Self-Reliance

I've been thinking about this subject for some time. At Stake Conference today there was a lot of counsel about being financially responsible and being wise with our resources. I guess that has always been a popular Gospel principle for discussion while we've lived in BYU married student housing, but lately while looking at our expenses, taking note of our financial situation in the coming years, hearing our friends' discussion about it, and realizing how undisciplined we've been about spending, I made a command decision that I want to take a more active role in living this principle and find more ways to save and be self-reliant. And I'm excited about it!

Aside from creating a more strict budget and working harder to stick to it, I have a few ideas for how to rely less on buying and more on our own resources:

1. Making homemade laundry detergent. Thanks for the recipe Momma Shannon! After the initial purchase of the ingredients, the overall cost comes to about $.03 per load. It cleans just as well, you can add essential oils to make it smell nice, and it lasts you more than twice as long as regular detergent. I'll cook up the concoction this week and let you know how it goes.
2. Making my own homemade bread. I found this great recipe online and baked 3 delicious honey wheat loaves today. I plan to make this a weekly thing so we can enjoy homemade, all-natural bread for less than $1 per loaf.
3. I've started going crazy on coupon sites. I was surprised to see how many printable coupons were available for things I already buy!
4. We're usually pretty good about it, but I've really enjoyed making up lists of cheap or free date ideas. Here's a good one, though I can't remember which blog I found it on. There are so many interesting things to do and see if you take the time to look, and I've found that some of the best dates we've had together (picnicking in Rock Canyon Park, having a sleepover and Netflix Instant Queue movie in the living room, hiking up to the hot springs, visiting the Carl Bloch Exhibit, etc.) didn't cost us a dime. 

I have to say, I've always gotten sort of a high from getting a deal, and the idea of pinching pennies does the same for me. Is that weird? In the long run, drastic changes are hard to maintain (whether watching your weight, your money, or any habits), but I know that it's the little changes that make a difference over time. Here's to a new way of life!

The Trouble With Groundhogs

Whether or not they see their shadow, here in Utah we still always have at least another month and a half of winter. A sad truth. Also, I'm pretty sure "groundhog" is interchangeable with poltergeists (or is it gnomes?) that turn off your alarm clock so you wake up an hour late for work and make your car have troubles starting in the cold. Maybe not, but that was my excuse this morning.

(Sidenote: I just noticed that I capitalize all the first letters in my titles. I guess that makes sense.)

An Evening with Carl Bloch

Friday night Samuel and I enjoyed a visit to the Carl Bloch Exhibit at BYU's Museum of Art. The collection is here all way from Bloch's native Denmark and some from Sweden. It was so cool to actually see the originals of all these paintings I've grown to love seeing in churches, temples, and gospel materials all my life. Bloch studied Rembrandt extensively and mimicked some of his techniques in his own work: the contrast of light and dark, nearly always including one subject in each work that looks out at you to invite you into the scene. Magnificent. I give you a taste of the paintings we saw:

 

This last one, "The Pool of Bethesda", was enormous. Almost the size of the entire wall!

It really was an uplifting experience. Later we enjoyed dinner at delicious Malawi's Pizza, then restaurant-hopped over to The Chocolate in Orem for some dessert, (it was an indulgent night). It's in an old Victorian house on State Street, filled with cute furniture for lounging and soft music - like a quaint coffee shop. Not to mention their heavenly desserts. Even as aficionado chocoholics we really were impressed. We will definitely be back for more! Yay for cultural dates!

Snow Day, Sick Day

Don't you love Martha's design? The woman could create serenity from a pile of logs. This image reminded me of my old room in my parents' house - soothing turquoise walls, white down comforter, and an open window to let in all that delicious light.

Today I'm enjoying some much-needed serenity....and recuperation from yet another winter's cold. This one took immediate residence in my lungs. Despite feeling pretty yucky, it's been rather peaceful day. Sam's been home with me since his morning classes, and earlier we watched the snowflakes fall like a snow globe and cover the landscape again in a white wonderland. I napped, I read, I coughed, I napped again, put some chicken taco soup in the crock pot for a hot, low-maintenance dinner, and then blogged. If only all winter days could be so cozy. Well, except for the sore throat.

Maple Bacon

Last night Sam made us dinner: Chicken Bacon Ranch Subs. (For the record, we almost never buy bacon.) The sandwich was really good. But then the bacon smell lingered, and lingered, and lingered. Past dinnertime and into the evening it hung in the air like the aroma of a McDonald's at breakfast. It permeated all the fabric in the apartment and settled in the heater which blew into our bedroom at night, filling my head with nauseating, maple bacon dreams. The bacon was ready and waiting for us when we woke up in the morning, despite my best attempt at using a whole brick of Scentsy to inoculate the kitchen. No good. It even burned itself so strongly into my nose and my memory that I continued to smell it at work. And it wasn't on my clothes or my coat - I checked. It was just there, haunting me like my regret for having consumed it.

This morning my Samuel was so apologetic and wonderful after I whined and whined about it. Then I said, "Sweetie, it's ok. The smell will eventually go away and I do love you more than a pleasant-smelling home." And we both felt better.

Moral of the story: DO NOT buy maple bacon. The end.

Proud

Historic Holliday House circa 1900...

...and today - now a Museum after my mom spent the better part of a decade restoring it.

Allow me to get a bit dramatic here for a minute. (Drama? On this blog? Unheard of!) It's not something she has shouted from the rooftops, and in fact, only those who know our family well are aware of the 20 year project my mother has so passionately (and most notably, patiently) pursued. Today my mom finally finished her novel. For as long as I can remember, this novel has been an ongoing pursuit. It has taken me years to understand the magnitude of the story she was telling and what it means to an entire family in 19th century Georgia and beyond.

For those unfamiliar with this novel, it is the story of a young man named John Henry (later "Doc" the famous gambler and gunfighter) Holliday, born and raised in war-torn Georgia, his short practice of dentistry, and later travels throughout the west to escape Consumption (TB), heartbreak, his crimes, and to find redemption.

The story extended beyond the novel into a lifestyle of projects, service, and jumping into the history of the South.  I recall spending many hot summer days as a kid scrubbing and fixing up a 19th century house in Fayetteville, (the smell of old wood and peach buds still gets me feeling very nostalgic - and you how I love that), attending Civil War reenactments and visiting historic sites as family outings while hearing my mom play tour guide, or, while running errands, driving 40 minutes out of the way to make a stop at an old cemetery in Griffin just to visit. Maybe for some, this sounds like a boring childhood, but for me, this is what a summer in Georgia was like. (Don't feel too bad, we still went to pool parties, theme parks, and played dress-up like normal kids). You probably don't know it, but my mom is actually one of the world's foremost experts on the life of Doc Holliday, having spent nearly 20 years on research, traveling everywhere he set foot, speaking at conferences, and being referenced in both biographies and documentaries.

I can only hope my passions take me as far as my mom's have taken her, and that I can have the patience, like her, to sometimes put those things on hold to fulfill greater callings: raising my children and serving in the Church. Though they can't tell it to the world, her storytelling, and more importantly the service she has rendered them, has certainly made her a hero to the Holliday family on the other side.

So even if her novel isn't critically acclaimed or doesn't climb the top of the New York Times Bestsellers List or even if it doesn't change anyone's life, that's ok....

...her work already has.

I love you, Mom. And I'm so proud.

Basketball and Memories

I should start by saying just how much of a creature of nostalgia I am. I love looking back at days gone by and seeing where my life has taken me. The other night my thoughts were taken back to my silly school-girl days in Young Women's. I remember how every week we would all find our way into the church gym to watch the boys playing basketball after our weeknight youth activity was over. Every week. Since our interaction with boys at the age of 13 was pretty minimal, it was a big deal. It's funny to think how disconnected we where from each other at that tender age.

The other night I had these thoughts as I sat in the basketball court at the gym, watching my Samuel play. For a moment I remembered what it felt like to be 13 again, insecure, ignorant, just waiting for "life" to happen....and certainly not expecting those boys to notice I was there. And I loved looking at my Samuel confidently run down the court, shooting 3's, and thinking how that hunk of burnin' love is not some cute boy playing basketball, he's my best friend and my husband. And then he turned and smiled at me. Funny to think that I married one of those basketball boys.

On another note: veggie omelets for dinner with whole-wheat nutella toast for dessert reminds me why dieting doesn't have to be horrible. In fact it can be kind of nice.