Conference "Chex" Board

I'm not terribly creative, but in a pinch, I had to come up with something to give to my visiting teachee for Conference.

Conference for me is bliss, but for my kids...not so much. Some moon cycles ago, I remember reading an article (I think it was in the Ensign, but my memory is pretty much shot from the past few years of sleep deprivation) where the mom gave her children some words to listen for during conference and each time they recognized one of the words, she gave them an M&M. We tried it with our kids and it helped them pay attention for at least a little while.

The lady I visit teach has several kids, so I thought it might be nice to give her a similar game for this upcoming Conference. I don't have a store of M&Ms left, I mean on hand...it's not like I've been eating them or anything...so I looked in my stash.

More Gluten-free Resources

I ran into two sites tonight who post gluten-free (GF) info. I was reading MMB's Post of the Week and saw the following blog: http://thericeoflife.wordpress.com/2011/09/14/josephs-first-sacrament/#comments.

The blogger addressed the issue of what she did so her son with gluten issues could take the sacrament. I've wondered that same thing. Her site also has some very yummy looking gluten-free recipes, and I can't wait to try some.

While on her post, I notice a comment from another blogger who posted a link about a homeopathic remedy for celiac disease that she'd heard about.

What's in a Word...

My youngest is mastering the art of speech. “Watch Movie Mama,” is one of her favorite phrases. I’m not sure what that says about my parenting…

If I get too far away she’ll say, “Wait Mama wait.” Her little voice is so plaintive I half suspect she’s been reading the Brontes after the lights go out.

But my all time favorite word she says is “Missup.” Yeah, I don’t know either, but it apparently is the name of our oldest daughter (BTW, her name isn’t even close to that). My close second favorite is “boy,” which is her name for her brother.

My oldest daughter, whose name we will pretend is Sarah, likes to play a game with her that goes something like this, “Hey baby, say mommy.” She replies “mommy.”

Wholly Toledo!

A view of "old town" Toledo, Spain.

I’m going to take a break from the heady topics and write about something completely frivolous. Because of my husband’s work, we’ve been able to see some incredible places that we’d likely never have been able to see on our own. I’m often asked what my favorite trip was and Toledo, Spain is at the top of the list.

We stayed at a “villa” that we rented for about a week. It may sound posh, but I’ve found that renting a home or apartment when traveling is often cheaper than a hotel and gives you the option of cooking your own food (not to mention having multiple bedrooms and a space to oneself and one’s noisy children).

Pioneer Yeast

I received my copy of, The Forgotten Skills of Self-Sufficiency used by the Mormon Pioneers (I wrote about it in a previous post.).

I've only glanced through it, but I zeroed in the pioneer yeast section. The author, Caleb Warnock, talks about starting your own yeast or buying a starter from reputable dealers. Warnock says in his book that he got a starter from a friend who got her's from  http://ldshealth.ning.com/. I looked up the site and it looks like a jackpot of wholistic eating.

The Greatest of These...

If hope leads to faith and faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains, imagine what charity, “the greatest of these,” can do.

I’ve been contemplating this thought for several days. I wish I had an answer, but it seems obvious that charity is the crowning attribute that all others fall into. I’ve wondered what can I do to acquire it? I’m of course selfishly interested in it for the power it proffers.  It seems charity can “cover the multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8 )

I don’t think that means charity wipes away our sins, but that having charity creates the behavior that inhibits any desire to sin.  In other words, charity and sin can’t co-exist.

We can be regular church goers, the first to make dinner or help a member, regular tithe payers, recommend holders, bishops and relief society presidents and still, without charity, “we are nothing.” The scriptures go further:

Where Were You?

And thus I add my blog to a long list of posts about 9/11. I was five blocks from the White House working at my desk when an inter-office message popped up from the media section telling us a plane hit the tower. We turned on our TVs and saw the second plane hit. All of us were stunned.

By the time the third plane hit the Pentagon we were wondering what next? Well the next was a plane headed to an unknown destination, possibly the White House. We evacuated and my normally calm boss was frantic, trying to get out and retrieve her son from the on-site day-care facility on the bottom floor.

Homework for Mom

My daughter got home from school Thursday with homework for me. Her teacher assigned the students to write a letter to a parent in their “adventure journals” and take them home. The parent in turn had to write a letter back, no cursive, so the student could read it in class.

Writing in print was tough. Writing about my daughter was easy. Of course I had to keep in mind that she’d have to read her letter out loud, so my words were brief, easy and specific to the task.

But if I could write a letter to my daughter that she didn’t have to read in front of her classmates, I might say the following:

The Motherly Act of Sewing Shoes

A woman I excessively admire stopped by while I was sewing a strap back onto a pair of shoes. My daughter purchased the shoes with her own money and lovingly brought them home.

She tried them on, and walked in them before we removed the plastic tie that holds the shoes together. One of the straps pulled off as she took a step.  She was of course heartbroken, but it looked like an easy fix, so I was attempting it when my friend called to visit.

She asked what I was doing and I told her. She surprised me by exclaiming, “What a good mother you are! That’s such a motherly thing to do.” 

I was taken off-guard for a moment. I hadn’t thought anything about being a good mother when I tried to fix the shoes. I just wanted my daughter to be able to enjoy the fruits of her earnings.

Political Pontifications: Donkeys vs. Elephants

I already touched on this in my post called “Watch out for the Goat’s Rope,” but we’ve brushed elbows with a number of politicians while stationed overseas. If the majority of the ones we met are a cross-section of the rest, then it’s no wonder we’re in the trouble we are in (with some exceptions I should say).

Our national obsession with sports seems to have spilled over into the political climate. It’s like we have a perpetual Super Bowl hosted in D.C., but the only teams ever invited are the Democrats and the Republicans.

New Book: Forgotten Skills of Self-Sufficiency Used by Mormon Pioneers

http://deseretbook.com/Forgotten-Skills-Self-Sufficiency-Used-Mormon-Pioneers-Caleb-Warnock/i/5070659

Wow. Just saw this book on Meridian Magazine. The author is interviewed on Cricket and Seagull and the interview is available in the post. The book talks about running a 12-month garden and different varieties of centuries-old produce most of us have never heard of. And who knew that carrots didn't used to be orange?

Did you know that dandelions were a food import to help both bees and humans have food?

Have you heard of pioneer yeast, which is supposed to have more digestive benefits than quick-rise. For those of you with celiac, this is priceless information. The author of the book, Caleb Warnock, talks about how pioneer yeast breaks down the proteins that celiacs can't process.

I've often wondered why we seem to have an increase in food allergies and autism (which seems to have some relation to diet as the gluten-free/casein free diet is said to benefit children with autism) and I've suspected for a long time that our modern diet has something to do with it. We have over-processed foods, which are great when you need food to last, but I can't help but wonder if this is creating the generational health issues that seem to be on the rise.