I’m a Missionary’s Mom

A couple of months ago in our presidency meeting Diana mentioned that the missionaries in our zone had a training in November and needed someone to prepare and serve them lunch that day.  She was concerned because the different Relief Society presidencies in our stake had already taken a turn and there was no one left to assign this to.  After thinking about it for a few minutes, I decided that this could be a great service activity for both me & my little kids.  Yesterday, along with two women from the young single adult ward, we cooked spaghetti and cookies and served about 30 missionaries and leaders.

The day didn’t start off too smoothly.  When we arrived at the church there was no one there, but there were 14 (FOURTEEN) two pound boxes of spaghetti.  According to the nutrition information on the back each box held 24 servings.  There were also 4 bottles of spaghetti sauce, each of which had 10 servings.  I was very confused, wondering if we were feeding 40 people or 336 people! 

A few minutes later the young woman in charge arrived.  She had not realized that there were no pots to cook with at the church and had gone to the institute building to see what she could find.  (Note to self: next time follow that prompting and bring big pots to a spaghetti lunch at the church!!)  She seemed very surprised to hear that we would not need all 14 boxes of spaghetti.  I’m still laughing to think of how much spaghetti that would have been!

We got all of the food set out just as the missionaries finished the first part of their training.  They streamed into the cultural hall, happy to see that freshly baked chocolate chip cookies were part of the meal.  Those cookies went fast!

We were all back in the kitchen when one of the adult missionaries came in and told us that we needed to come into the cultural hall so that the missionaries could sing their thanks to us.  I didn’t feel like I needed to be thanked, but she was adamant and so we followed her.

When we got to the cultural hall, all 30 of those young men stood and launched a rousing rendition of “Called to Serve.”  All I could think in that moment was that somewhere, on another continent, my young son is singing that same song to someone else.  It brings tears to my eyes to remember it right now, and it made me flat out cry yesterday.  An ugly-face cry, too.  All I could think was—it’s not fair to do this to someone who’s son has just left on a mission!  And I loved it.

I also loved that my little kids got a chance to both serve and then to eat lunch with the missionaries.  I hope that this will help them feel closer to Jason, and also to think about being missionaries themselves someday. 

When they can make someone else’s mom cry.

If you want to see what else is making me teary this morning, watch this.

My Cheatin' Heart

Tonight I went (for the 2nd time) to a book club that has just been formed in my neighborhood.

I must confess that I felt both times like I was being unfaithful to my D2 book club gals. Especially when everyone there had read the book and it was a terrific discussion.

But I was still home by 9.

So I want you to know that it's with you that my heart truly lies. You are the only ones that I love enough to stay all hours of the night. And it's you that I'll pine for if we end up moving...


(But it sure was nice to be able to drive home in 90 seconds...)

Kitchen update

Hopefully this week we'll get hinges and knobs and get everything else put back together. In the meantime, here are two pictures of the way things look right now.

I ♥ Messages of Comfort — Count It All Joy

In general conference in October, Elder Scott gave a great talk on the scriptures. He said,

Our Father in Heaven understood that for us to make desired progress during our mortal probation, we would need to face difficult challenges. Some of these would be almost overpowering. He provided tools to help us be successful in our mortal probation. One set of those tools is the scriptures.

Throughout the ages, Father in Heaven has inspired select men and women to find, through the guidance of the Holy Ghost, solutions to life’s most perplexing problems. He has inspired those authorized servants to record those solutions as a type of handbook for those of His children who have faith in His plan of happiness and in His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ.

The scriptures…are always available when needed. Scriptures can calm an agitated soul, giving peace, hope, and a restoration of confidence in one’s ability to overcome the challenges of life.

I loved his talk then, and I loved it even more when I reread it last week and thought how true this has been in my life lately. From the first time I picked up my scriptures after finding out that Russ had been laid off, through every Sunday School class since then, and in every other possible way, I feel like Heavenly Father has guided me to scriptures of encouragement and comfort. I have written them down on index cards as I’ve found them; partially because the process of writing them down helps solidify them more in my brain, and partially so that I have them laying around to pick up and read again easily. Here are the verses that have been providing comfort to me recently, as well as a few quotes by general authorities.

But behold I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance. 1 Ne. 1:20

I testify that the tender mercies of the Lord are real and that
they do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence. Elder Bednar

Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say Rejoice. Be careful [unduly concerned] for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep [guard] your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippeans 4:4,6-7

Count it all joy when ye fall into [many afflictions];
knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
But let patience have her perfect work,
that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. James 1:2-4

(or a rephrasing of that one from the NIV)

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
Perseverance must finish it’s work so that you may be mature and compete,
not lacking anything. James 1:2-4 NIV

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you:
not as the world giveth, give I unto you.
Let not your heard be troubled, neither let it be afraid… John 14:27

Be faithful, God is in charge.
He knows your name and He knows your need.
Elder Holland

I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another, I say, if you should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants. And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments…if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you. Mosiah 2:21

No matter how serious the trial, how deep the distress, how great the affliction, [God] will never desert us. He never has, and He never will. He cannot do it. It is not His character. He is an unchangeable being; the same yesterday, the same today, and He will be the same throughout the eternal ages to come. We have found that God. We have made Him our friend, by obeying His gospel; and He will stand by us. We may pass through the fiery furnace; we may pass through deep waters; but we shall not be consumed nor overwhelmed. We shall emerge from all these trials and difficulties the better and purer for them, if we only trust in our God and keep His commandments." ~~George Q. Cannon

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth… 3 John 1:4
(Just a little reminder of the things that are of true importance.)

and my most recent favorite…

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;
and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge Him,
and he shall direct thy paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6

Post Thanksgiving Pie Party (and a new low for me)

Last week at book club we decided that we really needed to have a post-Thanksgiving pie party to share (and taste) all of our leftover pies. 

My goal was to have most of my stuff out of the boxes and back into the cabinets, but as hard as I worked I didn’t quite accomplish that.  Must have been all of the pie making I was doing.  I considered hauling the few boxes that were left upstairs, but in the end I was too involved in the last few minutes of our Harry Potter marathon and instead I spread a couple of quilts over the boxes, hoping that they would then look uninteresting and the little kids would leave them alone.

What I did not anticipate was that the adults would decide to hang out in the living room, right in there with my old quilt covered boxes.  It’s well known that I’m willing to entertain even when my house isn’t spic and span, but this was taking that to a whole new level…

Thank goodness there were LOTS (LOTS!) of pies to distract me from my mess!

Now I just need to figure out what I can possibly fit into to wear to church tomorrow…

Update on my Pinterest Problem

Last night Cindy Lynn read my whine about cool Christmas stars on Pinterest.  I’d already searched and searched on google and came up with nada, but she bested me.  Apparently she remembered that once upon a time I told her those were called Moravian stars (I’m so glad she remembers things I have NO RECOLLECTION OF!), and using that in her search she came up with some pretty clear looking directions to make a star here. 

Then my awesome cousin Emily (who was quite possibly Cindy Lynn’s first fan, as it happens) sent me a link to this amazing creation.

I can see I have some paper folding & rolling ahead of me.  My next question is—what kind of glue do I use for these things, that will stick fast?!?  (And no, I do not think the answer is the glue that I just bought and received from Amazon.  That glue is to fix a broken glass vase…Now go tweet that!)

I ♥ Autumn

I want to clarify that, except for having text put on it and being cropped, this picture was not enhanced in any way.
Just 100% pure NC beauty...

Thank you, Pinterest

There's just nothing quite as great as surfing Pinterest, seeing a craft that you think would be awesome to make with your kids for Christmas


Clicking on the link, and finding yourself at some random blog getting the message that you're not allowed to log on to this blog.

Or at least that's what you think it says...
in Danish...
or Czech...


Real helpful.
And no, even though I do consider myself the Queen of Google I was not able to find directions to make stars like those.

I will console myself by thinking that it was probably way beyond my skill level anyway...


PS. Thank you Katie & Megan. I LOVE Pinterest. Way more than is good for me.

I’m thinking of joining the circus…

But when I called them, they asked if I had much tent-building experience.  And so I figured, why not?  And I started building a tent…

in the kitchen.

I think I stand a very good chance of getting a job.

Don’t you think?

 

Now that you’re good and curious, I will tell you.  Today was the day to paint the island, which for various reasons I decided to paint black.  (Convenient that it’s so trendy to have a different colored island right now, isn’t it?)  I learned the hard way on Sunday that as well as I taped and covered things with plastic and taped some more, paint got places I didn’t expect.

Like on this poor bowl, just sitting somewhere far away from the paint sprayer and minding it’s own business.  Or so I thought.

So Russ & I decided that if I was going to be spraying black, I’d better be VERY sure that no amount of paint spray was going to land on anything else.

Hence the tent.

And, just in case you’re wondering, I think I’m going to burn my sweats when the cabinets are done. They’ve served me well, been both comfortable and uncomplaining when they were inadvertently sprayed, and have absorbed so much primer dust that I would be afraid to put them in my washing machine.

I ♥ the Purse Cam orI ♥ a break from the kitchen or I ♥ a trip to the Farmer’s Market

Today I needed to go to Raleigh to pick up some ballet tickets (the early bird was going to get the better tickets, and in fact ended up getting upgraded to better seats entirely) and so I decided that as long as I was in Raleigh I would go to the farmer’s market to get apples for all of the pie making that’s going to start soon.

Amy and Emmett decided to come along and so we headed off after Jared’s appointment with the oral surgeon. (Where we found out that he has some weird cyst thing going on around his adult canine tooth and will have to have the baby tooth pulled and some semi-surgical procedure on the other. Gross.) Anyway, back to my narrative. Amy & I drove to the nether regions of Raleigh and procured our tickets. Fortunately sharp eyed Amy noticed that the first set of tickets were for the entirely wrong day, as I would NOT have liked to have to go all the way back to get that fixed! I also had the opportunity of seeing three male dancers with their cool ballet shoes on, one of them practically in a speedo. Yay for that.

Then we were off to the farmers market. She was in search of chard (which wasn’t to be found) and spaghetti squash. I was in search of delicious apples and anything interesting looking. And the market did not disappoint. Right away I saw something that made me pull out the purse cam. Let me tell you how much I love the purse cam. I knew I wanted a small camera that I could keep in my purse, but I was not prepared for how happy it would make me. First of all, it takes terrific pictures. I really think it handles light better than my bigger camera. And then there’s the fact that it’s pink, which is pretty fabulous. And being able to whip it out to take a picture of whatever random thing catches my eye—well that is the definition of happiness. I just love this camera!

(don’t you think it’s about time the purse cam got it’s pic on the blog???)

I first took out the camera at the farmer’s market so that I could take a picture of a bunch of squash that looked positively dangerous. Don’t you agree? I’m not sure if you should eat this our hit someone over the head with it.

And it was all uphill from there. Fantastical advertising.

Curious claims and oddly shaped veggies with names that I couldn’t resist.

Decorative produce.

And produce that could, in a pinch, be used as a pillow on an airplane. (If you had enough foresight to bring it along…)

Please notice that the size of that thing—as wide as a whole apple box!

We indulged in a pumpkin cheesecake bar and sampled numerous varieties of apples—enough so that we completely forgot we should eat lunch. Here’s a hint from my apple sampling. If you see an apple variety called Sun Crisp, and someone tells you that it has almost no flavor, believe them. Don’t waste the saliva and digestive enzymes to try it out yourself…

I was happy to see that I am not the only one who thinks dried apples are a good idea. Maybe I should go into the dehydrating business.

And lastly, the vegetable not purchased. This veggie that Amy is modeling, in case you are a little rusty on your southern vegetable identification skills, is a collard plant. Or, in the southern vernacular, a mess of collards. The lucky collard buyers walked away with their purchase in bags the size of trash bags. They were just enormous.

I had such a lovely afternoon, far far away from the chaos that is my kitchen. Tomorrow I’ll go back to work but I’ll still be laughing at the sights I saw at the farmer’s market. Thanks Amy (and Emmett) for going with me, and thanks to my wonderful purse cam as well!

It’s hard to run your life this way.

You know there are many reasons that the kitchen experience has been difficult.  First of all, this is really the biggest project that I’ve ever undertaken, with the possible exception of all of the wedding sewing I did for Cindy Lynn’s wedding.  But seriously, between sewing and sanding, sewing is like play and sanding is, well, hard work!

The hardest thing about the kitchen so far has been having to actually take the kitchen apart, have it covered in plastic and dust, and yet need to keep feeding our family!

 

I kept some basics in the kitchen on the table,

but everything else has to be located each time we need it.  It might be by the shoe bench,

in the school room (aka the dining room)

Or somewhere in the living room.

Can you see why this is making me crazy?!?

 

We can’t do anything to the just painted cabinet carcasses for several more days, because it takes 5 days for the paint to cure.  (Did you know that?  I didn’t.)  So tomorrow’s task to is continue cleaning up the mess and to put shelf lining in the top cabinets.  Then I can start putting the stuff away that goes on those shelves.

I would have started on that today—just because I want the mess gone.  But wise Russ told me that I couldn’t, and he was so right.  Instead I had a 3 hour nap (much needed) and I can start tomorrow refreshed from my Sabbath break. 

The end is in sight.  (sort of.)  Right???

It gets worse before it gets better…

With the kitchen so totally and completely out of control for the last 3 days we’ve been eating in…(wait for it)…the dining room!  Which would sound totally normal, except for the fact that our dining room is set up as a school room and not for eating.  And is partially filled with stuff from the kitchen right now.  But hey, hungry beggers can’t be choosers.  So this is where we’ve been eating.

After more sanding and more sanding and some spackling and more sanding and some priming and EVEN MORE SANDING and a quick escape to see Breaking Dawn with Clark, Amy, and Emmett, then I was back for the last sanding, wiping everything down, and the tedious hand painting.  (Inside edges of openings.)  Then it was time for the main event—the spraying.

At first it went HORRIBLY.  The paint sprayer really has a lot of pressure, and it was blowing my plastic all around and getting too much paint on the cabinets.  Fortunately after only doing one section Russ came down and when I told him I needed less pressure he obligingly told me that there was an adjustment and turned it down.  Hooray!  From that point things went quite a bit better, although I do think I got overspray on the floor near the oven.  But hey, I’ve pretty much decided we need to do a new floor too…

If you think it looks insane, well, it feels insane.  Which is why I’m still awake.  I can’t spray a second coat until 4 hours after the first coat, and IT MUST BE FINISHED TONIGHT!!!  Not that I feel strongly or anything…

 

Just in case my working on the kitchen wasn’t enough fun for the day, we had a couple of other things going on.  First, the guy who inspected our furnaces the other day found that something (part of the well system) was leaking in the crawl space.  So Russ went under there and shut off the water for a while so he could replace the defective piece.  Then our favorite electrician came over to help us out.  When we bought the house there was a cooktop in the island and a built in oven that was so small it wouldn’t fit a cookie sheet.  We quickly determined that I would burn the house down because I couldn’t keep the island clean, so we did a little remodel in the back corner of the kitchen.  We took out the cook top and built in oven and put a regular stove/oven combo.  Over the years we have noticed that we could only use 3 of the burners if we turned the oven on—otherwise it would trip the breaker.  Then lately it would trip the breaker with two burners and the oven!  I decided that we needed that fixed before Thanksgiving.  The electrician started working to put in a heaver duty wire/breaker.  All of a sudden he said “I hear water—do you hear water?”  He had taken out a screw that was holding the outlet that Russ had installed, and realized that 10 years ago Russ had put that screw through a water pipe!  So for 10 years that screw has been in that pipe, and when it came out it was a very big leak.  Russ ran back under the house and shut the water off again, then ran to Lowes for supplies to fix it.  It was an exciting couple of minutes.

 

It’s almost time to go spray again, so I’ll say goodnight.  And whine that my body hurts.  Russ says he can’t imagine why…

The project from you know where

Up until today I have done ok with the kitchen cabinet project.  I’ve been working steadily on it since October 24th.  Sure, there have been moments when I couldn’t face sanding one more door, but overall it’s been ok.  Yesterday was amazing—I started working at 4AM and then worked until 11:30, left for some appointments, had a 1 hour nap, and worked from 5 until I left for book club at 8.  I was energized and happy the whole day.

I had emptied the cabinets on Wednesday and sanded them all.

The first thing I did Thursday in the wee hours of the morning was to wipe everything down and cover all of the not-to-be-painted surfaces. 

I also covered the doorways because I knew when I sanded that primer it was going to make a mess.  When I sanded the primer on the doors and drawers I did it out on the driveway, and most of the time there was a nice breeze to blow all of that chalky powder away. 

Then I primed.  Everything.  Twice.  (But not Russ—he is prime already.  And primed.)

After my dentist appointment I came back and started sanding the primer.  I sanded, and sanded, and sanded.  I sanded till my sweats were stiff with powder, until the air was thick it, until my hands were caked white and I had ruined the velcro on the sander.  My face was even white.  It was everywhere.

That was where I left things last night when I hopped in the shower before I left for book club.   I assumed that today I would have just an incredible of a work day as yesterday.  I even arranged for a friend to take my kids so that I could do the spraying without worrying about them.

Instead, I spent HOURS wiping every surface (and the insides of all of the cabinets to get the primer dust up.  HOURS. 

Then I spent more HOURS putting paper/plastic inside of the cabinets so that when I spray it won’t all go in the cabinets.  I know that timewise it would have been so much smarter to just brush the cabinet and drawer fronts, but I am in love with the finish this sprayer makes—hard & glossy, no brush or roller marks show at all.  It will be worth it in the end, I know.  But boy was this a pain.  First I tried the paper—it seemed like that would work the best.  It was a total pain to work with.  Then I tried the thick plastic.  Even worse, since the tape wouldn’t stick well to it.  Then I finally tried the thin plastic, which I had been so sure would be way too unwieldy.  It worked great!  At that point I finally decided that I would survive masking the remaining cabinets—up until that point I had been wondering.

If you want to know what Russ spent his day doing, look up at the tops of the cabinets.  Yep, he installed crown molding on all of the cabinets (except for around the fridge because we’re still working on that cabinet) and it was no small task.  Especially over the stove where the cabinet sticks out more than the ones on either side.  I think the molding really dresses up the cabinets & am excited to see how that adds in the end.

I had hoped & planned to get the spraying done tonight but it just didn’t happen.  Everything took such a long time and then I hadn’t planned on the nail holes in the molding having to be filled with spackle & dry.  I finally decided that I’ll just have to spray tomorrow morning & evening, and call it good.  In between I’m going with Clark & Amy to see Breaking Dawn…it should be a good break!

Please tell me that today was the worst day and that it will get better from here!?!?!

I ♥ Book Club

[I feel a need to post again about something I love. Then later I will try to put up new pictures of my kitchen and the disaster it is today, I promise!]

Last night was book club. I missed book club last month because I felt pretty strongly that I shouldn’t abandon my poor husband for the entire night when he had just been laid off. But I missed it and the wonderful women who go, and last night you could not have kept me away.

First we had a great discussion of the book, which was “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.” This was an interesting book for me to be reading after finding out that Russ had been laid off. It definitely gave me perspective on what it is to be truly poor. I always enjoy hearing all of the different and ideas and insights that everyone has while reading the same book. Then, after a decent amount of discussion we drift into talking about whatever we want to.

Last night someone pointed out something—that our book club discussions, which are always lively, have never been about gossip, or husband bashing, or things that we go away from feeling somehow worse off than we were before. We talk about anything and everything; funny stories, frustrations, parenting questions, struggles, and gospel topics. Every time I leave I feel enriched with my association with these fine women. I feel supported, I feel my burdens lightened from the laughter, and I feel like I want to be a better woman.

What a blessing this is in my life.

I’m With You…

I’ve always been a little traumatized by the story of Ruth and Naomi.  Naomi’s two sons marry, and then die.  Naomi tells her daughters-in-law that she is going back to Bethlehem, and that they should return to their families or remarry.  One does, but the other, Ruth, will not.  In what must be one of the most beautiful verses in scripture she says,

Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.   Ruth 1:16

I can’t remember what I thought of this story before I was married, but I know exactly what I thought about it after.  “She leaves her family and goes off with her mother-in-law???” would have been my exact thought.  My mother-in-law is a good woman.  She raised my husband, and I will be forever grateful to her for that.  Her children are, without a doubt, the nicest and hardest working people I know.  But she and I are not exactly…kindred spirits…  The thought of losing my husband and then leaving my family to follow her to another country has always seemed ridiculous.

 

Earlier this week I was in the car and had the Christian radio station on.  I’ve heard an advertisement several times now for a new collection of songs based on stories from the Old Testament.  Wouldn’t you know, the commercial plays a sample from the song about Ruth and Naomi.

The next day I was in the car again and the song was playing.  The chorus is catchy and played in my mind every now and then yesterday while I was emptying and sanding the cabinets.

You and me,
Me and you,
Where you go I'll go too,
I'm with you,
I'm with you.

 

I woke much too early this morning. After laying in bed for 45 minutes it was clear that there was too much on my mind for me to be able to go back to sleep.  I had already been worried about today—I’d like to be able to spray the cabinets tomorrow, but I have several things going on today and so I won’t be able to spend as much time as I’d like prepping, priming, and sanding.  I finally decided that I might as well get out of bed and get some work done, rather than continue to lay there and be frustrated. (The shock on Josh’s face when he got up at 5AM and found me downstairs working was pretty excellent too!)

As I was covering surfaces and putting down painters tape the lines of the song came into my mind again.  Once again I rehearsed my objections to the story—why on earth would she be willing to leave her family and follow her mother-in-law to a strange place?  This was especially puzzling to me today, not knowing when and especially where Russ is going to be able to find a new job.  The thought of needing to sell my house saddens me deeply, but the idea of leaving Durham is gut wrenching a deeper level.  It is one thing to say that I trust God’s plan, but I am finding that actually living that trust is a whole different matter.  How then could Ruth just leave everything she had known, both her family and her place, to follow Naomi?

 

And then it hit me.  Ruth wasn’t just following Naomi.  It never was just about a relationship with her mother-in-law.  Ruth was following God.  She must have known that she was following His plan for her, and that was enough reason for her to leave family and home.

 

I already know that Russ & I will follow God’s plan for us as we come to understand what it is.  That is who we are, as individuals, as a couple, and as a family.  My hope is that I can follow His plan with the same kind of dignity Ruth had. And in the end I won’t be singing to Naomi, but to Him.

You and me,
Me and you,
Where you go [send me] I'll go too,
I'm with you,
I'm with you.

Seriously, People?

I just ordered some glue on Amazon to try to fix a broken vase.  Much to my surprise this popped up when I was done:

First it was google awarding badges for reading news stories, now Amazon thinking I want/need to tweet everyone in the world to tell them I bought glue.  What is this world coming to???

(And how on earth will you ever keep Christmas presents a secret now?  Cuz don’t they all come from Amazon?)

 

And while I’m taking screenshots, here’s one of a piece of spam that managed to get through my filter.  I haven’t been able to bring myself to delete it though…that’s some promise! 

Kitchen Pictures

No, don’t get all excited.  The kitchen is NOT finished, and it will not be finished before Thanksgiving as I had hoped in the beginning.  My new hope is that everything will be back in cabinets/drawers by Thanksgiving…we’ll see if that happens.

Here are some pictures of my work in progress, mostly for my sisters who keep asking for them!

 

First, the kitchen as it was.

Next, the kitchen as it looks now.  I’m almost done taking stuff out of cabinets, but still need to take things off of the top of the cabinets.

Last, my row of primed drawers, and my uniform for the last two weeks.  I even went to the dentist this way, if you can believe it!  (I did brush my hair though.)

If Russ doesn’t find a job maybe I’ll go into business as a cabinet painter.  Now that I’ve figured out (the hard way) how to do it….