Catching Up

So...I never did post anything about my May read for Newbery Award Winners -- or was that April? I've been thinking about all of you but a little out of it when it comes to reporting back on things!

Whichever month that was, I read The Wheel on the School and loved. Very cute. I think I'll read it out loud to Autumn soon. She would like it. I think Seth, Reed, and Isaiah would also enjoy it. I don't really know what to say about it specifically. But the basic idea behind it involved a teacher instilling a desire in the children to wonder about why there were no storks in there town. The teacher told them if they would wonder, amazing things would happen. I think there's so much truth to that and it was great to read thinking about teaching my girls wonder a little more and help them grow and learn from that.

For the cookbook month, we looked through Hungry Planet again and loved it, again. It's fun. And soon I'll post the recipe we've now made twice. It might even be time to make it again. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water. (And of course, it doesn't hurt that Eric's the one who knows how to make it!)

For June, I'll be reading Stuart Little to the girls. We've already started and I've been surprised to find that I didn't know the story as well as I thought I did. I don't think I ever actually read it growing up.

Beccy, I loved that poem you shared. What an amazing woman. And what a great take on life. That poem really sums it up. Do you know if she was related to Dr. Christian Asplund who teaches Music Theory at BYU?

Beccy: An Unfinished Woman

This has nothing to do with our May or June reads, but I want to share this poem with y’all. There are other excerpts of this author’s now-out-of-print books I would love to share if I can track them down--you would all appreciate them. Jaroldeen Edwards was a remarkable woman. She has had a marked influence on my life! She has been a member of my ward these past 4 years, and died on Friday morning (May 30). She was a mother of 12(!) children (grandma to 76 grandchildren), a gifted author (had published some 6 or 7 novels and essay collections), a fabulous teacher, a frequent Women’s Conference speaker, a gospel scholar. She was warm and funny, colorful and wise. We became close at about the same time Mom was diagnosed with cancer, and I found great comfort in our friendship. I took a writing (enrichment) class from her and learned much; more about the gospel and about life than about writing. I adored her.

One of her 8 daughters read this poem at her funeral, which was attended by President Eyring. A member of the First Presidency in our chapel! Wow. He was her late husband’s cousin and knew her well from when she and her husband served a mission in South Africa.

Another daughter who lives in Texas told how when Grandma (Jaroldeen) and Grandpa came to visit, sometimes they would have to leave very early in the morning before the grandchildren were awake. Jaroldeen would put on an extra coating of bright red lipstick, and kiss each one of the children on the forehead, so that when they awoke, they knew they were loved. :)

Here is the link to her obituary if you’re curious:

http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/268483/


An Unfinished Woman

Here am I, Lord,
The dishes barely done and night long since fallen,
The children would not go to bed
And would not go and
Would not go -
And now they are gone.
Gone to places of their own with children of their own
Who will not go to bed and will not go . . .
And I have taught them what I could and
They have learned the things they would
And now they’ve gone their way alone to learn the rest
Most on their own.

And I remain, not half spent.
And I remain, not yet content,
So much to do, so much to learn,
So much to fell, so much to yearn.
My past mistakes make stepping-stones,
Not millstones great around my neck but
Stones to guide my searching feet -
And I must search; I’m incomplete.

I watch my years go tumbling by
And I must use them better, I
Have yet so much to learn and do
Before I can return to You.

The hour is late. The night comes on,
My celestial self I would become.
Ah! What wisdom thou gavest to mortal life--

I,
As sister, mother, daughter, wife -
In earthly roles have seen Thy face.
In my womanly life Thy heavenly place
Is taught through humble tasks and plain.
So, if royal robes I would obtain,
To wear as all Thy glories burst -
I’ll need to do the laundry first.

--Jaroldeen Asplund Edwards

Lulu: James and the Giant Peach

The boys and I have finished The BFG, after which we finished George's Marvelous Medicine, and now we are reading James and the Giant Peach. That will be our June read, and then, depending on how fast we finish it, we will probably start on Stuart Little. I am SO enjoying reading to them each night! Reed remembers dialogue really well, and both he and Jax like to imitate the voices I make for the characters.

The library here in Saint George is WONDERFUL!! I am so relieved, as I was really not impressed with the library in Cedar City. Their children's section is gorgeous. There's a recessed ceiling with a mural painting of book characters. Jaxon spent a long time looking at them. Reed got a new card and signed his name "Reeeed". :)

I am thrilled to discover that I have gotten to the point where I can read without interruption (from my little darlings) for quite a while before I'm needed/wanted again. As a result, I have experienced a revival in the number of books I can read in a short time. In high school, I read at least 12 a month, but usually 20. We usually went to the Savannah library (which rivals many others in my memory) once a week. Now, I can read two a week, almost three. I'm really happy about it, because I thought it would so much longer before I could. I feel more like myself, more peaceful, more imaginative, more fulfilled. I also find that I'm surprised to discover just how much books are really essential to me.

Some of my side-reads: I read Blessings by Anna Quindlen just a few days ago. Honestly, I didn't really care for it. In fact, if I think about it, I almost hated it. But I couldn't put it down. She uses memories to further the narrative, and at times it was confusing/boring. And there was some language that kind of spoiled a few moments. The story was sort of good, except that I was angry at how it ended. (Very realistically.) I'm now reading another Anne Perry book, and I think I might delve into that oft-mentioned crazy-talked-up book, Eclipse. I've heard mostly good things--but then one or two people I've talked to actually hated it--so I'm mildly interested to see what I think. Mildly. Another book might easily grab my interest.

Rae: June Read

Your June assignment is fiction. Read any young adult or juvenile book of your choice...something you could read aloud to kidlets. Report back. We will be in Japan until the first week of July. I will post your next assignment at that time.

Happy reading!

Lulu: Beans, magical indeed

I made a really easy dinner tonight using beans, and I did them in the crock-pot. It wasn't fancy at all, but definitely hearty, yummy, and easy. (Usually my three prerequisites.) I put pinto beans in the crock-pot, not pre-soaked or anything--just out of the bag--in the crock-pot with some beef broth that had whole stewed tomatoes and Mexican spices in it (the broth was pre-frozen, courtesy of Phill's mom--all I had to do was thaw it in hot water). I turned the crock-pot to High and let it cook for 5 or 6 hours, and they were perfect! I made some boil-in-a-bag rice (this stuff is so good to me and takes 10 minutes to cook, costs $1.12 a box with four bags in each box), put the beans over the rice and then piled cheese on top. It was really delicious and easy! Oh, and so CHEAP! I guess cheese isn't that cheap, but beans sure are, and rice is. And broth is easy to make.

Anyway, that's all. Just a really easy, yummy dinner using beans.

Lulu: Food and Einstein

Crock-pot Rigatoni

Makes 10 servings

28-oz. jar spaghetti sauce

12-oz. rigatoni, cooked

1-1 ½ lbs. ground beef, browned

3 C shredded mozzarella cheese

½ lb. pepperoni slices

sliced mushrooms, optional

sliced onions, optional

1. In 4-quart slow cooker, layer half of each ingredient in order listed. Repeat.
2. Cover. Cook on Low 4 to 5 hours.

Variation: Use 1-lb. ground beef and 1-lb. sausage.

Beans & Rice

Makes 8-10 servings

1-lb. pkg. dried red beans

water

salt pork, ham hocks, or sausage, cut into small chunks

2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

3-4 C water

6-oz. can tomato paste

8-oz. can tomato sauce

4 garlic cloves, minced

1. Soak beans for 8 hours. Drain. Discard soaking water.
2. Mix together all ingredients in slow cooker.
3. Cover. Cook on Low 10-12 hours, or until beans are soft. Serve over rice.

Variation: Use canned red kidney beans. Cook 1 hour on High, then 3 hours on Low.

Note: These beans freeze well.

Dorothea’s Slow-Cooker Chili

Serves 6-8

1-lb. ground beef

1-lb. bulk pork sausage

1 large onion, chopped

1 large green pepper, chopped

2-3 ribs celery, chopped

2 15 ½-oz. cans kidney beans

29-oz. can tomato puree

6-oz. can tomato paste

2 Tbsp. chili powder

2 tsp. salt

1. Brown ground beef and sausage in skillet. Drain.
2. Combine all ingredients in slow cooker.
3. Cover. Cook on Low 8-10 hours.

Variations: For extra flavor, add 1 tsp. cayenne pepper.

For more zest, use mild or hot Italian sausage instead of regular pork sausage. Top individual servings with shredded sharp cheddar cheese.

These are the recipes I was going to try from the crock-pot cookbook. I think the Dorothea one is hilariously named. I only wanted to try it because of the name and its few ingredients. I only tried the Rigatoni (which was REALLY good!!) , because Phill's mom came to visit (from England, no less) and made meals every day! In fact, we had so much left over each time that we were able to freeze NINE meals for this week. Absolutely perfect for our moving week.

On another non-food-related (however, book-related) note, I'm reading a book I picked up in the book section at Wal-Mart. I just thought it looked really big and great, but I read the first few sentences and then decided I definitely wanted to read it. It's called Einstein: His Life and Universe (by Walter Isaacson). Hasn't someone mentioned this author? Or this book, even? Anyway, I'm really enjoying it. I'm reading it kind of slowly, but the writing is beautiful and I'm pretty intrigued by Einstein. There are a few things from it that I had to share, because they were just so beautifully worded, not to mention that the ideas expressed are beautiful, too.

"His success came from questioning conventional wisdom, challenging authority, and marveling at mysteries that struck others as mundane. This led him to embrace a morality and politics based on respect for free minds, free spirits, and free individuals. Tyranny repulsed him, and he saw tolerance not simply as a sweet virtue but as a necessary condition for a creative society. 'It is important to foster individuality,' he said, 'for only the individual can produce the new ideas.' This outlook made Einstein a rebel with a reverence for the harmony of nature, one who had just the right blend of imagination and wisdom to transform our understanding of the universe. These traits are just as vital for this new century of globalization, in which our success will depend on our creativity, as they were for the beginning of the twentieth century, when Einstein helped usher in the modern age."

And I found this particularly adorable and interesting. He had a hard time with early language development, and the author says "Whenever had had something to say, he would try it out on himself, whispering it softly until it sounded good enough to pronounce aloud." I find that so interesting because it kind of is a pre-cursor to how he later came up with his theories. He used "thought experiments", which essentially means he thought things out, as opposed to real experiments. But he learned through this method. He learned using his imagination. He thought things out until they were right in his head, and then he verbalized. In the beginning, different characters are described, different characters in his life, and it becomes evident that many of these colleagues could have also come up with the theory of relativity that was so defining to Einstein's life. But the more I read about what kind of person he was, the more I'm convinced that he was meant to be the one who brought about that theory (and other earth-shaking ones). In fact, this sums it up really well:

" 'When I ask myself how it happened that I in particular discovered the relativity theory, it seemed to lie in the following circumstances,' Einstein once explained. 'The ordinary adult never bothers his head about the problems of space and time. These are things he has thought of as a child. But I developed so slowly that I began to wonder about space and time only when I was already grown up. Consequently, I probed more deeply into the problem than an ordinary child would have.' " I just don't think that was happenstance, coincidence, luck...it's very much on purpose, this life, these people who shape our history and cause us to think in ways we aren't accustomed to.

Lynness: Song of the South

We were talking at the dinner table and somehow we got on the subject of
"Brer Rabbit and de Tar Baby" and I told Isaiah the story (with voices
as per my Disney record and storybook collection, which Isaiah now has-
and listens to on the same old Fisher Price record player I used, but I
digress...). Nathan mentioned that there were more stories about Brer
Rabbit in a book at Grandma and Grandpa's house (Jon and Janis') and I
remembered someone on this blog wanting to know where it went- I think
it's in Lakewood!