Sunday, February 24, 2008

Great teaching moment

You might try this if you are teaching the youth in particular. I am not sure it would be any different with adults.

The Allure of “Right Now”By Joseph Walker, LDS Living Magazine, Jan/Feb Issue

Another year has come and gone, and most of us have undoubtedly made New Year’s resolutions. But staying focused on our ultimate, long-term goals can be difficult when the instant gratification of “Right Now” is so alluring.To illustrate this point, I tried an experiment with the group of ten-year-olds I was teaching at church.
“You have a choice,” I announced as I held up a bowl of M&M’s. “You can either have a handful of M&M’s right now, or you can each have an entire bag of M&M’s tomorrow.”
“Why don’t we do it the other way around?” Brady suggested. “Give us a bag of M&M’s now or a handful tomorrow!”
The rest of the class loved Brady’s idea. But I didn’t.
“Nope,” I said. “A handful now or the bag tomorrow. That’s the way it’s going to be.”
“How about just a few now and the rest later?” Megan asked.
“Sorry,” I said. “No compromise. You have to make a choice.”
“What if some of us want our M&M’s now, and some of us want to wait?” Adam asked.
“Good idea,” I said. “But no. Whatever you’re going to do, you’re going to do as a group. You guys figure it out. I’m going to get a drink.”
With that I stepped into the hall and wandered down to the drinking fountain, making sure to pause and stretch and meander. I wanted to give them plenty of time to hash this out. We were, after all, talking about chocolate here. If there’s one thing twenty-nine years of marriage has taught me it’s that you have to be very careful about decisions involving chocolate—even if it’s the kind that melts in your mouth, not in your hands.
When I finally poked my head back into the room the decision had been made. The bowl of M&M’s was empty, and there were chocolate-induced smiles all around.

Fun callings in the church some say are hard to come by, but I am really enjoying mine as Cannery Specialist. I had a class in my home on dehydrated foods, some consider colored turds in a can. I had two other sisters in the ward help. We had at least 15 samples of things to make with dried carrots, apple slices, potato pearls and potato flakes. Here is a favorite
Cheesy Potato Corn Cakes
2 Cups potato flakes
11 oz. Mexicorn - Green Giant
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 Tbsp Italian bread crumbs
1 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1 tsp dried basil leaves
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/3 tsp pepper
2 C milk
1 egg, beaten
1/4 C butter
Grated Parmesan cheese
In large bowl, combine the flakes, corn, cheese, bread crumbs, salt, basil, garlic powder and pepper. Mix well. Add milk and eggs, mix well. Let stand 2-3 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Melt 1-2 Tbsp of butter in nonstick skillet over medium heat. Drop potato mixture by 1/4 cupfuls into skillet. Carefully press each to form 3 " round. cook 6-8 minutes or until golden brown, turning once. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. If you are wanting more recipes let me know. HA HA.

Valentine's Day

Arriving at our home around 8 pm on Feb 14th, I had a Valentine's Dinner prepared for them. That is one day of the year I am not willing to go out for dinner.

Retirement home



Looking for our retirement home, and decided we would always have to have strong legs, and warm blood to live here. This is the Montezuma Castle National Monument and not for sale in Camp Verde, Arizona. A farming community (Sinagua farmers) of perhaps 200 people prospered there three centuries ago. The sound of a rushing river could be heard. It was a beautiful place. Oh we have so much! Our friends love to hit National Parks and Monmuments to get their pastports stamped. I have one also, but it is always at home when I need mine.

Friends visiting from Utah

Having left the storms of Utah, Anita and Gary Pulham, Judi and Ron Johnson thought they were going to experience the warmth of Arizona, but to our amazement they felt the cold winter of 60° Feb 14-Feb 18th. The Sun in shame hid its warm rays from us most of the time. We stopped by the Temp Center for the Arts built next to the Tempe Lake.

family wedding pictures


Our latest change upstairs is getting wedding pictures of our sons and their wives. Jim and I are on the far left and my parents in the middle and Jim's parents on the far right. The change is so great from today, I know you would wonder who we are. They all have the glow that only marriage brings.

Friday, February 8, 2008

comments

I have a request. Can someone write a comment. I don't know if you are reading my blog.
Thanks, Mom

2008 primaries

2008
Wow so much is happening. Primaries are in full force, but there was enough excitement in the air that motivated me to join forces with Mitt Romney . I signed up to make calls from home. I signed up quite late but was able to make calls to Minneapolis, Idaho and California with no charges coming back to me. I was sworn at, hung up on, thanked and asked not to call back. They did to me what I have done to others. The boomerang just returned. They say the big four was unique in this race. This is the first time for a woman, a black, a Mormon and an evangelist all wanting to lead this nation to bliss and happiness.

Super Tuesday Results were shocking. McCain, the underdog at one time, now won the majority of the Republican delegates. Romney seeing the writing on the wall felt it best to pull out of the race. It wasn’t his day to shine, but we know his day will come.
Candidates - pledged delegates
McCain 719 Romney 298 Huckabee 198 Paul 14 Uncommitt. 23
The battles are just beginning. It looks like I will have to stand behind McCain and hope that he follows through and becomes the conservative that we as a party want to see from our President. Yadda yadda yadda… God bless america