Riding the Guilt Train

I got a phone call from one of my daughters a couple of days ago. The gist of the conversation was this: "Mom, I am I going to be guilted into doing this? (she was referring to someone else-not ME!)

The next day I had an intense conversation with my husband regarding how guilty I always felt about the things I didn’t do or couldn’t do. He was absolutely stunned at my feelings. I guess men don’t feel guilty like women do.

Women feel guilty about EVERYTHING.

I feel guilty when my kids have cavities at the dental visits.
I feel guilty when I don’t accomplish everything on my list, even though I have already done about 700 things that day.
I feel guilty when I don’t serve nutritious meals to my family.
I feel guilty when I have to say no to something, and sometimes I will say yes at the expense of personal time or other responsibilities, and then be really annoyed about it.
I feel guilty when I take some personal time.
I feel guilty when I haven’t visited all the ladies that I felt I needed to visit in one week-even though I already visited 3 that week.
I feel guilty when my cleaning ladies come and my house is a disaster.
I feel guilty that I have cleaning ladies.

I even feel guilty when it's someone else's fault....sheesh.

Frankly I’m sick of feeling guilty.
I am taking a vow to try to get off the guilt train.
And figure out what is appropriate guilt.
And what is just negative behavior that I need to change.
Any ideas out there???

The Pattern is Holding!!

If you have no idea what this title means....go here first.

It's a BOY!!

Merry-Merry-How Does Your Garden Grow?

Really pretty good, except we are in need of some major fertilizing these days.

Bush beans putting on pretty purple blossoms.

Tantalizing tomatoes loaded with fruit.

Corn, sadly in need of some fertilizin'

Summer squash putting forth golden flowers.

Climbing cukes shooting forth little tendrils....

Spuds, growing like WEEDS!

Melons, doubling in size in the heat.

It almost makes the impending heat worth it.....

Two Down, Two to Go!

I told Steve he needs four things right now.

1. A job.

2. A car.

3. School.

4. A girl.

1. Looks like he is going to work for the family biz.

2. Showing off:

#3 has to wait until August.

#4....? Depends on him.

Pretty good for only two weeks home, if I do say so myself!

Breaking News

Pssst.......My Ames has a new blog....Go see.

How I Spent Earth Day

Part of the morning in the garden of course, with my helpers.

Next week I'll share how my garden grows. In the meantime, today we have an open house here for our ward preparedness day.....yeah....like I'm an expert!

What's It Like Having Steve Home?

People are asking how things are going with having Steve home again. Here's a photo to illustrate what it's like:

Can you guess which bed is his?

Pluses:

Enjoying his company.

Having awesome gospel discussions.

He's actually interested in what mom has to say.

He helps me TONS with my Spanish.

He's polite and considerate and asks permission even though he's 21.

He eats my food and likes it.

He's really a handsome boy

Minuses:

None really except that he doesn't have a car or a job yet so it's hard for him.

So when he needs a car-I'm carless-or visa versa.

But otherwise it's

Pretty Awesome!

The Story of the 99 cent Pineapple

So, I was just driving along the road the other day, minding my own business, when I saw the sign:


Fresh pineapple-99 cents ea.


I made a quick decision that I couldn't miss out on this one, even though I was wearing old blue jeans and slippers. Quickly I went into the store (Superstition Ranch Mkt. for the local yokels) and grabbed four of those golden beauties.

How do I pick a ripe pineapple? In my opinion, you use your eyes and your nose.

First, it looks golden.
And it smells sweet.......yum!


So here's my tutorial on how I cut up the pineapple and freeze it for future green smoothies! I realize for some of you this may be old news but here goes anyway.....

First cut off the top and bottom of the pineapple.

Then cut off the crusty sides. Do your best, it's hard to cut close to the flesh and get all the skin off.

Then I cut it into quarters.

Then you have to cut that little core thing out of the center. The core is really tough on teeth and blenders (and probably the digestive system too).

Then I chop it into sections and pile it into my trusty bowl.

Shove it into ziplock bags and freeze. I have no idea if the freezer gods allow pineapple to be frozen, but I do it anyway (I'm just that rebellious!). Then I can have frosty frozen pineapple for my....

Pina colada green smoothie!

Scrumptious!

Happy Earth Day!

16 Verily I say, that inasmuch as ye do this, the fulness of the earth is yours, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and that which climbeth upon the trees and walketh upon the earth;

17 Yea, and the herb, and the good things which come of the earth, whether for food or for rainment, or for houses, or for barns, or for orchards, or for gardens, or for vineyards;

18 Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart;

19 Yea, for food and for raiment, for taste and for smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven the soul.

20 And it pleaseth God that he hath given all these things unto man; for unto this end were they made to be used, with judgment, not to excess neither by extortion.

D&C 59:16-20

I'm grateful that a loving God has given us such a beautiful earth to provide us with all that is needed to sustain us physically.

I believe that it is my responsibility to magnify the stewardship of the tiny piece of earth that I have been allowed to have, to beautify it, to make it productive and lovely and useful for myself and my family.

I don't agree with all of the "green" philosophies that are out there, but I do feel a responsibility to keep my corner of the earth beautiful and not waste the resources that I have been blessed with.

I remember years ago making a goal as a young women not to litter the environment and that goal has stayed with me throughout my life. I have tried to teach my children to respect their environment and not trash the outdoors. I hope they have absorbed those teachings.

Happy Earth Day!

Now go plant something!

A Tourist-View of Nashville, TN

I feel like a BAAAD blogger....
Cuz life is kind of busy all the time.

It only took me about 5 hours to finish this post, what with all the interruptions and such.

BUT....as promised....here's my little tourist-view of Nashville:

We arrived Monday evening, Apr. 6th and promptly went to our hotel. We were staying across the street from the mission home so of course we had to drive real slow to see if we could see any young men in white shirts and ties roaming around......(we did it again on Tues. morning)

Of course there were none.

It was pouring rain.

The weather is very interesting in Tennessee.

When we woke up Tues morning-it was snowing.

Now for a little desert girl, this is very exciting so the first order of business was to text everyone on my list that it was snowing........for maybe 30 minutes.

Then we decided to drive around and found our way to Hermitage.

Hermitage is the home of President Andrew Jackson.

Don't know who Pres. Andrew Jackson is?

Let me remind you:

Ahh, now you remember!

He was quite the character, I'm told.

So here's a view of his plantation:

Here is his tomb-along with his beloved wife:

And his wife's garden, which of course I found very interesting.....

(pssst... I guess there was a huge scandal their whole married life because it seems that when Mr. Jackson married his wife-ahem-she wasn't legally divorced)

What I fail to mention here is that it was FREEZING COLD! (remember the snow?)

Of course-you probably can't see it-but this is the Grand Ol Opry House. We drove by and said "howdee."

After that visit and just driving around town (Tennessee is BEAUTIFUL), we met up with our boy for the first time in two years at the temple.

The next day we picked him up and he was officially ours again.

Grand tour of the mission office.

Freeway view of downtown Nashville, TN. It's a really interesting skyline.

One of the sites we visited (which I had ever heard of) was a replica of the Parthenon that was constructed for the Nashville centennial celebration (in 1897-or thereabouts). Nashville is reaaallly old. They decided after about 50 years that it needed to be rebuilt since the original was made of plaster. So here it is in all its rebuilt glory:

Does this photo give an idea of how huge this place is? (my man on the left and my boy on the right-awww-missionary companions-where's your white shirt TL???)

Ok-this was kinda creepy. It's a giant statue of Athena with Nike in her hand. To give a perspective-Nike is SIX FEET TALL! When I first walked into this area, I didn't even notice the statue at first, I was looking at some sculptures, so when I turned around and saw it-I freaked out. I guess I am not very cultured.......

We drove through the prestigious Vanderbuilt University, across the street from the park where the Parthenon stands. (and a big thanks to the guy who was honking at us from behind while I took this photo).

And of course since Nashville is Music City USA, how could we miss a chat with the guys and their BFF....

Elvis, baby.

Back to the crazy weather again.

Tues morning it was snowing, and freezing all day.

Wednesday it was warm, Thursday was warm.

Early Friday morning at 3 am, I awoke to screaming wind, crashing rain and hail, and flashing lightening and pounding thunder. It scared the liver out of me! I thought-oh great-we are flying in this weather in a few hours. I had visions of tornados flying around outside. But as soon as it started....it was over....when I got home, I found out that there had been tornados just a few miles south of where we had been visiting....in the afternoon.

I told Steve that even the thunder sounds different in Nashville.

He says, "it's because it has a southern accent, mom."

Ok-y'all.

Reverting Back to Kindergarten

Remember when you were in kindergarten and you had to to "patterning?"





Like......

green, blue, green, blue, green, blue


or


Red, red, yellow, red, red, yellow.



I think it is supposed to make you smart in math or something.


Well, this is my latest pattern: See if you can figure it out!





Pink


Blue


Blue


Blue


Pink


Pink


Pink


Blue





What does it mean? It means that......
She's having a boy!!!

It's Yer Birthday!

A Happy Birthday Pictorial to my "baby boy".... Bubba D!

These photos pretty much sum up his personality....

Happy diez y nueve my boy!♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥