Holiday Boo-tique

I'm going to be a part of a fun holiday boutique and you're all invited! If you're interested in coming or ordering please let me know and I'll forward the information to you!

They will have Scentsy, Heritage Makers, Vinyl Lettering, Lia Sophia, Slumber Parties, Pampered Chef, Usborne Children's Books and Mary Kay Cosmetics!! It will be in Syracuse so I know some of you won't be able to make it. But orders can still be taken over the phone!

Preparedness

They've released me from my Relief Society Teacher position and called me to be the Preparedness Coordinator on the Enrichment board. It's a little humerous because just two weeks ago I met with my neighbor to ask her how to go about getting my food storage planned and bought. I never would have thought that I would be the one called to be over the Preparedness -- I stress every time I try to work on it. But, it's amazing how the Lord has made me calm and comfortable with this calling and I know with His help it can be accomplished.

In my little lesson from my friend, Sonja, I've learned a lot about how to figure out what we would need. And it was a big relief to focus more on a three-month plan, according to the advice from the Church, rather than worry about a whole two years. So what we did was figure out some of our favorite meals - breakfast, lunch and dinner - to make it easy, come up with seven of each. Write down all the ingredients you will need for each meal along with measurements, times that by 4 (for a month) then times that by 3 (3 months). Now you know what it would take to feed your family for three months! It's amazing to see just how much food this is! Ken and I decided to use his latest bonus from work to buy our 3-month supply. Of course, we don't have it all but it's a great start! And we're having to remind the kids that just because we have all this food doesn't mean we can go crazy and eat it all. We're trying to teach them to eat moderately.

Through this process I also learned to adjust some of the foods we eat. If there was ever a chance we couldn't get foods like milk and eggs, what would we do?? So we're starting to mix our milk with powdered milk so that if we ever have to do without, it won't be such a big adjustment to drink the powdered milk.

So, if you're thinking of trying to get your three-month supply together, I would suggest focusing on one meal at a time. Start with breakfasts. What do you eat? Figure out all the ingredients you would need for one month and each time you visit the grocery store buy a little extra until you have all the breakfast foods you would need for the three months.

If you want a little more information on preparedness and food storage visit www.providentliving.org. There's a lot of great information there.

Yes, You Heard Me, Zucchini Jam!

Hi all! I have to tell you of my hilarious happenings this morning! Like many of you out there, my zucchini plants are producing a very healthy crop this year and I'm forced to dig up any zucchini recipe I have. I remembered many years ago my friend had me over to her house to teach me how to make zucchini jam. Weird? Yes! Yummy? All who have tasted it think so. So...anyway, I have been making several batches of zucchini jam this month and proceeded to put my "fruits" to good use this morning. The jam was cooked and I was putting the lids and rings on -- now you have to know that part of the process is to turn the jars on the lids as they cool and this makes the seal -- when next thing I know, I turn one over and it spills everywhere!! I couldn't imagine what had happened!! Did the top of the jar break due to the heat of the jam?? Did I not get it tight enough?? So I pick it up prepared to clean a mess of glass when I find that I had forgotten to put the lid on!! Yes, laugh with me! I forgot to put the lid on!! Needless, to say, I think we have enough zucchini jam for the next two years and I'll stick to making my famous zucchini bread...