A BUCKET OF WEEDS

Last night our home teacher came and gave us our lesson on the lawn swings. Soon neighbors started joining us and we visited for a long time.

One neighbor gave me a great mental image to use in my life. She mentioned that at the end of the day her dad always asked, "Did you get your bucket of weeds today?" This became a habit and she still does this, she pulls a bucket of weeds and her yard is never overrun, it is always tidy, the roses have room to bloom as do her other flowers, not to mention her wonderful garden.

Last night, before we had family prayer, I mentioned to Phil that pulling just one bucket of weeds was pretty simple. Day in, day out, simple but the rewards are huge. Then I started thinking, we should do that with all aspects of our lives.

Spiritual Bucket. We try to read the scriptures in the morning before our day starts but it doesn't always get done. So simple, a few minutes prepares us for the day and yet, some days our spiritual bucket is empty. We go to church every week and Phil is serving at a BYU ward but what about reading the scriptures every morning? I think I will start reading an Ensign article with Phil before bed, too.

My housekeeping bucket is neglected often. A little work each day and then there are no gigantic cleaning projects to tackle. I got into the habit of every time I used a paper towel I then used it to wipe up part of the kitchen floor. Soon the floor around the sink and stove was clean and I was wiping up the floor by the table and back door. When I neglected this simple task the floor needed major cleaning.

Food storage bucket. I learned from my mother so it's second nature for me to have food storage. Most Mormon's do, as we have been counseled by our Prophet and church leaders on this subject for what seems like forever.

One year, as we were bottling yet another bushel of peaches, I innocently asked why my mother we had so much food storage--much more than we could eat in a year. She laughed and said, "Why, Lynne, it's for the Californians. When they have to leave California"--I don't know what she thought was going to happen--some catastrophe maybe--"they will be hungry and we will have the food to feed them?" That was that. She stored food and extra for others.

I would rather shop in my basement than have to run to the store for a forgotten item I need for dinner. I'm not perfect but I have a plan that I got from Liesa Card, who I met in Costco, peddling her book, I DARE YOU TO EAT IT. I like her blog, she has some cool ideas and it's not just all about storage but about her family as well. (Today's blog is "Frozen Hot Chocolate.") When I get my storage up to date I'll blog about it. I'm so excited to put her simple idea into a working plan. Already it has made my life easier.

Speaking of food storage plans I found another blog this morning that I'm excited to read. This girl even knows how to store cheese...for a long time. Article here. Her blog is Preparedness Pro There are lots and lots of blogs like this. What are your favorites?

Family bucket. This is a picture of two of my granddaughters having a two-and-a-half hour water fight out of a clean kitty litter bucket. (I'm eventually going to blog about this.) It took some convincing to get Hillary to drop off her girls because she was busy that day, but four of the grandchildren eventually ended up at my house--for eleven hours--and it was fun for them and fun for me too. I hope they will always remember that day with their cousins and grandma. This is an area I really need to work on. I don't have the kids here often enough.

Just plain Fun Bucket. We need more of this. The other day I said to Phil, "I want to do something fun." He asked what, and I honestly couldn't think of anything we could afford. Two days later some friends brought us a vacation package. A night's stay in Salt Lake City at a cool hotel that brings you a goldfish so you can have a pet for the night, a dinner gift card for the Roof restaurant at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, and a gift card for a fantastic breakfast!

This is a picture of the Salt Lake Temple from the Roof restaurant. We were flabbergasted. We were, and are excited. They have filled my fun bucket with anticipation. We haven't decided when to go but looking forward to it is half the fun. Can you imagine? They are like Santa Claus and the Good Fairy, all rolled up into one. And no, I'm not going to tell you who it was. You can look at all my friends and imagine they are the ones. Won't that be fun?

What buckets do you fill on a regular basis?

I NEED YOUR HELP

Some time in the last month I ran onto a grocery store comparison blogish thing. For $5.00 a month they will list all the grocery ads and tell you if that is a cheaper price than Sam's and Costco.

I think I got there from someones blog by clicking a link. I've spent two days looking at my history and checking every blog. I've Googled everything I can think of but it never comes up. WHERE IS IT? If you know, will you leave the URL in the comments section. I want to sign up but...how can I?

Thanks so much.

SO, IF YOU ARE CONFINED TO YOUR HOMES WHAT ARE YOU GONNA EAT?

Does all the Swine Flu hype have you a little nervous? Is your imagination galloping off into the murky distance, leaving you looking in the fridge, muttering, "If they quarantine the nation what will I eat?" as you are shaking the milk carton with half an inch of questionable stuff inside.

I'm going to answer your question. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has asked it's members to store food and other necessities for times of need. So we do--or at least we try to, but some of us don't really have much of a plan.

A couple of weeks ago I was in Costco when I met Liesa Card, the author of "I Dare You to Eat It," a book about food storage and actually being able to eat what you store. Her book is excellent. She gave me permission to share it on our Relief Society bulletin, which I will start doing this week. She also has a blog by the same name. Click here to check it out.

One of her premises is to store enough "comfort" food for three months. That is food you would normally eat. She keeps three recipes worth of groceries for five meals in five categories: wheat, beans, pasta, potatoes, and rice. That makes three months worth of recipes. She uses these recipes all the time so her stored food is always naturally rotated, as she replenishes the used items.

I made her Fiesta Wheat and Bean Salad twice in a week. (I used more lime juice, some garlic powder and more jalapenio and it would be good with hot sauce.) I took some of it to five families along with a bag of tortilla chips to eat it with. I don't know if they like it but I do. I even eat it on corn tortillas, lightly fried in a little olive oil and topped with hot sauce. I eat it for breakfast, weird I know but tasty.

We can do this. We can get prepared for times of emergency. It will take a little planning and a bit of work but won't it feel good to be prepared when/if the store shelves are all of a sudden empty?

Check out her web site, and there are other "Food Storage" web sites on the Internet, too. Let's get busy and do what we have been told to do for so very long. It feels good to be prepared. At least that's what I've heard. Ask me later in the year, when I've figured out my thirty meals times three.

A PERSONAL HISTORY STORY~~FLOUR WATER~~

I stood in front of the milk display at the grocery store. We were almost out of milk and would be for sure, after dinner. Would my milk delivery service have milk there by the time we got up in the morning? Have faith, I told myself, they’ve promised. Again and again they’ve promised. I decided not to buy milk.

The next morning, as I stood on the front porch in my bare feet, looking into the empty milk box I thought, you should have put your faith in the grocery store.

Cereal was out for breakfast; we’d have to have eggs and toast. Kraut, who was about twelve years old, decided not to have eggs. He inherited his Grandma Snyder’s stubborn gene, going back through generations all the way to the stubborn Danes—whom, I might add are also great qualities--just in case anyone from Denmark might read this, which I doubt, but you never know.

“I’m not eating eggs. I’ll have cereal,” he said in a tone of voice I had heard before. It was an exasperated, The Brown Dot-threw-his-socks-at-me-from-the-top-bunk-again-last-night-and-I’m-mad-about-it-and-nothing-you-say-will-make-me-change-my-mind-and-eat-eggs, sort of voice.

“There’s no milk,” I said.

“I’ll use powdered milk.”

“It’s not cold,” I said.

I had been “mixing” milk for some time in an effort to save money and also to use up the fifty-pound bag of non-instant powdered milk I had in the basement. As soon as it was used up I would buy a new fifty-pound bag so we would always be prepared in case of an emergency. I made a quart or two of powdered milk at night and then mixed it with “real” milk the next morning—that is if the milkman delivered. We weren’t supposed to be able to tell the difference between “real” milk and “mixed” milk. Or so the “food-storage” experts said. They were wrong but it was hard for me to admit as I wanted to be prepared.

“Just make me some,” he said, “because I’m not eating eggs!”

I mixed him a glass of powdered milk. I took a good look at it before handing it to him. It was separating, just like each batch of this milk I had made since I had opened the new bag of powdered milk. Even when it was mixed with store bought milk there was always a layer of sludge in the bottom. I had to shake the pitcher before pouring the milk. There was also residue left in the each glass. I’ll never buy this brand of powdered milk again, I thought.

Kraut poured the milk on his cereal and ate it, even the sludge.

After the kids left for school I reluctantly called the Milk delivery service and asked them again if they couldn’t get the milk to us before the kids left for school. They couldn’t. They had too many customers, they said. I thought that their milkmen liked to sleep in so I gave the milkmen the opportunity to do so by canceling my service. I then went to the store and bought milk and came home and mixed up a fresh batch of “mixed” milk so it would be cold by dinnertime.

I looked in the bottom of the pitcher. Sludge. Again! This wasn’t right. I was tired of having sludgy milk.

I opened the Rubbermaid container that I kept the powdered milk in and smelled it. It didn’t smell like anything. I rubbed a bit between my fingers. It’s didn’t squeak like the non-instant powdered milk did; it was silky smooth. Then I tasted it. It tasted like flour. I looked in the pantry and there, behind the oats, was an identical Rubbermaid container. This one had squeaky white stuff in it that tasted like powdered milk. I had been mixing our milk with flour. For weeks I’d been feeding the family milky-flour-water.

As soon as Kraut got home from school I ruffled his hair and apologized. I was grateful that besides inheriting Grandma Snyder’s stubbornness he also inherited her spirit of forgiveness. He hung his head and grinned and then hugged me back when I hugged him. Kraut could give awesome hugs and I felt some of my “I’ve-been-feeding-my-family-bad-food guilt” dissipate.

I never finished using that bag of powdered milk in the basement. I didn’t have the heart to mix milk anymore. Several years later we threw it out. If a catastrophe ever occurs we will drink flour water, just like Kraut.

SIX WORD TUESDAY 6-24-08

Prepare ye for time of need

THE CHEAP DATE

Tonight Phil got home late. We had home teacher's coming in 20 minutes. I was sitting on the lawn swings, reading Sally Warner's book Totally Confidential, which is out of print but you can buy it, used from Amazon. Sally gave me my copy. I'm so lucky--it's a good read. Everything she writes is good.

I had not fixed dinner. Don't ask me why. The brain refused to function about the subject of dinner today. Besides that I ate lunch out with friends and when I do that dinner is often non-existent.

The home teachers were delightful, gave us part of the talk by Elder Faust in June's Ensign: .

"Every time in my life when I have chosen to delay following inspired counsel or decided that I was an exception, I came to know that I had put myself in harm’s way. Every time that I have listened to the counsel of prophets, felt it confirmed in prayer, and then followed it, I have found that I moved toward safety. Along the path, I have found that the way had been prepared for me and the rough places made smooth. God led me to safety along a path that was prepared with loving care, sometimes prepared long before."

Justin said he has been hearing about being prepared in the area of food storage all his life. I have too. Mother used to have a fruit room FILLED to the rafters with food for us and for "The Californians." "They will come in droves one day and they'll be hungry," she used to say. I never found out exactly why they would be coming in droves but we were prepared in case they did.

My contribution to the lesson was to tell Justin that since we don't have the room in our basement, and they do, that we will store our extra water there. Every time I empty a good bottle I wash it, fill it with water and put it by the steps. Phil has to try and find a place to put it. He's running out of room. We may have water that tastes faintly like salsa but I think if we are thirsty we won't care. Or if we are dirty and want to wash, salsa water would be delightful. Or Justin and his family will be delighted.

I also told him pasta will store for eight years.

So much for my vast knowledge.

After they had prayer with us--yes, on the lawn swings--Phil and I went to Dairy Queen and ordered a hot dog and ice cream. Our bill was $3.49. We drove to the BYU LaVell Edward's Stadium parking lot and ate. He said I was a cheap date.

Now I ask you, should I be offended?

WHAT'S YOUR HIDDEN GIFT/TALENT?

Colette Amelia is one smart girl. She always gives me something to think about and with my very little Winnie the Poo-type brain it is sometimes a stretch. Anyway, today she said something that made me sit up and take notice. She said, "...we have many gifts that we do not appreciate and in many instances we don't even know we have...and they are things that many would love to have."

So, I am sitting here thinking what gift I have that I don't appreciate or perhaps ever know I have. I think I may be "a gatherer."

I am a gatherer of things--for instance, last week a friend of mine cleaned out her basement and gave away boxes and boxes of mason jars. I knew if I brought any home there was going to be TROUBLE. So I did. And there was. And there still is. There is much muttering and grumbling in the land. And in the house. And in the car, where the bottles still reside.


They go, "tink, tink" when we go around corners or over bumps so they are a constant reminder that Lynne brought home more "junk." But, I was justified in bringing the bottles home as I might need them, especially if the beans sprout and grow and prosper. Then the dilly bean machine will have to ramp up and I'll need those tinking bottles.


Here is a picture of dilly beans.

And here is a picture of some of the things I have gathered and put together in my living room. I do so love things. And Jesus--I love Jesus. Can you see his picture? He is looking over Jerusalem. Sorry the photo isn't better.

I am a gatherer of ideas: I have the most glorious ideas which no one seems to appreciate. Sometimes I am so unappreciated that there are rolling of eyes in the land and the car and the front lawn and maybe even at church, where I really try not to be too glorious with my ideas. But, honestly, I do have some great ones.

I am a gatherer of people. There are interesting people around every corner. I have never met a boring person and some of them are fascinating. Everyone has a story and I am all about the story. And the friendships.

I am a gatherer of food storage. We are counseled by the Church to store a year's supply of food, clothing and money if possible so we will be prepared in times of need. So, I buy food when it is on sale and trundle it down to the basement. I don't have a year's supply but we could exist for a while--we might have some strange meals but we could eat. And if we had to sprout wheat and eat just that I suppose we could live for a fairly long time.

My favorite place to shop is in the basement--even when it is blurry--and unorganized, which you see is both, in this photo. It's almost always cheaper to go downstairs to shop than running to the store for a can of mushrooms or tomato paste. See? Strange meals, tomato paste and mushrooms on sprouted wheat. Yum.

I am a gather of information. I love new information and learning new things. I used to be constantly taking a class. I listen to talk radio. I watch The Food network. I surf the Internet, doing research on things I'm never going to need or use. I watch informational type TV shows, well except for "Lost." Who knows what kind of TV show that is. Confusing, that's for sure.

So, whether it's a gift or not, I'm a gatherer. What gifts do you have?