My New Spare Time

Since my last "official" update, many things have happened. (I'm sure much has happened to each of you since Easter time too!) One of the biggest events was my BYU graduation! I finished my classes in July and celebrated every day until my graduation in August.

Now that my bachelor's degree is done, many might wonder what I do with all my time. The answer, of course, is anything I want! I have guilt-free time that can be used on projects of my choosing. Here are some of the things that I have been choosing to do with my time:

First, I decided to homeschool Praise for her Kindergarten year. Delight joins us and does "homeschool preschool." We have school in the morning, typically from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., in our guest room downstairs. (Thank you, Mom, for the IKEA tables from my gift card!)

Next, I read more. Here are just a few books that I have read (or read most of) recently plus a little bit about them because what good would it do if I told you the title but not the synopsis. "But you don't have to take my word for it!"

The Well-Trained Mind by Jessie Wise and her daughter - This is a homeschooling book written by a mother and a daughter she taught. Though I haven't cemented her philosophies as my own, I like her point of view and her other book (The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading) which I am borrowing from a friend to help teach Praise reading.

Parents In Charge by Dana Chidekel, Ph.D. - I would recommend this book to anyone that has children, will have children, interacts with children, or knows someone who has children. Though I didn't finish the book yet--I had to return it to the library--I liked what I had read. The basic idea is that children mirror what they see and hear for a long time; therefore, your parenting style influences their behavior first (not the other way around). The book helps the reader understand the reasons or emotions behind his or her parenting, which is related to the way he or she was parented. Very fascinating and insightful. The author has great examples from clients interspersed throughout the book.

Aftershock by two Wiedemers (as opposed to the other Aftershock book by Reich, which I have not read) - The authors claim they saw the bubbles (real estate, bank, and private debt) before they burst and predict there will yet be two more bubbles that will pop (the dollar and the government). While I can't say their words came as a surprise--I had similar thoughts before reading it--I did like the hope (that we won't go to a bartering system) and the ideas the authors gave to keep some of your assets. Here's the basic idea: take your money out of the stock market before the big pop, buy gold if you want to get in on the inflated value, but then sell it when things get back to "normal." I didn't agree with everything they advised, so I don't give it my full endorsement.

Thin Tastes Better and The Thin Commandments by Dr. Gullo - A friend loaned us these books, and I really like the angle this guy has taken. Instead of studying how to lose weight, this guy has studied the people who have lost the weight and kept it off. He focuses on finding out your food history because past behavior is a key indicator of future behavior.

Woman First, Family Always by Kathryn Sansone - This woman is married with 10 children and wrote about how to keep balance. She focuses on being a woman, a wife, and a mother; her point is that if one of those areas is ignored, then the other two areas suffer as well.

Other books I have "read" include The Trumpet of the Swan, which we technically listened to on CD.

I also do more magazine reading thanks to Mom for the Family Fun magazines (We saw your article, Katie!) and to Melinda for the Everyday Food magazines. Though I still feel a bit overwhelmed at all the fabulous things I could be doing, crafting, or baking, I have started doing more. This brings me to my next use of "new" time...

I cook new recipes more. I've made Uncle Ed's Ranch Style Hash, Aunt Maralee's Magic Syrup, Jill's Easy Peanut Cookies, Katie's Autumn Chicken Stew, and other recipes from the family cookbook. (I have a dream to make everything from that cookbook and all the recipes I currently have.) I've also made many things from Martha Stewart--such as two different recipes for pumpkin seeds, curry cauliflower rice, oatmeal raisin bars, butternut squash bisque, and some holiday cookies from 2008. While most things have turned out pretty well or at least decent, I did have a recent flop when I overcooked my marmalade. If anyone knows a good use for caramelized tangerines, you can email me.

Well, that's my latest. Maybe next update will be more about the rest of the family!

:) Stephanie

Fall on the frontier

When last we met in August, it was still over 100 degrees everyday in Oklahoma. Since cooling off, things have been very nice. Plus, my exterminator comes every other month and that makes a big difference. Here's some highlights of our lives:

September

We went to the fair.

We saw duck races and pig races. The pigs were our favorites. We also saw the best groomed, cleanest cows on earth.

October
Edward pooped in the potty (not shown). He received a reward (we'll show that).

I decorated pumpkins again this year. The crest doesn't mean anything, per se, it just looked so awesome. Until someone stole it.

For Halloween, we went with a medical theme. I altered a 10-year-old boy shirt to look like a doctor's coat for Edward. Then I made a pair of scrubs for Frederick. Then I dug out the hospital gown I stole when I had my finger surgery. At the ward party, Evan wore his scrubs and he was a surgeon, too. We looked great. I even popped out the lenses of my high school glasses for Edward to wear.

Me and my doctors.

Halloween Parade at school.

Stay tuned for winter pictures!

Flat Stanley in AS

Flat Stanley has come to visit from Indiana. He likes it here so much, he's decided to live on our kitchen countertop.  We'll try to get him to a post office soon.  I'm sure he's missed.  

Ella took some pictures of Stanley around our yard.  Here are her comments.

 In American Samoa Flat Stanley saw coconut trees, but he stood under it at the wrong time!

 Fortuntely he's already flat, so he didn't get crushed.   

He learned about taro plants and their humongous leaves.

 He likes our tropical plants.  This one is red ginger.

This one is a red hibiscus.

He got wet swimming and so we hung him up to dry.  It's nice being flat. 

He learned about our aquaponics system and played in the tomato plants.

 He wanted to ride Ephraim's bike.

 And he wanted to drive our car, but he doesn't have a license.

 He played dress up, so he put a hat on but it was too big.

So he tried on a fake mustache, and everybody laughed.

 Then he wanted to play checkers.

And he did a little drawing and coloring.

 He wanted to go to school but it was Sunday.

Stanley had a good time here.  He might talk about it with you when he gets back.

I'm Hot

Like temperature. It's 8 pm and I'm clammy and sweaty. There's no fan on me, and I can't get up to turn one on cause I'm nursing. My baby is sweaty and pi-lau (that's hawaiian pidgin for stinky).

Today I had to teach Science and Social Studies for the 3-8th grades because one of our teachers was absent. She's actually moving, so we need to find a replacement very soon. sigh. The classroom I was in is hot. And I haven't showered yet, so I'm still hot.

Ephraim was nice and took time from his very busy schedule to come teach the kids about our aquaponics system we recently installed. So they learned about how fish waste has ammonia and the bacteria turn it into nitrate which the plants absorb and turn the water clean. The kids paid attention because he was talking about fish poo and worm poo. Perfect topic for 3rd graders.

Ephraim had his annual review for work and all's well, so we're signed up for another year. sigh. That gives you all ONE MORE YEAR to get your tickets for an all expense* paid trip in Samoa. (*except airfare). Time's running out (hopefully). By this time next year we may be in New Jersey or Kentucky or something, so now's your chance.

We're having a Fall Festival fund raiser on the 12th, and my booth is going to be fortune-telling. They have to pay 25 cents to get their fortune read. I was planning on wearing something exotic and having people pick some cards and I'll interpret their meaning. Something like that. Or I could use chinese year animals. Does anyone have any ideas for me? Please please please?

And random photos.

This is a dead whale that washed up on the reef two weeks ago. We were driving to the library when we saw it. It's a baby sperm whale and scientists say it had been dead for a month when it washed up on the reef. I don't know what those people think they're doing. It's not going to budge. They tied it to a tugboat and released it 5 miles off shore. Back to the circle of life.

And this is me delivering pizza to Ella's class who won Spirit week. And I am dressed as Super Nerd. For fun.

That's all for now. Good night. I love you all!

Cancer Survivor

So as many of you know I had basal cell carcinoma on my forehead.

Today was surgery. The good news...I'm going to live.

This is on the way to the doctor's. We went to the Central Utah Clinic in Provo. The cancer spot is the red spot near my hairline on the right side of my forehead as you look at the picture.

He numbed the area, cut out a big ol' piece of my head, stitched me up, then sent me to a waiting room while he did some tests to see if he got all of it.

He missed a tiny sliver so he opened me back up, took it out, then closed me up for good. 

I'm making this picture BIG so you can see my stitches up close and personal. :) You're welcome.

I asked the nurse how many stitches there were. He said "a lot". It's true though, the doctor just kept stitching and stitching...mom said it was like a quilting bee. The raised scar will eventually flatten out. 

Look at me...still smiling. Even though I resemble Frankenstein now.

The doctor kept saying "you put this in a good place because it'll just blend in with your hairline."

Yeah I sure know how to pick a good spot for cancer. Planned that one perfectly.

Home and happy.

A Million Pictures