It's Been Awhile

So obviously it has been awhile since my last post so I will catch everyone up briefly and add more detailed posts later.

The kids are all settled in school now and seem to really like their teachers. Thank Goodness. We spent about 9 days in Utah during August and had a lot of fun with our cousins. (will post pictures later). Business has been incredibly busy for me lately. I am now the only massage therapist in town. The other two have gone out of business. I won't complain though. Peter has also been very blessed to have a lot of work even though construction has slowed way down around here. Peter and I are in the process of finding out why I haven't been able to get pregnant and with any luck and the Lord's blessing, hopefully we will be able to start trying again in March of 2009 after I get some hormonal things balanced out. More than anything in this world I want to be able to have a child (or 2 or 3...).

Anyway, I will go for now but will post again soon.

Soliciting Advice PLEASE!!!!

Well, the kids came home late Friday night safe and sound (thank goodness). However, they both came home taking the Lord's name in vain. I am so frustrated. I am so tired of having to undo all of the damage that gets done every time I have to send them to Sandra. And I am afraid I did not respond very well to the situation. With Jaysen, as he was the first one to curse within minutes of being home, I gave him a calm warning (that Alex heard) and told him that it was unacceptable to use that kind of language in our home and that I did not want to hear it again. I let him know that if I heard him swear at all again he would get his mouth washed out with soap and he will be grounded for a full day for each swear word he uses. Fast forward to this morning and Alex tripped and fell and out comes the same cursing. This time I responded with ANGER. I yelled and screamed at her and then proceeded to give her the same speech I had given Jaysen only in a much harsher tone. Then we all piled in the car and went to church. Not the best way to start out your Sunday morning. I could really use some advice on what to do. How do I combat such a toxic and unhealthy environment. They are exposed to so much garbage and filth while they are with Sandra and then I spend 6 to 8 weeks undoing everything and re-teaching things. I don't know how much longer I can keep up this cycle. I know I am not being very Christlike toward her and I am working on it, but in the meantime, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Bitter Sweet!

Well, I just spent this past week up at girls camp for the last time. I was released from my calling as Young Women's President today. It has been three years this time around. Last time it was four years. That means that 7 of the last 9 years that I have lived here I have been in Young Women. I am happy yet sad at the same time. I have really grown to love this group of girls and really thought I was ready to be released. Now that the time is here, I am having very mixed emotions. I am sure that the new YW President will do a great job and the girls will really like having her as their leader. I am also sure that I will not be sitting idle for to long. I anticipate that I will be given a new calling sometime in the very near future. That is one of the things I love most about our church. We often have opportunities to serve in a number of different organizations. We are so blessed and so lucky. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is TRUE!!!!!

Canned Butter and Cheese

Did you know that it is possible to can butter and cheese in Mason jars? I recently found this information and thought I would share it. I have not tried this yet but a friend of mine has and says it works great. Here are the instructions:

CANNED CHEESE
You won’t find this one in a canning manual, but I experimented around and found something that works for me. One day I was canning tomatoes while whacking a chunk of cheddar cheese for “lunch.” Mmmm, I wondered. Tomatoes are acid. Cheese is acid. So I cut up cubes of cheese, sitting a wide-mouthed pint jar in a pan of water, on the wood stove. Slowly cubes of cheese melted and I added more until the jar was full to within half an inch of the top. Then I put a hot, previously boiled lid on the jar, screwed down the ring firmly tight and added the cheese to a batch of jars in the boiling water bath canner to process. It sealed on removal, right along with the jars of tomatoes. Two years later, I opened it and it was great. Perhaps a little sharper than before, but great. So I started canning cheese of all types (but not soft cheeses) and, so far, they’ve all been successful. To take the cheeses out of the jar, dip the jar in a pan of boiling water for a few minutes, then take a knife and go around the jar, gently prying the cheese out. Store it in a plastic zip lock bag.



CANNED BUTTER

1. Use any butter that is on sale. Lesser quality butter requires more shaking (see #5 below), but the results are the same as with the expensive brands.

2. Heat pint jars in a 250 degree oven for 20 minutes, without rings or seals. One pound of butter slightly more than fills one pint jar, so if you melt 11 pounds of butter, heat 12 pint jars. A roasting pan works well for holding the pint jars while in the oven.

3. While the jars are heating, melt butter slowly until it comes to a slow boil. Using a large spatula, stir the bottom of the pot often to keep the butter from scorching. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes at least: a good simmer time will lessen the amount of shaking required (see #5 below). Place the lids in a small pot and bring to a boil, leaving the lids in simmering water until needed.

4. Stirring the melted butter from the bottom to the top with a soup ladle or small pot with a handle, pour the melted butter carefully into heated jars through a canning jar funnel. Leave 3/4" of head space in the jar, which allows room for the shaking process.

5. Carefully wipe off the top of the jars, then get a hot lid from the simmering water, add the lid and ring and tighten securely. Lids will seal as they cool. Once a few lids "ping," shake while the jars are still warm, but cool enough to handle easily, because the butter will separate and become foamy on top and white on the bottom. In a few minutes, shake again, and repeat until the butter retains the same consistency throughout the jar.

6. At this point, while still slightly warm, put the jars into a refrigerator. While cooling and hardening, shake again, and the melted butter will then look like butter and become firm. This final shaking is very important! Check every 5 minutes and give the jars a little shake until they are hardened in the jar! Leave in the refrigerator for an hour.

7. Canned butter should store for 3 years or longer on a cool, dark shelf. [It does last a long time. We have just used up the last of the butter we canned in 1999, and it was fine after 5 years.] Canned butter does not "melt" again when opened, so it does not need to be refrigerated upon opening, provided it is used within a reasonable length of time.

A lovely glow seems to emanate from every jar. You will also be glowing with grateful satisfaction while placing this "sunshine in a jar" on your pantry shelves.

We have canned over 75 pints of butter in the past year. I buy butter on sale, then keep it frozen until I have enough for canning 2 or 3 batches of a dozen jars each.

My new $5000.00 Bracelet....

You will never believe it. I am so lucky. I just spent most of last night until 4 am this morning in the ER at our local hospital. We only have one and it is always crowded. They just recently remodeled and renovated to add a bunch of rooms. They have something like 75 beds just in the ER. Anyway, as luck would have it and since I don't have any health insurance, I just purchased myself a BEAUTIFUL red and white paper bracelet (it's even "engraved" with my name) to find out that I have pleurisy (which apparently is not that big of a deal) and they sent me home with some anti-inflammatories (code for Ibuprofen) and told me not to lift anything heavy. I am sure glad that I invested so much money into such a valuable bracelet.

The "Helipad" is Done

After almost a year, our deck (AKA the helipad
because of its size) is finally done. Peter has
worked really hard on it.


He built me two beautiful planters like this for
Mother's Day this year. They really add a lot to
the deck.


It has been a lot of fun to use the deck so far this summer.

Letting Go.....

Alex and Jaysen head off to Utah tomorrow for a month. It is so hard to let them go. I try not to stress out about it but I really worry about their physical, mental, and spiritual welfare when they are gone. Jaysen has been feeling uneasy about this trip saying that he "has a bad feeling that something bad is going to happen." It is hard not to just say that he doesn't have to go. I just hope and pray that nothing does happen and that our Heavenly Father is mindful of them and watches out for them and keeps them safe. It is really hard for me to let go of my need to be in control and to completely put my faith and trust in the Lord when it comes to these kids. I just love them so much. I know that I need to have more faith.

Can anyone say FIRE?

So get this. Yesterday Peter decided to teach Jaysen about electricity and how things work. He gave him a small light bulb out of an old flash light, some wires, and two "D" batteries. He showed Jaysen how to connect it all together to make the light bulb turn on. Peter says he told Jaysen not to leave them connected all of the time because it is dangerous. So we all go to bed last night and when I woke up this morning Jaysen proceeds to tell me that he has something he needs to show me. He hands me his light bulb attached to the two batteries and all of the wires properly connected. Then he says, "Ummm, mom I put this under my pillow last night and something happened." He proceeds to lift up his pillows to expose a burn mark on his brand new mattress that is about the size of a grapefruit and several burn marks on a couple of different pillows about the same size. I don't know whether to be more upset with Jaysen or with Peter.

Summer Vacation?

I have no idea what I am doing so I will start with this and go from here. It is after midnight and I am just getting started. I guess I will start with what is happening right now. Today was the last day of school for both of my children and about three hours after school let out, my kids were saying "I miss school already." They have been counting down the days for the past month and now they want to go back already. My son Jaysen is quite upset with me today because he asked me "Mom, What are we going to do tomorrow because now it is summer?" When I responded by telling him that we were going to get the house clean and that he has to clean up his room before any fun activities can happen he replied with " Great. I'm never going to get to do anything fun this summer." It was pretty funny.