Testification of Domestic(UH-FAY)tion

Now say that ten times fast.

When I was in college (or should I say, the year I partied before hitting the books), I didn't eat so well.  The Burger Supreme across the street from my apartment took its 23-lb. toll on my body, as well as my lack of, well, domesticity.  Not that my mom didn't teach me everything she knew - and she runs a tight ship, as Dallas says - but I had a hard time retaining it all.  So I'd like to thank my roommates (and long-lost friends) Courtney and Shena for giving me my first REAL lessons in cooking.  Don't be shocked, Mom.

I think I had learned-dependence (is that what it's called??) on Courtney for my meals for a little while.  We had a system: I would buy the blueberry muffin mix, and if she made it for me, I would let her have one.  Hee hee, that makes me laugh out loud!  And I think that runs in the family because David talked me into making him some no-bake cookies for him while I was in Georgia.  But I made him get out all of the ingredients and the recipe.  That just about put him over the top!  ha ha ha  Then a few roommates later, which actually happened to be a couple of YEARS later, Shena taught me how to brown ground beef!  Now I KNOW I did this at home plenty of times, but I just kind of forgot, you know?  Don't you forget things some times?  I forget things a LOT of times.  Just ask Dallas - I lose my keys multiple times a day.

I remember cooking for my dad one time when my mom was out of town.  I thought I was making the BEST meal.  I don't remember everything on my little 14-year-old menu, but I remember I DID make a few boxes of macaroni in one pot (the noodles were stuck together in a solid mass, so you had to cut through it to get a portion), and I made this kind of breaded onion casserole that was just drenched in butter.  My dad was really nice about it and cleaned his plate.  But he didn't have seconds.  So I asked my mom about it later, and she told me that he had a little bit of a hard time getting through it.  But I never would've known otherwise.  What a dad!!

So I'm getting to a point.  I don't know if you're seeing a theme evolving here, but I think that food for the body and nurturing to the soul are an absolute art that take time to master.  I could never cook like my mom or nurture like my mom because I absolutely did not have the practice or the experience in life.  And I'm not saying that I do now, but I hope I am getting there!

Don't you love sitting down to a well-prepared meal made by someone you love and eating it with the ones you love?  (Am I the only one here?)  That's why food always tastes better when you haven't prepared it yourself, maybe?  Because your mommy made it, and she loves you best?  Nourishment to the body and soul; there's nothing like home cooking!  (And a few select restaurants, too.  But see, that's in small print.) 

So here we are in Virginia Beach, and the grocery stores are OVERPRICED and have LAME BREAD.  Like the 60-calorie a slice variety that taste less filling than a marshmallow.  

I decided to make some homemade wheat bread.  MMMmmmmmm.  But I needed some yeast.  Can't make bread without yeast.  Do you know how much yeast COSTS here???  I spent $6.99 on 12 ounces of yeast!!  Compare that to the 3 to 4 dollars I used to spend at Costco in Utah on like 3 LBS!  It's ridiculous.  But not too ridiculous for the HOMEMADE LOVE I was going to make.  

And I made it.  Four loaves of delicious yumminess and homemade strawberry jam to go with it.  I have to do what I can to make this apartment feel (and smell, and taste) like home.

Now enough of the yapping.  Here are some pictures of food and love:

Baby Dade enjoying my special strawberry dessert I concocted.  Maybe I'll include the recipe.  (Plain old strawberry shortcake will not cut it now, I'm afraid.  This stuff is GOOD.)

Layers of angel food cake from scratch, filled with fruit tart filling - does it get any better?

Yes, it does!  Add these strawberries on top!

My mom gets the best piece!  (I made it in her honor - strawberry desserts are her favorite.)

Raleigh partakes of the goodness.  This picture fascinates me.  If any of you can guess why, I will give you ten dollars.  I am not joking.  But I don't think you'll ever guess it right.  Maybe Rikki will; she knows my soul.

AND she nurtures me with her cooking!!  Can anyone say Homemade Manicotti???

Look!  My mom loves my cooking!!  This makes me oh-so-happy!  When she gets old and withered, I will cook for her.  And wipe her bum.  But only if she says it's okay.

Now here's a woman who knows how to nurture with her cooking.  Grandma La Rue sure made the girls feel special when we stayed with her and Grandpa Van for a few days last month.  She woke up and made us some "pancake animals."  The girls were immediately in love with her and her cooking!  Especially when she pulled out some candy to use for eyes and stuff.

Here's a fancy cat.  Pretty good, huh?

Now last (but DEFINITELY not least), here's a picture of my dad in Marie Callendar's doing his best Marie Callendar impression.  

We Go to Stores for Fun Sometimes

The sisters wandering through Cabela's to see the "aminals."  I think Choobs is so lucky to have TWO older sisters!  I always wanted at least ONE.

Raleigh commented, "If I was going to be an aminal, I wouldn't want to be the half-kind," pointing to the mounted trophies on the walls.  Yeah, I bet those guys don't like being the half kind either.

I like Cabela's better than the zoo, I think.  Yeah, I'm pretty positive.  Not a big fan of the zoo.  I can make myself have fun at the zoo, but it's not natural - if you've seen me at the zoo having fun, I am probably bluffing.  But if you've seen me at Cabela's having fun, it's because I am.  If this video would ever finish loading, I would stop rambling.

Here is Kensington enjoying the fish in the stream.  She is such an animal-lover - that's why we went to Cabela's in the first place.  Her reactions are priceless!  She was cute in this video, but the best is when we are in the grocery store and walk past the giant swordfish hanging over the seafood section.  (Which, by the way, is the only time you will see me purposely walk past the seafood section.)  She is in love with that swordfish, screaming and pointing at it the moment it comes into view.

Okay, here is another random thought while I am waiting for my video to load.  (I could be here all night.)  I've been a little grossed out by meat lately.  It kind of comes and goes for me; I'll go through phases of vowing to become a vegetarian, but then we'll drive by a burger joint and my mouth will start watering.  But the whole meat-prep thing really gets to me.  

Whenever I buy meat, I come home and freeze it as fast as I can; I do much better with frozen meat.  Sorry, I hope this isn't too gross.  But do you ever get grossed out by eating a ham sandwich?  I can barely stomach it sometimes!  Wow.  Be glad my video just popped up because this paragraph was about to get really nauseating.  But this is the final question: do you ever see a cow, chicken, or pig, and say, "Wow!  I am hungry!"?  Sick, huh?  And how, exactly, did I get on this subject?  

No, we did not get hungry at Cabela's.

"Tuesday," or, "The Day That Raleigh Ran Away," or, "The Day Dionne Lost Her Cookies"

Ah, yes.  You can see by the title that today was eventful.  And we've had such a good weekend, too.  You would think we'd have a good TUESDAY!!  Well, it starts like this:

I've had a row of cutely-bagged mint chocolate fudge square cookies from Costco (that are absolutely divine, in my opinion) sitting on the counter to hand out to friends and family and people who have come over.  Kind of for the holidays and stuff.  Obviously.  You may have even received some from us.  Anyway, there have been two bags left on the counter that I've been eyeing the past couple of days, hoping in my heart of hearts that no one would come over so that I could eat them myself.  (HA HA!  Don't even THINK about coming over right now- I love my chocolate more than I love you!!  Just kidding.)  It's just been my secret wish, that's all.  But today ruined it for me.

To make the story short, Raleigh RAN AWAY FROM SCHOOL all the way home today (in a blizzard, no doubt) because of a misunderstanding with her teacher.  Luckily, I was home, but we had quite the afternoon trying to repair a little kid's emotions and our relationship with her teacher and the front office staff.  

So the cookies on the counter??  Gone.  We had to give them away as a peace offering.  Gladly, it worked.

But I couldn't help but smile as I chided her about RUNNING AWAY FROM SCHOOL: she told me, "But Mom, halfway home, I stopped and prayed to Heavenly Father that he would keep me safe.  And he DID!"  Sheesh, kid.

Proposition 8, YES, Proposition 8

Yes, folks, it's time to get political.  I'm not overly opinionated (a little laid-back for my own good sometimes), but I guess it's time to speak up when I am passionate about an issue.  

If you've read our blog recently, you've probably noticed our little widget-guy over there--------> and even if you are not a Californian right now, this issue is a big one for all of us.  I won't tell you what you should think, but it's a good time for all of us to be informed.  Check out these links:  (They're overwhelming in their entirety but good places to get started.)

www.preservingmarriage.blogspot.com

www.whatisprop8.com

My friend Leah has an amazing blog where a lot of her posts lately have been devoted to this issue, and she has some well-thought-out opinions.  You've gotta scroll through her blog to see some of her past posts, too.  I was talking with Amanda, another friend of mine who lives in California, about her experiences lately with Prop 8, and she says it's been pretty crazy out there.  I won't go into details, but there are a lot of similarities in CA to what has been going on in Massachusetts, where gay marriage has also been legalized.

Read the links.  It's a hot issue.  But be careful: a lot of the info is pretty sickening.

And here's another one worth paying attention to:  it's a BYU devotional address given by Boyd K. Packer in March of 1992, entitled "The Fountain of Life."  I saw it on tv the other day and was refreshed by the pure doctrine available to us.  It is only available to listen to, though.  (No written transcripts.) 

The Selflessness and Selfishness of Parenthood

This morning I stayed home from church with Kensington, who has a virus called EM Minor (or something like that).  Her most noticeable symptom was a splotchy rash all over her body, but that has mostly died down, leaving her with just a lingering fever and green, yucky nose.  

I have to say, though, that I enjoy it when the kids are sick and all they want to do is SCHNUGGLE.  It's the best.  Kensington didn't want me to put her down this morning, so after I gave her a soothing bath and dressed her in some cozy clothes, I laid her on my shoulder, and we spent some quality time together.  Honestly, she has got to be the cutest baby ever.  (But aren't all babies when they're your own??)  She was really not feeling well because she never lifted her head up.  But the best part was when she started SINGING!  She sang this sweet little contented song with no real words (because she doesn't know any), but it was the happiest tune I've ever heard.  I think it was angel-song.

That got me thinking: why do people WAIT to have kids??  I hear things like: "We'll have them when our lives are more in order," or when it's more "convenient," or "when we feel more ready."  I've said those things myself.  And I think there is actually A LOT to be ready for.  And, true, having kids does bring an added measure of disorder and inconvenience.  But GOSH- let's not undervalue the SUBSTANCE they bring!

When I found out that I was pregnant with Raleigh, (our first child, albeit UNPLANNED), I cried for a week and felt like my life, as I thought it would and should be, was OVER.  I called my mom, and the first thing she said to me was, "Oh, Dionne, it's going to be so HARD."  (thanks, mom, you were right.)  I felt like Dallas and I hadn't had enough time to establish ourselves as a couple and as a separate family group- now we were adding a third party into the mix.  And she was COLICKY.  And a TERRIBLE SLEEPER.  And Dallas was working the night/early morning shift at UPS and going to school full-time.  And I gained 50 LBS.  But somehow, amid the constant stress and sticky, stinky mess that came with Sweet Raleigh-Kroggies, our life really began to take on an unexplainable substance that was sweeter than the sticky-ness, brighter than our basement apartment, and even stronger than the stink coming from Raleigh's lil' bum.  We love those whom we serve.  And parenthood brings countless opportunity for that, don't-cha think?  I'm thinking that regardless of all the time we spend together with our families, it's the times that we spend in service of one another that have the most substance, therefore, binding us together through our experience of mortality.

Consider this: a newborn baby does not have the ability to care for itself.  We, as parents, act in a literal Christlike manner as we care for our children, doing those things for them that they cannot do for themselves- if only they could.  We act in proxy.  We form lasting, eternal bonds with them in the prosaic, daily life.  The hum-drum now seems heavenly.  Life takes on more meaning.  (If only that thought could last with us when the nitty-gritty gets down-and-dirty and we forget.)  

A few months ago, I could feel this Christlike love as a recipient of its goodness.  It was in the form of MY MOTHER.  Dallas was supposed to go out of town for work for two weeks, and my mom had scheduled a trip to come visit all of us girls while he was gone and help me out a little.  But the day she came, I had been to the doctor and was diagnosed with INFLUENZA- not the yucky-stomach-kind, but the lay-in-bed-and-eat-only-applesauce-with-a-104-degree-fever-for-ten-days-and-lose-14-lbs-while-you're-at-it variety.  And she had come to PLAY this time!  We were all disappointed, and I was mostly out-of-it, but she got right to work, LOVING our girls, CLEANING the house (and all of my germs everywhere), doing LAUNDRY, wiping noses- and four-year-old BUMS, COOKING, and taking care of me.  And basically doing everything I would have been doing if I had been well.  And not only that, but doing for me what Dallas would have been doing if he was in town.  AND never making me feel like it was a burden for her at all.  I know it was a big sacrifice of her time out here to VACATION, but will I remember it forever?  YES!  And does that experience remind me that GOD KNOWS ME and knows beforehand all of my needs?  I think so.  Does He forget about us as soon as we have kids and leave it all up to the trusty parents??  NO!  I feel a greater measure of His interest in my life because He doesn't want me to ruin these kids!

I have a lot more to say about parenthood.  But for now I will leave just one thought: I remember when I was younger hearing Andrea Houghtaling say that she LOVED being pregnant.  (What?  Are you kidding me?  Read on.)  She said, "It's nine months that I get to spend with my baby that no one else does."  Aw, cute!  I cannot second that- because the last pregnancy I experienced with Choobers was pretty bad from day one: lots of crawling on the floor because I couldn't walk.  I couldn't wait to pop her outta there for everyone else to enjoy besides just me.  BUT I am starting to learn that those late-night "inconveniences" when I am ripped from my sleep to help a crying baby or 4- or 6- year old (is she really six?-holy cow) are some of the sweetest memories I have of our little critters.  They've only become as sweet as my outlook.

And THAT, my readers, is all I have to say about populating the world right now.  And, no, I am not pregnant.