Feeling Blessed

I have not blogged on here in a while. I guess I should give an update.

Dave did not get into Pharmacy School this year =(  We realize that this is probably the best. We should hopefully have our car paid off by next summer, which would be a BIG relief to not have to worry about a car payment once Dave is in graduate school. We should be in a better financial position then we are now, and that is truly a blessing in disguise. Dave is working on getting his Pharmacy Technician license so that he can do that until he gets into Pharmacy School too. He's passed his exam, now he needs to submit his certificate to the State Board and get it approved so he can work.

Lara will be 22 months on Saturday. I can't believe she will be 2 years old in just over 2 months. Where did the time go! She is growing like a weed. She is probably 3 feet tall (was only 2 inches shy at her 18 month appointment). But of course height is something that is not lacking in her genes. She talks all of the time, developing her vocabulary everyday. She loves babies, and torturing her brother.

Jaron will be 3 1/2 years old later this month. What happened to my baby boy? I see pictures of him from when he was smaller, and I can't believe how much he has grown. It seems like yesterday he was a baby. It's harder to give milestones for him, he's getting to the age where those a few and far between. Still not potty trained, but I know he has his own time table and there is no pushing our little "perfectionist." He likes to help out with cleaning and cooking and thinks he can tell Lara what to do. He also enjoys torturing his little sister.

I've been stressed out lately. With losing financial aid from Dave graduating in May and not moving on to grad school, things are extremely tight. No wiggle room makes Mommy want to pull out her hair, lol. I've been so stressed with recently learning Jaron needs a bunch of cavities filled that require him to be put under general anesthesia because he's too apprehensive. That equals $ we don't have. Fortunately our insurance covers almost 100% of everything, except the Dentist's fee to go to the hospital and sealants. When I talked with the office manager about getting the fees reduced, she told me the sealants were already reduced by 50%, but she went ahead and gave me another 10% off. I could say no to the sealants, but then I'll probably have to go through all of this again if I don't get them, and the sealants are less than the Dentist's fee, so we are going ahead and doing it.

Still stressing about where we were going to come up with the money (charging to credit card, but how to pay it off), and a sleepless night where neither child wanted to sleep at the same time for most of the night with my 3 year old waking up before 7am bright eyed and bushy tailed, I was frustrated. I called Dave at work, while he was on his break, to help me relax and gain my perspective. Dave let me that he was offered to work double shifts for 3 days this week. Blessing in disguise! If I had not called him, he would have waited till he got home to tell me and could have missed this opportunity. I said, "Dave, we need the money bad, take those shifts!" So he worked double shifts this week, three days in a row. It's been crazy! But the take home pay for those 3 shifts should cover just over half of Jaron's dental bill. Then (after tonight's shift), Dave was told to call on Monday because they may need the help again. I'll be praying between now and then that he gets it!

So, I've been worrying most the summer about what we're going to do. I know Heavenly Father knows what He's doing, I just stress when I don't know what that plan is. I'm a planner, I don't like not having a plan. We're already seeing the blessings, with Jaron waking me up early so I'd call Dave and he would get the extra shifts. Hopefully the Board Certification goes through fast and Dave is able to find a Pharm Tech job soon! I know if we're faithful and do everything Heavenly Father asks of us, we'll be taken care off. I'm so grateful for the blessing we received this week. It could not have come at a better time.

My Cooking Adventure III

What I Made (Friday):
"Simply Amazing Meatloaf"

I followed the recipe straight thru and was really interested to see how using the Rice-A-Roni instead of bread crumbs or crackers would work. The rice was still crunchy and I don't know if that is intentional, but it was unexpected. One change I made was instead of using a loaf pan, I just formed it into a loaf and placed it in a 8x8 Pyrex dish. I had done this before with another meatloaf, but here it is explained why its better than using a loaf pan. Per the hints and tips on this page, I wanted to lay strips of bacon across the top before cooking because, as they say, everything tastes better with bacon. But my wife vetoed that idea because she was already planning on cooking the squash we got at the farmer's market for our vegetable. She was trying her mother's recipe of cooking onion an bacon in a skillet and then adding the squash, with a little seasoning, until done. It was yummy.

What I Learned:
making meatloaf in a roasting pan is better than using a loaf pan.

This might be it for a while because there is still quite a bit of meatloaf left over, but one of the links above also mentioned that it makes a good sandwich, so I will have to try that for lunch tomorrow. :-)

My Cooking Adventure II

Yesterday I introduced a new adventure I'm embarking on (I have no idea how long it will last, but I imagine Corrina is pleased with the variety and, hopefully, healthier food). Tonight I wish to catch up on yesterday's meal and share tonight's:

What I Made (Wednesday):

Stir Fry Vegetable with Pork

As I mentioned it would be yesterday, it was really easy because I just use the big bag of frozen stir-fry veggies from Costco. However, before throwing them in the skillet (we don't have a wok) I heated a little bit of EVOO and some fresh grated ginger root. Then I threw in the veggies. After they were done cooking, I added the pork that I had previously grilled with a little garlic powder rub. After adding the pork to the veggies is when I added the stir-fry sauce. I had also added a handful of slivered almonds to add a little bit of crunchiness to the stir-fry. All this combined made it taste almost identical to the bottle of Kikoman's Stir-Fry sauce we had used before.

What I Learned:

Adding fresh grated ginger root to the oil before the veggies will not(!) make the ginger flavor too powerful (yay!)

I need to review cooking temps and times for pork chops before the next time I grill it. I think I cooked them a little too long because they were a little firm. Fortunately, they tasted fine (I think the garlic powder was a nice touch, and was Corrina's idea) and I chopped them into bite-sized pieces after cooking and before adding to the veggies so it wasn't that big of a deal.

What I Made (Thursday):

Soy-Glazed Salmon Steaks and Steamed Vegetables

So, I was a little worried I was going to fail tonight because, for various reasons, I didn't think about dinner til this afternoon. I found a fairly simple, and yummy-looking recipe for a meat loaf that I thought about trying, but when I mentioned it to Corrina, she pointed out that there wasn't going to be enough time to thaw the beef and cook the loaf :-( So I went onto supercook.com (which was suggested to me by Amanda Dyck) and entered a bunch of the items we have on hand. We happened to have some frozen Salmon fillets so I added that to the list and this was one of the recipes that bounced back. Can you say super easy! The glaze is 3 ingredients that you whisk together and then you just brush it onto the salmon and broil it. The veggies were another bag of Costco frozen veggies, Normandy-Style this time. I cooked those in the micro-steamer while the fillets were broiling and added a little bit of butter to them in the last minute or two. My wife and I aren't big fans of fish, but we have found some yummy recipes for salmon, and this is one that I think I'll add to the repertoire, with a minor change which I'll discuss below.

What I Learned:

I CAN'T BROIL AND, IF AT ALL POSSIBLE, WILL NEVER DO IT AGAIN! This isn't the first time I've tried and every time I have, I can't get it to work right. If the recipe says broil for 5 minutes, it ends up taking 10-15 and the extra juice/sauce/glaze run-off inevitably burns and smokes up the the place. That is why the minor change in repeating this recipe will be to brush the glaze on both sides and throw it on the George Foreman grill.

I also learned that I love ginger in cooking. It added nice flavor to the stir-fry last night and added nice flavor to the salmon tonight, didn't even need lemon juice. My mother-in-law is very allergic to ginger, so that would be a problem when she visits. However, when she visits, she usually cooks because she is so much better than me. :-)

Sneak Preview for Tomorrow:

Can we say bacon?!

My Cooking Adventure

Recently I started a little cooking adventure. I've been making at least one item home-made from scratch each night. It started when I was in the mood for curry and, knowing we had curry powder, got online to find a recipe how to make the sauce. The recipe I found was labeled as easy and I only lacked a few ingredients that were easy enough to acquire at the local grocer.

What I Made (Sunday):
Chicken Curry with Rice

I cooked the rice in the rice cooker and boiled the chicken breasts so that I could cook them with out fear of burning them and so they would be easier to shred to add to the curry sauce when its ready. I followed the simple recipe to make the sauce and then when it was ready, I added the shredded chicken and some frozen peas until everything was heated through then spooned it over the rice.

What I Learned:
If the recipe calls for tomato, it will be a red sauce and that is why it doesn't call for coconut milk
If the recipe calls for coconut milk, it will be a yellow curry
next time I will either add less chicken, or double the curry recipe so there is plenty of sauce for the rice.

What I Made (Monday):
Tacos de Maiz

So, technically, there were actually 2 homemade items this meal: We cooked up some dried red beans in the crock-pot a couple days earlier so I reheated them and mashed them up almost to refried consistency, but the planned homemade item was pico de gallo. For the sake of my wife's and son's taste buds, I left out any kind of hot pepper and only used onion, tomato, cilantro, and lime juice. We also had the left over rice from Sunday night, which I threw frozen peas in before reheating (I'm telling you, this is the only way I like peas), shredded chedder cheese, and sour cream in corn tortillas.

What I Learned:
chop up the tomatoes SMALL! (I don't like the taste of tomatoes so the bigger the chunks, the more pervasive the flavor)

What I Made (Tuesday):
Tacos de Maiz (yeah, yeah, yeah... there's nothin' wrong with leftovers now and again, especially if its so yummy)

What I Made (Wednesday):
Stir Fry Vegetable with Pork

Okay, so as of this writing, I haven't actually cooked anything yet, but I have prepared the homemade portion: the stir fry sauce. Tonights meal is going to be really easy and the sauce is the easiest homemade part yet. I'm kind of cheating because we buy the big bag of frozen stir fry veggies from Costco so I just have to throw them in the skillet (we don't have a wok) until they're mostly done, then I add the sauce and the cooked meat. The pork I will cook separately on our electric grill with a little bit of seasoning and then chop up into bite-sized pieces before adding to the veggies. The sauce has 4 ingredients: chicken broth, corn starch, soy sauce, and white wine. The only bottle of alcohol we have ever bought, or has ever dwelled in our home, is a little bottle of white cooking wine used for cooking only (duh) :-)

What I Learned:
Well, nothing yet, because I haven't tasted the final product, but I do like the idea of being able to make things from scratch that are really simple and end up being cheaper in the long run. I hope it tastes good, too.

So far, all the recipes for the featured homemade item have been found on eHow: How to Do Just About Everything

Elder in Exile

Let me preface this by saying I'm not a whiner and (most of the time) trust in the the Lord's inspiration when the bishop extends a calling. The only time I have ever asked to be released from a calling was when the bishop called me to be a YM leader without releasing me from the Nursery first. Anyway,...

In the less than 6 years we've been married, we have lived in 3 different wards (2 different stakes) and I have been called into the nursery in each of those wards. The first time, we had been married about a year and the ward had a lot of nursery children so I had a blast paying with all of them. And, because there were so many kids, we had several leaders, who were all cool and we had fun hanging out together those 2 hours.

The second time I was called into the nursery, we had just barely moved to a new stake and a new ward and it was just my wife and I in the nursery and, on a good Sunday, a maximum of 3 kids. Not so much fun. Then, my wife got pregnant and had a hard time with morning sickness so several Sundays we had nursery in the foyer of the church so my wife could relax on the couch. By the time my wife was ~8mos pregnant, they called me into the YM's organization and still had not released us. That's when (as mentioned earlier) we asked when we were going to be released.

A couple years down the road now and about a month before our youngest turned 18mos (and therefore eligible for Nursery), lo and behold, I get called into the nursery of our third (and current) ward. At first I didn't mind it and was having a blast playing with all the kids. The kids love me and the other leaders (sisters) are always commenting how the kids love me (its because I get involved and play with them, and not just sit and watch them and make sure they don't do anything they're not supposed to).

As I said, at first I didn't mind it, and both my kids love having me there, but then a couple weeks ago I had an epiphany that has dramatically affected how I view my calling. I realized that it kinda sucks that, just when I was about to have a  break from them and be able to listen and participate in lessons, I get pulled away from the chance to meet and associate with my peers in SS and EQ and am sent into exile and sequestering watching kids run around for two hours. After this thought came to my head, I started to wonder if I should explain how I feel to the bishop and ask to be release or just bide my time. And then I feel bad because we are ingrained that we shouldn't feel/think like this when it comes to church callings and they always talk about how hard it is to call people to the nursery. I don't want to sound ungrateful (or whatever the right term is) and ask to be released because the other three nursery workers (all sisters) have been in there far longer than me (one is even the bishop's wife) and I don't want to place the burden of finding a replacement back on the bishop sooner than he was ready. And I don't want it to look like I don't think the Bishop was inspired to call me there in the first place.

So there you have it. Now I sound like a whiner and a complainer. :-) Other than the standard "find a way to enjoy it, because God has a purpose in mind" advice, what other thoughts are there on this matter?

Star Wars Apologetics

a·pol·o·get·ics  (ə-pŏl'ə-jět'ĭks)   
n. (used with a sing. verb) 

1. 
   
   The branch of theology that is concerned with defending or proving the truth of Christian doctrines.
2. Formal argumentation in defense of something, such as a position or system.
   

So the other day I discovered that scientists named a recently discovered bacterial species after midi-chlorians (from Star Wars). I saw a discussion about it and one of the comments was something along the lines of "Great, now I'm going to have to pretend it doesn't exist, too." 

A sentiment (and one of many criticisms of the prequel trilogy) that seems to be common among many SW fans is that there is a big anachronism between how the Force is described in the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy. viz.:

In ANH (A New Hope, Episode IV) Obi-Wan Kenobi explains the Force to young Luke Skywalker thus:

The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.

 However, in TPM (The Phantom Menace, Episode I), Qui-Gon Jinn explains to young Anakin Skywalker that: 

Without the midi-chlorians, life could not exist, and we would have no knowledge of the Force. They continually speak to us, telling us the will of the Force. When you learn to quiet your mind, you'll hear them speaking to you.

Essentially, they were a symbiotic bacteria that lived inside the cells of all creatures, etc. 


Right from the start, looking at the two quotes, I can see a distinct difference. Obi-Wan was talking about the Force, itself, while Qui-Gon was explaining how it is possible to feel the Force. But as I was thinking about this at work this morning, I didn't have the luxury of having the quotes right in front of me so I realized something along a different line of thought. When Qui-Gon was explaining the Force, he was living in the Golden Age of the Republic where knowledge flowed freely and technology was continually advancing. While Obi-Wan was explaining it, the universe had more-or-less fallen into a "Dark Ages" similar to the Medieval Era of European history. A lot of the former knowledge had been forgotten or tainted, descended into realms of legend or myth, while the advent of technology had stagnated. Whether Obi-Wan, in his old age, simply forgot the previous light and knowledge he once had as a Jedi Knight in the Golden Age of the Republic, or he purposefully withheld the more complete and advanced information regarding the Force, it is unclear but if it was the latter, like I suspect it probably would be, the circumstances they were in were obviously not ideal for an in-depth lesson on history, science, etc., a much simpler, basic answer was sufficient for their needs. They were en route to the enemy base to go on a fool-hardy mission to rescue a princess from the enemy while they were on the ship of a smuggler that they had met earlier that day. Luke needed basic lessons on how to listen to the force and use a light-saber, not a detailed lesson on why they can hear the force. He needed a how not why explanation and I think Obi-Wan did a fine job of it, given the circumstances.


(P.S. if you can't tell, I'm one of the type of fans who actually really liked the prequel trilogy. Yes, I understand the negatives {Jar-Jar Binks must die!} but as a whole, I thought they were good to round out the story. Also, I'm also a fan of the changes GL made for the 1995 re-release and the DVD release. As GL has said, the changes he made were what he would have done had he had the resources back then. The DVD version is the version he had envisioned all along.)

Lara Hits A Big Milestone!

Today Lara poo poo'd in the potty! Lara has been sitting on the potty for a while now. Today she started squatting into position and Dave saw her and asked if she wanted to poo poo in the potty. She said yes, so he put her on the potty and she did it! Of course we forgot to take a picture of her big achievement (sitting on the potty, not of the actual poo). She is trying to show her big brother up. All he has done is sit on the potty...well he has pee'd in it before, but that was months ago. Whenever we ask him if he wants to go on the potty, he tells us no. Once we run out of diapers for him we're not giving him the choice anymore. That's going to be fun times =) Isn't it great how as parents it's ok for us to talk about pee and poop like its no big deal?
I guess I should stop stocking up on diapers for Lara if she's going to keep this up. Is it wrong of me to hope that she waits a while longer before potty training completely because of the stockpile of diapers I have for her?