I still don’t know nearly all I need to know about prayer. I’m looking up all the scriptures I can find on the subject. I was surprised that I didn’t remember that Jonah prayed from inside the belly of the whale. That is awesome!
What I wanted to mention here is how the Lord answered his prayer–Jonah 2:10 “And the Lord spake unto the fish and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.” Sometimes when we pray, we get an impression to do something. It sounds like that’s what happened here.
I wonder how often Heavenly Father talks to animals. Noah and the ark comes to mind. Something sure must have convinced the animals to walk into that boat and all get along in there. That’s quite a miracle I would say since the garden of Eden days were long over and lots of those critters weren’t friends any more.
I wonder if instincts that animals have are all about the Lord talking to them. I think it is interesting to think about. There are many stories about animals saving their owner’s lives. Since reading about Jonah and the whale, I like to think that the Lord speaks to them and they listen and obey. Could it be as simple as that?
It’s been years since I made fudge or penuche but today we did it. I needed to do something with Maddie and Becky because I was doing too many of my own things and Maddie was getting bored.
So we started with fudge–the old fashioned recipe from Mom. A small batch is 1 cup sugar, 1/3 cup milk, and I didn’t remember how much cocoa but 2 Tablespoons worked well. I put a dash of salt and a little dab of butter and forgot the vanilla, not on purpose.
Maddie helped stir it til it started boiling which was very quickly. Then we kept testing it by putting a little in some cold water to see if it would make a soft ball. Over and over we tested it. Finally it actually made a little ball that would hold its shape. Then we cooled it and then I stirred it until it got thick and lost its shine.
Then we did the penuche. I noticed on Google that people call it penuche fudge or brown sugar fudge. The recipe is very similar to the fudge with one less ingredient: cocoa. The brown sugar is sufficient to itself. I used to absolutely love the stuff!!
Which is one reason why I stopped making it. My intention today is to make it for Christmas, to give away, or have for company. It was fun to do it again. It reminded me of Mom. She was really good at candy making. She also made divinity which was nice but the last time I made it many, many years ago, it burned out my electric mixer so I don’t mess with that one any more.
Well Maddie and Becky really enjoyed licking out the pans, etc., and having a piece or two, of course. Hopefully they will forget all about it and I will too so that there will be some left. I put it in the freezer. Of course we’ll have to make more if I want to have it for company. And I really wouldn’t mind doing that since it turned out well. It’s kind of an art. I don’t have a candy thermometer and don’t want to bother with one. Old-fashioned ways are just fine!
I just heard on the news that Google is going to “go green.” Yay for green!! It’s my favorite color. But this is bigger than color. I think it’s great that they are going to put the wind and sun to work for our energy needs–well for their energy needs to start with.
Thanks to them and others who will follow, we and our children and grandchildren will have a cleaner environment, for one thing. And that is a big deal! I know so little about this whole subject. It’s not one of my main concerns in life but I do know a good thing when I hear about it.
Our lungs will love it! 
Yeh, back on November 7, I determined to write in here every day. Well I did well with the doing of it until Thanksgiving came. We had lots of company on Thursday and Friday. We had such a good time! Blogging just didn’t fit into the busy schedule. Besides two out of the three people who mostly read my blog were here in person!
So I don’t know if I should say that it’s time to repent. I looked up “repent” in the dictionary and it means to feel sorry and have regret. I just don’t feel that sorry or have any regrets. If my few readers did miss my posts, I’m sorry. I’ll do better.
What I really mean by “time to repent” is that I’m ready to start over and be a consistent blogger again. I looked up “repent” in the Bible dictionary and it says, “Repentance. The Greek word of which this is the translation denotes a change of mind, i.e. a fresh view about God , about oneself, and about the world.”
Okay, well I’m getting a fresh start and plan on keeping this going. It is a lot more fun to do on a regular basis than every now and then. I appreciate my readers and commenters. Thanks!
1. The gospel of Jesus Christ.
2. Family–past, present, future.
3. Health.
4. People–neighbors, friends, teachers, doctors, policeman, the military, lawyers, home builders, and more.
5. America.
6. Home.
7. Work–not just the kind I get paid for, but that too.
8. Communication–books, music, movies, blogs, conversation.
9. Money.
10. Good food.
Some revision could occur in some of these–it may not even be possible to tell that these 10 are what I’m the very most thankful for, but they would all make the top 20 for sure–I think.
I will leave it at this. We have company coming in a few minutes from Arizona! They were in Santaquin when they called maybe close to an hour ago.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
I have been such an “in-the-present” person that I don’t think ahead or do ahead usually. However, this Thanksgiving, it is turning out differently. And I have to say it feels good! I already have the count which does seem to change day by day. It is now at 18–11 grown-ups and 7 kids for dinner and then 2 more grown-ups and 5 more kids for pies later in the day. Would you believe I usually haven’t taken the time to really know the numbers until the very day?
And not only that, but I already have a chocolate pie made, two jello salads made, all the bread for stuffing prepared, as well as the onion and celery all cut up. The turkey is thawing in the fridge like they say to do it. I used to just leave it out all night the night before and I don’t think anybody ever got sick but I do like to do the right thing when it gets pointed out.
There’s even one more day to go!! It’s great! I like this way of living just fine!! I wonder how many more things I can discover that can be done ahead of time. It sounds like a fun project!!
It was a beautiful fall day today and we spent some very pleasant time outdoors. Maddie, nearly five, took an interest in the walnut tree. It’s kind of cool the way the nuts are still in the tree but the leaves are all gone. It looks like a bunch of little black “balls” in the branches.This is the first year that the tree has really produced more than a handful or two. They are English walnuts–not black walnuts like my sister and I grew up with. Those black ones were so hard to crack open! I remember we either had to hit them with a hammer or crush them in a vice. A normal nutcracker just would not crack it.
Well Maddie started picking some and then she threw them one by one down on the patio. To my surprise, they cracked open and the nuts came flying out of them! Sometimes it took a few hits before it would crack but it was surprisingly easy! She had a few that came out whole even! I joined in, picking up the nuts and taking out stubborn ones. Maddie kept getting more and more.
Pretty soon her little sister, Bex who is two, discovered something else that I hadn’t thought of. I watched her step on a nut and make the outer soft skin come off. That was impressive! Some of the nuts had already lost it or it was brittle and came off with the hit against the cement but for those with it still intact, what a good idea! It’s so messy to do with fingers! She didn’t have much luck after that first one but I sure appreciated the technique and took over for her.
We got a lot of nuts done in an hour or so. I was very happy to discover not one creepy, disgusting little worm in them! I had feared that there would be and that was one reason I had not even messed with them yet, not to mention that we still have oodles of apples that we’re dealing with. But, hey! it’s nice to know that we have a source of protein growing in our backyard, too!
I rinsed the nuts a couple times and then put them in boiling water for just a couple minutes–just for peace of mind. They are good! I have a fun jello recipe with crushed pineapple, cranberries, and walnuts that I am excited to try for Thanksgiving!
I really like it when an idea for a blog comes to mind as I’m going about the daily activities of living. Then it’s fun to start getting more ideas and it will practically write itself when the time to sit down at the computer comes.
That didn’t happen today. I just know that I want to keep my goal of writing every day going and I only have one hour and 15 minutes until bedtime because I want to keep that goal of being in bed by 10:00 going as well.
Hmm, I just thought of this and I hope Holly won’t mind if I tell it. It was something to be very thankful about and Thanksgiving is coming here in a few days.
Yesterday morning, as it was time to take her to the TRAX to go back to Provo after enjoying her company on Friday evening, we were frantically looking for my keys. I double-checked in my purse in case she had put them in there for me. What always happens is that I let her drive home from the station so she ends up with my set of keys. As it too often happens, I don’t get them back from her until they’re needed again. Well we looked all over–Holly looked in all her stuff and I looked in all mine and everywhere we could think of. So I borrowed my son’s keys and out we went.
Would you believe they were still in the front door–the whole set of housekeys, car keys, etc!! What can I say? Well let’s just say that we aren’t going to let that happen again!
How to end this? Everything I think of sounds so obvious…
Well, how about “Thank Heavens!” It can work for the title, too.
1. I really don’t like mops, American style. When my daughter, Holly came home from her mission she told me about how they mop in Chile. Just use your soft bristled broom (I’ve had mine for 20 years, I bet) and a dishtowel. Put a hole in the center of the dishtowel and slip it over the broom stick so that it goes down and covers the broom bristles. It’s the best mop! You can just rinse it, take it off, wring it out, and put it in the wash. Your mop will always be fresh and you won’t have to look in vain for a replacement piece at the store when it wears out and you won’t have to have a big, bulky, stinky, string mop anymore. Yay!
2. Rubber bands and clothespins in the kitchen to close open bags. I wrap a rubber band around my cheese to hold the plastic in place or the same with a bag of raisins. I use a clothespin to close the bag on a loaf of bread or a bag of chips and lots more things.
3. Dryer cloths make great erasers for the wipe-off crayons on plastic. I put a learning activity book inside of plastic sheet protectors, page by page, and my grandkids can do the dot-to-dot or other writing activities and we can just erase it right off. I love it! So does Maddie!
4. To help your car battery last longer, always turn off all the auxilliaries before you turn off the car, so they won’t already be on when you turn the car back on. (How’s that for “wordy?”
Well I know I had thought of another one but it has slipped away from me. I will add more when I remember. Feel free to share any ideas you’ve come up with or heard about. Thanks!
I want to put another piece in my “puzzle.” The first piece I put in was “Sleep.” I felt that I was doing all in my power to get eight hours of sleep at night by being in bed at 10:00 and up at 6:00. I don’t really have power over how long it will take me to get to sleep or how early I will wake up, so I’m giving myself an “A” for effort. I suppose I could start getting in bed at 9:30 to allow some time to get to sleep, but I didn’t think of that til now, so that puzzle piece still deserves to be in place.
Okay, writing on this blog is kind of similar to the above. I am doing the work. Since November 7, I have not missed a day in posting on here. That is all I am requiring of myself. I don’t have to say anything profound or brilliant–just meet the minimum requirement. It feels really good to have kept these two new things in my life going this long. I have often found that if I decide to do something, I can undecide to do it just as easily and so I’ve had a hard time making committments to myself.
So “Blogging” gets to be the second puzzle piece to go in. I want to be able to communicate well, to have something to say, and not be afraid to say it. Doing this is a means to that end. Practice works. You do get better. I’ve experienced it with music, typing, ….there are a lot of areas where I’ve seen the results of practice, I just can’t seem to think of them right now.
Okay, that’s it for tonight!
