Visiting Teaching

I wanted to share my testimony today in Relief Society. But I didn't. If I had I would have said this:

"I am grateful for visiting teaching. And I know that Heavenly Father is mindful of me and all of you as well. For a while now I have felt very sad that I have been losing my Portuguese. It's been 18 years since I served my mission in Brazil. So when Camila moved into our ward I was so excited to talk with her. But I let fear get in the way. I wanted to talk with her so badly but there were always people around her talking quite fluently in portuguese and I didn't want to feel dumb so I just didn't talk to her. Then I was called as her Visiting Teacher. Yep, I knew it was inspired. I knew that Heavenly Father was placing this opportunity in my lap. Yet I still put off calling her. Fear again. I was afraid of picking up the phone and talking in Portuguese and she wouldn't understand me and I would feel like i was dishonoring that amazing country that I love so much. But finally I spoke with her at church and made an appointment. The days leading up to my visit with Camila were full of worry and stress over things NOT having to do with visiting teaching. The day came and I went to see her. I was excited and nervous. At first I was only understanding about 50% of what she was saying. But by the time I left an hour and a half later I can say I was understanding 90%. We had so much fun talking about all sorts of things. When I left I felt this aura around me that felt so peaceful. The things I had been worrying about were gone. I came to realize that Camila and I need each other. I know that my Heavenly Father loves me and I know that he answers our prayers."

Fall

I love fall. But I didn't always love it. As a kid it meant the end of warm summer days where I could run around barefoot and have all day play dates with Tonya. It also meant that our chores would now start to include "bringing in wood" which was no easy task in our household.

But somewhere along the way my feelings changed. Perhaps it was realizing that sweaters felt good to wear or that fall meant the holidays were coming. Shortly after Chris and I were married we were living in Springville. During my daily drive into Provo I looked to the east at the mountains and gasped. When did they get so red? What was that stuff popping up all over the mountains? It looked like the mountain had chicken pox. I was fascinated with it after that. I would check the progression of the 'chicken pox' daily and found it to be beautiful. When we left Utah to move to Oregon I remember saying to Chris that I would miss the falls in Utah.

Fast forward about a year later and we are living in Albany, Oregon. It's fall again and I'm driving again too. This time not to my school but to Makenzie's. She has recently started pre-school and I'm on my way to drop her off. I turn the street and gasp. When did Oregon get so beautiful in the fall? I had never noticed the trees turning color before. The street I was driving down was amazing with color: green, gold, yellow, orange, red and purple. I stopped the car and Makenzie and I got out to pick some leaves up off the ground. While bending over to pick up some stray leaves I wondered if we just didn't have trees like this in Coos Bay or if I had just never noticed them while growing up.

Those two experiences cemented in me my love for fall. My children don't ever have to drag me to the pumpkin patch. I go willingly.

What I love about fall:
Halloween (my favorite holiday)
Caramel apples
Early morning soccer games
Changing leaves
Holiday planning
trick or treating
wearing warm socks
The apple farm
The pumpkin patch
Football games
Soups, stews and chowders
Garden harvest
Roasting marshmallows in our wood stove
Wearing my favorite sweatshirt
Fresh pressed apple cider
Foggy breath from Jersey cows

They grow up

It starts. My little girl, or my oldest girl in this case is growing up. Yeah, I know she is 14 and I should have realized it a long time ago but just today it hit me big time. Today I went to pick her up from school at our usual time and place. She wasn't there. For some reason I didn't panic like i usually would in this case. I waited for fifteen minutes and when all the buses had left I decided to go home and check my cell phone to see if she had called. She had.

I call her.

Mom: Makenzie, where are you?

Makenzie: I'm at the anime club.

Mom: Where is that?

Makenzie: At the high school.

Mom: (silence. what? what is she doing at a high school club?) Okay. Who are you with?

Makenzi: Jessie.

Mom: Okay. How much longer will it be?

Makenzie: About 30 minutes.

Mom: Okay, call me when you are done and I'll pick you up in front of the school.

Now, this may not seem like an odd conversation to many of you but MY DAUGHTER IS NOT IN HIGH SCHOOL. She is in 8th grade. Two of her closest friends are in 9th grade and all three of them have birthdays a few weeks apart. Makenzie being the last birthday in mid august. We waited to put Makenzie in kindergarten so her other two friends who are the same age as her are a grade ahead of her.

I guess I'm okay with her going to a high school club. And she is with a good friend. But when did she cross that line into "I'll just make my own decision of what is okay and then call mom and tell her what I've done?" Remember when you did the same thing to your own parents? The casual call home, "Hi mom, i stayed after school to work on a research paper in the library." Translation: "Hi mom, i stayed after school so I could spend more time with my boyfriend."

Sure sometimes it was legit. But many times it was not.

My little girl with the chubby cheeks is growing up. The time I have with her will go by so fast. I don't want it to go by so fast.

In a place called Shrewsbury

In a place called Shrewsbury......

I get called m'lady all day....and I like it.

I get to have a henna tattoo that will lead to strange looks by people at church the next day.....and I kind of like that too.

I eat the same thing every year, the Ploughman's platter which has little slices of sourdough bread, salami, different types of cheese, grapes, strawberries and oranges.

I discovered a new drink this year, sweet water, water with honey and spices. I loved it.

You are transported back in time when there were no cell phones or computers to distract your children. They are entertained by singers, jugglers, actors, jousting, playing darts and looking at the wares of their kinsfolk.

People are loving and kind. There are so many people offering things for free. Wooden wands for children, a refill of icewater for your water bottle, plums, apples, pears to munch on.

Although I do enjoy my modern conveniences like flush toilets and hand sanitizer I also love dressing in period clothing and just for a day feeling like I am walking the dusty streets of a different time.

You can hear the revelers shouting "hazzah" for their favorite competitor. And you can see a goat pulling a cart laden with fruit. And a young boy and girl herding that goat in the right direction. You can smell the sweet aromatic lavender everywhere you go. Inhaling deeply in hopes that it will just stay in your lungs for a moment longer. You can touch soft wool as it comes straight from the spinning wheel or touch the smooth leather of a pouch or belt. And you can taste the salty rich haggis, an authentic scottish dish from the renaiisance period made with lamb, barley and potatoes.

Good day to you Shrewsbury, we look forward to visiting again next year.

note: by hovering your mouse over the pictures you should be able to read the captions for the pictures.

How to peel an egg

Don't you just hate it when you can't peel the eggshell of a hard boiled egg?

It sticks and sticks and you end up taking half the egg with it? And other times that shell slides off so cleanly you check to see if someone put a pat of batter between the shell and the egg?

No longer will you have that problem. Check this video from utube out. I have to thank my friend at Pearls and Chocolate for posting this. Check out her blog. She always has great things to share.

The votes are in

The voting has finished and Dress B it is by 72%. I didn't tell any of you because I didn't want to sway the voting but Chris' mom, Donna, wore this dress to a renaissance faire in California 33 years ago. And I'm not positive but I believe she wore this dress for her wedding too. But that may have been another one she gave to Makenzie. Anyway, it's a special dress and Makenzie is very excited to be wearing it tomorrow.

My dad and Ladda came to visit for a couple of days. They leave for Thailand on the 22nd of this month and will be gone for 6 months this time. If it was 5 months I'd go with them. But I just can't be gone for 6, it's too long.

That was supposed to be humoruous. When I read back through it I thought to myself, "what if someone thinks you are serious?" haha. I crack myself up sometimes.

I have accomplished a lot in the realm of food preservation in the short two days they have been here. We pruned down our pumpkin patch. Dad showed me how to cut it down so that the energy goes to the biggest pumpkins. We got rid of all the tiny suckers that weren't doing much but suck the life out of the bigger ones. Grow, grow, you are free to get bigger now pumpkins, much, much bigger.

Then the three of us (dad, ladda and I) picked all the green beans. I had so many out there that i haven't had time to pick. I think it drove Ladda nuts to see good food going to waste so like the good woman she is she got a bowl and started picking. Well then I felt guilty because she was out there doing it alone and so I went and helped too. Then she said to me, "tell daddy to come outside." So he did. You have no choice but to listen to Ladda. After they were all picked they got snapped and then canned. But I need to dwell a minute on the word snapped. Does anyone else out there love that sound of beans being snapped? What memories that brings. I remember countless hours, and yes, i'm not kidding when I say hours of sitting and snapping beans when I wanted to be swinging on cedar branches or walking to my friend Tonya's house. child labor I tell you. That's what that was. Hmm....what are my kids doing tomorrow after school?

Those beans turned into 5 quarts and a 2 pints worth of home grown green beans.

Then this morning my dad walks in with an apple he is eating. I quizzicaly ask him if that is perhaps from the apple tree in the back? He confirms that yes, indeed it is. "don't they have worms?"

"No."

"Huh."

About 15 minutes later this is what we had:





And we then did this:






And turned it into this:



8 Quarts of applesauce!


And my girls said with warm applesauce in their spoons, "can we have some tomorrow in our lunch?"

Ah...of course you can.

Day 3 of no caffeine

I feel much better today. Yesterday I ended up taking a 1 1/2 hour nap right when my kids were getting home. I knew it wasn't a good time and that I'd be sorry when I got up but I just couldn't function with my aching head. I felt a teensy bit better when I woke up but then that all went out the window as I saw my kids playing on the computer without their chores getting done or homework. That is a big no no in our house and I was pretty irritated with them.

But I'm feeling better today. Still tired but that could also be because I have to get up so early. I find myself yawning all the time. Could this still be the effects of no caffeine? My dad and step mom got here today and they took me to brunch. The diet pepsi ladda was drinking looked so good but I abstained. Go me!

I also have to let all of you wonderful friends out there know that I really honestly and truly dont think I could have done this without you guys. I kept thinking to myself yesterday "what's the big deal?" And I really wanted a diet pepsi fountain drink at Thriftway yesterday. But I knew if I did I'd have to report that on my blog. Then I was mad at myself for putting this on my blog anyway. If I didn't put it there then nobody would know and I could have had that wonderful bubbly beverage yesterday. And my headache would have gone away! But I pushed through and I dont have a headache today. I'm so glad.

So this is the end of my no caffeine posts. I got through it. Now that I dont have a headache anymore I know I won't drink any for awhile. Like I said, it's not like I will NEVER drink another Cherry Coke Zero again in my life. I just want to be able to drink it because I want it not because I HAVE to have it.

Day 2 of no caffeine

I have had a headache all day. It's 3:00 p.m and I still have to run girls to soccer and to cheerleading. I'm not sure If I'm going to make it. The thought of listening to "our team is What? Dynamite! Our team is what? Dynamite! Our team is D-d-d-d-d- BOOM Dynamite! just might put me over the edge.

But other than that I'm doing great!

My addiction

Hello, my name is Darilyn and I'm an addict.

Don't worry, i'm not into hardcore drugs or anything like that. but somewhere along the way this summer I became addicted to these:


You have to know about me that I have never at any point in my life been a big soda drinker. It's always been an occasional thing. I could have a case of diet pepsi in my fridge that would last 6 months.

This summer I just started drinking more soda than normal. Why did Safeway have that buy two cases and get three free sale in July? It was such a great deal. How could I resist? Especially with my sister encouraging me. Well, about a week ago I had a huge headache. I noticed that when I had a diet pepsi later that day that it went away. wow, I realized that the headache was related to not having my daily soda fix. So I watched myself over the next week and sure enough, I was exhausted in the morning until I had that first soda. For some reason I've been loving that carbonated drink thing lately.

So today was my first day without ANY caffeine whatsoever. And I've had a huge headache. But Aleve is my friend and is helping me get through this. I'm also really tired. I've felt all day as if I could fall asleep on the spot. But I'm determined to get over this. It doesn't mean I won't ever have another Cherry Coke Zero again (have you tried the stuff? YUMMY!). It just means that I need to wait a while and then go back to my moderation in all things.

So what can this poor girl do to get her bubbly craving and not consume caffeine? I don't want soda of anykind because, honestly, if I can't drink the three sodas above I don't want any. And don't even think of suggesting champagne. Alcohol would be another whole problem to deal with.

Has anyone tried any bubbly waters or juices that are any good?

Help!

Which Dress should Makenzie wear?

Which dress do you think Makenzie should wear to the Renaissance Faire? (Vote at the poll on the sidebar)


Dress A:



Dress B:

I'd like to thank......

Amanda from The Little Things and Sarah from Boys will be Boys for my first award. I've been doing this blog thing for over a year now and have seen these cute awards every now and then. And I'm happy as can be to get my first one.



I know Sarah from church and love to read the stories she writes about her adorable and creative boys. I met Amanda completely through blogging. We've gotten together once and she is just as great in person as she is on her blog.

I am supposed to nominate 7 others for this blogging award so here we go:

Brenda at The Crazy Train
Jodi at Delight in the Everyday
Krista at Dragonfly Meadow
Hailey at Vial Villa
Elizabeth at Bright Lights for the Dimits
Merilee at Merilee's Blog-Bundles Gray
Kelly at According to Kelly

I love all of these blogs and think you all should check them out.

Lucky

On Saturday morning we headed to Seaside not knowing if we were going to spend the night there or not. It wasn't looking very good since all the places I had checked on were full for the holiday weekend. When we got there we checked a few and they were full as well. On a whim we decided to check out one that we had stayed at a few years back and had luck getting a last minute room at. We were lucky again and were able to get a room right on the Promenade with a oceanview and at about half the cost that most people were paying since it was last minute and they had had a cancellation. Woohoo!

One of the first things we did was try and find Zingers Homemade icecream that a friend had told me about. We did find it but it was cash only. Would we be Unlucky? Nope, it cost $7.50 for us to get 3 regular cones. We had exactly that much. What luck. The peanut butter chocolate was really good.

Chris got lucky too. He spun the wheel on the Wheel of Fortune game and got the free spin. That free spin turned into 300 tickets that we could turn in for crappy prizes! Sweet! I love my new crystal dangler.

Our luck continued when I made it past three levels in Ms. PacMan. The best i've ever done.

When we were standing in line at the Tilt A Whirl we ran into some good friends Adrianna and Mercedes Domingues. We talked Mercedes into going on the Tilt A Whirl with Emma and Heidi and I. We screamed so loud that the guy running it gave us some extra good spins. What luck! And I was also lucky because Heidi didn't throw up on me. I was seriously scared that she would. That is why I was screaming.

I had asked the girls to pack one change of clothes since we didn't know if we would be staying in Seaside for the night or not. Apparently Heidi left hers in a pile on her bedroom floor? Emma came to the rescue and said she had brought two extra changes in case she got wet at the beach. What luck that Emma is an overachiever and what luck that Heidi and Emma can wear the same clothes.

When we looked outside Sunday morning there were dark clouds and it was chilly. We went to the beach anyway prepared to spend a few hours. Luck was on our side though and the clouds moved away and let the sun shine warm on us.