MADE SALSA TODAY

I made 13 pints of salsa today. I have five boxes of tomatoes--in various stages of ripening--on the kitchen floor. I want to have none. But I want the product they will produce so I am trying to be patient and work hard. And it was hard work! Maybe it would be more accurate to say it was tedious, long work. But the salsa looks wonderful and tastes pretty good. No photos because I'm too tired to download all the stuff that's still in the camera.

But, hey, I finally blogged. Go forth and do the same. You know who you are.

DO YOU REMEMBER JUMP ROPE RHYMES?

This is the one I remember the best:

Not last night but the night before,
A Pickle and a pear came a knocking at my door.
I went downstairs to let them in,

They hit me over the head with a rolling pin.

This one I made up for Hillary when she was ten:

Hillary, Hillary, Hillary Snyder.

Went to bed with her hair on fire.

Woke in the morning with coal black hair,

Ashes, ashes, everywhere.

(I have no idea why I pictured my little girl with her hair was on fire--she had lovely dark brown hair but certainly not on fire and not black.)

And this one was for Bentley:

Bentley Snyder, our baby in blue.

He's a year and a half old, he's not quite new.

He stands on the table and throws off the food.

We're not really sure but we think it's rude.

What jump rope rhymes do you remember?

LIKE I NEED TO FOLLOW MORE BLOGS

Tonight I went blog hopping. One blog leads to another. You read someones comment and decide to see their blog and then you see who they are following and pretty soon, you are following them too.

Why is this? I have enough distractions in my life.

I think I need an enema.

Whoa, did I really say that? I shouldn't blog this late at night.

MEDITATION AND MINKEY

I didn't get enough sleep last night so I decided to see if Wayne Dyer was right--see the end of yesterday's post--that when you meditate it is worth several hours of sleep. I was deep into meditation when "Yowl, yowl, yowl," that was Minkey standing in the doorway. Who knows what he wanted? He finally went away. In five minutes he was back, "yowlyowlyoowwwll."

sigh.

Even with the interruptions the meditation was good. I felt refreshed and I'm still up. Sadly, I'm still up. In two minutes it will be midnight. If Minkey realized it was almost the witching hour he would be yowling again. He never misses an opportunity to be annoying.

If anyone in Utah Valley wants to learn how to meditate call Harmony House in Orem, Utah. 801-434-8800. 1145 East 800 North, Orem, Utah (It's the basement office.) The office looks like a house, it's on the north side of the street. They will teach you for free. Even if you have an annoying cat in the house.

PS They are teaching a class tomorrow night, Thursday, October 22 at 7:00. So worth it.

PPS Stop by my house first and get your free cat (just in timefor Halloween). A bargain you shouldn't pass up.

MEDITATION

Phil and I went to a meditation class today and here are a few things I learned.

People who have a lot of pain are gifted. They are just using it backwards. My knees are gifted and they bend the wrong way, I guess. But this is a concept I'm going to think about.

People with anxiety have a HUGE POTENTIAL to feel a lot of peace. How about that, those of you who are stressed? this was very comforting to me. Peace. What more could we ask. Well, okay, money would be nice, but peace sounds pretty good at the moment.

Meditation teaches people to go into a relaxed state of awareness. Example: Driving and passing your exit and not realizing it until ten miles down the road. Ever done that?

With deeper relaxation and mediation you can learn how to make better choices.

Meditation will help you get better sleep.

People who can concentrate well can meditate well. Hum. Phil and Elizabeth talk to me and I say, "What?" It drives them crazy because they think I'm either deaf or don't listen to them. But I am thinking of something else or I am watching TV and the rest of the world is non-existent. My sister Pat could do this and I think she practically walked on water so I'm in good company. Maybe it's in the genes. So if your family asks if you are deaf just say you are a good concentrator and you would be a good meditator and get rid of bad choices, and pain and anxiety and let them scratch their heads.

A relaxed state makes concentration more focused--like a magnifying glass does, focusing the rays of the son on one spot.

Mediation helps you get out of self destructive state so you can make better choices. Did I already say that?

In our busy world we are so often in high gear that we need mediation to allow ourselves to focus and relax.

In voice mediation--like listening to a tape or even a live voice--you hear what you need to hear, even if you stop listening to the voice. Trust yourself.

That's it. The class was great and I had a lovely meditative experience, even a spiritual one, with my mom and two dad's showing up. I think they have been with me and with Elizabeth a lot in the last couple of weeks. It's been very comforting.

Oh, one more thing. Wayne Dyer wakes up at some horrible hour every morning--like 3:17 or some such time--and he gets up and stays up. He meditates later in the day and says that a meditaion is equal to several hours of sleep.

APPLE OATMEAL CRISP

Made this yesterday. It was very good. I forgot to take a picture of it before we gobbled it all up so I had to have another spoonful to photograph. Poor me, having to eat another spoonful.

Recipe here.

MARY POPPINS WAS A CANNIBAL

When one of my granddaughters was four years old she loved to sing. One day her mom was listening to her and did a double take. This is what she heard:

"A spoonful of sugar makes the Mexican go down, Mexican go down, Mexican go down.

"Just a spoonful of sugar makes the Mexican go down, in the most delightful way."

And now you know the little known secret: Mary Poppins was a Cannibal.

THE CAT EATING PUMPKIN

Oh, lookie, the Great Pumpkin is back. I'll just smell him to make sure he's the real thing.I better smell everything, while I'm at it.Hey, did anyone over there see when the great pumpkin came back?

He brought Ghostie with him. I don't much like Ghostie, he's a cheerful sot, way too cheerful and stands way too tall. He annoys me in a ghostly, cheerful, tall, sort of way.Kramer, are you down there? The Great Pumpkin came back along with annoying Ghostie but you are not invited to the party. Ha! That's how much you know. I am the party. I am a party animal. You are just a squinty, annoying cat. I will not even look at you until you apologize for wearing my handsome, manly devil costume. See me ignoring you? See? Well, all-rightie-then, if you're going to be that way, see if I care. I'll just see what is in the pumpkin.

Oof! It's kind of a tight fit, but I can do it because I'm pretty. Not squinty! Pretty. And pretty darn flexible, too.

And then I turn around a few times and then some more. Aah! This is the perfect spot Until she starts to snore. It echoes. An echoing-snoring-cat-in-a-pumpkin is not any one's idea of great Halloween fun.

A snoring, Halloween-pumpkin-cat is enough to give Kramer the evil eye.

It's all fun and games around here.

BEWARE OF THE RED DEVIL

"My human put me in this disgusting costume and, if you don't mind, I don't want you looking at me." "Did you hear me? I said DON'T LOOK AT ME."

"Wait. Is that the doorbell. I have ta go now and defend the house from evil doorbell ringers. Barkbarkbarkbarkbarkbarkbarkbark."

"It was a false alarm. The doorbell was on some stupid TV show. And look at that fool, Pika who got tricked into wearing the costume. Hahahahahaha. I look manly. I look brave. She looks silly. She looks squinty. She needs to give that costume back."

"Wait! Is that the doorbell. Barkbarkbarkbarkbarkbarkbarkbarkbark."

MY FAVORITE GARAGE SALE

For those wanting to know how to make Annette's apron click here.

For those wanting to know the web site for the garage sale people click here.

Here are a few photos of the garage sale on Canyon Road in Provo, Utah. Next one scheduled for April or May. When I am notified or when I see their sign I'll let you know. If you are really interested go the first day as the good stuff goes fast!

You know how I love chairs. This was a sweet one and following are two pressed back chairs--they didn't photograph as cute as they are.
This was my favorite item there. Actually, there were two of them. They were seven feet, six inches tall! They were sold the morning of the first day. Naturally. Many people are there the minute the garage sale opens the first day. Hillary needs a mirror but this one was gone by Saturday. There were several children's tables. So cute. So sold.On Thursday I took Pam. On Friday I took Cindy. On Saturday I took Hillary and Shan. Next time I will notify my whole ward as I'm the Relief Society communications person and this is communication they need, don't you think?

THE RULES SHOULD BE CHANGED FOR SHOPPING

Today I went shopping with Hillary and Shan. Shan and another one of her their friends are going to New York later in the month for fun and frolicking, theatre and sight seeing. Shan was trying to find cute clothes and she did. We started a bit after 10:00 and got home a bit after 7:00, and we only came home then because we were half dead. I told Phil we only went to four stores and his eyes nearly rolled out of his head.

"It took you nine hours to shop four stores?" he said.

"We ate lunch," I said. "And we went to that garage sale." (Photo's posted tomorrow of the garage sale you should not miss the next time it happens--which will be in April. I will remind you.)

Phil was not impressed.

His idea would be to breeze in, select something in an appropriate size and color, try it on (maybe or maybe just look at the size and know it would fit w/out trying it on). He would then buy it and go home.

Girls don't do that. There has to be much discussion as to why or why not this or that item is suitable or not.

There has to be trying it on ONE MORE TIME and parading it to the critical audience, who practically clap and cheer.

One sweater had to be discussed a dozen times at least. That one was bought. Another sweater had to be discussed two dozen times. That one still resides in the store. Shan should have bought it, she really should have. There is no clapping and cheering over that decision. She should go back, buy it and then there will be clapping and cheering.

The majority should rule when it comes to shopping. The person paying should not be able to overrule the majority because the majority is pretty much always right. And since the majority was Hillary and me, I know the majority was right. I'm pretty sure that is a valid argument . Then the cute brown sweater would be where it belongs, in Shan's closet.

THE SCRUBBIE TACOS

These are scrubbies, made of nylon net. Well, they are sort of scrubbies. They are supposed to look more like the one at the bottom, right, only they should look better. But, because I am a novice-scrubbie-maker they look like taco's. I think my personal history class is going to get these failures. I'm nice like that, giving my failures away to my friends.

The scrubbies do work, cleaning sinks in a jiffy and if my friends get hungry while cleaning they can just add meat, lettuce, cheese and salsa. Sour cream if they are feeling skinny.

When eating one of my taco-scrubbies you don't have to brush your teeth. They clean while you eat. Maybe Taco Bell should add these babies to their menu. I'm going send them my marketing plan. When you order at the drive up window just ask for self-tooth-cleaning tacos.

This is going to make me rich, I just know it.

THE SOCK ARSENAL

This is one of our grandboys. He has a dart gun. His brother's had dart guns, too. They were having a war here Saturday night. They played outside with the other grandkids--eleven of them--until after dark. He was very careful to round up his darts and have them handy. He is a Mini James Bond. Mini James has all the latest equipment. This is the Sock Arsenal. It's very high tech.
The Sock Arsenal is so much more advanced that all that hoopla that the real James Bond has to carry. Below: Complicated. Cumbersome. Dangerous. Costly. Above: Simple. Inexpensive. And if the darts don't go off unexpectedly, safe.

JESUS WANTS ME FOR A SUNBEAM

Yesterday and today is the Mormon (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) General Conference. We get broadcasts two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon, with talks from our Prophet and General Authorities. They are filmed in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City and broadcast to TV stations and Stake Centers all over the world. They are translated into 92 languages so Latter Day Saints all over the world can listen in their own languages.

Yesterday, when President Uchtdorf spoke, he mentioned that he loves the song "Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam." This is probably the first Primary song the three-year-old children learn. (I tried to download a video of the song but my skills as a computer competent person are nonexistent.)

The thought immediately came to me that Jesus wants me to be happy--to shine, so to speak--in my life, in my trials, in my encounters with others. I do not shine in my trials. I am not happy in my trials. I am "heavy laden," and "My hands hang down." I sigh. I weep. I want to run away--once I even wrote a story about running away to Texas and described what I would do there. Occasionally, not often, but occasionally, I am even angry. But mostly I worry. Is that a trait of women? Worry? I don't want to worry, I want to have faith.

I am really going to work on my attitude as I feel this was inspiration, sent for me. Jesus wants me to be his sunbeam. Jesus doesn't want me to be his gloomy, doubting, depressed, angry, upset, weeping, horrible person with my feet dragging in the sand and my head hanging down.

Will you help me? Will you be my confidantes? My fellow blooggers who show me by your faith that I can have faith too? I read you blogs and am strengthened as I see you fighting your battles with faith--as I watch you having integrity and courage. We are all in this together, we are all connected.

"I love you and you love me." the next line is, "We are a happy family." As a church, we believe we are all one family. God's children. We are all brothers and sisters.

So, with God as my Father and Jesus as my Savior and with your help, maybe I can become more of a sunbeam. I will hold your hands and be strengthened and sustained.

COUPLE NUMBER TWO--WHY SHE CHOSE ONE MAN OVER THE OTHER

She was dating two men at once. Both were nice. Both were funny. Both were handsome. Both had ambition. One brought her flowers. That seems like a good thing, right? He brought them to her in a rusty bucket, filled with water. She was not impressed. She married the other one.

The man she married really loved education, got his Ph.D., worked at both Harvard and BYU. The man with the rusty bucket really loved flowers and started his own nursery.

COUPLE NUMBER ONE: THE BEGINNING.

They've been married for a long time now and have seven kids. This is how it started.


They were in a Young Adult ward at a midweek activity . It was the first time they had met. When it was time to go home she said to him, "Do you need a ride home?"

"I'd love a ride home," he said.

They chatted on the way. He thought she was cute. She must have liked him too because when she dropped him off at his apartment and he asked her for a date she accepted.

He watched her as she drove off and then started the long walk back to the church because he hadn't really needed a ride home at all. His car was the only one left in the parking lot when he got there.

PS This is NOT our story. I'll post it someday.