I wouldn't have been very good "back in the olden days"

I am thankful that I'm alive in this day and age.  I just don't think I'd have been very good at living "back in the olden days". 

My reasons:

• Make-up. Yeah, I scare small children without my make-up. Not that it makes THAT much of a difference but I feel less scary with it on anyway.
• I hate laundry now.  I can only imagine how much "fun" it was to hand wash everything. I know that they had very few clothes to actually wash but still.  They typically had HUGE families, and there was no running water.  No hot water heaters.  No dryers.  No matter what the time of year, the weather, or the temperature, you still had to do it.  
• I would have driven people crazy by my incessant boredom. I swear I have ADHD & OCD.  I'm sure it would be a major problem for me.  Being alive now is just perfect for me.  There are so very many enjoyable ways to spend your time these days. T.V., movies, my phone, the computer, Pinterest! I can't always have time for these things but it's so comforting to know that they're there for me if I need them. :)   Oh, and cameras!  Isn't it great to be able to capture precious moments in our lives like new babies, and weddings, first smiles and first steps.  I could go on and on about that!
• Running water and toilets.
• As much as I love riding horses and I wish I could ride horses more often, I don't think I would want to have to rely on horses as my only form of transportation, whether it be riding one or having my wagon or buggy pulled by one.  I think I'd much rather have the comfort, warmth, convenience, and shelter of my mini van.
• Sleeping on hay mattresses doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun either. 
• There was no Target.  No Costco.  No Walmart.  No Ikea.  No Maurice's.  No outlet stores. 
• Modern medicine.  Especially the actual medicine.  I hate that my Trigeminal Neuralgia's nickname is "The Suicide Drug". It's nice that I can be helped by taking medication for it. Just a few years ago my medications hadn't been developed yet and no one knew they worked for this anyway since they actually were developed to be used for other ailments.                                          And I would NOT have been into having a  baby without the convenience of an epidural.  And those little monitors they put on you that help track the baby's heartbeat. We would have lost Matthew if not for that!  And thank goodness for c-sections! I shutter to think about what might have happened to a lot of my nieces and nephews and their mommies if that hadn't been an option or if it hadn't been done fast enough thanks to detecting the problem in time.  (Not to mention having to be the person who had to clean that mess up in your house after having a baby in your home, without mattress protectors or a washing machine to throw the mess into.  If it happened in my home now I'd just throw it all away and get new ones but I'd imagine you couldn't very well do that back then.)  And Penicillin!  That alone has been such a blessing in people's lives. We are blessed to know that we and our children can be well taken care of if the need arises.  And vaccinations.  I once read in a parenting machine, that we are merely a plane ride away from acquiring any number of hideous disease from people from other countries where they don't vaccinate but who are carries of the disease.  Kind of a scary thought if you ask me. .
• And finally...food!  I love food!  There we no fast food restaurants. No Olive Garden or Cafe Rio.  No happy hour at Sonic.  No Pinterest to find fabulous recipes on.  No Food Network.  No Sweet Tooth Fairy.  It's definitely much more fun to eat these days than it was back then!

Crepes and Spiced Peach Sauce

One of the awesome ladies in our Young Women's Presidency makes these amazing creps! They are so delicious! I finally decided to try making them and they were so easy and super delicious! Just remember you have to refrigerate the batter for at least an hour before using. 

CREPES

Steps:
1. Mix up your crepe batter and refrigerate for one hour, meanwhile;
2. Mix up your filling and refrigerate til finished with crepes.
3. Spoon filling into center of crepes and roll, place up to 6 crepes in a gallon size zip lock bag and place in freezer. Remove from freezer one hour before ready to serve.
4. Toppings can be served warm and spooned over top of crepes.

BASIC DESSERT BATTER FOR CREPES

1 1/4 cups flour                   3 eggs

2 tablespoons sugar             1 1/2 cups milk

Pinch of salt                        2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

Note: 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract can be added. Refrigerate at least an hour before using.

Tip: Crepes to be filled need only to be cooked on one side. Place a piece of waxed paper between each crepe and keep covered to prevent drying.

FILLING FOR CREPES

 2 tablespoons Almond Extract (I was out of this ingredient so I just didn't add it and they were still delicious!!)

8 oz pkg cream cheese               2 cups powdered sugar

1 cup heavy whipping cream 

Cream together cream cheese and sugar; add almond extract and cream. Refrigerate for an hour before using or until you are finished making your crepes.

SPICED PEACH SAUCE

~2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice (I used the bottled lemon juice and it was still delicious!)

~1 jar (12 oz) apricot preserves (I bought some but the seal was broken when I opened it to make the sauce so I had to improvise. I did about half peach jam and half strawberry jam. Still delicious!)

~1/8 teaspoon nutmeg            

~1 large can sliced peaches, drain juice        

~1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon     

In a medium saucepan heat together apricot preserves, lemon juice, cinnamon and nutmeg; cook and stir over low heat for 2 minutes. Stir in peaches; keep warm till ready to serve. Spoon warm sauce over top of your filled crepes. 



A yummy recipe...

So I LOVE Italian food! I made this delicious Chicken Parmesan last night. It is so delicious now that I figured out how to make it right. I used to dredge it in Italian bread crumbs until I ordered it at Applebee's one time and they just fry the chicken breasts like they do their normal fried chicken. It was to die for so I decided to copy theirs and it is soooo much better! All you have to do is sprinkle some salt and pepper, dredge it in flour and fry it up. I use Lawry's Course Ground Garlic Salt With Parsley instead of plain salt and I fry it in canola oil because Brian doesn't like olive oil and canola is a bit healthier than vegetable oil. So then you place your fried chicken breasts on a cookie sheet. Spoon a little spaghetti sauce on top, sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and grated Parmesan. Place cookie sheet in the oven on broil for a few minutes until the cheese is a light golden brown like pizza cheese looks. Serve over a bed of pasta and sauce, any kind works fine. I used angel hair pasta. I promise if you try it this way you will LOVE it!!!

A Little Ramble

This is a post from one of my friend's on Facebook who lives in Topeka, Kansas:

No electricity, cable TV, ac, Internet, laptop is almost dead, cell phone almost dead, what did people used to do before electronics? This is really horrible. Hmm how am I suppose to sleep?
Later she said this:
Just heard there are 19,000 of is in this situation. And they have no idea what the problem is or how much longer it going to be...Uhggghg..
Someone suggested she get a generator, to which she replied: We have one its too bad to go outside to start it up. But if it lasts much longer I'm going to have to suck it up and go fire it up lol!


It got me thinking, we all use cell phones and many people don't even have land lines anymore. We didn't have one until the stupid Internet company here forced us to. The phone we have for our land line is a cordless phone. If our power is out, our phone does not work. It's kind of freaky if you think about it. I mean what if something like that happened to us and we needed to call 911 and we couldn't because all of our phones are completely dependent on electricity.

At Church we are always learning about how important it is to have a good food storage. Also, to have soap, toilet paper, toothpaste, you know, the basic toiletries and such. It just never occurred to me to make sure we have a corded phone that doesn't require electricity.

I used to think we all needed to have food storage in case some sort of natural disaster or some such thing that would leave you with no way to get food or supplies. I learned that lesson at a young age when my dad and I had to walk 6 blocks in the snow to the nearest grocery store to get food for our family. My cousin lives in Australia and they had major flooding this year and they didn't have too much damage where they lived but food trucks couldn't get to their town because of the damage to the roads. They were so grateful to have food storage. 

Some years ago I learned how important it can be for a family to have food storage. My friend's husband lost his job as a big wig at Geneva Rock. They had 6 kids and a large home and a couple vehicles. Well, they had quite a lot of money in savings and they were able to live for 6 months off of savings and food storage. She sold Tupperware to help pay for perishables, etc. that they needed. I was so impressed that because they chose to follow the council of church leaders, to not be in a lot of debt and to have savings and food storage, they were able to survive a difficult situation. Her husband was able to take some college classes during that time that would help him be more able to find work. 

I've been really feeling like we need to start having a food storage. We have a hard enough time feeding our family from month to month, having enough money to buy food storage often seems out of reach.  We're doing the best we can to start having food storage. It feels so good to at least start the process. We have a long way to go!!! And I am definitely adding a corded phone to my list of  essentials to store!!!

Pageant, Rockets, Summertime, S'mores, Scripture Marking Class

~I went to The Mormon Miracle Pageant in Manti last night with the Y.W. It has been so many years since I last went that I can't remember how long ago. Before we had kids anyway. We ate BBQ Turkey dinners at a ward building...the only way to go! Then we ate yummy custard and Italian Ice treats. SO YUMMY!!! Then we watched the pageant. There were parts in it that I didn't remember from years past. I'm sure they were there before but now that I'm old (they are having our 20 year high school reunion this year...that's OLD!!!) and have kids and have a stronger testimony and such, it just was so emotional for me to watch. I got teary quite often. When they portrayed the part in The Book of Mormon when Jesus visited the Nephites and blessed them and healed the sick and taught them and blessed their children, I really cried. It was so spiritually moving and just wonderful! Of course it's one of my favorite parts to read so being able to see it acted out was really neat. I am just so grateful for the opportunity I had to go this year. I was worried about going. The umbilical cord doesn't stretch all the way to Manti ya know. :)  But I went and I am so glad I did! It was even worth getting home at 1:30 a.m. and not sleeping until 2:30a.m.! Our Y.W. are such amazing girls and I just love spending time with them! I want to go next year with my little family.

~This morning the kids woke us up at 7:30 and we got ourselves ready and went to the home of some of our church members to watch an awesome rocket show! They set off tons of rockets. All different sizes. From super tiny to about 5 feet tall. I figured I could put this in the category of "things we do for our children". I was super surprised when I actually had a lot of fun watching! The time flew by! It was fun for everyone there, especially the kids! They all wanted to be the one who found the rocket after it landed. The people live out in the boonies so the kids had plenty of room to be free and run wild! Who can ask for anything more than that when you are a boy? Gracie hated the experience. It scared her to death each time one went off. But there were some adorable little baby bunnies nestled together by their house that a wild bunny had and oh they were the cutest little things! Gracie really liked them so at least it wasn't all bad for her. The ward member's who invited everyone out do this show every year. They invite people from the college out since he used to teach at the college, they invite ward members and friends. Their kids plan their summer vacations for the rocket show weekend. It's so much fun! One of their daughters said to me that she was surprised by how many people came out for the show. I said, well, there isn't a lot of entertainment in this town so when someone invites people for a fun time we're all there!!!

~Don't you love summertime. Some days I just absolutely love summer?! Some days not so much! When the kids get along pretty well...and they make the most of the opportunity to ride bikes and dig in the dirt all day long in our back yard...we eat some kind of yummy summer food like a BLT, juicy watermelon, corn on the cob, BBQ ANYTHING, yummy potato salad and Aunt Marilyn's fabulous baked beans...we walk through the store and smell the sweet scent of ripe nectarines and peaches throughout the produce area and my mouth starts to water...Strawberry Shortcake...spending lots of time outside...the smell of freshly cut grass, lilacs, and roses...THEN, all is right with the world and I LOVE summer! 

but...

when the kids can't stop fighting with each other, hurting each other, and hurting each other's feelings...having to take 4 kids along when I go to the grocery store...having to pull pokey stickers out of my kids feet constantly because they refuse to wear shoes outside...the whining...complaining...fighting over which wii game to play or movie to watch...the constant messes...not being able to afford to go on nice little mountain drives because the price of gas is OUT...OF...CONTROL!!!, THEN I'm not such a big fan of summer!

~There is a fire pit in our back yard. Tonight we're going to roast marshmallows over it and have s'mores. I can't wait!!! Brian is cooking some delicious chicken and rice in the dutch oven. I sure do love to eat! :)

~Thursday night there was a scripture marking class for a Relief Society activity. Oh, it was awesome! The lady brought us fun little sticker things to put in our scriptures. She suggested some fun things like, mark words in your scriptures that are about Jesus, Heavenly Father, good, happy things with yellow soft color pencil. Mark scripture mastery scriptures in kind of a rainbow pattern. Mark things that are about Satan or evil with red pencil. Use other colors you like for other things. She just really got us all excited about the scriptures and taught us things that will help us be able to understand the scriptures better. It was a really great experience! I can't wait for her to come again!