Our garden

I though I'd post a few pictures of our patio garden. The Ohio weather has made growing a garden really easy. There's rain, there is sun and then more rain and more sun. Above is a picture of a pepper plant.

And look at all those tiny peppers growing on that plant!

And this pepper plant has dark purple-black peppers growing on it. Cool, huh?!

I took this picture a couple of weeks ago, early in the morning. There are dew drops on the edges of the peppermint plant leaves. Isn't that neat and pretty?

And now the tomato plants are taller than the patio fence and not only that...

...but they have big tomatoes growing! Hopefully they will start turning colors (red and purple) soon.

And this is our experiment this year...the vertical zucchini plant. We didn't have a lot of room for it to spread out so SM decided to try to grow it vertically...and it seems to be working just fine. Can't wait to eat lots of zucchini!

And here is the first zucchini growing on the plant. Looks like it'll be big enough to pick in just a couple of days.

And my cherry tomato plant has a few ripe tomatoes! I love fresh garden veggies!

What did you to today?

Today I woke up to an empty house. My husband has been out of town for a couple days but I'll be picking him up at the airport tonight at 11:30 pm...and hopefully we'll be home by midnight.

Today I exercised on the Wii Fit before eating breakfast and my blood sugar dropped enough that my legs felt like noodles by the time I finished.

Today I ate buckwheat and millet cooked together for breakfast. It took a while to get my blood sugar back up to normal...gotta listen to my body better.

Today I brushed my teeth before leaving the house. There is something wrong with me...when my husband is out of town, I forget to brush my teeth until later in the day or afternoon. Luckily I remember to do it today, bright and early!

Today I went to Costco and left with money still in the bank account. I am always surprised at how quickly it all adds up and get a bit discouraged at how expensive things are...oh well. I also left with a watermelon...the first one of the season to enter my house. I did enjoy eating samples and only went back to one sample table twice (it was a jalapeno & cheddar bread from the bakery).

Today I am supposed to be getting my Relief Society lesson prepared and ready for tomorrow. Instead I vacuumed the first floor, mopped the kitchen floor, took some cleaner and a rag to the kitchen chairs (that were horribly disgusting...I guess I haven't looked at them too closely since I bought them at a garage sale a year or so ago), and then went blog surfing.

Today I WILL prepare my lesson for Relief Society.

Today I ate watermelon.

Today I listened to a book on CD while cleaning and cleaning.

What did you do today?

Technology

Technology....where were we before...?

So, I was reading a blog post from a friend who currently lives in Japan. She wrote about "firsts" in technology and then gave some questions for friends to answer on their blogs. I thought they were some great and fun questions and wanted to answer a few of them AND challenge any of you fellow blog readers to do the same. (Here are some questions that my friend Emily put on her blog...I'll answer them to the best of my knowledge).

What kind of phone did you grow up with in your home? It was a tan phone on the wall of the kitchen. It had a very long cord so that my mom could travel a pretty long distance and still talk to her sisters or mother on the phone. I do remember the cord getting wound up and Mom un-curling it because she couldn't get as far as she wanted to when the cord was wound up. A crazy story I about answering the phone was that we were all sitting down for dinner one night and before we started with a prayer, the phone rang. I ran and answered the phone with "Our Dear Heavenly Father...Oops...Hello?"

Another story I have about phones before cell phones is that my mom and her sister's used the phone as a baby monitor. Let me explain....my mom and her sisters were next door neighbors while we (my brothers and sister and cousins) were growing up. If one of them had to run to the store and the baby had just fallen asleep, they would load up all the other kids and leave the baby at home. Before leaving, they would call another sister and leave the phone next to the baby's room. And then, if the baby woke up and started crying, you could hear it on the phone and run next door and get the baby. This was before "minutes" and you could leave the phone off the hook when talking to someone else or setting it down to hear a baby cry. (I hope I explained this and you understand...I struggle explaining things in words without my hands present to show you what I mean).

What was your first memory of the Internet? I honestly don't remember thinking about this. I remember seeing a five year old using the Internet and thinking how crazy that little kids could also use the Internet.
What was one of the first sites you remember visiting? Can't remember.

Do you remember the first time you heard about cell phones/car phones/ or "video" phones? Again, I have nothing.

Have you ever owned a tape deck? Boom Box? Walk-Man? Disc-Man? I have to say that I listened to tapes but really wasn't into popular music, which means I don't like 80's music, and and not all that familiar with it or 90's music. I did listen to some 20's music and 50's-70's. I didn't really fit in with my peers and my music choices.

What was the first CD you owned or purchased? What did you play it on? Again...I have no idea. I do, however, recall my first book that I purchased as a teenager. It was three books under one cover by Gerald Lund. The three books were One in Thine Hand, Leverage Point, and The Alliance. (I was more into books than CD's).

How old were you when you got your first cell phone? I was 28 years old. After I married SM, he decided I needed a cell phone so that I could call him or he could call me. I don't think I was holding out on getting a cell phone, I just really didn't need one...but in 2004 I got my first cell phone.

How old were you when you got your first email account? I got my first email account when I came home from serving a mission to Chile. It was really weird because before I left on my mission, the Internet wasn't really part of my life at all and then a year and half later, I get home from Chile and everyone has email, everyone has this new technology that I'd never heard about. I remember going out on a date and my date pulls this thing called a "palm pilot" from his pocket. I had no idea what he had and asked him to explain what it was...it was such a foreign concept. What happened to the day planner? Another story I have to tell about email is that one day I was at work and I emailed a friend (Chelsea) and almost immediately I got a response from her. I realized that she was online and we began to chat back and forth over email. I thought is was so cool that we were talking over the computer. And now we have web messenger and web cams so that we can talk AND SEE people in different places. I LOVE IT! And I do use it often since I live away from my family and cannot visit them unless I fly out there or they fly out here.

How old were you when you started blogging? Well, I can't recall the answer to this one...I should just go back in my blogging history and see but I seem to recall posting pictures from Hawaii as my first posts and so that was two and a half years ago. A story I have about blogging was that I was interested in blogging but afraid to start and so my sister-in-law and brother set up this blog, called me up and told me how to log on and how to post and then bequeathed this blog to me. I'm glad for their help!

What is your craziest technology related memory? I have shared a few already but one thing that I like about technology today is that you can still do things "old-fashioned." My mom writes lists down all over her house so she can remember to do everything she wants to get done, but the most important things she writes on her hand so that it's right there and won't get lost. Now, it does get washed off but she'll either re-write it down on her hand or have already completed that important thing. She calls this her "palm pilot." Hee, hee, hee.

Well, that's it for today! Hope to read some fun stories on other blogs about Technology!

Mom came to visit

Here's the Kirtland Temple. We were able to take a tour of the temple and learn a little bit about the history of the temple.

Don't I just have the cutest mom?

Mom and I had the opportunity to visit Lake Eerie. There were a few more people there from when I was there last time. Last time it was cool enough that we needed jackets, this time I wish some of the girls were wearing jackets. But the weather was nice and the water was warm.

Lake Eerie is so big. I felt like I was at the ocean but the salt brine smell wasn't there. Not that I can say too much about the ocean since I haven't been there very many times.

Mom put her hand into the water to feel how cold it was...and then I had to do the same. It was a lot warmer than I imagined it would be.

Mom came to visit

We started our site-seeing by visiting Kirtland. The weather was fabulous, not too hot, not too cold and not too humid.

We learned about the Newell K. Whitney family and their store through a video and then at the store. The sister missionaries shared little stories about the family and area of Kirtland at the time that Joseph Smith came to live there.

We listened to testimonies in the room that was used as the School of the Prophets and felt the Spirit. We enjoyed talking to the other members of the tour and learning more about church history.

In this cradle is a baby's bottle. Things have changed since the 1800's haven't they...and for the better!

Here's Mom checking out the oven where up to 18 loaves of bread were cooked daily. It seems small from the front but the oven went further back into the chimney. It was really cook. The women would put their arms into the oven for a certain numbers of seconds and that way they could tell if the oven was ready to cook or if is was too hot or cold.

Mom came to visit

I took Mom to Amish Country. We started our day by visiting Orrville and the Smuckers store.After that we went to Kidron and went to Lehmans...a store that has everything for the Amish and those that are Amish-at-heart. Mom is Amish-at-heart. I think we spent around two hours just walking around, checking everything out. We also were surrounded by a lot of Amish people. I was lucky and got hear stories from Mom about when she was growing up and used many things that you could buy in Lehmans.

Then we went to the Ashery and looked at all the bulk food they had. And then Heini's Cheese Chalet. Above is a photo of Mom and some cheeses. We took a tour and saw how they make cheese and then we got to sample many different types of freshly made cheeses. Mom even bought some to take home with her.

Mom visited other stores once we got to Berlin. I believe that Mom had a great time visiting Amish country for the first time. She also got really good at taking pictures from the vehicle while I was driving. I really liked this one, probably because I also like reading and if I can figure out how to do it while working, I will.

I also took Mom to see the Root Candle Company. We had a great time learning new things about Ohio. I'm so glad she was able to come and visit.

Mom came to visit

The last full day that my mom was here we went to the Church Historical Site called The Johnson Farm. I had never been there before and so it was fun to jump in the car and have an adventure, plus, when you have a GPS a lot of the worry goes away and you can enjoy the trip.

On my shoulders I'm carrying a yoke. This yoke was used when carrying water in from outside. You could hook two buckets of water to the ropes on the outer edges of the yoke and carry them into the house. What a creative and helpful way to carry water!

Here we are together. We really enjoyed the stories told to us about the Johnson family and some of the things they did to help the early church and Joseph Smith. In this home, Joseph Smith received many revelations. In the Doctrine and Covenants, when something is listed as Hiram, Ohio...that means, the Johnson Farm. So, many things were revealed in this home, including D&C 76 the chapter about the Great Plan of Happiness, which tells us why we are here on Earth and where we came from and where we go after this life.

And here we are on the front porch of the Johnson home. Notice mom and I are both wearing our running shoes and similar pants. We both think those things are comfortable and wear very similar comfortable clothes.

This is the barn behind the Johnson home. The farm is owned by the church and land around the farm is leased out to a local farmer who farms the land. The church actually farmed (strawberries and apples and alfalfa) the land until 2002. It was such a beautiful day to learn more about the history of the church.

Memorial Day

SM and I had a wonderful Memorial Day holiday. Belonging to small community means that Memorial Day events are a family, neighbor and community event.

SM and I rode our bikes to the cemetery. We wanted to visit the cemetery before it was busy with lots of people. What we found was that the parade that started at the center of town was ending at the cemetery, where there would be a ceremony.

This was the first group that entered the cemetery...and as soon as I saw them, I started crying. I hate crying in public, especially around perfect strangers, but I really couldn't help it. One of my favorite friends here lost her son in Afghanistan about a year and a half ago. I have seen her struggle to not cry when she talks about her son and his room. My heart goes out to all of our soldiers that give their lives to keep our country free and my heart also goes out to all the families of those soldiers. Whether they return home in a casket or on their own two legs, it is a sacrifice for all those involved. A sacrifice that is for me and my family and for that I am grateful.

Later, as part of the parade, we saw the high school band, a couple middle school bands, different scout troops and many different groups from the military.

That's me...with my bike helmet on...and the picture is far enough away that you can't tell that I had been crying during the parade and also later while listening to the Memorial Day Program at the center of the cemetery.

The cemetery is old and it was fun to walk around and see the dates on the tombstones. Lots of 1800's and early 1900's.

And my cute hubby...behind him you can see people leaving the cemetery after the program ended.

I hope you all had a great Memorial Day and remembered those that have given their lives to protect our freedoms.

Out of the bread slump!!

My mother taught me how to make whole wheat bread when I was a young teenager. And I did a great job at making the dough, struggled a little bit with putting it in the pans but it always came out of the oven looking and smelling heavenly. And I never worried about making bread after those teenage years.

And then while living in Virginia, something happened and my bread didn't turn out. As a dough, the bread would rip and not form into loaves very well. As a bread it was a bit crumbly but still worked. I soon realized that the wheat that I had purchased had a really low gluten/protein level and had to add gluten to make sure the dough would stick together.

And then I moved to Ohio, and made a batch of bread...and it was terrible. As a dough, it ripped while I was trying to put it into pans, it didn't raise, it smelled great but was small and heavy. I was so frustrated. I had made sure to have good wheat (higher gluten level) and followed the recipe that I've had memorized in my head since I was thirteen years. And so the next couple months, I tried to use of the bread but not in sandwiches because it would just fall apart. (Later I found out I was still using my "bad" wheat and not the "good" wheat). And then I made another batch (6 loaves) of bread for when my family came to visit. And it was even worse. I mean, I tried to make french toast with this awful bread and the bread would break apart as I was pulling it out of the egg mixture. And let's not forget the tuna fish sandwiches that would fall apart before you could raise it up to your mouth.

And so this last week it was time to make another batch of bread and I was ready. I'd been gathering information from ladies that make bread in Northern Ohio. I asked each one what makes great whole wheat bread. I got some great advice and applied a little bit of each to this last batch of bread. I also added some gluten...to my bad wheat...because the thing I found out after making all my different loaves of bread, was that I have good wheat and bad wheat, and I had been using the bad wheat even when I thought I'd grabbed wheat from the good wheat bucket.

And, I ended up making terrific bread...and gave it all to SM's co-workers because I wanted to make sure it wasn't a fluke...and made another batch of bread. This time I also made some cinnamon roles along with the bread. And, it is all delicious! And I'm out of my bread slump!! Back to making terrific bread!!