Bread

I made bread today. I used my fancy schmancy bread machine I got from my mom (thanks mom). I used it to make the dough (it took 5 hours) and then baked it in the oven. Most of the time my bread machine burns my bread a half hour before it's supposed to be finished. Today though, I only made the dough in the machine, focaccia bread that is. and it turned out SOOOOOO good.

I'm so proud of myself. I made bread. go me.

Stand in Holy Places

This has a whole new meaning for me lately. There's been shootings a couple times in the last 2 weeks in our neighborhood. We think one of our neighbors is involved in last weeks shootings-- by the way the cops were hanging around their house today. Two weeks ago, Andrew pulled out his AR-15 when he heard some gun shots and started cleaning it (I think it's an ar-15... I don't know.. I don't know guns and I don't like them but I do have a great respect for them). When I got home from YW, he told me what he heard and then decided to teach me how to use it, if need be. We hear gun shots at least once a month and we live in a nice little suburb called Tolleson in Phoenix with nice new houses-- you'd never guess it'd be that type of neighborhood until after you move in. I'm glad we didn't buy because it wasn't until after we moved in that we realized we're surrounded by drug users and shootings and loud music that plays until odd hours of the morning from some one's car that keeps Abby up at night some times.


Yet, I still feel the spirit, the love of Christ and am completely content in my house. As President James E. Faust taught in his talk on Standing in Holy Places, he said "to fully enjoy life, all of us must find our own breathing space and peace of mind.How can we do this? There is only one answer. We must rise above the evil that encroaches upon us. We must follow the counsel of the Lord, who said, “It is my will, that all they who call on my name, and worship me according to mine everlasting gospel, should gather together, and stand in holy places.” ...surely another holy place on earth ought to be our homes. .. I can say that our home has been a place where we have sought to honor the spirit of holiness to the Lord. We did not always succeed. Of course not. But we tried."

And I feel the same way. We are seeking to honour the spirit of holiness to the Lord in our house and though we don't always succeed we are trying. And because we are trying I feel comfort and peace and safety in our house. And I'm grateful to my husband who has the priesthood, who was able to bless our home and bring the spirit into it. I'm grateful I can stand in a holy place. :)

Anyway... they're building a police station a block away from us so we're hoping things will calm down now. We've been using a police unit that is not stationed very close to us and it often takes them a while to get to our neighborhood. And I just wanted to share that as I'm watching the police which are parked outside of our house questioning the family kiddy corner to us.

Better get off and go to the store to get some free stuff with couponsense. whohoo. :)

A Change in Season

I'm so glad our weather finally changed. We're below the triple digits-- FINALLY. I enjoyed the warm weather but once the forecast reminded me what cool weather felt like, I missed it immensely. However, then I realized that all we have for Abby is warm weather clothes and a pair of sandles... so it's clothes shopping time. And I hate clothes shopping time because Abby looks good in almost everything I find, which means I have to pick and choose what she REALLY needs. If I had the choice, I would buy her a world of clothes.

Abby is growing like a weed (as my friend Kim says). She's jumping sizes and growing tall and her feet are finally growing (she stayed in the infant size 0-1 for the first 8-10 months of her life). She's really getting things down and I love to watch her figure things out. She folds her arms for prayer and somewhat shuts her eyes. Lately she's started to meekly whisper things during the prayer, as if she's saying it herself. If we could understand her, we'd just let her say the prayer instead of trying to talk over her. She also likes to sit on her little toilet while we sit on our big toilet, much to mom and dad's dismay. We'd prefer toilet time to be on our own... but she's gotta learn some how, I guess. She loves to play the piano and press the power button while we're on our computer. And today, she was dancing with me to he music on the radio while I was trying to pick up.

I took her to nursery last Sunday for the first time. She was very happy and content when I left and every time I peeked through the window to see how she was doing. However, the nursery leader brought her in 10 minutes before church ended saying that she cried the entire time she was in nursery. -- We have 4 nursery classes and over 40 infants in the nursery altogether. If ANY one of them starts to slightly wimper or seem like they MIGHT have a wet/dirty diaper they take straight to their parents. They don't deal with the kids at all... it appears. I can't blame them but a lot of them are learning quick how to get out of nursery. And I can't help but think Abby's going to pick up on it as well. She also doesn't do well with changing class rooms every half hour and not having something to snack on all the time... things we'll have to work on. :)

Andrew will hopefully FINALLY get his loans to come through for school this week so that we can FINALLY start to get our GI Bill from him being deployed twice (one was serving in Iraq). We were supposed to get several hundred dollars a month from the Veteran's Affair office for going to school and being a Veteran (which we rely on, being a "young and still going to school" family) but because of the bureaucracies, school, and people not knowing what to do on both the school's and VA side, we lost well over several thousand dollars that the VA should have paid us. And unfortunately this has happened more than once. The system for the army and the VA is not working and I'm pretty ticked off that they use this as a way to get people to join and then jade people of it. It's like working with a brick wall! BUT we've hopefully surpassed it and can get our money, which I'm excited about!!!

I'm also excited that he's finishing up his semester of online calculus. This week he has a final and then he's FINALLY done. It's been a hard class, especially doing it online and with a bad teacher. It's taken up a lot of his time and required a lot of outside the class room sources. And his work schedules will change. He'll start working the night shift and having classes in the mornings and evenings then sleeping during the day... not my choice. I hate it.

I'm in our church's youth program called Young Women, as a secretary. I can't wait for the presidency to change. Our president is moving soon and though I'm sad to see her go, things needed a change (it'll be nice to follow the church's guidelines and hand book again. And go back to the way things are supposed to be done in the church).

I love my house, my family, my animals and the church. I don't really have friends down here in Arizona. There's a lot of young moms like myself around here but not a lot of friendly, out-going, inviting ones. I'm thinking of going back to school, but I haven't found anything that interests me. I'm almost done with my Asian Studies degree but it just makes me homesick. And I'm slowly losing my mandarin speaking skills which is even more depressing. With paying veterinarian bills, I'm wishing I had gone for that career like I originally wanted. :)

Anyway, Halloween is upon us and I hope you all have a good trick or treat. I'm excited for the leaves to start changing colours soon and maybe fall. I've got my pumpkin and cinnamon spice smells out and my Halloween decorations-- though as always, I wish I had more. I love decorating my house to the holidays. BRING ON THE FALL...

I think I'm going off to make pull-a-part bread (aka monkey bread) and pumpkin roll... umm... sounds good.

I know the church the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true, I love it-- I love how it works and the peace and happiness it brings in our lives. As I read the scriptures and pray daily I learn more about Christ and gain a better knowledge of Him and his eternal plan for us. It helps me get through my days, to have an eternal perspective on life and try and follow His example.

Best be off. Drop me a line when you read this. I love to find out who's reading it and hearing all about what's going in your lives. Hope all is well...

Yes to Prop 102

Romano's Macaroni Grill

I also have coupons for Ramano's Macaroni Grill Restaurant Favourites Dinner Kit. Stay In and Go All Out. Now you can make restaurant-style food at home in about 20 minutes — just add chicken!
There are four delicious flavors inspired by the chefs at Romano’s Macaroni Grill®. We tried it the night we got it and Andrew and I LOVED it. Andrew wasn't so much a fan of the restaurant last time he went, but this dinner kit was really really good. It was way better than hamburger helper and we honestly enjoyed it. If it goes on sale or we have a good coupon for it, we'll definitely get it! I have a coupon for $1.25 off when you buy a box. If you want any, let me know and I'll email you a coupon or send it via mail.

Coupons

I've been trying to save money by using a program called Coupon Sense (at couponsense.com). It has been working out very well. We had our pantry stocked up quickly and have been living on it for a quite some time lately as we're trying to get back into the work force from being laid off. You can't beat getting a grocery cart full of stuff for 35 cents. The other day the store wouldn't pay me the money they owed me for shopping there (as I had many coupons and such, it ended up in the negative and they owed ME 20 dollars). ... So I had to go find 20 dollars worth of stuff that I wanted at the grocery store... it being all free. It's awesome!

Lately, I've also been doing a program for general mills. They send me new products in the mail and I try them out and find ways to use them. The company sends me coupons with the products and if I like them, I can let all my friends know. So I have about ten paper coupons of 3 items I've gotten so far, I also have coupons that I can email people, who can then print them off and take them to the store to use.

So far, they've given me this:

New Pillsbury® Flaky Twists with Chocolate Icing conveniently helps moms make mornings even sweeter. The rich chocolate icing, warm flaky texture and aroma create an irresistible pull to the breakfast table. Simply twist, bake, and enjoy fresh-baked goodness straight from the oven. Enjoy those deliciously sweet family moments today!

To make you just...

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray or grease cookie sheet. Separate dough into 8 rounds; unroll into strips. Make a loop in center of strips shown. Crisscross ends of strip twice; pinch ends together to secure. Bake 11 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 2 minutes. Spread with icing.

They run normally (unless there's a sale from the grocer) about 2.99 each. The coupon I have is a dollar off and will expire in march 2009. So if you want them Let me know and I will send some off to you.

I love you mom!

We've been so excited that Abby's really starting to talk. Mainly just babbling on and on and on, but she's started to really sound like words are coming out-- and some words are! I'm almost positive she's making up her own words, though. Last Friday, she was in a really good mood in the evening and Andrew and I were playing with her all night. When it was time for bed time, Andrew decided to take her to bed. He said "good night, I love you mom" and Abby said very clearly, "I love you mom!"

It made my day! She can say I love you mom. She can also say "I want to go ooouutt" and she's constantly saying "Daddy?" and she's ALWAYS always always saying "meow" especially when she sees a cat, she tries to talk to them by saying "meow" and when I draw a circle with pointy ears and a nose with whiskers she automatically says meow too.

She's getting big! And I'm excited! And next Sunday she gets to go to nursery... that I'm not so excited about. Now that Andrew's in Primary, I don't have any one to sit with in Sunday School. I'll be bored to tears with out her.

Smurf

Some of you know but some of you don't... that two weeks ago Abby found some printer ink in a drawer. It was in a little bottle for refilling ink cartridges. She took it out of the drawer while I was trying to kill some flies that came in to the house from the farm that's behind us. While mom was trying to improve her backhand with a fly swatter that looks like a tennis racket, she decided to open the ink bottle and see what it did. She opened the ink, poured it on her hands, rubbed it around like lotion, apparently shook it and spilled it and got it on her hair. It looks like she tried to wipe it off her hair which of course made a few spots of blue in her hair turn into a head of blue hair. The dogs walked through it getting it all over the hall way and the back bedroom. It spilled all over the tile and a bit on the carpet, thanks to Abby and the dogs. I can't get it off our white walls and it's not budging from the grout. Brian, my brother in law, told me to kiss my house deposit good bye... but I still have a few tricks to try before I know the blue is permanent and to give up.

To try and make this whole experience better, I took some printer paper and put her very blue hands on it to make hand prints. These hand prints now serve as a remembrance of the day Abby, the beast, turned into a smurf and ruined the house.