Thankful Me

I sit in an unfamiliar room, facing a final exam for a class I completely forgot to attend even once during the semester .  I aw aken abruptly, heart pounding, relieved it was only a dream. College students need a little extra encouragement during the dreaded finals week.  My kids have al ways appreciated a surp rise in the mail to let them know I 'm thinking of the m and wishing them the best.

One of the reasons I decided on "Monday Morning in the Kitchen" was so I could share recipes with my children.  I asked my oldest daughter what recipe she would like to see, and she immediately said, "Blackberry pie!  We ate that all the time when I was little."

For May's visiting teaching message, we can choose any of the talks from the latest Gener al Conference.  I 'm not sure wh ich message I will decide upon, but I m ade se veral different handouts.  Even if you are not a visiting teacher, I hope that you will find these quotes inspiration al !

Everything is fine here; I just need a bit of a break from blogging to concentrate on my real- life to-do list.  I'll resume posts on April 28th.  Hope you have a wonderful week ! Thanks for the unplugged life.

Tonight, we are attending a church activity all about family history.  We're supposed to bring a story to share, so I'm goin g to bring a phot o and the stor y about how it c ame into my possession.  Though I've w ritten about it bef ore, I think it's worth repeatin g.  I hope you enjoy the post from the past: Family history research can become a tangled web sometimes.  Trying to keep names, dates, and relationships straight is often a challenge for my mind.  I'm sure as a child I gave my mom more than one glazed-over look when she would try to explain the relationship to me of an ancestor she had just found.  I understand the impulse to just nod along politely, but please, try to keep up with this post because it is just THE COOLEST THING EVER.

A few weeks ag o, I shared a bit about John 's first car, a Ford Anglia .   Debbie f rom Our Old Homestead ask ed if we still had the car, and I told her no, but that I wante d to be able to surprise John with another Ford Anglia someday.  Well, it wasn't really a surprise, but I actually found one last week!   a photo from the craigslist ad

Thanks for the truth in th is song line:  "W henever I touch a velvet rose, or walk by our lilac tree, I 'm glad that I live in this beautiful world Heavenly Father created for me." You might find my posts on these blog hops: Sew Darn Crafty Party,   Find a Friend Friday, Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop, Show Your Stuff, The Wildly Original Link Party, Wow Us Wednesdays, Down Home Blog Hop , Tuesday Archive Link Up, Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River , Grandparents Say It Saturday The Creative Home Acre Hop ,  Best Blog Post Ever , Grand Social, Crafty Garden Mama, Let's Get Social Sundays Freedom Fridays

Ar e you familiar with the school assi g nment of writing a paragra ph describi ng how to make a peanut butter sandwich?  The teacher then follows the student 's steps exactly, to some fairly humorous results. The point of the lesson is to encourage preciseness and clarity .  

A pril brings ar tichoke season ;   I harvested a co uple from my garden yesterday .  Saturday's produce box from the co-op also contained artichokes. 

As I mentioned previously, last week I spent the weekend watching General Con ference.  All of the conference talks can be found here. I've been tr ying to review the addresses and have been highlighting particular phrases that stand out to me.  Next week I hope to have several quotes f rom conference prepared in a handout form, but in the meantime, I thought I'd share this st atement from Bruce D. P o rter's  "Beau tiful M ornings" talk:

I r emembe r peeling potatoes in my apartment in college and having one of my roommates be absolutely ama zed at the potato peeler.  "What is t hat? ! I've never seen one before!  That looks so much easier than using a knife!  I've got to cal l my mo m and tell her about this!" I was dumbst ruck.  Doesn't everyone have and use a potato peeler?

John and I celebrate our 26th anniversary this month.   We enj oy a happy marriage , and like to believe that we communicate well.  Recently , though, our youngest daughter told us that the secret to a happy marriage is not good communication, but rather, good syrup.  

Our weather wa s particularly blustery this week, resulting in dusty skies, freeway closures , . . .  

Apparently Google Reader is going to be ending.  I'm not exactly sure how this impacts anything, but I've been told that I need to allow my followers to connect via Bloglovin.   Follow my blog with Bloglovin   I'm trying out the Bloglovin instru ctions; hope this works. Thanks for change, which forces learning.

I received a call from the post office today.  A package was wa iting f or me!  I quickly d rove to retrieve my awesome box o f chirping cuteness.

Youngest daughter requested an Oreo cookie cake for her birthday yesterday. 

It's the first weekend of April, which m eans it is time for the general conference of the C hurch of J e sus Christ of Latter -Day Saints.  Thanks to technology, we can watch the sessions on television , or on line at www.lds.org . Here's a 43-secon d clip from a talk given y esterday by Elaine Dalton .  She reminds us that we are daughters of our loving Hea venly Father, and that that knowl edge should empower us.   Thanks for general conference, and the inspiration we can receive from listening.  (And happy birthday to youngest daughte r!) You might find my posts on these blog hops: Sew Darn Crafty Party,   Find a Friend Friday, Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop, Show Your Stuff, The Wildly Original Link Party, Wow Us Wednesdays, Down Home Blog Hop , Tuesday Archive Link Up, Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River , Grandparents Say It Saturday The Creative Home Acre Hop ,  Best Blog Post Ever , Grand Social, Crafty Garden Mama, Let'...

Have you ever visited zillow.com ?   It's a real estate site, where you can type in an ad dress and learn all about that particular house.   You can see a satellite view of the property and , in many instances, a street-view as well. 

As you might remember, I enjoy shoppin g at thri ft s tores, and now that I'm a grandma, I enjoy shopping for my granddaughter.  

Thanks for new growth and beaut iful scents. You might find my posts on these blog hops: Sew Darn Crafty Party,   Find a Friend Friday, Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop, Show Your Stuff, The Wildly Original Link Party, Wow Us Wednesdays, Down Home Blog Hop , Tuesday Archive Link Up, Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River , Grandparents Say It Saturday The Creative Home Acre Hop ,  Best Blog Post Ever , Grand Social, Crafty Garden Mama, Let's Get Social Sundays

Do you remember the SNL skit with Dana Carvey as the elder President George Bush explaining that "the bathroom in the L incoln bedroom will run all night unless you jiggle the handle"? Well, Barbara could have easily fixed that with this handy ki t:

For our Easter dinner, I adapted this recipe for roast lamb. John prefers his meat on the pink side; but you could eas ily roast it longer.