what i think about sometimes

“If women were convinced that a day off or an hour of solitude was a reasonable ambition, they would find a way of attaining it. As it is, they feel so unjustified in their demand that they rarely make the attempt”. –Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Short Fingers

All this time I've believed I was unskilled and untalented because I cannot play a musical instrument.
I had an electric organ as a kid that I loved and practiced on a lot, to no avail. My cousins and friends all seemed to play the Piano well. Not me. I bought a guitar as a young teen and tried and tried. Never could do much with it either

Did anyone else hate it in church when you were asked to list your talents?

I used to try and console myself by claiming to be a "jack of all trades master of none" or a "good listener". I finally took a small class on leading music and joined the school choir.
Okay, so I am not musicaly talented either but I have discovered that I have shorter than average fingers! Nothing freakish mind you, but short enough to hinder my ability. What a relief. I would rather be deformed than lesser. I don't know what that says about me. I just know I would have liked to have had this excuse years ago.
This also explains my short based stubby looking fingernails--sigh.

Confusius must know something

I am going cold turkey off my Hrt and Kind cold of off my anti D. I have been warning all my friends and family.
Then today I got a fortune cookie tucked on top of my box of Green Bee produce and inside it said,

" Your emotions are running very close to the top today and that's okay"

Kitchen Resolve

As part of my resolve to update/get rid of junk in my kitchen I purchased an inexpensive cast iron pot from Ikea. (I had been eyeballing them at discount stores like Homegoods and Tuesday Morning for several months now dragging my feet and keeping it a low priority. ) It is blue.
I promptly lost the carefully saved directions for seasoning the pot.
Also, since it has been 6 years or so since my "outdoor days" in Colorado and my entire life prior to that in Idaho, I can't seem to remember anything except you have to treat it very particularly. So I have looked it up and posted instructions here.
I know Allison has a Cast iron pot so she might benefit from reading this too.

-begining of boring instructions
Seasoning Cast Iron
New Pans
Heat the oven to 250 - 300
Coat the pan with lard or bacon grease.(Don't use a liquid vegetable oil because it will leave a sticky surface and the pan will not be properly seasoned.) ( I hear shortening will work, that's what I am using)
Put the pan in the oven.( turn on the exhaust fan) In 15 minutes, remove the pan & pour out any excess grease. ( I hear wipe with towel to toss or paper towel). Place the pan back in the oven and bake for 2 hours.
Repeating this process several times is recommended as it will help create a stronger "seasoning" bond.
Also, when you put the pan into service, it is recommended to use it initially for foods high in fat, such as bacon or foods cooked with fat,( and not with high water content like pasta etc.) because the grease from these foods will help strengthen the seasoning.

Pans needing Re-Seasoning
If the pan was not seasoned properly or a portion of the seasoning wore off and food sticks to the surface or there is rust, then it should be properly cleaned and re-seasoned.
Remove any food residue by cleaning the pan thoroughly with hot water and a scouring pad. I understand that heating the pan first to a temperature that is still safe to touch helps open the pores of the metal and makes it easier to clean.
Dry the pan immediately with dish towel or paper towel.
Season the pan as outlined above.

Caring for Cast Iron Cookware
Seasoning a cast iron pan is a natural way of creating non-stick cookware. And, like you cook and clean the modern non-stick cookware with special care to avoid scratching the surface, your cast iron cookware wants some special attention too.
Clean the cookware while it is still hot by rinsing with hot water and scraping when necessary. Do not use a scouring pad or soap (detergent) as they will break down the pan's seasoning.
Never store food in the cast iron pan as the acid in the food will breakdown the seasoning and the food will take on a metallic flavor.
Store your cast iron cookware with the lids off, especially in humid weather, because if covered, moisture can build up and cause rust. Should rust appear, the pan should be re-seasoned.


-the end

Blue Pot

I don't think teflon flakes are a food group or are considered a form of seasoning.



Sunday, Rachel invited a Date to sunday dinner. I did not have enough drinking glasses that matched and several of the spoons had been chewed rough by the garbage disposal. My prior resolve edged way up on my priority list.



On Tuesday we did a RS craft project that etched the bottom of our clear glass cassarole dishes with our names. Mine has a big chip in it (a no-no)and brown grease speckles around the edges, needless to say I did not take it. (Two more notches in the rankings.)


Danny doesn't think his apartment of college boys needs my old dishes. ( Now it bursts to the top of the list)


With " the Holidays" coming up and the fact I am supposed to be a grown-up now I am borowing a car to go to Tuesday Morning right now.


I now have a box of stuff to donate. If they will take it.


I read somewhere that it is quite fashionable to use rambling sentences-- like talking.

Absentee

I've run away to the north. V

What I think about...

"The sense of being overwhelmed is very much a part of the journey."

Joseph McConkie

Must be a good day

What am i doing?
I am blogging and eating Muddy Buddies at 1:18 am

http://www.chex.com/recipes/Special.aspx

excerpts in-- What I Think About Sometimes

Happiness

Our preoccupation with happiness has come at the cost of sadness, an important feeling that we've tried to banish from our emotional repertoire.
It is lamentable that young people who are naturally weepy after breakups are often urged to medicate themselves instead of working through their sadness.
Both the happiness and anti-happiness forces actually agree on something important—that we Americans tend to grab superficial quick fixes such as extravagant purchases and fatty foods to subdue any negative feelings that overcome us. Such measures seem to hinge on a belief that constant happiness is somehow our birthright. Indeed, a body of research shows instant indulgences do calm us down—for a few moments. But they leave us poorer, physically unhealthy, and generally more miserable in the long run—and lacking in the real skills to get us out of our rut.

Our adaptability works in two directions. Because we are so adaptable, we quickly get used to many of the accomplishments we strive for in life, such as landing the big job or getting married. Soon after we reach a milestone, we start to feel that something is missing. We begin coveting another worldly possession or eyeing a social advancement. But such an approach keeps us tethered to the "hedonic treadmill," where happiness is always just out of reach, one toy or one notch away. It's possible to get off the treadmill entirely, by focusing on activities that are dynamic, surprising, and attention-absorbing, and thus less likely to bore us than, say, acquiring shiny stuff.

Happiness is not about smiling all of the time. It's not about eliminating bad moods.

What is happiness? The most useful definition—and it's one agreed upon by neuroscientists, psychiatrists, behavioral economists, positive psychologists, and Buddhist monks—is more like satisfied or content than "happy" in its strict bursting-with-glee sense. It has depth and deliberation to it. It encompasses living a meaningful life, utilizing your gifts and your time, living with thought and purpose.
It's maximized when you also feel part of a community. And when you confront annoyances and crises with grace. It involves a willingness to learn and stretch and grow, which sometimes involves discomfort. It requires acting on life, not merely taking it in.

( Psychology Today)

I am not insulted by Hanukah.

The children were told by their schools not to sing,
About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.
It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say
December 25th is just a ' Holiday '.
Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit
Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!
CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod
Something was changing, something quite odd!
Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa
In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.
As Targets were hanging their trees upside down
At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where to be found.
At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's and Sears
You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.
Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty
Are words that were used to intimidate me.
Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen
On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton !
At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter
To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.
And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith
Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace.
The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded
The reason for the season, stopped before it started.
So as you celebrate 'Winter Break' under your 'Dream Tree'
Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.
Choose your words carefully, choose what you say
Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS ,
not Happy Holiday !

...

anonymous from Karen Collins

Inner Peace--- anonymous

CALMNESS IN OUR LIVES. by a friend of mine
I am passing this on because it definitely works, and we could all use a little more calmness in our lives.

By following simple advice heard on the Dr. Phil show, you too can find inner peace. Dr Phil proclaimed, "The way to achieve inner peace is to finish all the things you have started and have never finished."

So, I looked around my house to see all the things I started and hadn't finished and before leaving the house this morning - I finished a package of Oreos, the remainder of my old Prozac prescription, the rest of the cheesecake, some Doritos and a box of chocolates. You have no idea how good I feel right now.

I'm Sailing On

This is Important to Me. it is what I have come to know.
Like it or not, I am in charge.
We have the ability and the responsibility to choose what we think about. It is a divine power.

You make me angry" is a false statement. No one, nothing "makes" us angry. We choose.
"We are the captains of our soul"( loosely quoted)

Choose not to be angry. Choose to forgive quickly. Choose to not be offended.
Choose Faith.

D&C 58:28 For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves

Fear of failure?-don't allow yourself to think about it.
(I see this in kids especially, they don't want to do something they are not already good at. It is a sad trap.)
Faith/Fear - Faith/Doubt - Trust/worry -- opposite sides--it is one or the other. You can't really have both at the same time. Whose side are you on?

Don't allow yourself to think about it. Dwelling on some "lie" only gives it more power more of a chance to become a physical part of who you are.

Don't be afraid of criticism from those around you. Don't see it where it isn't.
Do not let fear stop you.
Do try new things and progress.

What are you choosing to dominate your thoughts? Have you considered that as a gift from Heaven?

Your thoughts and memory process are a complicated chemical reaction in your brain. it affects us biologically, spiritually and socially. -- becoming an actual cellular, physical part of who we are.

Proverbs 23:7 As a man thinketh so is he.

Choose what you think about wisely. It becomes part of you and influences what you do and say and become, and it amplifies with age. This is one of my favorite topics. I may speak on it often.



a lighter aside- from out in left field- If you have seen the old movie "9to5" they would never have done any of those things if they hadn't "imagined" them first. (It's been remade into a Broadway musical by the way).

Clothing for those who need it.

"All the clothing we need for the poor is in the closets of the Saints". I am sure they will give If we can just get the message to them. (the last part isn't exact)

This quote is why I normally don't do garage sales, and have saved my major clothes sorting for the end of this month instead of for the garage sale. I think we all have too many clothes. something about shopping for them is a balm. (I have some kind of clothing issue I guess I can hardly stand to hang up my clean laundry.)
I guess I will start mentally preparing now for the sort. Connie, where are you when I need you! Ha ha.

Don't forget to give to Deseret Industries. Don't just let things sit in there til they are out of style. Give ,em out now to someone who can really use and appreciate them.
Every one piece in - means two out.

Politcal video

I am so glad the theme of conference was, for me at least, "Hope in Perilous Times", 'cause this stuff really scares me.
Click on this link and view the video.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1815825713/bctid1819819843


We really have to stand up and protect the family! It is in real danger. Voting in AZ and California is happening this election. This video adresses that issue and uses experience of just one family in Massachusetts.

Out With the Old

I am ripping out the old growth in my garden. It is time to plant again.
I harvested nothing!--no wait, 3 small (nickle sized) yellow cherry tomatoes before it got too hot to set fruit.

The Zinnias in the front didn't work well either, and the potted plants are mostly dead again.

I don't know, as Rae Rae says, "The heat makes me angry"!

I had to drive Mom to her dentist Appointment this afternoon in Rae's topless, aircondioningless, car. I made Mom wear a hat to keep the sun off a little bit. She didn't like that much. She won't even let a window be rolled down usually 'cause it blows too much. (I had been on a wild goose chase to try and get a different car to take, but to no avail)! arghh.

Can you see it, imagine it? It was really quite fun. the looks we got were different from the usual ones this car gets.

No $10,000 dollar dentist for My mom, no Sir!

We had Dr. Thomas, from our ward, take out(not rip out as I did my garden) Mom's old teeth stuff and put in shiney new gold crowns.

A Ward Visited

It was a fairly isolated ,unchanging Ward, and I made some observations. (The Speakers were really good, some of the best ever, even.) Those observations are the topic for todays Dinner table.
Observed in Sacrament Meeting;

No one singing
teenager studying for the Drivers Test
reading a novel held up high in front of face
drinking from a water bottle pulled from a brown paper bag (full of food too?)
ipod earphones in
doing hair
leaning forward with ears covered
sleeping
back massages- the distracting kind
preparing a lesson
serious snacking

I did not see any texting or hear a phone ring.

These were not little kids either.

I really was trying to listen to the great speakers.
It took some effort to keep from being distracted.
How did the speakers feel I wonder, was anyone even looking at them?

What if we had been investigators?

How am I in my ward?

Opposition in All Things I Guess

There is a beautifully simple chapel built high above Sedona. It seems to almost grow out of the rocks and mountains themselves. Candles are lit and prayers ascend, people ponder and meditate there, and the views are beautiful, except for one thing--Someone is building a horrendous mansion right across the way!
It is gaudy and ostentatious in the extreme. The contrast is like day and night, good and evil, and it is blatantly worldly like a "great and spacious building". It is not quite completed, and no one lives in it yet, but the architect has a sign up procaiming his ownership in the creation of this folly, this blight on the landscape, but, it is also sure that someone will soon move in, oblivious to the insult.
This is beyond one of those "McMansions" I dislike so much. I was appalled at its "grotesque audacity". (Okay, now I am stretching.)
I know I am ranting, but I couldn't help myself this time and it is my blog, perhaps I will start using this forum more often. I do love to climb on the old soap box once in a while.

If we become aware of this frightening trend, we can battle it in our own way. I don't know what that way may be but I hope we find it. I know awareness is the first step toward change.

Here is a photo in one direction from the courtyard entryway of the Christian chapel. ( I think it was Catholic) I did not take a picture the other way. I could not bring myself to do so. Maybe I should have. No, I don't think so, that might have given it some sort of perverse recognition "it" somehow craves.

My Desert

Giant Saguaro
Ocotillo

Cholla -Staghorn

(Teddybear) Cholla

cute little prickly thing!

mammillaria Hedgehog?

Barrel Cactus

Yup, this is just higher in elevation than where I live in Gilbert.

It's July, time to give up Gardening!

Every year about this time I throw down my hoe and give up. yup, I give up my lifeline, gardening!
Theoretically, gardening keeps me sane, so naturallly I am not sane while here -in the desert-where it is- shall I say it one more time?--- HOT!

Funny enough, Cilantro can't grow in this heat either, wouldn't you think that most famous of all Mexican herbs could survive in the Sonoran Desert?
Nope.

I grow Violets on my kitchen window sill so it is not so bad when there are all those dirty dishes pilled up. Here are what my window sill Violets looked like last month.
Not now of course! Not even house plants do well here!
(no picture needed/wanted )
(so much for blooming where you are planted huh Alli?) not really

I quit

Maybe I should give up having animals too. I already gave up horses. Picking up after the dogs in the CITY is not fun. Poor Argo is not a hot climate city dog and he is getting so old. We did finally get him shaved last week thanks to Rae. Dodger has that funny bum that makes him look awful not even cute anymore and has started to bark at everyone, he has alergys i guess-- the vet gave up. Two fish have died. And my house and clothes are covered with gray long cat hair. I hate that.


I have already quit dolls, except i have to start selling off my collection soon.

Wishes

I only wish to stay inside my house, or in the yard. I do not wish to go anywhere.
I do not wish to go to the grocery store or to wash the car.
I wish to lay my back and ligaments down and not to drive or hike again for a very long time.