In Search of the Provident Pantry

I'm not sure where I was when the church announced the shift from accumulating a year's food storage to "a small supply of food that is part of your normal, daily diet...gradually increasing your supply until it is sufficient for three months." Somehow I missed it, though, and this fall one of my goals is to make a 2 week (and eventually a 4 week) menu that can be used to figure out what exactly I would need to buy to achieve this.

One of the first things I realized as I started thinking about this last spring is that most of the food we eat is fresh or frozen--and storing three months of that is impossible. So I started looking for recipes that we already like that could be adapted by using canned or freeze-dried foods instead of fresh or frozen.

I'm going to keep track of my recipes here on my blog, where the rest of my brain already resides. At some point I'll also embed a spreadsheet to tell me what I will need to buy to have this 3 month's supply. All of this is of course for my benefit. But maybe you'll see some good, storage-able recipes that your family would like too!

11/2: Answered Prayers

Anyone who's been around me recently has probably been able to tell that I have been almost frantically worried about Cindy Lynn. Her lung problems have been increasing for the last two months, culminating in days of terrible pain last week.

Even while she made plans to travel down to Salt Lake to try to get admitted to the hospital through the ER so that she could get the IV antibiotics that she must have to get rid of the lung infection, I still didn't have a lot of hope.

Cindy Lynn was in the hospital last Christmas, last Easter, and again in July. Each time for exactly 14 days. Never before has she been treated with IV antibiotics for only 2 weeks; at UNC or Duke it was always at least 3 weeks and sometimes closer to 4. But the Cystic Fibrosis center in Salt Lake (the only one in the Utah/Idaho/Montana/Wyoming area) does IV antibiotics for only two weeks. It is their firm policy.

And, as evidenced by the frequency of her visits, it is not working for her.

Last week I felt an almost desperate fear that she would never be able to get the medical care that she needed until her husband graduates and they are able to move away from the area. I worried about how much lung function she would lose before then.

I prayed and prayed all week and then fasted this weekend, praying that Cindy Lynn would be able to get the care that she needs. That her body needs.

And then this morning a miracle happened. The doctor came into her room and really listened to her; listened to Cindy Lynn explain that she had always needed a longer course of antibiotics, and that she felt like the recent hospitalizations hadn't been long enough to clear up the infection in her lungs. Much to her surprise the doctor agreed that she might need three weeks instead of two, and even suggested that the third week could be done at home in Rexburg. (Home IVs are also not a part of the Salt Lake CF center protocol, so this was an astonishing and very happy development.)

I am astonished, and grateful beyond words.

11/1: November's Plan

Last year I blogged for a week before Thanksgiving about things that I am thankful. I blogged about our ward's wonderful book group (still wonderful), my house, my tub, and my husband, (the house is a mess but the tub and the husband are still great), for my calling (I miss that calling!), the beach, my kids, and friends. (All still amazing.)

This year I'm taking a slightly different angle. Reading "Home to Holly Springs" recently reminded me of a quote from one of the earlier Mitford books that was very meaningful to me. Thanks to the wonder that is Google I was able to find it the other day.

"Suppose for a moment that God began taking from us the many things for which we have failed to give thanks. Which of our limbs and faculties would be left? Would I still have my hands and my mind? And what about loved ones? If God were to take from me all those persons and things for which I have not given thanks, who or what would be left of me?"

Patrick Henry Reardon

So this November I'm going to be looking for the things that I often forget to be grateful for, but would be unhappy or even unable to live without. I think it's good timing for me to spend a month living in thanksgiving...

Memorable Movies: Racing Stripes

Boy did we have a movie night last night. I'm not sure that I've ever watched 3 movies in one night before, but we did last night! Perhaps not our smartest move since Russ & I were up until 1AM, but we enjoyed it. (We were waiting for the boys to get home from the Halloween dance, so we just kept watching.)

First on our movie agenda was a movie for the kids called Racing Stripes. After watching this movie I can now see why Netflix has labeled our movie watching preferences:

Sentimental Underdog Movies for Family and Children.

Yep, that's us. We are sentimental and we like underdogs. And Racing Stripes fit that description to a T. When I'd seen previews long ago for this movie I was a little uncertain about how I would like a movie with talking animals. It didn't look as cheesy as I'd feared, and some of the animals were quite entertaining.

Racing Stripes is the story of a father & daughter who raise a zebra who 1)doesn't know he's not a horse, and 2)wants to race. The father is overprotective because his wife died in a racing accident, and the other horses are angry that a zebra wants to race with them. It was easy to watch and ended happily ever after, which is of course our favorite ending. I think the little kids loved seeing all of the animals talk. I loved watching the horses racing. Although I must say that a running zebra just doesn't have the same beauty--those long legs do make a difference!

Book Review: Home to Holly Springs

At the library a few weeks ago I saw this book on the shelf and picked it up. I don't keep track of new novels, so I don't really know where Jan Karon has been lately with her Mitford novels. I was in the mood to read though, so I checked it out and took it home with me. By the time it made it up to the top of my stack, I was no longer in the mood to read it. (To be fair, "Catching Fire" is a hard act to follow!)

But then I had to find something to read while waiting at the dentists office and so I picked it up and gave it a try.

It took a few minutes to get into, but very soon I was remembering just what it is I love about the Mitford books. I love the people. I love the people who are so real you think that might have even met them before. I love the people who are so real that you begin to care about their stories — not just out of curiosity, but because you genuinely care about what happens to them.

I thoroughly & completely enjoyed traveling with Father Tim back to his home town. The stories from his early life added to what we already know of his personality, and the resolutions were very satisfying. There were several surprises that I never would have expected and Karon wrapped everything up neatly.

Another of my favorite things about the Father Tim novels is the theology. Karon sprinkles quotes from theologians and philosophers throughout her book, and they are always very thought provoking.

My favorite quote from this book, though, is from a conversation between 5 year old Father Tim and his preacher.

Preacher: Can you fill us in on the concept of prayer? What is that all about, anyway?

Young Tim: Prayer is getting into relationship with God.

Preacher: Isn't it about asking for things we want, and let God know what's what?

Tim:No, sir. He already knows what we want and what we need. Prayer is about getting to know him, and worshiping him and trusting him, and thanking him.

A Whole Lotta Happy?

After our unsuccessful attempt to go to the fair last Monday, I decided that the little kids and I would go during the school day on Thursday.

The NC State Fair theme for 2009 was "A Whole Lotta Happy." I'm still not sure I buy it, but here are some pictures of our (very long) day.

It was close enough to lunchtime when we got there that we persuaded Russ to join us for lunch. We started with one of our favorite fair foods, roasted ears of corn. Those are always terrific, and this year my braces are off so I could eat them!

After we got "real" food we indulged in a some fried dough covered in powdered sugar. That was really yummy.

Jared got sugar on his face and was going to wipe it off with some of the bread so that he didn't lose any of the sugar! (I nixed that idea.)

He really was serious about getting every last bit of sugar.

We decided to take pictures of the really bizarre food offerings we saw. Here they are, in order from least offensive to most repulsive. (Although the last two are really pretty close.

(that is my "I can't believe any person alive would actually eat this stuff" face,
in case you couldn't tell...)

After the food we went to see the BMX show. Russ was still with us, so I was able to sneak off to a better seat and get some great pictures of the bikers in action. It was the first of many times that day that I wondered "what on earth would possess someone to do this for a living???"

After Russ left we spent some time watching the crafts people. I always love seeing all of the beautiful things that people make, and now the kids are old enough to be impressed too. One of my favorite things is to see the potter throwing pots, although he kind of gives a moral sermon while he's working that's a bit over the top. His products are really beautiful, though. The kids also got a chance to work a loom, which was neat to see. And we bought a very expensive cup of ice cream made by old fashioned churns powered by John Deere engines.

We had decided that since last year all we did at the fair was eat and ride rides, this year we would do no rides so that we would have time to see the shows and the animals. One of the shows I really wanted to see was called Circle C Pig Racing. I didn't know exactly what it involved, but I figured pig racing was not something to be missed.

Apparently all of the fair-goers had the same idea, because when we got to the small grandstand area a few minutes before the races were to start it was completely mobbed without even any standing room. We decided that we would come early to the next pig races on our program.

And then we got a brownie and a strawberry smoothie to soothe our disappointment.

We ended up going 40 minutes early for the next round of pig racing, and waiting in the hot sun to make sure we had a seat.

The kids enjoyed their cotton candy; I was pretty cranky and tired by this point and was grateful that I could text Cindy Lynn on my phone for entertainment.

One lady who was sitting beside us during our long hot wait on the bleachers told me that she had come from Florida specifically to see the pig races.

All I can say is there must not be a lot going on in Florida.

When the announcer came out he was pretty funny. First of all he told the crowd "If you haven't seen pig racing before, you've lead a sheltered life." And then later he said "this is the redneck way to make a living."

We got to see pigs, pygmy goats, and ducks race. I thought the ducks were the most fun to watch.

The crowd around the pig races was really crazy. There were people who crawled (in the mud and straw) under the bleachers to try to see, people who stood on the top of the electric boxes, and people who just held their small children up in the air.

After the pig races we passed a climbing wall, and they all immediately decided they wanted to trade in their $4 pony ride for a $5 trip up the climbing wall. I agreed, though if I'd known that that was the end of my money (I actually didn't even have $15 left--only $14, but they were already up on the wall by the time I discovered that and then what could they do but take my $14??) I probably wouldn't have let them, but I did. And so that was the end of eating fair food, darn it. I had wanted to try a few more fun things before we were done.

They all loved the climbing wall, although Rachel had some trepidation about getting down after she was all the way at the top. But after she got the hang of it she thought it was great.

Another show we went to see was this one:

In the end I decided that the poodle show was kind of sad. What a strange life--to travel around the country with your poodles getting them to jump through hoops. As you can tell, this poodle wasn't too thrilled with it either...

After the poodles we went to see the "real" animals. Our first stop was the cow barn, where it was obviously milking time. Ouch--it made me cringe to see all of those full udders! It was fun to watch the milking, but I didn't get any good pictures because they were all behind glass. The kids were really fascinated by the milking, right until several of the cows urinated as they were being milked. Then they were just grossed out at all of that urine on the floor!

They liked walking around and looking at all of the different breeds & colors of cows. I forget what huge animals some of these cows are. They were also SO bony. I wasn't expecting that at all. Don't you always think of a cow as a pleasantly rounded animal? Well these certainly weren't, at least not the milk cows.

The kids were having a great time watching all of the cows until one walked by us and started pooping. The owner just grabbed a shovel and held it behind the cow to catch all of the poop. I had to snap a picture of the kids horror at the sight. (It was a lot of poop!)

As we were walking out of the cow barn some older gentlemen offered the kids a wristband. The condition on the wristband was that they would need to explain what the different colors meant. As I looked past the men to the sign behind them I realized that we were being witnessed to; the group was something like christianfarmers.com. The kids wanted the wristband and so we sat and they listened to the man talk to them. The only problem I had was when he said that one of the colors was to remind us that we are born sinful. I (gently) interrupted him and explained that we actually believe that babies are born innocent, and he said he guessed that was ok.

When it was over and we walked away Rachel looked at me and said,

"Well, that was awkward!"

After the cow barn we went into another barn. One of the first things we saw was a mother pig with a littler of piglets. They were so cute, all laying on each other & asleep. I'm always amazed that animals handle having a lot of babies so much better than I did!

Maybe this little video shows why she handles it better. I can't imagine being able to sleep through this kind of pummeling!

Our last stop was the sheep tent. I really got a kick out of seeing the sheep. Probably because I've never seen sheep with such great hair-do's before!

And I'm not sure what was going on with this guy, but he got his own special blanket.

That was the end of our fair experience. We had hoped to visit the petting zoo as well, but as hard as I tried I couldn't find it. By then my feet were so tired and all I could think was that we'd better go or we'd never be able to leave and have to spend the rest of our lives there, running the poodle show or something sad like that.

So--was there a whole lotta happy? I'm not really sure. There was a whole lotta eating, and a whole lotta whining for cheap toys for sale all over, or to have their weight or birthday guessed so they could win some other cheap gimmicky toy. There was a whole lotta walking and a whole lotta borderline heatstroke. And there was some fun as well — watching the bike tricks and the pig races and even the sad poodle show. But boy was it a long and exhausting day, and I'm not in a hurry to do it again any time soon!

Bring It On!

Last year you may remember that I blogged here about turning the thermostat down in our house during the winter to try to save money, and the misery of climbing into a freezing cold bed at night.

Not being one to dwell on unpleasant memories, I promptly forgot about the cold bed once things warmed up in the spring.

Last week when we had a string of cold nights I remembered again.

Brrrrr!

Thank goodness for Kohls & their sales.

Bring it on!