surprised and delighted~journal #11~2/1/2010

My outlook...surprised and delighted...I like working at the office. True, staying home is better, but the work's not bad.

On my mind...old friends and new friends. The Dempsey's have invited us for a game night this week. Game Farm Ward in Auburn is very friendly and welcoming.

What's cooking in my SIL's kitchen...I'm going to teach my niece to make enchiladas. I make the sauce from dried chilies, which I learned from my friend Maria years ago. I know it's authentic, since she's from Mexico City and couldn't speak English, when we first met. Mmmmmm. I can taste it now. For awhile I made this with powdered chili, but it just wasn't as good.

8-10 dried chilies of your choice, I like california and pasilla-ancho. You can add a pinch or two of cayenne pepper if it's not picante enough for your taste. These are found in many mexican stores or even grocery stores now.
2-3 roma tomatoes
2 c. boiling water
1 onion
1 clove garlic
1/2 t. oregano
1/4 t. cumin
1 t. salt
1 T. flour

In a medium sized bowl, pour water over chilies, spices, and tomatoes. Saute onion and salt in oil until very soft and beginning to turn brown. Add flour and continue to cook for 5 min. Blend in a blender until smooth. Push through a wire screen strainer to remove skins and seeds. Put back in pan and cook until thickened. Pour over any type enchilada or chili relleno. Bake briefly in a hot oven until bubbly. Makes 3 cups.

Praying for...children all over the world, who don't have enough basic necessities, enough safety, or enough love.

Appearance...ankle-length, straight, navy skirt, robin's egg, navy, and white striped blouse, robin's egg cotton cardigan, black wool socks, and black burkies. I'm still wearing cascading curls, funky glasses, and minimal accessories.

Movement...walking, the Firm, and Dr. Chan's stretches. I'm so jazzed. Finally, I got through the entire 65 minute Firm workout all at once. Back in the 80s they promised a money back guarantee. If you didn't see dramatic results in ten workouts, you got a refund. Nobody, who actually did the video 10 times all the way through, could claim zero results. I'm amazed again. All that aside, I'm exercising so that I can actually work in my garden next summer instead of just dreaming about it.

New and not so new on my bookshelf…LMU reading list, Back to Eden by Jethro Kloss, An Introduction to the Great Books and to a Liberal Education by Adler. Bathtub reading...I hope to get a copy of The Secret Life of Bees.

Blessings Last Week...I found that working is delightful on some levels.

A Scripture passage I am meditating on..."Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding." Proverbs 3:5

Homemaking tasks this week...I'm visiting family this week~no tasks.

Something new to try...I might make Caryn's Cranberry Buckle.

My week is looking...exciting. I'll teach a skill, meet new people, visit old friends, study new things, and enjoy the company of my husband.

God has been teaching me...to let go a little and trust Him more. This lesson seems to be a constant theme for me. He's also been teaching me to love those around me and not judge. I love my family more and more, as I see them valiantly work through struggles. The heroic courage is staggering.

For devotions...Gospel Doctrine lesson 6 and a couple articles from the February Ensign and Conference Report. Spanish devotions remain with Polyglot Book of Mormon.

A simple pleasure...mist surrounding Mt. Rainier.

Commitment to loveliness...1) one nature drawing for my Country Diary of a Modern Christian Woman 2) Shubert's Standchen on the violin I couldn't practice here, because I made the beagle howl. Yup! I knew I was bad but didn't understand just how bad. 3) write thank you letters 4) Sew a new skirt this coming weekend~plaid, mid-calf, straight skirt with right and left kick pleats 5) mani/pedi

Photo...It was too rainy to take any pics last week. Another blog I read had this one of Audrey Hepburn that I demonstrates how I feel. She was such an elegant, happy kind of lady. Some of her later movies didn't depict the greatest morals, but I enjoyed her earlier works immensely

Poetry I'm enjoying...

The Rovers

Over the fields we go, through the sweets of the purple clover,
That letters a message for us as for every vagrant rover;
Before us the dells are abloom, and a leaping brook calls after,
Feeling its kinship with us in lore of dreams and laughter.

Out of the valleys of moonlight elfin voices are calling;
Down from the misty hills faint, far greetings are falling;
Whisper the grasses to us, murmuring gleeful and airy,
Knowing us pixy-led, seeking the haunts of faery.

The wind is our joyful comrade wherever our free feet wander,
Over the tawny wolds to the meres and meadows yonder;
The mild-eyed stars go with us, or the rain so swiftly flying,
Racing us over the wastes where the hemlocks and pines are sighing.

Across the upland dim, down through the beckoning hollow-
Oh, we go too far and fast for the feet of care to follow!
The gypsy fire in our hearts for the wilderness wide and luring;
Other loves may fail but this is great and enduring.

Other delights may pall, but the joy of the open never;
The charm of the silent places must win and hold us forever;
Bondage of walls we leave with never a glance behind us.
Under the lucent sky the delights of the rover shall find us.


- Lucy Maud Montgomery
(1874-1942)