Oh the horror

This is why you wait until all your children have grown up to buy nice furniture. Friday night while the babysitter was over someone unplugged my Bath and Body Works fragrance thing and left it tipped over on my 1 1/2 year old kitchen table. Of course the spill was not found until the next morning after it had done its job of completely removing all stain from the area. After a little anger, 2 tears, a few deep breaths, and a couple of internal reminders that this table is not going to heaven with me and I was calm. I was then able to help Brian get through the same process.

Not sure what to do now, but I am going to put a call into a friend that does woodwork to see the best course of action. Oh why couldn't this have happened to my counters. Then I would have a really good excuse to get new granite countertops.

Macy's Blessing on the Food Tonight

"Heavenly Father, please bless the food that can poop it out. In the name..."

Also after she accidentally swallowed her gum she asked if she can poop it out.

Sorry for the potty humor.

Provident Living

My friend Ashley mentioned food storage and since I am on my food storage craze again (I took a break the last 4 or 5 months of last year) I thought it might be a good topic for my blog today. My hope is that I might help or motivate my friends out there because I am always in constant need of both.

Ever since I have been married food storage has been an issue for me. I think Brian thought it a little strange at first but is now over it and happy I am working on it. I believe it must be in my blood because my Grandma Lue has a wonderful supply (I always joked that she would have to save us in an emergency). I can not say I am a master but I am doing my best little by little. Here are a few ideas because I could talk your ear off for an hour about my plans and ideas. I have done that with a few friends.

1. Use the website www.providentliving.org to calculate how much long-term storage your family needs. They have some great resources to do this. Then I put the information into an excel spreadsheet and figured out how many #10 cans I would need of each item or how many containers of other products.
2. Wheat and sugar required a lot of cans and I did not know where to put them all (I needed at least 100 cans) so I saved up and purchased the 5 gallon pails from Emergency Essentials and plan to store some in my garage and some in my pantry. The rest are under beds, in my armour, and in my linen closet. Also white hard wheat makes a better bread. I have this from 2 sources even though the most popular to buy is the red.
3. Find a partner to work with. This is great if you want to can some of your own stuff at home or want to go to the LDS church's cannery. My ward has taught us how to can butter and can meat. These are 2 things I would love to have stored up so each month I am going to try to get together with a friend so it is more enjoyable and her kids can entertain mine.
4. If your ward has assignments at the cannery, order at least 6 cans a month. I like to try to keep my order around a certain price point because a portion of my grocery budget is to be used for food storage. The provident living website has a list of all the canneries.
5. To build up my 3 month supply I am going to try something new for the next couple of months. Each time I go to the grocery store I am going to buy 4 pastas, 3 stewed tomatoes, 3 kidney beans, etc to a reasonable amount. After I gather enough of this stuff I will switch and start buying like creamed soups, applesauce and salad dressings. Of course if something is on sale I will swap it out.
6. Ask for items for Christmas or birthdays. They may seem like lame gifts but at least you didn't have to buy them. For example we have been given a water purifier, emergency radio, portable heater, 72 hour kits and many other items that at first didn't bring excitement but now I am really grateful to have them because I don't want to spend all my money on preparedness. I like other things too. I am always tempted to give such items as gifts but I don't think my siblings would appreciate them yet.
7. The last idea is to buy it all at once if you have the money saved and can afford to do so. I wish I had done this instead of buying a 3 month supply of the mountain house freeze dried food. A friend of mine did this and she said it cost her about a $1000 and she has a family of 6 (2 adults and 4 kids). One day she purchased storage containers and then made a trip to Costco. It filled her house for several days until she could put it away and find places for it all, but she is done and just has to replace what she uses. By the way my 3 month supply cost more than her year supply at mine is for only 2 people.

With all the prophet's and apostles' counsel these past few years and now with the tender situation of the US's economy I feel like food storage and financial items are of utmost importance. Even if we don't use the food storage or financial reserves today, we are in a better position later on and will have learned the discipline needed when tough times hit.

Also the church has now changed the shelf life on many of the cannery items to 30 years. There is more information on the Provident living website.

And if you can spare some time I really recommend going through the lesson titled "Peace in Your Hearts: Managing Household Finances Wisely". To go straight through it takes about 45 minutes but is well worth it. It was eye-opening and motivating for me.

Suzy Homemaker

Today I finally did it. I made my own wheat bread. I had to do it without a Bosch and I was afraid my hand-mixer was going to die on me but all turned out well. This is part of my goals to be a little healthier (more whole grains) and learn how to use food storage items such as wheat. As with the first time with everything, it is not perfect. I should have made 3 loaves instead of 4. I think that would have made them larger. They are a little dense but there are a couple of options I can try with the recipe. I will have to experiment unless someone can give me some helpful hints.

The girls and I also made cookies. They love to help in the kitchen and were asking to do this yesterday. So today turned into baking day. I made the girls practice washing their hands. Every time they licked their fingers I made them go into the bathroom to wash again. I figure I might as well practice so teaching them to keep their hands out for others sake. Poor Kelsey could hardly help herself and was in the bathroom often. Again I used half flour and half ground wheat with some oats. In my mind it says that I can eat 2 because they are healthy.

User Errors with the Christmas pictures

There has been some technical difficulties with pictures this year. On Christmas Eve after the kids had gone to bed, I accidentally deleted all of the pictures on the camera. This included a family party with Santa and the girls opening their pajamas from Santa. If anyone from these events has good shots of my girls, please send them my way.

There was also one other technical problem. We were given a new digital camera on Christmas and somehow the pictures taken on Christmas Day were also deleted. How we did this a second time on a different camera, I don't know? Maybe we should read the instruction manual instead of flying by the seat of our pants. But who has time or enjoys reading 120 page camera manual.

The following pictures were taken with our old camera. Again if anyone has any good pictures from our trip, please send them our way.

Santa was good to us. Macy and Kelsey peeked at the tree and stockings before waking anybody. They went into grandma and grandpas room and told them that Santa brought bikes and candy canes. Apparently they had gone through the stockings a bit too. Brian was a little disappointed to see their first reactions, but I had to they were children of their mom and could not help peeking.

Kelsey was still a little tired when she woke up.

The favorite gift was 2 packs of gum in the stockings. Macy also received the candy cane she kept asking Santa for.

Here is a glimpse of our bulging car. There was no way of squeezing anything else in. We had to leave Kelsey's new shopping cart. Of course we had to buy 2 more the day after we arrived home. We used some of their Christmas money. Thanks Grandma Lue!

Sunday happenings

No photos yet. I haven't had time. Yesterday the Christmas decorations came down. I always love and hate this day. I love it because my house feels a little more decluttered but hate it because it feels a little empty and less cozy. My time was consumed this afternoon as Brian and I tweaked 2008's budget. I am excited to say I am getting a raise, however there needs to be some trimming tomorrow.

Today was the start of 8 AM church time. Who ever came up with that brilliant plan should be run out of town by all the moms that have to get their kids up, fed and dressed on time while coming to church looking decent themselves (Brian is Asst. Ex. Secretary so has to be in the morning meetings). Needless to say we were not even close to on time. I do vow that one day we will make it on time with this new time. The one advantage is you have all day to rest and really enjoy the day.

Another fun moment today was using our Christmas present we gave ourselves and our parents. We had the web cameras up and running. It was so fun to actually see our family as we talked with them. The girls went crazy and loved it. The say my sister Emily eating ice cream and wanted her to give them some. They didn't understand she couldn't pass it through the computer. Then they asked Grandma Carol and Poppy Alan for hugs when the said goodbye. The air hugs were cute and silly. This should be a fun gift.

Whew! And a Late Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

I am back from my long winter nap, however, it may take a little bit before I am regularly blogging again. I am still working on getting life back in order from our long, wonderful trip back home and I need some time to play with my new Christmas gadgets.

I love being with family and so it makes it hard to live away from them. That is why Brian and I feel it necessary to go home over Christmas even if it means a long drive. However, when we arrived back in Phoenix Tuesday night I remembered why I chose to live here. It was so nice to unpack the care at 10 PM and not need a coat, hat, scarf, mittens and long johns. I know I complain about living here but the winters are the best advantage and I got to see my snow this year and am ready for spring. It is funny how temperature is all relative. My hands are freezing right now as I type and my house is set at 69 degrees. I know my parents house is cooler than that right now. I wear long pants and long sleeved shirts thinking it is cold outside when it is 70 degrees. I know that my family is giving me no sympathy so I will just enjoy the climate.

To recap the holidays:

1. We were able to visit with almost all of our extended family this trip, this included both of Brian's sides and my dad's family. The timing didn't work out for us to visit with my mom's side. I will have to catch them next visit.
2. I was really excited to give my gifts again this year. I try really hard to give people what they would like and can't wait to give the gifts. This year we gave each grandparent a webcam (we purchased one ourself) so they can see the grandkids when we talk.
3. Santas were extremely generous again this year. This Santa might have to put her foot down next year and be the Scrooge and give only one Santa gift to the girls. Brian already called me the Grinch for putting a halt on the Santa gift buying, but you should have seen our car for the trip back home. There was hardly any room to move. We had to leave Kelsey's shopping cart at Grandma Wendy's with the promise to use Christmas money to buy each girl her own shopping cart for home. Santa only brought a cart for Kelsey so Macy had taken it over. Note for other parents, if your kids are close in age and the same gender be sure to by 2 of everything. Macy got her own Fisher Price digital camera and Kelsey cried Christmas morning because she did not have one.
4. Macy woke up to a new scooter and Kelsey received her very own tricycle (one with a handle for mom to help push. I made this mistake with Macy's last year, never again.) Of course Macy rides both the scooter and Kelsey's bike around the house. Kelsey has yet to get on her bike since we have been home. Right now Macy has deemed them inside bikes and the others outside bikes. Tomorrow that may change.
5. This was a great Christmas for me. Again people were too generous but the gifts were fantastic. I don't have one particular favorite so I am going to mention a couple because I am so excited about all of them. A new digital camera so my movie function can record sound, an electric griddle, the foodsaver. I went to Costco today just so I can use it some more. Tonight I went out to look for a larger canister for my lettuce.
6. We were able to visit with many friends and have lots of free babysitting for date nights. Thank you! If we didn't catch you this time, we will catch you next time.
7. The kids were became Macy and Kelseycicles at the zoo lights with my parents (I let them go without me). As Macy warmed up in the car they gave her hot chocolate. Macy exclaimed "I have hot chocolate coming out my ears" because at the moment she drank it her ears began to tingle and warm up.
8. The kids had a sleepover with their cousins at Brian's parents. We left them there even longer so we could do some shopping and have another date night with friends.
9. My shopping excursion was the best I have had in years. I purchased 3 pairs of shoes, scored on several shorts and shirts from the Banana Republic Outlet, found a new pair of jeans. Brian said he has never seen me with so many clothes in one dressing room. His jaw dropped at the number of shoes I carried around DSW. What can I say but amazing sales. That and we decided to actually spend some of the Christmas money we were given instead of stocking it away for later use, which later use is not always as much fun. I told him next year to not buy me anything until the day after Christmas.
10. Brian and I got hooked on Guitar Hero and Ticket to Ride. It was all we could think about. We like songs on Guitar Hero III better than the 80s one. Brian also played some Wii and thought about purchasing the game system but decided against it because of the amount of time he might waste on it especially since you could get Guitar Hero for it.
11. We didn't go to St. George as planned because of the passing of Brian's great aunt Dorothy. She will be missed but it is all for the best. It was her time to go and we were able to see more family.
12. Because of the funeral we drove a straight 12 hours on Tuesday. This meant we were in bed before midnight on New Year's Eve (this is not unusual for us on this holiday). On the trip home Macy figured out that if she had to go to the bathroom we would have to stop. We made 7 stops. I know from experience that she can hold it longer than that. Other than that the girls were really good on the trip home until Kelsey became delirious and started throwing things at Macy and me (I was driving at the time) thinking it was funny. Macy dosed off for the last 2 hours of the trip and the night owl passed out 30 minutes before home.

It is good to be home, but we already miss everyone. Sorry about the length but people have told me that there is a way to publish your blog and this is my only journal. I only hope this is not a myth otherwise this was all in vain. Maybe tomorrow I will be able to post some pictures. Another sorry, but there was no real in-depth proof reading on this only spellcheck.