Sweet Potators

A BIG part of my heart!  And actually a BIG trip! And like someone else said on fb: "London is about to see more sunshine than they ever have!" A truer statement was never spoken.

Decided to post a cooking pic.... Not that I took the time to REALLY make these little pita trees beautiful...I only sprinkled on the red peppers... didn't place them in carefully chosen spots.... because people (and mostly men) would be looking at them for 2 seconds, deciding if they were stomach-worthy, then popping them in their mouths... but still thought they were kind of fun and festive! Anyway... I changed the recipe a bit... as I can't stomach guacamole and am not a huge hummus fan.  So, I went to my trusty spinach dip recipe and since the trees needed to have a good green hue, I pulverized it all... and made a few adjustments.   And didn't go the light-on-fat version, either.... this is the holiday season, after all! Pita Christmas Tree Appetizers 1 packet Knorr vegetable recipe mix 1 cube cream cheese 1 1/2 c. mayo 1 - 10 oz. box frozen, chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry (really ring that sucker out!) 1/2 c. chopped, fresh basil ...

My cause for reflection lately. What I expect of myself, what others expect of me, what I expect of others. What's really fair from all three? I'm still pondering... And maybe a bit too much on the emotional side. I wonder things like: Who am I letting down? How much should be expected from me? Do I continue to expect the best from others even when I've been let down? Is there any way a balance can be reached... not becoming a total pessimist, but not remaining the eternal optimist that is disappointed more often than I'd care to be? Do I have the right to expect anything from anyone... and who? And maybe most importantly... do I have too high or too low expectations of myself?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmF2rsDHOZc Do you remember me I sat upon your knee I wrote to you with childhood fantasies Well I'm all grown-up now And still need help somehow I'm not a child But my heart still can dream So here's my lifelong wish My grown-up Christmas list Not for myself But for a world in need No more lives torn apart That wars would never start And time would heal all hearts Everyone would have a friend And right would always win And love would never end This is my grown-up Christmas list As children we believed The grandest sight to see Was something lovely Wrapped beneath our tree Well heaven surely knows That packages and bows Can never heal a hurting human soul What is this illusion called The innocence of youth Maybe only in our blind belief Can we ever find the truth

And today she passed her cosmetology finals and now has her license... Where did all the time go? She continues to amaze me.... EVERY day. She is the most hard working person for her age I have ever known. She just doesn't quit. And she's good at so many things. To name a few:

Cody, Wyo. Devils Tower The Badlands Mt. Rushmore Glacier National Park Cardston Calgary Banff

A date that will be forever written on my heart. On this day, 19 years ago, a truly pure and beautiful spirit made her earthly appearance into my life... into this world. Little did I know just how great an honor it would be to have her in my life, let alone be her mother. This morning as she was playing with our cat Quincy on my bed, I realized JUST how unspotted she has remained from this world.  Whereas, most of us have been at least a bit affected by human circumstances.... scathed by our own choosing or even letting what others may have brought upon us drag us down.... she has NOT. I thought of her life thus far.  It's not as though nothing terrible has ever happened to her.... there have been things... she has chosen to rise above them though.  Always. Her motto.... "Find joy in the journey..." And she has..... EVERY day. She is the most courageous spirit I know. So, as she stood there, I thought of how new and pure and innocent and strong and loving...

Ally's ever always creative table settings^^ Corn soup... THEE bestest!

'Thanksforgiving' is the title to my Thanksgiving Pinterest board.... And now looking at it, I just saw it in a whole new way.... thanks + forgiving... instead of, or in addition to thanks + for + giving Interesting.... wouldn't it be awesome if we all could just forgive others of their shortcomings and be grateful for them as they are and accept them at face value instead.... the way we hope they look at us? Today I think of so many things.... What comes to mind: St. George - spent many Thanksgivings there while growing up and always spent time horseback riding over that weekend 4-day school vacation Dang!  In the middle of making this list I just remembered I forgot to make the Corn Soup... ugh... The 'Turkey Bowl' LeSueur Pumpkin Crunch Torte... I made a half this year which is baking (hopefully... something's up with my oven) as I type.... and man oh man, it sure smells good! My dad whipping the potatoes into oblivion Old family China dishes ...

I decided to start asking people to contribute anything they might want to to my blog (actually more that *I* want to hear their thoughts.... get a glimpse into their lives... lives that have blessed mine greatly!).  Anything they want to say..... random thoughts.... maybe about a book they've been reading, a film they saw, a quote they read, music they listened to, something they're grateful for, a lesson learned.... ANYTHING. I'm excited! And so, it begins.... ~~~~~~~~~~ How special is Man? Consider the following facts. The earth is about 4.54 billion years old. Life first appeared on earth about 2 billion years ago.  So, for more than half the time the earth’s been around, not even an amoeba could be found swimming in a sludge pond. The most famous of the dinosaurs, the T. Rex lived for 2 million years, but died out about 65 million years ago. Anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens, aka wise man) appeared about 12,000 years ago. 12,000 ...

“How well I remember reading C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity many years ago. It seemed that here was someone who knew the essentials of the Christian faith and expressed them clearly, forcibly and with an acute insight in to Christian Revelation. I also remember enjoying very much The Screwtape Letters and thinking how clever C. S. Lewis was in anticipating how the devil works in our everyday lives and, of course, the Narnia books were and are hugely enjoyable and bring us literally into another kind of world. C. S. Lewis influenced me in the sense that here was a non-Catholic Christian expressing Christian faith in a way that was quite in accord with Roman Catholic teaching and with which I can concur completely. It opened up for me a sense of an ecumenical path and brought me to realise many years ago how much we as Roman Catholics had in common with the Anglican Communion and made me resolve to further the communion between us in every way open to me.” —Cormac Cardinal Murphy-O’C...

Seriously. Between all the highlighting I can't get rid of and the many posts I've been finding on my index page that reverted to draft over the last few years (53 to be exact)... many of my recent posts are those. #firstworldproblems ^^First and last time I EVER use a hashtag or say 'first world problems'.

"Each of you will have the chance to make your own discovery in the years to come. And I say “chance” because you won’t have to take it. There’s no community service requirement in the real world; no one forcing you to care. You can take your diploma, walk off this stage, and chase only after the big house and the nice suits and all the other things that our money culture says you should buy. You can choose to narrow your concerns and live your life in a way that tries to keep your story separate from America’s.But I hope you don’t. Not because you have an obligation to those who are less fortunate, though you do have that obligation. Not because you have a debt to all those who helped you get here, though you do have that debt.It’s because you have an obligation to yourself.  Because our individual salvation depends on collective salvation.  Because thinking only about yourself, fulfilling your immediate wants and needs, betrays a poverty of ambition. Because it’s only when y...

Love this!!  Read it months ago and was so impressed at how ultra-human it was… the depths there are to people.  Just goes to show you never know what someone might be dealing with… how many people really suffer in silence. Confessions of a Mormon Bishop by  RUSS HILL  on  MARCH 19, 2013 I pulled into my driveway at 12:30 this morning. I sat in the car in front of our dark house for a few minutes.  Everyone inside was asleep.  The whole neighborhood was still.  And yet my mind was racing.  So many questions.  So many emotions.  Sadness.  Hope.  Inadequacy. Welcome to the life of a Mormon bishop. Like pastors, priests, and clergy in other religions, those of us asked to serve as a bishop in  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints  spend hours behind closed doors meeting with people who allow us into the darkest corners of their lives. They come to us for various reasons.  Beca...

"Decide to be happy Render others happy Proclaim your joy Love passionately your miraculous life Do not listen to promises Do not wait for a better world Be grateful for every moment of life Switch on and keep on the positive  buttons in yourself, those marked  optimism,  serenity,  confidence  positive thinking  love Pray and thank God every day Meditate  Smile  Laugh  Whistle  Sing  Dance Look with fascination at everything Fill your lungs and heart with liberty Be yourself fully and immensely Act like a king unto Death Feel God in your body, mind, heart, and soul And be convinced of  eternal life and resurrection." and.... “Use every letter you write, every conversation you have, every meeting you attend, to express your fundamental beliefs and dreams. Affirm to others the vision of the world you want. You are a free, immensely powerful source of life and goodn...

What It Feels Like to Be on Welfare Not too long ago, I woke up, grabbed my iPhone and popped onto Facebook to see what I had missed since falling asleep. What can I say other than I play on social media like it's my job. Normally my news feed is full of baby photos, food, and travel shots and the occasional questionable joke. On this particular morning, I was faced with a photo of a food stamp with a note to "those on welfare" who "don't work" and "milk the system." The post was calling for "accountability." I just shook my head in disappointment. While most political comments don't hit me very hard (we all have a right to our opinion), I have a difficult time with those that group any set of people into a section and blame and berate them. It's especially disturbing when those I know make these kinds of statements and then look me in the eye and say it to me as though I am above some kind of fray. Quite frankly, it makes ...

(Ugh!  I hate when my posts get highlighted and I can't edit it out...  :-||| ) Bullet points to keep me on task. Planted a teensy little pine tree when we first moved in. Grew to be HUGE. Took up quite a bit of space and was hard to mow under. Someone came up with the grand idea to prune back the branches. BIG time no no since branches don't grow back on pines. I said to take branches off the bottom of the tree to make it easier to mow around. That idea went in one ear and out the other. Tree branches were pruned back on one side secretly. I noticed immediately. I've babied that tree and have it's first ever produced pinecone. OF COURSE it wouldn't go w/o notice by me!! I was VERY upset. My tree looked pitiful. First time ever I said "you owe me buddy and the only thing that will make it better is a big screen TV". Said pruner lucked out because he won an EVEN bigger TV than I'd asked for two weeks later at a convention. Looks ...

**This is one of those posts that should have been posted in June... but for some reason reverted to draft instead.  I just happened to catch it while I was looking at my index of posts.  Ugh. Anyway... back to "sheer unabashed delight!" Is EXACTLY how I'd describe the last week of my life.... It began with The Lovely Barbara coming for a stay.  This always means lots of take-out from fun restaurants and Downton Abbey. While she was here we also spent a day in McCall.... GREAT time!  This always includes walks/hikes by the lake, wandering in and out of small shops, a caramel apple, a drive through Ponderosa State Park, eating at one of the towns original eateries (some time I'll write about last October when she and I ate dinner at The Brewery.... :-||| )... and this trip we decided to take a quick side jaunt to a historic little town called Roseberry... TOTALLY cool!  Someday soon I'm going back after I've done my homework and learned more about the h...

Talked with my mom over a drive and lunch at the Dry Creek Mercantile up in Hidden Springs yesterday and it's a go!  We're going to Concord... but not for a year or two!  It might be a ways off, but still... YAY! And while I'm on the subject of The Lovely Barbara, I thought I'd post something my sister in law Marci sent out to all her friends and family yesterday... "Hello my fab fam!! Highlight of the week---It was the incredible Barbara's Birthday last Saturday. I found this quote, she had given me years ago. I think we will all agree that THIS is why our sweet Barbara is so incredibly BEAUTY-FULL:) “For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.”-Audrey Hepburn LOVE everything about Barbara LeSueur. She has been an incredible influence on me and my family. Must be why I think Kenzie is BEAUTY-FULL too!"

If I could have an 'autumn home'... much the same as a summer home or winter home, but an autumn home... it'd be in Concord, Mass.  I don't think I've ever been so enchanted by a place. From.... ... the cobble-stone, tree-lined streets with white picket fences and delightful salt box houses... to the town square with St. Bernard's Catholic Church and it's crickety old cemetery to the east and the beautiful, white First Parish Unitarian Church to the south.  There's Main street with its charming little shops filled with antiques and books and woolen sweaters and candied apples, breads and pastries and warm soups and ciders. To the... ...outskirts of town and all of it's amazing history.  The Revolutionary War began in Concord at the Old North Bridge.  But then there are all the authors that lived there and their remaining homes and home sites... Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne and his Old Manse, Louisa May Alcott and Orchard House...

And for some reason, it always makes me think of Norman Rockwell. Maybe it's because my mom had a big book of several of his paintings when I was growing up... and many had to do with the military, war and patriotism... and as a young child they had quite an impact on me. Google homepage today...

I love our neighborhood church building.... but the one above just has that old -world look about it... the rock walls, the steep roof, ivy, tall windows.  Exactly the place I picture on a Christmas Eve night with lots of candles burning and the choir singing Handel's 'Messiah'.  Lovely.

I mean, seriously.... my laundry room is a working room... a sort of storage room.... a room with a sink stained with paint from all my projects.... a room where I glue a lot of stuff.... where I scrub a lot of stuff.  It has a big sign in it that tells you to drop your pants so I can wash 'em.  I'm never going to meditate in there.  I'm never going to burn incense and hum in there.  And honestly, I really don't think I want to.

Why do ghosts hate to go to prom? They have no body to dance with.

Just starting her new book... I wanted to post though, something she said several months ago when she was speaking to a group on 'human trafficking' at John Hopkins University... Smart, who grew up in a Mormon family, said that her abstinence-only education (a teacher compared women who had sex before marriage to chewing gum) made her rape at the hands of her abductor more demoralizing. “I thought, “Oh my gosh, I’m that chewed up piece of gum, nobody re-chews a piece of gum. You throw it away.’ And that’s how easy it is to feel like you no longer have worth, you no longer have value. Why would it even be worth screaming out? Why would it even make a difference if you are rescued? Your life still has no value.” We hadn't pegged Smart for a budding feminist critic of purity culture, but if she keeps it up, she should probably find somewhere to have campaign donations sent.

And Ally named her Quincy.   And if you can tell where this pic is taken, you can see she's claimed OUR bed as HER territory! We heart her!

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