More recipes

I’ve had a couple of requests for more my my family recipes, so I’ve now added to My Favourite Recipes my Grandmama’s chili and a delicious chicken-and-rice casserole that I also got from her – these ARE favourite dishes that enjoy a regular rotation on our dinner menus… enjoy!

My favourite Christmas gift

it’s not one I received; it’s one I gave: one of the things I did for my immediate family this year was to make them little coupon books, one for every month of the year, so this is literally the gift that gives all year long!

for the kids, there are 3 different coupons that rotate through each quarter:

1. special activity at home w/me (playing a game, making a treat or craft, etc.)
2. special dinner of your choice (needs 3 days advance notice so I can make sure I have ingredients on hand), and
3. special outing w/me (feeding the ducks, going to an indoor play place, etc.)

to keep from feeling overwhelmed, the kids’ coupons are all different for any given month: one has the activity at home, another has the dinner, and the other has the outing; next month they all rotate (the double-rotation wasn’t all that tricky to manage)

Larry’s coupons are quite different from the kids’, but they’re meaningful to him and there are still 3 of them that rotate through each qtr:

1. a whine-free chick flick (I will rarely — if ever — voluntarily watch a chick flick, and when I do get wrangled into watching one, I kvetch about it almost incessantly; I’d rather have root canal than watch sappy “girl” movies, ICK )
2. a red meat dinner (again, needs 3 days advance notice so I can make sure I have ingredients on hand), and
3. a romantic surprise (I timed these to fall in different months from Valentine’s Day or our anniversary)

I’m very happy to see how excited my family are (esp the kids!) to have these coupons to use — so far we have yet to get past the 1st week of the month before the kids have decided how they want to use their coupon for that month! it was a fun challenge for me to come up w/things I thought my family would enjoy and make these gifts all about them, whether it’s spending time w/them or doing something special for them (or both!)… it’s very easy to adapt this idea to any other gift-giving ocassion, from birthdays and anniversaries to holidays, so I’m sure my family will see these again in future…

A special day for Ethan

when our eldest son Ethan turned 8 back in Nov, he decided that he wanted to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. naturally as his parents, we were very pleased with and encouraged this decision, since we try to consistently teach all of our children the importance of living the gospel and obeying all of God’s commandments, including being baptized as members of His church. Ethan faced some opposition to his decision early on, but today, when his decision was finally fulfilled as the sacred ordinances of baptism and confirmation were performed, his whole family was in attendance to support him and the choice he made.

many people not of our faith wonder why we don’t baptize babies and instead wait until our children are at least 8 yrs of age before they can be baptized. Latter-Day Saints believe that babies and little children are innocent and without blame in the eyes of God, and that baptizing those that are without sin is a mockery (Moroni 8:9); it isn’t until children reach 8 yrs old that they are able to distinguish right from wrong (assuming they’ve been taught to make that distinction), a milestone which is also generally recognized even by secular developmental psychologists and within the LDS church is frequently referred to as “the age of accountability,” meaning that children are now old enough, and have been sufficiently instructed, to be held accountable for their own choices and actions.

other people wonder why we baptize by immersion (putting the individual being baptized completely under water) instead of just sprinkling the person’s head w/a bit of water. we believe that to truly follow the example set by Jesus Christ, whose followers we profess to be, we must be baptized as He was (see Mark 1:10, which refers to Jesus “straightway coming up out of the water” [emphasis mine]).

sometimes explaining gospel principles to children in a way that they can understand can be challenging, but I believe that the Lord helped me find the right words to say to Ethan (and to the other children who were there) – as part of the baptism service I gave a short talk about baptism, which I share here w/you now (I have to write everything out b/c I always get very nervous speaking in front of a group of people, esp when there are many people there whom I don’t know):

13 Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.
14 But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?
15 And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.
16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
(Matthew 3:13-17, KJV)

Ethan, this is a very special day for you.  We’re very happy that you’ve made the decision to be baptized, and we know the Lord is pleased w/your decision as well.

Do you know what it means to be a disciple? A disciple is someone who follows and learns from someone else.  The word “disciple” comes from the same very old word as “discipline,” which basically means “to stay within certain boundaries.” It’s like making sure we colour inside the lines, only w/our words and actions instead of w/crayons. By being baptized, you’re making a special promise to Heavenly Father and Jesus that you’ll colour inside the lines called the gospel, and in return, They promise you many blessings for being obedient.

This doesn’t mean that you’ll never have any problems or you’ll never make any mistakes. If you’re playing a game like soccer or dodgeball, sometimes you might step out of bounds, or if you’re colouring a picture, you might accidentally go outside the lines. Some mistakes we need help to put right, but most of our mistakes we can put right ourselves by praying for forgiveness for the thing we did that was wrong, making it up to anyone who might have been hurt by what we did, and trying very hard not to make that same mistake again. Every week when we take the Sacrament, we renew the promise we make at baptism to follow Jesus and His teachings.

Being baptized today is the first major step you take to show that you want to follow Jesus’ example. Even tho’ Jesus is perfect and didn’t need baptism to cleanse Him from sin, He was baptized to set the example for us. When we are baptized as Jesus was, we are immersed in water, which means we’re put all the way under the water – this represents being buried, and any sins we’ve had are now dead, which is why we bury them; and coming up out of the water again represents being resurrected, or being brought back to life, as followers of Jesus Christ.

D&C 18:22 tells us “And as many as repent and are baptized in my name, which is Jesus Christ, and endure to the end, the same shall be saved.” I know that as you try to be obedient, to keep the commandments, and to follow Jesus’ example, you’ll be happy even when life is hard, and you’ll be blessed for living a righteous life.

Tip-toeing down Memory Lane

I’ve been on Facebook for a while, but I haven’t really used it until just recently, when old friends (and I mean “from back 20+ yrs ago” old!) started finding me on FB, and it just kinda snowballed from there… I’ve not exactly been in a hurry to go find old schoolmates, etc. b/c I’ve changed SO much in 20 yrs, and I’ve had this gnawing fear that people who knew me more than 5 yrs ago would not only remember how I used to be but might still expect me to be the same way as when they knew me… I’m finding that’s generally NOT the case (thank goodness!), but I’m still tip-toeing rather cautiously down Memory Lane — as each experience proves pleasant, I can relax and enjoy the renewed acquaintance w/people I haven’t seen or heard from in YEARS…

Draper temple open house

this afternoon we went as a family to visit the LDS temple in Draper while it’s open to the public — the kids have never been inside a temple before (only seen pictures), and I was very pleased by how reverent they were while we were there… as we walked through the temple, we quietly explained to our children what each of the different spaces and rooms are used for and the importance of the sacred covenants we make in the temple… I think they were all quite awed by the beauty of the appointments — all of the kids pronounced the spectacular crystal chandeliers their favourite part — but LDS temples are always very beautiful, both inside and out; the fine quality of both the workmanship and the materials used to build modern temples are “visible symbols of honour and reverence to God.”

afterward we had cookies at a large local LDS meetinghouse (a stake center) and spent some time looking at a display of other temples around the world — I told the kids about some of the other temples I’ve visited in other parts of the country and the world, and they could look at the large map on the wall and see all of the dots that showed where temples are located throughout the world (there are currently 128 LDS temples in operation, on every habitable continent of the globe, w/more continually being build when and where they are needed).

while the temples are very beautiful to see, the most beautiful thing about them is the feeling of peace and joy one experiences within their walls, knowing that they are part of God’s plan for the eternal happiness of all mankind…

Colourblind

it is unbelievably difficult to be colourblind in a world that doesn’t seem to want to believe that someone could actually be that way… I’m not talking about the “can’t distinguish red from green” kind of colourblind; I mean the “skin colour doesn’t mean anything about a person” kind of colourblind.

I recall the first time I ever saw Remember the Titans and being just completely FLOORED that people could’ve been so hateful to each other in my lifetime (I was born in 1971) just b/c the colour of someone’s skin was different from their own… that’s like saying you hate people who are bald, or blind, or short — in a word, it’s ridiculous, esp to any intelligent person. nobody CHOOSES their skin colour any more than we choose our height. how can anyone possibly be so irrational as to hate someone for something they have NO choice about?

people aren’t born prejudiced, they have to be taught. personally, I was taught as a child to dislike certain behaviours and attitudes, such as laziness and cruelty, but physical attributes like skin colour were simply never discussed as being worthy of disdain; to the contrary, those who influenced me were consistently quite adamant that “one cannot judge a book by its cover, but it’s what inside that counts”…

I never learned to treat people any particular way based on their appearance, and in my apparent ignorance and naïveté I sometimes say things that other people (whom I can only guess were taught, either directly or indirectly, to make such distinctions) have erroneously construed as prejudice against people whose skin colour differs from my own; honestly, I can’t help but wonder if some of the things I’ve said would’ve been labeled as “borderline racist” if my skin was any colour other than white… I’m deeply saddened and very hurt that anyone could think that I’m supposed to be keenly aware of and hyper-sensitive to race, when I’ve always thought the whole idea of living into Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream was to judge people “not…by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” — believe it or not, that’s not something this white girl merely thinks is a lovely sentiment, nor is it something I have to make a conscious effort to do, it’s just how I was raised and is part of MY character; it makes me genuinely unhappy to get these unwelcome reminders that so many other people apparently still think skin colour is important… any time this happens, part of me grieves that I offended someone b/c I’m just not the kind of person who goes out of my way to hurt people’s feelings, but part of me also grieves that any person — and often one who knows next to nothing about me and my values — felt free to assign values to me and then to judge me…!

but it seems the unhappy reality is that we do live in a world where people still feel the need to say such inappropriate and unproductive things as “when white will embrace what is right” (if a white man had said “when NON-white will embrace what is right,” he would’ve been immediately and publicly excoriated, and rightly so) — as if the colour of anyone’s skin has ANY correlation to their behaviour/attitudes or their individual worth — and directly on the heels of Martin Luther King Day, no less… the hypocrisy is appalling. Dr. King’s eloquent and moving speech spoke of REAL hope and unity, not continually perpetuated divisiveness: “The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. (emphasis mine)” I just assumed (apparently very naïvely) that the vast majority of people in this day and age truly believe that ALL men ARE created equal — despite our individual differences in ability, motivation, circumstances, etc. — and that what people do and say is INFINITELY more important than what they look like…

“colourblind” and “white person” are NOT mutually exclusive; white-skinned people aren’t automatically all bigots just by virtue of the fact that their skin is white…

you wanted me to see your skin;
I wanted to see your heart.
you wanted to show me how different we are
tho’ we’re really not so far apart.
you wanted me to make up for things
I’ve never done or said.
you wanted to teach me a lesson,
when all I wanted was to be your friend.

I’ve agonized over this post for 3 days now, and it’s made me physically ill — I had a migraine from crying tears of frustration as I wrote this, my stomach is still in and out of knots, and my heart just aches w/the pain of disillusionment… someone please tell me that intelligent people in this day and age are NOT actually expected to pay strict attention to the colour of people’s skin (or the shape of their facial features, or any other physical attribute) and learn a particular way to treat each variation instead of just dealing honestly and fairly w/all of them… please tell me that I’m not “ahead of my time” and that I don’t have to resign myself to going through life w/people continually trying to pull me down into making assumptions about another person based on how they look and having to live w/people making assumptions about me just b/c of how I look… please tell me that yes, we’re well past inflicting unfounded or poorly formed preconceptions on others and it’s only a rare few who still haven’t caught up… PLEASE…

Soup and stew weather

altho’ I’m not a big fan of snow and ice (mostly on roads — I don’t mind it elsewhere, b/c honestly it’s very pretty ), I do like cold weather: this is soup and stew weather! DH isn’t a big fan of cream-based soups, tho’, so I’ve been challenging myself to find recipes that he’ll appreciate (why slave over a hot stove to make food people won’t like?); to that end, yesterday I found a recipe for French beef stew on allrecipes.com, altho’ as near as I can tell, the only reason anyone would have to call this stew French is b/c it has Dijon mustard as an ingredient… however, that being said, whatever you want to call it, this stew was QUITE good (of course I made a bunch of adjustments to the original recipe, I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t LOL) — DH gave it 2 thumbs WAY up — and this will definitely become my go-to beef stew, so I’m sharing the recipe on my “My Favourite Recipes” page… enjoy!

“To the bar, sir.”

I don’t know about the other branches of our military, but in the Army there’s a singular salute — rarely invoked — applied to those who are undeserving of the rank to which they’ve risen: “To the bar, sir,” which indicates respect for the rank itself, but disdain for the person who wears the insignia in that instance.

my only salute to incoming President Obama: “To the bar, sir.”

Back in the 21st century

we finally bailed on our Digis wireless internet, since connex speeds w/them were so slow (at least in our area) as to be reminiscent of dial-up in the 80s – DH and I used to joke about having potato-powered internet… stability was also an issue, as it seemed that every time we had severe weather, we ended up having no internet access for at least 14 hrs, usually longer… I’m not a big fan of Qwest, our new ISP, but I must admit it’s BLAZING fast – just this AM, DH was downloading a large file onto his Macbook, he was logged into his Macbook from his office, AND we were video chatting while I was doing a bit of research online, all w/o any noticeable lag in page load speeds, video speed, etc… so while I’m not exactly chuffed about being w/Qwest (their customer service sucks big rotten ostrich eggs), I am happy to once again have internet speed comparable to everyone else in the 21st century… (now I just hope I never have to call Qwest for support! :X )

Fell off the blogging wagon

I need to just start posting little tidbits again – I seem to have developed the tendency to get bogged down in massive blog posts that seem to sit in draft forever and rarely (if ever) see the light of day… what’s the point in that?