Gluttony

I have gobbled, and I am wobbling...I think big changes are in store for me after this Thanksgiving gluttony. It wasn't only the amount of yummy food that I ate, but the fact that being on my feet for that long caused me such pain in my back, feet, hips...which wouldn't be the case if I wasn't so....overweight, fat, chunky, whatever ya want to say...Stay tuned for the changes in store! They have been a long time in coming.

Feed Me Friday!...a little early :D

I'm taking a mind numbing break from life...meaning, I'm zoning in front of the computer, on fb and a myriad of other pages....don't hate, we all need a little mind numbing time!

With Thanksgiving coming up I thought I would put out a few of my favorites, things that have come from one place or another. I'm picky about certain things when it comes to certain foods. I don't like pie crust on pumpkin pie...and this is a recipe that we have used in my family for many many years

Impossible pumpkin pie

1 large can of pumpkin(NOT pie mix! just plain pumpkin...and I mean the LARGE can)
2 cans evaporated milk
4 eggs
4 Tbs butter-soft
5 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 tsp. vanilla
1 cup bisquick

combine all ingredients and mix until well blended...a kitchen aid or a blender will work just fine!
This batter will be runny! Slightly runnier than a cake mix. Bake at 350 until knife inserted in the center comes out clean. It takes round about an hour. But don't quote me on that! Keep an eye on your pies! Also, this recipe makes three pies, in 8 inch pie plates :D

This next recipe came to me from my mom who got it from her mom who got it from her sister who got it from....somewhere! All credit goes to Auntie Cill as far as I know! Its time consuming, but for those of us who aren't particularly fond of cranberry sauce on our turkey day table, this is a fabulous substitute. I have actually had requests for this for funeral luncheons!
****DO NOT MAKE THIS IN A METAL PAN UNLESS YOU LINE IT WITH CLEAR PLASTIC WRAP FIRST! GLASS OR PLASTIC IS BEST!****
Cranberry/Raspberry Jello

Bottom Layer:
1 pack Regular(or 2 sugar free) raspberry jello box(s)
1 1/2 cups boiling water
20 ounces frozen raspberries
1 tsp. lemon juice
Combine and stir until dissolved pour into 9x13 pan and refridgerate overnight

*spread one pint of sour cream on top of this layer and put back in fridge for at least 3 hours uncovered

Top layer:
1 pack regular(or 2 sugar free) cherry jello box(s)
1 cup boiling water
1 tsp lemon juice
1 can crushed pineapple-drain well
1 can jellied cranberry sauce <-- mush it all up very well
Combine and stir to dissovle. Pour on top of sour cream layer. refridgerate overnight. ENJOY!

My heart belongs to them!

This pic was taken just a few days after I had my hysterectomy. Cory had only been home from the academy for a week when I had surgery...the kids were still so clingy with him...I mean he had been gone for 5 months, minus weekends. They basically only had Saturdays with him for that whole time. I was laying down and I could here shouts of joy and giggling coming from outside, so I oh so carefully made my way from the bed to the back door and had to rush as fast as my body would let me to grab the camera and then it took me forever to make my way out back to take this picture.

I love that my husband will get down and dirty with the kids and that he takes such an interest in them and gets excited about doing things with them.

Tuesday's True Confession: I don't know when to shut my mouth!

This is a running theme for me lately! Well, probably my whole life if the true confession by told. Lately though, I feel a bit rebelious and stifled, so when opportunity has presented itself, I've let loose, no holds barred and told it just like it ran through my mind.
The only bad thing about this is that my mind isn't one of those that instantly thinks the best about someone or a situation. I could say that I'm a cynic in many cases. In my scary, dark youth, I was known quite well for "mouthing" off to teachers and other adults in a position of authority. My reasons then were that nobody was ever going to dictate to me what I would do or how I would do it. I would be what I wanted, when I wanted, and if you didn't like it, that just made you the enemy.
I made a very crass comment to someone on a Facebook page. Someone who tried to stifle my opinion about something. On a page that is an interest group for the area that I live in no less! So not only did this person see it and react to it, so did a ton of other people, some that I don't know at all(which is mostly okay with me) and some that I know well(yikes) and some that I kinda-sorta-maybe know a little(oh jeez!). So I planted a first impression, and a lasting impression. And I don't think that it was a particularly good one. I also said it under the assumption that this person was the one who moderated the page...and then later found out that it isn't that person, but someone that I kinda-sorta know, and someone that I respect. Ouch.
Even going to high school here in Holbrook for just over a year, I quickly became known as somebody who spoke what she felt/thought, even when it wasn't said in the most tactful way possible.
My parents tried very hard to make me understand the importance of 'engaging my brain, before my mouth' ...they even went so far as to explain to me that I could tell the Queen of England to go to hell, in a tactful manner while still getting the point across...boy, do I have a long way to go. I know what ettiquette is. I know what manners are. I have worked pretty hard to get these things into my childrens minds, and I see evidence that they know and understand and USE these concepts.
But then I do something that I just know they can't ignore and while I feel a bit proud of my mouthy ways sometimes, I also know that if they see that I do it, they will think that they can too. Like when I got mouthy with the nurses aid at the elementary school and pretty much told her blow it out her hole, and that I have more medical training than she does, and I damn well know when my kid is sick or just faking...oiyyyyyy...not a good teaching moment for my 7 year old who was standing next to me.
Why do I feel so stifled and restricted lately? I find myself pushing every boundary I run up against...what am I rebeling against???
I don't have an instant solution for this, I did apologize to the facebook page moderator. It was the right thing to do, and it was a big plate of crow to eat, but I was going crazy knowing that I said what I did, in a round about way, and disrespected someone that I actually really really respect. The person actually told me that they found the whole thing amusing, and that it made me a bigger person to apologize(which made me actually feel smaller b/c yeah, thats how I roll...guilt is my companion) and not to worry about it.
Definitely have some deep thinking to do on this one....and if I mouth off to you, well...at the very least point out to me just how rude and tactless I am and we will take it from there.

I can't even be properly thankful!

I don't think I have mentioned enough how fabulously wonderful my husband is. Even if my every sentence started with that fact, it wouldn't be enough!!
We both work hard to make this marriage work, and oh my heavens he still gives me butterflies in my stomach at times!
So, today, I go down to his dads house to help move 1 ton pallets of pellets There were 11 of them outside, and we moved a total of 6 into the shed area. I was glad to help him and do that for my father in law, since 1/3 of the pellets are ours anyways. However, I knew before we had finished that I had pulled a muscle in my back...not good!
So we get home, eat some lunch, and I ask just how much he will hate me if I lay down with my wheat heat.
Of course, he says, not at all, go for it. There wasn't enough time before he had to check on for him to take a nap too....SOOOOO he sat down and started folding a load of the kids clothes!
WHY did I feel sooo guilty? I told him that it made me feel guilty for him to have to fold it, and he shoots me that look and says, so you get mad if I DON"T help out AND when i DO help you feel guilty....ahhh hell, he has a point.....something to work on I believe!
I still took a nap, but only after I ascertained for myself that he was doing it out of kindness and because he had the time, and not because he was mad at me for not doing it in the first place!

Tuesday's True Confession: I put a man in jail

Yes, I did. I'm responsible for a man spending a night in jail. Even though this man did something wrong, and then made it worse for himself, I'm slightly troubled by this.

See, I was taking my children Trick or Treating Saturday night with a HUGE and I mean HUGE group of family members. And this man ran into me with his 4 wheeler. He hit me on the left hip, and it very easily could have been my 4 year old that he hit instead of me! She had been holding my left hand and before we crossed the road I switched her to the other side. No particular reason, I just did. There were no moving vehicles in either direction before we crossed, and I even saw the 4 wheeler with driver astride on the other shoulder of the road. He was stopped and talking to one of my cousins and her friend. So I didn't jump out in front of him or anything like that. To make matters worse, I don't even think the guy realized he had hit me and he kept driving...and then when questioned by Navajo County's finest he tried to flee...thus making it worse for himself.

I know that this particular man has some mental and emotional challenges. I also know that this man seriously dislikes law enforcement officers. And not only did he get a free ride in the back of a cruiser, he spent a night and most of a day in the slammer which I'm sure was not a pleasant experience for him...in fact I bet it was pretty scary....

Don't get me wrong, I'm very much beyond mad at the situation and the person. But I have some empathy for what he most likely went through because of it.

I'm sure he almost as upset with me as I am with him, and I'm okay with that. I sure as heck wish he would have been much more responsible and heeded the many warnings he has been given about that dang 4 wheeler and driving with no license....in fact the reason my cousin and her friend were next to him is that they were giving him a good lashing for running the friend into the ditch and almost hitting him, due to the fact that the driver of the 4 wheeler did not have his headlights on!

I am blessed that I got out of the situation with only an extremely ugly and tender bruise on my hip...and some lasting anxiety over the whole situation...WHAT IF Rylee had still been on that side...her head barely comes above the spot that I was hit on, it would have been much more serious!

There is a pretrial hearing tomorrow, and I don't even know if I'm supposed to go or not, but I am. There has to be consequences when a person breaks the law, and puts other people in danger.

So while I want justice, I pray for mercy, in a way, at the same time.

He always knows just what I need.

Sunday morning....well, I really didn't want to go to church due to a situation that happened on Saturday night while trick or treating. Without going into detail, I will just say, that I was terrified that I would be lynched or viewed as the most horrible woman in town. But I went, and sitting in sacrament meeting, the same old doubts and feelings of despair consumed me. I currently teach/lead the music in primary. Its a VERY HIGH ENERGY calling...therefore, draining.
I'm walking, well, more like trudging and dragging my feet, down the hall to the primary room. I can hear my accompainist playing the prelude music and the closer I get to the door, the clearer I can hear one small voice singing right along with the prelude music. Quite honestly I figured it was one of my 4 children, and only because we sing quite a bit at home, not because my kids are better than someone else's, we just sing these songs alot more than most people that I know.
To my utter shock and surprise it was not one of my children, but a young boy, who is probably one of the biggest challenges to our whole primary! He is sweet(when he wants to be), and smart, and has a super small attention span. We all work with or around him the best we can. And when we can't we grab one of his parents to intervene.
He was sitting in this room full of people just singing away. He wasn't doing it to be distruptive, he was probably the most reverent child in the room.
The song he was singing happens to be one of the very first songs that I taught the primary when I was called to the position.
The pianist merged to another song and he sang that one too, in the same sweet voice, sitting just as non wiggly as a boy his age could possibly be.
I couldn't help it, my heart overflowed and leaked out my eyes. I saw that little challenge of a child as our Heavenly Father sees him.
Every. SINGLE. Time. that I think that I hate this calling and dread going through the whole hullabaloo again, something like this happens.
I know that Heavenly Father is just showing me that I am making a difference, and that I'm right where I need to be for now. It also helped that when our bishopric was reorganized on Sunday one of the new members who had previously been a primary teacher said that singing time was his most favorite part of primary♥♥