A Charmed Life

Every time we celebrate a birthday I reflect on how many years of marriage were under our belt when these little ones came into our family. Amazing how immature and young we can be and still be held responsible for the nurturing and raising of these little ones that come.



So this year as we celebrate our oldest's 11th birthday and our youngest's 3rd, we have 10 years (oops, I mean 12) of marriage under our belt and now feel ready, mature and old enough to raise these little ones. We don't look so scared anymore. It's a charmed life.

It CAN Be Done

This is my second or maybe third season for canning. I still don't own any of the big required equipment needed for the process, but because of some great neighbors I have been able to complete the processing. This season brought lots of salsa, spaghetti sauce, grape juice, apple juice and apple sauce. By far, my favorite had to have been doing the apple juice and apple sauce. They look so beautiful in the jars and taste even more delectable and having a friend to help you out is fun and better than going at it alone.

Here's to You, Children of the Seventies

Going through my children's clothes I found this suit that my mother saved from when my brother was little. This is a classic pin striped suit. I have two other great outfits, but I'll save those for another day. People must have thought I was going crazy, having dressed my son this way for church, but his Nursery Teacher thought he looked very handsome. I'm pretty sure she has children who grew up in the seventies. May good fashion never die.

Learn to Wait

Let us, then, be up and doing
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I was reading many passages in my Simple Abudance book the other day trying to catch up to where I know I should be and this poem struck me and has stayed with me for many days. Oh, how grateful I am to be someone who is blessed with a desire to be up and doing and how grateful I am for a husband who is also blessed with a desire to be up and doing. At this time if I could only remember each day that striving and struggle precede success, even in the dictionary. I love our food storage, I love our financial reserves, I love being out of debt, (except for the house), I love tithing and fast offerings, Gordon B. Hinckley said it doesn't take money to pay tithing, it takes faith, I love having a Prophet who is the watchman on the tower for me, I love that I still have some babysitting jobs and I love my new job of cleaning. I love the effort my husband has taken in finding and even being grateful for small part-time jobs that come available. If only I could love the wait.

Dumpster Discoveries

I have done a little dumpster diving in my time, but mostly it is walking into the big ones and not diving into the small ones that are usually behind stores, these dumpsters have been on my block for neighborhood cleanup, so it is fun to see what people throw out. Here are just a few of my fun finds.
Some old windows.


A ladder for the pumpkins to grow on next year. I have been looking a long time for an old wooden ladder and there it was in the dumpster, what a blessing.

This really neat door, the window opens from the top and is stopped by this chain. The picture is crooked, not the door.


This was a bathroom cupboard, I just took off the doors and gave it a nice coat of paint, then some whacks with a chain and some rubbings with sand paper. The box next to it was also in the same dumpster. I don't know what to use it for yet, but I love it.

Love-Hate Relationships

I love when the kids go back to school... I hate that I am more busy in the evening with schoolwork and all the little tidbits of information to pay for this, donate that, buy this to help our school out stuff and when is this money due?

I love using the county library... I hate getting the notice that I have a library bill due because of damaged books. I know that we did damage one book with water, but the other book I couldn't tell anything was wrong with it, even the lady that brought the books out for me to see had a very questionable tone in her voice to the so-called "water damage" on the title page of the book. Oh, well, I actually like the books I had to buy and it was actually cheaper than buying them from the bookstore.

I love Yoga...I hate rolling out of bed early in the morning to do it. I just started doing it this week. It's really only a 30 minute workout, but I am so tired, it feels like forever. Though, I love the way it is making my body feel. I've been told that I can always work on my flexibility.

I love reading the scriptures...just not the Old Testament. I can't use the word hate in that sentence, I might go to H E double hockey sticks if I do. So I have added Gordon B. Hinckley's "Standing a Little Taller" to my daily reading. I have lots of favorites, but for now, since it is harvesting time and I am having a hard time getting excited about preserving what I have harvested, this one is for me..."Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is a sin." James 4:17, and then Gordon B. Hinckley says; "You can't plow a field simply by turning it over in your mind."

Jack

What a wonderful concert he puts on, this Mr. Jack Johnson. It was amazing. I hadn't been to a concert for a long time and Mr. Jewels had NEVER been to a concert, so it was a special treat for me to be the one to bring him to his first concert. We met up with some friends of ours, who have a huge blanket to sit on. While we waited for the bands to come out the men played with their phones and the women talked about life. The funnest thing was watching all the other concert goers getting more relaxed with their alcohol and the wonderful dancing they did, plus all the picture taking they did, I bet they have twenty pictures of the same friends doing the same thing. Plus, we haven't stopped listening to Jack Johnson since the concert.

Money-Making Scheme

Mr. Jewels and my son both have their own paper routes, so I thought that it would be a great idea for me to save the extra papers they bring home everyday, bundle them up when it got to be a lot and take them to the local recycler and turn them in for cash. My daughter has been doing the same thing, only with aluminum cans. So we took our sweet money making load to the recycler, had them weighed and took the receipt to the cashier to get paid. The total came to $6.54, I asked the nice lady how much the cans came too so I could pay my daughter the right amount and she said $5.72, and then she sweetly added that the newspapers came to $0.82. I saved a whole years worth of newspapers, bundled them up, stacked them in the car and drove them for a whole $0.82. I even used a 1 cent bonus coupon. I feel ridiculous.

Sanctuary

Sanctuary: refuge: a shelter from danger or hardship.
Monday, my sanctuary was in my bedroom with the window blinds open to let in the light and the view of the trees, the window air conditioner on to bring on a cool breeze, the bed with all its' sheets, pillows and covers properly placed and the latest read from the Better Homes and Gardens magazine. All was somewhat quiet and relaxed. It didn't last long, but for howcver short a time it was, it was still my sanctuary for the day.
"Sanctuary...is a word which here means a small, safe place from a troubling world. Like an oasis in a vast desert or an island in a stormy sea." Lemony Snicket

Making It

Memorial Day Morning...First trip all the way to the top of Malan's Peak. Exhausting. But I liked it and have done it twice since. It's fun seeing our little city from up above. Isn't it beautiful?

It All Started in a Garden

On our trip to Midway, they had a sign in their garden that said, "It All Started in a Garden". It took me awhile to figure out what that meant, then, oh yeah, Adam and Eve and the creation. I suppose God likes gardens and I should try to make my own a thing of beauty, but I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that buying this home on the corner would have come with a lot of yard and therefore yardwork. I was just so in love with the home, I didn't seem to care. We have definitely made progress over the years, but I still find myself envying those homes with little yards. Spring in this front yard is by far my most favorite.

Week Starter Trip

Mr. Jewels and I decided to finally take a little getaway, without the chillins, at the beginning of the week instead of on the weekend. Only downside is that all the fun antique shops are only opened on Friday and Saturday. But, anyhow...It was wonderful. We drove to Midway and stayed at the Johnson Mill Bed and Breakfast, which is an absolutely wonderful and cozy place to stay. Lots of birds, a lake to boat on, trails to walk around, waterfall to admire. They made us a fantastic breakfast of stuffed french toast, topped with whipped cream, fresh fruit and bacon. We also dined at some really good restaurants, took a little drive around Midway and a little hike around Deer Creek Res. Here is a picture of a house we drove by and looking at it from one side it looks like the roof is warped, but looking at it from the other side it is perfectly flat.



A big bird's nest on top of a pole by the reservoir.

Conversations

Driving home from the store, my Sam begins a conversation with me that includes some of the words he knows, like monster truck, Prime, Bee, cars and a lot of umms and mumbling, but he begins each conversation with "Mom". All I have to say back to him is "Hi Sam" and he fills in all the rest. I love it. It makes me believe that yes, we can enjoy each other's company. There can be peace mixed in with the whining, crying and screaming. How our Heavenly Father must feel, when He knows there can be peace mixed in with our whining, crying and screaming. Today marks the 180th anniversary of the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and how grateful I am to have this gospel in my life and in the lives of my children. "It beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me." (Alma 32:28)

Menu

So, what do we eat? Answer: Beans and rice with a side of water.
Just Kidding.
Cereal with milk, cottage cheese, pbj sandwiches, ham sandwiches, ramen noodles, string cheese, chicken, chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes, corn, green beans, beef & black bean and tomato burritos, spaghetti with meatballs and homemade garlic bread, chicken haystacks with rice, cream cheese chicken with rice, baked chicken with spaghetti (a food storage favorite), yogurt, bacon, pancakes, we like our pancakes with chocolate chips, yummie, scrambled eggs, cream of wheat, pizza, pasta salads, macaroni and cheese (mostly just for the kids) bagels with cream cheese, enchiladas, cake, goldfish crackers, swedish fish, and other snacks that are on sale at the store. I do use powdered milk a lot when we run out of the real stuff, but honestly I can't tell the difference anymore between the real milk and the fake stuff. Morning Moo's is the best. And I try to make bread as much as possible. There you have it. They are not the most elaborate meals and I don't have teenagers yet, so I think that's why I haven't spent a lot on food, I'm curious to know though, what am I not buying that others are?

A Crazy Challenge

I have been going to the second round of the financial class that is being offered at my church. Last Thursday we talked about getting Only Big Big Bargains and one lady commented that there is a website that shows you how you can spend $40.00 a week for a family of four. So I got the crazy notion in my head that I am going to give it a try, only with $50.00 per week since I have a family of five. Mr. and I are on step three of the program which is to finish building the emergency fund. So if I can pull this off for a little while to help build that fund we can get it done sooner and move more quickly to the next step. I usually spend $380 per month on groceries, averaging $95.00 per week and I have been doing pretty good. If I go over budget one week then I have to take it out of the next weeks budget. Anyway...I figured since I try to go shopping every other Monday, I could spend $50 at Costco and $50 at the grocery store. I gave it a try yesterday and clipped my coupons and sent myself to Costco first. I spent $59.00 there, (I bought a frozen pizza that I knew would take me over the budget, but it looked really good.) Then I headed over to Smith's and spent $17.75. It was hard just getting the bare essentials, but since I have also been establishing a food storage I can use that to supplement for the next couple weeks or months. I think this may work.
I know the picture has nothing to do with the post, I am just getting excited for warmer weather to return. Do you like the eyebrow he drew on himself?

Loving Something New

I am loving the new shelves that Mr. built last week for our Food Room, and they extend under the stairs, which makes me love them even more. I now have more space for wonderful food storage items. They give me renewal on what the Prophets of the Church have been teaching for years and years and years..."Establish a Food Storage." With my new sense of renewal I went grocery shopping on Monday and saved more money than I spent. Loved It.
And I am loving the freshly painted door to the food room. I was even able to get the paint off of the beautiful old door handle. (I boiled it off)

This is Fun?

Mr. Jewels signed up for the first annual Utah Crossfit Games which was held Saturday, January 9th at the Olympic Oval. We spent all day watching men and women suffering through grueling workouts. Mr. Jewels is in all red. Doesn't he look excited to compete?!

Worth Repeating

"And now let us welcome the New Year
Full of things that have never been."
Rainer Maria Rilke

Nine things done for the first time last year worth repeating:
1. Baking Bread
2. Square Foot Gardening
3. Canning Spaghetti Sauce
4. Having the Windows Professionally Cleaned
5. Knitting
6. Setting and Reaching Financial Goals
7. Stocking Up
8. Clipping Coupons
9. Shorter Hair (well, not really for the first time, but the first time in a long while)