Going Hippie ;)

Last night I taught a class in Relief Society, our women's organization. It was about making your own natural cleaning products. Because the closest I had ever gotten to making anything natural like that was bar soap, I had to do some research. It's amazing what you can find on the Internet!

Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning I made some products. It was fast, and it didn't cost very much. I had to quickly test them to see how well they worked before the class on Thursday evening. The ones I tried worked great!!! So now we are using our very own dishwasher soap and laundry soap :) It will be fun to try other things! I feel so hippie-like ;)

Now we will be kinder to nature, nicer to our lungs, and save money. How much better can it get???

Hugs 💞

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"Many of us tremble as we realize that the voice of the people is beginning to choose that which is wrong. We look with soberness at a world that has begun to marginalize, ignore, and even silence the voices of faithful disciples of The Lord Jesus Christ." - Robert L. Millet

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This is is me grating soap for laundry soap at the class :)

Interesting Day . . .

Today was one of those days . . . Last night we realized we had a water leak somewhere. A major leak . . . There was a lot of water behind our house, and we had no idea where it came from. All we knew was that there was virtually no pressure in the faucets in the house. No worries, we had someone we could call. Someone who knows about plumbing :)

Justin, a plumber and an overall good guy, came this morning at 7:30. We were convinced our little convenience would be fixed within a few hours. No such luck :( Craig and Justin spent all day trying to find where the leak was. They got a pump and pumped all the water out from underneath the house. They rented a jackhammer and cut a hole in our cement pad in our backyard. They worked all day trying to fix the leak. All to no avail.

Having no water meant we could not wash our clothes or do dishes. My goal for today, texturing the bathroom walls, was out of the question. We were not able to take showers . . . (Thank you to all who offered to open your bathrooms for us :) You are very sweet!) Cooking is possible, but without water you cannot wash the dishes. Because we thought the leak would be fixed by lunch I made breakfast, (scrambled eggs with leeks, bell peppers, mushrooms, and leftover pork chops. It was delicious!) and so we still have all the dishes sitting in the sink.

Not wanting more dishes than necessary to sit and smell up the house, Dawn and I took the girls to In-N-Out Burger. Being on a Whole 30 makes it difficult to eat out, but it is surprising how good a double burger in a lettuce wrap and only tomatoes can taste when you are hungry.

At this point we were certain we would have water by evening. We were wrong. Justin will be back tomorrow morning at 7:30 again, and everything will hopefully be working by lunch. By then we will all be smelly. Good thing we will not see anyone until then. (Except for my morning walk tomorrow. Sorry Marilyn :( )

So, dinner was not a home cooked meal either. Craig and I went out for Mexican. We had Abodobo because I felt that was a dish that does not have anything in it that I am not supposed to eat right now. Don't tell me if I am wrong about the Abodobo, because I don't want to know! As far as I am concerned I have been eating right all day ;)

The good thing with today is that I was able to spend it with Dawn and the girls. We were able to run errands and do things on my list that had been put off for a while.

So - although life can be difficult without water it is still possible to have a good day. Craig was able to use a jackhammer even though the circumstances may not have been happy, and I got some needed things done that would have been put off another day if today had not been waterless.

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"When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even His enemies to be at peace with him" Proverbs 16:7

One of many pieces of good advice I have been reading lately.

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Life is full of surprises, good and not as good. Today was not the kind of day I would plan, or wish I had many of, but it was a day filled with new experiences and time with people I love. That is a kind of successful day.

Hugs 💞

First Day of "Whole 30"

What is Whole 30?

It is 30 days of eating whole foods - no preservatives, no sugar or sugar substitute, no grains and no dairy. The reason for doing this is to cleanse your body of impurities and to hopefully feel better at the end. If you have problems with bloating and stomach issues it can also be a time to find out what cause them, as well as other physical or emotional issues.

When you are finished with the 30 days you can add foods back one at a time so that you can see what can be a cause of the problems. Food has more to do with how we feel than most people realize.

Breakfast today was a steamed egg, some sausage, hazelnuts, and water. I have found that if I eat a lot of protein for breakfast I am not as hungry later in the day.
For lunch I had leftover spaghetti squash and sautéed chicken. I love spaghetti squash!!!
Dinner was pork chops cooked on the George Foreman grill and sautéed squash and leeks. It was delicious :)
Snacks: orange, raw pecans, and carrots.
And lots of water!!!

It's not difficult to eat this way as long as you don't have foods you don't want to eat at home. My self control is at the store - if it comes home with me I will eat it . . .

I can't wait for tomorrow!!! Another day towards feeling better after all the binging over the holidays!!!

Hugs 💞

This is what a spaghetti squash looks like after it is cooked and you pull out the "strands" with a fork. Cool, huh?

Joy

I like every day, in fact I like most things. Some of my favorites are reading novels, listen to all kinds of music, exercise, cook, have lunch with friends. There are many interesting and fun things to do :) Things that teach you something new or that you do just because it is enjoyable. Life is fun that way. 

However, Sunday is my favorite day because, for me, Sunday is a day when I can more easily feel closeness to my Heavenly Father. Sunday is designated a day of rest. As a Latter-day Saint Sunday rest means something very different than what it does to most people. Many of us keep very busy on Sunday - we all have something to do, some more than others. It can be an exhausting day, but that does not mean that it is not an enjoyable day. 

My Sundays are very fun at the moment :) I get to teach children between 18 months and 11 years old songs. It is tiring to say the least, but it is SO rewarding to be with the children and figuring out ways to teach the songs in interesting ways so that they will remember them. It takes a lot of time creating teaching aids, and thinking what would be good for them, but when they sing the songs well, and have fun doing it, it brings joy that is difficult to find anywhere else. And children have so much to teach us older people. 

Today could have been better . . . Feeling a migraine start while jumping around singing and pretending to be feeling great is not ideal. But I made it through the day, and the interesting thing is that after church I felt the migraine go away. That never happens until I sleep for a while. The blessings you receive when you do what you know you should do are amazing!

Church only takes up three hours of the day, so there is a lot of time left to do other things, like reading in the scriptures, listening to classical or religious music, spending time with family and friends, walking and looking seeing Heavenly Father's creations . . . Sundays are marvelous!!! It is the day when I recharge and focus on what is most important for me - Heavenly Father and family and friends.

This is a picture of the Thongmee family who we met at church in Thailand. They have become very good friends of ours. We miss them very much and think of them often. Good thing we have Facebook!

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What Is Most Important

When Craig heard I started a new blog, and found out what it was about, he said with a twinkle in his eye: You will be honest and say what *really* makes you happy, right? He was joking, but I am not, when I say that what is most important for a happy life is keeping the right people around you.

You don't really have a choice with regards to the family you are born into, but everyone else you associate with you choose. This means everyone from friends, to a spouse, and coworkers to a certain extent).

The most important person you choose is your spouse. This is the person with whom you will spend more time aside from your siblings. This is why choosing a spouse is so crucial. S/he will either contribute to your happiness, or make your life miserable. It is important to choose well. I am blessed with a husband who is everything I need and so much more. I don't know how this happened, but am not complaining :)

Although people can contribute to your happiness, or make your life unhappy, it is important to remember that no one, other than you yourself, can *make* you happy. It can be a difficult lesson, but one that is crucial to a happy life. You are he one who has to make the choice to be happy, because that is what it is - a choice.

The past (almost) 33 years have been amazing to a great extent because of the people around me. They truly are a blessing in my life. I honestly don't know where I would be today if I didn't have my family and friends, especially Craig. Thank you all for being there for me. I love you more than I can ever tell you.

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"Prayer is intended to engender communion with Deity. Communion certainly entails more than a monologue. It should in fact be a dialog, a true conversation with speaking, listening, digesting, learning." - Robert L. Millet "Talking With God"

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The picture is the latest one we have of our beautiful family. It is missing our oldest daughter and her son, and since it was taken we were blessed with another cute little granddaughter. The joys of grandparenthood will definitely be another post!

Hugs
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Happy New Year!

This was supposed to be posted yesterday, but I had some technical difficulties . . . Here it is though!

I 💛 my family! It seems the older you get, the more you appreciate family and friends. I want my aunt and cousins to know that I love and miss you very much 😘

Today was a family day. Most of the family could unfortunately not be here - our youngest son and his wife live on a different continent, youngest daughter's family is sick (I hope you are feeling better!), and oldest daughter was busy. So it was the two of us with our oldest son and his family, but we had a wonderful time 😀

My daughter-in-law and I went grocery shopping, but we ended up at Fenton's Ice Cream Restaurant (http://www.fentonscreamery.com/mobile.html) for a couple of sundaes . . . The ice cream was delicious (Fenton's is THE place to go for ice cream!!!!!), but the best part was spending time together. My children have chosen wonderful mates, and I am happy to have them for my children 💖

This is Dawn hiding behind her sundae 😉

The afternoon and evening was spent making "Kroppkakor" (Body Cakes, a gruesome name, I know 😖). This is a very Swedish dish, that even many Swedes have not heard of. It is only made in a very small part of Sweden, the area where my paternal grandmother is from 😃 The smell of this dish brings back wonderful memories from my childhood. Grandma and my aunts made this once every year during the summer. It is very time consuming and it took them most of the day working assembly line style. It takes a LOOOOONG time making it with a food processor, and in those days we didn't have machines like that to help us . . . so no wonder they did not want to make my favorite dish more than once per year . . . Here is a picture of what they look like -

This is not what mine looked like . . . but they were supposed to . . .

Here is the recipe:

12 oz Pork Belly
1 Onion
1 1/2 Tbsp Whole Allspice (Coarsely ground)
4.5 lbs potatoes (Raw)
1 lb potatoes (Cooked)
Not quite 1 Cup Gluten free All-Purpose Flour (If you eat gluten, regular flour works better 😊)
2 tsp Salt

- Cut the pork into small cubes.
- Chop onion.
- Mix pork, onion, and allspice.
- This can be kept in fridge overnight.

- Peel and shred finely the raw potatoes.
- Press out as much liquid as you can through a towel.
- Very coarsely mash the cooked potatoes.
- Mix with the raw potatoes, flour, and salt into a dough.
- Bring water and salt to a boil in a large pot.
- Form dough into balls.
- Make an opening and fill with approximately 1 1/2 Tbsp of the pork mixture.
- Close the ball.
- Let the balls simmer for 45-60 minutes.
* Do not put too many in at one time. You should be able to cook about half of them at the same time.
- Serve with any combination of butter, cream, and/or lingonberries (sort of like cranberries).

Here is the filling 😀

Chris helps to squeeze the liquid from the raw potatoes. It is not pretty 😧Look at the color of the liquid . . .

This is what the potatoes look like after you squeeze out the liquid. That is not the color after it sits for a while though . . .

The dumpling before you close it. It looks pretty nasty at this point 😱 The raw potatoes turn grey pretty quickly after they have been grated.

This is not a pretty dish, but I love it! The texture might be difficult if you are not used to it since the raw potatoes make it a little chewy. Because it is so time consuming I will work on making a casserole that is similar but takes a lot less time. I'm very excited to try this!

We have leftover filling! That will go in scrambled eggs for tomorrow morning's breakfast. I can't wait!!! I love leftovers for breakfast 😛

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Because I am recuperating from a cold I did not work out today (or yesterday). Some days it is good to try to rest, but tomorrow I'm going back to my normal workout schedule 😊

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Something I read that impacted me today -

"I do believe that too often we seek the sacred in the midst of noise and confusion, when what we need most at the time is to get away, leave behind our troubles, forsake the radio and television, and escape into sweet simplicity and serenity. Jehovah counseled beautifully: 'Be still, and know that I am God' Psalm 46:10." - Robert L. Millet 'Talking With God'

Maybe it is time to get off the computer and find some peace before going to bed.

Family, delicious food, and uplifting reading - Today has been a great day! Can't wait for tomorrow!!!
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A Day of Honesty

Being honest is a major contributor to happiness. This is why I feel I need to make some disclaimers before I write another post.

Since we moved back to California from Thailand in April my lifestyle has not been great. It is easy to live a healthy lifestyle when everything is less expensive, when you are able to hire a personal trainer and a maid. Having a maid gives you a lot more free time to focus on things other than daily mundane things. The personal trainer gives you the motivation to work out, and pushes you to limits you did not know you had. I will be forever grateful for the five years I had living in Thailand, for my wonderful, beautiful friends, and for all the "extras" we were able to afford while there.

Here we are with some of our younger friends in Thailand 😀

In California it is so much more expensive, and when you need to spend time doing housework much of your day is used up already. You do not have as much time working out and focusing on your health.

Since the end of April Craig and I have taken four long road trips. That is not a great thing for your health . . . Lots of eating out, lots of sugar to keep you awake during the drive, and family and friends who like to share their favorite treats. Not to mention the difficulty of working out when you are on the road. We have seen wonderful family and friends and some spectacular things though!

Our youngest son and his wife's wedding 💖

The wedding of our "adopted" children Rebecca and Thee 💖

The Jansan's, a beautiful family we know who was sealed together for eternity 💖

Hiking with Craig's sister Stephanie 💖

Old Faithful

Because of this my clothes don't fit like they should and I am not as energetic as I feel I should be. Also, my emotional state could be better than it is. Those are all things I need to work on, and so I will eat better and work out harder than I normally would to try to accomplish this. Because of my cold I will not start "for real" until next week.

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Today's quote:
" . . . salvation is an individual matter; exaltation is a family matter. We cannot be perfect, or fully happy, for that matter, without being joined with our family members in the exalted state, a welding link having been established between the parents and the children (Hebrews 11:40; D&C 128:15, 18)." - Russell M. Nelson

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That was today's confession. I might have others later 😊
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