This summer has been one for the books.
Not sure what I mean by books, because, really, who on earth would want to keep track of all of this?
We had one slow week and then everything just exploded (imploded? What is the difference?)
Jedi Knight went on trek in Washington, and the boys went to gymnastics camp. Lest you think I just coasted, however, please keep in mind that I had to take a series of tests in order to keep my teaching license. It was like studying for an AP test or being in college without any of the credit or fun. I also watched a friend's daughter one day and we just did girly stuff.
At the end of that week Plantboy and I took a weekend on the coast where we lamented having a second offer on a house not pan out. We knew the house we wanted was a vacant one around the corner from ours . . . so we vowed to come home and do all we could to track down the owner and make an offer.
On Saturday our ward hosted a chili cook off that I ended up at the last minute kind of being in charge of. It was a big community-wide event that the missionaries were taking the lead on, but it was realized with about a week to go that the ward really needed a contact person. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time to get the assignment, I guess! Still, the kids had a blast; the local pet store even brought some of their exotics to help break the ice. I had to inform the kids at the end of the night that no, we would not be buying a lemur.
We found the right neighbor to talk to about the house and by Sunday night and started the ball rolling, making an offer on the 3rd of July, less than 24 hours after it had officially gone on the market. The house is in short sale and we were told these could take months.
We went to the coast again on July 5th, this time taking the kids back to Cape Perpetua to hike. When Plantboy and I went earlier in the summer we just drove it. The hike is incredible and not to challenging for the boys. WHAT A VIEW!
Then Padawan went to Cub Camp where I helped much of the week. We spent the next week cleaning the house and hauling much junk to the garage in the event that our offer on the short sale came through and we had to put the house on the market.
At the same time we got word from a family we knew some years ago in this ward that they were going to be attending the temple for the first time. This was a huge deal for them, and for us. We have loved and prayed for this family often over the years and they asked Plantboy and I to attend both the sealing (Friday night) and the sealing (Saturday in the day), keeping in mind that our temple is a four-hour round trip and that we were leaving for a two-week vacation Sunday morning.
Here is how it played out:
July 17--found out our house offer is accepted, seller wanting to close by the end of August
July 18--cleaning house and prepping it to sell and attending temple
July 19--Attending temple, cleaning house, filling out paper work to sell and packing for vacation
July 20--Travel to Washington to visit Plantboy's childhood home, the Columbia River temple and to catch up with an old college roommate in the tri-cities. Spend the night in Spokane.
July 21--Travel to Bozeman
July 22--Spend the day in Yellowstone, including two hikes, one dip in the Boiling River (on purpose!), thirty elk sightings, eleven buffalo sightings and two bee stings. Spend the night in Cody, Wyoming with Plantboy's family at our biennial reunion.
July 23--Visiting the Buffalo Bill Dam, Swimming, catching up with family, attending the rodeo
July 24--River rafting, Cody museum, Cody shootout, the Minion performance
July 25--Travel back through Yellowstone including more hiking, buffalo and Old Faithful. Travel to Ogden to spend the week with my family. Top the day off with a viewing of Austenland with my mom and sister. Hilarious!
July 26--More swimming and lunch with grandpa. I attended a baby shower with my mom and sister and saw several family members I haven't seen for years. Facebook hardly counts.
July 27--Church with parents where we heard an awesome Sister report on her mission and my dad bore his testimony. Traveled to Ogden Valley to a condo and met with my family for a mini-reunion before my nephew heads on his mission. We showed a video I spent several hours making that includes pictures of many family members.
July 28--Boating and a day at the lake. Drove Plantboy to the SLC airport so he could head home and work for the week. I can still slalom ski. Barely. I'm feeling every minute of my 40th year when I try it!
July 29--A morning at the rec center and then another afternoon at the lake for kayaking, canoeing and paddle boarding.
July 30--Cleaning the condo while the older kids boat again. Lunch with my excellent sister-in-law and her sweet little ones. The afternoon was mostly spent in recovery from two days in the sun.
July 31--Hiking with cousins and an afternoon at the movies. How to Train Your Dragon 2 . . . so much different and worse than the first. We then went to Cache Valley that evening to visit my dad's cousin who has a huge electric train set. The boys were in heaven. I was happy just to enjoy the mountains out the back.
August 1--Met with cousins for the Ogden temple open house. Ice cream and a trip to Deseret Book afterward, of course. Spent the evening laughing with my nephew whom I won't see again for quite some time.
August 2--Drive to Ontario to spend the night.
August 3--Drive to Eugene; a very long and difficult drive on your own across the mostly desolate center of my lovely state on two-land highway. Pack Jedi Knight for Scout Camp so that I can deliver him there at 3:30 Monday morning.
Since arriving home two days ago it has been a flurry of cleaning, regrouping and making sure all is on track for the house . . . which is supposed to close in two weeks. And I'm supposed to be back at work in three weeks.
Does it all sound frazzling? It is supposed to. I am frazzled.
However, it was one of the best trips to family we have ever had. Things were actually planned and organized more than usual. People took time off to spend with us, and except for the last day or two, my kids were mostly very good. So much less work than they were even two years ago. I don't think I would trade any part of this summer, though I'm already gratefully thinking about how relaxing the next one will be in comparison. At least, I hope it is; this is me we are talking about after all.
My husband comes from a very talented family. For our reunion this summer they are asking every family to prepare a musical number, from an actual musical. And though Frozen is BANNED (for reasons of saturation, not for reasons addressed in my last post), I think there will still be plenty of little girl love to go around.
In my house? Not so much.
So last night we all made one of these:
We used felt and markers. And glue, because, you know, not a lot of sewing going on around here. And yes, they are just as easy as they look, and with tee-shirts 3/$9 at JoAnn's this week, cheap too.
We are going to sing the Minion version of YMCA. One of the kids will sing the lead (does anybody know where I can pick up a kid's sized headdress??) and the rest of us will do back up. With actions. The chorus we will all pitch in singing "BA-NAN-NAN-NA" for YMCA. Before the whole thing gets too annoying (so, yeah, like a minute), the youngest (aka Minion Dave) will shoot said lead singer (Minion Carl) with a dart gun. The whole number will dissolve into a minion fight and we will all live happily ever after.
Fiddler on the Roof, it ain't.
Apparently "Frozen" is being heralded as the "gayest" Disney movie yet. Okay, okay, heralded in some corners and vilified in others.
I first became aware of this theory after I followed one too many links to an LDS blog where the author went OFF on this delightful movie and our culture in general.
The post takes approximately 45 minutes to read because it essentially analyzes every scene from the movie, with particular venom reserved for Elsa's "Let It Go." She also cites about 14 critics who came (joyfully) to the same conclusion. Not only are there "gay themes" in the story, but she concludes that Else herself is probably gay. They whole magic-powers thing is a just a cover for a hey-baby-I-was-born-this-way agenda.
Because Frozen has become such a once-in-a-generation phenomenon, it has already begun to be studied in various contexts to try to put together some kind of magic formula for creating the mega-hit. What some preliminary studies show is that people of all walks of life feel like they can relate on some level to Elsa. Everyone has had times when they feel outside the normal, when the pressures of regular life become too much, etc. etc. Elsa is real and flawed and vulnerable and people relate to that. She also looks like a Barbie doll. Which, you know, a lot fewer people can relate to.
To all of this I say: don't you usually find what you are looking for?
It is pretty clear from the tone of the sister's piece and other links within the piece that she has already decided that modern America is going to hell in a handbasket, and that no possible good can come from any part of our culture. She envisions a vast entertainment conspiracy designed to primarily make us comfortable with homosexuality; that is wasn't just a subtext in the movie open to interpretation by some, but an actual plan to propagandize the children of the world, especially little LDS children with crazy-big hair and feathers. I'm guessing she doesn't let her grandkids watch Bert and Ernie at her house either.
My first (and subsequent) experience with the film, Frozen, is very different. In fact, I think when viewed through a lens of looking for what is good and uplifting, there are gospel principles to be gleaned. There are gospel principles to be gleaned everywhere if we seek them and cease to be obsessed with evil. I'm not advocating complacency against true darkness, mind you, I'm just advocating seeking after that which is light and good.
So, to the movie.
1. I love Disney's recent trend away from romantic love and a shift toward familial love--Rapunzel, Elsa, Ana, Meridah--these are all women that girls can look up. Besides learning about the importance of family, these women are all very strong and independent. Mulan and Belle are their predecessors, not Cinderella or Snow White. For this reason alone, Frozen is a stand out movie with TWO strong women.
2. That earworm song contains the line that some have seen as problematic, "No right, no wrong, no rules for me! I'm free!" But what they overlook is that this show stopper is not the climax. . . it comes right at the beginning of the rising action. Elsa isn't singing THE TRUTH, she is singing her truth in the moment. Just fifteen minutes later into the movie she sings "I'm such a fool, I can't be free . . ." realizing that her previous assertions are all wrong. Nothing in the story is righted until Elsa finally confronts what she has done, faces her fears, and overcomes all her doubt with love. Isn't this repentance? Elsa's only refuge from the "storm inside" is to love, not to run away and shun all the rules.
3. We are all unique and special. Sometimes these differences can seem like a burden. They can seem like things that put us outside the norm and make us ashamed. But when we bridle our passions and fears with love then we find we can still be ourselves, but we can be our best selves. And while, yes, this is a message that resonates strongly in the LGBT community, it is a message that can resonate powerfully with anyone who has ever felt they are on the outside looking in because of their differences. Ana's cheerful optimism about loving her sister regardless of what she learns about her is an important message about charity.
4. Romantic love is secondary to selfless love. In addition, romantic love will fade unless it is coupled to selfless love. The sweet little trolls in the movie are often overlooked as a silly plot device, but I dearly love their song. "We're not saying you can change him, 'cause people don't really change/All we're saying is that love's a force that powerful and strange/People make bad choices when they're mad or scared or stressed/Throw a little love their way, you'll bring out their best/True love brings out the best." Wow. There is truth in that. Big truth.
"Frozen" is all about the transformative power of selfless love. Is there any message more at the heart of the gospel than this? This is the definition of conversion. It is at the heart of understanding the Atonement.
I know that our society contains darkness and evil. Every society in every time has. I'm not sure that we are any more wicked now than we were once upon a time. The same vices and darkness have always been available. But light and goodness is available to us too. We just have to seek after it and share it.
And sometimes, you know, we just need to lighten up. . . to, you know, let it go.
I'm sure I have some really meaningful commentary to offer . . . and there is so much writing that wants to be done this summer. But today we're going to lunch and the movies. I'll see you when I see you!
Do any of you shop at Costco? We like to call it the hundred dollar store because it seems impossible for me to get out of there for under $100. And it doesn't do me one bit of good to go less often because then I just seem to be making up for all my "missed" visits.
Anyway, thanks to Costco, I think I have perfected the pulled pork sandwich.
A few years back our Costco started selling a very eclectic variety of salsas under the brand name "Robert Rostchild Farms." They only seem to sell one kind at a time, but they keep swapping them out. In the winter time there is a darker red one that is cranberry-based (I think I haven't actually bought this one), in the summer it is more of a mango thing. A few months back they had a new one that is like pineapple-lime-tequila-coconut . . . yes, all of that is in there. Well, when I saw it, I decided to try it on my pulled pork.
The key to pulled pork is to use something on it that has a fair amount of vinegar. I also like a topping that can be used for pulled pork sandwiches or pulled pork tacos. I'm not a big fan of BBQ sauce, so I never cook it directly in the sauce, but add it later for those that do like it. Also, BBQ sauce burns to the side of your crock pot if it sits in there too long.
So this "recipe" is going to be less effective because it really won't include measurements, but here we go.
Pork roast--any variety. I like my meat a little paler and drier so I usually get a loin roast because it has more white meat on it. Get what you like! I usually get a pretty big one and cook a bunch, freezing the leftovers.
Funky salsa--I highly recommend the pineapple-lime-tequila-coconut stuff from Costco. If you cannot find it, a mixture of green tomatillo salsa and brown sugar is effective
Put the roast and about 1 1/2 cups of salsa in the crock pot on low for about 8 hours. Drain at least part of the juice off. Depending on how fatty your roast is, you don't want your pork soupy when you pull it.
Pull the roast with two forks until it is shredded and then add about another cup of your preferred salsa into the pork, stirring it really well.
Toppings:
Onions are a must. For a healthy option, pickle a red onion in a cup of vinegar, half a cup of water and a few teaspoons of sugar. Seal the whole thing up in an airtight container, making sure all the onions are covered and leave in your fridge for several hours prior to putting them on your sandwich. For a less healthy option, and a real Southern-style sandwich, try these from Pioneer Woman.
Coleslaw is the next deal-breaker. I discovered coleslaw on pulled pork about two years ago and never looked back. To keep it simple I just buy a bag of shredded coleslaw mix cabbage and stir in a little bit of Lighthouse Brand coleslaw dressing. Again, a more healthy option is to add your cabbage to your pickled onions. It is less sweet and more tangy that way.
Cilantro. There is a Vietnamese sandwich shop here in town that makes a great sandwich. They put a generous spring of cilantro on top of their sweet pork and pickled veggies.
The bread. I cannot overstate how important this is. Back to Costco and their bakery. You can buy sandwich buns in their bakery at about $5 for a dozen. They are very large and have the perfect texture for this sandwich. Especially when grilled a little bit. Oh. wow.
Plantboy didn't stop there. He added a sharp, creamy white cheddar (also from Costco). I opted out; I don't like cheese on sandwiches generally. He also put a large slice of red pepper right on top--more flavorful than a tomato this time of year.
This school year I have found that anything that can be cooked in my crockpot is my favorite recipe. I only have one week of school left and dinners have been anything but consistent in recent weeks as I feel like all my domestic endeavors are coming apart at the seams.
One week to go. I can do this. I can do this.
I have been in my current book group for more than six years now. In that time we have read dozens and dozens of books. Every May we gather and choose our books for the coming year. Unfortunately, my reading is WAY down this year. I haven't updated by sidebar list for weeks and weeks and never did my 2013 reading wrap up.
Nothing like full time work to really send your priorities out of whack, I know.
Anyway, as our annual "book sell" comes up (you bring 2-3 books you think the group would like, give your pitch and then the group chooses which to read), I find myself a bit stuck. Whether by design or accident I have emerged as a leader in the group, and they usually pick what I sell. This puts enormous pressure on me to make good choices. My three picked this year were: Great Expectations (great, as expected); A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (a wonderful conversation) and The Screwtape Letters (epic fail).
Here are some of my thoughts for this year . . . though I'm looking for other recommendations too.
1. A Wrinkle in Time. One young adult book is usually chosen and I think this would be fantastic. I have tried to sell it before and it fell flat. On the other hand, several people have told me that if I did try to sell it this year they would vote for it after a very mixed reception to Tuck Everlasting. Don't you love the background intrigue?
2. The Rent Collector. I don't know anything about this except that my sister recommended it; I doubt I have time to finish it before the end of the month. I was less than enamored by the Shadow Mountain Publication (an arm of Deseret Book) because I'm skittish about LDS novels like that. Also, our group tends to like stuff they can get at the library. This would not be one of those.
3. The Poisonwood Bible. Read in my Texas book club about 10 years ago. I remember really enjoying this book but wonder if it might be too . . . edgy . . . for this current group. I know--the book isn't really edgy--but this group definitely isn't.
4. A Separate Peace. Such a weird, dark novel of unhealthy and yet necessary friendships. I loved this book once upon a time. Another young adult novel though certainly not feel-good.
5. The Chosen. Too cerebral, maybe? I don't know; it is such a lovely book with cool insights into modern Judaism.
I want to read Steinbeck but it is definitely too edgy and nobody wants to do Austen. In the past I've sold (and we read) The Help, The Potato Pie Society book with the absurdly long title, Rebecca, The Good Earth, To Kill a Mockingbird, Goose Girl, Tess of the Dubervilles, Ethan Frome, Mrs. Mike . . . there are more, but I'm trying to get YOU to do the thinking here!
My youngest cousin had his mission farewell a Sunday or two ago. My mom called to tell me about it, asking if she remembered when he was blessed at that same Church 19 years ago. I was in college then and I did remember going to the blessing. It was very exciting--he is a twin and I think most of us knew that these young grand babies would be the last of their generation in a very large family. At the time, their parents weren't active in the church and my dad did the blessings.
Because I have no filter, I felt strongly impressed to bear my testimony that day. I spoke about the miracle of children (I was studying childbirth in a physiology class at the time; I had no direct experience) and the joy of family. I quoted this scripture from the Doctrine and Covenants:
"And that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be couple with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy."
I know, I know it was 19 years ago . . . what a ridiculous thing to remember! Well, I didn't remember, not really, not the details anyway. But for some reason my mom did and when she told me about it the other day I thought back to that time. My mom said it stood out to her powerfully because when I was finished, my aunt (the twins' mother), tears streaming down her face said to my mom, "She said exactly what I would have said had I been able to.
In my cousin's farewell meeting, a little less than 19 years later, a high councilman spoke after my cousin finished. He commented on the enormous number of people/family at the meeting (these boys are still the pride and joy of a large family and their community to boot) using the same scripture. This time, my aunt, tears streaming down her face said to my mom, "Who would have thought, 19 years ago, that I would send TWO sons on a mission?" His twin brother is currently serving in Spain.
My mom had one of those profound moments when everything feels like it comes full circle. I wish I had been there. Sending my love out into the universe today; I hope it lands on something that needs it.
