Thanks Nana!

Nana sent the girls Halloween cards with dollar bills inside, so while we were in Helena, we went to their big dollar store and let Addie choose something to buy with her dollar. She chose this stuffed fish.Addie loves her new fish! Thank you, Nana!

Harvest Party Menu

Salad (with tortilla chips)

1 can black beans, drained
4 plum tomatoes, chopped
Salt
2 cups corn kernels
about 1/4 red onion, chopped
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
Juice of 1 lime
1/4 cup olive oil
Pepper
Cayenne

In a serving bowl toss tomatoes with salt and set aside for 10-15 minutes to bring out juices. Add beans, corn, and onion and mix well. Add cilantro, lime juice and oil. Stir to coat. Season with salt, pepper and cayenne to taste. Serve immediately, or set aside for 30 minutes for flavors to intensify (I served it the next day and it was just as good).

Turkey-Cranberry finger sandwiches (aka Thanksgiving -on-Bun)
Wheat rolls
Pulled turkey
Stove Top turkey stuffing, prepared
Cream cheese
Cranberry sauce

Layer ingredients on wheat roll and serve cold

Fall Fruit Dip
1 can solid pack pumpkin
80z package of cream cheese, softened
1-1/4 cup powdered sugar
3 tsp pumkin spice (or a tsp each: cinnamon, cloves, ginger, dash of nutmeg, etc)

Beat cream cheese and pumpkin together until smooth; stir in sugar and spices, Chill and serve with sliced pears and apples.

Punch: Old Orchard Apple Passion Mango Juice (2 frozen cans); 2 cans water; 3 litres ginger ale; ice.

Chili w/ cornbread- I had other people bring these items, but they were delicious. Also, I had planned to make Peanut soup, but considering the guest list, I settled on an Old Fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup (Chicken broth, celery, carrots, fat egg noodles, choped white chicken---99% fat free and YUMMY). However, Peanut Soup is so good, I want you to have the recipe. Same with the cider.

WEST AFRICAN PEANUT SOUP
1 cup chopped onion
1 TB vegetable oil
1/2 tsp cayenne or other ground chiles
1 tsp grated peeled fresh ginger
1 cup chopped carrots
2 cups chopped sweet potatoes
4 cups vegetable stock or water
2 cups tomato juice
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 TB sugarchopped scallions,chopped
roasted peanuts

Sauté onion in oil until it is transluscent. Stir in cayenne and ginger. Add carrots and sauté a couple minutes more. Mix in potatoes and stock, bring to a boil, simmer 15 minutes(until the vegetables are tender).
Puree the vegetables with tomato juice (and some of the cooking liquid if necessary) in a blender or food processor. Return the puree to the pot. Stir in the peanut butter until smooth.
Check sweetness and add sugar if necessary. Reheat gently, using a heat difuser if necessary to prevent scorching. Add more water, stock, or tomato juice to make a thinner soup if desired. Serve topped with plenty of chopped scallions and chopped roasted peanuts.

Spiced Cider

2 qt. apple cider
¼ c. brown sugar
2 bay leaves
2 cinnamon sticks
½ tsp. cardamom
½ tsp. nutmeg
4 whole cloves
zest of one orange (optional)

Combine the cider, light brown sugar, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, cloves, cardamom, nutmeg, and orange zest in a large pan. Bring to a boil, then simmer uncovered 30 minutes. Strain the spices from the mixture and discard. Return the cider to pan and keep warm. The cider is ready –serves 8.

There! Now go have your own party, and don't forget to delegate.

Steady On

"Just press the execute button"

No, I am not suicidal or anything--this is just a funny from today's engrish.com

I am not dead. It has been a crazy week. The kind where you're like totally out of gas and writing a sentence is out of the question. I am guessing I will have about 5 or 6 more weeks like this in a row until I graduate to second trimester bliss. Right now I am anemic and sporting a severely inflamed sacroilliac ligament-thingy for which I have to wear an ice pack on my left butt cheek, but only when I am standing because sitting and laying down are not good for the joint. But then standing up and moving around aren't that great for the tired anemic girl, either. And oh yeah, and remember how I always put Heidi's hair in a little ponytail on top of her head? Um, it's gone. My psycho-barber child, Addie, gave her baby sister a good chop, and took some off of her own scary recovering hair-do, too (of course pix will follow ASAP). Whatever, little freaks. So yeah, life is good.

Really, I am not complaining because (repeat after me) AT LEAST I'M NOT THROWING UP! I've been able to do lots of really good stuff, actually, including throwing a fun baby shower for my sister-in-law tonight. It was a dinner, too (yes, I am nuts) and the menu was fab. So good, in fact, I shall post the recipes when I get a chance cuz...well, just YUM! We played 2 simple games and opened gifts, then ate warm pumkin-carmel cake and said g'nite, all to the sounds of Loreena McKennit and the yummy smells of Gold Canyon Apple Spice candles and the pumkin cake baking. It was a fall-lover's paradise. Now I must sleep. Pictures coming soon...gestation is hard work.

Googling is Fun

From Crouching Mommy, Hidden Laundry we have this google images scavenger hunt. Go to Google Images and put in the name of the town where you were born, the town you live in now, your name, the name of your grandmother, your favorite food, favorite smell, and favorite song. Then you post the images. So, here goes:

The west side of the town where I was born.
The east side (my side) of the town where I was born.

Where I live now (yes, it's even MORE beautiful than these pix can show and you should cry yourself to sleep because you don't live here).

When I typed in my name, pix of cheerleaders and gymnasts came up, but then I found cute chef, Jamie Oliver. He rocks.
This is my maternal Grandmother's first name (which she rarely uses). I quite like it and she hates it. (PS: the author's name on this cover is what we would like to name our baby if it's a girl).

Hmmm...these didn't post in the right order, but here is my favorite smell--cinnamon vanilla.
This is what came ups when I typed in the title of my current favorite song, "Crimes of Paris" by Elvis Costello.

Is that the hallelujah chorus I hear? My pregnant appetite could really use some authentic tacos right now, right off the dirty ol' downtown taco cart, y'all. Too bad I am in Livingston and all the streets rolled up and hour ago (not to mention we are running low on taco carts).

Have a Gander

A surprisingly kind and fair picture of the LDS church and Joseph Smith appears in Newsweek this week: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9630255/site/newsweek/


And now I gotta go be a Mormon...:)

PUMPKIN PARTY-10/12

Wednesday Night was Pumkin Night and the girls went to town carving pumpkins. They also brought a lot of friends, so it was a really fun night. I had to take my two girls with me because Richard was helping a neighbor paint his house, but they had a good time, too.Jessica & her friend, way into their carving
Kelsey didn't want me to see her punk rock pumpkin!
Brittany and Taylor worked on their pumkins in the kitchen while the seeds were roasting in the oven (that's Brittany's mom in the background doing something with the cub scouts).

There's Me and Addie & Heidi showing off our pumpkin (Heidi is just trying to get away, and Addie's friend Scott--Brittany's little brother--is coloring on the chalk board behind us). Addie loves that pumpkin, but it's already getting shriveled.
Stephanie loves to play with little kids--here she is helping little Cailin color on the board with Addie and Scott. Steph cheered outloud when I announced I was pregnant, and she also gave Addie all the pennies out of her ashtray to get her(Addie) to do silly stuff and sing songs. Addie was so excited to put them in her penny bank!

Goodbye Girls

Last Wednesday night was my last night with the Young Women at church. I was released from the Young Women’s Presidency on Sunday 10/9 and assigned to be the Ward Newsletter (“The Liahona”) editor. It was surprisingly painful to leave my fun little class of 4 girls, all ages 12 or 13. They are so much fun and I love them to pieces. With every change in church assignments I have this feeling like, “Wait, wait, wait! I’m not done yet! I need to implement such and such, and I need to tell so-and-so something,”etc., etc. I am realizing that the only way to avoid this feeling is to act immediately upon inspiration and not wait for a better time or whatever to accomplish the thing. At any rate, I just really have strong feelings about the Young Women’s program and I hope my girls know how much I love them and how much I wish I could just build a smooth bridge to adulthood over which they could glide and come out at age 21, wise and beautiful and good and educated and confident. But there is no way out but through adolescence, I am afraid, and hopefully all the bumps and bruises of middle school and high school make us stronger and more confident rather that more unsure of ourselves and our beliefs.

I want to say how thankful I am to have the Young Women’s program and leaders in the church who love and care about these girls and see the incredible obstacles that stand in the way of their morality, modesty, and –sadly—their self-confidence and sense of worth. It is a beautiful thing to see these girls who could be doing a million other things (and dressing like little hooches) showing up on Wednesdays, Sundays, and other days to be together and learn/do good things. I really honor them for that because 99% of the world just wouldn’t do it. I was really touched (granted, I am a little hormonal) by two talks from last general conference—one by Susan Tanner (General Young Women’s President) and another by Jeffrey Holland, both aimed at the Young Women. The very fact that they addressed these things shows me how in tune they are to the needs of the girls—and even women like me! If you get a minute, click on those links and read their talks.

Anyway, we tivo’ed conference, so I went back and watched those two talks in preparation for an activity a couple of weeks ago about beauty and making the best of what God gave us. I wanted the focus to be on self-respect, and my arsenal was LOADED after re-watching these two talks. Also, my heart was full and I cried. I cried because the world is such an ugly place to raise two beautiful girls. I cried because so many young women (and older women) loathe themselves and stifle their spirits because of how they are made to feel about their physical bodies. I cried because I am guilty of that and I feel terrible for passing on my bad attitude to my girls. For instance, I always call myself “Fat Mommy” and I have told Addie I can’t go to the Hot Springs because they don’t make suits big enough for me, and I am not leaving the house until I am back to my normal size. How sick is that? I promised myself that food and body image would not be huge issues in our house (because they were in mine growing up and when I am w/ family I still feel really second rate because I have gained weight), but I suppose I need to resolve my own issues to create a healthy environment for my girls (I have made great strides, by the way—I have been exercising regularly for 8 months now--ah, I LOVE it! I am addicted to teh endorphins-- and we always talk about how much we love fresh food the way Heavenly Father made it for us, etc.—thing can only get better, right?). But I also criend tears of gratitude to know the truth about the worth of each of us.

Anyway, I just feel so blessed and lucky to have guidance and inspiration for raising my girls. The Young Women’s program is so cool. I especially love the seven values: Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice and Accountability, Good Works, & Integrity. They encompass everything we need to be strong, intelligent women in this world, and a force for good in all that we do. Understanding who we are—daughters of God with many of his divine qualities—and what we are expected to do—gain knowledge, respect ourselves, take responsibility, serve others with our talents, and stick to our guns—give us all power and purpose in a world where women are often lost, neglected, abused, and confused. I will really miss being part of the program but it will always be a part of me.