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Deep Thoughts

"Great things are brought about and burdens lightened through the efforts of many hands “anxiously engaged in a good cause.” Imagine what the millions of Latter-day Saints could accomplish in the world if we functioned like a beehive in our focused, concentrated commitment to the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ." M. Russell Ballard October 2012 General Conference

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Week or Two In Review

Cody is now employed by Valley Enterprises.  He started work two weeks ago cleaning buildings at Nevada Power.  He has not been able to work this week or next because of the play but that will be over Thursday so he can get back to the grind.  He gets to listen to his Ipod and does not have to deal with stupid people so that is definitely a bonus in his book.  Plus, since he is employed by his grandparents he can have a more flexible schedule.  Good thing or bad thing-depends on the way you look at it.  He got his first paycheck and is pleased to not have to ask for money from his parents.  His parents are pleased at well.  Cody also has had some grueling rehearsals with the play looming and when he is not rehearsing, he is playing Halo wars with his friends.

The Gessel/Humphrey family went on vacation to Cali this week without us.  We could not go because it is not our kid's Spring Break and they have missed alot of school being sick and Cody has the play and we are out of dinero.  The family stayed here Thursday night on their way through.  We had a delightful dinner of Carne Asada courtesy of the Mexican grocery store in Mesquite.  We also had delicious birthday cake because it was Anne's birthday on Monday.  I think cake and Carne Asada are a good combination and we should have that more often.  Laurel brought down 5 cases of Girl Scout cookies.  One case was for us and the rest we delivered to our friends who ordered them all the way from Albuquerque.  They are super delightful but I am glad that we can only get them once a year. I spent Thursday cleaning and washing bedding and towels to get ready for them to come and then I spent Friday cleaning and washing bedding and towels  when they all left.  They are all coming back through the end of the week but this time I think I will just clean after not before.  Thank you OCD for understanding. 

Cayden went to his first Cub Scout meeting.  They learned about horses and got ride and brush and pet them.  Cayden looked at them.  He is not too fond of animals and likes to look from afar.  Very far.  He was sort of excited to go but more excited to come home.  Not sure how much info needs to be given to the Scout leaders about his developmental delays.  I don't want them thinking that he is just being a brat by not participating but I don't want them to think that he can't do things because sometimes he can-he just won't-like the horse.  He could have ridden it but he didn't want to.  That had nothing to do with his dd but bikes, and sports, and knots and stuff like that he has a hard time with and some things he really can't do on his own and he needs lots of help.  He also is socially immature and does not play well with kids his own age  BECAUSE they do so much more than he does.  The school knows all about these things but the ward and the kids and their parents and the leaders and Primary etc etc etc don't and I don't know how much info to share without labeling him.  I love parenting. 

Don went to Minneapolis Wednesday and came home Friday.  He missed his original flight because he thought he lost his driver's license.  He knew he had it in his hand sometime that morning but when he got to the airport he could not find it.  He looked and looked and then went back to the hotel and dumped out his bags and scoured the room and every where he had been that morning only to find it at the absolute last second stuck in the packet of gum that was in his pocket.  He was not a happy flyer.  He barely missed his flight and had to wait for the next one 3 hours later.   

Caleb went on a campout with his troop and all the 11 year olds in the stake.  They left Friday afternoon and came home Saturday afternoon.   Don was going to go with them but was unable to get out there until Saturday morning because of the afore mentioned saga.  At the campout they did numerous obstacle type courses, knots, lashing and of course setting up their camps.  We figured that Caleb did not sleep too much because he came home Saturday afternoon at 2 and was asleep by 3.  That kid did not budge off the couch until Don helped him get to his bed around 11.  He slept until 7 or so this morning. 

I layed down Saturday afternoon around 2:30 and slept until 5:30.  I was completely wiped out and could barely do anything.  Don made hobo dinners and smores outside in the fire pit.  I barely had the energy to clean up the kitchen and get Cayden in the shower.  I went to bed around 8 and was asleep by 9:30.  Sometime during the night I woke up feeling sick but went back to sleep.  That leads me into my next story.   

Another Sunday is here and half of us did not make it to church again.  Cayden woke up at 6:15 with a stomach ache and 5 minutes later he started throwing up.  He has been doing that all day.  He has been drinking gingerale and laying on the couch watching numerous episodes of Phineas and Ferb.  Now he wants a milkshake.  I told him he would probably throw up if he ate it and he chose not to have one but he is hungry.  Poor guy.  Caleb may or may not have felt like me and needed to have all that sleep like me.  Maybe that was our part of the stomach flu bug.  Hopefully noone else starts feeling crappy-no pun intended.

Don and I had our anniversary on Friday.  It was more of a crappy anniversary than a happy anniversary because he was stuck in Michigan and I was here and, oh yeah, we have kids which makes it almost impossible to do anything.  I really wanted to just ditch, dodge, and bail on everything and meet him Vegas for dinner and show or something but again...we have kids.  Last year we were in Hawaii for our anniversary so pretty much anything less than that qualifies as crappy.  We did go to down to Sugar's for a tasty Chicken Fried Steak for me and a heart attack inducing Sugar Burger for Don.  That was the extent of our celebrating.  
We only went to In and Out Burger twice this week.  That was quite a bit less than the number the previous 2 weeks.  In and Out Burger and I have a love/hate relationship.  I love it and it loves my money but I hate the drive and my butt hates it because it makes it look big.  Ok it doesn't make it look big it just gets big.

Cayden and I went to the Bowler Book sale on Saturday morning.  A group of people gather used books and sell them for pretty cheap to earn money for Accelerated Reader tests.  If you don't know what they are, don't ask.  They are great for kids like Cody and Caleb who read really well and fast but not so great for Connor and Cayden.  I digress.  We bought 18 books for 9 dollars and 12 of them were Winnie the Pooh books.  Cayden was thrilled! 

We have had no major incidents this week with school or church or the police.  Maybe that means that we just don't know about anything that has happened and that it is coming but regardless, that makes for a good week in my book.

This week is the play and next week is Spring Break and Easter and the week after that is the Fair.  Yippee!

Private Eyes

So I guess I should have done it this way to begin with but I am doing it now.  I am taking the blog private-to which many of you have already been invited-but I will change it back to public for a week or so, so that my blog stalkers can read this and let me know if they want to be added or not to the "list".  So I will invite you or  reinvite you again in a week or so if you leave me your email but till then feel free to stalk-just don't call the police please!

Don't Read This Book Either

I thought of making a book blog but decided that is was just too much pressure.  I can hardly stay on top of this blog when it is just about our family let alone add another blog that I would feel like I had to post to.  So I will just add my book reviews here when I feel like it.  I feel like it today.

The premise of the book sounded interesting enough and it started out compelling but of course it had to get nasty.  There was quite a bit of language from the get go but then that escalated into graphic sex.  I quit reading it because of this-"If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things."  I decided that I want to try and find a clean reads book review if I can on some books because I don't want to waste my time getting started but then have to toss it because it basically is rated R.  That process may take longer than just starting the book anyway and finding out for myself but if I can find a way of not even having to read the garbage then that is what I want to do. 

Friday, March 5, 2010

Like I Don't Have Better Things to Do

To the concerned anonymous citizen who appointed themselves chairman of the "Potstirrers for 13 year Old's With Diabetes, thank you for calling your local police department.   Thank you for not having more to do in your life then causing problems for a child that already has problems to deal with.  Thank you for having some sensitivity for the mother of that child who wouldn't wish this disease on her worst enemy.  Thank you for questioning whether or not this child gets the care that he needs without even asking anyone.  Thank you for understanding the exorbitant medical bills and doctor appointments this family deals with. Thank you for understanding the time and effort that goes into measuring out food and counting cards.  Thank you for your sympathy for the calluses and scar tissue he has on his fingers.  Thank you  for your sympathy for the number of times he has been sick or scared or angry because he has this disease and you do not.  Thank you for the dig you got in against me and my family.  I hope you feel better with your righteous meddling.  I wonder if the family that has a child with cancer or the family that just lost their child needs your help too.  The next time you feel the need to question or judge the wellbeing of my insulin dependent son who gets poked with a needle 10 or more times a day you can call me instead.  You obviously know who I am so I'm sure that it won't be too hard to find my phone number.  Better yet I can give you the names and numbers of his doctors.  Hopefully you don't and will never have to deal with a chronically ill child.  If you do I hope you find someone as caring as yourself to judge you.

This is my scathing Letter to the Editor that I may or may not have published in the local paper. 

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Bakey Bakerton


So I have been in the mood to do a bit of baking and trying new things for our family and since I am not addicted to sugar anymore it is hard for me to decide if I want anything sweet at all and if I do, then what is it?  So this morning I made blueberry pancakes and then this afternoon I made bacon egg and cheese biscuit cups.

The pancakes turned out really tasty even though half of my kids did not like the blueberries.  The batter was really thick so I poured in some extra milk to thin it down.  I also did not use whole wheat flour but just plain white flour.  I think I will keep the pancake recipe but not use blueberries very often.  My kids like chocolate chips and sometimes bananas in their pancakes so that is what we will do next time.  I am also thinking of being really ambitious and putting together all the dry ingredients into a Ziploc so that will be ready to go next time we are in a pancake mood.

The biscuit cups are just ok.  The recipe used homemade dough and I just used popcan crescent roll dough so they probably would have been better homemade.  I want to freeze some of these and the leftover pancakes to have on hand for breakfast on those early mornings when I don't want to make anything but the boys need more than a poptart.

On Tuesday I made blueberry muffins.  The batter was super thick and I was really tempted to pour in some milk like I did the pancakes but I didn't.  Mine did not look like the picture to well but they tasted good and my kids liked them.  Cayden does not usually eat his lunch at school even though I try to do different things beside PB and honey which he does love by the way.  I have put a muffin there a few days this week and so far he has eaten it.  I refuse to pay for school lunch which mostly gets thrown away because it is gross and I am almost certain that kids are going to get cancer because everything is heated up in plastic.

Sunday we had those evil mini cupcakes.  They were Rainbow Party Chip from a box so I don't know if that actually qualifies as baking as much as dumping but I  did eat quite a few of those.

Last week I made banana bread but I still can't find that perfect recipe.  I keep trying new and different ones but they never turn out the way I want them to.  Cody ate most of the two big loaves I made so atleast it is not going to waste.

I also made chocolate chip applesauce cookies.  Mostly for me because I was really wanting them but I ate only 2 and just on that day they were made. The family ate the rest.  So my efforts are not all in vain. I used a can of applesauce that has been in the pantry FOREVER and so they were a little darker than I would have liked.

Hmm what else do I want to make?

A Cool Day at School

Yesterday at the middle school, the kids got to go to an assembly with the author of Fablehaven, Brandon Mull.  Our elementary school librarian put in a request for Brandon Mull to come down to our schools and amazingly he said yes!  Connor was chosen to go up on stage and help the guy-big surprise there-and he got an autographed poster for doing it.  Then the author asked for anyone that had a birthday on June 21 because that is an important date in the books.  Caleb was the only one who had a birthday on June 21 so he got to go up and get a signed t-shirt.  I could not be at the assembly-anyone was invited-but the kids said it was great.  Caleb talked to me about it all evening.  After the assembly the author stayed to sign books and so Connor got our book signed and then he got an extra autograph for Cody and another for Cayden.  I bet Brandon Mull was ready to leave Overton after that one! 

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Scripture of the Day

Alma 26:27  Now when our hearts were depressed , and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said "Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions and I will give unto you success.

Now applying it to my life....
Now when Jenni's heart was depressed, and she was about to turn back (quit, leave, run away, drain the checking account) the Lord comforted her and said Go amongst thy children, and bear with patience thine afflictions and I will give you success.

Because of Alma 26:6
Yea they shall not be beaten down by the storm at the last day yea neither shall they be harrowed up by the whirlwinds but when the storm cometh they shall be gathered together in their place that the storm cannot penetrate them yea neither shall they be driven with fierce winds withersoever the enemy listeth to carry them.

To my life
My children will not be beaten down by the storm. The storm of evil of destruction of division and tearing apart families, the wickedness that surround my children at every turn-the depressed heart can come but we will be gathered to our place-our home-where the storm cannot get it.  Even the fierce winds who try to move one way or another will be unable to.

Because of Alma26:7
But Behold they are in the hands of the Lord of the harvest and they are his and He will raise them up at the last day.