The 3 Phases of Canning

I am excited, I am motivated, I am going to try something new and broaden my homemaking horizons! Just look at the possibilities in that wonderful box!

I am hot, I am tired. I have tomatoes covering every square inch of my kitchen. I have tomatoes in my fingernails. I am sick, sick, sick of the smell of tomatoes. Every bowl and pan that I own is now dirty. My feet are sticking to my kitchen floor. Whose great idea was this anyway??

Ahhhh...20 perfectly sealed jars of homemade salsa. Don't they look beautiful? I think I'll leave them out on the counter for a few days just so I can look at them. I am finished, I am successful, I am self-sufficient. Yeah for me!

Will the real me please stand up?

In my perfect world (you know, the one I create in my mind when I wish things were different from the way they really are), my husband would come home every day from work for a little while at 10:30 in the morning. Sure it would be fun to see him for a little while in the mid-morning. But my real reason for this wish is for him to see ME mid-morning. Because at 10:30 I am still motivated, happy, cheerful and full of patience and understadning for everyone around me. The reality is that when he walks in the door between 5:30 and 6:00 I am definitely at my worst. The day has run it's course and I am usually the loser in that race. By 5:30 chaos has erupted and I lack the energy and the patience to deal with it. Dinner, children, homework, practicing, soccer, scouts, football, etc, etc, etc. The house that has been clean all day now looks like a train wreck. So most days he walks in and sees a tired, grumpy, frustrated wife who no longer uses that soft tone of voice that she was using at 10:30 in the morning. I wonder if he assumes that this is how I spent the entire day. Sometimes I want to shout out a disclaimer-- I promise I have been a really, really good mother up until the last 15 minutes before you came home. I promise I haven't been yelling at the kids all day and you don't need to worry about their safety. I really did have a great plan for the day and got most of it accomplished. This chaos does not define me nor my day! I do have a fabulous husband. He dives right into the chaos and lends a helping hand where he can. I guess it is something that I have to try harder at. After working all day, the man deserves something pleasant to come home to. But he is also so understanding of the work that I have to do all day, and that a mother's work doesn't end at 5:00. Hooray for families with a father and a mother there to get the job done. Hooray for forgiving children. Hooray for 10:30 in the morning when all is right with the world!

Like I have nothing better to do....

I came across a fun website ....

and I thought it would be funny.....

so I'm letting you all in on the fun......

totally at my own expense........

you can thank me later for the laughs!









If I had graduated in 1954...

If I had graduated in 1960...


If I had graduated in 1968...


If I had graduated in 1974...


If I had graduated in 1984...


Thank goodness my real yearbook picture is so way cooler than those!

Go Toros, Class of '89!

http://www.yearbookyourself.com/ (I dare you!)

Remembering...

I took some time today to pause and remember the events of 7 years ago. I was home getting Parker off to first grade when my mom called and asked if we were watching TV. Our power was out that morning for some unrelated reason so I pulled the battery-operated radio out of our emergency kit and listened to the news reports. It was a frightening way to get the information. In the days that followed I had to explain to six-year-old Parker that the planes went through the buildings only once as his little mind couldn't process the hundreds of times the scene was replayed on television. I would volunteer in his class and watch as the children would build towers out of blocks and crash into them with toy planes.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the future of our country and I will admit to being very concerned, probably more than I ever have been. I worry about the results of the upcoming elections, the future of marriage in this country, the unstable economy and our equally unstable relationships with other countries. I worry that the America that I knew as a child will not be the same America that my children will inherit. The events of September 11 changed history. Thankfully I will remember life before the constant fear of terrorism. I am sad that this has become a reality and the only way of life that my children have ever known. I take great comfort in knowing that God has a plan for this country and will preserve and protect us. "Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ, who hath been manifested by the things which we have written." (Ether 2:12 in the Book of Mormon)

The following article circulated at the end of 2001. It helps me keep a perspective on what happened.

How many of us have heard the question "Where was your God when the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were attacked?" Well I know where my God was the morning of September 11, 2001, and He was very busy.

He was trying to discourage anyone from taking those flights. Those four planes together held over 1000 passengers and there were only 266 aboard.

He was on 4 commercial flights giving terrified passengers the ability to stay calm. Not one of the family members who were called by a loved one on one of the hijacked planes said that passengers were screaming in the background. On one of the flights He was giving strength to passengers as they overtook the hijackers.

He was busy trying to create obstacles for employees at the World Trade Center. After all, only around 20,000 were at the towers when the first jet hit. Since the buildings held over 50,000 workers, this was a miracle in itself. How many of the people who were employed at the World Trade Center told the media that they were late for work or had traffic delays?

He was holding up two 110-story buildings so that 2/3 of the workers could get out. Wasn't it amazing that the towers didn't topple when the jets impacted? And when they did fall, they fell inward. God didn't allow them to topple over, as many more lives would have been lost.

And when the buildings went down, my God picked up almost 6,000 of his children and carried them home with Him. Reassuring his frightened children that the worst was over and the best was yet to come.

He sat down and cried that 19 of his misguided children could have so much hate in their hearts. That they didn't choose Him, but another god that didn't exist, and now they are lost.

He sent His children who were best trained for this disaster and had them save the few that were still alive, but unable to help themselves. And then sent many others to help in anyway they were needed.

He still wasn't finished, though. He held in His arms the ones that were left behind. He comforts them daily.

And I believe He will continue to help us in what is to come. He will give the people who lead this great nation the strength and the wisdom to do the right thing. He will never leave us in our time of need.

Pull out the cap and gown!

I officially graduated from physical therapy on Friday. No ceremony or music or even refreshments, but I feel refreshed because I don't have to go anymore. It was a great place and my therapist was awesome. I would recommend them to anyone. (IHPT in Gilbert, in the same complex as Trevor's office, super-fun staff!!) But I will say that it is so nice to not have to go twice a week as I have been for the last 4 months. I made really good progress, too. It was fun to see the new range of motion measurements. Wow, what an improvement, but lots of pain went into that improvement as well. But now I can officially close that chapter. My PT asked me to rate my improvement over the whole time with a percentage-- 0% being when I first started and couldn't walk at all and 100% being I'm back to doing absolutely everything that I was before. I told her I was at 85%...able to do everything that I need to, just not moving as quickly as before. She said that will improve, it could take a year or so. Wow...but I'm happy with 85%.

Earplugs, anyone?

Pearce started playing the trumpet. Ahh...the joyful sounds of a ten-year-old who is learning to play an instrument. I'm ready to move those joyful sounds into the garage but it is still too hot and that borders on child endangerment. His band teacher says that they have to practice 20 minutes a day, 5 days a week and Pearce is determined to fulfill this responsibility. Yeah for him, he's trying his best. But I can't help but wonder if the band teacher is out to get us parents. Here's the gist of his evil plan-- the kids have only learned ONE SONG. A beginning musical classic-- "Hot Cross Buns." Yes, if you do the math that is 100 hours of "Hot Cross Buns" per week. Like I said, maybe those buns will have to bake in the garage.

"One a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns."

Now you can have that song running through your head all day along with me!