I’ve been told the purple bear may look a bit “girly.” The pastel blue could also be “girly.” Considering it’s not even spring, I know I’m silly for wanting springy Easter pictures of my son. But here they are anyway. Enjoy.
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Here are some inspiring quotes I found when I was preparing for my enrichment night presentation.
D&C 88:118 “And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith.”
I love this commandment! But I realize it says seek, not read. We should be learning, not just page-turning, as I like to do.
“[Quotes D&C 88:118] Surely, such books must first include the scriptures. Next must be the words of prophets, seers, and revelators.”
–President Ezra Taft Benson, Ensign, Sept 1988
I found myself reading some of the Mormon blogs a few months ago — you know, the forums where individuals analyze general conference talks and discuss how they can personally apply them to their lives. As I began to spend my time doing that, I realized that I should be spending my time actually reading the words of the prophets. That is where the spirit is to be found, not in others’ analyses: I need to come to my own understanding, with the spirit to guide me. I should spend more of my time studying the scriptures and the words of the prophets, not necessarily what other people say the scriptures and the prophets say. There is a difference.
With the abundance of books available today, it is a mark of a truly educated man to know what not to read. Of the making of books there is no end. In our reading, we would do well to follow the counsel of John Wesley’s mother: “Avoid whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, takes off your relish for spiritual things, increases the authority of the body over the mind. The fact that a book or publication is popular does not necessarily make it of value. The fact that an author wrote one good work does not necessarily mean that all his books are worthy of our reading. Many novels and modern publications are corrupters of morals or distorters of truth.
–President Benson, Ensign, Sept 1988 (emphasis added)
There is a lot of trash out there. I’s disappointing when that is what wins the awards and praise, but sometimes it happens. I guess that’s the difference between things of the world and things of God. Just because I like one novel by a Nobel prize-winning author does not mean I should read others of theirs: some of them are just bad!
I read a book for a book club and I dismayed that it had a lot of “bad” scenes in it. I felt like I should finish it because the book club was going to discuss it. But I’ve decided I’m not going to do that again: it it’s bad, I won’t read it, even if it is popular or on an award-winning list or on the book club list.
Often when we hear about the evils of pornography, we think of pornographic magazines, movies, and Web sites. Because men are more visually oriented, such material seems to appeal primarily to them. Yet the sexually explicit literature targeted at women, who are more verbally oriented, can be damaging as well. Like visual pornography, such literature presents a warped view of sexuality and is arousing and addictive. It dulls our spiritual senses, which distances us from God, and it can impair our ability to have healthy, lasting relationships.
“Addicted to Romance Novels”, Ensign, July 2003
We walk out of movie theaters if they are bad. Why not walk away from a book? If a book is dulling our spiritual sensitivity, we shouldn’t be reading it — just like movies.
The following quotes are inspiring to me — and a challenge to make better choices in my reading and other time-consuming activities. There are many choices we can make between good and better and better and best.
“As an evidence of increased spirituality we become more selective in what we read. J. Reuben Clark said, ‘My rule now is, never read anything that is not worth remembering.’ Thomas Jefferson always read something ennobling just before he retired, ‘whereon to ruminate in the intervals of sleep.'”
–Elder Douglas L. Callister, Ensign, Nov 2000 (emphasis added)
“We should begin by recognizing the reality that just because something is good is not a sufficient reason for [reading] it. The number of good things we can [read] far exceeds the time available to [read] them. Some things are better than good, and these are the things that should command priority attention in our lives.”
–Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Ensign, Nov 2007 (paraphrased; emphasis added)
“Some people learn to read but don’t read. At some point in our lives, we learned to read. But are we reading? Are we growing in wisdom?”
–Elder Joe. J. Christensen, Ensign, Nov 2000
The only way that we may overcome the world is by coming unto Christ. And coming unto Christ means walking away from the world. It means placing Christ and Christ only at the center of our lives so that the vanities and philosophies of men lose their addictive appeal.
We no longer have the luxury of spending our energy on anything that does not lead us and our families to Christ. That is the litmus test for Relief Society, as well as for our lives. We are not women of the world. We are women of God.
—Sister Sheri L. Dew, Ensign, Nov 1999 (italic emphasis in original; bold emphasis added)
The following quote doesn’t have a lot to do with reading, but I love it because I feel it describes what I want to be. I think reading and learning is a way we can further develop our mother heart: that is why I make time to read, whether it be reading as I eat breakfast, reading as I feed my baby, or listening to an audio book as I make dinner.
What is a mother heart and how is one acquired? A woman with a mother heart has a testimony of the restored gospel, and she teaches the principles of the gospel without equivocation. She is keeping sacred covenants made in holy temples. Her talents and skills are shared unselfishly. She gains as much education as her circumstances will allow, improving her mind and spirit with the desire to teach what she learns to the generations who follow her.
If she has children, she is a “goodly parent” (1 Nephi 1:1) who lives and teaches standards of behavior exactly in line with the teachings of living prophets. She teaches her “children to pray, and to walk uprightly before the Lord” (D&C 68:28). Rather than listening to the voices and partial truths of the world, she knows that gospel standards are based on eternal, unchangeable truths. She believes that to be “primarily responsible for the nurture of [her] children” is a vital, dignified, and “sacred responsibilit[y]” (“The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” Liahona, Oct. 1998, 24; Ensign, Nov. 1995, 102). To nurture and feed them physically is as much an honor as to nurture and feed them spiritually. She is “not weary in well-doing” and delights to serve her family, because she knows that “out of small things proceedeth that which is great” (D&C 64:33).
–Sister Julie B. Beck, Ensign, May 2004 (emphasis added)
Last week, with only five minutes left in our class about prayer, I emphasized in my testimony that we should always pray –even if we don’t feel worthy. I asked the class if they knew the story of Alma the Younger. They knew it and told me about his repentance. I testified to them that even though he had sinned a lot, he still was able to pray to Heavenly Father; only after he prayed was he delivered. Therefore, we should always pray, even (and especially) when we’ve sinned and don’t feel like it.
“What if we do feel like praying?” someone asked. (I think she was trying to be difficult.)
“Of course, you should be praying then too,” I emphasized.
“So, in other words, we should always be praying,” someone else added.
That led right into the Alma 34:20-27.
I love prayer. I am so grateful for that connection with heaven. As a mother, I know I need the power of prayer to be a stronger part of my life than it has been. We really should be praying always!
And I think the concept of praying always leads very well into the concept of fasting for added strength, which is this week’s lesson.
I’m struggling with this lesson. It’s not that I don’t know what to say. I know what I’m going to do: there are great scriptures in the manual and a great quote from conference.
It’s just been such a long time since I’ve actually fasted.
I was pregnant for nine months and now I’ve been breastfeeding for six, so that means I have not physically fulfilled a complete fast for 15 months. On Fast Sundays, I still try to focus on spiritual matters and I eat less than I would normally — one bowl of cheerios instead of the sugary honey peanut corn flakes. But overall, I still feel like I’ve gone a long time without practicing this law. (Certain people have suggested to me that I could physically fast and still breastfeed fine, but I haven’t tried because I’m nervous about keeping a milk supply.)
What do you say? How I can be better at practicing the law of the fast, even when I technically cannot physically practice it? (I guess I also want to know if you think I’m being selfish by not fasting: did you fast while you were pregnant or breastfeeding?)
I have mixed feelings about Michael Ruhlman’s The Elements of Cooking: Translating the Chef’s Craft for Every Kitchen.
The Elements of Cooking is one-part opinionated essays about cooking (pages 1-50) and one-part alphabetic encyclopedia of opinionated “essential” elements to cooking. There are things I liked about both parts and other things that bordered on ridiculous. (For example, Sharpie is included in the list of essential elements to cooking. Its definition: “This brand of permanent marker is excellent for dating and labeling food; keep one in your tool drawer along with painter’s tape.” p. 215)
I didn’t realize why I was annoyed by this book until I started reading Ruhlman’s previous best-seller, The Making of a Chef. I haven’t finished that book yet. It is the story of how one is trained at the Culinary Institute of America to become a chef. Only as I read this second book do I realize what the problem is with the first book: I don’t want to be a chef. Therefore, it’s not necessary to translate the chef’s craft for my kitchen.
According to The Elements of Cooking, a chef is a leader, as in the head of a restaurant kitchen, and is firstly a good cook. A cook is what I do aspire to be. I don’t want to be a chef: I don’t want a restaurant kitchen. I want good home cooking for my home kitchen.
Because I don’t want to be a chef, some items on the alphabetic list of essential elements seem a bit ridiculous. I don’t need to learn about aspic (gelled stock), offal (innards of animals), and foie gras (duck liver). I won’t be cooking them in my kitchen. I don’t need to learn the French terms for my macaroni’s cheese sauce. I don’t need to know decorative knife cuts for cutting vegetables. I don’t need to know kitchen terms (for example, commis is a prep cook in a professional kitchen).
However, on the other hand, as a cook, some of the terms, even the French terms, may come in handy if I happen upon a recipe that uses them.
Also, as a cook I found the opinionated essays about cooking incredibly interesting. Those essays are the reason I would recommend this book to the average cook. They make me think about cooking in a different way. I plan on rereading them regularly. Ruhlman included essays on stock, sauces, salt, the egg, heat, and tools of the kitchen. I think I’ll revisit them in subsequent posts — they are very informative and, I think, discussion worthy.
One book he recommended reading is On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, by Harold McGee. This is a scientific explanation of food, from eggs to meat and fish to plants and on. The author has degrees in science and literature so provides scientific descriptions the layman can understand. When I read it, I’ll let you know if that is true.
Ruhlman’s last essay is about finesse. This is where I feel I’ve departed from his main point of his book: I’m not a chef and so I’m not hoping for “refinement” in my cooking. As a cook, I hope to provide fundamental home cooking for my family. However, I suspect Ruhlman is correct to some extent, even for my home kitchen: “The concept [of finesse] rest[s] on a conviction that paying attention to a few small details in any given preparation has an enormous impact on the finished dish and is the final gratification for the cook in his or her pursuit of excellence” (p. 46).
While I’m not looking for approval of my food as a restaurant chef or even as an amateur chef in any sense of the term “chef” and I’m not vainly pursuing excellence (perfectionist though I am), I think a reward to my efforts at cooking will be a gratifying and edible supper every night with my family, recognizing that there is always room for improvement.
I recommend Ruhlman’s book to the family cook only half-heartedly. It’s great to get you thinking about food, but only with a few tablespoons of salt.
I have never liked vegetables. I don’t know why. Maybe I relied too much on bagged iceberg lettuce and ranch dressing in my college days and I got tired of it. I like fruit, however, and always enjoy fresh fruit. I have a sweet tooth, and the natural sweetness of fruit is my favorite.
My husband, on the other hand, prefers vegetables. If I set dinner on the table and I have forgotten the vegetable (which happens more often than I should admit), my husband will ask “Where are the vegetables?” and he’ll prepare something.
I could go a long time and not eat green.
But last night, the meal I was making just wouldn’t work. When my husband got home, the kitchen was still dinnerless. (He got home after eight so it’s kind of sad I hadn’t worked something out by then. I was starved.) He said, “Why don’t we just eat these greens?” I had a bag of rocket (known in the USA as arugula) in the fridge. Surprisingly, none of it was wilted (they usually don’t have very good greens here). I consented. But when my husband put the greens on our two plates, there were two huge piles. I tasted some. It wasn’t very good. (And then I had rocket breath — ha ha.)
“I can’t eat that much!” I protested. There’s nothing like a salad for someone who doesn’t like vegetables to begin with.
My husband wasn’t convinced. He pulled things out the fridge for our salads.
“Cut up the leftover steaks,” he began.
I cut up the steak and added it to the salad. Then, at his suggestion, I added olives, sun-dried tomatoes, and shaved Parmesan cheese.
In the meantime, he sliced some red onions, cooked them in balsamic vinegar, and piled them on our salads. He added mustard and olive oil to the remaining balsamic, whisked it into an emulsified sauce, and heated it with some black currant jam. (He’s so good!) He poured that over the salads.
He says that the dressing was too sweet, too much. I don’t know what to say, other than I ate every last piece of green on my plate: it was delicious!
I admit: I left some of the olives. I’ve never like olives. I ate most of them because I’ve been inspired by some food bloggers at The Great Big Vegetable Challenge in London. Here’s their story: Freddie, age seven, did not like vegetables. To cure him of his vegetable-phobia, his family is eating their way through an alphabet of vegetables, getting recipes from around the world and rating each vegetable recipe 1 to 10 (10 is best) on their blog. I think that if Freddie doesn’t like a vegetable in the end, he doesn’t have to eat it, but here’s the catch: he has to try it prepared in at least two different ways. Sometimes it’s the recipe that isn’t good. It seems to me that he’s always rating things from 6 to 10. That’s inspiring.
I can see how different preparations can make a difference: I don’t think I would have liked our rocket salad last night if I’d tried to eat it with Italian dressing and tomatoes, which is what I would have done. I would have eaten a few forkfuls before being disgusted and bored with the greens and going for desert. But the combination of the black currant balsamic dressing, the steak, and the other “goodies” made it very tasty. I was too full to eat ice cream.
I’m going to take the Great Big Vegetable Challenge in my approach to food: if I don’t like a food, that’s OK, but I have to try it a few different ways before I claim I don’t like it.
I’ve eaten mushrooms a number of ways (both raw and cooked), and I still don’t like them. Find me a “good” mushroom or a good mushroom recipe and I’ll try again.
So far, olives are OK, but not my favorite. My husband says we need to find “good” olives and then maybe I’ll like them more. I love a good olive oil — I’d even eat it by the spoonful — so if I could find an olive that tastes that fruity, maybe I could say I love them too.
On the average night, I simply prepare frozen vegetables for dinner. My default vegetable is broccoli: salt, pepper, butter, broccoli … mmm. My husband will always default to peas: “They are like little explosions of taste in your mouth!”
Note that I don’t consider potatoes a vegetable: I consider them a starch. (We have potatoes in some form every night.)
What’s your favorite vegetable?
If you despise bugs, you may not want to read this post.
On the other hand, if you want motivation for always wiping down the counters, cleaning the dishes, and otherwise cleaning the kitchen on a regular basis, this may be the post for you.
I think I keep a pretty tidy kitchen. I wipe down the counters thoroughly at least once a day. I regularly unload the dishwasher and load it again to keep the sink empty. I try to keep it clean.
The other morning, we put our dirty breakfast dishes in the sink — the dishwasher had clean dishes in it. I went back two hours later (when Paul was happier) to empty the dishwasher, load it, and make brownies.
Ants were crawling into the sink, around the sink, on the counters, and under the kitchen counter.
I didn’t scream. But I do think my heart literally skipped a few beats. I thought I’d fall over. “Oh, my! Oh, my!” was all I could say. No one except Paul was there to hear me.
I killed the ants with ant poison.
In case you wanted to know, it took almost 5 hours (over the course of that morning, that afternoon, and the next morning) to wash all the silverware and utensils in the drawers, wash all the pots in the one cabinet, and wipe down the entire pantry (even though the ants hadn’t made it that far).
I’m beginning to suspect that there is a nest under our house — last month they came in near the front door and the month before that they came in through the bathroom.
The good side of this horrendous problem is that now I am very motivated to wipe the kitchen table and counters immediately upon finishing eating and immediately after I get them dirty. I haven’t left dishes in the sink. I now have a clean pantry.
So there are some bonuses. But I’d rather the ants hadn’t invaded.
No, this is not my wedding anniversary: this is my blogging anniversary.
In the past year, a lot has happened. My husband and I moved to Australia. I had a baby. I went from working full-time to being a mom full-time. I learned to cook. I had abdominal surgery.
I guess that doesn’t sound like a lot, but I feel like I’ve learned a lot this year.
In the past year, I’ve written more than 80 posts. Here are some of the things I experienced and learned (and wrote about):
For good measure, here are my favorite recipe and my favorite photographs.
In looking back over these posts, I realize that not many of them have anything to do with being in Australia. I could have learned these lessons anywhere. I guess that’s the point of life: we learn what we need to learn, wherever we are.
As a stay-at-home mom, I know that I need an outlet where I can develop my creativity and my own thoughts. That’s why I like my page: it is mine.
Notice that I call it “Rebecca’s Webpage.” It is not our family page. (I don’t think my husband even reads it; if he does, it’s a month after the fact.) At the same time, I will write about my life, and of course my family is a huge part of that.
This page is my personal forum and journal, online. And I love having a place to write. When I think about this blog, I feel satisfied. And I think that’s the reason I write it.
Just a note for anyone teaching twelve-year-olds about the three kingdoms of glory using the chart from the lesson manual: outer darkness is on the chart. Make sure you prepare yourself to steer the conversation away from outer darkness for the entire class.
For some reason, the twelve-year-olds in my class were quite interested in outer darkness: who will be sent to outer darkness, what are their chances of getting sent to outer darkness, and what happens in outer darkness.
I tried to explain to them that we don’t know a lot about outer darkness for a reason: we’re supposed to aim for the Celestial Kingdom, not outer darkness.
As for the Celestial Kingdom, we read the scripture that explains how a temple sealing is required for the highest glory of the Celestial Kingdom. My class was quite disgusted by that:
“I have to get married? I’m never getting married!” said one girl.
Another turned to me. “Can I ask you a personal question?”
“Maybe.”
“Did you always want to get married?” she asked.
I can honestly say I have always wanted to get married. Was I unusual? I didn’t realize twelve-year-olds (from active, non-divorced families) are so turned off by marriage.
At any rate, I think I did a pretty good job of steering them away from outer darkness and back to the Celestial Kingdom (isn’t that the point?), and we had a good discussion of what we need to do to make it to the Celestial Kingdom:
I just wasn’t prepared to visit outer darkness yesterday.
Lesson 8 of 45
I’ve been asked to give a presentation at Relief Society’s Home, Family, and Personal Enrichment night next week about how I love reading and literature. I plan on focusing on how reading enriches our families and our personal lives. I wanted to focus on how it enriches our home as well, but I don’t have any ideas. I’d love to hear your ideas about any part of this.
How does reading enrich your home, family, and/or personal life?
Paul’s pacifiers disappear.
I left Paul in his crib, happily playing, and went downstairs. By the time I came back 20 minutes later, the pacifier was gone. I could not find it anywhere—not in the crib sheets, not under the crib, and not under the dresser, bookcase, or chair. Where do these things disappear to? Is there some world full of lost pacifiers?
I imagine the pacifiers are joined with all the socks we lose as we do laundry.