Letting go

Today I parted with one of the most beautiful things I have ever made. I LOVE this quilt.

I used my mom's machine and quilted around the fish. When you flip it over there are fish outlines. Sadly You can't really tell in the picture I took.

I realised you can't really see the rainbow around the edge or the strip of crazy orange near the ends.They are there and I love the effect they add. Sorry you can't see the whole thing.

The church I attend- The church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints- does a lot of humanitarian aid. Currently they are in desperate need of twin and full sized quilts. This quilt has been donated. I can only imagine how much some child somewhere is going to love it. I love it.
I encourage you to donate too. I will be making more.

4 of 4

Cause Dedra needed to know-

Four Places I go:


Church
library
Aldi
My next door neighbor's house


Four Favorite Smells:

My husbands cologne, Black Suede
Freshly bathed baby
Passion fruit
Matches


Four Favorite TV Shows:
Avatar: the Last Airbender - I hope you have started watching that, I told you this before.
The Magnificent 7 ( Yes, there was a TV series. Ezra is my favorite. )
The Golden Girls
Dark Wing Duck


Four Recommendations:
Laughing
Sleep
Good food
Cheese, fondue is an excellent way to enjoy it.

Cold

I don't like being cold. In fact I rather detest the sensation. I find it painful after a while. Give me hot weather any day. I do run into the problem of location however. I live in Pa. Winter is a very obvious and distinct season here. It gets cold. It snows. It stays cold. It gets dark and dreary. I chose to stay in my house, a lot.

This year I have paid more attention to things around me. I have realised there are an awful lot of people that I should be grateful for. People I don't even know. They go about their work keeping things running and it never even occurs to me what would happen if they didn't. In this weather I am particularly grateful for the work I do not have to do myself, and for the people who do get it done. Such as:

• Garbage collectors
• Water line repair people
• The cart return guys
• Phone, electric, Internet line repair people

I don't want to get a freezing cart. I don't want to go with out electricity if some emergency happens.I don't want to go without water. Or have my garbage pile up until spring. I am sure that there are MANY more jobs that are outside and that really benefit society. I am grateful that I am able to stay comfy and cozy in my little house while other braver, self- warming people work outside.

Bettering myself.

I have some things I have decided to work on. Since you are so desirous to know what I am doing I will graciously fill you in.

• My older 2 children know the Articles of Faith pretty well. So we are going to move on to the 10 commandments. After that I think we will move on to scripture mastery. Seriously, how long can the 10 commandments take to master?
• I have a quilt that I need to just finish. Someone needs to show up with a lump of twin sized batting so I can assemble and then take pictures of the cutest quilt in existence.
• I have decided I need to crochet myself a hat sometime this year. My dear friend Jem made me the CUTEST hat in the entire world. I lost it. I nearly cried. I want it back, or to make a cool one like it.
• Tomorrow I will start the rereading the Book of Mormon, the Portuguese translation. So excited. So intimidated.
• I am now a teacher at church. I teach the 14-15 year old girls. I have only taught 2 Sundays, but I LOVE it. I am looking for fun ways to get them excited. I hate being lectured. I want discussion. I want ideas, I want participation. I want energy. I also want them to interact with each other. Every Sunday it is like they see each other for the first time. None of them seem to be friends with each other. I am excited about my calling. Especially since it is generally a Sunday only thing, I don't have to go to all the midweek stuff.
• I have an "herb for the ailments" class coming up in April. I love those classes.

I am off to read some classic literature now. Around the world in 80 days, by Jules Verne is calling. Thus far I would highly recommend it.

On Saturday, on Saturday, on Saturday

Ok,  the Clarks aren't really involved in this post.(If you do follow this link, Skip the intro song over to "The River". I love that song. Or look around for Saturday.)

Saturday, being yesterday, I was able to attend a really unusual class. I took a class through my community college about..... making cheese. Yup, made my very own mozzarella and ricotta right there in the kitchen and brought it home to my family. No, it is not exactly like what you buy in the store. However, I made it myself, with things I can buy or already have around my house. It was really kinda cool.

I learned a lot. Like nearly all milk starts out the same way, it is the way you "cut the curds" that changes what kind of cheese you are making.

I also learned that most cheese isn't vegetarian. I knew it wasn't vegan since milk is an animal product. To get most cheese to curdle they use a specific item called "rennet". If you don't actually want to read the Wikipedia entry, or just don't get what they are saying let me tell you what it is. It is a little tablet they have made from a calf's stomach. Bizarre isn't it? I guess cheese was made by accident originally because they would store the milk in the stomach and the enzymes curdled it. Maybe you already knew that. I didn't.

I also learned, I probably won't be making cheese at home very often. It is really labor and time intensive. I guess I shouldn't complain about how much it costs. Oh how I love it though. Too bad I can't just make cheddar over night....

Facebook

I am currently debating.

I am seriously considering getting off of Facebook.
 Here are some of the pros to the system:

• I have been able to keep in touch with cousins/ friends I can't really  spend time with due to distance.
• I have built better friendships with loved ones and acquaintances.
• I can keep up to date on what some of them are doing.
• My in laws have started updating when get togethers are on that website.
• It makes me laugh sometimes.
• It can be a nice break.
• I can see the pictures of what other people are doing.

Cons:

• I find it addicting at times.
• I feel like there is some kinda shady thing going on. With all the constant changing things and the privacy settings that you have to check on every so often.
• It draws me into making a bigger deal out of little irritations than are reasonable.
• I tend to be more cynical and sarcastic. ( If you have known me for a while, I have  SERIOUS sarcastic streak.) While it can be funny at times, I know it can be incredibly hurtful.
• Looking at other people's pictures sometimes gives me this horrible feeling of envy. I have a fabulous life. I have so many great things going for me. I don't need to sit around looking at a friend's ( who I am barely friends with anyway) pictures of her fabulous vacations to distant destinations. Beautiful and childless and sunny. I get off the computer feeling terrible.
• No matter how steadfastly I decide to limit my list I to people I really sincerely am friends with. Someone I once talked to a longtime ago, decides we are best friends and makes me feel guilty about leaving them off.  - Seriously I am not that entertaining. You aren't missing that much by not being friends with me.
• I sometimes say things that shouldn't be said in such an open setting. I am still working on that. I am constantly amazed by how many people stumble across the things I write here and on Facebook.

Here I am considering doing what I DETEST other people doing. That being-  Keeping it around just to keep tabs on other people, but not spending as much time on it. I really dislike when people want to be my friend and then never even bother to get on.

OK, and here is where I will  get random weirdo's from Facebook who comment because the word Facebook is in this post.

What are your thoughts on Facebook?

Being a mom

Some days being a mom is hard. Really hard. I am SO grateful I am not being a mom at the same time as being an employee.

My husband is awesome. He is an employee. He also has husbandly responsibilities, and fatherly responsibilities. Then there are the church things that come up too. He is amazing.

Today, I am not.

I am not anywhere up to that par.

I managed to mangle a relationship that I thought was progressing .
I yelled at my kids a few times.
I made a dinner they hated.
I sent a child to bed during dinner.
I watched my children simply ignore several of my requests.
I got snippy at them.
I did a lousy job at being a decent human being.

If I have chosen to forgo the world of the employed so that I can focus my attentions on raising my children, I feel as if I should be doing a good job.

I did not do a good job today.
I don't even know that I usually do a good job.
I feel like I am constantly ignored, "don't worry guys, we can just bounce on the trampoline until she actually starts walking toward us."

I know what my problem is. I want a quick fix. I want to start saying a certain phrase and have my children suddenly be completely obedient.

I want to end dinner without 30 complaints or comments questioning the seriousness of them having to actually EAT the food I have served; Or find 8 pieces of silverware and 3 cups on the floor after it is over.

I am discombobulated this evening. I apologise.




I supposed if we only ate shrimp fried rice, tator tots, chicken nuggets or fish sticks for dinner every night I could end the complaining from the children. I guess there is an  easy solution to that one.

Go! Diego Go!

I have pin pointed one of the many reasons why I can not stand Dora or Diego.  It is the incessant, obnoxious, never ending repetition. Yes, I know kids learn by repeating. This line of characters takes it to a new level.

I don't let my kids watch Dora or Diego. I can NOT stand it in my home. However, my daughter was told she could check out 3 books at the library. She had her heart set on Diego, so 3 Diego books came home. We read one of those books this afternoon.

The entire story is about 21 pages long. Maximum 80 words per page. This particular book was about the rescue of baby pygmy marmosets.

In 21 pages, they used the term "pygmy marmoset", I kid you not, 26 times. It isn't even something you can sneak in. Try saying "baby pygmy marmosets" more than once. Seriously, that is more than once a page!

I did not actually count it, but the book about the "maned wolf" babies was just as bad. They also have the mother speak and refere to her as "mommy maned wolf" over and over.

These books are agonizing to read. Stay far away from them. Check out some Berkley Breathed instead, maybe some Skippyjon Jones.