh, imagine that.

When I did have the baby, we (meaning Scott) knew we (meaning he) had 8 days to get us out of there, and that included being gone working on 5 of those days. Now, back to my first paragraph. Because I thought I was a Superfriend (Wonder Woman with my 'To Tell the Truth Lasso' to be exact), I told my friends, ward, RS ladies....nah, we won't need any help moving, we're just about done anyway. I am so grateful that every single one of them ignored me. My friend Kristin showed up Sunday and got a ton packed. Then on Monday about 5 ladies from the ward came and did the rest, AND spring cleaned the house.

What I would have done had they not come is probably fallen over dead (tender mercy number 5 billion), because starting Friday night was musical pukes. Sage hadn't been feeling good all day, but she was really looking forward to going to get pizza with my friend Aimee Fawson. She took the three little girls, and they come back 45 minutes later, which was a little quick, I thought. I'm told Sage felt horrible, so they cut it short. Not more than 10 minutes after she dropped them home was I racing, baby firmly attached to boob, to get Sage something to throw up in. My poor mother wanted to help, but she had just gotten over a bad flu and was super paranoid about getting it again. So she did what she could bring herself to help with, but I could tell she was scared to death, so I gave her baby duty while I set Sage up. I had Sage veg all of Saturday, and she was feeling good, didn't throw up again, so I thought 'phew! It was a one time deal, must have been something she ate.' She goes to church Sunday, totally fine and then 11 pm rolls around and I was laying down on a blow up mattress because Scott had packed all the bed furniture, and I'm trying to get Sage and Athena to drift off to la la land. Then I hear
"Mom, I don't feel good".
"What do you mean?"
"I think I'm going to......bletch, bluh, glug, bletch"

All over my foot. I feel bad about it now, but at the time it seemed completely reasonable to yell
"NO!!!!!! Come on! Are you serious?!!!! Sage, please stop puking on me and run to the bathroom."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean.....blethch, bluh, glug"

So, with a week old baby I drift to sleep at 12:30 am to the smell of puke in my room and a 6 year old with a bowl under her check next to my "bed". She threw up once more in the night, and once before she got a blessing that morning, and now entering stage left is......Athena. On Saturday Athena's lathargic, not lookin to hot. We have all the clothes packed (I mean ALL, except what we're wearing), the blow up mattress is the only 'furniture' left for pukey Sage to lay on and Athena lays down next to her and puke just flows out of her mouth. I look heavenward "Really?!? This is how it's going to go?" Aimee Fawson is there, luckily, and gets baby duty while I clean up Athena. I wasn't about to travel with a bag full of pukey clothes and no washer/dryer to clean them with when we got there, so I painstakingly decided my only choice was to throw her clothes out. Aimee volunteers to loan us some clothes of their little girl's, which Athena promptly threw up on when I got them on her. Then our neighbor Ginger loans us some of her 4 yo's clothes. I cross my fingers "Please!!!!! Just let us make the drive without her ruining these clothes."

So, we finally get everyone loaded in the car, we head to our friend's house for another blessing for Athena, and we head out of Cedar, at 9 pm, with 2 puke bowls, lots of wipes and paper towels. I'm driving the van, Scott's ahead of me in the moving van. One hour into the drive, I call his cell,
"Pull over! You gotta help me, Athena is puking again." Scott handled it very well, especially for having had load up and pack the entire weekend after working and commuting.

Alright, she didn't get it on her clothes...hooray, let's get moving again.

One hour later, I'm on the phone with Lorelee, who's keeping me energized and peppy, when I hear from ELLIE...
"Mom, I don't feel good."
"Are you for real?!!!" As I look heavenward, "Are you serious?!?"
"Sage, hand Ellie your bowl."

By this time, Sage was feeling stable. For that I was grateful, but not so happy when a half hour later I say "Lorelee, I gotta go, Ellie's puking now."

I call Scott, "You gotta pull over and help me with Ellie now."
Again, I'm impressed that he's so patient with them, cause I just start laughing. If I didn't I was going to cry.

"Mom, it's not funny, quit laughing."

So that was the last throw up (I think), until a few days later when I got a small touch of it, and then the next day Scott did, but he got it worse than I did. Luckily, Roma and Zephyr got off without having anything!!!!

Gratefully and mercifully, my best friend's sister, Teresa, showed up with a team of people to help us unload our truck the next morning. Again, we would have been in the crapper had they not just shown up and did it all for/with us. Not to mention she got me mostly unpacked. Tender mercy #5 billion and 50.

So, go ahead and comment....you got anything to top that?! Really?!?

This has been 'Really?!? With Scott and Amy'

Funny Thing About Names

2008-08-08T13:14:00.000-07:00

Sage (aka Chives) in all her dress up glory

We didn't name Zephyr for 2 weeks. In the meantime we joked about a variety of stupid names we were going to give him. One of our favorites was Chikezie...you know, from American Idol. So, while we were trying to decide on a name, the extended Cox side of my family was putting together an address list for the upcoming reunion. My sister, Cheryl, was in charge of getting info to my cousin for the list, and jokingly put Chuh-kee-sea Bubble Head as the baby's name, assuming it wouldn't get on the list like that, but it did. Ah...it was the highlight of my day when I found that out. I said, "That's okay, Cheryl, imagine how good the name Zephyr sounds after thinking we named him Chikezie."

So the hilarity doesn't end there. Get ready to bandage your sides. Yesterday we went to a homeschool activity and met all sorts of new people. One of the little girls we met is over right now hanging with Sage.
So the this new friend says to her mom, "Mom, I'm so glad I met Chives today."
The mom says, "Who?!"
"You know Chives, my new friend."
"Her name is Sage, not Chives."
"Oh, I knew it was some herb."

Apparently it wasn't so bad when people would call Roma Runa, or Ellie Ali.

Ah, the Food Issue

2008-08-08T10:34:00.000-07:00

I've given up on getting Athena to wipe her face

So, it's standard practice to get meals from the relief society after one births a baby. Each ward has their own way of doing it. I LOVE this aspect of the relief society. It is so needed after you have a baby, especially if you have other kids to get fed. I have said repeatedly for a long time that really these meals should last 4-6 weeks, but anything is needed, so I'm happy that new mom's get anything.

So, Scott started his new job in April, but we actually didn't get our first paycheck until May. I still don't know how we got gas and enough $ for him to eat for his commuting (although sometimes he wouldn't come home on the weekends because we couldn't afford it). Even with getting paid in May, we were playing catch up with not paying most of our bills in a year, and in some cases over a year, so all the pay check went to bills and incurred late fees in order to keep the repo man off of our doorstep (for the gazillioneth time) , the sheriff from throwing us out of the house because of foreclosure, etc. So, my dreams of ditching the bishop's storehouse would be delayed a while longer, but nonetheless, soooo grateful that I could still utilize the bishop's storehouse. Anyway, while I was happy to not have some of our previous stressors that month for the first time in a long time, it didn't make fixing meals from scratch (I mean scratch, as in cooking dry beans, taking a whole chicken apart, etc) at 8 months pregnant with 4 kids and limited food choices any easier. The RS counselor asked if I needed anything. I sheepishly said...."A dinner or two would be nice". I remember being on the phone with Jonelle one day trying to figure out what I could make for dinner, and finally I just gave up, "Oh well, I got nuthin. The Lord's going to have to send me inspiration, 'cause I have 3 ingredients to work with and have no clue what to fix." You don't know how many times I've prayed for dinnertime inspiration. The irony was, I remember being completely okay with it - my Oh well was a sincere Oh well. I think part of my journey was to learn to be okay with whatever the Lord blessed us with and learn to trust that the Lord would come through with our needs. A year previous I remember freaking out that we had nothing to feed our family - I literally curled up in the fetal position. And there I was 8 months pregnant, hungry, with hungry kids totally surrendered to and okay with not eating that night if that was the case. I ended up figuring out that I could make pancakes that night, but really, I remember thinking, Oh well if we don't eat, the Lord will send food soon. Quite a contrast from the year previous and it was then that I got my revelation that part of this whole faith thing is learning to let go of the outcome of things. It was quite liberating to let go of things. Granted it took me over a year to learn to let go of the self induced trauma of skipping meals, but I did it and I think we were blessed for it. Read on....

In the past I was spoiled, I suppose. I could buy whatever good foods and produce I wanted, I had my share of convenience foods (can I get a whoop whoop for Trader Joes?!! Ah, yeah. I miss my TJ's. Sometimes I catch myself visualizing walking down the isles), and stopped by my bagel shops and had the occasional eating out when I felt overwhelmed with all my other pregnancies. And I could plan ahead for after the birth and stock the freezer with meals you could just throw in the oven. But this time around, not the case. I actually spent a good portion of my pregnancy in fear that I hadn't provided enough nutrients for the baby. People kept on commenting on how small I was carrying (meant to be a compliment "Oh, wow...don't you look tiny for being 7 months"). I dreaded those comments, because it would solidify my fear. How relieved I was when Zephyr was 8 lbs 14 oz when he was born. Anywho, of all my pregnancies, this was the one I needed help with the most being away from my family and their help, Scott being gone ALL the time working the last 3.5 months of pregnancy, and having 4 other kids to feed and having to fix every meal from scratch - time consuming and exhausting, and forget about satisfying any sort of craving I might have had, because I couldn't.

So, you can imagine my gratitude when I got a few meals BEFORE the baby came. But then after the birth, I got meals from ladies in the ward every day up until the day we moved (which was 8 days postpartum). They were all great and incredibly needed, seeing as how even if we did have the $, there's no way I could have gotten myself to the store, and Scott had to commute back to work 3 days after the birth, so he couldn't help. But here's another real tender mercy. Not more than 12 hours after I had Zephyr, Scott's brother and his family were in a car full of groceries driving up to Cedar City to see us, took the girls to get ice cream, and give us food. I still tear up when I think of it. And my parents brought up a few things the Tuesday after the birth when my mom came to stay for the week and help with the kids, which I needed since Scott wasn't there to help.

So, when we got our bootay's out of Cedar City Monday night - 8 days postpartum (which is a whole other adventure I'll post about - it was like that scene in Ya Ya Sisterhood where all the kids are puking on Ashley Judd, and she slips in the puke and gets it all over her. But I digress....) we took off with some frozen meals the sister's had made for us and plenty of food to last us a while. We kind of snuck into our new ward. I had no one's phone numbers to let them know we were there until the following Sunday, so there was no prospect of meals from our new ward. We only had my best friend's sister's (Teresa Little rocks) number, and she mercifully brought us a meal Wednesday night. And considering all the other help they gave us (see other post), she went way above and beyond her call.

So on the next Friday after we moved, we were starting to run low on food again, and pay day wasn't for a while - I asked the Lord to send food....again.
The move had cost twice as much than what we had budgeted, so we were out of money....again.
I was so sad at the prospect that I might have to do Bishop's Storehouse....again.
Okay, so I cried for 30 minutes about it. "Hi, RS president who I've never met and don't even know your name. Can you come over and do a food order with me?"

For heaven's sake, I wanted a zucchini!! I wanted my Uncle Eddie's Cookies!!! Doesn't a postpartum mother deserve her favorite vegan cookie (this was my deranged pleadings with The Lord). Scott pretty much refused to do the storehouse again, so I left it up to the Lord.

We got the computer hooked up that Friday and I post to my new homeschool loops that we had made it into town and were excited to meet everyone, etc, didn't even elude to the fact that we were out of food. I immediately get an email back from a lady on the loop "Do you need a meal?". Wow, the Lord works quick, and through people who have never met you, except through email. Uh, sure angel stranger, apparently you heard my prayer this morning.

So, a meal comes, but not just a meal, she had made us extra, that I easily used the following two nights. What an awesome woman. Kasie Alba is her name and she rocks. So, come the next Tuesday, I get a call from the RS 2nd counselor in our new ward. "Can we bring you guys meals?" Ah, there was hardly a sweeter thing I could hear.

I love you, mom...that was good to hear.

Amy, you are looking as hot as ever with your postpartum belly making a muffin top over your pants and all...that would have been nice to hear if anyone had said it.

A trip to Hawaii, you say? I would have liked to have heard that.

But honestly, in that moment, nothing was better than 'we will fix your meals for you, bring it to you, and you don't have to worry about buying any food. By the way, dessert comes with ever meal, too.'

So, initially I set it up for 4 days. On the 4th day I get a call from the RS pres., "I decided to extend your meals 3 more days, 4 days is not enough." Is Amy dumb enough to refuse? Uh, no, because we still didn't have a paycheck - again another answer to my prayers. And not only were the meals extended, but the last meal was these 2 gourmet pizzas from this super good local pizza place, plus a punookie from the pizza place. Amy is lovin her new ward, thank you sistuh's.

We got the paycheck the day the meals ended. From start to finish, we got meals and food almost consistently for a full month, hence manifesting my belief that I mentioned in paragraph 1 that new moms should get meal for at least 4 weeks postpartum. Can I get a shout out for the power of thoughts and words?! You know it. Has anyone NOT seen The Secret yet? Okay, so moving on.

I went grocery shopping (like a full on grocery trip) for the first time in 18 months. Previously if I had $10 or $15, I'd go to the store and get orange juice and something else, but I hadn't done my complete shopping at the store for 18 months. It was exciting and daunting all at once. A lot had changed in food prices in 18 months, so it was a little depressing, not to mention my left brain wasn't working well yet (as if it was working well before the birth) and I was trying to figure out what to buy, trying to add as I go at this new store I had never been in with a baby on me nursing like crazy, strangers asking how old he is and commenting that I should be home resting, did I want paper or plastic. Don't get me wrong, it was cathartic to be there shopping, but it was hard. I lasted all of 45 minutes and didn't get half of what I needed, but I did it, nor could I find anything on manager's special, which is my own little high I get when I shop. But I felt accomplished and empowered.

So, again, more 11th hour tender mercies. So very cool.

The Law of Distraction

2008-07-24T16:46:00.000-07:00

Most of you who are reading this are aware that our family had a really hard 18 months from about November '06 to March '08. Hard might be an understatement, but I guess that all depends on your perspective. Granted, we are still in recovery mode from that time period and it's not like we are swimming in a pool of money (yet), but even though we are still in the process of getting back on our feet, it's doable compared to the trials we were 'blessed' with during those 18 months. We have experienced so many tender mercies from The Lord, though, and are still experiencing them. Prior to November '06, I would notice these 'tender mercies', but as life would move forward and distractions creped in, they would be quickly forgotten. I am determined to remember them from now on.

I wrote many of them down on a pad of paper I am still searching for. I am praying it didn't get lost in the move, but I will share our latest one because it was Dick Clark's Rockin' New Years Eve.

We had a gas dryer in our Cedar City house. Scott informed me a few weeks before moving that our new house only had electric hookups for a dryer, and no amount of configuring was going to change it so that we could use our gas dryer. So I began posting on craiglist that we wanted to sell or trade our gas dryer, and we'd use the money to find an electric dryer on craigslist if we didn't trade - btw, try Craigslist for everything, it's awesome.

So I'm posting, and posting, and posting....there were a few leads, but nothing ever came to fruition, so we moved with the gas dryer in hopes of selling or trading after we moved.
Well, wash doesn't wait for a dryer, and the dirty laundry was piling up and the girls were starting to look like white trash. There was no dryer in sight, so I bit the bullet and just hung dried indoors, since we had no money to even buy supplies to hang outdoors. So, there were clothes strewn all over the place, and of course they dried stiff. It got old fast, but we just didn't have another choice if we wanted clean clothes, albeit "crunchy", as the girls called it. Scott was going insane, though. He was just using up every last bit of clean clothes he had and "threatened" to start going to a laundry mat. Not a laundry mat! Oh, the humanity of it all!

I didn't mind too much, I was learning some things. Like, no wonder before washers and dryers people didn't have too many clothes, washing all of them would have consumed every stinkin waking moment. And I learned how to efficiently arrange things so they dried the fastest. I also learned that I really really like having a dryer. But after 2.5 weeks of this, Scott reached his limit. He had just gotten paid and told me that he was going to go buy a dryer without looking at the budget. Well, things are still tight, and I knew this unplanned expense might just be a horrible decision. So, Scott called me from Home Depot and tells me of this dryer he wants to get, he talked the guy down and he's not going to offer him this price again, and what do I think, he really can't live in these third world conditions anymore (okay, maybe he didn't say that, but that's how it was coming across). I told him I hasn't finished crunching numbers on the budget yet and I wasn't going to agree to anything until we figured that out.

Scott comes home, oh how do we say....a little testy. When he finally pulled himself together, we crunched numbers and if we didn't pay this or that, moved money around and only spent $100 on food the next 4 weeks (which we had done multiple times in the past while, so I knew how to pull that off), we could get this dryer. As Scott was walking out the door to get the dryer, he gets a phone call. That morning I had posted my 'For Sale or Trade' ad as a last ditch effort to get rid of our gas dryer. It was someone responding to the ad, and they wanted to trade, which was my first choice if we could get a comparable dryer...it just reduced expense, time and headache.

Long story short (too late, right?), we agreed to the trade and Scott set up a meeting place for the next day. It's Saturday, I help him load the dryer, and he's off to trade. He comes back an hour later with a dryer that is in great running condition, it just wasn't as high end as our old dryer and it had a spot where there was a chemical spill or something that had eaten the paint off the dryer. "Okay" I thought, "so maybe we got the short end of the stick, but it was a free dryer, we needed it yesterday, and it works well, so just be grateful." Then Scott says to me, "The guy felt bad that it wasn't an even trade, so he offered me $75." Imagine that....a free dryer and $75. "That was pretty generous considering we agreed to take his dryer as is, kinda defeats the purpose of trading for him, but that's cool of him." Then Scott goes on to explain how this guy wasn't hurting for money - had a great car, was some sort of self made millionaire, etc. I go on to question Scott, then why in the world was he trading dryers instead of just buying a nice one. It was a mystery to Scott, too. I suppose that's how some people make their money is by knowing when to buy and knowing when to trade. Whatever the case, I don't care.
I am just grateful for:
1. A free dryer that works well
2. Our gas dryer going to a good home
3. $75 on top of that
4. Having it all happen the day we needed it to
5. Saving the $280 we were going to use for the dryer and now we can buy more food

Since November '06, The Lord has blessed us with his mercies in the 11th hour multiple times. This was no different. I'm coming to expect it. It's all about faith and trust and being okay with whatever outcome the Lord wants to give us.
Next time I'll blog about our other 11th hour tender mercies in the form of meals from the RS.

That's right, dawg, I have a blog.

2008-07-16T15:34:00.000-07:00

I fought it for a long time. I figured I had enough websites to keep everyone at a steady yawn, but since we've moved away from family and friends, I've really enjoyed staying in touch with their happenings through their blogs. So, I'm doing the same.

Here's Zephyr at 3 weeks throwing down his gang sign at ya'll. Peace.