Rebecca's Blog

Between the downturn in the economy and Ryan’s new business venture, Ryan and I have had the opportunity to learn plenty of new skills, ranging from how to fold a flier in an engaging and inventive way to how to manage money more effectively.  Some lessons have been challenging.  Some lessons have been more on the fun side.  All have brought growth.

Looking back, there was one lesson I wanted to avoid more than any of the others – the lesson of how to cook with food storage.  Honestly, the thought scared me a little, but more than that, I didn’t want to do it.  After all, nothing really good can be made with food storage, right?

Luckily, I was wrong.  My family (some of which are really picky eaters) and I have never felt like we were eating food storage meals.  Yes, sometimes the meals are a bit more time consuming, but I have enjoyed the challenge of learning new skills in the kitchen.  Anyway, I’ve been so proud of myself that I’ve taken pictures of a few of my food storage dishes to share.

Here’s one thing I never would have thought to make at home – homemade flour tortillas.  I never knew a tortilla could be so good.  They’re not great for storing like the store bought variety, but there’s nothing better on a burrito than a fresh, hot tortilla.

This one isn’t new, but I use food storage for them, so I’m counting it on my blog.  Pancakes are great food storage food and super easy even without a mix.  Plus, what kid can honestly say they don’t like them?

My breads are probably the thing that I’m most proud of.  (Is that sinful to say I’m proud of my bread?  It’s the good kind of proud, right???)  Pictured above is my 100% home-ground wheat bread.  With the right recipe, this is a great bread.  My kids prefer my light wheat bread (not pictured), however, as it’s a little less hearty.

And, of course, here’s the white bread I grew up having at my grandma’s house.  I love that I can whip a couple loaves out now in no time flat and have that fresh bread smell take over my home several times a week.

OK, so now we come to our main dishes.  Pictured above is my Mexican pizza.  Before I go on, I need to explain that I allow myself to buy fresh items such as fruits, certain veggies, eggs and cheese.  The rest of the items used in my recipes are either food storage items or things I had stocked up on before my food storage lesson began.  This being said, the above pictured pizza has cheese and tomatoes from the store, but the olives are things I usually keep plenty of on hand, the tortilla is homemade and the refried beans inside are homemade.

AHHH.  Here’s Elizabeth’s favorite – chicken noodle soup.  In my food storage soup, my carrots and onions are dried, my noodles are homemade (unless someone has given me some good store bought ones like in the above soup) and my chicken is freeze dried.  It’s not quite as good as soup made with fresh ingredients, but it’s definitely just as good as the canned stuff, if not better.

So, these are the leftovers of the black bean tacos.  The refried beans are homemade, as well as the corn tortillas.  I just happened to have some Mexican corn flour (kind of funny if you think about the fact that I don’t care for Mexican food), so I thought I would try to make corn tortillas.  They were good, but a giant pain in the rear.  I don’t know that I’ll ever make them again.

If you’re making refried beans and flour tortillas, what’s more natural than bean and cheese burritos???

This is one of my 100% food storage recipes.  It’s called Pasta E Faglioli.  Unfortunately, though Ry and I thought it was good, it wasn’t a big hit with the boys.  Other one pot dishes I have made include bean chili and baked beans, which have been more popular.

Things I usually always have plenty of on hand is ground beef and frozen or canned veggies.  With those ingredients, what could be more perfect than shepherd’s pie with mashed potatoes made with potato pearls?  This is another family favorite.

Finally, is a garden salad.  Though this isn’t strictly food storage, it comes straight from the garden.  A garden salad is our late spring, summer and early autumn vegetable of choice.  It’s really surprised me how much tastier produce is when it comes straight off the plant.

Well, if you’ve made it this far, you’re probably bored out of your mind, but before I end this missive, I wanted to share what I have learned – in my opinion – needs to be stored in addition to the dry canned products you get in bulk from the LDS cannery:

oil

shortning

baking soda

baking powder

yeast

molasses ( I know…  I didn’t think this was necessary either, but I’ve learned it is.  1cup sugar + 2 Tbsp molasses = 1 cup brown sugar, which isn’t very storable.  Also, it’s a necessary ingredient in some bean dishes.)

canned tomato products of all kinds

dehydrated and canned meats  (You’ll get tired of eating beans every night.  Trust me.  I know.)

dehydrated veggies

vegetable, beef and chicken boullion

ham hock

gravy mix

salad dressing

Well, if I’ve helped anyone – great.  If I’ve bored you – you didn’t have to read it.  But, as for now, I’m signing off.  I hope this at least lets you know that food storage cooking isn’t as scary it looks.

Have you ever wondered at what the true calling of a mom is?  Those of you with no kids, only babies or even just one or two kids may think it is to raise and nurture your kids into fine adults…  I’m here to tell you that you are WRONG!!!  The true calling of a mom can be seen in the experiences you have everyday. 

Now, you may be thinking to yourself that nurturing your kids is what you experience everyday, but I’m asking you to look deeper – look at what you actually DO while you’re trying to nurture your kids.  I’m here to suggest that the TRUE calling of a mom is mess control.

We all do it – we are constantly trying to keep our homes in order, but one does not fully appreciate the truth of a mom’s true calling until they have at least four kids.  Sure, we’ve got the normal messes anyone may have to contend with, such as cornstarch poored all over the floor by the two year old and the three older kids deciding to play in it.  No big deal, right?  Of course, once this scene is cleaned up, the same thing happens two weeks later with powdered sugar.

Then there’s the classic of the toddler getting into his or her mother’s make-up.

But, by the time the forth child gets to it, he learns not only how to put it on his face, but how to ruin furniture and carpet as well.

And, of course, there are the messes we create ourselves just because we are trying to be good moms.  (Please try to ignore the cleavage, but notice the large flour accumalation on my pregnant belly.)

However, the forth child brings with him/her chaos that no one else understands EXCEPT another mother of four or more children.  With the children always going in different directions and the mother being pulled in all those different directions, it is impossible to keep up with what everyone is doing all the time.  It is for this reason that the true calling of a mom is not only mess control, but poo control.

Let’s start with proof number one shall we?  I have a four-year-old that I have been trying to potty train for over a year.  He is completely pee pee potty trained.  However, though he is perfectly capable of pooing on the potty, he will go for weeks at a time refusing to do so.  Therefore, I’m cleaning 1-4 pairs of pooey underwear a day in the toilet.

Then there is the two-year-old, Joshua.  He is ready to be potty trained.  How can I tell?  He takes off his diaper and poos or pees all over the house.

Of course, once the mess is made, you have to decide which to do first: find the toddler or clean up the mess.  For us, we find the toddler.  Why?  Because if you don’t he will most likely be found getting into more trouble.  In this particular instance, he was found holding the light bulb he had just unscrewed from my lamp and the sewing stuff I had just finished using.

Then, once again trying to be a good mom, you invite one of these into your home:

Unfortunately, unlike cats, these do not come potty trained.  You spend the next several weeks cleaning up messes off your floor and rewarding it when you actually get it to go outside.

The climax comes, however, when your children and the dog combine.

Say you have a son who constantly poos his underwear and you are trying to get him to stop.  Now, say you also have a dog that you are training to go poo outside.  Guess what happens.  That’s right!  The four-year-old starts playing outside, has to poo, doesn’t want to have to go inside to do it, but doesn’t want to get in trouble to for pooing in his underwear either.  Seeing that it’s ok for the dog to poo outside, he pulls his pants down and poos right there in the yard. 

Now, you might have expected that something like this might eventually happen.  Afterall, his siblings cheer him on when he pees in the backyard, which is also against the rules.  What you don’t expect, however, is the dog to want to EAT the poo.  The result?  You have a 6-month pregnant mother chasing a dog with her son’s poo in its mouth around the yard.

And yes, all of this is going on simultaneously during the last two weeks of March.  Have I made point?

OK, I’m working on a couple of posts with substance, but I thought I’d tide anyone who might actually be interested in this blog over with a couple anatomy lessons given by the boys:

Benjamin:

Did you know we have a POOnis?   I didn’t either, but Benjamin figured it out.  If pee comes out of a PEEnis, then, surely, poo comes out of a POOnis.  It’s only logical, right?

Joshua:

The other day Joshua was fishing around in his diaper for something.  When asked what he was looking for he answered, “My wanky.”  Assuming, he had stuffed something down his diaper – which he does constantly, Ryan took it off only to find a couple pebbles that had fallen in while he was playing outside.

I asked him to lie down so that I could get a new diaper on him and asked him what a wanky was.  He immediately started playing with himself.  I then asked, “Is that your wanky.”  All I got was a mm-hmm, to which I immediately responded by covering it up as quickly as possible.

CUJO, the escape artist puppy.  (See previous post.)  He found his way back this morning.  After extensive internet research, I think it’s a Finnish Spitz, which are famous for their fox-like appearance, continuous barking and love of wandering without a leash.  TOTALLY fits in both looks and personality.  I’m going to remember to ask the owner today when he/she comes to pick him up.

Since posting the above, I returned Cujo back to its owner.  A little girl about 5 answered and told me the dog was a chihuaha.  Yeah… I don’t think so either.

A little before 6 am, I woke up to loud yelping.  I’ve heard it before in our neighborhood, but never so closely.  Upon going downstairs to see Ryan, I found that he had brought a puppy in from our backyard – a puppy that does NOT belong to us.  (We have fully gotten over our need for a dog.)  Anyway, there was no collar, no tag on the poor thing so we had no clue as to where it lived.  Needless to say, it turned our morning upside down as put on a search for the owners.

Normally, we don’t assist lost dogs, being that they are usually dogs, not puppies.  However, we sort of fell in love the little guy and were sorely tempted to keep it should the owner not show up.  (Well, we thought we were over our need for a dog.)  Yes, I agree that we are not really dog people after our experience with wild lab-mix, Anna.  We loved Anna, but she was too active for our family.  This dog, however was different.  Though a puppy, it was calm and completely loving.  It bonded with each member of the family right away and mainly just lazed around.

I LOVED this dog.  Unfortunately, I have NO idea what it was.  Do you???

Back to my story:  After printing and posting fliers; and talking to the neighbors, we got an idea of whose dog it may be.  Unfortunately, they weren’t home.  At about noon we noticed movement at the house we thought he lived at and were able take the puppy home.  The teenage girl that lived there was so glad to have him back.

Since Ryan and I have moved to Vegas – about 5 years ago, it has snowed about once a year, but NEVER like this!  Though none of it stuck by our house, it has snowed all day today all over the valley and the roads are a mess.  In some areas there has been 6 or more inches of snow and more expected, but NO snow plows!!   No planes are leaving the airport and the I-15 has been shut down to people driving into CA.  It has made for some pretty scenery, though.  I thought you might enjoy these pictures of the Las Vegas Temple, courtesy of my dad.  Thanks Dad!!!

Experiment:  Who’s will is stronger – a cat’s or a human’s?

Problem:  Midnight keeps waking me up every morning between 4 & 6 am to be petted.

Hypothesis:  If I ignore her, she will go away and leave me alone.

Test:  Last night I went to bed determined to stop this conduct once and for all.  Come early morning, when Midnight came for her daily early morning petting, I ignored her to see if she would get tired of trying and go away.  First she tried her normal tactic – head butting/rubbing me on the forehead with her forehead, then start purring immediately in anticipation of being petted.  I pretended to stay asleep.  Then she came in again and hit me on the mouth.  I still pretended to be asleep.  She tried it one more time for good measure.  I did well ignoring her and she seemed to be retreating.

Unfortunately, Midnight was just heading to my hand.  Her next tactic is always to force her head under my hand, forcing my hand upwards.  Then she stretches her neck up and maneuvers my hand down her back.  This is where I usually give in.  NOT THIS MORNING!!!  This morning my hand just dropped dead to the bed.

This was not the end, however.  Oh, no.  She just regrouped for a minute and came up with a better plan.  Next she came in and tickled my nose with her whiskers.  That I couldn’t ignore quite so easily.  I swatted her away like I would a fly, still pretending to be asleep.

That didn’t stop her, however.  She came back full force with the head butting.  OK, now it was time to get physical.  I started pushing her away, trying to give her the message that I wasn’t interested.  She just came back stronger each time.  I’d push her away and then she’d head butt me to get my attention harder than she had before.  After several minutes of this, I decided it was getting me nowhere fast, so I turned my head and tried to go back to sleep, facing the other direction.  Perhaps that would give her the hint.

Nope.  The next thing I knew she was chewing on my hair.   The grinding sensation this produced in my hair was far more annoying than anything she was doing before.  I yanked my hair away and tried – once again – to go to sleep.

Midnight did not try that again.  She simply walked over me and went to where Ryan was sleeping.  “YES!!!” I thought.  “Now she’ll bug Ryan and leave me alone!!!”

Apparently, she just went to look at him.  She was back head butting me and putting my hand on her head in a matter of seconds.  I gave in.  I petted her for a few minutes.  She curled up and enjoyed it.  I started to fall asleep with my hand on her.  She lightly bit my finger as if to say, “Don’t think I’m finished with you yet!”

Finally I gave her one last pat, rolled over and tried to go to sleep . . . again.  Her petting needs had been satisfied, so she should leave me alone and go to sleep too.

Well, I was right about one thing.  She did finally go to sleep, but not before she walked over me again, stood on my pillow, and curled up with her back in my face.  There was fur from my forehead to my chin.  Having been too tired to do anything about it, that’s how we slept for the rest of the night.

Conclusion 1:  Cats’ wills are far stronger than humans.  In fact, they rule the roost.  They rule the house, and the people and animals inside it.

Conclusion 2:  The more you try to ignore or push a cat away, the more they like you and want your attention.  My advice to those who want to stay the boss of their own home and own a pet they can play with would be to get a hamster!

I guess I’d better do this post.  I was tagged by Triana weeks ago.  I don’t know if I’ve got 8 answers for each question, but I’ll try.

8 TV Shows I Live to Watch (This one is hard because I don’t watch much TV, but I’ll try.)

1.  Dancing with the Stars

2.  Gilmore Girls (I know it’s cancelled, but I watch the reruns.)

3.  So You Think You Can Dance  (On during the summer only.)

4.  America’s Got Talent  (On during the summer only.)

5.  Private Practice  (Debating on not watching it anymore as there is some inappropriate material.)

6.  Does Masterpiece Theater count?

7.  How about Hallmark Hall of Fames?

8.  Maybe children’s shows with my kids?

 8 Favorite Restaurants  (This one is much easier, but, again, I don’t eat out much.)

1.  Olive Garden  (All time favorite!!!  Give me a plate of chicken parmesan and I’m a happy woman.)

2.  Ruby’s

3.   Black Angus

4.  Tucano’s  (In Provo.  I loved going here when we lived in Provo.  Very Yummy!)

5.  Brick Oven (Again, a Provo haunt.  It’s one of those places that all BYU students go to and remember.  We will probably take our kids to reminisce for many years to come.)

6.  Buca Di Beppo  (OK, now I’m having to stretch.)

7.  The buffet at the Paris Hotel on the strip.

8.  Lawry’s

8 Things I Did Yesterday

1.  Got annoyed because my cold got worse again.

2.  Finished my World Lit. homework and started my French homework for the week.

3.  Family Home Evening

4. Stopped kids from fighting.

5.  Made banana bread.

6.  Read my scriptures.

7.  Did the dishes.

8.  Took it easy and went to bed early.

8  Things I Look Forward To

1.  Vacation

2.  Holidays

3.  Going away for the weekend with my hubby without kids.  (Notice a trend here?)

4.  The end of a semester.

5.  Writing an English paper or just doing my literature homework.  (I know this sounds crazy, but I really like my lit class.)

6.  Planning/throwing a party.

7.  Quality family time.

8.  Naptime/Bedtime.

8 Things I Love Aout Fall  (We don’t really have fall here, but if we did, this would be what I love.)

1.  Changing of the colors of the leaves.

2.  The cooler weather.

3.  Holiday season.

4.  The crisp feel to the air.

5.  School starting.

6.  The happy feeling I get when the above all happen.

7.  The breeze through the trees.

8.  Going to fruit orchards.

8 Things on My Wishlist

1.  A skinny body.  (Can you just buy those?)

2.  A healthy body.  (DOWN WITH ILLNESS!!!)

3.  Kids that ALWAYS mind.  (Chances are slim to none, I know, but that’s why it’s called a WISHlist!!)

4.  Straight A’s.  (Please let me pass my French final.)

5.  A housekeeper.  (Again… a WISHlist.)

6.   A baby.  (1 & 2 have to happen before I’m allowed to try again for one of these.)

7.  To learn to always keep my temper.  (Goodluck!)

8.  A skinny body.  (Did I already say that?)

8 People I tag

1.  Becky  (If I gotta do it, so do you.)

2. Tracy  (Just one more thing to add to the list.)

3.  Melissa  (Just trying to get to know you better!)

4.  Annelise  (Now you’ve been double tagged!)

5.  Lara  (I know you’ve probably done it already, but I needed a name.)

6.  Linda  (Time to brush up on your blogging skills!)

7.  Ryan  (Now you have something to blog about.)

8.   The improbable one of you reading this that I don’t know is reading it ’cause you NEVER LEAVE A COMMENT!!!  (There may not be one of these, because who would really want to read about my boring life!)

A friend of mine took this test to find out which career she is most suited to based on the colors you like to look at the most.  I thought it would be fun, so I tried it too.  What do you think?  Does this describe me? 

Best Occupational Category

You’re a CREATOR

Key Words:

Nonconforming, Impulsive, Expressive, Romantic, Intuitive, Sensitive, and Emotional These original types place a high value on aesthetic qualities and have a great need for self-expression. They enjoy working independently, being creative, using their imagination, and constantly learning something new. Fields of interest are art, drama, music, and writing or places where they can express, assemble, or implement creative ideas.

CREATOR OCCUPATIONS
Suggested careers are Advertising Executive, Architect, Web Designer, Creative Director, Public Relations, Fine or Commercial Artist, Interior Decorator, Lawyer, Librarian, Musician, Reporter, Art Teacher, Broadcaster, Technical Writer, English Teacher, Architect, Photographer, Medical Illustrator, Corporate Trainer, Author, Editor, Landscape Architect, Exhibit Builder, and Package Designer.

CREATOR WORKPLACES
Consider workplaces where you can create and improve beauty and aesthetic qualities. Unstructured, flexible organizations that allow self-expression work best with your free-spirited nature.

Suggested Creator workplaces are advertising, public relations, and interior decorating firms; artistic studios, theaters and concert halls; institutions that teach crafts, universities, music, and dance schools. Other workplaces to consider are art institutes, museums, libraries, and galleries.

2nd Best Occupational Category

You’re a PERSUADER

Key Words:

Witty, Competitive, Sociable, Talkative, Ambitious, Argumentative, and Aggressive

These enterprising types sell, persuade, and lead others. Positions of leadership, power, and status are usually their ultimate goal. Persuasive people like to take financial and interpersonal risks and to participate in competitive activities. They enjoy working with others inside organizations to accomplish goals and achieve economic success.

 

Here’s the address if you want to try it too:  Color Coded Career Test